Chap. X. 



OFFICIOUS CHAIK-BEAKEKS. 



187 



line of road, we rarely passed any town even of mode- 

 rate size. About mid-day, however, we came to a 

 place considerably larger than any we had passed — 

 I forget its name — and before I knew where I was, 

 I was set down at the door of a large inn. Numerous 

 chairs were standing at the door which belonged to 

 travellers who were either going the same road as 

 myself, or returning from the west to Chang-shan and 

 the other towns in the east. 



The moment I got out of my chair the inn- 

 keeper presented himself, and my chair-bearers very 

 officiously informed him that it was my intention to 

 dine there. I felt rather annoyed, but thought it 

 best to put a good face on the matter, and ordered 

 dinner accordingly. I had given Sing-Hoo strict 

 injunctions never to stop at the inns much frequented 

 by merchants, as I had no wish to meet men who 

 were in the habit of seeing foreigners both at Shang- 

 hae and Canton. ] had the greatest objection to 

 meeting Canton men, who are continually travelling 

 to and from the tea country, and who, with the same 

 knowledge of foreigners as the Shanghae people, are 

 much more prejudiced against us. Sing-Hoo had 

 fallen behind, however, and was not aware of what 

 the chair-bearers had done until it was too late. It 

 appeared afterwards that the men had a good and 

 substantial reason for their conduct, inasmuch as they 

 got their own dinner free as a reward for bringing a 

 customer to the house. 



The inn was a large and commodious building ex- 

 tending backwards from the main street of the town. 



