476 Voyage of the Novara. 



very nearly 40,000,000 inhabitants seemed greatly to as- 

 tonish him, although this is probably barely one-tenth of the 

 population of the Chinese Empire.* 



Just as the Tau-Tai was preparing to set out on his return, 

 a tremendous tumult was suddenly heard in the street. It 

 seemed like a popular insurrection, and servants were forth- 

 with sent out to ascertain the cause of this unexpected 

 shindy, who came back presently with the intelligence that 

 an English sailor had struck a coolie of the suite a blow on 

 the face with his fist, so violent that he was seriously injured, 

 and was bleeding profusely. The Tau-Tai made his aj)- 



* As another example of an interview with the highest class of Chinese officials, 

 we must briefly describe one enjoyed by some of our Expedition with a Mandarin 

 named Li-hoi-wan. He received them in a chamber of his house, in which were a 

 few small tables and chairs, while at the other end was an elevated cushioned seat on 

 which sate Li-hoi-wan, a large stout man. He wore a Mandarin hat, with a blue 

 button, and a greyish blue coat reaching to the ground. He saluted the foreigners 

 by folding his palms across his breast, invited them to be seated on the dais beside 

 him, and ordered cigars and tea to be brought. Afterwards sweetmeats of every de- 

 scription, confectionery, and fruit were served, as also Chinese wines, the latter, to 

 judge by their flavour and their fragrance, seeming as though they must have hailed 

 from a perfumery store rather than a wine cellar. Two days after the Chinese, with 

 delicate courtesy, returned the visit at their quarters in the residence of M. Probst, 

 the Consul for Oldenburg. Punctually at the appointed hour three far-resounding 

 taps of the gong were heard, a foot- soldier of police presented a flaming red " carte de 

 visite," bearing the name and titles of Li-hoi-wan, who forthwith was received by the 

 travellers at the threshold, in compliance with Chinese customs. He was attired in 

 heavy silk clothes, his fan in an elegantly worked sheath, a gold lever watch in his 

 girdle, and was in excellent spirits. The hospitable host had, according to the cus- 

 tom of the country, prepared a chow-chow, or collation, at which, however, instead of 

 Samschoo, champagne was the prevailing beverage. A few days later the Man- 

 darin visited his newly acquired friends on board the frigate, and begged their ac- 

 ceptance of a variety of presents, such as silks, nuts, tea, dried fruits, and Chinese 

 maxims and proverbs, written on long rolls of paper, that, as he naively expressed it, 

 we might think of him " as a brother." 



