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34 RECOLLECTIONS OF CHINA. her knee steady. If these directions be attended to, she will find herself raised to her saddle with but a trifling exertion, either on her own part or that of the assistant. Should the latter be a lad only, or not much accustomed to this part of his business, he should use both hands instead of one (Fig. 2) -joining them by the fingers: indeed, this, generally speaking, is the safer mode. The lady, in all cases, should take care that her weight be well balanced on her left foot, from which she should rise as uprightly as possible; above all things taking care not to put her foot forward, but keeping it directly under her. The assistant should not begin to raise her until she has removed her right foot from the ground, and, by straightening her knee, thrown her weight completely into his hand. Having reached the saddle, while her face is still turned to the near side of the horse, and before she places her knee over the pommel, -when some ladies, very improperly, first take the reins, the assistant puts the lady's left foot in the stirrup, while she removes her hand from the near to the off crutch of the pommel, holding the whip and reins as before directed. She now raises herself on the stirrup by the aid of her right hand, while the assistant, or the lady herself with her left hand, draws the habit forward in its place. She then places her right knee in the pommel, and her seat is taken.

Should the back part of the habit at this time, or afterwards, in the course of the ride, require any arrangement, the lady raises herself in the stirrup, by strengthening her knee and pulling herself forward by the right hand, which is placed on the off crutch of the pommel, and with her left hand disposes her habit to her satisfaction. This can be done, when the rider has grown expert, while the horse is going at any pace, if not better, than if he were standing still. When the lady is seated, the groom fastens the habit below her left foot, either by pins or a brooch.

RECOLLECTIONS OF CHINA.

The city of Canton lies so low, that from no point to which foreigners can penetrate is there an extensive view of it. The river is wide above the Boca Tiger. The water swarms with boats of every size. There may be about twenty of those immense junks of 1,200 tons, but there are countless fleets of boats of fifty tons; families occupy them, whose home is on the water, and who, in half a life, have seldom slept on terra firma. There is a huge long oar run out from the stern, moveable on a pin, and the boat is sculled by four or five sailors. The oar strikes the water like a fish's tail. The smaller streams and creeks are populous in the same proportion. The streets are as busy as an ant hill invaded; and, when seen for the first time, it is a ludicrous sight to see so many close shaven heads without any covering. You look down upon them as on the closely packed audience at a theatre. I have sometimes seen one Chinese running away from another, and it is too much to see with gravity, for their tails were streaming out horizontally a yard and a half. The Chinese form their written characters very nicely. They write with a hair pencil, in lines from top to bottom, beginning at the right hand corner of a page. This is peculiar to China and Japan. In all memorials to Mandarins, but more especially to the Emperor, the greatest nicety is required, both in the expression and characters. There are particular words appropriated to different ranks, and no word must occur twice in the same memorial.— To write a proper memorial in China, is as difficult as to draw a special plea in more favoured countries. But a good penman in China will write with wonderful rapidity. They seem to write as fast as they can think. Would, sir, that I could do it, you would have better "recollections, "for when I happen to have a good thought it escapes before I can get it out. In a country where so many thousand families live on the rivers, many must subsist on fish, which are providentially abundant. In China every animal must work, unless, as in England, the hog is the only gentleman. Cormorants, therefore, are employed in the river fisheries. The birds are trained to it with care, and, lest they should swallow a good fish, a leathern thong is tied about his neck, so that he cannot swallow. One fisherman goes out with a dozen birds, which you may see perched on the gunwale of his boat. When one takes a fish too large for its strength, another comes to its assistance, and lifting the prey by the tail and gills, they carry it to the master. Some of the cormorants, like men, have a sense of honesty, and require no bandage about the neck; but, having finished their employer's business, he allows them to fish on their own account. Ducks also are used, as in Lincolnshire, for decoys; but a very common method to catch the fowl is this: In the bays and rivers where they are found, the sportsmen throw in a large kind of gourd, which the ducks get so familiar with that they will swim and play around them. Then comes the traitor, with his head enclosed in a similar gourd, and a bag tied about his middle, in which he carries off as many as he requires, for the fowl are numerous. The Chinese have a passion for flowers, and there are flower sellers every where in the streets. They have also a taste for cultivating dwarf trees, and on their terraces you may see pines, oaks, and oranges, not so high as your knee. To give some of these trees the appearance of great age, honey is spread over them to attract the insects, that they may bore in the bark. To increase the delusion, they kill a few branches, and cover them with moss. Their rage, however, is for the peony, which they call the king of flowers, and for a favourite plant they will give a hundred dollars. There are about two hundred and fifty species of this flower in China. They are cultivated in large beds, and reared in all forms, and so managed as to blossom in spring, summer and autumn. The Chinese flowers have generally nothing to recommend them but their beauty.