the protection of the deity. A small
earthen pot, containing sacred earth and rice, stood in front, in
which Joss-sticks and other incense was burnt. A lighted lamp, too,
was here always kept burning; if it had gone out during a voyage it
would have been considered an omen of bad luck. On the right and left,
before coming to this Joss-house, were paintings. One panel
represented the Mandarin Ducks; another, a Chinese lady at her
toilette; a third, a globe of gold-fish. On this deck were cabins for
passengers and supercargoes, the doors painted with different devices.
Above was the lofty poop-deck, with one of the rudder-windlasses on
it, and the mizzen-mast, fifty feet long, and placed on one side, in
order to allow the tiller to work when in shallow water. The main-mast
was ninety-five feet in length, and ten feet in circumference at the
bottom. It was one spar of teak, and just as the tree grew with merely
the bark taken off. It was not perfectly straight--a defect with us,
but not so considered by the Chinese, who prefer a mast with a bend in
it to one without, thinking it adds to the strength, and is conclusive
evidence of the goodness of the spar. This mast was hooped round, in
consequence of being cracked while undergoing the process of
hardening. The mode adopted for this purpose by the Chinese is to bury
the timber for a considerable time in marshy ground; thus treated,
they say teak becomes hard as iron. The mast did not go within four
feet of the bottom--the ship having no kelson--but, to use the
technical term, was "toggled" to two large pieces of wood which
answered as partners. To these were added two other heavy pieces as
chocks, which were intended to keep the huge spars in their places.
Neither stays nor shrouds were used. The main yards were made of teak
quite rough; the upper one was seventy-five feet long, and the lower
sixty.

The sails were made of closely-woven matting, a substance much lighter
than canvas. It holds the wind better, and rarely splits, because it
never shakes in the wind. So large and heavy was the mainsail of the
_King-Shing_, that it required forty men with the aid of the capstan
to raise it. Without the capstan eighty men would have been needed. It
had eighteen reefs. The sails were reefed by being lowered, which
precluded any necessity for going aloft.

The vane was in the shape of a fish, the body formed of rattan work,
the head and gills of painted matting, with two projecti