CHINESE POORHOUSE. 
Chap. XX. 
cured of this deformity would have been utter ruin 
to the man.” On expressing some anxiety as to 
the future of a poor lad who had had his thigh 
amputated, and asking a Chinese “ What was the 
best thing for him to do to get his living?” he 
replied, “ That the lad could not be a pedler or 
keep a tradesman’s shop, as he could neither read 
nor write ; but, oh ! he is all right, he can make a 
very good beggar-man,” alluding to the - absence 
'of his leg as a good exciter of charity. Dr. Lam- 
prey adds his testimony to that of others regard- 
ing the coolness and patience with which the 
Chinese submit to severe surgical operations. 
When it is necessary to amputate an arm or a leg 
the patient would say, “Good, cut it off; but 
give me the medicine to smell ” — meaning chlo- 
roform. 
How these beggars can live through a Tien-tsin 
winter it is difficult to imagine. The authorities 
have a kind of poorhouse, where five hundred 
human beings were located during the winter of 
1860-61. Each inmate is allowed a small quantity 
of the commonest kind of grain daily, but he is 
obliged to provide his own fuel, which he begs, 
steals, or picks up in some way or other; he is 
not particular so that he gets it. Ho doubt the 
severity of the winter carries off many of these 
poor wretches to their long homes ; indeed, their 
bodies are frequently seen on the road-sides and 
in the streets, lying where they died. Dr. Lam- 
prey remarks, however, that their powers of 
