[221] To the Imperial Treasury. From what I know of the barefacedness of similar official impostures, I should say that this statement is quite within the bounds of truth. For instance, at Amoy one per cent. is collected by the local mandarins on all imports, ostensibly for the purpose of providing the Imperial table with a delicious kind of bird’s-nest said to be found in the neighbourhood! Seven-tenths of the sum thus collected is pocketed by the various officials of the place, and with the remaining three-tenths a certain quantity of the ordinary article of commerce is imported from the Straits and forwarded to Peking.
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[222] See No. XXXII., [note 197].
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[223] An Imperial mandate is always written on yellow silk, and the ceremony of opening and perusing it is accompanied by prostrations and other acts of reverential submission.
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[224] Innumerable pamphlets have been published in China on the best methods of getting rid of these destructive insects, but none to my knowledge contain much sound or practical advice.
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[225] See No. LII., [note 286]. The mules of the north of China are marvels of beauty and strength; and the price of a fine animal often goes as high as £100.
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[226] See No. XL., [note 233], and No. XCIV., [note 134].
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[227] See No. I., [note 39].
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[228] See No. LXIX., [note 38].
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[229] It was the God of War who replaced Mr. Tung’s head after it had actually been cut off and buried.
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[230] See No. VI., [note 51].
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