Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. I. 2ed edition.pdf/29

 It is customary before proceeding; on a voyage to offer sacrifice to "Machu." A cock is decapitated, and its blood, together with some of its feathers, are stuck to the bow and foremast, a small cup of wine is at the same time cast over the bow into the sea. This ceremony of decapitating a cock is also used by the Malays, as well as the Chinese, in taking an oath. I have met with instances of this with both races when a person has been accused of uttering a falsehood, his reply being that lie was prepared to take his oath over the head of a cock.

Sailing, as I have above observed, is managed, not by the study of the compass, barometer, or by astronomical observations, but by a knowledge of the currents, and headlands, and the prevailing winds of the season. The compass is used, but it is an instrument of primitive construction, having a very small tremulous needle in the centre of a disc of wood, covered with a formidable array of Chinese symbols, astrological and others. It seems strange that the reputed inventors of the mariner's compass should have left to other nations the merit of applying it to its proper scientific use.

These remarks on Chinese vessels, it must be understood, apply only to trading craft, as it will be hereafter shown that the Chinese have made much more progress in constructing vessels of war.