APPENDIX. 295 



tlie hypothesis of large profits to the dealer. However, these ar- 

 ticles are hardly as staple as groceries, and perhaps it is wrong to 

 eye the margin of profit through grocers' spectacles. 



A VISIT TO CANTON A FLOATING CITT — FEMALE HOTEL-EHNNEES 



A CHINESE DINNEE DOG, AND CAT-MEAT BESTAUEANTS CHI- 

 NESE TAILOES KITES, CUEEENCT AND OTHEE PEOULIAEITIES. 



Canton is situated on the Chan-Kiang, or Canton Eiver, 

 eighty-four miles up from the sea. The river is navigable for 

 large vessels to this point, but, as there is but little room for 

 merchant shipping, the greater part of the important productions 

 of Canton are lightered down the river to Whampoa, some four- 

 teen miles, where usually a considerable number of vessels are 

 waiting for cargoes. For the first forty-five miles the river is 

 lined on each side by hills or bluffs of considerable height, but 

 higher up the land gradually becomes more level, and expands 

 into a wide valley, in which Canton is situated. 



As we approach the city, the first objects seen are the pagodas 

 with their many stories towering one above the other, and a 

 number of tall, square buildings, several stories higher than those 

 by which they are surrounded. These latter we afterward learned 

 were pawn-shops, and are substantially built of fire-proof material 

 to afford security against fire and thieves. As we proceed up the 

 river, the junks and smaller floating craft become more plenty, 

 and for a mile or more below the landing-place of the steamers 

 the river banks on both sides are lined with a dense mass of these 

 craft of all sorts and sizes. As soon as the steamer touched the 

 wharf, we were favored with our first experience of a female 

 hotel-runner. I saw two young women making for me in a 

 precipitate manner, and "wondered what was up," nntH they 

 each exhibited an ivory card, upon one of which was inscribed the 

 name of the " Canton Hotel," and on the other that of the " Inter- 

 national Hotel." Having decided to go to the latter, a signal from 

 our young woman brought a number of assistants, also females, to 

 her aid, who seized our trunks and boxes in a jiffy, whisked them 

 through the mass of half-naked, struggling and noisy Chinamen 

 who were blocking the gangway, pulled the luggage and ourselves 



