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396
Capture of the Heights above Canton.
JULY,
Our loss in killed and wounded, up to this date, amounted to about 70. That on the side of the enemy must have been far more, though at first but few bodies were found. A foraging party, when a few miles from our camp, discovered between 60 and 70 dead and dying Tartars in one house, who evidently had been carried there to give us a false idea of the number killed.
One part of captain Elliot's treaty was, that the Tartar troops, from thirty to forty thousand in number, should evacuate the city, lay down their arms, and proceed to a distance of sixty miles from Can- ton. Since the arrival of our force opposite the walls, the Tartar and Chinese troops had been carrying on a civil war within the city, the loss on both sides being very great. Besides this, our shipping and land force had so effectually blockaded and besieged the city, that few or no supplies could enter. Consequently, the inhabitants were now driven to that state, that they would agree to any terms we chose to dictate. How unfortunate that captain Elliot's tempera- ment should be so conciliating! As it is, however, if the sum receiv- ed for the ransom of the city is to go to the navy and military as prize-money, it will amply recompense them for the toils and trou- bles they have endured. This sum being quite unconnected with the original claims on the Chinese, it would be rather unfair that those who succeeded in procuring the same should derive no benefit therefrom.
The 29th of May was a day of rest, and our officers and men were to be seen in every direction walking through the deserted suburbs and villages in the neighborhood of Canton. Some very extraordinary tombs, and places of worship or joss-houses were seen.
One very extensive line of buildings, close under the city wall, was solely de- voted to the reception of the dead. They were in strong substantial coffins, elevated on pillars with perfumed incense-sticks burning on every side. The coffins were generally placed two in one vault; and, with the exception of a close damp smell, there was no un- pleasant sensation perceptible. Outside of the vaults, evergreens and creepers were tastefully arranged, and over the doors of some of them beehives were fixed. The coffins were of enormous thickness and strength. The contents of a few of those that were opened present- ed an appearance almost natural. The badies were all embalmed. They were buried in their, clothes, the cap and button denoting in death, as in life, the rank of the wearer. The body, in some of the coffins opened, must have been from all pearance an inhabitant of its narrow bed for upwards of half a century. The features present-
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