CUSTOMS 245 



or is crippled he can join the beggar 

 fraternity by paying thirty dollars which 

 ensures having his name enrolled on the book 

 kept for the purpose. After paying his dues 

 and being enrolled he is then permitted to 

 exercise his calling on certain streets of a 

 city or some other designated place ; but he 

 must keep within the bounds which will 

 be marked out or suffer a severe punish- 

 ment for any transgression. At stated 

 periods there must be paid to the beggar 

 king a certain per cent of all sums collected. 

 Many parts of a city, especially entrances 

 to the larger temples, are infested by 

 beggars who are often persistent in their 

 clamor for alms from the passer by. They 

 seem to be instinctively aware that those 

 who visit the temples to worship are in a 

 more religious frame of mind and con- 

 sequently more ready to yield to their 

 solicitations for money. The Chinese 

 government does not appear to have any 

 method to deal with these indigent people 

 of the country and they go at will seeking 

 a precarious living and sometimes proving 

 very irritating. The annoyance they cause 

 to the shopkeepers of a city is sometimes 

 of extreme irritation, as from one to a 



