212 WITH BOAT AND GUN IN THE YANGTZE VALLEY. 



well as the great quantities that go to the other shops meet with the readiest of sales, and I 

 am quite sure that a much larger demand than even that which at present exists could be 

 very easily satisfied. It is only those who come early in the day and see bloom in mass 

 who can form any idea of what wealth of colour really means." 



Time was now wearing on and I probably showed some sign of not being as attentive 

 as he could wish. We had often had a game chat together, and I was not surprised when 

 he placed in my hand the order book from the mess room of some foreign gunboat at 

 Woosung. "Ah!" he exclaimed, as he glanced down the page, "Here's a rather mixed 

 order. They want pheasants, duck, teal, snipes, plover, buntings, larks, thrushes and any 

 other small birds I may have handy, besides deer and hare, and a large miscellaneous lot 

 of poultry." 



"As they appear to be not only gourmands but gourmets send them down half a dozen 

 mynahs to whet their appetites. If the China starling will not prevent them from asking, 

 like little Oliver Twist, for more^ nothing that flies will," was my suggestion. But to make so 

 drastic an experiment was, I take it, rather too much for the politic Cheng Kee. 



As I moved away a remark escaped me as to the peculiarities of customers. " Yes," 

 he answered, "some mannerisms are as suggestive as they are characteristic, but the more 

 marked peculiarities are feminine, that is that they are more pronounced in the case of the 

 gentler sex. Now you just stand alongside me for a few minutes and you will see what I 

 mean, and you may take it from me that 8o% of female purchasers adopt identical tactics. 

 Look at that hatless head, that wealth of nut brown hair. It is owned by a lady from Russia. 

 These Sarmatian demoiselles are now from their numbers rather important customers. See 

 her poking her finger into that poor carp's eye with the idea that she is testing its freshness. 

 It is evidently not up to her sense of the fitness of things for she is going away without 

 even bargaining. But, ah ! she is followed by a Portuguese lady who is going through 

 exactly the same performance. Now watch that Cingalese clad in flowing yellow and 

 adorned with tortoiseshell. She follows suit. Here are others who will do ditto, ditto. No 

 wonder that these market fish which have been exposed for sale for more than an hour 

 suffer from 'depressed eye.' Look again. That piece of steak there is gradually losing all 

 its resisting power, and is fast becoming limp and flabby from being so frequently dug at 

 with the fingers. Watch that lady from Bagdad scrutinizing that duck with eye and nose in 

 the region of the tail to discover if it be fresh or not. How often have I told my lady 

 customers, and male too if it come to that, that the only reasonable test is to pluck three or 

 four feathers from the body close under the wing and smell the flesh so exposed, and that 

 when they have carried home their purchase they should hang it up by the legs, clear of 

 everything, so that the wings may fall open and permit of as much ventilation as possible. 

 Strange to say that a great number of people hang their poultry and game by the bill. 

 Now look at those two old folks who evidently want to buy that cabbage. See with what a 

 satisfied and knowing air they point to a soiled leaf, thinking thus to cheapen the price. 

 Failing in their object they pass over a sound, honest, succulent vegetable and secure in its 

 place one of lean kind and little flavour. There, again, are three rigid economists, ladies 

 all, who will take mealy peas, doubtful eggs and fish of ancient smell, all because a little 

 cheaper. And with endless iteration the performance goes on until closing time." 



