e was roast chicken, boneless chicken and roast
duck. Ducks and chickens are stuffed with little pine needles to give
them a fine flavor and roasted in open air ovens.

There was another dish that Her Majesty was very fond of and that was
the skin of roast pork cut into very small slices and fried until it
curls up like a rasher of bacon.

As a rule the Manchu people seldom eat rice, but are very fond of bread
and this day we had bread, made in a number of different ways, such as
baked, steamed, fried, some with sugar and some with salt and
pepper, cut in fancy shapes or made in fancy moulds such as dragons,
butterflies, flowers, etc., and one kind was made with mincemeat inside.
Then we had a number of different kinds of pickles, of which Her Majesty
was very fond. Then there was beans and green peas, and peanuts made
into cakes and served with sugarcane syrup.

I did not eat very much, as I was too busy watching Her Majesty and
listening to what she said, although she told us to eat all we could.
In addition to all I have mentioned, we had many different kinds of
porridge, some made of sweet corn and some with tiny yellow rice (like
bird seed), and Her Majesty said that we must all eat porridge after our
meat.

After we had finally finished eating, Her Majesty rose from the table
and said: "Come into my bedroom and you will see the Young Empress and
the Court ladies eat; they always eat after I am finished." We went with
her and I stood near the door between the two rooms and saw the Young
Empress and Court ladies come in and stand around the table eating very
quietly. They were never allowed to sit down and eat their food.

All this time the theatre had been going on playing some fairy tales,
but they were not near as interesting as the first play that we had
seen. Her Majesty sat on her long couch in the bedroom and the eunuch
brought her some tea and she ordered some brought for us. My reader
can imagine how delighted I was to be treated in this way. In China the
people think their sovereign is the supreme being and that her word is
law. One must never raise their eyes when talking to her. This is a sign
of great respect. I thought these extreme favors must be most unusual. I
had been told that Her Majesty had a very fierce temper, but seeing her
so kind and gracious to us and talking to us in such a motherly way, I
thought my informant must be wrong and that she was the sweetest woman
in the world.

When He