Life and sport in China / Second Edition

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daily life that time is much abridged, and it seems but yesterday that the two pailfuls of smoking milk punch worked such deadly havoc amongst four crews of well-trained m

st is universally understood to be a bachelor entertainment consisting of an enormous dinner with plenty of wine, tales,

he many respectable gatherings, be it in Church or Society, at which I have had the honour of assisting, but w

ost powerful of Europe's present rulers, was received with patriotic enthusiasm by the large colony of his n

ised by what might have been a fatal catastrophe but for the

wiftly down on the steamer, threatening to strike her amidships and either pin her to the hulk or crush her against the stone-faced bund, when she must have been immediately sunk. Unaware of the danger until it was almost upon him, the captain had just time to reverse his engines, and by going full speed astern with the helm hard over bring his ship round so as to receive the threatened blow end on instead of abeam. The impact nearly drove the vessel's stern into the hulk, but wit

is scarce and a good market obtains. They vary in size, but sometimes are a hundred yards in length by twenty in breadth, and draw probably from ten to twenty feet. With their huts of

b. It being almost midsummer, the weather was fearfully hot, the thermometer registering over ninety after sundown, and as a notification had been issued with all invitation

tle episode occurr

and his wife preserved a diplomatic silence, but mademoiselle was not inclined to take things for granted, and seeing neither golden crown nor purple robe she evidently had misgivings. "Are you really the grand duke?" she inquired with striking accen

ght his own servant, so that from a hundred and fifty to two hundred people were assembled in one large room, which together with the hot dishes and

further increased by several degrees. Champagne flowed in streams, a short speech of welcome was made by the local sport, to which the guest of honour replied, "White Wings" was sung by the doctor, and the parboiled throng descended to the lower precincts of the building to watch a display of fireworks. The heat was awful. Not a breath

t early hour, and after a time t

but the power to do so was gone. First one foot would strike a hill, then the other would go down into

is things are vague, and the next I remember is going upstairs on all fours and then opening my bedroom door. A most remarkable sight presented itself. I have seen mirage in the Arabian desert, but I have never seen anything like that. There was my bed, shrunk to the size of about one inch in length, at the top corner of the room near the ceiling, dancing up and down at the end of a bright and circling tunnel. How to get there I did not know. I can ju

ter, the community was small, consisting of a few

her round the festive board, when high spirits long pent up would burst forth with

Russian and English accentuation. Subsequently visits were made to all the other houses, with the exception of one, where we rather feared to intrude, as the good lady, while very affable as a rule, would stand no nonsense, and when she did not wish to be pleasant could treat one to a touch of sarcasm which would last for some time. However, we finally summoned up courage and approached the house as noiselessly and guiltily as a gang of thieves. The front gate was locked and eight feet high, but after some delay we scaled it, ranged ourselves on the lower verandah and were halfway through "My Bonnie Lives over the Ocean," when a crash overhead announced tha

d fit for anything. Our tall American friend was still somewhat unbent, and being of an inquiring turn of mind was examining the trap-door through which the dinner is handed by the cook from the pantry into the dining-room. No sooner was his head well through than he was pounced on by the two Caledonians, who, seizing him by the legs below the knee, shot his six feet odd throu

ng form of our host's Chinese housekeeper, clad in nothing but her night garments. She was laid tenderly on the dining-room table and comforted with some Veuve Clicquot champagne, for the poor c

d to be preparing for immediate hostilities, and so, not to be taken at a disadvantage, I closed with him as he leaped out of bed. The mêlée lasted probably five minutes, during which brief period his furniture was hurled in chaotic profusion all round the room, my black mess jacket was divided up the back from the tail to the collar, his pyjamas carried away, and the skin was detached from his bare feet by my boots. So ended a

niversal Chinese term for those young women who dance and sing in public, and who for regular fees attend at Chinese dinner-parties, composed exclusively of men, to flirt with the guests while filling their pipes and pouring out their wine. Poor parents having larger families

secure husbands, in which they sometimes succeed, passing into the hands of rich Chinese for three, four

ed alongside each other in a certain locality. They possess no very striking features, and those I have seen at Wuchow were abso

ree unprepossessing servants. Dinner, or whatever form the entertainment may take, is commenced, and as general mirth rises with the good cheer, guests write on a slate provided for the purpose the names of such flower-girls as they may f

ged, after protracted haggling, to enliven the proceedings. Two or three native fiddles of most primitive make wail incessantly, cymbals clash recklessly, a kind of flute resembling bagpipes in sound squirls, while a wooden drum adds to the d

he evening, and any romantic ideas I may have had with

aneers in freeing neighbouring waters from pirates and robbers. It is a most quaint and interesting little place, wearing a look of medi?val times, and still possessing many traces of former prosp

g-table each, which is on the ground floor. This table is covered with a fine grass mat and surrounded on three sides with benches for the players, while on the fourth side sit the croupier and the banker or shroff. In the ceiling a large hole has been cut immediately over, and corresponding in size with, the

o, stakes from the first floor being put into a basket by an attendant and lowered on to the table by means of a string, and the little square of lead is surrounded with coins, notes and counters arranged by the shroff. Now the croupier, with a thin stick about a foot in length, commences to scrape away four coins at a time from the double-handful of cash. One, two, thr

ntan in Pr

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akes after a deduction of twenty-five per cent. has been made. We put a dollar on number three; well, after deducting twenty-five per cent. from it

nder strict supervision, being farmed out to rich syndicates by the Portuguese authorit

undred dollars at a time. Large sums are continually won and lost, it being a common thing to see gamblers, both men and women, after staking thei

iculties is by stealthily taking certain objects from their master's house, say a clock and a dozen silver spoons, pledging them at one of the numerous pawn-shops and gambling with the proceeds. If fortune be favourable the clock and spoons are immediately redeemed and return

s in one employ frequently yield to this

stopped and a boat quickly lowered, while a Portuguese police launch also dashed to the rescue, but although we could see the sui

is the fa

festivity, and once gone th

ter waiting half an hour, during which the company chatted, drank tea and smoked, we were ushered into a large hall with brick floor and paper windows, where the repast was sprea

-cloths, while the luxuriously-cushioned divans

s, slices of ham, preserved eggs (more than a year old, black an

opsticks and two small sheets of brown pape

-cups, to be tossed off in bumpers all round with great frequency, each guest immediately presenting his empty cup to the gaze of his n

hem into various dishes began helping us, the guests of honour. On my one small plate were quick

to my neighbour's wine. Tableau! Never mind, I tried pickles and preserves in detail with about an average success. No good came of my efforts, but neither did a

ing the place of our dessert, albeit comi

se friends helping us from them with their chopstic

f several kin

f several kin

er Fish (boi

ens (boi

Slugs

rimps

Mushroo

s Firs

ed Tough

te Bai

s of Fish Go

uts and Mil

led in different

of Frogs Je

ice Flour A cu

ed Rice T

ed) Excellent,

's Fins V

ridge N

oup P

tc. On this occasion

undance of talk, compliments, jokes and the emission o

by shaking our clasped hands in each other's faces, "Nin ching. Poo sung,