Page:Through China with a camera.pdf/53

 SO that a new-comer only requires to be about a week in the place, and it is ten chances to one, should he dine out and hail the first vehicle to take him home, the coolie, without a word spoken on either side will land him at his domicile. Nay, more, they have learned something of his personal character, and whether they ought to trust him and accept the paper which he offers. It is customary in most transactions with the Chinese to pay them with an order on the Schrof, or Chinese cash- keeper, of the house to which one belongs, and the Schrof in honouring these cheques, whenever he has the opportunity, will discharge the debt in light dollars and charge full weight to his employer's account. This is the first sample of the system- atic squeezing and overreaching process which is the keynote of Chinese society over the whole land. The system is as minute as it is perfect in its ramifications.

Chinese shopkeepers are a class apart, and vie with each other in their display of costly wares, Canton silks, carved ivory, jewellery, porcelain and paintings. Entering a Cantonese shop, one is welcomed by the proprietor himself, a Kwang-tung gentle- man speaking English; his attire is a jacket of Shan-tung silk, dark crape breeches, white leggings and velvet embroidered shoes, and he displays all the ponderosity and ease of a pros- perous Chinaman. His assistants are dressed with equal care and stand behind ebony counters and glass cases, the latter of spotless polish and filled with curiosities. One side of the shop is occupied by rolls of silk and samples of grass matting, all labelled and priced; the floor above is taken up with a cleverly arranged assortment of bronzes, porcelain, ebony furniture and lacquered ware. These men, as a rule, are fine specimens of their race, generally fair in their dealings, and will supply the cheapest toy with as great politeness as if receiving an