On one occasion, I was travelling in the interior, when I was disturbed by a violent explosion of wrath on the part of the captain of the boat. He was evidently incensed beyond measure with one of the members of the crew, and he used the strongest language in condemnation of him. They were all gathered round the great rice pan having their evening meal, and with every mouthful that was taken out of the bowl that contained the condiment to go with their rice, the anger of the captain blazed out in a fresh burst of indignation. "What is the matter," I at last asked, "and why are you making such a row over your meal?" "Matter!" he replied, "there is a great deal of matter, that is quite enough to make one as angry as I am. Do you see this man?" he said, pointing with his chopsticks to the delinquent upon whom his wrath was being expended. "I sent him this afternoon to the market to buy some oysters to eat with our rice this evening, and he had not the sense or the nose to buy good ones. He allowed the dealer to cheat him most egregiously, for the oysters are not simply tainted--which would not have seriously mattered--they are positively stinking, and the taste is so offensive that we can hardly get them down without being sick." "But are you really going to eat them?" I asked, with a look of consternation on my face. "Eat them! of course we are; you would not have us waste the food, would you? We have paid for it, and we certainly could not afford to lose our money," and the whole crew went on popping the unsavoury, unhealthy morsels into their mouths, grumbling all the time at the man who was the cause of their discomfort, but who in order to cover his mistake pretended to be perfectly satisfied with the almost putrid oysters that one could smell from a distance. The preciousness of food and the jealous care that is taken not only of what is wholesome and appetizing, but also of what would be rejected by our poor in England as positively uneatable, show unmistakably how near the greater part of the nation is to the ragged edge of destitution and want. The result is that the desire to maintain life in the fierce struggle that the masses have for mere existence has made the Chinese amongst the most industrious people in the world. Mere poverty alone would not have developed this feature in the national character, had there not been a deep instinct of industry in the race which has tended to develop industrial habits that permeate every class of society.