NOTES OF TRAVEL IN CHINA. 173 



Licensed beggar3 walk the streets, some of them in a most pitiable 

 condition. This class of the community elects a chief man, who, 

 during his supremacy, is responsible for the misconduct of any of his 

 subjects, and aids the government in detecting any who have in- 

 fringed the laws of the Empire. They are allowed to frequent all 

 public places and thoroughfares, and would be intolerable, were it 

 not for a custom which exists among the respectable foreign and 

 Chinese houses of paying a monthly sum to the head man, which 

 exempts the donors from the importunities of the vagrants. This 

 is the only method of evading them, and so well disciplined are 

 they, that they seldom approach those whom they have been in- 

 structed to avoid. 



It is customary amongst the Chinese to have public exhibitions 

 in the streets, which are paid for by private subscription, and which 

 give the people something to talk about for several days. On 

 occasions of this kind the streets are roofed over from one end to the 

 other, and chandeliers and gaily painted lanterns, are suspended from 

 the rafters. Along the sides of the streets are arranged trained 

 plants, some representing a deer and kid, others birds, pagodas, and 

 sundry other devices, all of which indicate the ingenuity of the 

 Chinese, 



At either end of the street stages are erected, which are occupied 

 by theatrical performers, tumblers, jugglers, and musicians: hun- 

 dreds of wax tapers are lighted within the street, and on looking 

 through it from the entrance it has a most dazzling appearance. 



On crossing the river between the main land and the island of 

 Honam, (which lies opposite the foreign factories,) at ebb tide ill- 

 shaped looking rocks shoot up in the stream, on which will be seen 

 groups of Chinamen washing, or rather destroying clothes. Instead 

 of using a board or rubbing the linen between their hands, as 

 civilized washerwomen do, these fellows twist the articles into ropes 

 and thrash away on the pointed rocks, each blow taking more than a 

 week's wear out of the garment. When anything requiring par- 

 ticular care is given to them, they beat it between two stones, which 

 soon find their way through it, much to the displeasure of the owner. 

 Some of the Hongs occupied by the Chinese tea merchants, are 

 substantial brick and stone buildings, and considering their locality, 

 imbedded as they generally are in the centre of a densely inhabited 

 part of the city, are airy and comfortable. They are approached 

 by means of an archway, or warehouse, a door opening from 

 it into the street. These places are used for the stowage of 

 tea, which is brought down from the country. Within these 



