Western China: a journey to the great Buddhist centre of Mount Omei ... Illustrated

Front matter

WESTERN CHINA SCENES ON THE UPPER YANG-TSZE. (1) /.uAxin Gorge. (2) Chang- Chou Pagoda. Western China A JOURNEY TO THE GREAT BUDDHIST CENTRE OF MOUNT OMEI BY REV. VIRGIL C. HART, B.D. FELLOW OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY I ILLUSTRATED BOSTON TICKNOR AND COMPANY 211 Œremont Street 1S8S Copyright, 1SS8, By Virgil C. Hart. All rights reserved. Snibcrsitg J)«2B: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U. S. A. TO THE REV. ERNEST FABER, F.R.A.S. AN EMINENT SCHOLAR, For many years an honored member of the Rhenish Mission at Canton, And to Arthur Morley, M.D., and Rev. H. O. Cady, My fellow-travellers on my West China trip, I most cordially and heartily dedicate these pages, which will recall to them familiar scenes, genial intercourse, and most delightful experiences. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. Hankow. — Journey to Ichang. — Scenery. — ■ Arrival. — Hiring a Boat. — Delays and Incidents 13 II.

Ichang Gorge. — Scenery along the River. — Tracking. — Rapids. — A Tramp. — Towers. — A Climb. — Fishing 29 III. A Curious Custom. — A Beautiful Retreat. — Kwki-cheu-foo. — Book-Selling. — A Scene. — A Wreck. — Wan-hsien, its Importance . . 45 IV. Poppy. — Ferries. — Fungteu. — A Legend. — Peculiar Customs. — Priests. — A Strange Visit to Tophet. — Chungking 70 V. Chungking. — A Sunday before the Walls. — Telegraph gives Trouble. — Riot ok 1886. — Proclamations. — A Visit. — A Chinese Mansion 92 VI. A Journey through the Province. — Chinese Inns 114 VII. The Great Brine and Fire Wells. — Our Reception 1-7 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE VIII. Rural Scenes. — The Valley of Chenteu . . 141 IX. Chenteu. — Its Historical Monuments. — Lao-tsz's Birthplace. — Slavery 151 X. Mount Omei 175 XI. Mount Omei (continued) 194 XII.

Mount O.mei (continued) 223 XIII. Province of Sz-CnuAN 27t> INDEX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Scenes on the Upper Yang-tsze Frontispiece (1) Lukan Gorge. (2) Chang -Chou Pagoda. Page Map of Western China, Showing the Route Traversed by Mr. Hart 13 SCENERY BELOW ICHANG CO Scenes on the Yang-tsze 38 (1) Mouth of the Lukan Gorge. (2) Temple near Chungking. (3) Entrance to the Wind-Box Gorge, Kwei-cheu-foo. Pagoda Rock 60 FUNGTEU-HSIEN AND ITS SACRED MOUNTAIN 70 Chungking and Part of Kiangpeh 90 A Brine-well in Operation 128 The vignette shows a section of the bamboo tubing, with valve. Boring the Brine-wells 110 The vignette represents sections of the boring-rods, showing the methods of jointing, and the cutting-tool. Picture in the Temple at Mount Omei 160 Great Bronze Pagoda at Omei 188 The vignette shows one of the kneeling figures that support tha four corners.

Chapter I

Hankow. — Journey to Ichang. — Scenery. — Arrival. — Hiring a Boat. — Delays and Incidents. Hankow is a very populous town, six hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the Yang-tsze River. It is tlie centre of the black-tea trade, and the largest port above Shanghai, lt was opened to foreign trade in 1860, and until 1877 was the highest open port on the Yang tsze ; since then, Ichang, four hundred miles farther west, has also been open to foreigners. Hankow is situated upon the north bank of the Yang tsze and the east bank of the Han, which here joins the larger river. The great provincial city of Wuchang faces Hankow on the south bank of the Yang-tsze, while across the smaller river is the city of Hanyang. The population of these three cities is at least eight hundred thousand, and together they make the most important inland commercial centre of China.

The resident foreign population is about one hundred and seventy ; but in the summer the " English Tea tasters " bring the number up to two hundred and fifty or more, and at this season the largest sea-going vessels run up to Hankow to load with teas for the United States, England, and Russia. These foreign residents are mostly English and Russian tea-merchants, the lat ter having extensive manufactories of " brick tea," for use in Siberia and other parts of Russia. Branches of the London and Wesleyan Missions and the Protestant Episcopal Mission of the United States are established here. The first two came with the open ing of thc port, and have maintained a strong staff of able laborers : the present leaders are Rev. Griffith John and Rev. David Hill, — heroic teachers of Chris tianity, bravely working among the millions of this great valley.

Here, late in the evening of April 11, 1887, the writer, with Rev. Ernest Faber and Rev. H. O. Cady, was in the small saloon of an antiquated steamer, the " Kiang tung," anxiously awaiting the signals for departure. At ten o'clock a large party of Hankow friends came on board to speak words of encouragement, and bid us God-speed in our dangerous journey and undertaking, — which was the re-establishment of the American Metho dist Episcopal Mission at Chungking, which had been so tragically closed by the great riot in July, 1886. Tlie day had been stiflingly hot, with a breeze from the southwest as from a heated furnace ; and at evening the sickly puffs, which reached us at rare intervals, were laden with noxious gases from a mountainous pile of refuse which had been dumped upon the bank near our anchorage during the winter, and was now being loaded in boats for tlie rural districts.

At length the machinery groaned, the wheels revolved, and we felt that another link with Western civilization and catholic Christian sympathy had been broken. We awoke at daylight to find the boat anchored and everything enveloped in a thick fog, which did not lift until after eight o'clock. Our American ark, which has JOURNEY TO ICHANG. seen nearly thirty years of perpetual service, was at great disadvantage in contending with the swift current, and our speed was not such as to reflect credit on a wealthy steamship company or soothe the jealous anxiety of the chief engineer, who is usually very sensitive about the time he makes. Captains, as a rule, are non-committal about the speed and the weak points of their boats. If they make a poor run, it is always owing to " a slight head-wind," " a nasty current," " a double sea," and so on.

Thc distance from Hankow to Ichang is one hundred and sixty miles as the crow flies, but on account of the great bends, it is three hundred and sixty by the river. The captain told us that the trip would take from five to ten days, all depending upon the quantity of water and the frequency of fogs, — never a word about thc good or bad qualities of his worn-out tub. After breakfast I noticed that although the engine wheezed and the hull quaked as if the boat were doing its best, the peasants walking on the bank easily outstripped us, and I began to doubt if ten days could bring us to Ichang. At this moment the engineer came on the front deck, and I asked him our present rate of speed, and if we had the prospect of continuing it. In my innocence I had fired a bomb, and was somewhat startled by the pyro technic explosion which followed.

He gave me a cyni cal look, and turned his eyes to the shore as if to see which way we might be going, and tried to smile as he said : " She is doing well — quite four knots. Why, last year, when the water was high and I had crowded her all I could, I found her falling astern when I came on deck." As the engineer was a frank man, I could but believe him, and soon went to my room in disgust, drew the curtains, shut the door, and tried to lose niseis in sleep. There is a story that on one occasion when the water was high and the " Kiang-tung " was hugging the shore, she was found to be falling astern. All hands were called and ordered to grasp the long grass which fringed the shore, and thus pull the boat along ; by this means a point was rounded. " It is thc custom of the people living on the shore to crowd down to the water's edge and beg for empty bot tles and cans, or anything which the officers and sailors will give them.

It is curious to watch the nimble mo tions of the women with their crippled feet under these exciting circumstances. They outstrip the steamer, stand upon some outjutting, tumble-down point of the bank, and frantically call for a yangping, " foreign bottle." When an object is thrown they rush down the oozing bank, thirty feet or more, followed by a pack of ragged boys and girls, and all go plunging about searching for the coveted treasure. Where this custom prevailed the people were civil, and addressed us with some degree of respect ; but where the shore was too abrupt for near approach, the air was rent with shouts of " foreign devil," while mud and clay were hurled upon the boat from every available point. If these were mischievous outbursts of sarcasm, aimed at the Steamship Company for competing with the native junks forthe carrying trade of this rich commercial re gion, one could almost pardon these rustics if they were to sink the old boat ; but I fear that the ludicrous phase of this subject has not occurred to them, and that the dwellers in this part of Hupeh have little respect for foreigners, — certainly politeness is an unknown quan tity to them.

I found that this was not an unusual occurrence, as the people here had always been abusive in VALLEY OF THE YANG-TSZE. 17 this way. It is strange that the officials permit a native company, carrying the great Dragon flag, to be thus in sulted, although the officers are foreigners and there are occasional passengers so unfortunate as not to wear the pigtail and petticoats. If this practice continues on the upper Yang-tsze, where only rocks are at hand, woe to the passenger who shall attempt to enjoy the beauties of the scenery in the gorges from the saloon deck ! This portion of China has often been described. The geologist, botanist, archæologist, and ethnologist have crossed and recrossed this rich alluvial basin, teeming with millions of people, and filled to plenteousness with the rich and varied products of a never-impoverished soil.

A casual glance at its topography reveals to the traveller that it was not always in its present condition. There are too many small lakes, too many water-courses running hither and thither, too many canals and dikes, while the river banks are too low to indicate any great age. I have little doubt that a comparatively short time has elapsed since the blooming garden through which we now wind was covered by a vast sheet of water. The mariner may have sailed directly from Hankow to Kincheu, a distance of one hundred and forty miles, and from Tien-Mun, on the north of the Han, to Siang-yang, south of the Tungting Lake. Here was a great over flowing reservoir, sending its swirling floods eastward by the so-called Great, or Long, River. The channel is very tortuous, winding toward every point of the compass within a few leagues, and on our course making one bend of thirty miles.

This constant change of position gave us excellent views of the prominent green hills to the south, while the cities and market-towns were so numerous as to lend a certain picturesqueness to the otherwise monotonous plain, as well as to show the wealth and populousness of this part of Hupeh. The largest market-town, a possible rival to Hankow, is Shashi ; it extends some miles along the north bank of the river, the important city of Kincheu being just behind it. Thousands of up-river junks anchored along the shore give an appearance of thrift not seen elsewhere above Hankow. English diplomacy was certainly outwitted when Ichang was substituted for this natural commercial centre ; it is the terminus for most of the upper Yang tsze traffic and most favorably situated for easy com mercial intercourse with Hunan and regions north and east, aside from its close proximity to the large and interesting city of Kincheu.

Both town and city are noted for their hostility to foreigners, who seldom visit them without encountering abuse, or even violence, from the natives. The China Inland Mission has a feeble station here, and the Protestant Episcopal Mission main tains a branch of the mission at Hankow. Between Hankow and the Tungting Lake, a distance of about one hundred miles, we had observed large fleets of junks, but from that point to Shashi the river was almost deserted, as the fleets find easier and shorter channels in the smaller streams. The Tungting is the largest lake in China, and has several rivers flowing into it ; it joins the Yang-tsze at the populous city of Yoh Chao, and as the lake is the centre of a great tim ber traffic, many rafts come through the lake into the river and ultimately reach all parts of Central China.

The crops and the methods of tillage are the same as in the lower Yang-tsze valley. Rapeseed in full bloom is seen in all directions, and fills the air with fragrance ; SCENERY BELOW ICHANG. in the distance are mulberry orchards, the trees laden with large, dark, tender leaves, while here and there are fruit-trees white with blossoms. The river abounds in fish, but few nets are cast ; probably the cana's and lakes are well supplied, and the fish are more easily taken there. At Salamis bar, and for come miles, the river was covered with oil, indicating that oil-wells are near at hand. Four-wheeled wagons are drawn along the banks by water buffaloes. These wagons are surmounted by rough racks ; the wheels are made from heavy planks pegged together, the outer rim being strapped with rough iron; and as these wagons move they groan and squeak, as does all the machinery in China.

A wheelbarrow of a peculiar construction, such as I have not seen elsewhere, is used here for clearing ditches and rough places. It has a small wheel not more than a foot in diameter, placed two or three feet in front of the large wheel and supported by shafts. About forty miles below Ichang we leave the great delta or valley ; beautiful hills slope to the river, while lofty mountains tower in the far distance. We are upon the borders of the mountain land, and shall not see an other large valley until we reach that of Chenteu, seven hundred miles to the west. The hills are well wooded, cultivation being mostly confined to the narrow ravines. Farm-houses built of mud, with thatched roofs, are seen on the tops and scattered over the sides of the low hills. Ten miles below Ichang we came abreast with the gorge of the " Tiger's Teeth."

Upon the south side of the river a famous natural bridge spans a foaming tor rent, while two curious and interesting caves are pointed out a short distance above. The forms of the mountains near Ichang are very curious and interesting. Lofty summits are seen in the distance in all directions, while near thc river arc lovely cones and pyramidal peaks. As far as it has been explored this region has great interest for the botanist and geologist, while the entomologist must find it a veritable paradise. As everywhere in the mountainous districts of China, so here are magic streams, fairy dells, and wonderful caves, which are the scenes of mythical and legendary tales without number ; many of these have great interest for the student of folk-lore. In one of these curious caves there arc many chambers and wonderful forma tions of rock produced by the action of water in past ages.

The people tell of a strange race, having white faces and red hair, who came down the rapids in ancient times and took possession of these caves and pillaged all the neighboring land. From whence they came and to what race they belonged was never known, but when they were satisfied with their booty they vanished into the land of mystery. Since leaving Shashi the lost shipping has reappeared, and we meet every variety of boat coming from the upper Yang-tsze, rowed by from ten to thirty men, and laden with coal, salt, drugs, charcoal, silk, and other com modities ; while all along the shores an equal number of boats are sailing or being " tracked." Fishing-boats also appear; and on the banks, where the currents run swiftly, men are stationed at intervals, swinging hand nets of a peculiar make.

Two bamboos are bent into the form of a snow-shoe, and a pouch net is attached to the large end ; a cross piece is firmly tied three feet from thc small end, and is grasped by the fisherman with one hand. The net is plunged into the swift current and swept along by it in a partial curve, and then SCENERY BELOW ICHANG CITY OF ICHANG. brought gracefully to the bank at the rate of about one sweep per minute. Ichang is situated upon the north bank of the river, and is one hundred and twenty-nine feet above the sea level. The annual rise and fall of the river here is about sixty feet ; in some months it is flooded, but in the spring is quite a distance from the water. Although it was dark before we came to anchor, our arrival caused an excitement, and a line of battle junks lying near the shore saluted us with a fierce cannonading, on account of a military officer who was on board.

The amount of powder burned and thc din and display made in the reception of a third-grade official made me wonder what would be done should the Emperor himself arrive. We had come on a feast night, and all the shore was alive, while the sampan men were wild with excitement. The river was studded with red lights for several miles ; they swept past us in all directions, bobbing up and down with the waves, and circling round and round with the currents ; and the poor drowned souls might certainly see their way out of Tartarus then, if ever. These lights are made by putting half an ounce of oil in a little four-cornered paper box about four inches in width, in the middle of which is placed a tiny, lighted wick, showing a red, smoky flame. The trade at Ichang is increasing, and were there proper steamers running here at regular intervals they would undoubtedly take the freights now sent to Shashi and Hankow by native boats.

Were there a through line of boats to Chungking, and Shashi made an open port, the up-river traffic would be greatly increased. There is already much excitement over thc proposal to open the river to Chungking during this year. A steamship company has been formed, and a steamer is expected WESTERN CHINA. at Shanghai at an early date. But the treaty is not very clear, and the Chinese officials will sind some means of thwarting the enterprise or delaying action until some outside pressure is brought to bear on them. An official commission will be sent to visit the region and report upon the feasibility of the project. Thc report will be adverse, and a thousand unforeseen obstacles will be reported to the ministers at Peking. The foreigners residing in Ichang are an English con sul, a physician, two missionary families, two Catholic priests, a commissioner of customs, and a few customs men.

Scarcely any buildings have been erected in for eign style, the Imperial custom-house being in an old tumble-down temple, with the commissioner's office in the rear. The Roman Catholics have an extensive establishment and a large school, in connection with which are ten students of divinity. The Scotch Pres byterians established a mission here in 1877 ; they have a few converts, a chapel in the native city, and two day schools. Although Ichang is a prefect or soo, and has about forty thousand inhabitants, besides a large boat population, the streets are not crowded, and one sees few evidences of activity or wealth. At the same time, the beauty of the scenery, the many delightful excursions in the neighborhood, and the communication with the outside world by means of steamers makes a residence here endurable, at least.

Objects made of the fossil "pagoda stone" are sold in Ichang; they are nicelv carved, but if the buyer is not an expert he may purchase the imitations, which are numerous. We were detained nine days in Ichang, all of which time was spent in hiring a boat and making it ready for our journey. The Sz-Chuanese boatmen regard all for- HIRING A BOAT. 23 eigncrs as treasure-houses, and begin by demanding of them three times the price they would ask of a native for the same service ; thus boat hiring is a tax on one's leisure, diplomacy, and patience. Our teacher, or interpreter, was despatched at once to find a boat suited to our needs and bring back a report as to price. This report is sure to be made in the interest of the captain of the boat, and that of the teacher as well ; for he considers his services indispensable, and will not fail to act accordingly.

He returned to say that the officials were taking all thc good-sized boats to convey machinery to Chenteu. We make a mental discount on this statement. He then adds that he has found a boat at two hundred and sixty-eight dollars which can be made ready in a few days ; possibly by waiting some days another boat can be found at less price, but he is very doubtful about it. Of course the captain knew that we had not come thus far to turn back, and that time, which meant nothing to him, was of value to us ; and the few dollars wliich we could save on his price by haggling with him was a fortune to him, and probably half the worth of his whole craft. These boatmen, after bringing down an official from the West, will wait from two to six months for an official to go up, or will return without a freight.

Their expenses in port are simply the cost of the rice they eat, and on the voyage up they frequently pick up travellers who will pay their board and five cents a day to the boatmen, who do the work of beasts. We knew that our teacher had simply given us the " opening mouth price," which means little, and went ourselves to see the captain and the boat. We were ■24 AVESTERN CHINA. politely and frigidly received by an emaciated opium smoker, who could be agreeable or otherwise, as his interests demanded. The boat was seventy feet long and eleven wide, per fectly flat and turned up at the stern. It was not new, nor old; had recently been oiled; partitions were out and doors down; but it was profusely carved and grotesquely decorated. About one half of it was enclosed and di vided into four rooms, leaving the half toward the bow open ; here, at night and in rainy weather, bamboo mats are spread to protect twenty-five sailors, who lounge about with or without clothing as their fancy or the weather may determine, and who use bedding or not as their simple tastes may indicate.

In the centre of this open deck, extending its whole width, is a pit four feet wide and three feet deep, in which are a furnace, kettles, coal, bricks, store-room, and pantry. This is presided over by a diminutive being with sore eyes and small pigtail, with just sufficient intellect to boil a pot of tea and steam a caldron of rice and jump on deck in trying times to "holler" with the best on board. Here he stands full sixteen hours a day, washing, wiping, rattling chopsticks, fanning, blow ing, scraping kettles, punching the sire, and wiping his eyes, — an indispensable being, the glory of every craft ! After inspecting mast, boards, ropes, and the numerous odds and ends proper to a fully equipped junk, to see that everything requisite was there, we came to the real business of our bargain.

Thc captain demanded eight days to prepare for a journey of less than a month, and said that he must have thirty sailors for tracking and rowing, aside from those he could pick up on the way to pull us up the rapids. We then came to the price, and the " cutting down " which is the custom all BARGAINING FOR A BOAT. 25 over China. He fell at last to two hundred and fifty-two dollars, and from that we could not move him. We left to seek another boat, and found one grimy and dirty, with a large hole through the side. The captain already knew what we required, and as we stepped upon the front deck he uncoiled his long, coarse, and glossy black queue and met us with a freezing salutation. He was of the bull-dog type, with high cheek-bones, a long jaw, and an evil eye, — a man who would turn pirate or rob a shipwrecked crew for half an inducement.

After many tiresome preliminaries he said, " You can have this boat for four hundred and twelve dollars." In very polite language we replied that we should prefer to buy a boat and crew. A grim smile came over his face as we rose and left him. We found no boat better than the first, and having spent an entire day in further negotiations we took it at two hundred and five dollars. An imposing document was then drawn up, in which each point of our agree ment was distinctly mentioned; but when the captain signed he reduced the number of sailors to twenty-seven, and we afterward found, as is usual in Chinese docu ments, that a mental reservation had been made here, for the number of sailors must have included the cook, wife, child, and the dog, since we could never muster, all told, more than twenty-five.

To this reduction we stubbornly objected, but he knew our necessity and was unyielding. Another half-day was spent in unavailing efforts to bring him to our terms, and then the papers were signed and we had our boat for Chungking, — a distance of four hundred miles. The unnumbered objections, quibbles, and evasions practised by that meek, emaciated captain are too numerous to be recorded. I have described somewhat minutely this business affair, which should have been concluded in an hour, that my readers may have a faint idea of the difficulties attending the transaction of busi ness with a people who are quick-witted, disposed to take every advantage of the necessities of others, and without the least conscience in keeping or breaking a written engagement, unless the arm of power be at hand.

I am describing the ordinary Chinaman under ordinary circumstances. The time drew near for our departure, and we were snugly settled on board, flattering ourselves that the trifling annoyances incident to the preparations for such a journey would now give place to a series of magnificent day-dreams and lovely night-visions amid the glories of gorges and thundering cascades. But the star of felicity had not yet risen above the horizon. A Sz-Chuanese woman, who had been instrumental in bringing down from Chungking to Kiukiang a number of orphan girls after the riot, was attached to our party on her way home. Between Hankow and Ichang she gave birth to a son ; and a foreign lady who was on board, and took some interest in the woman, told us that she found her in bed while the infant was lying on thc iron deck, nearly dead.

When she remonstrated with thc mother, she replied that it was of no account as she had three sons at home. At Ichang the woman was taken by our cook to a native hotel, and the next morning the child was found dead. Before the inhabitants were astir the cook and the teacher conveyed the little body to thc most convenient receptacle, which I doubt not was the swift, muddy river. The hotel-keeper was furious, and demanded large sums of money from the cook, besides some slight hu miliations of kotows, or very low bows, and a purifying A FEMALE JONAH. 27 mass. He was satisfied in some way, and the woman sought refuge elsewhere. When we were ready to leave, our captain refused to receive so unfortunate a person on his junk. At length the affair was settled, as we thought ; but at two o'clock in the morning we were aroused, and a peremptory de mand made upon us for her removal.

Where ? was now the question, for these boatmen are the most superstitious people in the world, and nothing (except perhaps an extra fifty dollars) could have induced the captain to allow the woman to enter his junk. Reports from the shore convinced me that the city would soon be con vulsed with excitement if some drastic measures were not taken at once, and possibly Her British Majesty's consul would be dragged from his bed to face a howling mob. My teacher, who was the son of a Honan official, and formerly connected with a newspaper in Penang, was the only person whom I dared to trust in this emergency. Thanks to this true son of Han, before daylight the poor bewildered woman was led to a farmhouse a stone's throw from the main street, where, for a mere pittance, she could remain a few weeks.