This system of mulcting is known all over China as "_cum-shaw_," a system, too, which I would advise all sailors to adopt in their dealings with the slippery race if they would not be robbed. The vendor dare not say nay to a mandarin; and, though it is a point of etiquette on the part of the big man to offer payment, it is equally a point of etiquette for the tradesman to refuse: a fact, it is said, the mandarin always calculates on. In addition to the orthodox shop, the streets are lined with itinerants, orange stalls, betel-nut tables, heaps of rags, and sundries, baskets of vegetables of very strange appearance and strong penetrating odours, half-cooked roots and leaves--for the people never eat a well-cooked root or vegetable; it is from these principally that the intolerable stench is proceeding. What the Chinese eat is a mystery, and such queer compounds enter into their _menu_ that I would give everybody who dines with a Chinaman this advice--don't enquire too minutely into what is placed before you, or you will eat nothing, and so offend your host; bolt it and fancy it is something nice--and _fancy_ goes for something at times, I can assure you. That it requires a tremendous effort on the part of the human stomach, the subjoined "Bill of Fare" of a dinner given to Governor Hennessey by one of the Chinese guilds will, perhaps, serve to shew: Birds' Nest Soup. Pigeons' Egg Soup. Fungus Soup. * * * Fried Sharks' Fins. Beche-de-mer[1] and Wild Duck. Stewed Chicken and Sharks' Fins. Fish Maw. * * * Minced Partridge. Ham and Capon. Meat Ball and Fungus. Boiled Shell Fish. Pig's Throat, stewed. Minced Shell Fish with Greens. Chicken Gruel Salad. Stewed Mushrooms. Pig's Leg, stewed. * * * Roast Capon. Roast Mutton. Roast Pig. Roast Goose. * * * Fruits. Melon Seeds. Preserves. Almonds. [Footnote 1: The _Holothuria_ of naturalists--a species of sea-slug or sea-cucumber found on the shores of Borneo and on most of the islands of the Pacific, and which being dried in the sun is considered a dainty by Chinese epicures.] Cats, too, are entertained as food, though I believe only by the extremely poor, to whom nothing seems to come amiss. One may frequently meet in the streets vendors of poor puss, easily recognisable by their suggestive cry, "mow (miow?) youk"--cat-meat! One is struck with astonishment at the vast crowds which always throng the streets, each unit of which seems intent on some most important business, and looks as though its accomplishment absorbed his whole being. Perhaps it is only a few ounces of fish which he carries suspended from his ringer by a cord; but if it were the emperor's diamonds he could not conduct himself with more importance.