then killed and cooked. There are tame cats, too, with soft hair and
hanging ears, which are kept by ladies as pets.

There are dogs to guard the house, and they too are eaten; but as they
are fed on rice only, their flesh is better than the flesh of our dogs.
The dogs are so sensible that they know when the butcher is carrying away
a dog that he is going to kill him, and the poor creatures come round him
howling, as if begging for their brother's life.

The pig is the Chinaman's chief dish; for it can be fed on all the refuse
food, and there is very little food to spare in China.

There are not many birds in China, because there is no room for trees.
Only one bird sings, and she builds her nest on the ground; it is a bird
often heard singing in England floating in the air,--I mean the lark.

In most parts of China men carry all the burdens, and not horses and
asses.

A gentleman is carried in a chair by two men: and a mandarin by four. Yet
the emperor rides on horseback.


THE THREE GREAT CITIES

Pekin on the north.
Nankin in the middle.
Canton on the south.

Pekin is the grandest.