Directory_and_Chronicle_1842 — Page 505

1842

The Soldier's Manual,

4×7

ings keen to make him lose the general equanimity of his character. Attempts are made to counterfeit this despair, especially at burials, or under great bereavements. Wrath is not a passion, that sways a Chi- uese mind, for by effort he dissembles or suppresses his emotion. But on the other hand he is not prone to revenge, and will put up with injuries, that would make the blood of other people boil, and urge a Malay to deeds of deadly hostility. Gratitude however is not a lead- ing feature of his character, though it is by no means unknown, and we have heard of well authenticated instances of grateful re- membrance and requital of kinduess.

Review.

ART. IV. Kiáu Ping Siú Chỉ, or The Soldier's Manual.

ed by G. TRADESCANT LAY, interpreter to sir Henry Pottinger's special mission.

THIS is a little work that I met with in a Tartar dwelling at Chápú, buried among books, papers, and the scattered fragments of household stuff. No date is prefixed, but it is apparently a modern performance. The style is copious without ill-considered and inflated sentences, and by presenting many phrases that have a direct reference to what is practical, it helps the reader to a clear and accurate notion of several words, which in the present state of Chinese lexicography are allowed to roam at large in the region of indefinables. As two or three en- gagements are fresh in my recollection, and there is a prospect of witnessing several more before this war is at a close, I have read this little work with pleasure, and not without profit. Its perusal has sharpened my curiosity, and at the same time confirmed the common opinion, that everything done in China, whatever may be its merits or defects, is planned according the laws of a special system, and ex- ecuted in conformity with preëstablished rules.

Without further preamble, we will proceed to give a concise view of the little book before us. In the first section, the commissary is instructed to provide trustworthy colones, or camp-followers, and to license them by express nomination, no soldier being allowed to have his own follower. Carts, horses, and waggons, are in like manner to he considered as public property. In passing through the territory of any civil magistrate, the value of a thrum of silk or a flue of down.