test
products of China.

The great rivers of the empire are so liable to disastrous floods that
in many of the lower lands the people content themselves with fishing
and raising geese and ducks. A duck farm is most interesting. A large
shed by the river, or a raft, will serve as a shelter for the night. The
farmer of course sleeps in this shed. Early in the morning he opens the
door and out come the ducks. At night they return from every direction
scrambling over each other to get in. The Chinaman sits near the door
with a long bamboo pole herding them in. He even trains drakes to assist
him and they care for the flock something like a good shepherd dog will
care for sheep.

The Chinese do nearly everything backward or opposite from the way we do
it. The reading in their books begins at the end. Instead of across the
page the lines are up and down with footnotes at the top. The Chinaman
laughs at a funeral and cries at a wedding. He beckons you to come when
he wants you to go away. Instead of shaking his friend's hand in
greeting him he shakes his own hands. When he gets puzzled instead of
scratching his head as we do he kicks off his shoe and scratches the
bottom of his foot. When he gets mad at another he kills himself
imagining that his dead spirit will haunt the enemy and make life
miserable for him. Men often do crochet work while women dig ditches and
drive piling. Men wear petticoats and women wear trousers.

The Chinese launch ships sideways. Their compass points to the south. In
building a house they make the roof first and the foundation is the last
thing they put in. The key in the door turns backward to lock it. The
kitchen is in the front while the best room is in the back of the house.
When a Chinaman sprinkles clothes for ironing purposes he uses his mouth
as the sprinkler. I never had a collar washed in China that was not
ironed wrong side out. He pays the doctor when he is well and stops the
pay the moment he gets sick. You can almost bank on a Chinaman doing
anything the opposite from the way you do it and he laughs at your way
as much as you do at his.

CHAPTER II

THE PEARL OF THE ORIENT--PHILIPPINES

Of all the islands in the eastern seas, none are more interesting than
our own Philippines. Like the genuine pearl which is the result of a
bruise and the outcome of suffering, these pearls of the far east are
said by geologists to be the result of great volcanic forces that tore
them aw