being dependent on many circumstances, such as the general state of trade, or the particular fortune of individsals. In some years the aggregate amount reaches as high perhaps as 70,000 Spanish dollars, while in other years it may fall as low as 30 or 40,000 dollars. In the season which has just ended, the remittances were very small in amount, owing, in the case of the merchants and traders, to the unprofitable state of trade for some time past, and, in the case of the agricultural coolies, to the inadequate price which gambier has for many months commanded, and which has seriously affected their wages, the amount of which is dependent on the price of the product.
Many of these coolies, being unable to write, are obliged fo have recourse either to an acquaintance: if they are so fortunate as to possess one haying a tincture of letters: or to one of the public letter-writers whose stalls, like these of similar professors in many cities of Continental Europe, are to be found in the streets, with their owners ready to be the instruments of communication for those who cannot write themselves. The Chinese letter-writer's stall is a very simple affair; consisting in general of a small rude table, a little bundle of paper, a brush, some China ink, and a stool on which the operator sits.[1] These stalls are usually placed at the side of the street, and sometimes in the public verandahs ; while, in the outskirts of the town, they may be found established under trees, or in the shadow of walls. The person who wishes to send the letter stands or squats himself upon his hams beside the writer, and states what be wants fo have written, and the letter being finished is delivered to him, while he rewards the writer with 3 to 6 cents, according to circumstances. On the occasion of the departure of two or three large Junks,
- ↑ A Chinese has furnished us with a rude sketch of one of these stalls drawn and lithographed by himself, which, although without a rustical pretensions, and sboanding in the usual defects of the Chinese pencil, is sufciently faithful and characteristic. As example will much better convey a correct idea of the state of art amongst the people around us, than mere description, we shall allow them, to a certain extent, to be their own illustrators. From the same desire to exhibit our Eastern fellow-townsmen as they really are, to our readers in England, we shall, occasionally, in giving specimens of their books, introduce facsimiles of the figures with which they are embellished. Rude as the productions of native art generally are, and particularly reckless of perspective and proportion, we are often surprised by the fidelity and vigour with which the character of the subject has been caught, and by a broad drollery or even humour which we should still less have expected.
