122 
now WK WERE ENTERTAINED. 
6tone steps which led up into the ^gardens.' These pro- 
bably covered as much as two acres of ground, consisted 
of a single enclosui’e, in spite of the plurality of the name, 
and were quite refreshingly sprinkled by shade-trees and 
patches of grass. Tlie walks were wide and shady, and 
paved with large squares of granite, and it was backed 
by a row of massive buildings after the ordinary ware- 
house style. These were the ‘Factories,* or ‘Hongs,* — the 
groat doorways of the world’s trade with China, and the 
‘business-places* of the foreign merchants. We never 
altered than. 
“There was also a fine club-house in the left corner of 
the gardens, but we were equally unfortunate in entering 
that. It did not pay to be polite to otficers unless the city 
was about to be sacked, in which case fighting-men were 
in great demand for the protection of the property of 
‘citizens of the Hnited States,’ and consequently entitled 
to proportionate consideration. In spite of all this, the 
‘Canton mei'chants* have a great I'eputation for thei»’ 
‘princely hospitality.* Let us turn to more worthy sub- 
jects. 
“The most attractive (?) object in Canton is the exe- 
cution-ground or slaughter-yard. There you may go 
week!}’, almost daily, and see heads fall by the score, 
sometimes by the hundred. You come to a rude enclo- 
sure at the gate of which a crowd of Imperial lancers 
stand in knots, inside of which kneel the miserable vic- 
tims, and in the corners of which are piled the heads’ 
of former sufferers in various stages of decomposition. 
Shreds of tangled hair, too, — human hair, — is kicked 
about under foot, and the snarling dogs linger around 
