sively to our own.

Off the frontage or _bund_ is frequently moored a line of hulks
connected with the shore by pontoons, and which in their day were
probably the finest ocean liners afloat, but now, worn out and
dismantled, serve as floating warehouses, alongside which steamers
come to discharge and load cargo. At other places vessels drop anchor
in mid-stream, while between them and the various jetties large cargo
boats constantly pass to and fro laden with merchandise, to be quickly
shipped or landed by gangs of chattering coolies.

Everywhere the foreshore is always crowded with a fleet of native
junks, displaying half mast be it a bundle of wood, a rice measure or
a coal scoop, to show that their cargoes consisting of wood, rice,
coal, etc., are for sale.

Either just on the concession, by permission of the consul, or in
Chinatown immediately outside, are two or three general stores and
butchers' shops, run by either Chinese, Parsees or Japanese,
especially to supply the foreign community with groceries, bread, meat
and other daily requisites.

No one carries money in his pocket, for the Europeans being but few in
number are well known by sight, and any purchase is made by signing an
I.O.U., or _chit_, for the amount necessary in dollars or cents. At
the club you call for say two sherries and one bamboo (half sherry,
half vermouth) and the waiter brings them, together with a small
chit-book in which he has already written down your order in pencil,
and this, after inspection, you simply sign or initial, when it is
torn out and dropped into the till and you see no more of it until the
end of the month, when your club bill comes in, supported by all the
chits you have signed.

For the offertory, pencils and pieces of paper are distributed about
the church, so that the congregation may easily write chits, which are
folded up and dropped into the bag, to be presented at your house next
day by the church coolie for payment. This system, though very
convenient, is apt to prove something of a trap, for signing a chit is
so much easier, and the amount appears to be so much less than if
paying in hard cash, that when the monthly total is made up you are at
first inclined to believe there must be some mistake; but alas!
careful verification too plainly shows that you have signed for more
than you had any idea of.

Amongst Europeans the currency employed is the silver dollar, now
worth about one shilling and sevenpenc