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Page 27
The incense burned before the idols consisted mostly of pieces of
aromatic wood, called Joss-sticks, silvered paper, and tin-foil. One
of their most revered objects was the mariner's compass, and before it
they would place tea, sweet cake, and pork, in order to keep it
faithful and true! It is well known that the Chinese were acquainted
with the phenomenon of the magnetized needle centuries before it was
known in Europe, and their compass differs materially from ours;
instead of consisting of a movable card attached to the needle, theirs
is simply a needle of little more than an inch in length balanced in a
glazed hole in the centre of a solid wooden dish, finely varnished. It
has only twenty-four points, and with its use they combine some of
their most ancient astrological ideas. The broad circumference of the
dish is marked off into concentric circles, inscribed with mystical
figures. We say the needle points to the north; they hold that the
attraction is to the south, and therefore colour that end of the
needle red, a hue that appears to have a mysterious efficacy in their
eyes. I have already told how the Josses were wrapped in red scarves,
and bits of red cloth were tied on the rudder, cable, mast, and other
principal parts of the vessel, as safeguards against danger. There was
also a large painted eye on either side of the bow, to enable the junk
to see her way! At first I could not understand the meaning of this,
and told Chung to ask the Ty Kong for an explanation. "Have eye,"
translated Chung, "can see; no have eye, no can see." On occasions of
special religious demonstration these optics were decorated with
strips of red cloth. On one occasion when a steamer suspiciously like
a Japanese cruiser hove in sight, they tied red rags to their antique
guns, or gin-galls, and with this consecration on their defensive
arrangements, seemed to feel perfectly secure. I suppose the
English-trained crews of their navy must have been persuaded out of
these amazing notions, and taught the European compass, but the ideas
of Sam-Sing and his merry men were as old as their vessel.
I have not yet described my mandarin friend. His name was Ki-Chang; he
was a mandarin of the fifth class, his distinctive mark being a
crystal button on the top of his cap. He was forty-six years old,
intelligent, amiable, and gentlemanly. He and I had much intercourse
during the voyage, with Chung for an interpreter. I taught him a
little English, and how to write his name in English, an
accomplishment of which he seemed extremely proud. Like most of the
educated Chinese, he wrote his own language very beautifully. He was a
wealthy and influential man.
The _King-Shing_ showed herself a remarkably good sea-boat, but
desperately slow. No device could get more than eight knots out of
her, and this was much above her average. We encountered one or two
violent storms, in which she behaved wonderfully. One night the wind,
after veering all round the compass with vivid lightning and thunder,
settled in the south-west and blew a perfect hurricane. All sails were
lowered, except half the fore-sail, and twenty-five men were required
at the mammoth rudder. We were obliged to start some eight tons of
water out of the deck tanks, and everything on deck, fore and aft, was
secured. The junk laboured heavily, but shipped no water. At day-break
the weather moderated, and we were able to set more sail; but in two
or three hours the wind chopped round to the north-west, and blew more
fiercely than ever, attended by squalls of hailstones as big as
marbles, the knocks of which made my countenance look as if I had
come off second-best in a middle-weight "scrap." We lowered the
main-sail again, and set four reefs of fore-sail to scud under. At
three o'clock the vessel took a tremendous lurch, and washed away our
lee-quarter boat. It was dark, and the sea barely discernible at a
distance of thirty yards, being blown into a thick mist. At six the
hurricane continued with unabated fury with terrific squalls; a
fearful sea struck the ship and nearly broached her to. The sea was a
mass of foam, and running very high, but kept down to some extent by
the violence of the wind. Later we were running under bare poles.
Again the gale went down, and again we got up sail, but without
warning a tremendous squall struck us and laid us on our beam ends. A
boat was blown away, the fore-sail split, and through the carelessness
of the men at the rudder they jibed the main-sail; it came over with
terrific force, but fortunately did no harm. Luckily the sails could
be very easily and rapidly lowered. One only had to let go or cut the
halyards and down they came. Throughout all this the junk behaved in a
manner which astounded me. She actually never shipped any water, that
which came aboard being tops of seas blown off. But the very qualities
which made her so steady-going militated against her speed. She was a
safe boat at all points. One night we had to anchor off a dead
lee-shore; the crew decorated their cables with some extra red rags,
and with death grinning under our lee, went to supper with a serenity
which I should have been glad to be able to imitate. But their
confidence was as well grounded as their anchors, which held with an
unshakable tenacity.
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