for their own maintenance, are allowed a nominal annual sum by government, sufficient to support them probably one month out of twelve, and for the rest they are daily sent adrift into the public highways, and I believe, as in the case of ordinary beggars, certain shops and streets may unite together and purchase freedom from their most objectionable visits. This little settlement numbered something over 300 souls, and had once contained a theatre for the amusement of its inhabitants, but that edifice had long fallen into decay.
The streets of Foochow are so similar to the streets of all the other cities of Southern China as to require no description here. Foochow, too, has its parade-grounds, its yamens, its temples and its pagodas ; all of great importance to the citizens themselves, and of comparatively little interest to the stranger from outside, unless to one who wishes to make himself ac- quainted with an endless variety of dry details as to religion, Feng-shui, or local jurisdiction ; none of which subjects could possibly be digested into a volume of such dimensions as mine. I will therefore only remark as I quit the town, that the visitor must not fail to observe the oysters — oysters which are not only very good, but very remarkable too in their way. It may be said that a bamboo rod is not the '* native climb" of that highly-prized shell-fish; and yet, in the main thoroughfares at Foochow, one finds an endless array of fish-stalls where oysters are served out to passing customers, and these oysters are grown in clusters on bamboo rods, stuck into the beds at the proper season, pulled up again when mature, and brought in this fashion to market.
There are a number of trades which are peculiar to this city, and among the most interesting is that of the lamp-maker. One lamp, of a very pretty though fragile kind, is made up of thin
