the ceiling with the cotton gowns and petticoat-pantaloons of the poorer classes, and chests, trunks, boxes and other cabinet-ware in bewildering quantities. At a rough estimate, I should say that there are at least 30,000 costumes; when we asked the attendant the number, he shrugged his shoulders and said: "Who could count them ? " There are three or four other establishments, of nearly similar magnitude, in the city. They are regulated by the Government, and are said to be conducted in a fair and liberal spirit. * * * *

“We now take a street which strikes into the heart of the city, and set out for the famous "Tea Gardens." The pavement is of rough stones, slippery with mud, and on one side of the street is a ditch filled with black, stagnant slime, from which arises the foulest smell. Porters, carrying buckets of offal, brush past us; public cloaca stand open at the corners, and the clothes and persons of the unwashed laborers and beggars distil a reeking compound of still more disagreeable exhalations. Coleridge says of Cologne :

"I counted two and seventy stenches,

All well defined-and several stinks;"

but Shanghai, in its horrid foulness, would be flattered by such a description. I never go within its walls but with a shudder, and the taint of its contaminating atmosphere seems to hang about me like a garment long after I have left them. Even in the country, which now rejoices in the opening spring, all the freshness of the season is destroyed by the rank ammoniated odors arising from pits of noisome manure, sunk in the fields. Having mentioned these things, I shall not refer to them again; but if the reader would have a correct description of Shanghai, they cannot be wholly ignored.

"It requires some care to avoid contact with the beggars who throng the streets, and we would almost as willingly touch a man smitten with leprosy, or one dying of the plague. They take their stations in front of the shops, and supplicate with a loud, whining voice, until the occupant purchases their departure by some trifling alms; for they are protected by the law in their avocation, and no man dare drive them forcibly from his door. As we approach the central part of the city, the streets become more showy and a trifle cleaner. The shops are large and well arranged, and bright red signs, covered with golden inscriptions, swing vertically from the eaves. All the richest shops, however, are closed at present, and not a piece of the celebrated silks of Soo-Chow, the richest in China, is to be found in the city. The manufactures, in jade-stone, carved bamboo, and the furniture of Ningpo, inlaid with ivory and boxwood, are still to be had in profusion, but they are more curious than elegant. Indeed, I have seen no article of Chinese workmanship which could positively be called beautiful, unless it was fashioned after a European model. Industry, perseverance, and a wonderful faculty of imitation belong to these people; but they are utterly. destitute of original taste."

With our author the Chinese find no favour, either as to their taste or their morality. He gives a severe sketch of both :"They are broad-shouldered and deep-chested, but the hips and loins are clumsily moulded, and the legs have a coarse, clubby character. We should never expect to see such figures assume the fine, free attitudes of ancient sculpture. But here, as every where, the body is the expression of the spiritual nature. There is no sense of what we understand by Art-Grace, Harmony, Proportion-in the Chinese nature, and therefore we look in vain for any physical expression of it. De Quincey, who probably never saw a Chinaman, saw this fact with the clairvoyant eye of genius, when he said: 'If I were condemned to live among the Chinese, I should go mad.' This is a strong expression, but I do not hesitate to adopt it. * * * * "The great aim of the Chinese florist is to produce something as much unlike nature as possible, and thus this blossom, which, for aught I know, may be pure white, or yellow, in its native state, is changed into a sickly, mongrel color, as if it were afflicted with a vegetable jaundice, or leprosy. There was a crowd of enthusiastic admirers around each of the ugliest specimens, and I was told that one plant, which was absolutely loathsome and repulsive in its appearance, was valued at three hundred dollars. The only taste which the Chinese exhibit to any degree, is a love of the monstrous. That sentiment of harmony, which throbbed like a musical rhythm through the life of the Greeks, never looked out of their oblique eyes. Their music is a dreadful discord; their language is composed of nasals and consonants; they admire whatever is distorted or unnatural, and the wider its divergence from its original beauty or symmetry, the greater is their delight.

"This mental idiosyncrasy includes a moral one, of similar character. It is my deliberate opinion that the Chinese are, morally, the most debased people on the face of the earth. Forms of vice which in other countries are barely named, are in China so common, that they excite no comment among the natives. They constitute the surface-level, and below them there are deeps on deeps of depravity so shocking and horrible, that their character cannot even be hinted. There are some dark shadows in human nature, which we naturally shrink from penetrating, and I made no attempt to collect information of this kind; but there was enough in the things which I could not avoid seeing and hearing-which are brought almost daily to the notice of every foreign resident-to inspire me with a powerful aversion to the Chinese race. Their touch is pollution, and, harsh as the opinion may seem, justice to our own race demands that they should not be allowed to settle on our soil. Science may have lost something, but mankind has gained, by the exclusive policy which has governed China during the past centuries."

The chief object of Mr. Taylor's visit to China was that he might, if practicable, procure an appointment in connection

with the American expedition to Japan: and thus share in all the novelties expected from the proposed visit. Through the kindness of Commodore Perry, he was appointed a "master's mate" in his flag-ship, the Susquehanna: the office, though nominally a naval one, being reserved for the more scientific or literary members of the mission. The three other "master's mates" in the expedition were an artist, a photographer, and a telegraphist. No other supernumeraries were allowed. The expedition consisted of the large steam frigates the Susquehanna and Mississippi, with the Saratoga and Plymouth sloops; the whole being under the orders of Commodore Perry as envoy extraordinary to the Government of Japan. The official account of the expedition has just been published, and all its proceedings are fully detailed. Mr. Taylor speaks but little of the political matters in which he was mixed up, and confines himself rather to pleasant sketches of the localities he visited. Here is a picture of the island of Great Loo-Choo :—

"The island is one of the most beautiful in the world, and contains a greater variety of scenery than I have ever seen within the same extent of territory. The valleys and hill-sides are cultivated with a care and assiduity, which puts even Chinese agriculture to shame; the hills are crowned with picturesque groves of the LooChoo pine, a tree which the artist would prize much more highly than the lumberman; the villages are embowered with arching lanes of bamboo, the tops of which interlace and form avenues of perfect shade; while, from the deep indentations of both shores, the road along the spinal ridge of the island commands the most delightful prospects of bays and green headlands, on either side. In the sheltered valleys, the clusters of sago-palm and banana trees give the landscape the character of the Tropics: on the hills, the forests of pine recall the scenery of the Temperate Zone. The northern part of the island abounds with marshy thickets and hills overgrown with dense woodland, infested with wild boars, but the southern portion is one vast garden.

"The villages all charmed us by the great taste and neatness displayed in their construction. In the largest of them there were buildings called cung-quas, erected for the accommodation of the agents of the Government, on their official journeys through the island. They were neat wooden dwellings, with tiled roofs, the floors covered with soft matting, and the walls fitted with sliding screens, so that the whole house could be thrown open, or divided into rooms, at pleasure. They were surrounded with gardens, enclosed by trim hedges, and were always placed in situations where they commanded the view of a pleasant landscape. These buildings were appropriated to our use, and when, after a hard day's tramp, we had hoisted our flag on the roof, and stretched ourselves out to rest on the soft matting, we would not have exchanged places with the old Viceroy himself."

Mr. Taylor thus describes the singular feast with which the Regent of Loo-Choo honoured the American Commodore and his party :

"Four tables were set in the central apartment, and three in each of the wings, and already covered with a profuse collation. Immediately on entering we were requested to seat ourselves. The Commodore, with Commanders Buchanan and Adams, took the highest table on the right hand, and the Regent and his associates the one opposite on the left. At each corner of the tables lay a pair of chop-sticks. In the centre stood an earthen pot filled with sackee, surrounded with four acorn-cups, four large cups of coarse china, with clumsy spoons of the same material, and four tea-cups. From this centre radiated a collection of dishes of very different shapes and sizes, and still more different contents. There were nineteen on the table at which I sat, but I can only enumerate a few of them : eggs, dyed crimson and sliced; fish made into rolls and boiled in fat; cold pieces of baked fish; slices of hog's liver; sugar candy ; cucumbers; mustard; salted radish tops; curds made of bean flour fragments of fried lean pork, and several nondescripts, the composition of which it was impossible to tell.

;

"The repast began with cups of tea, which were handed around, followed by tiny cups of sackee, which was of much superior quality to any we had yet tasted on the island. It was old and mellow, with a sharp, sweet, unctuous flavor, somewhat like French liqueur. Small bamboo sticks, sharpened at one end, were then presented to us. We at first imagined them to be tooth-picks, but soon found that they were designed to stick in the balls of meat and dough, which floated in the cups of soup, constituting the first course. Six or eight cups of different kinds of soup followed, and the attendants, meanwhile, assiduously filled up the little cups of sackee. We had a handsome, bright-eyed youth as our Ganymede, and the smile with which he pressed us to eat and drink, was irresistible. The abundance of soup reminded me of a Chinese repast. Of the twelve courses -the number appropriated to a royal dinner-which were served to us, eight were soups, and many of them so similar in composition as not to be distinguished by a palate unpractised in Loo-Choo delicacies. The other four were-gingerbread; a salad made of beansprouts and tender onion-tops; a basket of what appeared to be a dark-red fruit, about the size of a peach, but proved to be balls, com posed of a thin rind of unbaked dough, covering a sugary pulp; and a delicious mixture of beaten eggs, and the aromatic, fibrous roots of the ginger-plant. The gingerbread had a true home flavor, and was not to be despised. The officers did their best to do honor to the repast, but owing to the number of dishes, could do little more than taste the courses as they were served up. Although we left at the end of the twelfth course, we were told that twelve more were in readiness to follow."

From Loo-Choo, Commodore Perry paid a brief visit to the

Bonin Islands, which were taken possession of by Captain Beechey in the name of Great Britain. Though a fine group of islands, they have scarcely any inhabitants, except a few run-a way sailors. The following extract shews that a good stroke of business could be executed even on such a lonely spot :

"Commodore Perry saw at once the advantages of Port Lloyd as a station for steamers, whenever a line shall be established between China and California. It is not only the most eligible, but perhaps the only spot in the Pacific, west of the Sandwich Islands, which promises to be of real advantage for such a purpose. It is about 3,300 miles from the latter place, and 1,100 from Shanghai, and almost on the direct line between the two points. If the Sandwich Islands are to be included in the proposed route (as is most probable,) Peel Island is even preferable to a port in Japan, which, on the other hand, would be most convenient for a direct northern line from Oregon. The Commodore, on the day after our arrival, obtained from Mr. Savory the title to a tract of land, on the northern side of the bay, near its head. It has a front of 1,000 yards on the water, and extends across the island to a small bight on the northern side, which he named Pleasant Bay. The location is admirably adapted for a coaling station for steamers, since a pier fifty feet long would strike water deep enough to float the largest vessel. The soil of Peel Island is the richest vegetable mould, and might be made to produce abundant supplies, while its mountain streams furnish a never-failing source of excellent water."

The expedition saw nothing of Japan, but the shores of the vast Bay of Yedo, which they boldly entered, and subsequently surveyed, almost as far in as the suburbs of the city itself. By an admirable display of courtesy and firmness, Commodore Perry succeeded in maintaining his position, so boldly taken up in the neighbourhood of the Japanese court, and in securing the proper delivery of his official letters. We shall quote only the following account of the singular silent interview in which this duty was accomplished:

"Yezaimon and the interpreters preceded us, in order to show the way. The distance from the jetty to the door of the building was so short, that little opportunity was given me for noticing minutely the appearance of the Japanese, or the order of their array. The building into which the Commodore and suite were ushered was small, and appeared to have been erected in haste. The timbers were of pine wood, and numbered, as if they had been brought from some other place. The first apartment, which was about forty feet square, was of canvas, with an awning of the same, of a white ground, with the imperial arms emblazoned on it in places. The floor was covered with white cotton cloth, with a pathway of red felt, or some similar substance, leading across the room to a raised inner apartment, which

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