hat he did not use these words at all, but others
so closely resembling them that they sounded identically the same to my
untrained ear, and yet signified not "foreign devil," but "honoured
guest." He had paid me a compliment; he had not insulted me. The
Yunnanese, Mr. Warry tells me, do not readily speak of the devil for
fear he should appear.

On my journey I made it a rule, acting advisedly, to refuse to occupy
any other than the best room in the inn, and, if there was only one
room, I required that the best bed in the room, as regards elevation,
should be given to me. So, too, at every inn I insisted that the best
table should be given me, and, if there were already Chinese seated at
it, I gravely bowed to them, and by a wave of my hand signified that it
was my pleasure that they should make way for the distinguished
stranger. When there was only the one table, I occupied, as by right,
its highest seat, refusing to sit in any other. I required, indeed, by
politeness and firmness, that the Chinese take me at my own valuation.
And they invariably did so. They always gave way to me. They recognised
that I must be a traveller of importance, despite the smallness of my
retinue and the homeliness of my attire; and they acknowledged my
superiority. Had I been content with a humbler place, it would quickly
have been reported along the road, and, little by little, my complacence
would have been tested. I am perfectly sure that, by never verging from
my position of superiority, I gained the respect of the Chinese, and it
is largely to this I attribute the universal respect and attention shown
me during the journey. For I was unarmed, entirely dependent upon the
Chinese, and, for all practical purposes, inarticulate. As it was, I
never had any difficulty whatever.

Chinese etiquette pays great attention to the question of position; so
important, indeed, is it that, when a carriage was taken by Lord
Macartney's Embassy to Peking as a present, or, as the Chinese said, as
tribute to the Emperor Kienlung, great offence was caused by the
arrangement of the seats requiring the driver to sit on a higher level
than His Majesty. A small enough mistake surely, but sufficient to mar
the success of an expedition which the Chinese have always regarded as
"one of the most splendid testimonials of respect that a tributary
nation ever paid their Court."

On the morning of May 7th, as we were leaving the village where we had
slept the night