go over to a plow to which was hitched an ox, and which stood at a little distance off in the field. Fortune favored me! I was to see the Emperor plow the first furrow of the year! For it was only on the morrow that the official public ceremony was to take place at the Temple of Agriculture, near the great triple altar of Heaven. I was to see the private plowing, done in the Palace grounds and viewed only by the Princes of the Imperial Family and the highest Manchu nobles.
When all was ready the Emperor took the handles of the plow and guided it down a furrow marked off the ground, and when the furrow was upturned, the seed was dropped in. The ox for this ceremony, which I had heard was white, was (at the Palace function) of a soft doe color. He seemed to have been trained for the purpose and performed his part with a dignity in harmony with the attitude of all the assistants and in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion.
I was rejoiced to have an opportunity of seeing this interesting ceremony and to learn that even this great rite, which I had thought, like the sacrifice to the Invisible Deity on the triple altar, was only performed in the grounds of the Temple to Heaven; and to learn that every custom dear to the people, or incorporated in the National life, is observed in the Palace by the Emperor and Empress—that His Majesty really plants the first furrow of the year and gathers the first sheaves of ripened wheat, and that the Ladies of the Palace really spin the first silk and pull the first fruits.
The slow movement of the Palace boats was never so appreciated by me as on this morning, for I was thus enabled to see well this curious National ceremony, which I would never have seen but for the accident of the hour of my crossing the lake and the time it took to do so; for, as at all ceremonies where men are present, there were, of course, no members of Her Majesty’s entourage, and none of the Ladies or Princesses had ever seen this ceremony!