The company had hardly expected that Captain Ringgold would go to the capital, for it was off the course to Japan, which was the next country to be visited; but their curiosity had been greatly excited, and he was disposed to gratify it.
"Pekin is not on navigable water, and we cannot go there in the ship," said he. "We go to Tien-tsin, which is the seaport of Pekin, about eighty miles distant from it. It is a treaty port, and is said to have a population of six hundred thousand; the number can doubtless be considerably discounted. The next thing is to get to Pekin; though we can go most of the way by boat to Tung-chow, thirteen miles from the capital. Some go all the way on horseback or by cart. We will decide that question when we get to Tien-tsin."
"How long will it take us to go there?" asked Uncle Moses.
"About two days; we are off Woo-Sung now. We have the pilot on board, and we shall go to sea at once," replied the commander.
Nothing of especial interest occurred on the voyage; and before noon on the second day out the two[343] ships were off the mouth of the Pei-ho River, and a Chinese pilot was taken. As they went up the river they saw the Taku forts, where the Celestial soldiers won their only victory over the English, but were badly beaten the following year. On the rising tide the ships got up the river, and anchored off the town.
The place was like any other Chinese city, and was quite as dirty as the dirtiest of them. Two of the guides from Shang-hai, who were couriers for travellers, had been brought, one in each ship; and both of them were intelligent men. The Blanchita had been put into the water as soon as the anchors were buried in the mud; and the party went on shore in her, to the great disgust of the boat-people.
The American consul came on board with the Chinese officials; and the commander took him into the cabin for a conference in regard to getting to Pekin, while the tourists were on shore with the guides. Mr. Smithers had seen the steam-launch, and the question was whether the party could go up Pekin River in her. The consul could see no difficulty in the way, any more than there would be in the ships' barges. He thought he could put them in the way of making the trip securely, and they went on shore together in the barge.
Mr. Smithers knew a couple of high officials who were going to the capital the next day, and the commander was introduced to them. They were very polite, and both of them spoke English. One had[344] been educated at Yale College in New Haven. They were invited to go with the party to Pekin in the Blanchita, and accepted. The arrangements were completed for the trip. They went on board of the Guardian-Mother, and were treated with the most distinguished consideration, shown over the ship, and invited to lunch.
When the launch came off with the party at noon, all the ladies and gentlemen were presented to them by the commander. The pacha, the rajah, and the princess were clothed in their elegant robes; and they evidently made a profound impression. The plan for the journey to the capital was announced to the passengers, and they could not help being delighted with it. Mr. Sage had been directed to spread himself on the lunch, and he did so. Monsieur Odervie even prepared a few Chinese dishes, the art of doing which he had learned from a native cook in Hong-Kong.
In the afternoon the party went on shore again, under the escort of Mr. Psi-ning and Mr. Ying-chau, visiting the temple in which the treaties had been signed, and several others, and then walked through the street of "Everlasting Prosperity," as the Chinese gentlemen explained it. The prosperity seemed to consist mainly in the sale of eel-pies with baked potatoes, the former kept hot at a small charcoal fire. Live fish in shallow bowls with a little water in them were common, and cook-shops for more elaborate Chinese dishes were abundant.[345]
Both the native gentlemen were mandarins of different orders, and they were received with the most profound deference by the common people. The tourists saw everything in the town that was worth seeing; and early in the afternoon they returned to the Guardian-Mother, where the consul and the native gentlemen were to dine. The latter were invited to sleep on board in order to be in readiness for an early start the next day, and they had ordered their baggage to be sent to the ship. Mr. Psi-ning said he had telegraphed to an official at Tung-chow to have conveyances ready for the party at that place, which was as far as the boat could go, thirteen miles from Pekin.
Mr. Smithers was exceedingly kind, and did far more than could be expected of a consul. The commander expressed his obligations to him in the most earnest terms for all he had done, and especially for introducing the distinguished Chinese gentlemen. The dinner was the most elaborate the steward and the cook could provide, and it was one of those hilarious affairs which have several times been described during the voyage. In the evening there were Mrs. Belgrave's games, music, and dancing with the assistance of the Italian band, and finally the singing of the Gospel Hymns.
The Blanchita was prepared for her voyage as soon as she came off from the shore, coaled for the round trip, supplied with cooked provisions, though the galley was available, and with everything that[346] could possibly be needed. She was put in about the same trim as when she went up the rivers of Borneo. Felipe was to be the engineer, Pitts the cook, and four sailors were detailed for deck-hands. The excursion had been arranged for five days; and the bags, valises, and other impedimenta of the voyagers, were on deck at an early hour. Breakfast was ready at half-past six; and at half-past seven the Blanchita got under way with a native pilot for the river, who could speak pidgin English.
The party were in a frolicsome mood; and they went off singing a song, to the great astonishment of the native boat-people. Mr. Psi-ning joined with them; for he had learned the tunes in the United States, where he had travelled extensively. Tien-tsin is the terminus of the Grand Canal in the north, and they passed through a small portion of it into the river. The trip was through a low country. The road to the capital was in sight, and they saw various vehicles moving upon it. The first that attracted their attention was one of the barrows, with a native between the handles, supporting them with a band over his shoulders. On one side of the large wheel was a passenger; and behind him was a lofty sail, like those depending from the yards of a ship, but about three times as high in proportion to its width. It had five ribs of wood in it below the upper yard to keep it spread out. The boys thought the craft would be inclined to heel over with all the cargo on the starboard side.[347]
They saw a rickshaw rigged with a sail in this manner. A man on a farm was working with an ordinary wheelbarrow sailing in this way. There were no end of men riding ponies, or in the two-wheeled passenger-carts having a cover over them which extended out over the horse. Farther up they observed a couple of coolies irrigating the land with a machine which had four paddles for moving the water, with four more each side of the stream, under a frame to which two men were holding on, and working treadmill fashion, with their feet on each of the four arms. They noticed mixed teams of horses and bullocks, such as one sees in Naples. The most curious was a mule-litter, which was simply a sedan between two animals.
Felipe drove the launch at a nine-knot speed, and at half-past three in the afternoon the boat arrived at Tung-chow. Contrary to their expectation, the passengers had greatly enjoyed the trip; but it was out of their own hilarity rather than their surroundings. Pitts had arranged the lunch in a very tasty manner on the tables in what the boys had called the fore and after cabins. They found all the variety of vehicles they had seen on the road, and in three hours they came to the great gate of Pekin. They were conveyed to the small German hotel, which they more than filled; and other lodgings were provided for some of the gentlemen, though the meals were to be taken at the public-house.
The Chinese gentlemen had to leave them to[348] attend to their own affairs, but after dinner the professor told them something about Pekin: "The city is in about the same latitude as New York, and the climate is about the same. It is situated on a sandy plain, and the suburbs are comparatively few. The town consists of two cities, the Manchu and the Chinese, separated by a wall; and the whole is surrounded by high walls, with towers and pagodas on them, as you have already seen. The Manchu wall is fifty feet high, sixty feet wide at the bottom, and forty at the top. Without the cross-walls, there are twenty-one miles of outer wall, enclosing twenty-six square miles of ground.
"There are sixteen gates, each with a tower a hundred feet high on it. Your first impression must have been that Pekin is the greatest city in the world. You came in by a street two hundred feet wide, with shops on each side; but when you have seen more of it, you will find dilapidation and decay, and about the same filth you have observed in other Chinese cities. But it is one of the most ancient cities in the world, for this or another city stood here twelve hundred years before Christ. Kublâi, a grandson of Genghis Khan, the great conqueror of the Moguls, made Pekin the capital of all China. When the Manchus came into power the city was all ready for them, and for a time they kept it in repair; but for more than a hundred years it has been going to ruin.
"The Manchu, or inner city, is divided into three[349] parts, the largest of which is the real city. In the middle of it are two walled enclosures, one within the other. The outer one seems to be the guardroom of the inner, to which entrance is forbidden to all foreigners, and even to Manchus and Chinese not connected with the court. This last is called the Purple Forbidden City, two and a quarter miles around it, and is the actual imperial residence. It includes the palaces of the emperor and empress and other members of the family. It contains other palaces and halls of reception.
"The 'Hall of Grand Harmony' is built on a terrace twenty feet high, and is of marble, one hundred and ten feet high. Its chief apartment is two hundred feet long by ninety wide, and contains a throne for the emperor, who holds his receptions here on New Year's Day, his birthday, and on other great occasions. The 'Palace of Heavenly Purity' is where the monarch meets his cabinet at dawn for business; and you see that he must be an early riser. Within these enclosures are temples, parks, an artificial lake a mile long, a great temple in which the imperial family worship their ancestors, and many other grand palaces, temples, and statues, which I have not time to mention.
"The outer, or Chinese, city, is thinly populated, and a considerable portion of it is under cultivation. The principal streets are over a hundred f............