304 CANTON FLO AVER BOATS. 



and smoke were in copper " tchens," or "cash" of the value 

 of one twelfth of a penny each, which certainly indicated 

 veiy moderate charges. On one occasion I had to pay 

 some small sum in a slioj:) at Canton, and handed a dollar 

 for change, when to my surprise John Chinaman pulled 

 out a pair of pincers, broke off a few chips, carefully 

 weighed them, and returned the remainder to me 

 neatly wrapped up in paper. This is their usual mode of 

 dealing with foreign coins, having none of their own in 

 either gold or silver, although they keep their accounts 

 in taels, equal to about live shillings and sixpence each. 



Another curious institution, worthy of a paternal 

 Government, is that of an immense pawn-shop, estab- 

 lished in a tall pagoda of many storeys, where every 

 article deposited is placed on its j^roper shelf, enclosed 

 in paper, on which a few words are written for easy 

 identification. 



Having seen pretty well all that was worth seeing 

 at Canton, and having passed under review a fair 

 sprinkling of Chinamen, to serve me as types of the 

 400 to 450 million Celestials, said to exist in that vast 

 empire, whose people are justly described as united in 

 language, in customs, in sympathies, and in supersti- 

 tions, absolutely and perfectly contented with their 

 present civilization as no other country is, I took my 

 departure for Hong-Kong. Soon after starting, and 



