ch. ii.] Chinese Play. 25 



Chinese " boys " handed round the sherry and bitters as 

 we stood in groups ; and a few minutes afterwards the 

 gong was beaten for dinner in quite a homely fashion. 

 A jolly old Spanish priest was present, and our long- 

 tailed host did not omit to ask him to say grace, which 

 he solemnly did, first in English, standing the while, and 

 then we were all surprised as the rubicund-cheeked friar 

 rolled out a Chinese prayer interlarded with choice 

 maxims from Confucius, and all in the Hokien dialect of 

 Chinese. The whole thing was much enjoyed. "We had 

 soup oxtail and " birds' nest," the latter extremely good, 

 but perhaps rather too sweet for European liking ; fish 

 of several kinds, beef and mutton cooked in various 

 ways, also pork cutlets excellently cooked, as indeed only 

 Chinese cooks can prepare them ; pastry, cheese, and 

 such fruits for dessert as no money could procure from 

 Covent Garden. Fat juicy mangoes, delicate mangos- 

 teen, rambutan, bananas, and other kinds, never eaten in 

 perfection anywhere but in the tropics the gardens of 

 the sun. 



A " wyong " or Chinese play had been organised by 

 our host, one portion of his house being fitted up as a 

 private theatre, and to this we adjourned after dinner. 

 The performers were a celebrated troupe just arrived 

 from China, and very clever they were, especially in 

 pantomime. Of course we understood not a word of 

 what was spoken ; and yet so expressive were the actions 

 that the plot and motive of the play was perfectly com- 

 prehended even in detail. The music of shrieking two- 

 stringed violins, and the rattle of gongs and tom-toms 

 which accompanied them, however, might fairly be added 

 to Mr. Sothern's list of things which "no fellah can 

 understand." The plot was of an undutiful daughter of 

 poor parents who was beloved of a youth of her own age 



