ad its origin in American hotels and
restaurants.

The jugglers are worth a little notice, more I believe than they
obtain from their countrymen. They attract good audiences along the
great street of Pekin, but after swallowing enough stone to load a
pack-mule, throwing up large bricks and allowing them to break
themselves on his head, and otherwise amusing the crowd for half an
hour or so, the poor necromancer cannot get cash enough to buy himself
a dinner. Those who feel disposed to give are not very liberal, and
their donations are thrown into the ring very much as one would toss a
bone to a bull-dog. Sometimes a man will stand with a white painted
board, slightly covered with thick ink, and while talking with his
auditors he will throw off, by means of his thumb and fingers,
excellent pictures of birds and fishes, with every feather, fin, and
scale done with accuracy. Such genius ought to be rewarded, but it
rarely receives pecuniary recognition enough to enable its possessor
to dress decently. Other slight-of-hand performances abound; the
Chinese are very skillful at little games of thimble-rig and the like,
and when a stranger chooses to make a bet on their operations they are
sure to take in his money. In sword-swallowing and knife-throwing, the
natives of the Flowery Kingdom are without rivals, and the uninitiated
spectator can never understand how a man can make a breakfast of
Asiatic cutlery without incurring the risk of dyspepsia.

[Illustration: CHINESE MENDICANTS.]

China is the paradise of beggars--I except Italy from the mendicant
list--so far as numbers are concerned, though they do not appear to
flourish and live in comfort. There are many dwarfs, and it is
currently reported at Pekin that they are produced and cultivated for
the special purpose of asking alms. One can be very liberal in China
at small expense, as the smallest coin is worth only one-fifteenth of
a cent, and a shilling's worth of "cash" can be made to go a great
way if the giver is judicious. Many of the beggars are blind, and they
sometimes walk in single file under the direction of a chief; they are
nearly all musicians, and make the most hideous noises, which they
call melody. Anybody with a sensitive ear will pay them to move on
where they will annoy somebody beside himself. Many of the beggars are
almost naked, and they attract attention by striking their hands
against their hips and shouting at the top of their voices. One day