Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 719

1850.

Journal of Occurrences.

677

Kiảngsi.—The law requires that persons purchasing the rank of intendant or prefect should be proved for one year in the public service, and their qualifications reported on by the chief provincial authority. A Chinese of the bordered yellow Banner, in the service of the Imperial Household, having purchased a degree, next a clerkship in one of the Boards, and then the rank of sub-prefect, was sent to serve first in the Imperial demesnes, and then in Kiángsi in 1836." He lost a step, and was removed to another post in 1845, on account of the non-arrival of certain grain junks of which he had charge, but repurchased his places by subscribing in aid of the public distress in Kiang-sú; and from his deputy sub-prefectship rose by purchase to a sub-prefectship, and thence to a prefectship. His year of probation having expired since the day on which he had the good luck to be chosen for employment by lot out of those who arrived at the same time in the province, the said prefect, Yuen-shen by name, aged 54, is reported to be hale in body, and of great abilities, sure and experienced, diligent and clear-headed, and capable of taking charge of a difficult department. It is therefore proposed that he succeed to the first prefecture vacant by sickness, death, or discharge of the incumbent, at the disposal of the Board.—China Mail.

26th. H.E. P. A. da Cunha, governor of Macao, &c., arrives.—See page 344. June 7th. The English ship “Elizabeth Ainslie "burnt at her anchors in Cumsing moon anchorage; most of her cargo was consumed or spoiled. A lorcha left in charge of the wreck was the next night attacked by pirates, and a Mr. Richard Hopwood killed.

13th. The str. Reynard visits the Great Wall, and makes an examination of it at Shán-hái-kwán, as given in the following communication:-

This stupendous work of human labor has its eastern_termination on the shore of the Gulf of Liáutung, about 120 miles north of the Pei ho, in lat. 40° 4′ N., long. 120° 2′ E. Viewed from the water, the terminus appears to consist of a fortress some 300 yards in length, having a large gateway in the southern face, close outside of which, and between it and the sea, is a permanent joss- house, or temple, while the northern end is surmounted by a modern two-storied guard-house; immediately beneath, the Wall projects seaward.

At 10 A.M., we landed a large party to the right of the joss-house on a steep sandy beach, and were civilly received by a white-buttoned mandarin and a small party of soldiers, who informed us we were perfectly at liberty to inspect the Wall at our leisure. We therefore soon ascended to it by a broad inclined plane outside the fort, and found ourselves on a rectangular platform, about six- ty feet in length, paved with dark blue-colored bricks. This portion of the struc- ture, from its apparent age and condition, seems to have been the original ter- minus of the main wall; while, owing probably to the receding of the water, the beforementioned lower continuation projecting seaward—now a mass of ruins half buried in the sand-appears a less durable construction, of much later date. The first objects that arrested onr attention on the platform were three monu- mental slabs of black marble-two standing close to the wall, the third removed from its base: a curiously-carved altar-shaped pedestal lay extended on the ground. On one of the standing slabs is deeply inscribed the sentence, “ Hea- ven created earth and sea;" and on the other, “Only a spoonful.' The im. port of this latter sentence we were at a loss to conjecture: it may have had re- ference to the placid waters of the Gulf of Liáutung; or, perhaps is intended as an allusion to the nothingness of this vast structure when compared with the works of creation. The fallen monument, having a very long inscription, we left to be deciphered on our return from the survey of the wall, which we could no longer delay.

Ascending again by a broad flight of steps from the platform to the top of the

fort, we walked past the guard-house (a dilapidated building) down another

*[The sentences

are given in the draw. ings accompanying this account; the latter is a quotation from the Chung Yung, and

天開海岳md一句之多

means that the sea is “only a handful," and taken in connection with the first, that “heaven created (or spread out) the sea and the mountains," may allude to the sur- rounding prospect of sea and land. The whole sentence is, “The waters, though they are (or appear like) only a handful, are yet unfathomable, and the turtle, the crocodile, the dragon, and other monsters dwell in them.”—Ed. Chi. Rep.]