SILKS AND PERFUMERY. 295 



paper is not made from rice, but from the jiith of a 

 tree, the Fatsia papyrifera, which grows about twenty 

 feet high, and which also furnishes material for toys 

 and flower making. Silk and perfumery shoj)S are 

 plentiful, and I was struck by the neatness of the 

 dwellings of the well-to-do Chinese, they are so much 

 superior to those of the Hindoos and Mahomedans in 

 India, and use tables and chairs, whilst the latter 

 invariably squat on a mat. In the shops of Canton 

 the natives speak a peculiar jargon or pigeon English : 

 on the outside, long narrow signboards, lacquered 

 bright red, are suspended vertically from the roof 

 to the ground, covered with an enumeration of the 

 wares for sale within, — they give quite a picturesque 

 appearance to the streets. 



On leaving the bazaar quarter the first temple we 

 encountered was that of the " Five hundred Genie," 

 which is filled with gilt figures, life size, in sitting posture, 

 many of them making most grotesque grimaces. A large 

 monastery is attached to this temple, and its priests 

 live upon the offerings of the devotees, consisting 

 mostly of pork. Hence we passed through the gate 

 into the old Tartar town, which has a dirty and 

 deserted appearance ; here is the temple of the " Five 

 Spirits," — North, East, Centre, South, and West, — a 



