[VOL IV] CASCADE OF TING-HOO, OR THE TRIPOD LAKE

CASCADE OF TING-HOO, OR THE TRIPOD LAKE

Cover Image: Cascade of Ting-hoo, or the Tripod Lake / ZhaoQING GuangDong China / Drawn by T. Allom Engraved by E.BrandardW.Floyd – ALAMY Image ID:2X55NB6

*Ting-hoo（Dinghu）Mountain and Lake is located in Dinghu District, 18 km to the east of Zhaoqing City, in the Dayunwu Mountain Range, in Guangdong Province of southern China. It is one of the four famous mountains – Danxia, Dinghu, Xiqiao（Tseaou-Shan）and Luofu in Guangdong province.

Noble the mountain stream
Bursting in grandeur from its vantage ground:
Glory is in its gleam
Of brightness; – thunder in its deafening sound.

BERNARD BARTON

THE whole surface of Hou-quan is varied by mountains, lakes, rivers, and plains, succeeding each other with a rapidity that is rarely exceeded even in the most picturesque regions of this wide empire. Ting-hoo, not merely a spacious area, but the second pool in China, both as to extent of surface and depth of water, is surrounded by a district of exquisite beauty, independent of its amazing productiveness in every species of return which the earth can yield to its inhabitants.

The numerous lakes of this province supply endless varieties of the finny tribe; in the rivers’ sands are found alluvial gold: iron, tin, copper, and other ores, are raised around the mountains, where lapis lazuli and the greenstone used by painters are also obtained. Wherever soil exists amongst the mountain-cliffs, there noble pines have maintained a footing, and, owing to the mildness and moisture that prevail here in combination, vegetable growth is so rapid and luxuriant, that this district furnishes more pine-pillars for public buildings than any other in the central provinces. Orange, and lemon, and citron trees, are seen in every valley, dark cedars adorn many a sunny brow, and the native woods that still keep possession of the hills, are amply stocked with herds of wild deer. Paper made from macerated bamboo, and wax supplied by a species of wild white bee, constitute the principal manufactures of the locality; but, so joyous is the reign of plenty, so completely does this district “flow with milk and honey,” that, a native proverb which styles the shores around Ting-hoo “the magazine of the empire,” adds also, “Keang-se may furnish China with a breakfast, none but Hou-quan can wholly maintain it.”

On an eminence to the left of the great cascade of Ting-hoo, is a city surrounded by cedar groves, and, although so loftily seated, embossed in hills; here Quang-tchu once governed, and was encompassed by the love and admiration of his people, as his native city was by its sheltering summits. The precipice above the waterfall was the favourite resort of this virtuous mandarin, who is supposed to have held communion there with the spirits of the glen, relative to the lost tripod, that is still searched for in the lake. On one of these occasions, however—whether the act were suicidal, or performed by an evil genius, has not been decided—he was precipitated into the foaming gulf that receives the raging waters of Ting-hoo, nor have his remains been ever since recovered. As to the tripod, the lake that takes its name, this the celebrated piece of art, the workmanship of the Chinese Vulcan, was an heir-loom in the royal family, and passed, like the stone of destiny in Westminster Abbey, along with the throne itself. A deposed prince, resolved on defeating the successor of a rival dynasty, threw the charmed emblem into the lake, from the depths of which it is yet sought to be regained. In other ancient kingdoms such vessels have been considered as symbolical of prophecy, authority, and wisdom; and, traditions of a lost or stolen tripod are connected with claims to dominion, in various histories. It would be difficult to discover the meaning of its triform, or the precise and accurate character of its shape; it may have had reference in earlier times, like the three-stinged lyre, to the three seasons of the primitive calendar – the past, present, and future of the Chinese Triad – and have been retained by Christian countries, amongst its emblems and ornaments, for this very triune property.

The fate of Quang-tchu, in his search for the tripod, made a lasting impression upon those whom he governed with so much wisdom and justice, and it was resolved, in consequence, to erect a temple to his manes, on the rock beside the spot where he is supposed to have perished, and to institute an annual festival in commemoration of his virtuous example. Feats, and sports, and mock-combats are held upon the water, the pretended object being the recovery of the tripod, for the purpose of placing it in the hall of Quang-tchu; and they are conducted with a bolder spirit than others of the kind, from the very general partiality prevailing here for boat-racing, and other aquatic sports. Long boats terminating in a dragon’s head, and called long-tchuen, are built for the occasion; and in these, which are gilded and gay adorned with ribands, the tripod, or other prize, is contended for with an emulation often ending fatally to the candidate for honour: one calamitous accident, by which some fifty lives were forfeited, had nearly caused the extinction of the festival, a council of mandarins having issued an order to that effect; but ancient usages are not abandoned in China, without the exertion of ancient obstinacy, and the mandarins have been obliged to rescind their humane mandate, and leave the zealous respecter of Quang-tchu’s memory to search on for the tripod from year to year. The festival therefore has been revived, and the very mandarins who first prohibited its observation, may now be seen passing the foot of the waterfall in their chairs of state, preceded by their numerous retinues, to participate in a scene which, however idle, is both manly and mirthful.