The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-11-28

effect is produced by bears meat and
the ground-up bones of wild tigers.
These things ought to bring high
price Just now in Pekin, for the peo-
pie certainly have reason to increase
their courage. Another queer article
that you see in the Pekin market is
false hair. I passed several places
where long-queued Chinanamen stood
beside board upon which were hung
long punches of black Chinese locks.
Each of these vas false pigtail, and
it is said that one Of the chief articles
of export from Korea to China is hu-
man hair. The Chinese braid extra
locks into their queues and they often
patch out their queues with silk
thread.
1 might write full letter about the
queer things shown in the Chinese
part of the city of Pekin. I could
tell you of vast business done in gold
and silver paper which the Chinese
burn at the graves to furnish their
dead with money to pay their passage
to heaven. I could show you shops
selling nothing but cofins, in which
single articles of this kind cost as high
as four thousand dollars, md where
the dutiful son often buys his father a
coffin and make it a present to the old
man years before his death. I could
tell you of stories where thousands of
dollars worth of incense or joss sticks
are sold every month, and I could take
you into establishments which sell
nothing but birds and gold fishes.
There are big stores full of furniture
and shops which make nothing but
porcelain stoves. There are places
where wood is sold in bundles by
weight and establishments where coal
dust is mixed up with mud and sold in
Jumps the size and shape of baseball
at so much apiece. There are great
markets for the selling of chickens and
flowers, and all sorts of toy stores and
stores for the selling OF PAPER and
cloth. There are lock peddlers by
hundreds and hardware establish
ments, and if you are very hard up
and in want of meal can show you
O little hole round the corner where
you can get camels meat soup and
mule roast at low prices. There are
places for gambling and dime museum
shows. There are restaurants of every
description and opium joints without
number. There are, in fact, stores OF
every sort and description, and the
best things in China come to Pekin.
The most interesting part of Pc
kin, however, is the big Tartar city.
It is the capital of one-third of the
population on the globe, and in it
lives the son of heaven, the Emperor
of China, to whom all his subjects
must bend their knees. It contains
the thousands of Manchu officials, the
foreign legations, the Government de-
partments and all the paraphernalia of
this queer Chinese court. 1t is the
most Interesting city on the face OF
the globe, and its sights really beggar
description. From the walls the
whole city looks like an immense
orchard, with here and there one
story buildings shining out through
the trees. In its centre there is a
walled off inclosure filed with massive
buildings rooted with yellow tiles.
This Is the Imperial city, in the inner
most parts of which is brick pen in
closing several square miles, where
the Emperor lives, surrounded by
eunuchs. He is perhaps the rarest
bird in the whole Chinese aviary, and
1 will follow this with a special letter
describing some of his antics. He is
kept apart from Chinese and foreign
ers, and you might live in Pekin fifty