Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 104

1841.

The Emperor Tavukwang.

Thus men are not deficient in progeny.

な

She

controls posterity. rules the seas, and their waters therefore cannot become billows. She creates happiness, and largely bestows it upon men. I, having examined the historical annals of the district of Hinghwa (Fe's native region), and uniting the traditions of the people with the re- corded tablets, have herewith drawn up this abridgement, and thus submit the information.

1. The 搜神記

Sow Shin Ke, or Record of Researches concerning the Gods, are comprised in 3 octavo vols., and was compiled during the Ming, the last Chinese dynasty. The compiler's name is not attached to the edition which we` have translated from, nor are any dates affixed. The work contains brief sketches of one hundred and eighty-one popular Chinese deities, and a pretty good idea is given of what the natives themselves regard as the origin of their idols, and an enlightened mind will perceive how debased must be a people who worship as divine, objects whose history according to their own accounts, is enveloped in such unreasonable and superstitious fancy. There are other different traditions of Matsoo Po besides the notice found in the Sow Shin Ke. Mr. Medhurst bas written a Christian tract entitled the "Birthday of Matsoo Po," which well ex- poses the absurdity of the history and worship of the idol.

2. Pooteën heën is in the province of Fuhkeën, and hence the Fuhkeen sea- men are more attached to Fe than any other class of seafaring men.

3. Kwanyin is the Chinese goddess of mercy, and is a very popular idol. A sketch of her history is also contained in the Sow Shin Ke.

4. The keang paou is a cloth by means of which small children are carried upon the backs of their mothers and nurses. It has four bands attached to if, one of which goes over each shoulder, and two around the waist of the nurse, and are tied upon the breast. The cloth is sometimes of various colors, and highly wrought with ornamental figures.

5. That is became of a marriageable state. Young ladies do not put up their hair with pins, but allow it to hang down until they are about to be married.

6. Se wang is the superintendent of the female genii, as Tung wang kung is of the male genii.

7. The golden paper and ruby book have reference to the dispatches of the great emperor.

ART. IV. The emperor Taoukwang: his succession to the throne of his father, coronation, with notices of his character and go-

vernment.

WHEN the destinies of an empire so vast and populous as the Chi- nese, are swayed by one man, wẹ naturally wish to know something of the history and character of such a monarch.

At the present time, this wish is strengthened by an expectation that his imperial majesty is about to change (or to have changed) his relations with the other potentates of the earth, with whom he is to fellowship as brothers,