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LE, THE ROBBER LEADER.

ful rulers. He fitted out a fleet of four thousand vessels, in order to subject Japan; but death ended his prospects. He who mounts a throne is only raised a few feet higher than other people for a few years, and then he comes down to the dust -the level of humanity. I wonder whether emperors ever think of these things. I think I should if I were an emperor.

Chuen-yuen-chang, a robber, established the Ming dynasty by chasing the last Mongul Emperor from the throne, and seating himself in his place; thus, once again, was this mighty empire governed by native emperors. This brings down the history of China to the year A. D. 1368. Among the emperors of the Ming dynasty were Ching-wha, Hungche, Ching-tih, Kea-tsing-in whose reign the Portuguese found their way to China, and introduced Popery,-Lung-king, Wan-leih, Teen-kee, and Tsung-ching; and during their reigns war poured out on the country his stormy terrors, famine and rebellion stalked abroad, and Cochin-China threw off its allegiance. At last, the Ming dynasty came to an end. If dynasties, and emperors, and kings, ay, and common people too, would look at their end more frequently than they do, it would be well for them.

Le was a desperate robber; he took possession of the capital of China, and made himself emperor, commencing the Ta-tsing dynasty; but he was overthrown by Tsung-tih, a leader of the Man

KIEN-LUNG REIGNS SIXTY YEARS.

51

choo Tartars. Tsung-tih died, and his nephew, under the name of Shun-che, ascended the throne. He was followed by the renowned Kang-he, whose master mind won the hearts of the Chinese, defeated the Monguls and Kalmucks, reformed the government, and established firmly that dynasty which still exists. Kang-he died in 1723, after reigning sixty years. None of these great emperors found out the secret of living for ever. "He died, and he was buried," is the end both of the poor and of the proud.

Yung-chin reigned after Kang-he; he banished the Jesuit missionaries to Canton on account of their influence and intrigues. Next came Kienlung, or Keen-lung, in whose reign the Dutch, the English, and the Portuguese endeavoured to obtain a footing in China, by sending embassies. Kien-lung was a much better emperor than most of those who preceded him. He undertook an expedition against the Meaou-tse, a race of mountaineers, and boasted of having completely subdued them; but do you think if he had done so, he would have allowed them to wear their hair as usual? Not he! He would have made their heads as sleek as his own. Kien-lung, like Kanghe, reigned sixty years, and resigned his throne to his son Kea-king, in the year A. D. 1795. Keaking, like too many of the emperors of China, was a profligate and selfish prince: I shall have something to say of him in a future chapter. He died

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THE DRAGON MUST HIDE HIS CLAWS.

in the year A. D. 1820, and the present Emperor Taou-kwang, or Reason's glory, succeeded him. The most important circumstance by far which has hitherto occurred in his reign, is the success of the British in their attack on a part of the Celestial Empire. The dragon of the "Son of Heaven" must in future hide his claws.

CHAPTER VII.

ALL ABOUT OPIUM.

Opium the Juice of the White Poppy.-Poppies grown on a large scale in Turkey and the East Indies.-Method of gathering Opium.-Opium admitted into China as a Drug. -Opium Trade at Cum-sing-moon.-Chinese Authorities encourage the Opium Trade.—Manner of smoking Opium.— Sad Effects of the Practice.-Proposed Remedies to the Evils of the Opium Trade.-Chinese boasting Proclamation. -Twenty thousand Chests of Opium destroyed.

You shall now have a few words about Opium. The Turks chew it, and the Chinese smoke it: whether it is chewed or smoked, it is of an intoxicating nature. Remember that intemperance may be practised in other ways than that of smoking or chewing Opium. Excess has swept its thousands from the world: youth, maturity, and age have been its victims; nor is lovely woman free from its hateful controul.

Opium, as I dare say you well know, is the juice of the white poppy. In Asiatic Turkey whole fields of poppies are grown; and in Bengal and Malwah, in the East Indies, still larger tracts of

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OPIUM ONCE A MEDICAL DRUG ONLY.

land are cultivated for the purpose of obtaining Opium. A great number of people are occupied, when the petals begin to fall, in wounding the unripe capsule, or seed receptacle, of each flower with a double-bladed knife, or rather lancet, that the milky juice may ooze out. When the heat of the sun has candied, or dried into a substance, the milky juice, it is scraped off, and this is the Opium of which I am about to speak. It passes through a refining process before it is used for smoking, and is often mixed up with different kinds of conserves. The Opium sold in England is frequently much adulterated. By the refining process an extract is obtained, of which morphia is the essential ingredient. It is extremely powerful. The refuse, after the extract has been obtained, is sold to poorer people, and sometimes it is made up with tobacco into cheroots.

Having told you what Opium is, let me next describe the way in which the Opium-trade was carried on. I say was carried on; for how it is carried on now, or how it will be conducted in future, is a problem that I cannot solve. You shall have all that I know about it in few words.

At one time Opium was admitted into China only as a medical drug; and here let me remind you that there is not a single natural production of the earth but what is useful in some way or other. The most injurious herb, the most poisonous plant that grows, is of great service to the human