the Empress Eugenie with some superb black pearls taken
from the Imperial Summer Palace when it was looted in 1860. At the same
time and in the same manner also disappeared many almost priceless gems,
costly articles of _vertu_, treasures in gold and silver and a wealth of
ancient manuscripts; while similar outrages were ruthlessly perpetrated
in the same unfortunate city only a few years ago as the closing chapter
in the Boxer troubles. Unhappy China! She has felt the aggressive hand
of her Western "brothers" ever since the unwilling invasion of her
shores.

About this time China was the resort of many adventurous Americans, some
of whom doubtless "left their country for their country's good," with a
view of seeking their fortunes. We became very well acquainted with a
New Yorker named Augustus Joseph Francis Harrison, a master of a craft
sailing in Chinese waters. His early life had been spent in Morrisania
in New York, where he had become familiar with the name of my husband's
relative, Gouverneur Morris, and was thus led to seek our acquaintance.
One day he came to the Consulate apparently in ill health and told us he
was in a serious condition. It seems that he had employed an English
physician whose violent remedies had failed to benefit him and had
prompted him to declare that he had been mistaken for a horse! He begged
us for shelter and we accordingly gave him a room and retained him at
the Consulate as our guest. We knew but little of medical remedies, but
we did the best for him we could, and in due time were delighted to see
that our patient was convalescing. One day my husband and my daughter
Maud visited him in his room and, as a token of gratitude, he presented
to the little girl the "Pirates' God," one of his most cherished
treasures--a curious idol, which is still in her possession. On the back
of it he wrote the following history:--"This idol, together with the
whole contents of two large pirate boats, was captured after a severe
fight of three hours, they having undertaken to take us by surprise;
consequently thirty or forty were killed. The rest made good their
escape by jumping overboard and swimming ashore. The boats and contents,
too, were sold."

Foo Chow was a region frequently visited by typhoons, in consequence of
which a municipal law required houses to be but one story high. During
the latter part of our residence in China we experienced the terrors of
a storm remarkable for its severity a