120 
TUNG-CHOW. 
interested motive, the main spring of Chinese actions, to abuse my con- 
fidence, and proved, in fact, a most civil race. They dwelt in small, 
neat houses, surrounded by enclosed yards, ornamented in the 
Chinese taste with gay rather than fragrant plants. The enclosures, 
whilst they gave the advantages of privacy, were of sufficient extent 
to admit the freest circulation of air. They opened towards the 
river by a gate in a fence at right angles with the houses, which 
looked towards the south. The inmates of these dwellings, 
whenever they saw us at the entrance-gate, invited us in. We 
frequently found them at meals in the open air, and were always 
on these occasions pressed to partake of their fare, and on all 
others, supplied with tea. They permitted me freely to examine 
the yards and outer apartments of their houses ; but never allowed 
me to enter those of the interior, which were probably appropriated to 
their women. Those which I had an opportunity of seeing, formed 
the front of the house, and consisted of two of unequal size. 
The larger, of twice the size of the other, served for general pur- 
poses ; it was an apartment for the reception of company, a tem- 
ple, and a sleeping room. Its walls were covered with white 
paper, on which hung some rude sketches of mountain-scenery, 
and some moral sentences written on silk, in large Chinese cha- 
racters. The bed places at one end of the room were large 
massive benches of brick-work, having a small furnace beneath 
them, by which they are warmed during winter,.'' On these, with 
no other defence from their hardness than a felt mat, the Chinese 
sleep. But the most striking piece of furniture, if it may be so 
called, was a temple in miniature. It much resembled at first sight 
cases of shell-work, which are sometimes seen in houses in England, 
and are called grottos. It was seldom more than two or three 
feet square, and was generally placed against the wall a few feet 
from the ground, nearly opposite to the entrance-door. In its 
centre was a figure of an ill-proportioned, corpulent old man, plen- 
tifully besmeared with gilding, and red and white paint, and sur- 
rounded with strings of round pieces of tinfoil, which the Chinese 
