Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-01-07
AT A CHINESE DINNER.

London Star: 1 had a novel experience
the other night, says the Stars Yokohama
correspondent, in being the sole European
guest at a dinner party attended by some
eco progressive Cinnamon. The occasion
was the birthday of. Confucius. That sage,
according TO Chinese calendars, was born
2,449 years ago. Confucius has still a strong
hold on the educated Chinese, and the party
of reform, of which the unfortunate Kang-
Yin-Wei was the leader, are particularly
attached to his teachings. The reformers,
indeed, have lately been making strenuous
efforts to revive the cult of Confucius, and
this was the first time for many years that
his birthday has been celebrated in style.
Probably in China the victorious conserva-
tives did their best to crush the movement,
but here in Yokohama it was a great sue
cess. Nearly all the Chinese of the place.
except the legation people and the en-
ployes Of the bank-who are
Ma~nchus-joined in.
The dinner was held at the josshouse,
which was a perfect blaze of Chinese Ian
terms, electric light and grand dragon flags.
and crowded with Chinese in their most
brilliant silks-reds and greens and blues
of the liveliest possible shades. Seats were
provided for every one-an Improvement
on the Japanese custom of sitting on ones
knees-and the meal was served on small
tables to accommodate four. The dinner
commenced at $50 o'clock, and it ended at
II o'clock, and there was eating and drink
ing the whole time, with no laborious
speeches to distract the attention, no music
to divert one from the main object, and no
irritating humorist to waste time. Your
Chinese may be %offete, but he can eat and
drink like a Gothic hero.
The method of serving was peculiar. Be
fore each guest was placed a little cup, not
much bigger than a thimble, to contain the
hot liquor beloved of the Celestial; a plate
about two inches in diameter, a porcelain
spoon, and some ivory chop sticks. Each
course was brought on in a large basin,
placed in the center of the table, and the
guests helped themselves as they pleased.
The plate was SO small as to be quite use
less, and so the chop sticks moved from
the guests lips to the basin direct in a
manner which was a little repellant to Eu-
ropean ideas. The plate and cup, i should
add, had to serve for about 20 courses.
The first course was of trif1es-parched
almonds, melon seeds, a kind of radish.
and field bananas. Fancy any one but a
Chinese commencing a dinner in that dry
way. Melon seeds in particular strike one
as impossible as part Of a menu. After
toying with these for a few minutes the
next course arrived. 1t was no other than
the famous bird's-nest soup. Like Huckle-
berry Firms dream of being rich, it's mot
what it is cracked up to be- but l can
imagine it being quite edible if one is hun
CRY. Then came sharks fin, which my
palate told me was not at all bad, though
my reason rebelled against the verdict.
Then there was a pigeon done In mysterl-
Gus fashion, chicken, and some unknown
fungus, translated to me as mushroom
(Which it was not); salmon stewed in mys-
terious sauces, and fried chicken and bam-
boo.
Young bamboo roots are a common dish
with both Chinese and Japanese, and are
almost as succulent and nourishing as deal
chips. Then there was the brain of the
wong fish, which appears to be quite an in
tellectual fish, for there was more than
enough brain for the 600 present. What the
wong fish is, it's size, shape, habits and
moral character, I have no idea Then fol-
lowed a duck which had been cleverly
boned and boiled in its own skin. Then
came the awabi shellish (of which, again,
am ashamed to confess ignorance), a
preparation of pork as fat as an alderman
and as rich as Rockefeller; more mush-
rooms and bamboo in cryptic sauces, ham
and chicken, and one or two other things,
the component parts of which not even
Lord Rayleigh could have determined.
Finally-a blessed relief!-cakes, tea and
fruits. A cigarette was smoked ~religiouSly
after each course, and at the end of it all
each guest was given a little box OF out
landish confectionery.
The Chinaman makes q Jolly host, and,
when well educated, is by no means an un-
interesting companion. | was speaking
! with one who could talk English like a
professor. who had enlightened ideas on
the necessity of a free press and the ad-
yantages of ailway and telegraphs for
China. He had passed a stiff English eX-
animation in mathematics and ancient and
modern languages. A Japanese of similar
attachments would have made of himself
a greasy, frock-coated horror, with a nap
less pot hat and brown boots. But this
man stuck manfully to every detail of his
ma tional costume. He had a most pro-
nounced pigtail, a yellow silk tunic and
blue satin breeches. One respected him
for it.