The ignorance of Europe was characterized by a brutality which is entirely unknown in China; and, besides this, it was ignorance of a totally different kind. The great mass of Europeans were ignorant of literature and science as they existed in their own day; while the great mass of the Chinese are well instructed in all the knowledge, imperfect as it may be, of their time. In Europe the lower classes could neither read nor write, and a large proportion of the upper classes were in the same predicament; while education, to that extent at least, was-and is-more general in China than in any other country in the world, with the sole exception of Japan. As yet our acquaintance with the Chinese is pretty nearly confined to the rabble of a great city, the outpost of the country in what may be termed its defence against the advance of the western nations. This rabble has been brought up from the cradle in hatred and contempt of Europeans, who were excluded, by authority, from the benefit of the ceremonial law. All the arts and all the power of the government have been employed in erecting a moral barrier against us. The Centre of the world was aware that it had been subdued by a handful of Tartars; and it had heard that the British, the richest and most clamorous of those foreign barbarians who repaired to the gates of Canton to sue for permission to trade, had, under the very same pretexts, overrun the Mogul empire. It was necessary, therefore, to exclude the whole European race from the Flowery Land; but in the mode of doing so a strange peculiarity of Chinese ignorance betrayed itself. The government resolved that it would not discover the strangers to be anything else than paltry and ignorant barbarians; and, like the bird which, when pursued, hides its head in the sand, fancied itself secure so long as the blindness continued! If, in referring to earlier Europe, we suppose that the imperfect knowledge, and the comparative refinement and tranquillity of character enclosed in the convents was generally diffused throughout society, we may facilitate by that means our conception of the moral position at present held by the Chinese; but in no other way can the comparison serve any other purpose than to bewilder and mislead. THE CHINESE BOOK VIII. EMPIRE ITS INTERNAL RESOURCES AND FOREIGN RELATIONS.-THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN. CHAPTER I. PRODUCTIONS AND RESOURCES OF CHINA. IF we consider that the Chinese empire contains onethird part of the human race, living in a high state of civilization, and yet almost wholly independent of foreign commerce, we must conclude that the country in its productions and resources is one of the most admirable in the world. But, at the same time, it should not be forgotten that the people are wonderfully parsimonious in their use of the means of subsistence, and that they accept without repugnance as food many of the gifts of nature, which elsewhere excite only curiosity or disgust. It may be a question whether the appetite that rejects with loathing the flesh of a cat or a rat, and luxuriates on that of other animals infinitely more uncleanly in their habits, is not guided more by prejudice than reason; but still this philosophical taste of the Chinese, when taken in conjunction with their general preference for the flavour which attends decomposition and decay, would seem to indicate some peculiarity in their organization. At any rate the fact is important, as extending to its utmost limit of elasticity the line with which nature confines the movement of population; and it will account for that outburst of colonization, in defiance of the laws of the empire, which has been already pointed out as so well calculated to excite interest and expectation. In a country so well cleared as China, the larger carnivorous quadrupeds are, of course, not common; but the Bengal tiger still exists in the forests of the southwest, and its gall and bones are said to be used by military officers as a medicine for inspiring courage. Panthers and bears-the paws of the latter affording a luxury for the table-are occasionally found, and deer are common to the north of the Great Wall. The wild ass haunts the cold and dreary wastes towards the Russian frontier, and presents the same solitary and untameable spirit as amidst the burning marshes of western India. Monkeys and wild cats are found in the south, and the latter are considered game, and fattened as a more than ordinary delicacy for the table. The domestic animals are the dromedary in Tartary; the deer, used for the purpose of ornament; a horse, little larger than a Shetland pony; a very small ox, and a buffalo equally diminutive, both yoked to the plough; the ass and the mule; the goat and the heavy-tailed sheep, little cared for except in Tartary; and the dog, who sometimes watches the house, and sometimes furnishes a favourite stew. The Chinese never use milk, butter, or cheese; and having few pastures to spare for breeding cattle, they turn them out on waste lands to pick up a subsistence for themselves, which sufficiently accounts for their stunted and squalid appearance. The pig, however, is their domestic favourite, for he can board and bed with themselves. He is as much the master of a Celestial as of an Irish cabin; and for the same good reason that he pays the rent. Pork and salted fish are the only animal food ever tasted by the poorer classes, with the exception of rats, frogs, worms-or any other creature that can serve for aliment. Cats and dogs are delicacies for a higher class; with whom it sometimes happens that an ass's head is the principal dish of the feast. It may be remarked that the taste of the people for pigs and dogs is very ancient; the fact of these animals having been kept for the table by the masses of the nation being mentioned in the She-King, or book of odes. From the same authority we learn (through the researches of M. Biot) that beef and mutton were reserved for the use of the chiefs and dignitaries, who kept herds and flocks. Among the feathered tribe, there are the eagle and a species of falcon; the cormorant, trained to catch its prey in the water, and the quail to fight duels like the cock; gold and silver pheasants, and one with tailfeathers six feet long; geese of a very large size; Muscovy ducks as large as an English goose; and common ducks that are bred in the rivers in colonies, leaving the boats to seek their subsistence in the water to the sound of a pipe. "About noon," says Hamilton of these last, "the master winds his whistle again, on which they all repair on board their own vessel in good order, some of the old drakes bringing up the rear, while others guard the bridge to take care that no strange ducks enter with their own tribe; and when all are in, the old guardians enter also and take their proper posts." There are likewise myriads of teal, which serve as excellent food, and |