ut any show of ceremony led the
way into an adjoining room, where a long council-table extended over half
the length. The viceroy took the arm-chair at the head, and motioned us to
take the two seats on his left, while Mr. Tenney and the viceroy's son sat
on his right. For almost a minute not a word was said on either side. The
viceroy had fixed his gaze intently upon us, and, like a good general
perhaps, was taking a thorough survey of the field before he opened up the
cannonade of questions that was to follow. We in turn were just as busily
engaged in taking a mental sketch of his most prominent physical
characteristics. His face was distinctly oval, tapering from a very broad
forehead to a sharp pointed chin, half-obscured by his thin, gray
"goatee." The crown of his head was shaven in the usual Tsing fashion,
leaving a tuft of hair for a queue, which in the viceroy's case was short
and very thin. His dry, sallow skin showed signs of wrinkling; a thick
fold lay under each eye, and at each end of his upper lip. There were no
prominent cheek-bones or almond-shaped eyes, which are so distinctively
seen in most of the Mongolian race. Under the scraggy mustache we could
distinguish a rather benevolent though determined mouth; while his small,
keen eyes, which were somewhat sunken, gave forth a flash that was perhaps
but a flickering ember of the fire they once contained. The left eye,
which was partly closed by a paralytic stroke several years ago, gave him
a rather artful, waggish appearance. The whole physiognomy was that of a
man of strong intuition, with the ability to force his point when
necessary, and the shrewd common sense to yield when desiring to be
politic.

[Illustration: FURNACE FOR BURNING WASTE PAPER BEARING WRITTEN
CHARACTERS.]

"Well, gentlemen," he said at last, through Mr. Tenney as interpreter,
"you don't look any the worse for your long journey."

"We are glad to hear your excellency say so," we replied; "it is
gratifying to know that our appearance speaks well for the treatment we
have received in China."

We hope our readers will consider the requirements of Chinese etiquette as
sufficient excuse for our failure to say candidly that, if we looked
healthy, it was not the fault of his countrymen.

"Of all the countries through which you have passed, which do you consider
the best?" the viceroy then asked.

In our answer to this question the reader would no doubt expect us to
follow etiquet