Chinese officials are regarded with great deference by the people; and foreigners also, who are in the service of the Imperial Government, are treated with much respect. In visiting the places of interest in the western suburbs, I was escorted by Mr. G---- and Mr. W----, both of whom belonged to the latter class, and consequently we did not suffer the usual annoyance from street crowds. Although Mr. G---- --who has, in another place, been spoken of as Imperial Commissioner of Customs at Canton--was in some measure acquainted with the language, a Chinese linguist also accompanied us, and going sometimes in advance to clear the way, caused a general stampede of all idlers, and prevented any disagreeable gathering of the people at the places where we stopped. The gentry of Canton live in the western suburbs, and many of their residences are on Howqua Street, which is one of the widest and cleanest in the city. The private residences--which are built of a gray brick, with walls twenty-five or thirty feet in height--are situated directly on the street, their fronts presenting no opening except the door. Many of them cover a large surface,--stretching far along the street,--and are so constructed as to appear like a series of small buildings, each of which terminates in an angle or recess. To form these angles, the wall, which begins plumb to the street-line, gradually recedes until it reaches a point of perhaps not more than one or two feet back of its commencement, when it turns, and making a right angle, is built straight back to the street line; another turn is then made, and the wall is again carried in the same receding line as at first; and in this manner the work is continued until the front wall of the mansion is completed. The Chinese--who are always propitiating some evil power, or malign influence--believe that these angles will prevent the escape of “good luck” from the street, and thus shield themselves and their families from misfortune. Howqua and Pun-Tingqua--two well-known Chinese gentlemen of influence and wealth--have their private residences on Howqua Street. The walls of their dwellings are built like those just described; and judging from the great extent of front occupied by Pun-Tingqua, his establishment must be very extensive. On our way to the western suburbs we passed a large stall at the corner of one of the streets, where nothing but dog-meat was sold. That animal, which we observed carefully skinned and dressed, was suspended and exposed for sale like a lamb at one of our butcher’s shops. A few streets further on brought us to the cat-market, where the mewing creatures, well fatted and exhibited in cages, were being purchased for the table. We had always been rather sceptical in regard to the assertion that dogs and cats were used as food by the “celestials;” but having this ocular proof of the fact our incredulity vanished. FOOTNOTES: [21] Dr. Williams’s _Middle Kingdom_, Vol. i. p. 130. [22] Dr. Williams.