THE HONGKEW MARKET. 207 



food supply question is, in short, not only a delight long to be remembered, if ever forgotten, 

 but in its truest sense a liberal education. Fortunate, then, is he who can hit upon such 

 time as Mr. Cheng Kee can snatch from the busy day for a few minutes' conversation, and 

 happier yet he to whom the doors of an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of things edible 

 are even but for a short time thrown open. And then it will be as apparent as undeniable 

 that our informant has forgotten much more than his questioners ever knew. 



Who then, and what then, is this " Whiteley," this universal provider of the food 

 market ? He seems to differ but little in size and appearance from the thousand and one 

 natives one daily sees, but there is a smile upon his face, "childlike and bland," unmistakably 

 born of contentment, and that superb and inexpressible serenity ever indicative of prosperity, 

 while his short, sharp, incisive and right-to-the-point utterances at once proclaim the man 

 of well formed, well studied opinions : the man, in short, who knows. 



It would serve no practical purpose or useful end to give here his replies to questions 

 many of which, doubtless, he considered irrelevant and asked from sheer curiosity's sake 

 alone : and, while it would be impossible for any but the expert stenographer to give his 

 ipsissinia verba, for he is a rapid talker, yet a short summary of what fell from his lips, 

 actually and inferentially, may perchance be found to contain, what all speech should, 

 something worth remembering. 



Approached with the remark that he must often be the observer of curious scenes he 

 replied, "From this coign of vantage, this very seat at my desk, which commands a full and 

 almost uninterrupted view of all three sides of this triangular market, I often get in a short 

 morning as much amusement and laughter as I could extract from a theatrical burlesque in 

 a week — if in a week. The sights seen are not only a distraction but a tonic. If in such a 

 motley crowd as daily visits this market place in its thousands, consisting possibly of 

 representatives of more nationalities than are to be found either in Cairo or Port Said, or any 

 great eastern caravansaray, and most certainly of many a nationality never represented 

 elsewhere or at any other time of the day in this Settlement, all eager to buy the best at the 

 lowest price, all with serious countenances ' on business sole intent,' some haggling over a 

 bargain, others arguing the question of weights and the right of the seller to test the 

 accuracy of the buyer's scales, some indignant at the refusal of the market men to accept 

 their light cash and doubtful coins, and all, the while, pushing and scrambling and 

 shouting : — 



" And rattling and battling, 



And pouring and roaring, 



And running and stunning. 



And hurrying and skurrying, 



And driving and riving and striving, 



And grumbling and rumbling and tumbling," 

 if, midst such a hurly-burly as this something comical did not frequently occur it would be, 

 indeed, an eighth wonder of the world. My great surprise is that comedy and the comical 

 should ever cease. But then all things in this world come to an end at sometime or other, 

 even a Chinese play or a Chinese novel, interminable as they appear. However all is silent 

 in this region by eleven o'clock in the forenoon when the garbage is removed by the 

 Municipal coolies and the fire hose plays upon the fast emptying shambles." 



