Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

OUR YOUTH'S DEPARTMENT.

THE ADIRONDACK.

THE Adirondack is the name given to a very mountainous and picturesque district of country in the state of New York, and said to be next in grandeur to the Alps in Switzerland. No verbal description can adequately set it forth. It is cortiguous to Canada. As a traveller approaches this region, he ascends an elevated surface of about 1,700 feet above the tide. The Adirondack Mountains are seen towards the east, with their bare and rocky summits dim in the distance, projecting their spurs clothed with black forests to the shores of this central line of waters. Proceeding westwardly from this line, the physical aspect of the country undergoes a marked and immediate change. The mountains are reduced to hills of moderate elevations; and, instead of being covered with rugged and sterile peaks, their rounded summits display at luxuriant growth of valuable timber. They appear to be disposed without much conformity to any general system of arrangement. They are frequently solitary; and whenever they can aggregate in groups or clusters, their positions are determined by the local arrangements of the neighbouring waters. Between the lakes, or rather ponds, of this uniform section, which are disseminated in singular precision over the whole plateau, the surface rises gently from the shores into swells of arable land, excepting the southern declivities, which are often abrupt and precipitous.

"The eastern part of the plateau, embracing a tract of country about 50 miles wide, and 140 miles in length, is decidedly Alpine in its physical aspect. Its apparently confused wilderness of mountains is found, on close examination, to be disposed in ranges nearly parallel to the valley above mentioned. These terminate in successive bold and rocky promontories on the western shore of Lake Champlain. The chains increase in elevation as they approach the interior. until they attain their greatest altitude and grandeur in the most western one of the series. This has a northern termnation at Trembleau Point, and thrusts its southern extremity into the bed of the Mohawk at Little Falls. It consists of a extended aggregation of mountain masses, resting on bases that are elevated nearly 2,000 feet above tide. Many of the throw their bare and pointed summits of rock to the perperdicular altitude of about a mile above the surface of the ocean.

The vastness of their elevations, the almost endless variety of their forms, their confused and disorderly arrangement, and the deep forests that are interrupted only by the lakes at their bases, and the rocks and snows of their summits, invest the eastern half of the table with unrivalled solitude and sublimity."

This vast mountain chain rises and sinks along the horizon in such colossal proportions that one imagines himself in the Alps. The highest peak of the Catskill is only three thousand and some hundred feet in height; yet here are summits rising out of the bosom of forests nearly twice its altitude. Mount Tahawus is over a mile high, while Whiteface, Nipple Top, Mount Seward, Santenoni, Dix's Peak, Mount McMartin, and Mount McIntyre, rise each 5,000 feet into the heavens. Shall I mention Owl's Head, Mount Emmons, Schroon Mountains, North River and Boreas Mountains, 3,000 feet high-or Bald Peak and Raven Hill, and a host of others 2,000 feet and upwards? Why, the Catskill range, majestic as it is, is a dwarf beside these gigantic mountains. From the top of one of them you see for nearly 400 miles in circumference. To wander among them is the hardest toil that a forest life presents. Without roads-your only reliance the guide and compass you are compelled to wade streams, cross marshes, and climb over vast tracts of fallen timber, and at last, when night comes on, pull your own couch from the fir-trees around. If it were not that a chain of lakes extends the entire length of this wilderness, cutting it in two, it would be impenetrable. Along these sheets of water-from one to another, and around rapids and cataracts-the adventurer rows his boat, or carries it on his head.

This mountain range abounds with wild creatures—the bear, the wolf, the panther, the stag, the moose deer, and the eagle, have their resorts in these solitudes; and it is seldom the foot of civilised man ever treads these solitary haunts. Sometime ago, one Mr. Headley visited this part on an excursion for his health, and a spirited account of his journey is published by Messrs. CLARKE, BEETON, and Co.

CHINA AND THE CHINESE.

SKETCH OF THE HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE.

Ir is somewhat surprising that, for ages, no progress appears to have been made by this otherwise powerful nation, either in letters, or the arts and sciences. What they were centuries ago, they continue to be at the present day; and they have the excessive vanity to think that they are far in advance of all other nations on the face of the earth. The Chinese,

however, have a great deal to learn ere they can outvie the civilized nations of Europe, either in political and domestic economy, or in the cultivation of the arts and sciences.

Were you to visit China, you would find a very striking contrast simply in the plan upon which the dwellings of the poor, or the labouring classes, are constructed. Instead of a comfortable habitation, including all the conveniences and comforts which advanced science has enabled us to introduce into our English cottages, you would find a miserable hut, much resembling in appearance an Irish cabin, and just after the model which, from the very earliest times, has existed in the nation. For a modern architect to think of altering the plan would be looked upon by them as flat impiety. In the houses of the wealthier classes, however, a little more taste is displayed; but the magnificence of a Chinese mansion is estimated more by the amount of land which it covers, than by the beauty of its architecture. Nothing surprises a Chinese more than do the pictures, which they sometimes obtain a sight of, of our English mansions, extending, as they do very often, five and six stories high. Mr. Davies reports that the present emperor once gravely inquired of him whether or not it was the smallness of our territories that led us to build so near to the clouds.

In this country it would be thought very strange were government to make laws respecting dress-requiring working men to wear clothing only after a certain fashion; and that females should not be allowed to dress, if they please, as do persons in a higher station. But in China there is what called the board of rites and ceremonies; and the costume of every grade of society in the empire is under its superintendence. In free happy England we should all, I am sure, regard such a board as an infringement upon our liberties, and as a degradation to the English character.

Chinese ideas of respectability are somewhat extraordinary. To be fat is considered amongst them as an undoubted mark of wealth and consequence. You would not think it so in this country. When you see a very corpulent man, one who can scarcely get along the street or attend to the duties of life, you feel sorry for him, and are almost disposed to censure him for not exercising a little more self-denial. But persons of wealth amongst the Chinese, in order to look fat, eat to very great excess. Lord Jocelyn tells us, in his "Six Months in China," that, during the late expedition, a mandarin of immense size paid a visit to the English admiral, off Tangchoo-he weighed upwards of thirty stone; and upon being questioned as to his powers of consumption, he acknowledged,

[ocr errors]

with the utmost complacency, that a sheep was his ordinary allowance for three days. How very wicked it is thus to abuse the bounties of Divine Providence.

The Chinese are not so scrupulous about what they eat as we are in this country. Perhaps they have been driven to this because of the resources of the empire not being adequate to supply the demand of its immense population. So great does the struggle for existence appear, that asses, and rats and mice are hung up in the shambles as part of the butcher's stock in trade; and, although to your feelings the thing will appear quite revolting, yet it is a fact, that little pups are regularly fed for the shambles just as little lambs are amongst us; and, in the Canton market, cats are often to be seen ticketed at a higher price than pheasants.

Little girls, I am sure, will smile when I tell them what ideas the Chinese entertain of gentility and beauty. If I were asked to describe a perfect beauty, of course a fair complexion, a well-made form, and graceful step, would be indispensable in the delineation. But, would you think it, little girls, that, in the judgment of this very wise and mighty nation, a perfect beauty must possess a broad and pale face, a small waist, club-feet, which would occasion a limping, waddling gait, and, to complete the idea, she must have finger nails of great length, something like the claws of a bird.

to

The Chinese have but little disposition to cultivate commercial intercourse with other nations, and yet they are a commercial people; perhaps there are few nations who surpass them in the ardour with which they pursue their commercial transactions, or in the ingenuity they display in setting off their saleable commodities to the best advantage. For neatness and richness the shops of some of the Chinese merchants are said to excel most in Europe. "The principal streets in the city of Canton," says the Rev. R. G. Milne, "are occupied by merchants and mechanics, whose shops are so constructed as open in front, and to expose their contents to the observation of the traveller. By the side of each shop is suspended a large board or label of wood, varnished or gilded, on which are inscribed the particular calling of the tenant, and the articles in which he is a dealer. The label being hung like the sign of one of our inns, with the edge towards the street, and inscribed on both sides, can be read by all who approach the shop in either direction; and the vista of these variegated sign boards, glittering with gold and varnish, gives to the better streets a very gay appearance." The inscriptions in the shops, also, are sometimes very amusing, at the same time

highly characteristic of the keenness and industry of the people as traders. "We have seen," says Mr. Milne, "the following:- Gossiping and long sitting injure business;' 'Former customers have inspired caution;' 'No credit given; A small stream always flowing;' 'Goods genuine, prices true,""&c.

[ocr errors]

But, perhaps, full two-thirds of the population of China are employed in agriculture. This is considered indispensable to supply the demand for food; and the agricultural population may be spoken of as amongst the happiest and the most independent of the nation. There are no grazing farms in China, no meadows, as in this country, and but very little pasture land; while every acre of ground capable of cultivation is turned up either by the spade or by the plough.

We cannot, however, expend much praise upon their implements of husbandry. Even their best plough is but a very feeble instrument compared with what is in use in this country, not being capable of turning up the earth to the depth of more than six inches. In order to preserve the fruitfulness of the land, therefore, an immense quantity of manure is continually needed. But here the Chinese experience little difficulty. They are astonishingly industrious in procuring supplies of this needful article. The idea may excite a smile; but even the hair of the human head, and the shavings of the beard, are collected and preserved for agricultural purposes. Every barber in China, and they are a very numerous body of persons, is always provided with a small bag, in which he carefully puts the locks and shavings which he cuts off while performing the operation, and the hair thus carefully collected is considered to be excellent manure. For this same purpose the Chinese agriculturist will also cut off all the bristles, and even shave his swine.

Education and literature, of a certain kind, are so widely diffused throughout the Chinese empire, that it has been said there are more books, and more people to read them in China, than in any other nation in the world. Mr. Gutzlaff states that the most effectual way by which he could obtain friendly intercourse with the Chinese was, by the distribution of tracts in the Chinese language. "All are eager to read; and such," says he, "is their love for literature, that they will read anything."

Literary works are sometimes undertaken and carried out in China on a gigantic scale. The Imperial Encyclopædia, in general use, in 450 volumes, is a mere abridgement of a work, the original of which comprises no fewer than 6,000 volumes. Another work, a history of the empire from the earliest

« EdellinenJatka »