PEK'ING, ITS STREETS AND WALLS. 91 



confess, however, that the impression it left on my 

 mind was far from agreeable ; indeed, a new comer 

 could hardly be pleased with a city in which cess- 

 pools and crowds of naked beggars ^ are the adjuncts 

 of even the best streets. If we add to this the in- 

 solent effrontery of the Chinese themselves and the 

 nickname of Kwei-tss, i.e. ' foreign devils,' with 

 other opprobrious epithets, which they bestowed 

 upon us, it may readily be imagined that Peking is 

 not the pleasantest place in the world for a stroll. 

 To complete the picture, collectors of manure are 

 continually moving about plying their trade with 

 baskets on their arms ; the smells are beyond de- 

 scription, and the water used for laying the dust is 

 taken from the sewers. 



The principal streets are wide and straight, bor- 

 dered with rows of shops decorated in every con- 

 ceivable style, and with mud walls which conceal from 

 view the dwellings of the inhabitants. The town is 

 lighted with paper lanterns stuck on wooden tripods 

 several hundred yards apart, in which are usually- 

 placed lighted tallow candles. There is no particular 

 need, however, of nocturnal illumination, because the 

 Chinese generally conclude their out-door business 

 by sunset, so that with the approach of twilight 

 hardly anyone is to be seen abroad even in the 

 most populous quarters of the town. 



Peking is divided into two parts, an inner town 

 (Nei-cheng) in which the palace of the Emperor 



^ The beggars in Peking are said to number 40,000 ; they have a 

 king or chief of their own, who exacts a certain tribute from all the 

 shops in the town. 



