Portal:Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland

“ All institutions and inventions, of whose real origin no history remains, [2] have been referred to them as to a common source; but the grave appellation of Emperor is only applied by the ignorant and the unthinking, to savages who first taught their cotemporaries to make fishing nets, to till the ground, and live together in a state of society. [3]
In order to prove how little dependence can be placed on the accounts which the Chinese give of their own antiquity and inventions, I need only produce the following quotation from the abstract of history given by Du Halde. ”

“ Guided by the light of reason, he applied the energies of a powerful intellect to the Study of man, and grounded his doctrines on the fixed and immutable principles of human nature. His works are at this day the Sacred Books of the Chinese, and when compared with the evanescent relics of Fŏ and of Laou-keun, confirm the superiority of truth over the fictions of artful, and the ravings of fanatical teachers. ”

“ But it is not alone for the purpose of learning to write, that Chinese writing is to be studied; without some practice in this way, it is impossible to fix many characters in the memory, and no man can properly be considered to learn the language, who does not devote a portion of his time to this important branch of the subject. ”

“ To attain skill in writing it, is more or less the aim of every educated Chinese; and to impart that skill, is the object of the work, whose rules I have translated, and given its examples, in the following pages.
Of the two points, correctness and elegance, the first only is absolutely required of students, at their public examination; [4] though, of course, if the latter exist, it is held to be an additional recommendation. If graphic skill be ever held cheap in China, [5] it is only in the possession of him who can lay no claim to the higher attainments of solid erudition. ”

“ The rules and examples that follow include every possible class of written character; and indeed, some few of them are little more than mere repetitions of the same general directions, though, as they were made for the instruction of the Chinese themselves, I have thought it right to omit none, in my translation. It may be as well to notice, in this place, two or three leading precepts, which, as they apply to the writing of every character in the language, are more especially to be kept in mind. ”

“ The ambition of the rulers of the different states, as well as of the ministers of the Emperor, gave rise to various wars; and, in the last days of Han, so little was left of an empire, that the sovereigns of that period are called Choo, or Lord, instead of Hoang-ti. The Tartars, too, by their fugitive and predatory mode of warfare, were the cause of much trouble, and forced the Chinese to propitiate them with alliances and tribute. ”

“ If, however, we remark the striking similarity that exists between the persons, the manners, the dispositions, and the policy of the two nations, we cannot but recognize them to be of one family; and the fact of the Japanese making use of the Chinese written language, and rencing the books of Confucius, may fairly be considered as evidence that they carried them from China, at, or some time previous to, the period in question. [8] The earliest traditions of every country must be listened to with distrust, unless corroborated by circumstantial proof ”

“ Every thing with them is produced as if by enchantment: and events succeed each other with inconceivable rapidity; but the greatest absurdity consists in attributing all inventions of that nature to princes, who we know have few opportunities of making discoveries."—De Pauw, Preliminary Discourse on the Egyptians and Chinese. ”

“ Whatever passed through the hands of Aristotle, on subjects of Natural History, must be allowed to have had a value beyond that which any other writer could have given it, both on account of his acuteness and intellectual superiority, and of the channels, through which his information was de- rived. It is not possible to conceive, as has before been intimated, that among the natural curiosities of India, of which, through the interposition of Alexander, he obtained a knowledge, such a phenomenon in the vege- table world, as the Banyan-tree, should have escaped him ”

“ No reasonable person, at the present day, will deny the necessity that there is, for some few, at least, of our countrymen being possessed of a competent and practical knowledge of the Chinese language. ”

“ And we do hereby grant our especial licence and authority unto all and every person and persons, bodies politic and corporate (otherwise competent) , to grant, sell, alien, and convey in mortmain unto, and to the use of the said Society, and their successors, any messuages, lands, tenements, or hereditaments, not exceeding such value as aforesaid. And our will and pleasure is, that our first Commissioner, for the time being, for the Affairs of India, shall be a Vice-Patron of the said body politic and corporate. ”

“ It is a sort of Botanical Physiology. In both works, the Banyan-tree is mentioned, and altogether very fully, and accurately described. Theophrastus calls it the Indian Fig, an appellation which was given to it, by the followers of Alex- ander, on account of the resemblance, as he states, which the form of the fruit has to the common fig. It is singular to observe, that the name, which this plant bears in modern botany, Ficus Indica, should have been bestowed upon it, more than three hundred years before our era, perhaps at the very first moment that it was seen by the eye of an European. ”

“ He who ever carries his thoughts back to the past, will allow how ill we should have fared without it, on many critical discussions with a people, of all others the most extravagant in their assumptions, and the most difficult to manage; and he who can look beyond the present day to the future, may not only foresee (as long as our government neglects to make some sort of provision against such contingencies) the possibility of discussions still more embarrassing, and more difficult, than have ever yet occurred at Canton ”

“ After the death of Confucius, who appears to have been respected by the sovereigns of nearly all the independent states of China, a series of sanguinary contests arose among them, which gave to this period of history the name of Chen-kwo, or the “contending nations,” and proved at length the ruin of the race of Chow. The king of Tsin, who had long been growing very powerful at the expense of the neighbouring states, fought against six other nations, and after a course of successes, compelled them all to acknowledge his supremacy (B.C. 200) . ”

“ With such an exaggeration, the report of Nearchus, quoted by Arrian, might coincide. But though we cannot precisely ascertain, in what sense the measurement, spoken of, is to be taken, yet there can hardly be any doubt that the tree, which Arrian had in his mind, was the Banyan. In reading what Arrian relates of the naked philosophers of ancient India, one is re- minded of the Fakir, mentioned by Mr. Marsden, as sitting under the Banyan-tree, at Mangee, [2] who, it would seem, continued a practice that was known to his wise predecessors, many centuries before. ”

“ I am well aware that the Japanese have been asserted by some to have peopled their islands as early as the 13th century before Christ, and that those people are said to disdain the very idea of being descended from the Chinese. ”

“ Strabo was a writer of great learning, and diligent research; but he has drawn his information, in this instance, not from the best source. We can hardly suppose him to have been unacquainted with the writings of Theophrastus, and it may be wondered that, upon such a subject, he should not have had recourse to this authority. The passage alluded to is in the fifteenth book of his Geography, and to this purpose :* * Among other things, India produces also many extraordinary trees, of “ which there is one species that has branches bending downwards, and leaves not less than a shield. ”

“ This impolitic system, which commenced so early, was in subsequent ages carried to a still greater height, and terminated, many centuries afterwards, in the overthrow of the empire, by the Mongol Tartars. [9]
The dynasty of Han, however, is a very celebrated period in Chinese history, and learning especially is said to be under great obligations to it. At the present day, the term for a Chinese, in contradistinction to a Tartar is Han-jin, "a Man of Han." ”

“ Perhaps some particulars, which we do not find applicable to the Banyan, may have belonged to the Great Fan Palm (Co- rypha umbraculifera) : hence many points of difference, between this passage of Strabo, and the accurate description of Theophrastus, may be explained. The size of the leaf is, in the former, magnified to a large shield (dea) : scutum) ,* while the latter limits it to a small pelta. ”

“ The best-informed and most reflecting among themselves reject, as unprofitable fables, the earliest traditions of their history: [1] and indeed the prodigies that are recorded, as well as the fanciful names that are given to their first emperors, carry with them the most unquestionable marks of fabrication. ”

“ He is equally incorrect, when he assigns the measure of sixty paces to the circumference of the upper branches, which Theophrastus gives as the dimension of the stems of the different young trees, produced round the parent stock. He ex- presses himself indistinctly respecting the shade, which proceeds from the tree. Like Theophrastus, he says, that it extends over two stadia, or about twelve hundred feet; but he so places this in the context, that it seems to be the shade of the upper branches of which he is speaking, in- stead of that of the whole tree, which Theophrastus clearly designs. ”

“ The equinoctial regions are spontaneously fertile, and the arctic too unkindly barren: and industry, wealth, and civilization seem on this account to have been principally confined to the temperate zone, where there is at once necessity to excite labour, and production, to recompense it. I am well aware that there are other important circumstances, besides geographical situation, which influence the progress of nations: all I mean to say is, that the last cause does not seem generally to have met with the attention is deserves. ”

“ When there are perpendicular strokes to the left, and oblique ones to the right, the former should be short, and the latter free and extended. 19. When there are several dots, their relative size and position should be varied, to prevent uniformity. 20. Where horizontal strokes are repeated, they must be of different lengths, like scales, or feathers, to prevent stiffness of appearance. 21. Both sides being nearly equal, they must be even at the top and bottom. 22. Where a character is compounded of three simple parts, placed sideways, the middle one should be narrow and upright. ”

“ National vanity and a love of the marvellous have influenced in a similar manner the early history of most other countries, and furnished materials for nursery tales, as soon as the spirit of sober investigation has supplanted that appetite for wonders, which marks the infancy of nations, as well as of individuals. ”

“ If, again, we go further north, to those Arctic Regions where men are still in a very miserable state, we shall find that there thay have no materials to work upon. Nature is such a niggard in the returns which she makes to labour, that industry is discouraged and frozen, as it were, in the outset. ”

“ Besides, as experience has shewn that the local government, notwithstanding its pretended pride and indifference, has condescended to employ spies upon our actions and intentions, these persons, being necessarily acquainted, in some measure, with our counsels, would be the most convenient that it could select for the purpose. ”

“ The upper branches spring, like a forest, from the vast body of the mother-tree : most of them measure sixty paces (nearly one hundred and eighty feet) in circumference ; and they cover a space of two stadia (or upwards of twelve hundred feet) with their shadow. The broad leaves of the tree have the shape of an Amazonian shield: covering the fruit, they prevent it, by this means, from growing ”

“ And he adds a particular circumstance, namely, that they are dipvaac, two-leaved, that is, furnished with two leaves, or stipule, as modern botanists would call them, probably at the spot where the roots issue from the branches. I have not seen this noticed in any modern description, either botanical or other. The size of the leaf is perhaps the only thing that is overrated: it equals, he says, a pelta, that is to say, a small Thracian, or, as it is alsc called, Amazonian t shield. ”

“ The person called Fo-hi, and some of his immediate successors, appear to have been of the number of those gifted men, who rescued the human race from primeval barbarism, and whom their gratitude has invested with superhuman attributes. ”

“ The roots, that shoot out from the branches, are no where so accurately described. They are thick * and twisted, he says, and distinguishable from the branches, from which they proceed, by a lighter colour. ”

“ Marsden, in his History of Su- matra,* we shall hardly think it magnified. That gentleman, in speaking of the Banyan-tree at Mangee, in Bengal, computes the circumference of its shadow, at noon, at eleven hundred and sixteen feet, between which, and the measure of two stadia, rated by us at twelve hundred feet, there is no great difference. Mr. ”

“ India, relates, that there are certain large trees of India, the branches of which grow to the length of twelve cubits, then take the remainder of “ their growth downwards, as if they were bent, till they reach the ground ”