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 30 Ling-Nam.

suddenly transported into the midst of the hot atmosphere and seething masses of humanity that crowd the wharf and press through the narrow streets. It takes but a moment to realise that we are in China. Every sense is assaulted and overwhelmed with proof that we are in the midst of a people of strange speech and peculiar habits. It seems an effort to breathe, and the wonder to us is that people can live in such pent-up quarters. This

feeling, erc long, wears off in a measure, and we soon become aceustomed to streets but eight or ten feet wide ; become indifferent to the crowé of curious gazers econ- stantly at our back; display admirable fortitude in the presence of sights and smells that were staggering at first, and are fully absorbed in all the new, strange phases of life presented in the streets. Every one seems busy and good-natured. The rush of coolies with their burdens; the whir of the jade-cutting wheels; the din of the brass founders, the clang of the forge, the clatter of the silk loom, worked by hand; the monotonous thud of the gold- beater’s hammer, the patient stitching of the em- broiderers, under whose skilful fingers grow patterns of wondrous beauty; the markets, with hurrying throngs bringing iu fruits of every variety, vegetables, and live fish ; and the thousand other employments carried on in shops opening full on the street, impress us strongly with the fact of their great industry,