Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-09-30

Brooks Seven Months RUM
The thermometer is the biggest liar
that ever lived. 1t is only ninety five or
ninety-eight degrees here at night, and
one hundred or one hundred and three
degrees by day, and yet it is hotter, in
tensely hotter, than have felt it in the
Napa California; Valley, coming from
the Geysers, in July, at one hundred and
eighteen degrees, or on the sands OF
Egypt Thermometers, therefore, have
no hesitation in saying, lie, not exactly
in words, or figures, or letters, but in
spirit, in substance, in caloric, at least.
| am suffocating here cannot get
breath enoughl What would give for
a puff and how much more for typhoon,
even If destructive one? There is no
air, night or day, and, if possible, it is
hotter by night than by day. There
is no sleep in this oven. bed, and,
if there were, the mosquitoes would
eat you up, If you did not throw
over you the well-reticulated net.
A mattress is uncomfortable; a mat
has to be laid on that, or your perspira-
ton would stick you to the mattress.
Never, never Yankee pilgrim, enter
here in June, July or August They say
you can live, and breathe, and sleep. in
all the other months of the year; but If
you will be such a fool as / am, and
come, drink, and drink deep, not ex
actly of the Pierian spring-not water,
for that is poison here-but claret, hook,
champagne, porter, beer, and eat ice,
and little else, except bread and meat.
Shanghai is nearly in the latitude of
northern Florida; but, amid low lands
as it is, on which are boundless fields Of
cotton, near the mouth of the great river
Yang TIE, doubtless, the climate is like
that Of New Orleans, on the Mississippi,
with the thermometer ranging higher
What | know for certainty is, you will
never catch me here again in July, if
there be any way of getting around it,
or over it, or under it,
The foreign residents of Shanghai suf
fer not little this season of the year;
but here, then, they must stay, for now
is the season Of tea" aud silk, the
great exported staples of the country
In winter they can play, but never in
the summer. They prepare themselves
for being roasted as we'll as possible
not exactly in our Georgia or the Japan
ese costume, but as near to it as civili-
zaiion will permit. They 60 without
shirts, to begin with. A white flannel
frock coat, closely fitting to the body,
somewhat fancifully made, with white
linen trousers, is the costume. No
dickey is sported over that coat. No
dickey could stand the drippings OF
perspiration here over FIVE minutes, if
on. They live thus, and do business
with a punka, or wind flap, flying |
over them, ever kept going by a halt.
sleeping coolie (Chinaman) We break
fast by punkas; we dine by punkas
Heaven giving us no breezes, men raise |
as many artificial winds as possible, No |
one ventures out, If it can be helped, till |
the sun is going down. A great two
story, long-tailed pith hat lis then sportej. !
They ride out toward sunset in traps"
low hung carriages, drawn by one pony,
or in a California; made carriage, with |
California herses, where that costly lux
ury can be afforded; or they go in sedan |
chairs, or are wheeled by a Chinaman,
TWO at time, on a eel-barrow, dog |
cheap for such rides as that-the vilest
invention, by the way, for going l have
ever seen yet-worse, if possible, than
the Japanese cangO.