parcelled out in the fmaller towns, villages, and hamlets; where
they aft as jailors, conflables, thief-takers, affiftants to magif-
trates, fubordinate colleftors o f the taxes,- guards to the granaries;
and are employed in a variety o f different ways under
the civil magiftracy and police. Befides thefe, an immenfe
multitude are ftationed as guards at the military pofts along
the public roads, canals, and rivers. Thefe pofts are fmall
fquare buildings, like fo many little caftles, each having on its
fummit a watch-tower and a fla g ; and they are placed at the
diftance o f three or four miles afunder. A t one o f thefe pofts
there are never fewer .than fix men. They not only prevent
robberies and difputes on the roads and canals, but convey the
public difpatches to and from the capital. An exprefs fent
from poft to poft travels between the capital and Canton in
twelve days, which is upwards o f one hundred miles a day.
There is no other poft nor mode o f conveying letters for the
convenience o f the public.
A great part then o f the Chinefe army can only be confidered
as a kind o f militia, which never has been, and in all human
probability never will be, embodied ; as a part, o f the community
not living entirely on the labour o f the reft, but contributing
fomething to the common flock. Every foldier ftationed
on the different guards has his portion o f land affigned to him,
which he cultivates for his family, and pays his quota o f the
produce to the ftate. Such a provifion, encouraged by public
opinion, induces the foldier to marry, and the married men are.
never removed from their ftations. v s
It
It will not be expefted that men thus circumftanced fhould
exhibit a very military appearance under arms. In fome places,
where they were drawn out in compliment to the Embaffador,
when the weather happened to be a little warm, they were
employed in the exercife o f their fans, inftead o f their matchlocks
; others we found drawn up in a Angle line, and refting
very compofedly on their knees to receive the Embaffador, in
which pofture they remained till their commanding officer
paffed the word to rife. Whenever we happened to take them
by furprize, there was the greateft fcramble to get their holyday
dreffes out o f the guard-houfe, which, when put on, had more
the appearance o f being intended for the ftage than the field
o f battle. Their quilted petticoats, fattin boots, and their fans,
had a mixture o f clumfinefs and effeminacy that ill accorded
with the military character.
The different kinds o f troops that compofe the Chinefe army
confift o f
Tartar cavalry, whofe only weapon is the fabre;. and a few
who carry bows.
Tartar infantry, bowmen ; having alfo large fabres.
Chinefe infantry, carrying the fame weapons.
Chinefe matchlocks.
Chinefe Tygers o f war, bearing large round fhields o f baiket-
work, and long ill-made fwords. On the fhields o f the laft are
painted monftrous faces o f fome imaginary animal, intended to
frighten the enemy, or, like another gorgon, to petrify their
beholders.
3 G The