88 DESCRIPTION OF SHOPS. [Cuar. VL 
fall, there used to be numerous stalls of oranges, 
sweetmeats, and trifling curiosities, at each of which 
there were dice of some kind, and a “ wheel of 
fortune,” surrounded by the Chinese in great num- 
bers, trying their luck with a few copper cash, and 
evincing, by their looks and language, the most in- 
tense interest in the stopping of the wheel, or the 
throwing of the dice. 
Besides the shops already noticed for the sale of 
clothes and skins, there are many others worthy of 
our attention. There are a number of excellent 
silk shops and warehouses a little off the main street, 
which, like our old-established houses at home, 
have but little external show to attract notice. 
Here, too, are large quantities of that beautiful 
northern embroidery which is so much admired by 
all who have had an opportunity of seeing it. 
It is entirely different from that commonly pro- 
cured at Canton, and much more elaborate and 
expensive. A considerable demand for articles of 
dress which would be fashionable in England, has 
induced the Chinese to get them made, and they 
are now exposed for sale in all the towns in the 
north frequented by the English. Ladies’ aprons, 
scarfs, shawls, work-bags, and many other articles 
made up in the English style, and beautifully em- 
broidered, are the things most in demand. 
The Chinese estimate their celebrated jade stone 
very highly, and here there are numerous shops, 
both for cutting it and exposing it for sale, carved 
into allthose curious and fantastic forms for which 
