pose the most untempting-looking morsels for sale,
and where there are hampers of all sorts of nasty-looking compounds,
done up ready for the buyer of the smallest portion to take home--are
especially revolting. The Chinese, however poor, like several courses
to their meals, which are served in little bowls on a small table to
each person, and eaten with chop-sticks, as in Japan. It is to gratify
this taste that what we should think a very minute fish, or a tiny
chicken, is cut up into half-a-dozen pieces and sold to several
purchasers.

The Chinese are very fond of fish, and are most ingenious in
propagating, rearing, and keeping them. The dried-fish and seaweed
shops are not at all picturesque or sweet-smelling, especially as all
the refuse is thrown into the streets in front. Men go about the
streets carrying pails of manure, suspended on bamboo poles across
their shoulders, and clear away the rubbish as they go. I was very
glad when we got through all this to the better part of the town, and
found ourselves in a large shop, where it was cool, and dark, and
quiet.

The streets of the city are so narrow, that two chairs can scarcely
pass one another, except at certain points. The roofs of the houses
nearly meet across the roadway, and, in addition, the inhabitants
frequently spread mats overhead, rendering the light below dim and
mysterious. Every shop has a large vermilion-coloured board, with the
name of its occupant written in Chinese characters, together with a
list of the articles which he sells, hung out in front of it, so that
the view down the narrow streets is very bright and peculiar. These
highways and byways are not unlike the bazaars at Constantinople and
Cairo, and different wares are also sold in different localities after
the Eastern fashion. This is, in some respects, a great advantage, as,
if you are in search of any particular article, you have almost an
unlimited choice of whatever the town has to offer. But, on the other
hand, if you want a variety of articles, it is an inconvenient
arrangement, as you have to go all over the place to find them, and
probably have to visit the most opposite quarters. We saw thousands of
china vases, and bowls, and tea and dinner services, some very
handsome, but many extremely poor. There were a few specially made for
the French Exhibition next year, which were exceedingly handsome. We
visited an ivory shop, and saw some splendid specimens of carving. One
man ha