During my subsequent intercourse with the Ti-pings I found the above costume the summer one of the soldiers; the body-guards of the different chiefs wear their own particular colours, the edges of the jacket being always embroidered and braided with a different one, forming a regular uniform. In the cold weather they mostly wear fur-jackets, or other warm garments. The colours of their clothing vary much, in some cases the jacket being black silk and the trousers white, and in others blue, black, white, red, or yellow, according to their different corps. Yellow is the colour of only the highest chiefs, or of their king. The chiefs all wear long outside dresses, reaching to nearly the feet, of either blue, red, or yellow silk, according to their rank. On the head they wear a silk scarf, or hood, with a jewel fastened to the front as the badge of their position. In hot weather one and all wear large straw hats very prettily embroidered, the crown quite small, and the brim about a foot broad, which gives them a very gay and singular appearance. The great chiefs, who are titled Wang (generalissimos, or governors of districts), have a much more costly and elaborate dress. Upon all occasions of importance they wear their state robes and coronets, and the appearance they present when so arrayed is really magnificent. Being almost invariably men of a very energetic and expressive mien, when attired in their long robes, covered with ancient Chinese designs, fabulous animals, or fancy patterns, all worked in gold, silver, and jewels, with their jewelled coronets, and with their gold embroidered shoes, it would be utterly impossible to imagine a more splendid or effective costume.
A TI-PING ARMY GOING INTO ACTION.
DAY & SON, LIMITED, LITH.
Many of the Ti-pings come from the province of Honan, and the Chinese say the natives of that part are the handsomest in China. The truth of this I fully believe, for having made it a particular point of inquiry to ascertain the native place of every Ti-ping I have met of more than ordinary appearance, I have invariably found the best-featured were either Honan men or came from the hilly parts of the Kiang-si province. Honan forms a central portion of China, and has long been remarkable for producing some of the best soldiers; but it is especially its braves, who man great numbers of the Mandarin gunboats which are used all through the inland waters, that are celebrated for their courage. The Honan people are easily distinguished by the lightness of their complexion; the shape of their nose, which is high and well-formed like the European; the largeness, and little approximation to the oblique, of their eyes; and their superior stature. In a few cases I have met men not inferior to any race in the world for beauty, while it would be difficult to imagine a more picturesque bearing than they present with their dark massive hair wound around their heads by scarlet silken fillets, so as to form a shade for their expressive eyes and animated countenances. Some of these youthful Honan Ti-pings are as well featured and handsome as an Andalusian beauty, their black eyes and long lashes, olive complexion, and beardless faces rendering the resemblance more striking.
Upon my arrival at Soo-chow I received the kindest reception, and obtained an audience of several of the principal chiefs in the city. But little trace of the former magnificence of the "Chinese Paris" remained; its present possessors had only captured the city a few months, and the sad traces of civil war were everywhere around. The Imperialist troops had themselves burned and devastated the once rich suburbs, and the Ti-pings, in their usual manner upon the capture of a city, had destroyed all public and private buildings of the Manchoo construction, or any that tended to remind them of the hateful Tartar occupation. New suburbs, however, were springing up in every direction, and a considerable trade likewise, all commerce being carried on outside the walls. Within the city itself, the destruction had been extensive, and numberless workmen were employed erecting handsome new dwellings, those for the principal chiefs being of the best description. No trade was permitted within the walls, a very necessary precaution in China, for otherwise the place would be instantly filled by numbers of the enemy disguised as traders, &c. In this the Ti-pings have only acted as every other dynasty during its commencement, all (the present Manchoo included) having pursued the same policy. Many persons ignorant of this, after visiting Ti-ping cities, have reported that the inhabitants never return to them from fear of the new rulers; but we must remember the late war in America and the occupation of Atlanta by the Federal troops, who compelled the inhabitants to leave the city; it will then be seen that the military occupation of fortified towns by the Ti-pings is much about the same as it is with people of our own race. Outside the ramparts a crowd of soldiers and labourers were hard at work throwing up fortifications, while, inside, others were converting the remaining streets into extensive barracks.
I found the chief in command was the Chung-wang, Le, who for the last few years had held the supreme position of Commander-in-Chief of all the Ti-ping forces. He very kindly granted me an audience, and made me live in his palace while I remained at Soo-chow, although he had only lately been driven from Shanghae, and hundreds of his men killed (rather say murdered, for they were slaughtered without the slightest justification) by the British.
I had long felt a desire to behold the celebrated leader of the Ti-ping forces, who, until the intervention of England, had been invincible, and now my wish was gratified. I no sooner found myself before the Chung-wang than I respected him—he appeared so unmistakably a master spirit, with the innate nobleness of presence of one born to command and govern.
For a chief of so exalted and powerful a position, and who, moreover, had received ample provocation to treat Englishmen as his deadliest enemies, Chung-wang received me with remarkable condescension and kindness. Whereas the meanest official understrapper of the Manchoo government would with the most insulting hauteur receive any foreigner (unless under coercion, as when the treaties have been arranged), and consider himself degraded by any contact, the Chung-wang, generalissimo of some four or five hundred thousand men, second personage in the Ti-ping government (being only inferior to the Tien-wang, the king), and Viceroy of the whole territory (at that period more than twice the size of England, and containing more than 70,000,000 inhabitants), advanced from his vice-regal chair, and shaking me by the hand in English style, made me be seated close to himself. He seemed about thirty-five years of age, though the trace of arduous mental and physical exertion gave him a rather worn and older appearance. His figure light, active, and wiry, was particularly well formed, though scarcely of the Chinese middle height; his bearing erect and dignified, his walk rapid but stately. His features were very strongly marked, expressive, and good, though not handsome according to the Chinese idea, being slightly of a more European cast than they admire; the nose straighter than usual among Chinese; the mouth small, almost delicate, and with the general shape of the jaw and sharply chiselled lips, expressive of great courage and determination. His complexion dark; but it was his brow and eyes that at once told the observer he beheld a great and remarkable man. It was not alone his singularly high and expansive forehead, but the eyebrows and eyes, which, instead of being placed obliquely, as is the usual characteristic of the Chinese, were quite dissimilar: the eyes were nearly straight, the only Chinese part being the shape of the eyelids; and the brows, placed high above them, were almost even, the inner, in place of the outer, ends being slightly elevated. This peculiarity I have never seen so prominent in any other Chinaman; I have seen a few natives of Honan approach to it a little, but it gave the Chung-wang an un-Chinese look.
His large eyes flashed incessantly, while the lids were always twitching. From his very energetic features, and the ceaseless nervous movement of his body (some part being continually on the move and restless, either the legs crossing or uncrossing, the feet patting the ground, or the hands clasping, unclasping, or fidgeting about, and all by sudden starts), no one would imagine he could possess such perfect coolness in battle; yet I have often since observed him in action, when, in spite of his apparent excitability, his self-possession was imperturbable, and his voice—always low and soft, with a musical flow of language, slightly affected by a wound he received from a piece of a British shell before Shanghae, in the month of August, 1860—unchanged, save being more rapid and decisive in moments of the greatest danger. When I obtained my