Chap. XVI. ITS SHOPS AND INHABITANTS. 



341 



coloured, and look as if they had been painted by 

 the hand of a first-rate artist. The vendors of 

 these animals skin them in the streets in the most 

 unmerciful and apparently cruel way which I have 

 already described. 



There are many good streets and valuable shops 

 in Nan-tsin, but they are very much like what I 

 have seen and described in other cities in China. 

 What struck me most was the large quantity of 

 raw silk which was here exposed for sale. Soon 

 after daylight the country people began to arrive 

 with their little packets of silk, which they in- 

 tended to sell to the merchants. The shops for 

 the purchase of this article appeared to be very 

 numerous in all the principal streets. Behind the 

 counter of each shop stood six, eight, and some- 

 times more, clean, respectable-looking men, who 

 were silk inspectors, and whose duty was to exa- 

 mine the quality of the silk offered for sale, and to 

 name its value. It was amusing to notice the 

 quietness of these men compared with the cla- 

 morous crowds who stood in front of their shops 

 with silk for sale. Each one was expatiating on 

 the superior quality of his goods and the lowness 

 of the offer that had been made to him. Many of 

 the vendors were women, and in all instances they 

 were the most noisy. The shopmen took every- 

 thing very quietly, and rarely offered a higher 

 price than they had done in the first instance. 

 But notwithstanding all the noise and bustle 

 everything seemed to go on satisfactorily, and 



2 A 2 



