by village mummers in celebration of the New Year, and commented upon the appearance of the village lasses who took part. In the interests of the "people at home," for whose instruction this article was composed, I felt impelled to point out that in China women never took part in such performances, and that the individuals whom he had mistaken for the village lasses were, in point of fact, the village lads. He thought the point was a small one, but would be glad to make the alteration.
My sojourn at Pupiao is further stamped on my mind because of a wild and yelling mob who broke into the inn courtyard in the dead of night. I was roused from slumber by shouts and a great hammering upon the courtyard gates. The gates gave way with a crash at the moment that I scrambled out of bed and grasped my revolver. It fortunately proved to be, not an anti-foreign riot as I feared, but merely a gambling dispute between my coolies and the villagers, and after two or three men on either side had been severely mauled, the worst offenders were successfully
