[6] See Chapter on “Servants” for a disquisition on this point.
[7] See Macgowan’s Imperial History of China, passim.
[8] A league in China is equal to ten Chinese miles. With the want of precision, however, of the Chinese in their weights and measures, a league is a very variable denomination. On what are called the “Great Roads,” that is on a great thoroughfare, the length is as stated above, but on cross-country roads, where the farmers are great walkers, a league may sometimes extend to as much as ten English miles. The fact is, as we have often found by experience, the length of a league depends very much upon the measuring capacity of a man’s mind, for it is a rare thing to get a number of people to agree as to the exact distance between one place and another.