CiiAP. XVIII. 
EDICT AGAINST OPIUM. 
279 
informed, however, and those who had some experience 
of the character of the Chinese, treated it as so much 
waste paper — as a collection of high-sounding words 
without meaning. Nor were they wrong, for when the 
new year arrived the edict had been long forgotten, 
and opium-smokers went on smoking as they had done 
before. 
The Chusan people had received the edict about the 
time of my visit, and this old gentleman evidently knew 
all about it. " Well,'"' said I to him, " how is this ? you 
were smoking opium last night ; have you not seen the 
edict ? " " Oh yes," he replied, " but it does not come 
into force until next year.'' Every night afterwards 
during my stay here he used to walk into my room 
about nine o'clock with a smile on his countenance and 
say, " I am going to smoke now ; you know I shall not 
be allowed to smoke next year." And I firmly believe 
the old man smoked more than he had been accustomed 
to do, and likewise enjoyed it more. 
All marks of English possession had entirely disap- 
peared. Tailors, shoemakers, and other tradesmen, with 
their quaint English names and signboards, so amusing 
in former days, were now nowhere to be seen. Every- 
thing was purely Chinese, and no one, unacquainted 
with the history of the place, would have suspected 
that it had been in the hands of the English a year or 
two before. 
After staying for a few days at Chusan I went on- 
ward to another of the islands, named Poo-too, which 
I have noticed in the early pages of this work. This 
