"The Cantonese must not go into a temple to worship till they have been three whole days without eating any dog. One of the 'boys' here—he is a footman; but in China all these sort of people are called 'boys'—eats rats. He says he is getting bald, and if he eats them his hair will grow again. Horses are sometimes eaten too; and worms that spoil the rice-fields, father told me, are sent to the markets and sold to be eaten. Isn't that nasty? And a kind of swallow's nest is eaten even by ladies. It is lined with feathers, which are first removed; then it is scraped, washed, and pulled to pieces, when it looks white. People say it is something like blancmange. I should not like to eat it. Does it not seem greedy, when people have so much to eat, to take poor little birds'-nests which have been made with such pains by their owners?
"There is a bird in China that has such a long tail: it is called the Golden Pheasant. The feathers of the cock bird are most beautiful. His throat and breast are like purple velvet, and his back looks like gold. The upper part of his very long tail is scarlet, and the rest yellow. When this pheasant lifts his head and neck-feathers he shows such a tuft!
"There are a good many deer in China, which are also supposed to bring good fortune. Some Chinese are very cruel to animals. We have seen them carrying pigs, ducks, and geese fastened to a pole, hanging with their heads downwards; and some of their dogs look so hungry, and their beasts of burden so tired. We saw a dreadful thing one day, almost too dreadful to write about—a poor little dog running yelping through the streets with its tail cut off! A Taouist priest had cut it off, so that it should run screaming through all the house in which evil spirits were supposed to be, because this would drive them out; then the poor little dog rushed into the streets, where we saw it, and, fortunately, father was near enough to have it killed at once.
CHINESE LADIES.
"The people listen more to father than they do to many missionaries, because he goes to the dispensary and helps to cure them when they are ill.
"I forgot to tell you that when we first went to the farm nobody saw us, because the farmer, his wife, daughter, and a labourer were all listening to a man reading to them. We thought he must have got hold of some of the Chinese classics. The pigeon-English people talk sometimes is so funny. They are so fond of the word 'piecee.' Instead of 'one child,' they say 'one piecee chilo;' and if they had many children, I expect they would say 'piecee muchee.'
"Leonard makes very good shots at pigeon-English, and can talk it much better than I can. What we generally do is to put 'ee' at the end of our words; but when we spoke to the farmer he could not understand, and so said, 'You talkee me. Very good talkee.' When he wanted to tell us that his house was very large, he said, 'Number one largee, handsome howsow;' and for 'There is a child up-stairs,' he said, 'Have got chilo topside.'
"You asked me how the Chinese dressed, so I must try to tell you this, although I have written you such a long letter already.
