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34 seats like ours,—the Malays and Indians sit on the ground on mats and cushions. But the chairs and divans in the Celestial Empire, particularly in the southern provinces, do not at all resemble the elastic furniture which ornaments our drawing-rooms. Those carved chairs, beautifully polished, remind one of seats in church or college benches; and never, either in pleasure-boats or in the most sumptuous saloons, do you see stuffed furniture. The arm chairs are very massive and excessively heavy; they are seldom displaced, and the divans are generally fixed to the wall.

A few days after our arrival, M. de Lagrené came to live at the hotel intended for him; and with the refined urbanity of which he has given so many proofs during his voyage, he placed two of the rooms of his large suite at the disposal of the rear-admiral commanding the French maritime forces in China.