ral effect upon all parties, and proved a source of
great relief to both foreign and native residents. Later all
apprehension was removed by the speedy departure of the unwelcome
marauders. Meanwhile the Consulate had received many valuables,
deposited there for safety. The morning following the departure of the
ships we noticed a large number of boxes in our courtyard and also
several sheep tied to the flag-staff. For a time we could not understand
the meaning of this queer collection and were compelled to assign it to
the usual incomprehensibilities of Chinese life. Mr. Gouverneur went in
search of our interpreter, hoping that he could explain the situation,
but to our surprise he had fled. We learned that he stood in great awe
of the pirates and feared their vengeance if he told all he knew about
them. Mr. Milne, the British interpreter, finally came to our rescue. It
seems that the sheep and boxes were parting gifts--"Kumshaws," as the
Chinese term them--from the pirates to the American and British Consuls
and Mr. Milne.

At first we had no idea what the boxes contained, and Mr. Gouverneur
sought the advice of William Sloane, the head of the _Hong_ of Russell
and Company, who had long been a resident of China, as to what should be
done with this strange consignment. He strongly urged that, as a matter
of policy, they be accepted and the British Consul, Walter H. Medhurst,
agreed with him. The medley collection was accordingly divided into
three groups and some coolies were engaged to convey to the English
Consul and Mr. Milne their respective shares. The sheep took the lead,
and it was indeed a curious procession that we watched from our windows
as we breathed a sigh of relief over the departure of this
"embarrassment of riches," and commenced to plan for the disposal of our
own share. A few minutes later I chanced to glance out of the window
when, to my utter dismay, I saw the procession so recently _en route_ to
the British Consulate reenter our courtyard. We were informed that
Medhurst had weakened and refused to receive his share of the
"Kumshaws." Mr. Gouverneur was much annoyed by such vacillating conduct
and immediately notified the British Consul in emphatic language that if
he refused to accept the piratical gifts he would regard it as a
personal matter. This had the desired effect and a second time the
procession wended its way to the British Consulate. The boxes proved to
contain hams, rock candy, dates a