486 Voyage of the Novara. 



round to the residences of the guests some days before- 

 hand. 



At 8 P.M. the feast began. Ta-ki's house, like those of all 

 the wealthy Chinese, is surrounded by a massive wall, six or 

 seven feet in height, and painted white. After passing through 

 a narrow gateway, the visitor finds himself at once in the 

 usual apartments. These were adorned for the occasion with 

 large coloured lanterns, which despite their numbers shed a 

 mild and most agreeable light.* Along the walls, which were 

 richly gilt, hung quantities of sententious native maxims, 

 written with Indian ink, sometimes in Chinese characters, 

 sometimes in Tartar, on white or yellow rolls of paper. The 

 greatest attention appeared to have been paid to the prepara- 

 tion of the reception-room, whose form was a rather narrow 

 oblong, in which at the far end was erected a platform, 

 where a strolling company acted Chinese theatricals. The 

 musicians sat on the stage. The company belonged to one 

 of those innumerable wandering troops which are engaged 

 for a day or two now by the community, now by wealthy 

 Mandarins, to give some theatrical representations, which it 



* These lanterns, often beautifully carved and otherwise adorned, are among the 

 most characteristic furniture of a Chinese room. Into their manufucture enter not 

 alone glass, horn, silk, paper, &c., but also the glutinous matter derived from a 

 species of sea-tangle [Oigartina tenax — called by the Malays Agar-Agm-), with which 

 the paper employed in covering the sides of the lantern is fastened on. In the 

 silk and paper manufactures too this omnipresent Agar-Agar paste plays so important 

 a part, that above 500 piculs at $2 a picul, are annually imported from the Indian 

 Archipelago. 



