SIX WEEKS IX A TOWER. 73 



foreign devil) coming into the Flowery Land in a 

 friendly way, as we were doing; that he wished 

 some of the younger Chinamen would visit our 

 country ; that he did not know what our customs 

 were, heing himself old and unable to take up new 

 things, but he would treat us according to his own 

 customs, and the admirable laws of Chinese polite- 

 ness. This old gentleman (who was " screwed ") was 

 so very pressing that he upset a cup of hot Avine over 

 my legs ; and on this his friends banished him to the 

 outer circle, where he mounted on a sort of drum, 

 and, whenever he caught my eye, drained an imagin- 

 ary cup of fsow by way of encouragement to me to 

 go on tippling, and to bring myself to the condi- 

 tion which he found so satisfactory at the time. 

 It is only on special occasions that such jollity is 

 allowed, and it is very rarely permitted to go to 

 great excess. It is indulged in more by these 

 Hakkas than by other Chinese. On returning to 

 the tower I was pestered by one of the party a 

 decayed teacher, and gone case of dipsomania. 



There was a good deal of trouble about our walk- 

 ing in the neighbourhood of our tower. The lower 

 class of Chinese have some very curious ideas about 

 gems and jewels buried in the earth, and of the 

 power of foreign devils to discover these. Frequently 

 they had asked me on my excursions to discover 

 for them a kum-Jcei-tan, or " golden fowl's egg," that 

 being their phrase for hidden treasures. They have 



