end of a bamboo pole. We were never troubled by mosquitoes, however; in
fact I never saw a mosquito curtain in the Palace during the whole of
my stay there. These flies were an abomination, and in spite of all that
could be done a few would find their way into the rooms. Whenever they
alighted on Her Majesty she would scream, while if by any chance one
were to alight on her food she would order the whole lot to be thrown
away. This would spoil her appetite for the whole day and put her into
a terrible temper as well. Whenever she saw one anywhere near her, she
would order whoever happened to be present to go and catch it. I myself
often received this order, but I detested them almost as much as Her
Majesty did, they were so dirty, and stuck to one's hands whenever they
touched them.

After her illness Her Majesty was indisposed more or less for quite a
long time, and doctors were constantly in attendance. She took so many
different kinds of medicine that instead of getting better she got worse
and eventually contracted a fever. Her Majesty was very much afraid of
fevers of any kind and we had to stay with her all night and all day and
had to take our meals whenever we could get away from her bedside for a
few minutes. Another peculiarity was Her Majesty's aversion for any kind
of perfume near her when she was sick, while when she was feeling well
she was simply smothered in it. The same applied to fresh flowers; in
spite of her love for them under ordinary conditions, when she was sick
she could not bear them anywhere near. Her nerves became absolutely
unstrung, as she was unable to sleep during the day, and consequently
the time passed very slowly to her. In order to make the time pass
a little less tediously, she gave instructions for one of the better
educated eunuchs to read to her during the daytime. This reading
generally consisted of ancient Chinese history, poetry and all kinds of
Chinese lore, and while the eunuch was reading to her we had to stand by
her bedside, one of us being told off to massage her legs, which seemed
to soothe her somewhat. This same program was gone through every day
until she was completely herself again--some ten days later.

One day Her Majesty asked me: "What kind of medicine does a foreign
doctor usually give in case of a fever? I have heard that they make you
take all kinds of pills. This must be very dangerous, as you never know
what they are made of. Here in China all medicines a