y proxy. What attracts them
[Page 11]
most, however, is the chance of winning or losing a wager.

A more intellectual entertainment to be seen in many places is the
solving of historical enigmas. Some ancient celebrity is represented
by an animal in a rhyming couplet; and the man who detects the hero
under this disguise wins a considerable sum. Such is the native
passion for gambling that bets are even made on the result of the
metropolitan examinations, particularly on the province to which will
fall the honour of the first prize, that of the scholar-laureateship.

Officials in all parts and benevolent societies take advantage
of this passion for gambling in opening lotteries to raise funds
for worthy objects--a policy which is unwise if not immoral. It
should not be forgotten, however, that our own forefathers sometimes
had recourse to lotteries to build churches.

The foreign settlement now stands on Shamien, a pretty islet in
the river, in splendid contrast with the squalor of the native
streets. The city wall is not conspicuous, if indeed it is visible
beyond the houses of a crowded suburb. Yet one may be sure that it
is there; for every large town must have a wall for protection,
and the whole empire counts no fewer than 1,553 walled cities.
What an index to the insecurity resulting from an ill-regulated
police! The Chinese are surprised to hear that in all the United
States there is nothing which they would call a city, because the
American cities are destitute of walls.

Canton with its suburbs contains over two million people; it is
therefore the most populous city in the empire. In general the
houses are low, dark, and
[Page 12]
dirty, and the streets are for the most part too narrow for anything
broader than a sedan or a "rickshaw" (jinriksha). Yet in city and
suburbs the eye is dazzled by the richness of the shops, especially
of those dealing in silks and embroideries. In strong contrast with
this luxurious profusion may be seen crowds of beggars displaying
their loathsome sores at the doors of the rich in order to extort
thereby a penny from those who might not be disposed to give from
motives of charity. The narrow streets are thronged with coolies
in quality of beasts of burden, having their loads suspended from
each end of an elastic pole balanced on the shoulder, or carrying
their betters in sedan chairs, two bearers for a commoner, four
for a "swell," and six or eight for a magnate. High officia