Chap. IX. 
OFFICIOUS CHAIR-BEARERS. 
151 
The moment I got out of my chair the innkeeper 
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 Shanghae and Canton. I 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 prej udiced against us. 
Siag-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 bring- 
ing a customer to the house. 
The inn was a large and commodious building extend- 
ing backwards from the main street of the town. Its 
front was composed of a number of boards or shutters 
which could be removed at pleasure. The whole of 
these were taken down in the morning and put up again 
at night. The floor of the building was divided into 
three principal compartments, the first facing the street, 
the second being behind it, and the third at the furthest 
end. Some small rooms which were formed on each 
side were the bedrooms. 
Coolies and chair-bearers crowded that part of the 
building next to the street, in which they had their 
