of an upstairs verandah
where there might be some possibility of a faint draught, and having
cigars, whisky and iced soda well within reach, we would take off our
white jackets for greater coolness and sit perspiring in singlets
round the table between guttering candles, when with bare heads and
naked arms we must have had the appearance of desperate gamblers,
though only playing the regulation twenty-five cent points with longs
and shorts and a dollar on the rub, so that the damage could not be
very extensive.

The winter in this locality is very much on a par with that in
England, only shorter, there being generally some frost with a good
deal of snow and occasionally enough ice for skating.

Dinner-parties are very numerous, being the chief method of
entertainment. The _menu_ is, as a rule, excellent, and the import
duty being almost nominal, wine is both plentiful and good.

After a few mental twinges endured by leading personages consequent on
somewhat exaggerated ideas of precedence, the company is seated, and
a good dinner, aided by a lively flow of chit-chat, makes the evening
speed pleasantly and well.

But, you will ask, what besides amusing themselves have these
Anglo-Chinese to do? British steamers swarm throughout the China seas
and up the Yangtse for a thousand miles to Ichang, and it is in
controlling the working of these vessels, in importing and selling
manufactured goods and opium, in buying and exporting tea, silk and
other products of the country, as well as in filling positions in
Government services or any professional calling that agents,
merchants, officials and the professional classes find employment, so
that if in exile we surround ourselves with such luxuries and
enjoyments as are reserved for the wealthy at home it is because they
are ready to hand at but little cost, and that they serve in a degree
to compensate us for the sweet pleasures of home-life which are
forfeited by those who leave Old England to push their ways in distant
lands.

CHAPTER II

SERVANTS AND TRADESMEN

On your first arrival at an out-port, and as you are crossing the
pontoon which leads from the steamer to the bund, a most beaming
celestial meets you and presents an open letter, which runs something
like this:--

"I hereby certify that the bearer, Lao San, was my boy
for eight months, and I found him honest and willing.
TOM JONES."

The celes