A Sheep _yang_ A Goat, or mountain Sheep _shan-yang_ A Cat _miau_ A Stag _shan loo_ A Pidgeon _koo-tse_ Poultry _kee_ An Egg _kee-tan_ A Goose _goo_ Oil _yeo_ Rice _mee_ Milk _nai_ Vinegar _tsoo_ Tobacco _yen_ Salt _yen_ Silk _tsoo_ Cotton _mien-wha_ Flax Plant _ma_ Hemp _ma_ Wool (Sheep's Hair) _yangmau_ Coals _tan_ Sugar _tang_ Cheese, they have none but thick Milk _nai-ping_, or iced milk A House _shia_ A Temple _miau_ A Bed _tchuang_ A Door _men_ A Table _tai_ A Chair _ye-tzé_ A Knife _tau_ A Pitcher _ping_ A Plough _lee_ An Anchor _mau_ A Ship _tchuan_ Money _tsien_ I must observe, however, for the information of these philologists, that scarcely two provinces in China have the same oral language. The officers and their attendants who came with us from the capital could converse only with the boatmen of the southern provinces, through the medium of an interpreter. The character of the language is universal, but the name or sound of the character is arbitrary. If a _convention of sounds_ could have been settled like a convention of marks, one would suppose that a commercial intercourse would have effected it, at least in the numeral sounds, that must necessarily be interchanged from place to place and myriads of times repeated from one corner of the empire to the other. Let us compare then the numerals of Pekin with those of Canton, the two greatest cities in China.