Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/123

NUMBER FIFTEEN.

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Departure of Distinguished Guests—Secretary Seward in Japan and China—He Visits Pekin and the Great Wall—Prince Kung is Grouty—The Senator and Sailor Exchange Salutes—The Prince Relents—All Lovely and Serene over Sharks’ Fins and Birds’ Nests—The Chinese Language—Pigeon English—Coin and Currency—Compradores Costumes and Queues—Pawnbrokers Shops—Small Feet—Fashion Makes Hideous Things Beautiful—Visit to a Wealthy Chinaman—Tea as is Tea—A Gentleman, Though Wearing a Pigtail—Luxury Next Door to Penury.

Hong Kong, China, January, 1871.

The morning on which I left Shanghai, I was awakened by a terrific din of firecrackers under my window. Fourth of July was the first idea suggested, but then it occurred to me that it was nearer the fourth of January than July. The fusilade was kept up for several hours in the streets around the landing place. The departure of distinguished guests is always celebrated in China by burning firecrackers as a sacrifice to “Joss” for good luck and a pleasant voyage. Not that your humble correspondent was the “distinguished personage” who drew forth such a demonstration. The Hon. W. H. Seward, who is “swinging round the circle,” was to leave that day in the Hong Kong steamer. The great sensation in China this winter, especially among the American residents, is the visit of the venerable ex-Secretary, who left San Francisco in September, spent a month in Japan, and after visiting North China, Peking and the Great Wall, is now on the way to Hong Kong, thence via India to Europe. He is accompanied in this tour through the East by the two Misses Risley of Washington, the elder of whom, Miss Risley Seward, his adopted daughter, is his private Secretary.

A nephew of the distinguished Statesman, Mr. George F. Saward, has for nine years past held the position of Consul General in China, and returned to Shanghai with the party, bringing his young bride, one of the