CHAPTER XX.

Safe arrival of tea-plants in India Means taken in China to engage tea manufacturers I visit Chusan - My lodgings- A mandarin who smoked opium His appearance at daylight-A summer morning in Chusan An emperor's edict The Yang-mae Beauty of its fruit - City of Ting-hae - Poo-too, or Worshipping Island — Ancient inscriptions in an unknown language — A Chinese caught fishing in the sacred lake-He is chased by the priests— The bamboo again— The sacred Nelumbium - My holidays expire - Collections of tea-seeds and plants made Return to Shanghae - Tea manufacturers engaged - We bid adieu to the north of China.

DURING the summer of 1850 I had the satisfaction of hearing that my collections of tea-plants had arrived safely at Calcutta. Owing to the excellent arrangements made there by Dr. Falconer, and at Allahabad by Dr. Jameson, they reached their destination in the Himalayas in good order. One of the objects of my mission to China had been, to a certain extent, accomplished. The Himalayan tea plantations could now boast of having a number of plants from the best tea-districts of China, namely, from the green-tea country of Hwuy-chow, and from the black-tea country of the Woo-e hills.

I had now, however, what I believed to be a much more difficult and uncertain task before me. This was to procure tea manufacturers from some of the best districts. Had I wanted men from any of the

towns on the coast, they might have been procured with the greatest ease. A shipload of emigrants had been induced to embark for California only a short time before, and emigration was carried on most extensively both at Amoy and Canton. But I wanted men from districts far inland, who were well acquainted with the process of preparing the

teas.

In order that I might accomplish this in a satisfactory manner, Mr. Beale kindly lent me his aid. His Compradore, who was a man highly respected by the Chinese and well known, undertook to conduct the negotiations. In the mean time I left Shanghae for the tea-districts about Ning-po, in order to make arrangements for another supply of seeds and young plants from that country.

In the end of June the weather, as usual, became excessively hot, and it was dangerous to be out in the sun, more particularly in an inland district. I determined, therefore, to leave the old monastery where I was staying, and take up my quarters on some of the islands in the Chusan archipelago.

I was anxious to see the island of Chusan, which we had held for some years after the war, but which is now once more in the possession of the Chinese. I found it a bustling place, and apparently greatly improved. The fine harbour was full of junks, some bound for the south, others for the north, and all seemed to make Chusan a kind of starting point. A large town had been built along the shore, and it was difficult to find out the old houses in which the

English lived when the island was in possession of the Queen's troops.

The large hospital built by the English was still standing, and, being now converted into a kind of customhouse and used for public purposes, I went there to look for quarters during my stay. Here I found an old mandarin, who received me politely, and offered me a room upstairs next to his own.

This old man was an inveterate opium-smoker. In the evening, when my servant was spreading out my bed, he happened to lay it by the wall next to the old man's room. "You had better not put your master's bed there," said one of the people connected with the office; "the Loi-ya smokes opium, and makes a disagreeable noise in his sleep." I found this was too true.

About nine o'clock in the evening the old man lay down in his bed, lighted his little lamp, and began to inhale the fumes of the intoxicating drug. He was smoking, at intervals, until I went to bed, and for some time afterwards. Between one and two o'clock in the morning I was awakened out of a sound sleep by a strange and unusual noise. It was some seconds before I could call to mind where I was or who was my neighbour. At last I remembered the warning which my servant had received. The drug had done its work; the old opium-smoker was evidently asleep and in the land of dreams. His nasal organs were producing most discordant sounds, and it was these and a harsh moaning noise which awoke me.

At daybreak I rose and passed through his room, on my way out of the building.. He was now sleeping soundly and quietly. The opium-pipe was

placed on a table at the side of his bed, and the little lamp was standing by the side of it. The heavy fumes of opium still filled the apartment, and made me glad to get out into the open air.

What a change was now presented to my view! I had been looking on a pitiable depraved specimen of man-"the lord of creation;" I now looked on creation itself. The air was cool, soft, and refreshing, as it blows at this time of the year from the south, and consequently comes over the sea. The dew was sparkling on the grass, and the birds were just beginning their morning song of praise.

When I returned from a morning stroll I found the old mandarin up at breakfast. About this time an edict had been promulgated by the new Emperor, not only condemning opium-smoking, but threatening with severe punishment all who indulged in the habit. Any officer in the service of Government who was an opium-smoker was to lose his appointment and also his rank, and the disgrace and degradation were to be extended to his family and children for some generations. But the most curious part of the proceeding remains to be told, and shows how very considerate his Celestial Majesty is to his subjects in matters of this kind. The celebrated edict was not to be enforced for some months. The opium-smoker had begun the year smoking, and he was to be allowed to continue to smoke until its close! Of course an

edict of this kind was sure to create a considerable sensation, not only amongst the Chinese, but also amongst the importers of the drug. The best informed, however, and those who had some experience of the character of the Chinese, treated it as so much waste paper as a collection of high-sounding words without meaning. Nor were they wrong, for when the new year arrived the edict had been long forgotten, and opium-smokers went on smoking as they had done before.

The Chusan people had received the edict about the time of my visit, and this old gentleman evidently knew all about it. "Well," said I to him, "how is this? you were smoking opium last night; have you not seen the edict?" "Oh yes," he replied, "but it does not come into force until next year." Every night afterwards during my stay here he used to walk into my room about nine o'clock with a smile on his countenance and say, "I am going to smoke now; you know I shall not be allowed to smoke next year." And I firmly believe the old man smoked more than he had been accustomed to do, and likewise enjoyed it more.

As I have given a full description of the island of Chusan in my former work, I shall not again describe it; but I must not fail to notice a fruit which is cultivated on the sides of the hills here, and in various parts of the province of Chekiang. It is called the Yang-mae, and appears to be a species of Myrica, allied to the Himalayan M. sapida, noticed by Frazer, Royle, and other writers. The Chinese variety is,