however, not more curious than the title of “John” bestowed on the Chinaman by most foreigners as a generic distinction. Less flattering epithets used to be freely bestowed on us, especially in the interior, such as “foreign devil,” “red-haired devil,” &c. The phrase Hungmaou, “red-haired,” is applied to foreigners of all classes, and arose when the Dutch first opened up trade with China. A Chinese work, alluding to their arrival, says, “Their raiment was red, and their hair too. They had bluish eyes, deeply sunken in their head, and our people were quite frightened by their strange aspect.” Jack will have to tell how many strange anomalies met his gaze. For example, in launching their junks and vessels, they are sent into the water _sideways_. The horseman mounts on the _right_ side. The scholar, reciting his lesson, _turns his back_ on his master. And if Jack, or, at all events one of his superior officers, goes to a party, he should not wear light pumps, but as thick solid shoes as he can get; _white lead_ is used for _blacking_. On visits of ceremony, you should keep your hat _on_; and when you advance to your host, you should close your fists and _shake hands with yourself_. Dinners commence with sweets and fruits, and _end_ with fish and soup. White is the funereal colour. You may see adults gravely flying kites, while the youngsters look on; shuttlecocks are battledored by the _heel_. Books begin at the end; the paging is at the bottom, and in reading, you proceed from right to left. The surname precedes the Christian name. The fond mother holds her babe to her nose to smell it—as she would a rose—instead of kissing it. What yarns he will have to tell of pigtails! How the Chinese sailor lashes it round his cap at sea; how the crusty pedagogue, with no other rod of correction, will, on the spur of the moment, lash the refractory scholar with it; and how, for fun, a wag will tie two or three of his companions’ tails together, and start them off in different directions! But he will also know from his own or others’ experiences that the foreigner must not attempt practical jokes upon John Chinaman’s tail. “_Noli me tangere_,” says Dr. Milne, “is the order of the tail, as well as of the thistle.”