PASSING EVENTS IN CHINA. [JAN. WE regret to say that China is at present in a sadly disturbed state. We shall place before our readers, in as brief a space as possible, the main facts communicated to us by our Missionaries on the coast. On Sunday, the 18th of September, Shanghae was taken by a body of insurgent Chinese. There was only a slight skirmish, and the loss of one life. The chief magistrate was cut down, in vengeance for the oppression which had marked his government. The people who have possessed themselves of this city are supposed to have no connexion with the leaders of the grand army at Nanking. They are composed almost entirely of desperadoes of the lowest class, and their leaders appear to be ambitious men, who have taken up arms on the winning side, in the hope of serving their own interests by doing so. They plunder the public offices, levy black mail on the shopkeepers, and smoke opium. It is thought that they will not be long permitted to retain possession of Shanghae, and that it will be occupied by the national party, or recaptured by the Tartars. Meanwhile, opportunities for usefulness are not wanting, as will appear from the following intelligence communicated to us by one of our newly-arrived Missionaries at Shanghac, in a letter dated Sept. 20, 1853 The English have been in no way molested, and are allowed to mingle with the rebel bands, visit their head-quarters, and even inspect their measures of defence and offence, with less difficulty than the Chinese themselves. Indeed, as we accompanied the bishop through the city, on the day after our arrival, we were more than surprised-we were even delighted -at the enthusiastic manner in which one of Tae-p'ing-wong's followers dwelt on the identity of views and interests subsisting between themselves and the English. The bishop himself could not have distinguished more clearly between Protestant and Romish Christianity; and it was enough to warm all our hearts to see his eyes glistening as he described to the bishop the demolition of idols and idol-temples now going on in the interior, and of which proofs are to be seen on the waters of the Yang-tze-kiang, which is continually pouring into the sea these relics of superstition. We were at the time standing outside the temple of Confucius, the head-quarters of the rebel chieftains, on the gate of which was stuck a placard, purporting to be from Tae-p'ing-wong, now at Nankin. This manifesto, while denouncing the oppressive Tartar dynasty, and claiming allegiance to the restored race of Ming, at the same time called on the people to abandon false gods, receive the Christian books, and give up the use of opium." At Ningpo appearances are very threatening, the country all round being, in September last, in an uneasy state, and an insurrection daily expected. The city itself has been disturbed by riotous bands of women and children assembling before the doors of the wealthy, demanding food or money; and, when refused admittance, breaking open the doors or through the walls. In vain the magistrates issued proclamations. The women, encouraged by their husbands, set at nought the threats they contained, and, roaming through the streets, besieged the houses of the rich, neither 1854.] PASSING EVENTS IN CHINA. 3 policemen nor soldiers venturing to interfere with them; until at length, in order to quiet them, arrangements were made for a regular distribution of rice to each family, according to the number of mouths, to be continued until the harvest, then some months distant. It was at one of these distributions that a fearful catastrophe occurred, which is thus described by Dr. Macgowan, an American medical Missionary at Ningpo. We have found it in the pages of the "NorthChina Herald," July 9, 1853— At the Taouist temple, within a few steps of my residence, an immense crowd of women and children, aged and disabled men, were for a long time pressing for admittance, when the doors were suddenly opened, and, as the multitude was impetuously pressing into the court, many were thrown down and trampled under foot by those who followed. After much confusion, the dead and dying were extricated, and placed in different parts of the temple. Messengers were despatched to call the magistrate and myself to the scene of misery. I found between thirty and forty persons of all ages, from the dead infant at the breast of its dead mother, to aged men and women, each surrounded by a group of friends, whose frantic grief rent the air. On applying strong ammonia, and the other remedies, to those in whom there remained a spark of life, I had the gratification of seeing ten or more revive from their asphyxy. Others doubtless would have been restored, but for the excitement which followed the resuscitation of the first two or three to whom remedies were administered. It was believed that the cold water and the mysterious stimulant had restored the dead to life, and no assurance to the contrary would appease the importunities of the bereaved friends, whose attempts forcibly to drag me in different directions oceasioned the loss of much time. Some took mouthfuls of the diluted liquor, and spurted it into the nostrils and between the lips of their dead friends. When mayor Twán came the excited crowd vented their anger in bitter imprecations against his subordinates, to whose mismanagement the casualty was owing. His worship evaded some of the clamours by acting as bottle-holder, and showing a desire to assist in the administration of medicines. To his utter consternation, Twán was summoned to the seat of a similar disaster in the suburbs of the west gate. I soon followed him; but the accidents which had occurred there were all of a trivial description. An hour later, near the close of the day, having business in the neighbourhood of the magistracy, I found the streets crowded with excited people, many of whom were hastily directing their steps to the residence of the unfortunate officer whom the populace adjudged guilty of causing the catastrophe; and, on hearing that my patients had been conveyed in the van of the procession, I followed professionally. My way was soon impeded by the dense masses which thronged every avenue; but every one made way, as it was given out that I bring the dead to life. The object of popular fury occupied part of a group of tenements which surrounded a large court, under the porticos of which, and also at the entrance, were arranged, on doors torn from the temple, above twenty corpses, and several persons who had been resuscitated. In the centre of the court the mob was engaged in demolishing every thing brought out of the house for that purpose. Household utensils, and furniture of every kind, were 4 MODES OF TRANSIT. [JAN. smashed to minute fragments. Clothing of every description shared the same fate. A dozen men might be seen pulling a silk gown or coverlet in opposite directions, until reduced to shreds, which, in some cases, were afterwards thrown over the dead. Books and crockery, culinary utensils, and those parts of the house capable of being injured, were rendered altogether useless. Several thieves, who attempted to pick up a stray article, were beaten with great fury. One poor fellow was making off with a portable earthen furnace, and would not have been molested, but unfortunately he stumbled over a corpse, when he was knocked down, and the furnace broken on his hips. Happily the officer escaped before the rioters arrived, or his life would have been taken. A spectator, who had endeavoured to have something spared, was recognised as a friend of the object of their hate, and would have been killed but for the intervention of myself and others. After the house had been thoroughly emptied, policemen undertook to disperse the mob, by preventing admission into the house of new comers; and, as night drew on, one after another quitted the place, and it gradually became quiet. Two of the injured were taken to my house for the night, and, on the following morning, the peace of the city was made sure by the magistrate giving from fifteen to thirty dollars to each of the sufferers and survivors, drawn from the fund lately subscribed for supplying the poor with rice. A Benevolent Society appropriated a sum to the priests of the temple for conducting a service, of three days' duration, for the repose of the souls of those who were there trampled to death. An indemnity, from the same fund, was also made to the policeman whose property had been destroyed by the mob. To prevent the recurrence of future disorders of the same kind, the plan was adopted of allowing the poor parties to send for rice, instead of requiring, as before, the attendance of every mouth which was to be relieved. We cannot but fear that China has to pass through a season of lawlessness and tribulation. The so-called Christians in the insurgent camp are said to be not more than 10,000 in number. Their views of Christianity are very faint and dim. "China for the Chinese" is their political object, and in the prosecution of this there is no quarter for the Tartars. They are zealous image-breakers; but idols and temples may be broken, and the spirit of idolatry retain all its influence. They are, however, willing to hold free intercourse with the Europeans. There is thus the opportunity of labouring for their instruction. May all these marvellous movements, in this once-slumbering empire, end in China, throughout its whole extent, being thrown open to Missionary labour! We regret that our last despatches inform us that our Ningpo Missionaries were at Chusan, whither they had gone after severe illness. The state of Fuh-chau we must reserve to a future Number. Meanwhile, let China be remembered in the prayers of our readers. MODES OF TRANSIT. CURIOUS and varied are the means adopted by men in different countries of crossing broad and rapid rivers, or other hindrances, such as deep 1854.] MODES OF TRANSIT. 5 chasms, by which their route is interrupted. In Peru the mountains are often separated from each other by vast rents, the walls of which are perpendicular. One crevice of this kind is nearly a mile deep, and another is remarkable for a natural bridge, the sides of the chasm being united at the top by a part of the solid rock, fifty feet long, forty broad, and eight feet thick in the middle, the torrent rushing along below at a depth of 300 feet. Over these terrific apertures the inhabitants of Peru suspend pendulous bridges, made of the tough fibres of the agave, hanging in a gentle curve, and covered with reeds or canes, and sometimes bordered with basket-work. On this frail support the Indian crosses with a fearless step. In Kunawur, on the upper course of the Sutlej, where it flows through a very mountainous country, the natives construct various kinds of bridges. One, called a jhula, or rope-bridge, consists of five or six cables, formed of a sort of grass named munga. These are placed close together, and above is half a hollow piece of fir-tree, secured by pegs driven through below, from which hangs a loop of three or four ropes, in which are seated the passengers. The block, with its freight, is then pulled across by two pieces of twine. As the travellers cross, their nerves are tried by the rapid rushing of the stream below. Besides the jhula, which is tolerably safe, there is another and inferior bridge, called the suzum. This is constructed of twigs, indifferently twisted into five or six cables for the feet to rest upon, with side ropes at a most inconvenient distance from each other, and occasionally so far asunder that a person cannot reach both with his extended arms. Sometimes the side ropes give way, and people are lost. The smaller streams are crossed on wooden bridges called sango. These consist of two or three trees, with boards nailed across, or a round tree with notches in an inclined position, or a single spar, not a foot in breadth, thrown from rock to rock across a chasm ninety feet deep. The most usual are made of a couple of spars, with bunches of twigs or slates across, which are often slippery from the spray, and with a great slope to one side. In the Punjab the natives cross the rivers in a different way. They use for this purpose inflated buffalo and sheep-skins, the mouths of which are sewn up, and the legs made air-tight below the knee and hock-joints, so that the figure of the animal is somewhat preserved. A man, with his wife and family, may be seen in the middle of the stream, the father on a skin, dragging his family seated on reeds, their clothes and chattels forming a bundle for the head. Where the river Indus enters the level country, the amphibious population launch upon its surface, sustained by inflated skins, dried gourds, and empty jars. In Western Africa long fibres grow downwards from the branches of the large trees on the banks of rivers, resembling hundreds of ropes of various thickness. These extraordinary fibres are sometimes thirty or forty feet long they are tough, pliable, and of great strength. The natives cut poles of the smaller trees. These are tied to the long per An engraving of this kind of bridge is given in the " Church Missionary Juvenile Instructor" for Sept. 1850. † And of this mode of crossing in the "Instructor" for June 1851. 6 MODES OF TRANSIT. [JAN. pendicular fibres, and lengthened, if needful, by others being attached to them, until they reach the hanging fibres on the other side. Two lines of poles being thus arranged across, about one yard apart, short pieces of wood are set crosswise, and, small boughs being placed on the top, a suspension-bridge is completed. In the engraving, our Missionary, the Rev. H. Townsend, Mrs. Townsend, and another person, are crossing an African river immense calabashes, propelled by men, who, supporting themselves by their arms on the calabash, use their feet as paddles. This occurred on the last journey into the interior. On Mr. Townsend's return from Ado, between the people of which town and the Egbas, who had been long besieging it, he had been happily instrumental in bringing about a peace, he proceeded northward to Ijaye, visiting several towns and villages on his road. The following extract from one of Mrs. Townsend's letters, dated Sept. 22, 1853, will enable us to understand his movements "Having visited Biolorunpilla-about two short days' distance from |