A BOOK OF THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 58

A BOOK OF THE WEEK.

GLIMPSES OF THE CHINESE MIND.* This is a delightful book. Written by a man who confesses to. having no literary tastes, it is a simple record of an adventurous life and a" singularly adventurous spirit. Indeed, the hackneyed phrase often recurs to one's mind in reading it that this story of real life is stranger than fiction. There is scarcely a page in it which does not recount an exciting adventure ; or paint a portrait ; or give a glimpse into a strange mortality, or religion, or race. One can learn an immense deal from its pages of thas wonderful Chinese race, which from this time forward must have an intense interest for every dweller in these isles. One of the most fascinating things about the booL is the naive unconsciousness of the author. Now and again he utters some startling sentiment which is delightful in its absurdity. Ho is a true John Bull, with the prejudices and the narrowness ncv and then of his race; but also with its indomitable pluck, its •tireless enterprise, its magnificent resourcefulness in moments of danger and situations of difficulty. I. The book deals mainly with Formosa. Formosa, I fear, is little more than a geographical expression to most of us in this hemisphere. It is, as a matter rf fact, a very important and considerable island. Recently it has been transferred from China to Japan as one of the prizes of the late war ; and it is perhaps destined to >ilay a large part in the commercial drama of the Far East Here is a brief description of its situation and aspect from Mr Pickering's book : — The " Ilha Formosa " is situated between 22deg and 26deg N. latitude, and 120deg and 122deg E. loDgitude, being separated by a channel some hundred miles in width from the adjacent mainland of China. . . . It forms the end of one of the many chains of islands which, from the western part of Russian America to the eouthern archipelagos, seem to fringe tho eastern coasts of the Asiatic continent with a succession of long loops, and it terminates that of which the Japanese group ifche Loochoos, and the Meiaco-Sima group are the component parts. The length of this important island is about 235 miles, by 70 to 90 in its widest Dart, and it is intersected by a range of lofty and densely-wooded mountains which follow the general direction of the island from north to south, forming a huge backbone or ridge, the highest peak of which, Mount Morrison, ie more than 12,000ffc high. The island runs from north-east to south-west, and its shape is that of a long oval running down to a point at the south, with a circumference of some 450 miles. _ When the Portuguese first visited this great island, in the sixteenth century, they were so enraptured with its tropical beauty that th«y bestowed upon it the name of Ilha Formosa, or the Beautiful Island. Few names have been toore correctly chosen. Formosa ia indeed majestic in its beauty. Coantinsr along the little-known eastern side, the voyager is repeatedly struck by the magnificence of the scenery. In the far background a, range of mountains rises to a height of about 12,000 ft, whilst between it and the water aie uumerous peaks of an elevation at l<*a£t iialf as great. Domes, spirals, and walllike pre. ipices succeed each other in imposing variety. A luxuriant vegetation clothes the -ides. i*owu which dash cascades that shino li!ro molten pilver in the tropical sunlight. Theeu lordly mountains descend in a steep slope to the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, where the Kuro Siwo, or Japanese Gulf Stream, flows' to the northeast at the rate of some 50 miles in the 24 hours, thus preventing any such alluvial formation as is found on the west coast of tho island. At intervals from December to March the highest ranges are tipped with 6now, and the scenery in the valleys is entrancingly beautiful. Anon, on rounding j& headland, a deep gorge is revealed, and in tne shelter of the overshadowing heights one sees a dim outline of a native village; for behind those mountains, in their impregnable territory of forest and crag, lurk the savage tribe of aborigines, their hand against the Chinese, and every Celestial hand against them.

11. And now as to its commercial products : — They are various, and capable of almost unlimited extension. The first in value is rice, f'ormosan rice is both abundant and of veryfine quality, and it has earned for the island the title of the " granary of China." The export is entirely in native hands, and considerable quantities are shipped to the Pescadores. Tea, which is found wild in the intenor, is extensively cultivated near Tamsui, from which port a large export is carried on. The greater part of Forniosan tea goes to America j some is consumed by the Chinese in the S traits and the Dutch East Indies. The latter kind is scented. Sugar is also largely grown. In my time a considerable quantity of a fine white kind was exported to Japan and Australia ; but this industry has greatly deteriorated of late years owing to neglect. Indigo, turmeric, sesainum, seed, hemp, and hard woods are also plentiful Sulphur is found near Ta<kao, and in large quantities near Tamsui and elsewhere, whilst there are numerous sulphur springs in the island, both hot and cold. There are petroleum wells at Toakho-ham, which could be turned to great account. The castor oil plant grows wild, and is cultivated. Camphor of the best kind is extracted from the Camphor Lauras tree (found in the high mountains of the interior), and forms an article of trade, especially with China. This by no means exhausts the list of Formosan products. The possibilities of this still undeveloped country, both in vegetable and mineral wealth, may be imagined when one learns that during the year 1893 trade to the value of four and a-half million pounds sterling passed through the ten or twelve European houses doing business in Formosa.

111. In 1862 Mr Pickering bound himself as third mate on a Liverpool tea clipper off Pagoda Island, some nine miles below the city of Foochow. Adventurous, ambitious, already tired of the sea, he was in the mood for a change of existence ; he was 22 years of age, and he had the pluck and the energy of a dozen men. Moreover, he * " Pioneering in Formosa." Recollections of adventures among mandarins, wreckers, and head-hunting savages. By W. A Pickering. JQliistrated. (London:. Hurst and Blackett,

had begun to take an interest in the languages as well as the character of the East. It was, therefore, the exact psychological moment for him to meet an old shipmate, who proposed him entrance into a new and fascinating career. About two years before there had been established that system of supervision of Chinese Customs by European officials which has since worked such wonders and become so extraordinarily important a factor in the development of China. Johnston, the old shipmate of Mr Pickering, had entered this tservice, and when he met his young friend was full of praise and enthusiasm for the possibilities of the service. And so young Pickering came to be a Customs official in the Chinese service. The portrait of Johnston is very characteiistic'of the writer; it must be quoted, not merely as a specimen of the writer's style, but as a startling and instructive epitome of the picturesqueness, tne perils and the fluctuations of the lives of our countrymen in these remote regions. It almost reads like a page from Stevenson : — Poor old Johnston — so clever and so futile, as far as his own interests were concerned ! He had been a great favourite with the apprentices on beard the old Lady M 'Donald, and was a fine specimen of the shrewd, solidlyeducated, " kindly Scot." He was a thorough old-fashioned " sailornaan," which implies a great deal. As he often told mo, it had been the hope of his parents that he might even " wag his pow in a pu'pit," and nothing but his devotion to the national beverage kept him "before the mast" ; otherwise he was qualified to command a vessel. Having served afloat or ashore in mosf parts of tho world, Johnston possessed an inexhaustible fund of anecdote, and we youngsters of the " half deck " would listen breathlessly while he spun interminable yarns of adventure among the South Sea cannibals, of revolutions in South America, or of the stern justice meted out by the "Vigilance Committee" in California. ! Ono of my old comrades died in command of a " Castle liner " ; another, leaving the sea soon after his " time was out," has amassed a large fortune in the city ; while I, thanks to an appreciative Government, am able to live " at home at ease," having had all that a man could crave of danger and adventure, and of wanderings in strange lands. Old Johnston, who was chiefly instrumental in securing my success in life, after a few more_ years' service as "tide waiter," ended his life far away from old Scotland, and was laid to rest on the barren shore of China.

IV. The young man at once set about learning Chinese ; not merely the dialects among the people, but also the Mandarin form of the language ; the form which is necessary to make a way in polite or official Chinese circles. He used this knowledge to make a very thorough study of Chinese character and Chinese institutions ; and the result is that I find in this book before me several most .important elucidations of points in the life of that people. Take, for instance, the following stoiy as illustrative of the ideas of the Chinese on the question of infanticide. The author was engaged in building a catamaran, or Chinese fishing boit, for the pleasure of his friends, and in order to do so he called in the services of a Chinese acquaintance, 3 worthy and hard-working fisherman. Here is the sequel . — His family consisted of himself, his wife, and two infant sons ; his widowed sister-in-law with her two daughters and a son ; and — most important member of all — his mother, who was between 70 and 80 years of age, nearly blind, and a perfect virago, as are most Chinese old women. ... I used to go to his house and work at the catamaran. I was there as usual ono afternoon and he was showing mo how to bend the bamboos and to fasten them with rattan canes. His womenkind were seated around us making nets, clothes, or embroidering shoes for their own small feet, whilst the children played about in the sunshine, and the old grandmother squatted upon the bed, smoking a long bamboo pipe, and at intervals scolding and abusing every one of the family. During a lull in the venerable lady's tirade there came suddenly fiom a house near to u& a shrill cry of " Ma-beh ! Ma-beh !" Now in English " Ma-beh " would mean " Grandmother desires me." I wondered idly, but held my peace. Meanwhile the crios went on, and the wife lifted her head from her task, and said, amused: " What is the matter with Ma-beh, now?" "What is Ma-beh?" I then inquired. " Oh, don't you know Ma-beh?" the woman replied. "She is Poka's big daughter over the way there." "But why do they call her Ma-beh?" I persisted. The women exchanged glances and commenced to giggle. At last the widow answered me : " Well, you know, just after Ma-beh was born the midwife was going to nip her neck, but the grandmother cried out that she desired the baby, so they spared her life, and that is why she is called Ma-beh." " Why, you surely do not kill your children here?" was my shocked query. "I thought it was only the very poorest who ever killed a child. Ma-beh's father is a thriving man ; he neither smokes opium, gambles, nor drinks." The widow sobered down, her smile died away. " Oh, we all do it about here," she replied. "We don't kill the boys, of course ; but girls are a lot of trouble, and very little good. I nipped two, and only saved those two here. You see, if we have one girl after another, and they are not very pretty, we can't get husbands for them, so they are left on our hands. We don't like to sell them for slaves i or to lead a bad life, and so " — she sighed — *" we choke them before they know where they are, and they don't feel anything." This is sufficiently horrible ; but what follows is perhaps more revolting. As ci erybody knows, the love of obedience of the child to the parent is one of the chief, and it is generally held, one of tne most salutary, factors in the domestic life of China. But like many good institutions, it has its weak and its bad side, and the old lady in this story brings out that side admirably. She breaks in on the conversation I have just quoted thus : — " You red-haired barbarians don't know S what's right. Girls are no use anyway ! Look !" and she pointed a trembling finger t at the widow, " there's my son, the best j fisherman in Anping. He has been taken away from me ; ho used to cam money and bring me anything I wanted. He has loft behind him his useless widow and those two trirlfi there : what can they do but eat rice 2" 1

V. " And now for another revelation of this amiable lady's character — it is an object lesson in the strange developments the philosophy of Confucius may take. The old grandmother was sitting as usual, smoking her pipe, which was long and thick as a walking stick, formed of bamboo, with a brass-bound bowl. The fisherman s son a fine boy of about five years old, was playing naked on the floor. His mother brought him a pair of trousers, and told him to put them on, asking him whether " he was not ashamed to appear like a beast before the foreigner?" But the boy threw the garment away from him in a pet, and called his mother (as is too usual with Chinese male children) an opprobrious name. She, being in a bit of a temper, slapped him on the head, whereat he roared lustily. The grandmother, roused by the boy's cry, took her pipe and beat her daughter-in-law about the head until the blood streamed down her face, accompanyng the blows wth the filthiest language. I called on the man to interfere, which he ! at last reluctantly did, merely stepping between his wife and mother; but the old j woman being, as I have said, nearly blind, and having very small feet, tripped over a etool and fell to the ground. She immediately | set up the ino3t awful howl, which could be heard all over the neighbourhood, calling out that her son was unfilial and had beaten her, co must be taken to the mandarin for punishment. The neighbours crowded in, and when the old woman had got on her feet, after bestowing a few blows upon her son, she accused him of having assaulted her, knocked her down, and of taking the part of his hussy of a wife against his own mother. She vowed that she would have justice, and she called upon the people to take her son to the mani darin that he might be punished according to I law. The neighbours were very excited and indignant, and several men proceeded to lay hold of my friend. The situation was now getting serious, and the noise had attracted tho two European subordinates of the Custom House over the way. I requested them to fetch their revolvers, and, when they returned with the arms, I addressed the crowd, and told thorn the facts of the case, saying that I would take the man to the military commander of the town, and would dispense with their services. This did not seem to please the Chinese, but I and my companions got the son array in spite of them, and conveyed him to the yam en, or court of justice, a great mob following U3, and condemning in very strong terms the wicked conduct of my friend. In the meantime, the old woman, accompanied by a number of sympathising old hags, had gone ahead to the court, and when wo arrived there, wo found her upon her knees, knocking her head on the ground before the mandarin, crying loudly for justice, while her friends echoed her demands. Fortunately, however, I was on friendly terms with the commandant ; I therefore 'explained the whol9 circumstances of the case, and the official contented himself with giving, through the interpreter, a long oration upon the necessity of obeying one's parents, whether of the family or of the State. This seemed to satisfy the crowd, and my friend was let off with the slight penalty of presenting a pair of candles, with an apology to his mother. By this time the walk to the yamsn o.nd th 3 exertion of knocking her head upon the ground had exhausted the old lady, and her temper had somewhat cooled. She also doubtless recollected that her son was her only support, and that had he, according to law, received one to two hundred blows with the bamboo, it would probably have laid him up for a week or two, thus rendering him unable to earn money. Moreover, he certainly had no money wherewith to bribe the executioner to use his knack to lay on tho blows with great sound and scarcely any ill effect, as is frequently contrived. r

VI. Mr Pickering is not an enemy of the Chinese, but at the same time he is a keen and close observer of their ways and of their weak points. Above all, he detests the Chinese officials, and he has no words too strong to describe their corruption and rapacity, and justifies his condemnation by instance after instance, some of them amusing amid all their ghastliness. Take, for instance, the story of Tao-Tai, or Governor of Formosa. This official was supposed to receive a salary of something like £600 a year ; but this was regarded as a very small and insignificant part of his emoluments, and his method of discharging his duty is shown by the following passage : — I The Viceroy, who resided on the mainland at Foochow, was bound by an often disregarded law to visit the island once every three years. These formal visits were lucrative to that high functionary, though anything but ! agreeable to the subordinates whom he visited ; for, if they did not welcome him with handsome presents in their hands, they were liable to be shelved for the first trivial offence. j To recoup themselves for this compulsory generosity, the mandarins in their turn inflicted additional taxes upon the people; and thus, at the expense of all classes, the great sen-ant of the emperor fulfilled his duty, and complaisantly returned with a well-filled purse. The Tao-Tai and the commander-in-chief reoeived annually an ample am6unt of money for tho suitable maintenance of land and naval forces, for the protection of the island from foreign aggression and from internal disturbances. The greater portion of this sum was, however, pocketed by these officials, and the army and fleet languished co greatly as to be practically non-existent. A visit of inspection by such a high official as the Viceroy would, therefore, have been extremely inconvenient, and, if faithfully carried out (there are a few Chinese officials of probity and sternness), would probably have had serious consequences for the mandarins of Formosa. To avoid these dangers it had for many years been the custom for all officials, high and low, to contribute, from the wealth which they extorted from their unfortunate subjects, a sufiicent sum of money to make it worth while for the Viceroy (who was probably every bit as grasping as themselves) to stay at homo in China, and to forward from Foochow to the emperor a favourable report of the island. During all the time I was in Formosa his excellency did not put in an appearance.

VII. On one occasion, however, i£ was announced that the dreaded Viceroy was really coming, and this brought some comic results : — There was immediately a great stir throughout the county-. Peasants and labourers were taken from, their toil, and impressed into the service of the Government ; they were put into uniform, and matchlocks, spears, shields, and warlike weapons were placed in their hands. The fleet at Taiwanfoo consisted chiefly of

old junks which had not been in the watefr for more than 30 years. During this lengthened period the sea had receded, and tho land had formed to the extent of more than a mile; the consequence being that these ancient vessels were high and dry; their masts, sails, and gear had rotted away from the long exposure to the ran and rain; the paint had peeled from their sides, and, in t some cases, the very planking had been stolen, for firewood. Now, however, the greatest activity was evinced in the work of refitting these old. wrecks; carpenters, sailmakers, and painters were busily employed, and a liberal allowance of paint and putty soon made the vessels look quite smart. The difficulty then was to get them down to the nearest water, to enable them to lie afloat during the brief visit of the "Viceroy. Captains and crews were engaged, and appointed to the several vessels. One or two of the junks were being transported on hugo rollers to the nearest creek, when, before they reached their destination, a further despatch came from, the Viceroy to say that he had relinquished his intention of coming over. The junks were just left where they were, to relapse into their former sorry condition;, the workmen were discharged, and the peasants and labourers were permitted to quit the army and return to their ordinary peaceful occupations. As to the officials, they were only too happy to bo at liberty to misgovern with impunity, and to be free to turn their attention to extorting as much money from the common people as would liberally compensate them for the bribe winch they had been obliged to send to Foochow.

vm. This misgovernment produced the natural and the inevitable results. In spite of its fertility and its many resources, Formosa was a burden instead of an. advantage to the Imperial Government. Piracy was common at sea, inter-tribal wars on land, extortion and corruption were universal, rebellions occurred periodically. Whatever be the faults of the Japanese, their rule will probably be an improvement on all this. As enemies of extortion the foreigners were always hateful to most of the officials in. Formosa ; and things were made as uncomfortable for them as possible. One of the methods of doing this was to persecute any official who showed any signs of friendliness to Europeans. This is illustrated by a story; so horrible as to remind one of that dreadful scene in " The Cat and the Cherub," which has made all London shudder. I shall quote the story, not merely for its own grim picturesqueness, but as an illustration, of the veracity of the young genius who wrote that startling Chinese play. A British gunboat was stranded near one of the Government forts in Formosa ; and the Chinese brigadier, who was in charge of the forfc and who was very friendly to foreigners, used to send the crew provisions ; and in. turn accepted, the hospitality which was offered to him by these good-humoured tars. Well do I remember this genial Chinaman. He was of fair size, about 6ft in his official boots, blessed with a keen sense of humour, and easily diverted. He had, I believe, at one time been a pirate, had afterwards served in Gordon's army on the mainland, and could speak a very fair jumble of pigeon English. I can picture him now, on the deck of the gunboat, after having partaken of the good fare provided by the commander, my old friend, Cecil Johnston, watching the sailors dancing a hornpipe with delighted interest; and at length, when the music and the excitement grew irresistible, it was unspeakably funny to see this ordinarily stolid mandarin, pick up his dignified silken robe and foot it with the rest of them.

IX. This is a pleasant picture ; but mark tfiifl horrible sequel: — Unfortunately the political atmosphere darkened. The action of our consul was disowned by the British Government, and the old Tao-Tai was reinstated in Formosa. He secretly sent an accusation to Pekin, charging the brigadier with being friendly with the Europeans, and_ of rendering assistance to the man who had inflicted such a disgrace upon his predecessor in the Anping forts. One morning, just before daylight, I was returning by sea from Takao, and my man was poling our shallow boat up the narrow canal which runs through the sandy plain between Anping and the suburbs of Taiwanfoo. Suddenly, through the grey dawn, we heard a greeting from the banks. " Hoa!" responded my boatman. " Hast heard the news?" came baok the voice to us. "No, what news?" he demanded. Wo are but now back from the sea." " The Hiap-tai has just been beheaded for being friends with the barbarians. Even now he lies out there," the man pointed, passing; on his way, and leaving us filled with horror at his news. Later in the day the fact became public property, and I learnt, on most competent authority, the details of the case. The Tao-Tai invited the unsuspecting brigadier to meet the prefect, the sub-prefect, and all the chief notabilities at a feast in his yamen, or official residence. On his arrival he was received with the greatest cordiality. I He was the favoured guest of the evening. They all sat eating, drinking, and conversing until midnight, when the brigadier politely asked permission to make his adieus. The smiling faces around him profoundly deprecated such haste. He resumed his seat.^ Another convivial hour passed. The brigadier said he must really go. His family would be anxious. The imperturbable faces around him smiled on. p , "By no means," they replied. "We are enjoying ourselves too much to part yet.' Why hurry?" > So passed yet another hour. Then the brigadier said he really must go. . The face of the Tao-Tai, at the head of the table, set like ice, with the smile frozen upon it. He shouted loudly once, twice, for his attendants, who rushed in and stripped the poor brigadier of hie official dress. The emperor's warrant was waved before his bewildered eyes, and he was led to the execution, ground and beheaded. His wife and family waited for his return, with gradually increasing anxiety. Time passed on, until the following afternoon, when a dark rumour of that fell night's work reached them, and they had to flee for their lives to China. Isn't that like the great scene in "The Cat and the Cherub " ?— T. P., in the Weekly, Sun.

— It is said that 4200 species of plants aFef gathered and used for commercial purposes in Europe,