dge of sword-exercise. To accustom themselves to the attacks of
numbers, and to acquire the requisite skill in fighting more than one
adversary at a time, these men practise in the following remarkable
manner. In a lofty barn heavy bags of sand are hung in a circle by
long ropes to the roof, and in the middle of these the student takes
up his position. He then strikes one of the bags a good blow with his
fist, sending it flying to a distance from him, another in the same
way, then another, and so on until he has them all swinging about in
every possible direction. By the time he has hit two or three it is
time to look out for the return of the first, and sometimes two will
come down on him at once from opposite quarters; his part is to be
ready for all emergencies, and keep the whole lot swinging without
ever letting one touch him. If he fails in this, he must not aspire to
escort a traveller over a lonesome plain; and, besides, the ruthless
sand-bag will knock him head over heels into the bargain.

SLANG

Although native scholars in China have not deemed it worth while to
compile such a work as the "Slang Dictionary," it is no less a fact
that slang occupies quite as important a position in Chinese as in any
language of the West. Thieves have their _argot_, as with us,
intelligible only to each other; and phrases constantly occur, even in
refined conversation, the original of which can be traced infallibly
to the kennel. _Why so much paint?_ is the equivalent of _What a swell
you are!_ and is specially expressive in China, where beneath a
flowered blue silk robe there often peeps out a pair of
salmon-coloured inexpressibles of the same costly material. _They have
put down their barrows_, means that certain men have struck work, and
is peculiarly comprehensible in a country where so much transport is
effected in this laborious way. Barrows are common all over the
Empire, both for the conveyance of goods and passengers; and where
long distances have to be traversed, donkeys are frequently harnessed
in front. The traditional sail is also occasionally used: we ourselves
have seen barrows running before the wind between Tientsin and Taku,
of course with a man pushing behind. _The children have official
business_, is understood to mean they are laid up with the small-pox;
the metaphor implying that their _turn_ has come, just as a turn of
official duty comes round to every Manchu in Peking, and in the same
inevitable