ling, yelling waiters
would make that impossible, in any event. The room had a stone floor,
and was unheated, only a little less cold than outdoors. Inadvertently,
we took off our wraps,--not all, only two or three; for we are becoming
quite Chinese in our manner of putting one coat on over another. We put
them all on again, however, at the end of the second course, for the
draughty windows and the door constantly swinging open into the
courtyard made all our warm things indispensable.

Our Chinese gentleman gave us a "number-one" dinner, and a number-one
dinner always begins with bird's-nest soup, the greatest delicacy a
Chinese can offer; also, the most expensive. Well, we began with it, and
truly it is "number-one"--gelatinous, delicate, with an exquisite flavor
altogether indescribable. Then followed the other courses. As this
dinner was given to foreigners, we had only twelve courses, whereas the
usual Chinese dinners run up into the dozens; "forty curses" they are
sometimes called by unwary foreigners who have tried to eat their way
through a whole meal. The courses come on and on, endlessly; but the
proper Chinese custom is that you leave when you have had enough, say
four or five. You aren't supposed to sit through an entire meal. Our
host told us that he had been to three dinners that evening, before this
one, and was expecting to go to one or two more. We felt rather uneasy
when he told us this, and thought we ought to be going, ourselves; but
he hastily explained that this dinner, given in our honor, was not long
and that we must go through all of it. Very easy going, I must say!

After the bird's-nest soup came shark fins, another delicacy and also
delicious. Then fish, then soup of another kind, then powdered chicken,
then duck and rice, then cake, then shell-fish, then more duck, then
lotus-flower soup, and finally fruit and coffee. As each wonderful dish
succeeded the other our host apologized profusely, deprecating its poor
quality and miserable manner of preparation. We protested vehemently,
with enthusiasm. This also is Chinese etiquette, it seems, for the host
to denounce each dish, while the guests eat themselves to a standstill.
It all took a long time, for we managed our chop-sticks badly;
nevertheless, in spite of this handicap, we finished every marvelous
course placed before us. A tea-pot of hot sake did something to keep the
creeping chill out of our bones, but very little: the thimble-like sak