hat he wore a large pearl. I might mention that
the Emperor was the only person who could wear this particular pearl in
place of a button. He came as usual to wish Her Majesty Chi Hsiang and
then proceeded to the temple to worship before the ancestral tablets.
After this ceremony was over he returned to the Empress Dowager and
kowtowed to her. All the Chinese adopt this rule of kowtowing to their
parents on their own birthdays, as a sign of reverence and respect. The
Emperor next proceeded to the Audience Hall, where all the Ministers
were assembled, and received their salutations and congratulations. This
ceremony very often caused amusement, for to see several hundred people
all bobbing their heads up and down, especially when they did not all
manage to do it together, was a very funny sight. Even the Emperor
himself had to laugh, it was such an extraordinary spectacle.

The musical instruments which were used during the ceremony deserve a
little description. The principal instrument is made of hard wood, and
has a flat bottom about three feet in diameter, with a dome-shaped top
raised about three feet from the ground. The inside is quite hollow.
A long pole made of the same material is used as a drumstick, and an
official, specially appointed, beats with all his might on the drum. The
noise can be better imagined than described. This is used as a signal to
announce when the Emperor takes his seat upon the throne. In addition
to the above, a full sized model of a tiger, also made of similar hard
wood, and having twenty-four scales on its back, is brought into the
courtyard. In this case they did not beat the instrument, but scraped
along its back over the scales, which emitted a noise similar to the
letting off simultaneously of innumerable crackers. This noise was kept
up during the whole of the ceremony, and what with the drum and this
tiger instrument it was sufficient to deafen one. During the ceremony,
an official crier used to call out the different orders, such as when
to kneel, bow, stand up, kowtow, etc., etc., but with the noise it
was quite impossible to hear a single word of what he uttered. Another
instrument was composed of a frame made of wood, about eight feet high
by three feet broad. Across this frame were three wooden bars, from
which was suspended twelve bells, made out of pure gold. When these were
struck with a wooden stick the sound was not at all unlike the dulcimer,
only, of course, very much