"The process of smelting iron from the ore is well known to them; and their cast ware of this metal is remarkably thin and light. They have also an imperfect knowledge of converting it into steel; but their manufacturies of this article are not to be mentioned with those of Europe, I will not say of England, because it stands unrivalled in this and indeed almost every other branch of the arts. Though their cast-iron wares appear light and neat, and are annealed in heated ovens, to take off somewhat of their brittleness, yet their process of rendering cast-iron malleable is imperfect, and all their manufactures of wrought-iron are consequently of a very inferior kind, not only in workmanship but also in the quality of the metal. In most of the other metals their manufactures are above mediocrity. Their trinkets of silver fillagree are extremely neat, and their articles of tootanague are highly finished.

"With the use of cannon they pretend to have been long acquainted. When Gengis-Khan entered China, in the thirteenth century, artillery and bombs and mines are said to have been employed on both sides; yet when the city of Macao, in the year 1621, made a present to the emperor of three pieces of artillery, it was found necessary to send along with them three men to instruct the Chinese how to use them. The introduction of matchlocks, I am inclined to think, is of no very antient date; they wear no marks of originality about them, like other articles of Chinese invention; on the contrary, they are exact models of the old Portuguese matchlock; and differ in nothing from those which still

of commerce, by this nation to Cochin-china. There can be no doubt, however, of the use of gunpowder being known to the Chinese long before the Christian era.

"A French physician, who travelled in China, says he never saw an alembic or distillatory apparatus in the whole country. The art of distillation, however, is very well known, and in common practice. Their Sau-tcbco (literally burnt wine), is an ardent spirit distilled from various kinds of grain, but most commonly from rice, of a strong empyreumatic flavour, not unlike the spirit known in Scotland by the name of whiskey. The rice is kept in hot water till the grains are swollen; it is then mixed up with water in which has been dissolved a preparation called pe-ka, consisting or rice-flour, liquorice-root, anniseed, and garlic; this not only hastens fermentation, but is supposed to give it a peculiar flavour. The `mixture then undergoes distillation. The Sau-tcboo, thus prepared, may be considered as the basis of the best arrack, which in Java is exclusively the manufacture of Chinese, and is nothing more than a rectification of the above spirit, with the addition of molasses and juice of the cocoa-nut tree. Before distillation the liquor is simply called taboo, or wine, and in this state is a very insipid and disagreeable beverage. The vine grows extremely well in all the provinces, even as far north as Pekin; but the culture of it seems to meet with little encouragement, and no wine is made from the juice of the grape, except by the missionaries near the capital.

"The manufacture of earthen ware, as far as depends upon the preparation

preparation of the materials, they have carried to a pitch of perfection not hitherto equalled by any nation, except the Japanese, who are allowed to excel them, not only in this branch, but also in all articles of lacquered and varnished ware, which fetch exorbitant prices even in China. The beauty of their porcelain, in a great degree, depends upon the extreme labour and attention that is paid to the assortment, and the preparation of the different articles employed. These are in general a fine sort of clay called Kao-lin which is a species of soap-rock, and a granite called Pe-tun-tse, composed chiefly of quartz, the proportion of mica being very small. These materials are ground down and washed with the greatest care: and when the paste has been turn ed or moulded into forms, each piece is put into a box of clay before it goes into the oven; yet with every precaution, it frequently happens (so much is this art still a work of chance) that a whole oven runs together and becomes a mass of vitrified matter. Neither the Chinese nor the Japanese can boast of giving to the materials much elegance of form.

With

those inimitable models from the

Greek and Roman vases, brought into modern use by the ingenious Mr. Wedgwood, they will not bear a comparison. And nothing can be more rude and ill-designed than the grotesque figures and other objects painted, or rather daubed, on their porcelain, which however are generally the work of the wives and children of the labouring poor. That they can do better we have evident proof; for if a pattern be sent out from England, the artists in Canton will execute it with scrupulous exact

ness; and their colours are inimit. able.

"The manufacture of glass was totally unknown among them until the last century, when, at the recommendation of the Jesuits, a family was engaged to go from France to Pekin, for the purpose of introducing the art of glass-making into the country. The attempt failed of success, and the concern, at the death of the manager, was broken up. In Canton they melt old broken glass and mould it into new formis; and they have been taught to coat plates of glass with silver, which are partially used as looking glasses; but their common mirrors are of polished metal, which is apparently a composition of copper and zinc.

"The pride, or the policy, of the government, affecting to despise any thing new or foreign, and the general want of encouragement to new inventions, however ingenious, have been greatly detrimental to the progress of the arts and manufactures. The people discover no want of genius to conceive, nor of dexterity to execute; and their imitative powers have always been acknowledged to be very great. Of the truth of this remark we had several instances at Yuenmin-yuen. The complicated glass lustres, consisting of several hundred pieces, were taken down, piece by piece, in the course of half an hour, by two Chinese, who had never seen any thing of the kind before, and were put up again by them with equal facility; yet Mr. Parker thought it necessary for our mechanics to attend at his warehouse several times to see them taken down and again put together, in order to be able to manage the business on their arri val in China. A Chinese under

took

took to cut a slip of glass from a large curved piece, intended to cover the great dome of the planetarium, after our two artificers had broken three similar pieces in attempting to cut them with the help of the diamond. The man performed it in private, nor could he be prevailed on to say in what manner he accomplished it. Being a little jagged along the margin, I suspect it was not cut but fractured, perhaps by passing a heated iron over a line drawn with water, or some other fluid. It is well known that a Chinese in Canton, on being shown an European watch, undertook, and succeeded, to make one like it, though he had never seen any thing of the kind before; but it was necessary to furnish him with a main spring, which he could not make and they now fabricate in Canton, as well as in London, and at one third of the expense, all those ingenious pieces of mechanism which at one time were sent to China in such vast quantities from the repositories of Coxe and Merlin. The mind of a Chinese is quick and apprehensive, and his small delicate hands are formed for the execution of neat work.

"The manufacture of silks has been established in China at a period so remote, as not to be ascertained from history; but the time when the cotton plant was first brought from the northern parts of India into the southern provinces of China is known, and noticed in their annals. That species of the cotton plant, from which is produced the manufacture usually called nankin cotton, is said to lose its peculiar yellow tint in the course of two or three years when cultivated in the southern provinces, owing, in all probability, to the great heat of the weather and

continued sun-shine. I have raised this particular species at the Cape of Good Hope, where, upon the same plant, as well as on others produced from its seed, the pods were as full and the tint of as deep a yellow in the third year as in the first. As is generally the case in most of their manufactures, those of silk and cotton do not appear to have lately undergone progressive improvement. The want of proper encouragement from the government, and the rigid adherence to antient usage, have rendered indeed all their fabrics stationary.

"Of all the mechanical arts, that in which they seem to have attained the highest degree of perfection is the cutting of ivory. In this branch they stand unrivalled, even at Birmingham, that great nursery of the arts and manufactures, where, I understand, it has been attempted by means of a machine to cut ivory fans and other articles, in imitation of those of the Chinese; but the experiment, although ingenious, has not hitherto succeeded to that degree, so as to produce articles fit to vie with those of the latter.

Nothing can be more exquisitely beautiful than the fine open work displayed in a Chinese fan, the sticks of which would seem to be singly cut by the hand; for whatever pattern may be required, or a shield with coat of arms, or a cypher, the article will be finished according to the drawing, at the shortest notice. The two outside sticks are full of bold sharp work, undercut in such a manner as could not be performed any other way than by the hand. Yet the most finished and beautiful of these fans may be purchased at Canton for five to ten Spanish

dollars.

dollars. Out of a solid ball of ivory, with a hole in it not larger than half an inch in diameter, they will cut from nine to fifteen distinct hol. low globes, one within another, all loose and capable of being turned round in every direction, and each of them carved full of the same kind of open work that appears on the fans. A very small sum of money is the price of one of these difficult trifles. Models of temples, pagodas, and other pieces of architecture, are beautifully worked in ivory; and from the shavings, interwoven with pieces of quills, they make neat baskets and hats, which are as light and pliant as those of straw. In short, all kinds of toys for children, and other trinkets and trifles, are executed in a neater manner and for less money in China, than in any other part of the world.

"The various uses to which that elegant species of reed called the bamboo is applied, would require a volume to enumerate. Their chairs, their tables, their screens, their bedsteads and bedding, and many other household moveables, are entirely constructed of this hollow reed, and some of them in a manner sufficiently ingenious and beautiful. It is used on board ships for poles, for sails, for cables, for rigging, and for caulking. In husbandry for carts, for wheelbarrows, for wheels to raise water, for fences, for sacking to hold grain, and a variety of other utensils. The young shoots furnish an article of food; and the wicks of their candles are made of its fibres. It serves to embellish the garden of the prince, and to cover the cottage of the peasant. It is the instrument, in the hand of power, that

keeps the whole empire in awe. In short, there are few uses to which a Chinese cannot apply the bamboo, either entire or split into thin laths, or further divided into fibres to be twisted into cordage, or macerated into a pulp to be manufactured into paper.

"That there is nothing new under the sun,' was the observation of a wise man in days of yore. Impressed with the same idea, an ingenious and learned moderni author has written a book to prove, that all the late discoveries and inventions of Europe were known to the antients. The discovery of making paper from straw, although new, perhaps, in Europe, is of very antient date in China. The straw of rice and other grain, the bark of the mul berry-tree, the cotton shrub, hemp, nettles, and various other plants and materials, are employed in the paper manufactories of China, where sheets are prepared of such dimensions, that a single one may be had to cover the whole side of a moderate sized room. The finer sort of paper for writing upon has a surface as smooth as vellum, and is washed with a strong solution of alum to prevent the ink from sinkbeing. Many old persons and children earn a livelihood by washing the ink from written paper, which, ing afterwards beaten and boiled to a paste, is re-manufactured into new sheets; and the ink is also separated from the water, and preserved for future use. To this article of their manufacture the arts in our own country owe so many advantages, that little requires to be said in its favour. The Chinese, however, acknowledge their obli

gations

gations to the Coreans for the improvements in making ink, which not many centuries ago were received from them.

"As to the art of printing, there can be little doubt of its antiquity in China; yet they have never proceeded beyond a wooden block. The nature, indeed, of the character is such, that moveable types would scarcely be practicable. It is true, the component parts of the characters are sufficiently simple and few in number; but the difficulty of putting them together upon the frame, into the multitude of forms of which they are capable, is perhaps not to be surmounted.

"Like the rest of their inventions, the chain-pump, which in Europe has been brought to such perfection as to constitute an essential part of ships of war and other large vessels, continues among the Chinese nearly in its primitive state; the principal improvement since its first invention consisting in the substitution of boards or basket-work for wisps of straw. Its power with them has never been extended beyond that of rais ing a small stream of water up an inclined plane, from one reservoir to another, to serve the purposes of irrigation. They are of different sizes; some worked by oxen, some by treading in a wheel, and others by the hand.

"The great advantages attainable from the use of mechanical powers are either not understood, or purposely not employed. In a country of such vast population, machinery may perhaps be considered as detrimental, especially as at least nine-tenths of the community must derive their subsistence from manual labour. It may be a question, not at all decided in their minds, whether the 1804.

gencral advantages of facilitating labour, and gaining time by means of machinery, be sufficient to counterbalance the individual distress that would, for a time, be occasioned by the introduction of such machinery. Whatever the reason may be, no such means are to be met with in the country. Among the presents that were carried out for the emperor were an apparatus for the air pump, various articles for conducting a set of experiments in electricity, and the models of a complete set of mechanical powers placed upon a brass pillar. The emperor, happening to cast his eye upon them, inquired of the eunuch in waiting for what they were intended. This mutilated animal, although he had been daily studying the nature and use of the several presents, in order to be able to say something upon them when they should be exhibited to his master, could not succeed in making his imperial majesty comprehend the intention of the articles in question. I fancy,' says the old monarch, they are meant as playthings for some of my great grandchildren.'

"The power of the pulley is understood by them, and is арplied on board all their large vessels, but always in a single state; at least, I never observed a block with more than one wheel in it. The principle of the lever should also seem to be well known, as all their valuable wares, even silver and gold, are weighed with the steelyard: and the tooth and pinion wheels are used in the construction of their self-moving toys, and in all their rice-mills that are put in motion by a water wheel. But none of the mechanical powers are applied on the great scale to facilitate and to expedite labour. Sim

plicity