forward and frowned at him. Bursting into a fit of screaming terror he fled from the yamen, while the mob looked grave, and wondered what devilry I could have practised on the child. Soon an officer appeared, and behind him followed a train of yamen attendants, who wore the usual conical hats with red feathers that suggested the idea of flames burning through the top of an extinguisher. Thus escorted, I was ushered into the yamen. Passing through the hall of justice, I noticed various instruments of torture, the substitutes for our sacred oath, to extract truth from a witness, or confession from the lips of a prisoner. Here I met a more venerable official, dressed in a long silk robe, a stiff* girdle and heavily-soled satin boots. By him I was conducted through a court and along a series of corridors, and finally presented to the Taotai, with infinitely greater official ceremony and pomposity than when I was intro- duced to Prince Kung, or Li-hung-Chang. Indeed it seems to me the Chinese are not exempt from the peculiarity which makes small officials everywhere self-important, and fearfully exacting in all matters touching their personal dignity. The private quarters of the Taotai and his retainers were prettily laid out, the open courts being shaded with palms and decked with flowers in vases, besides shrubs, ferns and creepers; and the whole interior was surrounded with saloons or pavilions. Into one of these last I was led, and there presented to a full- faced pleasant-looking Chinaman, who, to my surprise, held out his hand, and addressing me in perfect English, said, ' * Good morning, Mr. Thomson, I am glad to see you here ; when did you come over?" I recognised the speaker after a time, as a man whom I had met in Hongkong as a comprador, or a schroff", in a bank. He told me he was the nephew of the Taotai, and I have a strong suspicion that that functionary
