72 



VISIT TO A MANDARIN. 



Chap. IV. 



there are two raised seats at the end of the recep- 

 tion-room, with a table between them. The seat 

 on the left side is considered the seat of honour, 

 and the visitor is invariably pressed into it. 

 Scenes which seem most amusing to the stranger 

 are always acted on an occasion of this kind. The 

 host begs his visitor to take the most honourable 

 post, while the latter protests that he is unworthy 

 of such distinction, and in his turn presses it upon 

 the owner of the mansion. And so they may be 

 seen standing in this way for several minutes 

 before the matter is settled. It is the same way 

 when a man gives a dinner ; and if the guests are 

 numerous, it is quite a serious affair to get them 

 all seated. In this case it is not only the host and 

 his household who are begging the guests to oc- 

 cupy the most honourable seats, but the guests 

 themselves are also pressing these favoured places 

 upon each other. Hence the bowing, talking, 

 sitting down, and getting up again, before the 

 party can be finally seated, is quite unlike any- 

 thing one sees in other parts of the world, and to 

 the stranger is exceedingly amusing, particularly 

 if he does not happen to be hungry. 



After duly expressing my unfitness to occupy 

 the left-hand seat, and attempting to take the 

 other, I was at last forced into the seat of honour, 

 the mandarin himself taking the right-hand one. 

 As soon as we were seated a servant came in with 

 several cups of tea upon a round wooden tray, 

 which cups he placed upon the table between us. 



