CHAPTER VI.

Natural History of China.

THE succinct account of the natural history of China given by Davis, contains nearly all the popular notices of much value at present known, collected by him from the writings of travellers and his own observations. A few additional items of information derived from other sources, will comprise most that is worth repeating on this subject. Malte-Brun observed long ago, “That of even the more general, and according to the usual estimate, the more important features of that vast sovereignty, we owe whatever knowledge we have obtained to some ambassadors who have seen the courts and the great roads,—to certain merchants who have inhabited a suburb of a frontier town,-and to several missionaries, who, generally more credulous than discriminating, have contrived to penetrate in various directions into the interior.” The compilers of the work upon China in the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, have brought together a great number of facts relating to the botany and zoölogy of China, the list of plants given in the VIIth chapter being the best heretofore published. The collections of Mr. Fortune, who was sent out by the Horticultural Society during the years 1844 and 1845, to the vicinity of the five ports, when described, will probably enlarge our present information on these topics more than anything which has yet been written. The opportunities which will be offered for examining the productions of the country in the vicinity of those newly opened places, will no doubt gradually increase until our knowledge of the natural history of China is somewhat comparable to its extent and variety.

Personal investigation is particularly necessary in all that relates to the geology and fossils of a country, and the knowledge possessed on these heads is consequently exceedingly meagre ; confined for the most part to desultory notices of the coasts and waters through which the embassies passed, or description of de

COAL ABUNDANT IN CHINA.

241

tached specimens. The vast stepps of Mongolia and wilds of Manchuria, with the mountainous ranges of Tibet, Songaria, and the western provinces of Sz'chuen and Kansuh, and the salt lake regions in and along the great Desert, are consequently utterly unknown, except a few notices of the most general character. It cannot be doubted that so peculiar a part of the world as the table land of Central Asia will, when thoroughly examined, solve many problems relating to geology, and disclose many important facts to illustrate the obscure phenomena of other parts of the world.

ed

The few notices of the geological formations which are furnished in the writings of travellers, have already been given to a considerable extent in the geographical account of the provinces. The summary given by Sir John Davis is a well digestsurvey of the observations collected by the gentlemen attached to the embassies, and need not be repeated.* The metallic and mineral productions of China used in the arts, comprise nearly everything found in other countries, and they are furnished in such abundance, and at such rates, as conclusively show that they are plenty and easily worked. Coal is generally used for fuel in all those places which have been visited, and the supply might probably be greatly increased by introducing European machinery and modes of working it. The boats on the North river, below Nanhiung, lie near the mouth of a horizontal shaft worked into the mine, above which the cliffs are scarped down as the shaft advances. The ignorance of the Chinese of the best modes of draining and ventilating mines, must necessarily prevent working many of them beyond a certain depth and

extent.

The mountains of Shansí and Chihlí supply large quantities of this valuable mineral, and many boats find constant employment in bringing a coarse anthracite from Kaichau in Liautung to Tientsin. One locality of the mine in Liautung is about lat. 39° 10′ N., and long. 121° 25′ E.† Several kinds, both of anthracite and bituminous, have been seen in marts at the north; and coal dust and refuse is mixed with a little moistened clay at Peking, and made into cakes for the fires of the poor. That which is brought to Canton is hard, and leaves a large proportion * The Chinese, Vol. II., pages 333-343.

† Chinese Repository, Vol. X., page 427.

of ashes after combustion; during ignition, it throws off a suffocating sulphureous smoke, which prevents the natives using it for cooking. It is employed in the manufacture of copperas from hepatic iron pyrites, according to Du Halde, but is less frequently employed in the arts than it would be if the people knew better how to use it.

Crystallized gypsum is abundant at Canton, brought from the north-west of the province, and is ground to powder in mills similar to that used for making flour. It is not used as a manure by the Chinese, but mixed with oil to form a cement for paying the seams of boats after they have been caulked. The powder is employed as a dentifrice, a cosmetic, and a medicine, and sometimes, also, is boiled to make a gruel in fevers, under the idea that it is cooling. The bakers who supplied the English troops at Amoy, in 1843, occasionally put it into the bread to make it heavier, but not, as was erroneously charged upon them, with any design of poisoning their customers, for they do not think it noxious; its employment in coloring tea, and adulterating the ping-fa, or powdered sugar, is also attributable to other motives than a wish to injure the consumers.

Limestone is abundant at Canton, both the common clouded marble and the blue transition limestone; the last is extensively used in the artificial rockwork of gardens. Even if the Chinese knew of the existence of lime in limestone, which they generally do not, the expense of fuel for calcining it would be such as to prevent their obtaining lime from it. The marble commonly used for floors is fissile crystallized limestone, unsusceptible of polish; no statues or ornaments are sculptured from this mineral, but ornamental slabs are sometimes wrought out, and the sides curiously stained and corroded with acids, forming rude representations of animals or other figures, so as to convey the appearance of their being natural markings. Some of these simulated petrifactions are exceedingly well done, slate are also chosen with reference to their layers, and treated in the same manner. The stone used about Canton and Amoy for building is granite, and no people exceed the Chinese in cutting it. Large slabs are split out by wooden wedges, and out for basements and foundations, and laid in a beautiful manner; pillars are cut from single stones of different shapes, though of no extraordinary dimensions, and their shafts ornamented with in

Slabs of argillaceous

BUILDING STONE AND GEMS.

243

scriptions. Ornamental walls are frequently formed of large slabs secured by posts, the outer faces of which are beautifully carved with figures in deep intaglio, representing a landscape or procession. Sandstone, mica slate, and other species of rock, are also worked for pavements and walls.

The nitre obtained in Chihlí by lixiviating the soil under houses, furnishes a large part of that used in the manufacture of gunpowder. A ley is obtained from lixiviating ashes, which partially serves the purposes of soap; but the Chinese are ignorant of the processes necessary for forming that substance. Alum is extensively used for settling water when turbid, as well as in dyeing cloth and whitening paper; large quantities are annually carried to India. It is obtained by lixiviation from shale. Other metallic or earthy salts are known and used, as sal-ammoniac, which is collected in Mongolia and Ílí from lakes and the vicinity of extinct volcanoes, and blue and white vitriol, which are obtained by roasting pyrites. Common salt is all procured by evaporating seawater, rock salt not having been noticed. At Chusan, the seawater is so turbid that the inhabitants are obliged to filter it through clay, and then evaporate the water to dryness in order to obtain pure salt.

The minerals heretofore found in China have for the most part been such as have attracted the attention of the natives, and been collected by them for curiosity or sale. The skilful manner in which their lapidaries cut crystal, agate, serpentine, and other quartzose minerals, is well known. The corundum used in these operations occurs in granitic rocks, but some of the crystals are brought from Borneo; it is used in the form of a powder. The juh or yu is a species of prehnite, or according to others of nephrite, and its value in the eyes of the Chinese depends chiefly upon its sonorousness and color. The most valued specimens are brought from Yunnan and Khoten; a greenish-white color is the most highly prized, but a plain color of any shade is not much esteemed. A cargo of this mineral was imported into Canton from New Holland not long ago, but the Chinese would not purchase it, owing to a fancy taken against its origin and color. The patient toil of the workers in this hard and lustreless mineral, is only equalled by the prodigious admiration it is held in; and both fairly exhibit the singular taste and skill of the Chinese. "Its color is usually a greenish-white, passing into a

butals

greyish-green and dark grass-green; internally it is scarcely glimmering. Its fracture is splintery; splinters white; mass semi-transparent and cloudy; it scratches glass strongly, but rock crystal does not scratch it. Specific gravity from 2.9 to 3·3."* The ruby, diamond, amethyst, garnet, opal, agate, and other stones, are known among the Chinese, but whether they are all found in the country itself or imported is not known. The seals of the Boards are in many instances cut on valuable stones. Malachite is common, and is used for paint and set as a jewel; jet is likewise employed for the same purpose.

All the common metals, except platina, are found in China, and the supply would no doubt be sufficient for all the purposes of the inhabitants, if they could avail themselves of the improvements adopted in other countries in blasting, mining, &c. The importations of iron, lead, tin, and quicksilver, are gradually increasing at Canton, but they probably form only a small proportion of the amount used throughout the empire, especially of the two first named. Their precise localities, the nature of the ores containing them, and the processes by which they are extracted, are hardly known, and only the most vague and unsatisfactory accounts have been obtained. It is almost useless to inquire of the people themselves on such points. A native dealer in iron at Canton, for instance, has not, generally speaking, the least knowledge of the mode of manufacturing the metal, or whence it is brought; it is enough for him that it sells. Consequently, it is almost impossible to obtain any satisfactory information without an actual examination of the mines, and observing the various manipulations employed in the preparation of the ores, which hitherto has not been done by scientific persons.

Gold is collected in the sands of the rivers in Yunnan and Sz'chuen, especially from the upper branch of the Yangtsz' kiang, called Kinsha kiang, or Golden Sanded river, from this product. The largest amount is said by Davis to come from Líkiang fu, near that river, and from Yungchang fu on the borders of Burmah. It is wrought into personal ornaments and knobs for official caps, and beaten into leaf for gilding, but is not used as a coin, nor is much found in market as bullion. Silver is brought from Yunnan near the borders of Cochinchina, and the mines in

Murray's China, Vol. III., p. 276.