a bandore or banjo and was named _Sem Yim_. Afterwards he took up a
Chinese flute and played a tune, which was out of the ordinary and
was withal of a cheerful nature. He then showed us something that was
striking and peculiar--a Chinese fiddle with two strings. The bow
strings were moved beneath the fiddle strings. The music was by no
means such as to charm one, and you could not for a moment imagine
that you were listening to a maestro playing on a Cremona. The
Chinese, while they have a reputation for philosophy after the example
of their great men, like Confucius and Mencius, and while there are
poets of merit among them like Su and Lin, yet can not be said to
excel in musical composition and rendering. The tune with which our
Chinese friend sought to entertain us on his fiddle was, "A Hot Time
in the Old Town To-night." He thought this would be agreeable to our
American ears. Meanwhile I glanced around this music-room and among
other things I saw, and which interested me, were several effigies of
men, characters in Chinese history. Some were no doubt true to life
while others were caricatures of the persons whom they represented. It
might be styled an Eden Musée.

Leaving the musician's, after giving him a suitable fee for
entertaining us, we turned our footsteps towards the _Chee Kung Tong_.
This is a Chinese secret society. The Chinese are wont to associate
themselves together, even if they do not mingle much with men of
other nations. They have their gatherings for social purposes and
for improvement and pastime, and, like the Anglo-Saxon and the Latin
races, they have their mystic signs and passwords. Of course we were
not permitted to enter the _Chee Kung Tong_ Hall, however much we
desired to cross its mysterious threshold. The door was well guarded,
and Chinamen passing in had to give assurance that they were entitled
to the privilege. On the night when the detective from Police