dominie. He was of middle size, rather
stooping, by no means corpulent. His head
was small; his eyes were sleepy. His face,
naturally smooth, had become more so from
having that morning been under the barber's
hand,—whose tools had evidently passed
over all the facial lines. He had shaved his
chin, cheeks, and forehead; had titillated his
eyeballs, clipped his eyebrows, cleaned his
nostrils, picked his ears, and braided his
queue. His neck was uncovered. It being then
midwinter, he wore a felt cap lined with fur.
His outer dress was a robe, reaching below
the knees, folding over the breast, and fitting
close to the neck. It was made of satin of a
fine texture, and elegant blue; and his sash
of an exquisite yellow crape. It was not his
usual attire, but was probably borrowed for
the occasion, of a friend, or from a tailor, or
had been taken out of pawn.

Around the right wrist, partially concealed
in his wide sleeve, there was a bracelet of
large dark beads, and from the top button of
his outer dress, there hung a string of smaller
beads, strongly perfumed with musk. He
carried with him a short pipe—the bulb of
which could hold tobacco only sufficient for
two or three puffs. He was very fond of
tobacco; and it was curious to watch the
Chinese preceptor leaning back in his chair,
and, while he cast a beatific look at
me, smoking his tube. He smoked, he
smoked, and smoked—and, as he seemed
decidedly to swallow the irritating vapour,
to my surprise, from each nostril there
streamed forth a volley of smoke,—nothing
else than the pent up fume expressed
from the narcotic leaf. At first I had not
the audacity to interfere with his incessant
use of the pipe; but at length, to save the
wooden floor, on which he had no objection
to empty the contents of the pipe, as well
as to save my time—to spend which in
smoke he had as little scruple—I was
compelled to place him under some restraint
during the hours of study, allowing him
certain intervals for self-indulgence. As the
cold weather had set in, the teacher did
not bring his fan with him; but in a large
pouch slung from his girdle he carried his
ink-horn. This was a truly simple portable
apparatus. It consisted of a brass tube as
long as his pencil-brush, with a tiny cup
for ink, and a simple lid to close it up.
Oftener a native scribe or copyist is satisfied
with a brass cap for his hair pencil, containing
a small quantity of liquid India ink,
in which, when unused, the pencil lies
saturated. Of the other parts of the teacher's
clothing,—tunic, trousers, stockings, and
shoes,—the shoes were the most noticeable,
perhaps. The soles were thick, and the
outer sides painted white. Being of the
first style, the shoes were made of brocaded
silk; and the ends were rounded up, some
Chinese say, to give ease in walking on soles
so thick. But how this can be it is difficult
to see; for by being curled upward at the
toes,—the front part of one's foot is much
higher than the heel part, so that the wearer
is in danger, when he walks, of falling
backwards. However, as in many other
things, so, in this too, Chinese rule carried
the principle of doing everything the contrary
way to other nations; with us the fashion is
to raise the shoe-heel, but among the Chinese
it is to depress the heel and raise the toes.

There is now pretty well established in
the south of China a jargon language,
denominated Canton-English. It was coined first,
perhaps, a hundred and fifty years since, and
has at last become the standard language
of communication between the natives and
foreigners in Canton and its vicinity. It is
the mixed result of Canton and English
attempts at intercommunication.

For many years there have been circulating
among the natives of Canton, Whampoa,
Macao and Hongkong, numerous editions of
a printed vocabulary of the Canton-English.
The number of phrases and words in it do
not exceed a hundred and fifty; but the
mongrel dialect thus published, seems to
have become fixed in its idioms, etymology,
and definitions. The plan of the work is
simply to express the sounds of English
words in Chinese characters, giving
underneath the Canton word for the same.

As specimens of this murdering of the English
tongue, take the following:—three, telee;
five, fie; seven, sumwun; ten, teng; eleven,
lumwun; twelve, telup; stove, szetore;
January, chenawih; westward, weezewan;
buffala, peefuhlow; business, pigeon; bother,
bobberie; rice, lice; trouble, troupigeon;
proper, popa; fear, feelw; want, wanchee;
take, taykee; secure, skure; send, sendee;
make, maykee; catch, ka-chee.

But this piebald lingo does not merely consist
of corrupted English. You have Portuguese
words introduced also in a deplorable,
mangled form; e. g., sabbee, to know;
maskee, not to mind; joss, for God or deos,
&c. Besides, in this jumble, we have
numerous words of the genuine native dialect,
violently forced to meet the English mode
of pronunciation; thus, fokee, a friend or
comrade is sounded, by foreigners, fookkee; and
used as a synonymous term for John Chinaman;
samshow, used by foreigners for wine,
is a corruption of a Canton word, hiongsui;
chinchin, is to pay respects, derived from the
native phrase, tsingtsing; chinchinjon is a
compound of Canton and Portuguese to
express idol worship; cumshaw is a perversion
of the local phrase, kumsia, to give thanks, or
a present in token of gratitude.

It was a severe tax on my risible powers,
when, on the first morning of my arrival,
a smart-looking Canton youth walked into
my chamber and announced, "Pakefuss lady
sil, awe lady sil." The only interpretation
I could make of it was by aid of my
watch-dial, and the calls of hunger; for he