306

THE MULBERRY TREE.

mankind. The cotton tree is cultivated to great extent in India and America, as well as in China. In the cotton plantations, when the pods begin to open, women and children go from tree to tree plucking the cotton and seeds, and leaving the husks behind. The seeds are separated from the cotton, by being passed through a machine called a gin, after an exposure to the sun. It is in this raw state that cotton is usually packed very lightly in bags for exportation. A bag of cotton usually weighs about three hundred pounds. The cotton of China is extensively used in the formation of the celebrated Nankin cloth, called Nankeen.

Silk is another important production of China, and to supply with food the worms which produce it, great attention is paid to the cultivation of the mulberry tree. The prime object with the grower of this tree is to secure as plentiful a supply of healthy leaves, with as little fruit as possible. The ground is well manured, and the trees, planted at convenient distances, arrive at perfection in three years; the branches are thinned and pruned with great care.

The management of the silkworm requires continual vigilance, as the little industrious insect is easily injured. It is said that even a loud cry, or the barking of a dog does it a mischief, and for this reason the small houses in which silkworms are nursed, are usually in the middle of plantations. The worms must be kept clean, quiet, and free

SILKWORMS.

307

from noisome smells. strewn on basket-work.

They are fed with leaves

When the worms have spun themselves up in their cacoons, which they do in about a week, a part of them are left to turn into moths, but the greater part are killed lest they should spoil the silk by eating through the cacoon. They are killed by being placed in jars under salt and leaves, kept close from the air. The silk is wound off the cacoons as they lie floating in water.

"The worm the worm! the silken worm!
He's one of a happy and wealthy firm.
He lives at his ease 'mid the mulberry trees,
Weaving his web by slow degrees:
He quaffs his goblet of sparkling dew,
And dines on the best, for his cares are few:
His coat is fashioned of velvet and gold,
And in silken robes, during winter cold,
He gathers his own little self to sleep,
Careless of those who wake and weep.
Ha ha ha! he is snug on high,
Dreaming of wings and a sunny sky."

CHAPTER XXXII.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Chain of Mountains North of the Meilung Group.-The Wootang Rocks.-The Shih-mun, or Rock Gates.-The Hea Hills.-The Foo-chun Hill.-The Woo-e-shan, or Bohea Hills.-The Ou-ma-too, or Five Horses' Heads.-The KinShin, or Golden Island.-Merits and Demerits. — Earthquakes.-Arms of China.-Chinese Travelling.-Favourable and unfavourable Points in Chinese Character.-Missionary Exertions.-Conclusion.

I HAVE now come to the last chapter of my points and pickings." When a party sit down to a plate of cherries or filberts, picking out the best according to their fancy, it is only now and then that two persons fix on the same filbert or cherry; in other things it is just the same. Had any of you undertaken to write a book like mine, most likely his points and pickings of China would have been very different to those I have chosen. Rambling on from one thing to another I have endeavoured to please you—

To pick my points and make my matter clear,
Nor yet too light of heart, nor too severe.

What I have now to add will not take you long to read.

The following are a few pickings of information of the mountains, hills, rocks, and striking objects of China. Of these there are some beautiful engravings extant. The mountain chain north of the Milueng group in the province of Kiang-si, are truly Alpine in their appearance, and the W00tang Rocks, in which the Kan-kiang-ho rises, are wondrously varied and romantic.

"The wild streams leap with headlong sweep

In their curbless course o'er the mountain steep:
All fresh and strong they foam along,

Waking the rocks with their cataract song."

The Shih-mun, or Rock Gates, in the province of Kiang-nan; the Hea-Hills, near Chaou-kingfoo, and the Foo-chun Hill, in the province of Che-keang, are all worthy of notice, as well as Woo-e-shan, or Bohea Hills, Fokien, the SeTseaou-Shan, or the Western seared Hills, and the Tseih-Sing-Yen, or Seven-star Hills. The Ou-ma-too, or Five Horses' Heads, is much famed,

"Five giant steeds to battle driven,
Men number'd, side by side,

Five mountain-tops asunder riven;

There stand they, petrified.

Was it fear of foemen wrought-or sorcerer's spell
Or is it but a poet's miracle?"

Among other places and objects entitled to re

gard I would mention the cotton plantations at

310

CHINESE SCALE OF MERITS.

Ning-po; the Kilns in the lime districts at Kingtan; the pass of Yang Chow; the Entrance to the Temple of Confucius at Ching-hai; the Temple of Poo-ta-la at Zhe Hol, in Tartary; the See Hoo and Temple of the Thundering Winds from the Vale of Tombs; the Bamboo Aqueduct at Hong Kong; the Temple of Budha at Canton; the Temple of Bonzes in the Quang-yen-Rock; the Great Temple at Macao, and the Kin Shin, or Golden Island, on the Yang-tse-kiang River.

The Chinese reduce merits and demerits, or good and bad actions, to a kind of scale, so that any one in certain cases may know the value of his own conduct. I shall pick out a few instances by which you will see the proportionate estimate of different actions.

Merits.

To cause a woman to restrain her temper
To check the scolding of women
To teach them to be cleanly in the kitchen..
To hinder them from gadding to see

plays acted .....

To teach them to be kind to female slaves
To teach them to agree with their relations
To teach them to be virtuous and be-
nevolent

To allow a wife to ride over her husband..