DR. MONG POO.

Otago Witness, Issue 1244, 2 October 1875, Page 5

DR. MONG POO.

(BY OUR LAKES CORRESPONDENT.)

The disciples of Eaculapius are appreciated for their services rendered to suffering humanity equally by the " Heathen Chinee" as with other dwellers upon this sublunary sphere, notwithstanding that the nature and manner of administetiag their peculiar remedies may so widely differ. In the prac tice of physic, as well a3 the dressing of wounds, when no bones are broken, or surgical operation required, the services of a Celestial physician are by no means to be despised, and there are numerous instances connected with the history of gold mining when the Chinese medical practitioner has wrought cures when his European confferes had failed to afford relief. Itjwas lately shown by the Victorian newspapers that, in, Ballarat, a Chinese doctor, and one whom Dr Mong Poo claims to be his cousin, had been peculiarly successful in the treatment of young children, and his successes had been bo marked that the jealous ire of the European Esculapius was aroused, and he had caused him to be summoned before the Resident Magistrate for a breach of the Medical Practitioners Act, in following the practice of modicine without possessing a diploma. When the case came on for hearing, it was proved in the most satisfactory manner by the parents of the little patients that the Chinese doctor had really effected cures when his opponents had tried in vain ; and so unmisUfc oably was this fact established, that the Magistrate did not see fit to commit, and the Chinese medisina man came off with flying colours. However, as at the present time a number of Chinese have entered themselves as studeutu for the study of medicine at the Melbourne University, difficulties as to the possession of diplomas will come to be obviated, and the " heathen Chinee," depending upon his merits for advancement, will most assuredly break through, the exclusive monopoly enjoyed by the medical profession. Doctor Mong Poo, during his sojourn at the Upper Shotover, has very successfully treated a number of European patients, both male and female, mauy of his simple remedies proving very efficacious, while they all' possess the recommendation, of being vegetable compounds. When speaking upon the subject of surgery, Dr Mong Poo plainly informs his patrons that he does not believe in the amputation of limbs, it being the practice in his country to heal them, as a man wanting any member of his body is of no u«e in China. Perhaps, this is the reason why the practice of surgery has been so neglected in the Flowery Land, the value set upon the life of a human being not equally that of the loss of an arm or a leg. Still, notwithstanding this assumption, which in a great measure amounts to a fact, the Chinese oftentimes save a limb which, under the treatment of a European 6urgeon, wonld have been amputated immediately following the fracture. In large Chinese encampments, such as are found on the New South Wales Goldfields, the shop of the follower of Esculapius is a most extensive affair, exceeding in proportions moat other establishments. It is packed like a dry goods store, with bales, casea, boxes, and jars, besides other eudless nondescript packages of mysterious drugs, and all day long may be seen the proprietor sitting calmly within, smoking his calumet of peace, or engaged, inkbrush in hand, entering in the pages of a book long columns of hieroglyphical characters, so puzzling to Europeans, while he at the same time surveys his three or four assistants pounding away at root-like substances in iron mortara ; and, unlike barbarian chemists' assistants, who use a short pestle, they use one with a handle like a broom-stick, sufficiently long that the mortar may be placed upon the ground, where they are enabled to pound away with might and main.

Dr Mong Poo's establishment is situate at the foot of a deep ravine called Butcher's Gully, on the left-hand side of Skippers Creek, and consifts of a comfortable Urge al-vb hut, having a thatched roof, and is perclie i upon a slight eminence beyond the reach of floods. It is quite a neat and tidylooking dwelling, vary clean in appearance, evidently showing that some well-to-do Celestial resides within. There is not, of course, the usual brass plate on the door bearing the customary announcement so universally adopted by European disciples of Esculapius ; but a makeshift is substituted in the shape of a common deal board, bearing upon it, in Chinese characters, the signification that Dr Mong Poo, Medical Practitioner, may be consulted within, and who cures all manner of diseases to which flesh is heir. Besides the hut, there are several out-houses, one in particular, whorein Dr Mong Poo keeps his duuke and fowls, as bore, at the Upper Shotover, supplies of. these delicacies arenotao

readily obtainable from farm houses, nor do so many miners keep poultry, as is the case in the low country. It therefore invariably happens that, whenever the Mongolian appetite requires to be pampered with a dusk or a fowl, such barbarians as possess them usually charge a pretty stiff price. To obviate this difficulty, every Chinaman in opuleat circumstances maintains his own hen roost, and where the doomed birds feed and fatten, utterly regardless of the Bine Beardish designs of their owner towards them as they strut about sublimely oblivious of their impending fate. Dr Mong Too is evidently a well bred Celestial, he is about thirty years of age, small in stature, rather inclined to be garrulous, but very intelligent, and always good tempered and smiling. Like most of his countrymen, he claims to the possession of numerous cousins, one of whom is at Ballarat as previously mentioned, another is in New South Wales, others remain in China engaged in business, one in particular holds high office in the Imperial service of the Emperor. Dr Mong Poo has an assistant, who does all the cooking and keeps the hut clean, including sundry other little offices. Having just completed a species of semi-aqueous journey for some five miles up and five miles down again, following almost all that distance the sinuosities of the bed of Skippers Creek, I availed myself of the opportunity of a good blazing fire to dry my clothes, believing, although without in anywise desirous of disparaging Dr Mong Poo's abilities, that prevention is always better than cure. I One particularly noticeable object in the \ interior of Dr Mong Poo's residence, and placed prominently in the centre on the top of the screen dividing the sleeping from the sitting apartment, is a sort of ornamental doll's house, with a gilded Chinese figure comfortably seated inside. Although I perfectly understood what it meant, for the want of something better to do, as well as to pass away the time, I concluded to feign ignorance and enquire the meaning. This course was the more necessary as Dr Mong Poo, sensible of the peculiar weaknesses of his barbarian friends, and more especially upon a cold day, when the thermometer stood considerably below zero, had produced a supply of an unfailing remedy, which upon such occasions, when mixtd with certain proportions of saccharine matter and hot water, its curative qualities could not possibly be mistaken. Dr Along Poo duly informed me that tho figure within the doll's house was the representative of a Chinese deity known as Si Ah Garr, and who was a sort of monk, hying in strict religious seclusion, but, at the same tiaie, revelling in untold riches— so much so, that the m^re possession of the image of this deified C. lastial Crce3Uß has ever since been sufficient, using Dr Mong Poo's own own expression, "to make 'em all rich." It immediately occurred to my mind that, if the virtues of the possession of an image of Si Ah Ga'rr only came to be generally believed iD, there would be very few barbarians without one, while a whole ship load would find eager purchasers. Dr Mong Poo appeared to thoroughly uni derstand the value and advantages of periodical literature, and after assuriug him that I never iutendedsayinga word about himself in print, and I fancy he entertained grave doubts upon that point, he laughingly replied, " PJeuty gold iii Skippers reefs, 20, 30 ounces one ton, when nooshe-paper say so, plenty Engli&kman come see." Referring to the .subject of newspapers in China — Mi Chce Loo Ker Dr Moug Poo expressed himself with much seeming amiability and satisfaction, and evidently without any reference to peraon3 present, concluded that "English and China nooshe-paper all same, tell 'em plenty lies." I wao fairly taken aback at such candour on the part of Dr Mong Poo, and as soon as 1 recovered something like my usual equanimity of bearing, proceeded to assure him that however guJty Chinese journalists 1 might be in respect to any departure from the truth, such a charge could have no reference whatever to English journalists, when we both had a hearty laugh, aud this worthy doctor prepared another dose of J. Hennessy and Co 's infallible cold weather mixture.

Besides the profits of his practice, Dr Moog Poo, in company with two others, is the owner of a very valuable water-race and terrace sluicing claim. He has ako discovered a quartz reef somewhere at the head of Skippers Creek, and by his desire his assistant brought in as a specimen of its auriferous worth a large piece of gold bearing quartz, about the size of an American bucket, which, upon beating the ice off and washing the surface with clean water, it disclosed numerous unmistakeable evidences of the precious metal. The exacb whereabouts of the reef being, of course, Dr Moug R.o's special secret. Dr Mong Poo, like a true child of the Flowery Land, is off back again as soon as he acquires sufficient means, to '•live at home at ease." The amount he es timates as necessary to secure this happy state of blissful existence is £3000, which satisfactory sum he appears evidently to be in a fair way of obtaining.