A walk of half an hour had freshened up the minds and bodies of the passengers, and they took their places on the promenade for the continuation of the lecture. The professor had been to his stateroom, and returned with additional notes.
"Dr. Legge quotes Marco Polo, the greatest traveller of the Middle Ages, who visited China in the thirteenth century," the speaker began, taking a paper from the table, and reading as follows in regard to the Grand Canal: "'Kublâi caused a water communication to be made in the shape of a wide and deep channel dug between stream and stream, between lake and lake, forming as it were a great river on which large vessels can ply.' Kublâi was the first sovereign of one of the old dynasties.
"The canal extended from Peking, the capital, in the north, to the south of the empire, a distance of six hundred miles; and it was in use all the way in former times. The Chinese were not distinguished as navigators; but in modern times steamers ply between Canton and the ports of the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, so that the canal is less necessary, and much of it is in bad condition.[301]
"The Great Wall is better known to all the world than the Grand Canal as a peculiarly Chinese wonder, and every school boy and girl has heard of it. It was built as a defence against the raids of the northern tribes, though for this purpose it was a failure; but it still stands, though some of the English newspapers only a few years ago treated it as a myth; yet there is no doubt whatever of its existence, for it has been visited by many reliable English and American travellers. It was begun two hundred and fourteen years before the Christian era.
"Our artist has indicated the wall on the map;" and Mr. Gaskette pointed it out on the west shore of the Gulf of Liau-tung, properly a part of the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, and traced it some distance to the west. "Its length, following its numerous twists and bends, through valleys and over mountains, is fifteen hundred miles. It is twenty-five feet wide at the base, and fifteen at the top. It is formed by two walls of brick, different from those we use, weighing from forty to sixty pounds; and the space between them is filled with earth and stones. It varies in height from fifteen to thirty feet.
"The top of the wall is paved with brick, but is now overgrown with grass. Along the wall, and not on it, are towers of brick at intervals. You observe that at Peking the wall makes a sweep to the north, perhaps thirty miles or more, enclosing a square of land of this extent outside of the general[302] course of the structure. I met an American gentleman who had been to the capital of China, and he told me he had been to the Great Wall. Dr. Legge may take the conceit out of some travellers when he says: 'What foreigners go to visit from Peking is merely a loop-wall of later formation, enclosing portions of Chih-li and Shan-hsî.'
"Leaving the Grand Canal and the Great Wall, we will pass on to the lakes of China. They are not on a large scale, like the rivers; and they are insignificant compared with those of our own country. The Tung-ting Hû appears to be the largest, mostly in the province of Hunan, which is sixty-five or seventy miles long. The others are Po-yang Hû, in Chiang-hsî, and the Tai Hû, which is noted for its romantic scenery and numerous islets.
"The temperature of the various provinces is on the average lower than any other country in the same latitude. There is every variety of climate in the vast territory of China. The natives consider the three southern provinces, including the island of Hainan, less healthy than the other portions of the country; but foreigners find no difficulty in residing in them. In a region taking in over twenty degrees of latitude, the productions vary from those of the tropics to those in the latitude of central New York, from bananas and pineapples in the south to wheat and Indian corn in the north.
"About all the common grains are raised in the north, and rice is the staple product of the south.[303] All sorts of vegetables and herbs, ginger, and various condiments, are produced and largely used; though I believe the people are not so hot, gastronomically, in their taste as we found them in Batavia and some other places in the islands. They raise the cane and make sugar in Formosa and the southern provinces. All the fruits of our own country, including Florida and Louisiana, are grown in different parts of China. Opium, which formerly came into the country only from India, is now produced even in Manchuria.
"The Chinese are pre-eminently agriculturists, and farming is their occupation above anything else. In the spring the emperor turns over a few furrows in a sacred field, introducing the work of the season; and the chief official in every province does the same, keeping the importance of farming pursuits always before the people. The tools they use are very primitive; the hoe being the principal hand-tool, and the plough of ancient use for animal power. There is an extensive application of irrigation, which is found to be so necessary in some of our extreme Western States. In the north wells are used; and various simple machinery is employed to raise water when the canal or river is below the level of the field where it is needed, which you may have an opportunity to see.
"No kind of fertilizer is wasted, and some are used which are often neglected in other countries. A great deal of fun and sarcasm is applied to the[304] food of the Chinese, but most of us rather approved the dishes set before us by our host of the Flowery Nation in Singapore. In some articles used for culinary purposes, Parisians go beyond the Chinese, as in the use of horse-beef. I have been in a provision store in Paris where nothing else was sold; and every part of the animal was economized, including the liver, kidneys, and tongue, and sausages of this meat were on view and for sale to epicures in this flesh. But I believe the Chinese do not eat the horse, unless it be in a season of famine; and they had to eat cats in Paris during the siege of 1870.
"When you go into the markets you may see whole dogs dressed for food, or cut up into pieces ready for cooking. These are not common yellow dogs, such as you saw in the capital of the Turkish empire; but they are the peculiar Chinese breed, sleek and hairless, which are carefully fatted, and prepared for market. I have no doubt that your stomachs revolt at the very idea of eating dog; but I cannot see that it is any worse than eating pork and fowls, which feed more or less on animal food. However, I do not hanker after dog-m............