d therefore preserving. The same might apply to
the Fuzzy Wuzzies, to Cromwell's Ironsides, and to some extent our own
Highlanders and others of a like fanatical tendency.

It had been my intention and hope to visit Korea, Port Arthur, Mukden
and Peking; but was advised very strongly, on account of the extreme
cold and almost Arctic conditions said to be prevailing in North China,
not to go there. But at Shanghai I had better information, contradicting
these reports and describing the weather as delightful at the capital.
Shanghai has an immense river and ocean trade, and in the waterway are
swung river gun-boats of all nations, as well as queer-looking Chinese
armed junks, used in putting down piracy. I visited the city club, the
country club, and the racecourse, and took a stroll at night through
Soochow Road, among the native tea-houses, theatres, etc. Someone
advised me to visit a town up the river on a certain day to witness the
execution of some dozen river pirates and other criminals, a common
occurrence; but such an attraction did not appeal to me.

In China, as in Japan and other countries, the German, often gross,
selfish and vulgar, is ever present. But he is resourceful and
determined, and threatens to push the placid Englishman to the wall.

Though the practice is not now permitted, Chinese women's bound and
deformed feet are still to the stranger a constant source of wonder. It
is said the custom arose in the desire of Court ladies to emulate the
very tiny feet of a certain royal princess; but it is also suggested
that the custom was instituted to stop the female gadding-about
propensity!

Here in Shanghai I first observed edible swallow-nests in the market for
sale. They did not look nice, but why should they not be so, knowing as
we do that the young of swallows, unlike those of other birds, vent
their ordure over the sides, so that the nests are not in any way
defiled. Here I also learned that Pidgin, as in the expression "Pidgin"
English, is John's attempt to pronounce "business."

From Shanghai to Soochow city, a typical Chinese walled town, still
quite unmodernized, and no doubt the same as it was 2000 years ago.
Tourists seldom enter it, and no European dwells within its walls,
inside of which are crowded and jammed 500,000 souls. The main street
was not more than six to eight _feet_ wide, and so filled with such a
jostling, busy crowd of people as surely could not be seen anywhere else
on eart