shotgun cartridges. He remarked that he had a gun but no shells,
and as we did not offer to give him any he continued to hint broadly at
every opportunity.

The mandarins of lower rank often buy their posts and depend upon what they
can make in "squeeze" from the natives of their district for reimbursement
and a profit on their investment. In almost every case which is brought to
them for adjustment the decision is withheld until the magistrate has
learned which of the parties is prepared to offer the highest price for a
settlement in his favor. The Chinese peasant, accepting this as the
established custom, pays the bribe without a murmur if it is not too
exorbitant and, in fact, would be exceedingly surprised if "justice" were
dispensed in any other way.

My personal relations with the various mandarins whom I was constantly
required to visit officially were always of the pleasantest and I was
treated with great courtesy. It was apparent wherever we were in China that
there was a total lack of antiforeign feeling in both the peasant and
official classes and except for the brigands, who are beyond the law,
undoubtedly white men can travel in perfect safety anywhere in the
republic. Before my first official visit Wu gave me a lesson in etiquette.
The Chinese are exceedingly punctilious and it is necessary to conform to
their standards of politeness for they do not realize, or accept in excuse,
the fact that Western customs differ from their own.

At the end of the reception room in every _yamen_ is a raised platform on
which the visitor sits at the _left hand_ of the mandarin; it would be
exceedingly rude for a magistrate to seat the caller on his right hand. Tea
is always served immediately but is not supposed to be tasted until the
official does so himself; the cup must then be lifted to the lips with both
hands. Usually when the magistrate sips his tea it is a sign that the
interview is ended. When leaving, the mandarin follows his visitor to the
doorway of the outer court, while the latter continually bows and protests
asking him not to come so far.

Ta-li Fu and Hsia-kuan are important fur markets and we spent some time
investigating the shops. One important find was the panda (_Aelurus
fulgens_). The panda is an aberrant member of the raccoon family but looks
rather like a fox; in fact the Chinese call it the "fire fox" because of
its beautiful, red fur. Pandas were supposed to be exceedingly rare and we
could h