120 ITS SHOPS AND MERCHANDISE. [Cuap. VIII. 
and reap a rich harvest by working upon the 
eredulity of their countrymen. You meet these 
characters in all the streets and public squares in 
Shanghae, and, what is very strange, the sing-song 
or theatricals, of which the Chinese are particularly 
fond, are frequently exhibited in the temples. This 
is much opposed to our ideas of religion and 
propriety ; but, somehow or other, the customs of 
our Celestial friends are in many instances directly 
opposed to ours. 
The streets are generally very narrow, and in the 
day time are crowded with people actively engaged 
in business. The merchandise, which is the most 
striking to a stranger walking through the streets, 
is the silk and embroidery, such as I formerly 
noticed at Ning-po, cotton and cotton goods, 
porcelain, ready-made clothes of all kinds beauti- 
fully lined with skins and fur, bamboo pipes six 
feet long and nicely arranged in the shops, pic- 
tures, bronzes, and numerous curiosity shops for the 
sale of carved bamboo ornaments, old pieces of porce- 
lain, and things of that kind, to which the Chinese 
attach great value. But articles of food form of 
course the most extensive trade of all; and it is 
sometimes a difficult matter to get through the 
streets for the immense quantities of fish, pork, 
fruit, and vegetables which crowd the stands in 
front of the shops. Besides the more common 
kinds of vegetables, the shepherds’ purse, and a 
kind of trefoil or clover, are extensively used 
amongst the natives here; and really these things, 
