Page:Inside Canton.djvu/48

Rh ape the gentleman, and do not wear their nails any longer than ourselves. This man told me that he took a great deal of trouble in order to avoid breaking his hideous claws; he shut them up every evening in a bamboo case. I proposed to amputate his hand so that he might keep it carefully preserved in a drawer, and thus prevent the great misfortune which he dreaded so much.

The first floor of the American factory is devoted to the offices. The clerks go there the first thing in the morning, and come away at four in the afternoon. From this moment they are free to go and dine and to walk about the enclosure of the square in front of the hong. The whole of the second storey is divided into a multitude of apartments, great and small; it even includes the most modest cells, so that, still according to the phalansterian principle, each one may find an habitation corresponding to his position and fortune in this magnificent palace.

In the evening, the American garden is the rendezvous of all the European residents, who go there chiefly for the sake of the sea breeze. These reunions, which are composed almost entirely of men, are remarkable for the excellent manner in which all present are dressed. The young merchants are nearly all in yellow gloves, the clergymen of course wearing their white neckerchiefs. This stiffness has a certain beneficial influence; it does not allow the