I took off my hat, when nine terrific cheers broke from the crew. It was a male, one hundred-and-three feet long, nineteen feet round the neck, twenty-five feet round the shoulders, and forty-nine feet round the largest part of the body. The head was long and flat, with ridges, the end of the tongue was like a heart, the back black, sides brown, under the belly yellow, with a white streak. The body was covered with blubber, and the oil was as clear as water, and burnt like spirits of turpentine. One of his lungs was three feet longer than the other. [Illustration] Something more about the Chinese. To maintain the laws of China, and impress the people with fear, a numerous standing army is kept up. There are at least, five-hundred-thousand—Tartar troops—such as we should term “regulars,”—in this country. There are also about a million of what we should call “the militia.” For courage they are not very remarkable, but they have the word _brave_ stitched upon the back of their jackets, and the word _retreat_ on the front. They wear also a peculiar cap, as seen in the engraving, and carry a matchlock. Here is a picture of a Chinese “Brave.” The “Tartar troops” are enrolled under eight banners, which are attached to certain lands or estates. The cavalry are not much better equipped than the infantry; they have neither carbines nor pistols, but are armed exclusively with swords and sabres. The weapons of the foot consist of bows and arrows, pikes, matchlocks, swords, baskets, shields, and iron cannon. [Illustration: TIGER OF WAR.] [Illustration: ELEUTH TARTAR.] But the most famous of all the soldiers are, what we should term “life guards;” they are called “tigers of war,” and are the members of the Imperial Guard. They are covered from head to foot with a striped dress of black and yellow, to resemble the tiger. The head of these “tigers” is also covered with a close cap, and two horns or ears stick up from each side. They carry a shield, with a sort of Gorgon face upon it, like that of the fabled Minerva, which is said to have turned all it looked upon into stone. [Illustration] Besides these military gentlemen, the Eleuth Tartars now form a part of the military force of the Chinese, and are regarded as the handsomest and finest-looking men of the Empire. They retain their national dress, as you see it in the picture. They are a numerous people, divided into various tribes, living in the north and west of the Chinese territory. They had, for ages, been at war with the Chinese, and a long while ago some of these tribes eventually gained a complete victory, and settled the family of one of their chiefs upon the throne—so that the present emperor is not a Chinese by descent, but a Tartar, and this is one of the causes of the “Great Rebellion” now raging in China, the object of which is to destroy idolatry, and to drive the Tartar race from the Empire.