For several years before the Allies obliged the Chinese to open the gates of the Old City of Canton to foreigners, the wife of Mingqua occasionally received and returned the visits of some of the foreign ladies then residing at the old factories. The wife of Howqua also occasionally received such visits; but at that time the opportunities of coming in contact with the Chinese ladies were not common, nor have they become so since. On the contrary, the inner apartments, (as the rooms occupied by the women of a Chinese family of rank are called) are guarded as carefully as ever; and up to this time a woman from the West, when invited to enter their tabooed precincts, receives a distinguished favor. Mingqua, however, on account of his knowledge of our language, and from his having had a great deal of intercourse with foreigners, has in some respects become an exception to this rule. Seeming not to dislike our modes, but to rather approve of ladies having more liberty than they are allowed in China, he not only invites foreign ladies to visit his family, but, as will be seen, occasionally permits the gentlemen accompanying them to see the women of the household. He had frequently expressed a wish that I should visit the ladies of his family; therefore at our last visit to Canton,--notes and cards having been exchanged, and all the forms, according to Chinese etiquette, being complied with,--at the appointed time we took chairs and proceeded to his residence. In making this visit, (besides being attended by Mr. G---- and Mr. W----,) we were accompanied by an English gentleman,--who was also in the employ of the Imperial Customs. To this gentleman--who was a Chinese scholar--I was indebted for the translation of a note from Mingqua, in which the latter, after the fashion of Orientals, affects great humility, and in language of the most extravagant hyperbole, speaks of my visiting at his “humble abode.” This note was written upon paper of an India-pink tint, and the elegant card accompanying it was also of the same color, being over nine inches in length by four in width. Mingqua’s humility, however, was not of a character to induce him to live anywhere but in the western suburbs; therefore we not only found his residence in Howqua Street, but in the aristocratic and wealthy neighborhood of Pun-Tingqua, and Howqua. A few people were gathered in the street, near the great doorway, when we arrived; but as our coming had been expected, the portal was directly opened, when we passed quickly through the porch to a little court, where we were welcomed by Mingqua with elegant politeness, and then led with Oriental ease and grace to a reception-room in the rear of the court. This room communicated with the inner apartments by two doors, near which the women and children of the household were congregated to receive us. Their dresses were of some dark material, and very simple and unpretending in style; although the faces of the ladies showed the free