light blankets, so that I had a very comfortable bed under the
always necessary mosquito net.

We also took a supply of tinned food to which we could
usually add by purchase en route chickens and eggs, while occasionally
in the proper season, we could secure string-beans,
onions, cucumbers, apricots, peanuts, walnuts and radishes.
So we fared well. The native food cannot be wisely depended
upon by a foreigner. He cannot maintain his strength, as the
poorer Chinese do, on a diet of rice and unleavened bread,
while the food of the well-to-do classes, when it can be had, is
apt to be so greasy and peculiar as to incite his digestive apparatus
to revolt. Indeed, a Chinese feast is one of his most
serious experiences. Most heartily, indeed, did I appreciate
the kindly motives of the magistrates who invited me to these
feasts, for their purpose was as generously hospitable as the
purpose of any American who invites a visitor to dinner. But
the Chinese bill-of-fare includes dishes that are rather trying to
a Christian palate, and good form requires the guest to taste at
least each dish, for if he fails to do so, he makes his host
``lose face''--a serious breach of etiquette in China. For
example, here is the menu of a typical Chinese feast to which
I was invited, the dishes being served in the order given,
sweets coming first and soup towards the last in this land of
topsy-turveydom:

1. Small cakes (five kinds), sliced pears, candied peanuts,
raw water-chestnuts, cooked water-chestnuts, hard-boiled ducks'
eggs (cut into small pieces), candied walnuts, honied walnuts,
shredded chicken, apricot seeds, sliced pickled plums, sliced