662 THE CHINESE IN SAN FRANCISCO: 
quavered whine or howl. The performance is for the most 
part literally acting. A crowned king or queen is commonly 
on the stage, and almost always comes to grief. Parties of 
armed men meet on the stage, hold sham-fights, kick each 
other over, and force the sovereign into the melée. Then a 
rebel subject plants both his feet in the monarch's stomach, 
- knocks him down, and himself falls backward in the very 
act. Thus the fight goes on, and gathers fury as its ranks 
are thinned, till at length the whole stage is covered with 
prostrate forms, which lie for a little while in the semblance 
of death, then pick themselves up, and scud off behind the 
scenes. The actors live in the theatre, though they might 
seem to have no living-room. I went into the principal 
theatre one morning, before the actors, who had been per- 
forming until a late hour, had arisen; and I found them lying 
in one of the passage-ways in several tiers of holes, so nearly 
of the size of the human body that they could only have 
wormed themselves in feet first. 
Gambling is one of their passions. There are numerous 
gambling-houses where the playing goes on through the 
whole day and night, with an orchestra like that of the thea- 
tre, enriched by a single female singer, whose song seems & 
loud, shrill, ear-piercing monotone, so horrible as almost to 
compel the belief that the Chinese ear must have as unique & 
structure as if it belonged to a different species from ours. 
The Chinese exercise, with marvellous skill, all the me- 
chanical arts and trades, and have as large a variety of shops 
as the Americans, with wonderfully rich assortments of 
goods, including works in wood-carving, ivory and filigree, 
which can nowhere be surpassed in delicacy and beauty. 
Their temples or josh-houses, are small upper rooms, with 
hideously grinning idols, overlaid with tinsel, and covered 
with tawdry ornaments, on an elevated platform at the ex- 
tremity of the apartment. Before these idols a dim lamp is 
always burning, and a table is spread for votive offerings. 
which are generally cups of tea or fruits. These apartments 
