Papre Srrra’s Notices of China. 135 
Eleventh. The Guardian of the forty-eight Deposits of Passive Presents,* 
which office is filled by the principal eunuch, who is never above the fourth 
rank. This is an office confined within the precincts of the Palace, because 
the last dynasty was displaced by the surrender of one, who was also Inten- 
dant of Police. 
No. 4. 
Concubines and Servants of the Palace. 
Every third year the Emperor takes a review of such of the daughters of 
Tartar officers and men of rank, as may have reached the age of twelve, 
(twenty years ago the daughters of all the Tartars living about the Court 
were reviewed), and from among these, of all whose families he is reputed 
the common father, he chooses wives or concubines. Those who are not 
chosen at the third review, become exempt. ‘The servants, who amount to 
about 5,000, are chosen from the three tribes; the girls of fourteen pre- 
sent themselves at a review taken by the Emperor annually, and those who, 
after the third review remain unchosen, are exempt. Those who have 
been selected are restored to liberty when they have reached the twenty- 
fifth year of their age, unless the Emperor shall have had children by 
any of them, in which case he disposes of them as he pleases, making 
them illegal concubines; the legal, those acknowledged by the Obser- 
vatory, being only seven. Hence the late Emperor, when congratulated 
by his father-in-law on the birth of a son (born of a servant), banished 
him with a nominal appointment. The present monarch refused to re- 
call one of these servants who had been expelled with public disgrace 
when pregnant, through the jealousy of a favourite concubine, but at 
length, being apprized a second time by the magistrate that she had 
given birth to a son, he ordered her to be admitted into the Palace 
with her child. 
No. 5. 
The Customs and Revenue. 
The most lucrative offices, as those of the Customs, are filled by persons 
selected from the three tribes within the Court district, among which there 
are some families of extraordinary wealth. The Canton Custom-house, in 
* Presentes passivos. 
