ced, while by the end of
the month most of his portable belongings had been surreptitiously
removed. Thoroughly cowed, he recalled the two servants and instructed
them to pay the tax, whereupon the stolen articles promptly reappeared
and security was again restored.

Largely owing to the influence of Buddhism, cattle are regarded by the
Chinese solely as beasts of burden, it being seldom that any are
slaughtered for food; and although many natives will eat beef when it
comes conveniently to hand, still, there is a strong prejudice against
it. This prejudice extends both to milk and butter, neither of which
is a common article of celestial food. From this it may be easily
imagined that Europeans are often put to considerable inconvenience in
securing an adequate supply of these daily necessaries. Good milk is
especially hard to get. So long as it is white the native dairyman
considers that his obligations to customers are discharged, while the
more water he can add, the better it is for his own pocket. At Hankow
the supply was so adulterated that a friend of mine actually found a
small live fish in his morning cupful. With a view to exposing fraud I
purchased a lactometer and found the usual proportions of milk and
water to be half and half.

This was too much, so calling the dairyman to the house I abused him
roundly and threatened that if he did not send pure milk in future I
would ask the consul to punish him severely. He vowed and declared
that the lactometer "no talkee true," and that no water whatever had
been added to the milk, adding, that if I did not believe him he would
bring a cow to the kitchen door and I could see it milked myself.

This seemed satisfactory, so I got up early next morning, and after
shivering in my dressing-gown during the milking, carried off the pail
in triumph, fully convinced that I should now be able to enjoy the
pure article. Vain delusion! On testing it there was still a large
percentage of water, and the dairyman, beaming with justified
satisfaction, ambled off, leading his cow.

Feeling sure that the lactometer must be at fault, I consulted my
friend the doctor, who examined and found it quite correct.

How to reconcile these discrepancies seemed an insoluble problem.

After pondering over the matter for several days, I determined on
milking the cow myself, this being an accomplishment of my boyhood. To
the celestial's amazement I did so and instantly tested the proceeds.
Pu