the commander shall appoint."

The professor bowed and retired; but, as an offset to his last remark,
the applause was more prolonged and vigorous than usual.

CHAPTER XXXIII

THE CONCLUSION OF THE LECTURE

At lunch the passengers talked about the lecture that was not yet
finished; and all of them who said anything declared that they were very
much pleased with it, and they hoped the remainder of it would be given
in the afternoon. Of course all of them had read more or less about
China; and while there was much that was new to them, they were glad to
have their knowledge of the country revived.

"I have been in Hong-Kong, Canton, and Shang-hai, and I have heard no
lecture on board that pleased me more than that to which we listened
this forenoon; and I appoint this afternoon at three o'clock for the
conclusion of it," said the commander.

At this hour all the company, including the passengers from the Blanche,
were in their places; and the speaker mounted the rostrum, apparently as
fresh as ever. He was received with as much and as earnest applause as
had been given at the end of the second part of his lecture; and with
this pleasant approval of his work, he continued his discourse.

"According to the accounts of all recent travellers, the roads of China
are in a villanously bad condition, and there are no railroads worth
mentioning," he began. "And yet the necessity of good common roads was
apparent to the ruler, even before the building of the Great Wall, and
twenty thousand of them have been constructed; but the Chinese, having
finished a great work, do not meddle with it again. The roads have never
been repaired thoroughly, and that accounts for their present condition.
The rivers and canals furnish the principal means of communication,
though the roads are still used.

"The dress of the poorer classes is very much the same for both sexes.
It is regulated by sumptuary laws for all classes; but it is varied by
the wealthy in the use of costly material, and the ornaments they add to
it. You have all seen Chinamen enough in the streets of New York and
other cities, and the dress they wear is about the same as that worn in
their native land. The queue is the most notable thing about them. This
was not the ancient custom of wearing the hair, but was introduced and
enforced by the Manchu rulers over three hundred years ago, when it was
considered a degrading edict; though now the Chinaman sticks to his
q