Joss-house, and in the most abject terms implore forgiveness for his intemperate language over-night. Then he would generally abstain for two or three days, but at the first sign of bad weather, he took to his pipe, and Chin-Tee came in for another blast of abuse. The rest of the crew were always horrified by the shocking impiety of the Ty Kong, and on more than one occasion I really feared that they were about to proceed to Jonahize him. They were by no means all opium-smokers; some of them smoked tobacco, of a vile quality, in metal pipes, with an under-hanging curved portion containing water, through which the smoke passed. The opium-pipe is a quite different thing. It is a reed of about an inch in diameter, and the aperture in the bowl for the admission of the opium is not larger than a pin's head. The drug is prepared by boiling and evaporation to the consistence of treacle. Very few whiffs can be taken from a single pipe, but one is enough to have an effect on a beginner, as I have already described in my own case, but an old hand, like the Ty Kong, can smoke for hours. The incense burned before the idols consisted mostly of pieces of aromatic wood, called Joss-sticks, silvered paper, and tin-foil. One of their most revered objects was the mariner's compass, and before it they would place tea, sweet cake, and pork, in order to keep it faithful and true! It is well known that the Chinese were acquainted with the phenomenon of the magnetized needle centuries before it was known in Europe, and their compass differs materially from ours; instead of consisting of a movable card attached to the needle, theirs is simply a needle of little more than an inch in length balanced in a glazed hole in the centre of a solid wooden dish, finely varnished. It has only twenty-four points, and with its use they combine some of their most ancient astrological ideas. The broad circumference of the dish is marked off into concentric circles, inscribed with mystical figures. We say the needle points to the north; they hold that the attraction is to the south, and therefore colour that end of the needle red, a hue that appears to have a mysterious efficacy in their eyes. I have already told how the Josses were wrapped in red scarves, and bits of red cloth were tied on the rudder, cable, mast, and other principal parts of the vessel, as safeguards against danger. There was also a large painted eye on either side of the bow, to enable the junk to see her way! At first I could not understand the meaning of this, and told Chung to ask the Ty Kong for an explanation. "Have eye," translated Chung, "can see; no have eye, no can see." On occasions of special religious demonstration these optics were decorated with strips of red cloth. On one occasion when a steamer suspiciously like a Japanese cruiser hove in sight, they tied red rags to their antique guns, or gin-galls, and with this consecration on their defensive arrangements, seemed to feel perfectly secure.