few feet from the top means the degree of Ku Yan,
equivalent to our M. A., and called in China the degree of Promoted Men;
the degree of Entered Scholar, nearly equivalent to our LL.D., called
Tsun Sze, is represented by two rows of brackets; and the highest degree
attainable, Hon Lum, is announced by three rows of brackets, locally
termed the "Forest of Pencils." The projecting brackets make admirable
perches for pigeons and other domesticated birds. As the family and not
the individual is the basis of the custom, the masts are always erected
in front of the ancestral home, although the distinguished scholar
may live miles away. The poles are never repaired or replaced unless
some other member of the family acquires academic honors. China has no
custom more poetic than the indicating of an abode from which a scholar
has emerged.

While it is easy to admit the erudition of the Chinese in their own
language, the tourist swung through Canton's streets perceives from his
sedan-chair many signs displayed to catch the eye of the foreigner that
prove the English schoolmaster to be absent. To read such announcements
as "Chinese and Japanese Curious," "Blackwood Furnitures," "Meals at All
Day and Night," and "Steam Laundry & Co." provoke a titter in a city
where you believe yourself to be an unwelcome visitor. It is obvious
that the scholars of China are not reduced to the straits of becoming
sign-painters.

The greatest of all Canton sights is undeniably that of life on the
boats along the river front, penetrating every creek, and extending
along the paddy fields above and below the great city. There has never
been a census of this "floating population," but it is estimated that
more than three hundred thousand Cantonese have no other homes but the
junks, sampans, "flower boats" and "snake boats," upon which they are
literally born, reared, married, and die. Lining both sides of the
river, extending into Shameen Creek, the sampans are everywhere. They
ferry people across the stream or convey them wherever they wish to go
in the neighborhood, carry light cargoes of fuel, food, or merchandise,
deliver packages, and do a thousand and one services of the "odd-job"
order. A sampan nearly always houses an entire family, and is rowed by
the father and mother. Beneath the round covering amidships the woman
conducts the domestic affairs of the family with a cleverness that is
remarkable, and for cleanliness it may be said that the Ca