The mandarin who had the vessel built, had gone to Pekin to obtain a
"button" as his reward for being the first person to launch a
steamer in the Chinese empire. The builder himself will, in all
probability, be obliged to rest contented with the consciousness of
his talent.
From the ship-yard we proceeded to the garden, which was very large
but greatly neglected. There were neither alleys nor fruit trees,
rocks nor figures; but, to make up for these, an insufferable
quantity of summer-houses, bridges, galleries, little temples, and
pagodas.
The dwelling-house consisted of a large hall and a number of small
chambers. The walls were ornamented, both inside and out, with
carved wood-work, and the roof abundantly decorated with points and
pinnacles.
In the large halls plays and other entertainments are sometimes
enacted for the amusement of the ladies, who are universally
confined to their houses and gardens, which can only be visited by
strangers in their absence. {112}
A number of peacocks, silver-pheasants, mandarin-ducks, and deer are
preserved in their gardens. In one corner was a small, gloomy
bamboo plantation, in which were some family graves; and not far off
a small earthen mound had been raised, with a wooden tablet, on
which was a long poetical inscription in honour of the favourite
snake of the mandarin, which was buried there.
After duly inspecting everything, we set off on our road home, and
reached there in safety.
I was not so fortunate a few days later on visiting a tea-factory.
The proprietor conducted me himself over the workshops, which
consisted of large halls, in which six hundred people, including a
great many old women and children, were at work. My entrance
occasioned a perfect revolt. Old and young rose from work, the
elder portion lifting up the younger members of the community in
their arms and pointing at me with their fingers. The whole mass
then pressed close upon me and raised so horrible a cry that I began
to be alarmed. The proprietor and his overseer had a difficult task
to keep off the crowd, and begged me to content myself with a hasty
glance at the different objects, and then to quit the building as
soon as possible.
In consequence of this I could only manage to observe that the
leaves of the plant are thrown for a few seconds into boiling water,
and then placed in flat iron pans, fixed slantingly in stone-work,
where they are slightly roasted by a gentle heat, during which
process they are continually stirred by hand. As soon as they begin
to curl a little, they are thrown upon large planks, and each single
leaf is rolled together.
