Native Banking Corporation i6i 



the barbarian curio-collector, to be replaced by the dis- 

 cordant jingle of the chapel adjacent. How often in some 

 quiet, wooded valley have I heard the deep bell sounded 

 with a single stroke at long intervals, of some Buddhist 

 shrine calling to vespers, and rested from my walk and 

 watched the worshippers and smoking incense ! " Vicist 

 Galilea ! " I feel inclined to say, with the old Roman stoic. 

 As a nineteenth-century European, I say, " Why cannot the 

 exalted teachings of Jesus be grafted upon the results of 

 previous struggles towards a better life, instead of being 

 antagonistic to and destroying them ? " 



In any case, the priests of Lao-chiin Tung are hard put 

 to it for a living. A coal-mine had undermined their chief 

 temple, and the resultant lawsuit, decided against them, has 

 impoverished them. This is the first place, too, of the kind 

 where I have been openly asked for money. Not having 

 anticipated such a long excursion, I had not brought my 

 coolie, and consequently had no purse-bearer with me (a 

 shilling's worth of copper cash weighs a pound and a half). 

 They had regaled me with the usual tea and hubble-bubble, 

 and were somewhat put out at my having nothing to give 

 them. 



On another occasion I returned the call of the manager 

 of the Chang-sing-tung Bank, " Chao " by name, and stayed 

 to breakfast, at which small wheaten loaves and vermicelli 

 soup, besides " fahtsai " — ^hair-herb, a very fine-cut seaweed 

 from Japan — ^being served, I enjoyed the repast more than 

 usual. This is the chief Shansi bank and hong here : it has 

 existed for 270 years, the chief managing the business from his 

 native place, T'ai-yuen-Fu, in Shansi. These are the most 

 respectable and strictly managed businesses in the empire ; 

 their branches extend to every important city in the eighteen 

 provinces, and their staff numbers several hundreds. I asked 



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