KIEN-LUNG REIGNS SIXTY YEARS.

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choo Tartars. Tsung-tih died, and his nephew, under the name of Shun-che, ascended the throne. He was followed by the renowned Kang-he, whose master mind won the hearts of the Chinese, defeated the Monguls and Kalmucks, reformed the government, and established firmly that dynasty which still exists. Kang-he died in 1723, after reigning sixty years. None of these great emperors found out the secret of living for ever. "He died, and he was buried," is the end both of the poor and of the proud.

Yung-chin reigned after Kang-he; he banished the Jesuit missionaries to Canton on account of their influence and intrigues. Next came Kienlung, or Keen-lung, in whose reign the Dutch, the English, and the Portuguese endeavoured to obtain a footing in China, by sending embassies. Kien-lung was a much better emperor than most of those who preceded him. He undertook an expedition against the Meaou-tse, a race of mountaineers, and boasted of having completely subdued them; but do you think if he had done so, he would have allowed them to wear their hair as usual? Not he! He would have made their heads as sleek as his own. Kien-lung, like Kanghe, reigned sixty years, and resigned his throne to his son Kea-king, in the year A. D. 1795. Keaking, like too many of the emperors of China, was a profligate and selfish prince: I shall have something to say of him in a future chapter. He died

52

THE DRAGON MUST HIDE HIS CLAWS.

in the year A. D. 1820, and the present Emperor Taou-kwang, or Reason's glory, succeeded him. The most important circumstance by far which has hitherto occurred in his reign, is the success of the British in their attack on a part of the Celestial Empire. The dragon of the "Son of Heaven" must in future hide his claws.

CHAPTER VII.

ALL ABOUT OPIUM.

Opium the Juice of the White Poppy.-Poppies grown on a large scale in Turkey and the East Indies.-Method of gathering Opium.-Opium admitted into China as a Drug. -Opium Trade at Cum-sing-moon.-Chinese Authorities encourage the Opium Trade.-Manner of smoking Opium.Sad Effects of the Practice.-Proposed Remedies to the Evils of the Opium Trade.- Chinese boasting Proclamation. -Twenty thousand Chests of Opium destroyed.

You shall now have a few words about Opium. The Turks chew it, and the Chinese smoke it: whether it is chewed or smoked, it is of an intoxicating nature. Remember that intemperance may be practised in other ways than that of smoking or chewing Opium. Excess has swept its thousands from the world: youth, maturity, and age have been its victims; nor is lovely woman free from its hateful controul.

Opium, as I dare say you well know, is the juice of the white poppy. In Asiatic Turkey whole fields of poppies are grown; and in Bengal and Malwah, in the East Indies, still larger tracts of

52

THE DRAGON MUST HIDE HIS CLAWS.

in the year A. D. 1820, and the present Emperor Taou-kwang, or Reason's glory, succeeded him. The most important circumstance by far which has hitherto occurred in his reign, is the success of the British in their attack on a part of the Celestial Empire. The dragon of the "Son of Heaven" must in future hide his claws.