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the rear of the procession was brought up by a vast concourse of spectators.

We felt grieved and horror-stricken at this terrible mockery of religion; this awful mummery, performed in the name of Christianity before the eyes of the assembled heathen; as it bore far too close a resemblance to the visit paid by one heathen deity to the temple of another.

What must be the estimate of Christianity, in the minds of the Chinese, who continually witness such scenes as the one described; they may well inquire in what consists the distinctive mark of difference, apparent in the ceremonies ordered, by pagan, and papal idolaters?

CHAPTER VIII.

Amoy-Fortifications-Grandiloquence of the Chinese-Taking of Amoy -Town-Arsenal-Trade of Amoy-Opium traffic-Joss-houses at White Stag Hill-Roman Catholic village-First traders of Amoy -Koo-lung-soo-Sickness of troops-Burial-ground-Old tombstones -Extraordinary rocks-Traditions-Mandarin's house and grounds— Barbarian ghosts.

HEE-MUN, or Amoy, is an Island in the Province of Foo-keen, and the city is of a third class, situate in Lat. 24° 32′ Nor., Lon. 118° 6' East, and has a remarkably fine harbour and bay, capable of affording safe anchorage to one hundred sail, the entrance to which is through a narrow passage, fortified on either side. The population of Amoy exceeds 200,000, the greater portion of whom are occupied in the coasting trade, and like the inhabitants of all sea-ports in China, are a turbulent race, which the mandarins have great difficulty to keep in order. The city of Amoy is about eight miles in circumference, including the outer town or city, and north-eastern environs; the outer town is separated from the city by a chain of rocks," with a paved pass to a covered gateway, on the summit, and is skirted by the outer harbour;" whilst the city is bounded by the inner harbour. Rugged hills rather more than five hundred feet in height skirt the city,

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and the dwellings, and warehouses of the inhabitants are built in the valley.

Amoy is well fortified, as the citadel, which is more than a mile in circumference commands the inner town, and is surrounded by a turreted wall, which varies in height from eighteen to thirty-three feet; there is also an inner rampart, which extends the whole of the way round the town. When our troops took Amoy, they found in the citadel large granaries well filled, arsenals which contained warlike weapons of all outlandish descriptions, such as gingalls, spears, in the form of a crescent, with bamboo handles ten feet long, huge matchlocks, wall pieces, bows and arrows, two handed swords, bamboo shields, at least seven feet in circumference, with military stores of all kinds. The powder magazines were also found to be replete with combustibles, and materials for making them; whilst in the foundry were found guns in various stages, and the moulds for casting them: a very great quantity of timber and naval stores were discovered, with several war-junks, not yet completed, on their stocks; but a two decker, carrying thirty guns was fully equipped and ready for sea.

The following anecdote, connected with Amoy, will illustrate the absurd grandiloquence adopted by the Chinese on all occasions; when the Wellesley manof-war entered the inner harbour of Amoy, a mandarin boat, manned by twenty rowers, with silken streamers flying, stern decorated with lanterns, and voluminous flag, on which a fiery dragon was depicted in the act of devouring some nondescript, but whether biped or quadruped deponent saith not, put off from shore,

showing a white flag of truce. The mandarin stated, that he had been sent by the first mandarin to place in the hands of the commanding officer a "chop;" the purport of which was, a demand, on the part of the first mandarin, to know what our ships wanted in the harbour of Amoy, and "ordering the Hung-Maou, or red-bristled barbarians to make sail for the outer waters with all despatch, ere the celestial wrath should be kindled against us, and before the guns from the batteries should vomit forth their deathdealing fire, which would exterminate us, and our posterity to the fifth generation." The rejoinder was a summons from us red-bristled barbarians to require the surrender of Amoy, to Her Britannic Majesty's forces; and as Fo-kee would not surrender, the redbristled barbarians vomited forth the death-dealing fire of their guns, and in less than eighteen hours from the time our ships entered the harbour of Amoy, our troops were in possession of the city, "where their magazines were blown up, and their arsenals with their contents utterly destroyed; their best war-junks and dockyards were burned; upwards of five hundred guns were rendered unserviceable, and their fortifications experienced much the same fate."*

Although war may be a political expedient necessary for the well-doing of states, we cannot view the disastrous effects produced by it upon individuals, without shuddering; the outrages committed by our troops, both British and Indian, and the massacre attendant upon the taking of Amoy, are terrible to contemplate retrospectively-the more especially when the last war * McPherson's China, page 209.

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was, in plain English, The Opium War. The pride of the Chinese received a great and severe blow, when Amoy was captured, as it was considered impregnable by the Chinese, from the strength, and magnitude of the sea batteries, and citadel. The following graphic description by McPherson, who was with the expedition, is valuable from being the account of an eyewitness before the sea batteries and fortifications were demolished by us:

"Sir Hugh Gough proceeded to reconnoitre the defences in the Phlegethon. These appeared to be of vast extent and strength: every spot from whence guns could bear upon the harbour was occupied, and strongly armed. From the point of entrance into the inner harbour, the great sea lines of defence extended in one continued battery of granite upwards of a mile. This battery was faced with turf and mud several feet in thickness, so that at a distance no appearance of a fortification could be traced. The embrasures were roofed, and the slabs thickly covered with turf, so as to protect the men while working their guns. For four hours did the ships pepper at these enormous batteries, without a moment's cessation. It never for a moment appeared to slacken. The Blenheim and Wellesley alone each fired upwards of twelve thousand rounds, and yet the works were as perfect when they left off as when they began. From twenty to thirty people were all that were killed by this enormous expenditure of powder and shot."*

As soon as our troops landed commenced the terrible slaughter, "killing more men in ten minutes than

* McPherson's China, page 203.