300 COFFEE. 



hatched, they are sold to. parties all over the country, who make a 

 business of rearing them for market ; they pay about two cents 

 each for them when just out of the shell, and when reared obtain 

 from twenty-five to fifty cents for them, according to size and 

 condition. Kice, however, is the article of largest consumption 

 among the Chinese, and probably fish comes next. Eggs are also 

 largely used, and almost everywhere in Chinese native towns one 

 can get fish, rice, and eggs in perfection, and, of course, with 

 these there is no need of goin^ hungry. Storks are also eaten in 

 China, and in passing along the streets of Canton it was no 

 uncommon thing to see large numbei'S of white storks exposed 

 for sale. At first we wondered why they did not fly away, as 

 they apparently were not fastened ; but on investigating this 

 matter we found that their eyes were sewed up, so as to make 

 them entirely blind, in which state they never fly— certainly an 

 original Chinese way of accomplishing the same object that we in 

 America do by clipping the wings, of birds that we do not wish 

 to have " make themselves wings." 



The Chinese also have a way of surmounting the tradi- 

 tional obstinacy of the pig, which is rather original and amusing. 

 Every pig is put into a bag-shaped bamboo basket ; these bas- 

 kets are just large enough to receive him, and frequently we 

 saw coolies trotting along the streets of Canton with a pig in a 

 basket slung on a bamboo pole which rested on their shoulders. 

 Pigs are also brought in from the country in boats, sometimes 

 a distance of many miles, the baskets being piled one on top of 

 the other in a way which cannot be very comfortable for the un- 

 dermost pigs. 



It has been a mystery to me, ever since I saw the first pair of 

 chopsticks, how they could be made effective in conveying food to 

 the mouth ; but the mystery is solved here, for I find that almost 

 every variety of food is served in bowls, and these bowls are held 

 close to the mouth, and the sticks are used more ior poking the 

 food into the mouth than they are for lifting, as we do with the 

 fork. 



Eough rice is cleaned throughout the length and breadth of 

 China, and indeed, I may say in Japan and the other great islands 

 of the Pacific, by pounding it in a large wooden mortar with a 



