IVE ARE MADE A SHOW OF. 177 



clear a passage. We had hardly entered a shop 

 before it was crammed with people, and its owner, 

 frightened at the invasion of his premises, implored 

 us to leave as soon as possible. At length with the 

 assistance of our escort, we made our way into the 

 yard of a merchant's house, and bought what we 

 required in one of his back buildings. 



On returning to our quarters we had the pro- 

 spect of undergoing the same ordeal as on the pre- 

 vious day, but our police guard shut the gates and 

 charged so much a head for admission. I must 

 confess that it was not altogether pleasant to one's 

 feelings to be made a public show of in this way, 

 just as if we were some new kind of wild beasts ; 

 however, of two evils it was the lesser ; at all events, 

 sightseers now appeared in smaller numbers, and 

 behaved in a more orderly way. 



About mid-day the Mandarin sent a messenger 

 to ask us to go and see him again. We accordingly 

 started for his house, taking the watch with us. 

 While awaiting our interview, we were shown into 

 the soldiers' barracks, where we remained half-an- 

 hour, and had an opportunity of inspecting the 

 domestic arrangements of the Chinese soldiers. 

 Five thousand military are quartered at Bautu, most 

 of whom are from the south of China, the so-called 

 ' Khotcns' besides Manchus and a few Solones. 

 All these men are armed with matchlocks, a few 

 European muskets, swords, and long bamboo spears, 

 with great red flags attached to the end of the 

 shafts. 



VOL. 1. N 



