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CHAPTER XIX.

Leave Shanghae for Peking Port of Chefoo

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Agricultural and natural products The Pei-ho river Arrival at Tien-tsin Salt-mounds- Suburbs - Mean buildings - Active trade - Noisy coolies Shops-Large warehouses Hawkers - Gambling propensities of the people - The city - Ruinous ramparts - Filthy streets Surrounding country-Salt plain — Gardens and nurseries - Winter houses for plants-Fruit-trees cultivated in potsFruit ice-houses - Vineyards - San-ko-lin-tsin's Folly - Winter in Tien-tsin.

ON the 11th of August I sailed from Shanghae for Chefoo, in Her Majesty's despatch boat' Attalante,' and reached that port on the 16th. Chefoo, or rather Yentae, for that is the name of the place, is one of the ports which have been opened to trade under Lord Elgin's treaty. It is in the province of Shantung, on the south side of the Gulf of Pechele. The town is a poor straggling place, and does not seem to be of much value as a place of trade. The harbour, however, is good, and is much frequented by junks engaged in the coasting trade. When I went on shore I was kindly received by H. B. M. Consul, M. C. Morrison, Esq., an old and valued friend whom I had known from my first visit to China in 1844.

It may be remembered that Chefoo or Yentae

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had been occupied by the French troops during the late war, and at the time of my visit there were two French ships of war in the harbour, and the town was still partially occupied by the French. It is certainly a healthy station, and has a fine beach for sea-bathing, but those who think it important as a place for foreign trade will, I fear, be disappointed. It may, however, be of some value as a mail station in the winter season when the approaches to the Pei-ho river are frozen up. Ships can always get to Yentae, and the mails can be brought overland from Peking and Tien-tsin and shipped at Yentae.

The soil of the surrounding country is very fertile in the valleys and low lands, but the hills are extremely barren. The cultivated lands produce large crops of beans (Dolichos), peas, and several kinds of millet, one of which is not met with in the more southern parts of the empire. It grows to the height of from twelve to fifteen feet, and is, I believe, the Sorghum, which has, of late years, been introduced to Europe, and is said to be a good substitute for the sugar-cane. When in a young, growing state its stem is sweet to the taste, but I doubt its containing sugar enough to compete with the sugar-cane of commerce. It may, however, prove useful as food for cattle.

On the hill-sides I observed two trees of an ornamental and useful description, and secured a portion of their seeds, which are now growing in this country. The one is a curious pine, which,

when old, becomes flat-headed, somewhat like the cedar of Lebanon; the other is an arbor-vitæ, apparently distinct from the Thuja orientalis which grows about Shanghae and other places in the south. The barren hills are said to be covered with wild flowers in the spring of the year, and even in the autumn many pretty things of this kind were in bloom. Platycodon grandiflorus several species of Veronica, Potentilla, Pardanthus, &c., were in bloom at the time of my visit.

As there was little to detain me at Yentae, I determined to go onwards to the mouth of the Pei-ho by the first opportunity. The French commodore on the station was good enough to give me a passage in a steamer named the Fee-loong,' which was under charter to convey the mails from Shanghae to Taku once in each month, the other bi-monthly mail being taken by an English vessel. We left our anchorage on the afternoon of the 1st of September, and on the following morning we were nearing the far-famed Taku forts and the mouth of the Pei-ho, the scene of our disasters and subsequent triumphs a short time before. The view on approaching the mouth of this river has often been described by writers on China from Lord Macartney's embassy downwards, and therefore I need say nothing about it here further than it was the most unprepossessing one which it had ever been my lot to look upon. As the 'Fee-loong' was a small vessel and drew little water, we were not obliged to lie outside the bar as ships generally

are,

but steamed in at once and dropped anchor in the Pei-ho abreast of the forts. The next day I went up to the port of Tien-tsin in a gun-boat which was employed to take up the mails and stores for our troops, which still held possession of that city.

A wonderful change has come over the Pei-ho since the days of Lords Macartney and Amherst, and of Staunton and Davis. Steam has now invaded its quiet waters, and gun-boats and other vessels go puffing and snorting upon it all day long. Instead of thousands of curious natives lining the shores and covering the salt-heaps as in the days of yore, English and French soldiers and merchants were observed in considerable numbers as we approached the city, and our appearance seemed to be a matter of too common occurrence to be heeded by the natives.

The wonderful collection of salt-heaps noticed by former travellers were still here and at once attracted our attention. During my stay in Tientsin I paid a visit to these salt-heaps in order to get some idea of their extent. They are placed on a piece of level land on the left bank of the river, just below the town. Many millions of bags, filled with coarse salt, are here heaped up in the form of hay-stacks. These stacks are about thirty feet in height, twenty in width, and of various lengths. To give an idea of the enormous quantity of salt collected here, I may mention that these stacks cover a space of ground fully a mile

in length, and in some places a quarter of a mile in width! The ground on which they are placed is raised a considerable height above high-water mark, and is perfectly level and smooth. The salt-heaps have their ends at right angles with the river, and between each range there is a small open drain for the purpose of carrying off the rain-water and to keep the bottom bags dry. The bags are made of split bamboo, and are consequently very strong, and mats are thrown over the whole to afford the protection of a roof and to carry off the rain. On looking at the enormous quantity of salt roughly stored in this manner, one is apt to imagine that a considerable portion must be wasted, particularly during the wet months of spring and autumn. But the Chinese are too economical in their habits to allow any great amount of waste to take place, and therefore I suppose the rough covering must be more efficient than it would appear at first sight. That a portion of the salt gets melted was apparent enough; the little drains between the heaps were full of it, either in the form of salt-water or of salt itself.

The view from the top of one of these salt-heaps was curious and novel. The whole place had a wintry aspect, the ground was whitened as if with hoar-frost, and as I walked over it a crisp crushing noise was heard as if one was walking on frosted snow. On these grounds not a blade of grass or green thing was visible, and, had it not been for the view of green trees and fields in the distance,

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