A Chinese Banquet. 



far as quantity goes ; and on this occasion a repast was provided 

 for the servants of the guests, the preparations for which were 

 viewed with undisguised satisfaction by my retainers. 



The dinner started at i o'clock with two courses, but it 

 was only a preliminary canter. An interval of two hours super- 

 vened the while we watched the dancing, and I took photographs 

 of the assembled guests. Then we resumed the repast, this time 

 in earnest, the feast lasting till 6 o'clock. It was a trying ordeal, 



GUESTS AT THE GOVERNORS DINNER IN YARKAND. 



course succeeding course, until I lost all count after twenty-five. 

 There were shark's fins, bamboo shoots, and bamboo roots, 

 pigeon's eggs preserved in chalk, lotus seeds, stag's tendons, 

 liver of all kinds, and a host of weird and strange comestibles, 

 that might well have appalled a stomach of iron. I suffered the 

 whole programme even to tackling a sea slug with as many legs 

 as a centipede. Each dish was served in small bowls, the guests 



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