We next inspected a china shop, which was stacked with pottery from floor to ceiling. To my mind the patterns and colouring of everything we saw were particularly hideous, though some of our party who posed as connoisseurs went into raptures over weird designs and glaring blues and browns. I was equally disappointed in a visit to a fan shop. China is pre‐eminently the land of fans, and I had hoped to find some particularly choice specimens in Pekin. But all that were shown me were very indifferent—badly made and of poor design. The prettiest I have ever seen were in Canton, where superb samples of carved sandal‐wood and ivory can be procured at a very reasonable price. But Canton is far ahead of the capital in manufactures, and its inhabitants possess a keen commercial instinct. Its proximity to Hong Kong and the constant intercourse with foreigners have sharpened their trading faculties, and there are few smarter business men than the Canton shopkeeper. [Illustration: GROUNDS OF THE BRITISH LEGATION, PEKIN] Strolling along the street we reached a market‐place filled with open booths, in which food of all kinds was exposed for sale. Dried ducks, split open and skewered, hung beside sucking‐pigs. Buckets of water filled with wriggling eels stood on the ground. Salt fish, meat, and vegetables lay on the stalls, which were surrounded by a chaffering crowd. Sellers and buyers argued vehemently, and the din of the bargaining so dear to the Oriental heart filled the street. Women, with oiled hair twisted into curious shapes and wound round long, flat combs that stood out six inches on either side of the back of their heads, toddled up on tiny, maimed feet, and plunged into heated discussions with the dealers. Beggars exhibited their hideous deformities to excite the pity of the crowd, and clutched insolently at the dresses of the passers‐by to demand charity. Close by, a group of urchins drew water from a well. It was in the middle of the side‐walk, and was covered with a large stone slab, pierced with four holes only just large enough to permit of the passage of the buckets. On our way back to Chong Wong Foo that afternoon we passed close to the Legation quarter, and stopped to watch the progress of the wall which was being built around it as a protection against future attacks. It is simply a high wall constructed of the enormous Pekin bricks, easily defensible against infantry attack, but I should doubt if it would long resist artillery fire. The most famous place of Buddhist worship in Pekin is the Great Lama Temple, which was, perhaps, the wealthiest monastery in China until Buddhism fell out of fashion. As it is still well worthy of a visit, I made an excursion to it one day in company with a small party. The monks had the reputation of being extremely hostile to foreigners; and although Europeans could now go in safety to most places in the capital, I was warned not to venture on a visit to this temple alone.