of men, women, and children, aroused us to the realization that something
extraordinary was occurring. Then we noticed that the full moon in a
cloudless sky had already passed the half-way mark in a total eclipse. Our
boatmen now joined in the general uproar, which reached its height when
the moon was entirely obscured. In explanation we were told that the
"Great Dragon" was endeavoring to swallow up the moon, and that the
loudest possible noise must be made to frighten him away. Shouts hailed
the reappearance of the moon. Although our boatmen had a smattering of
pidjin, or business, English, we were unable to get a very clear idea of
Chinese astronomy. In journeying across the empire we found sufficient
analogy in the various provincial dialects to enable us to acquire a
smattering of one from another as we proceeded, but we were now unable to
see any similarity whatever between "You makee walkee look see," and "You
go and see," or between "That belong number one pidjin," and "That is a
first-class business." This jargon has become a distinct dialect on the
Chinese coast.

[Illustration: A CHINAMAN SCULLING ON THE PEI-HO.]

On our arrival in Tientsin we called upon the United States Consul,
Colonel Bowman, to whom we had brought several letters from friends in
Peking. During a supper at his hospitable home, he suggested that the
viceroy might be pleased to receive us, and that if we had no objection,
he would send a communication to the _yamen_, or official residence.
Colonel Bowman's secretary, Mr. Tenney, who had been some time the
instructor of the viceroy's sons, and who was on rather intimate terms
with the viceroy himself, kindly offered to act as interpreter. A
favorable answer was received the next morning, and the time for our visit
fixed for the afternoon of the day following. But two hours before the
appointed time a message was received from the viceroy, stating that he
was about to receive an unexpected official visit from the _phantai_, or
treasurer, of the Pe-chili province (over which Li-Hung-Chang himself is
viceroy), and asking for a postponement of our visit to the following
morning at 11 o'clock. Even before we had finished reading this unexpected
message, the booming of cannon along the Pei-ho river announced the
arrival of the _phantai's_ boats before the city. The postponement of our
engagement at this late hour threatened to prove rather awkward, inasmuch
as we had already purchased our steam