are the streets reduced by heavy rains
that I actually remember a mule being drowned in the shafts by the
side of one of the main thoroughfares in the very heart of the city.

Luckily for all concerned there is a large percentage of beautiful
weather, when mud and dust alike are absent and when one can canter
noiselessly along the soft, yielding roads, which are then in much the
same condition for riding as is Rotten Row.

On such mornings as these Peking is delightful, with its bright sun,
cool, bracing air and interesting sights, while through the cloudless
sky flocks of pigeons, having whistles of wood or clay fastened to
their feet and tails, make strange yet pleasing sounds varied with
every twist and turn of flight.

A noticeable trait of Chinese character, and one fostered, if not
generated, by Buddhistic teaching, is an undemonstrative fondness for
animals, or, I might rather say, a passive admission of their right to
considerate treatment, and strangely enough animals, both wild and
domesticated, appear to comprehend this sentiment, for while greatly
scared at the approach of a European they usually take but little heed
of the presence of Chinese.

It is a common thing to see a well-dressed Chinaman sauntering along
holding up a bent stick to which a bird is attached by a string some
four feet or so in length, so that the little prisoner can make short
flights to the limit of its tether and return again to its perch,
gaily chirping and singing the while.

Another stroller will be carrying a wicker bird-cage on the hand, bent
back and upraised to the shoulder, much as a waiter carries dishes,
containing generally a Tientsin lark or other celebrated songster, and
on arriving at some open spot will place the cage on the ground, and
retiring to a short distance whistle to the bird, which will shortly
burst into song, to the evident delight of both owner and bystanders.

Outside one of the gateways is a kind of bazaar, which we foreigners
generally called "Bird-cage walk," for there the bird-fanciers lived,
and birds of many different kinds were exposed for sale, not in cages,
but quite tame, and quietly sitting on perches--parrots, larks, Java
sparrows, etc., some of them tied by the leg, but not all.

Here, too, were to be seen wicker baskets, much resembling orange
crates, full of common sparrows, representing a regular supply for a
regular demand. Benevolent old Chinamen, _flaneurs_ and _literati_
would