us that the place was used for the same purposes. We
asked where the women were, and they answered that it was too late
to see them, but if we would come earlier we would find them. When
asked where the women came from, they pointed down to the street
below, to the open brothels, and said there were a great number of
degraded women who lived close by; said the brothel-keepers sent
them. They said that white men as well as Chinese came to their
place. After this we walked the length of the several streets and
side-streets, in the near vicinity, and proved the truth of what
the men had told us as to the swarming numbers of degraded girls
and women.

"The next night we went to the same neighborhood, and revisited
the two places already mentioned, and others also. As we reached
the top of the stairway and passed into the front room of the
place where they had invited us to return, there was quite a
flutter of excitement, and we instantly saw that there was
a number of girls present, all very young, and several mere
children. On our left a fat, middle-aged Chinese man sat, with two
or three little girls, one in his lap and one on either side of
him, in his arms; two more were throwing something that resembled
dice on a table within the front alcove, and the rest were sitting
on the opium couches. There were ten girls in all; the two
youngest could not possibly have been more than eight years old;
only one, out of the ten, claimed to be over sixteen; we
all doubted her claim, because of her extreme immaturity of
appearance. The two youngest children were immediately sent away
by order of the fat man, who was evidently in authority. The men
explained that these girls belonged to different women who were
not their own mothers; that they came to sing and dance, and pour
wine for the patrons who came to the place. They also explained
that all these girls were brought from the brothels, and were
either already living a bad life or were being trained up for
prostitution. They were powdered heavily, had flowers and
ornaments in their hair, the upper part of the forehead made bare,
and the hair dressed elaborately, like married women (even the
very youngest children); of course they were not married, for they
were declared to be the property of the brothel-keepers, and this
manner of dre