CEREMONY. 
83 
buted to the gentlemen of the Embassy, and were rendered very 
acceptable by the excessive heat of the day. 
Nearly two hours had elapsed before His Excellency re-appeared 
in the banquetting-room. It was impossible to doubt the cause of 
his delay : lie was arguing the question of prostration. We looked 
at the screen with unpleasant anticipations, as the Chinese pointed to 
the carpets, and most significantly acquainted us, that on them we 
must knock our heads. At length the Ambassador came and informed 
us of the nature of the ceremony that he intended to go through. It 
was of the same kind, he observed, as that which he sometimes per- 
formed before the empty throne of his own sovereign : he should bow 
as often as the Mandarins prostrated themselves. He then advanced 
towards the screen, and was placed, with Sir George Staunton, Mr, 
Ellis, and Mr. Morrison, immediately before it, having six Man- 
darins of high rank on his right-hand, and the gentlemen of his suite 
behind him. At a signal given by an officer, who uttered a few 
words * in an exalted and singing tone, the Mandarins fell on their 
knees, and, inclining their heads, knocked them three times against 
the ground, and then arose. A second and a third time the signal 
was repeated, and a second and a third time they knelt and knocked 
their heads thrice against the earth. The Commissioners and the 
gentlemen of the suite bowed respectfully nine times. 
When the ceremony was completed, His Excellency, Sir George 
Staunton, and Mr. Ellis, were conducted to the tables prepared for 
them on the right, whilst the principal Mandarins seated themselves 
at others on the left, assuming to themselves the place of honour, f 
* Mr. Bell, in speaking of the ceremony performed by the Russian Ambassador before 
the Emperor, at Pekin, states, that “ The Master of the Ceremonies stood by and deli- 
vered his orders in the Tartar language, by pronouncing the words morgu and boss : the 
first meaning to bow, and the other to stand.” “ Two words,” he adds, “ I shall never 
forget.” 
f De Guignes states, that “ the place of honour amongst the Chinese is on the right ; 
amongst the Tartars, on the left;” an observation we had no opportunity of verifying. In 
every instance of ceremonial observance which we saw in China, the left was the situation 
of honour.,. 
M 2 
