Page:China historical and descriptive.djvu/22

 inhabitants comprise nearly one-third of the known human race.

Before proceeding to examine the physical features of China, let us see from whence its designation is derived, for a Celestial would be utterly nonplussed were he told that he rejoiced in the privilege of being a Chinaman. To illustrate this, I cannot do better than quote the following from the Abbé Hue, whose residence in the country extended over a great number of years.

The Abbé had been giving much information concerning the countries of Europe to a young Chinese prefect, when the latter "bethought himself to ask us how we called his country in our language. When he heard that we gave it the name of China, and its inhabitants that of Chinese, he could hardly recover from his astonishment. He insisted upon knowing what these words meant, the sense attached to them, why the words China and Chinese should have been chosen to designate his country and countrymen. 'We,' said he, 'call the happy inhabitants of your illustrious country Si-yang-jin; now Si means west, yang sea, jin man, so that the words mean "Men of the Western Seas;" that is the general denomination. To designate the several nations, we transcribe their names as faithfully as our characters will allow of. Thus we say Fou-lang-sin, that is to say, Homme-faran-çais. When we speak of the Westerns, we sometimes seize on a striking trait of the people whom we wish to point out. Thus we call the In-ki-li (English) Houng-mas-jin, that is, "Men of Red Hair," because it is said they have hair of that colour;