e them. They possess violins,
guitars, lutes (all with strings or wires), dulcimers, wind
instruments, ordinary and kettle-drums, and cymbals, but are neither
skilled in composition, melody, nor execution. They scratch,
scrape, and thump upon their instruments in such a manner, as to
produce the finest marrowbone-and-cleaver kind of music imaginable.
During my excursions up and down the Pearl stream, I had frequent
opportunities of hearing artistic performances of this description
on board the mandarin and flower-boats.

In all kinds of deception the Chinese are great adepts, and
decidedly more than a match for any Europeans. They have not the
slightest sense of honour, and if you detect them, content
themselves with saying: "You are more clever or cunning than I." I
was told that when they have any live stock, such as calves or pigs,
for sale, they compel them, as they are disposed of by weight, to
swallow stones or large quantities of water. They also know how to
blow out and dress stale poultry, so as to make it look quite fresh
and plump.

But it is not the lower classes alone that indulge in cheating and
fraud; these agreeable qualities are shared by the highest
functionaries. It is a well-known fact, for instance, that there
are nowhere so many pirates as in the Chinese sea, especially in the
vicinity of Canton; yet no measures are taken to punish or extirpate
them, simply because the mandarins do not think it beneath their
dignity to secretly share in the profits.

For example, though the opium trade is forbidden, so much of this
drug is smuggled in every year, that it is said to exceed in value
that of all the tea exported in the same period. {102a} The
merchants enter into a private understanding with the officers and
mandarins, agreeing to give them a certain sum for every pikul, and
it is no rare occurrence for a mandarin to land whole cargoes under
the protection of his own flag.

In like manner there is said to be on one of the islands near Hong-
Kong a very extensive manufactory of false money, which is allowed
to be carried on without any interruption, as it pays a tribute to
the public functionaries and mandarins. A short time ago, a number
of pirate vessels that had ventured too near Canton, were shot into
and sunk, the crews lost, and their leader taken. The owners of the
vessels petitioned the government to set the prisoners free, and
threatened, in case of a refusal, to make extensive