Cuar. X.] IN SHANGHAE AND NING-PO. 191 
and every thing was on a large and expensive 
scale. Instead of small dishes, whole animals were 
sacrificed on the occasion. A pig was placed on 
one side of the table, and a sheep on the other, the 
former scraped clean, in the usual way, and the 
latter skinned ; the entrails of both were removed, 
and on each were placed some flowers, an onion, 
and a knife. The other parts of the table groaned 
with all the delicacies in common use amongst the 
respectable portion of the Chinese, such as fowls, 
ducks, numerous compound dishes, fruits, vege- 
tables, and rice. Chairs were placed at one end 
of the table on which the gods were supposed to sit 
during the meal, and chopsticks were regularly laid 
at the sides of the different dishes. A blaze of 
light illuminated the whole place, and the smoke 
of the fragrant incense rose up into the air in 
wreaths. At intervals the band struck up their 
favourite plaintive national airs, and altogether 
the whole scene was one of the strangest and 
most curious which it has ever been my lot to 
witness. 
There is another ceremony of a religious cha- 
racter which I frequently observed in the northern 
cities—I allude to processions in honour of the 
gods. I saw one of them at Shanghae, which 
must have been at least a mile in length. The 
gods, or josses, were dressed up in the finest silks, 
and carried about in splendid sedan-chairs, pre- 
ceded and succeeded by their numerous devotees, 
superbly dressed for the occasion, and bearing the 
