cial visits. The _yamen_ itself consisted of low one-story structures,
built in the usual Chinese style, of wood and adobe brick, in a
quadrangular form around an inner courtyard. The common Chinese paper
which serves for window-glass had long since vanished from the ravages of
time, and the finger-punches of vandals. Even here, at the _yamen_ of the
prime minister of China, dirt and dilapidation were evident on every hand.
The anteroom into which we were ushered was in keeping with its exterior.
The paper that covered the low walls and squatty ceiling, as well as the
calico covering on the divans, was soiled and torn. The room itself was
filled with mandarins from various parts of the country, waiting for an
audience with his excellency. Each wore the official robe and dish-pan
hat, with its particular button or insignia of rank. Each had a portly,
well-fed appearance, with a pompous, dignified mien overspreading his
features. The servant by whom we had sent in our Chinese visiting-cards
returned and asked us to follow him. Passing through several rooms, and
then along a narrow, darkened hallway, we emerged into an inner courtyard.
Here there were several servants standing like sentinels in waiting for
orders; others were hurrying hither and thither with different messages
intrusted to their care. This was all there was to give to the place the
air of busy headquarters. On one side of the courtyard the doors of the
"foreign reception" room opened. Through these we were ushered by the
liveried servant, who bore a message from the viceroy, asking us to wait a
few moments until he should finish some important business.

The foreign reception-room in which we were now sitting was the only one
in any official residence in the empire, and this single instance of
compliance with foreign customs was significant as bearing upon the
attitude toward Western ideas of the man who stands at the head of the
Chinese government. Everything about us was foreign except a Chinese divan
in one corner of the room. In the middle of the floor stood a circular
sofa of the latest pattern, with chairs and settees to match, and at one
end a foreign stove, in which a fire had been recently lighted for our
coming. Against the wall were placed a full-length mirror, several
brackets, and some fancy work. The most interesting of the ornaments in
the room were portraits of Li-Hung-Chang himself, Krupp the gun-maker,
Armstrong the ship-builder, and the im