Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-09

These Cinnamon are often tremendous
swells in appearance, and frequently wear
trousers of pale blue or orange silk, with
jackets of green or crimson. They are apt
to affect the need of Spectacies, the glasses
of which as round and as big as
silver dollar, and the rims of the glasses
third of inch wide and made of
tortoise-shell. The effect is owl-lke end
wise. as it is intended to be, wherein it diff
fers from the effect produced by the mon
ocle in the eyes of some of the BritiSherS
of Sha-mien. Nothing if its kind can equal
the hauteur of important Cinnamon. No
Caucasian can ever hope TO reach the nil
admirari demeanor of these gentlemen. for
the reason that it is really felt and not as
sumed. Their expression is the quintes-
sence of a generous, sincere pity for all
white barbarians. with their mushroom
dyEasties, ariStocracies and civilizations
only paltry two thousand years old.
But there is one type of inhabitant of
Canton which never crosses the bridges to
Sha-mien, and this is the Chinese lady Of
high degree.
A Mandarin's Wife.
Their lords and masters do not wish them
to be brought in contact with any western
vulgarians. So that all that a foreigner
usually sees of these ladies Is an outline
dimly discerned through the bamboo cur
tsins of palanquin, as she is carried
through the streets of Canton by servants
way. Good luck, however, brought
invitation to lunch at the house of a man
DARN in Canton, and after the meal, at
which, of course, no ladies were present,
1 was allowed to his wife for few
minutes. The reason of this unusual privi-
legs was that / happened to have friend
with me who could take photographs. ard
the mandarin was anxious to have pic
ture of his wife. This lady was dressed in
dark silk trousers and cloak, all profusely
embroidered in striking colors. Her feet
were three inches long, her little hands
were covered with pearl rings. and the
finger nails of her left hand were about
three and half inches long. Her face was
powdered and painted and her black hair
oiled and spread out in the butterfly FASH
ion that Chinese women like. She vas in
tensey embarrassed before US, which Only
added to the charm of her person, for she
was Ito be Chinese) '"fairer than rice and
more graceful than the bamboo.
The Chinese are called tricky diplo-
matists, but as merchants their word when
once passed to a foreigner is sure to he
fulfilled. When one of them tells Sha-
mfen dealer that he will deliver him a
thousand piculs of tea "a picul is 1873 1-3
pounds) six months from date there is no
need of further contract.
To give an idea of the business done by
the handful of merchant princes on Sha-
mien it is only necessary to say that the
annual exports Of silk from the city Of
Canton. which go through their hands, are
over S12O08,O0O worth. The tea exported
is 81 OOO. 900 worth, and large quantities of
firecrackers and of fans about 100000 Of
the latter being sent annually to America)
are also sold through the agency of the
foreigners on Sha-mien. Two great Ameri-
can firms used to have establishments
there but at present there are very few
Americans on the island. The fortunes
that were made in former times by for
eigners on Sha-Inien have left their traces
in the habits of the people there, for their
lavish hospitality continues down to the
present day, when their profits from bust
ness are not half so large as they used to
be- I have never been to such> generous
dinners
as are still given in Hong Kong, Shanghai
and Sha-mien. Such pheasants, such cur
ries srch bamboo shoots-more tender than
aSparaguS-are worth travelling lar 10 treat
the palate to!
There are about 125 foreigners on Sha-
MEN, and their intercourse with the coun-
try about them is commercial only, not
social Cinnamon of the lower classes
sometimes stroll over to Sha-mien to gaze
on their despicable neighboFs. Every after
noon in Sha-mien the English ladies and
gentlemen meet to play tennis, and there
is generally a band of Chinese loafers
looking on. In summer these Migrants
leave off their jackets and court the breezes
with nothing but pair of pajama trousers
on but the foreigners pay no attention to
so common a spectacle.
In the Market.
The isolation of the inhabitants of Sha-
rnien renders them all the more intimate
with each other. By general consent, the
exiIe-for so they consider their residence
there's made as merry az possible. FIRE.
uuent excursions are made into Canton to
see the pagodaS, the Confucian colleges,
the temples and many other places OF IN
terest in this city of 100000 people. One
of the diversions of the ladies of Sha-mien
is to hire sampan and go over to sub
urb called Honan and visit the gardens Of
the florists there. The Horticulture of China
aims, like their art, at what we would con-
slider fantastical. For this reason the
florists of Canton display in their nurseries
rows of wire frames shaped like men, dogs,
griffins, roosterS and other creatures, and
train vines and flowers over them. But
the residents of Sha-mien allow no such
beauties on their island. and keep their
gardens quite English Similarly do they
refuse to contract liking for the daintiss
of the markets across the canal, where
there are hawks. owls. birds nests, and
sometimes rats, dogs and cats for sale, and
always quantities of ducks that look as if
they had been passed between clothes
wringer and afterward lacquered. These
native tastes account for the Sha-mienerS
sending down the river eighty miles to the
English city of Hong Kong for most of
their meat
Notwithstanding the small size of the
community of Sha-mien, its members re-
tain the formalities of large cities. Dinner
is always an important ceremony. and the
gentlemen and ladies dress as they would
at home.
The cheapness of labor there allows
every house to keep large retinue of
servants and even a poor clerk can COM
mand an amount of service that he never
dreamed of in the English or American
city that he may have come from.
charming old club house, with large
library opening on to broad galleries,
which are shut in from the suns glare by
bamboo curtains, behind which one may
sit and read his book or listen to the doves
cooling in the trees near by. At twilight