Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 505

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Reminisceners of Chusán

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and that the admiral's records, like the Alexandrian library, were doomed to the flames, not to heat the public baths, for there was no such thing in Tinghae, but to make bonfires. And a hard work the police had of it, for the edicts refused to burn, as if they had been made of asbestus. When this work of destruction was going for- ward, an officer of the engineers, attracted by curiosity, picked out a chart from among them, and a doctor discovered some papers, on which the emperor had written with his vermilion pencil. But with the exception of these two individuals, nobody else was moved by this rude conflagration, at which the Chinese were most indignant.

The most valuable parts of this establishment were the granaries, in which the paddy was laid up in good order, each building being labeled with the year, when the grain was deposited. When rice was becoming scarce, the stock on hand was offered for sale at a very re- duced rate, but none of the inhabitants dared to buy for fear of future punishment. So the whole remained, except what the fowls and ducks consumed, and of these there was at first a very small quantity in possession of the foreigners. All the side courts were overgrown with rank grass; the artificial tanks were full of stagnant water; but there was no garden to please the eye or to perfume the air with its flowers or fruit. Chairs and tables there were enough, with basins sufficient to have served a battalion. The worthy magistrate also had laid up a stock of spirits, and had a large quantity of furs scattered about in the house. But so rapid had been his flight, that the very supper was left on his table, and not a single article, not even the indispensable opium pipe, had been removed. Whilst beholding all these things, there stole in a number of Chinese and quickly walked off with a load of furs. And not even satisfied with this booty, they took away the chair, that had served them to get over the wall.

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.: Some writer has compared Tinghae with Venice, and if that com-

·parison · holds good, Mongha near Macao certainly resembles Ver- sailles, and its straw hovels are comparable to the Thuilleries, for both are the habitations of men. Tinghae has a few tolerable streets with good shops and many hovels. There are all together in the city -3000 dwellings, and reckoning ten inhabitants for each, there will be -30,000 citizens. Some calculators would only allow five individuals for each house, but we request them to show us a single habitation containing only five inmates. There is, generally, the man and his wife, with four, five or six, or more children, and also some relative, friend, or domestic. In the larger abodes there are often found from forty to sixty individuals. This is not mere conjecture, but has

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