ing manner, really not caring to go into it, but feeling that it would be an impropriety to come to a Chinese dinner and not taste sharks' fins. What would folks at home say about us? In this spirit-a spirit of duty, of doing something that had to be done, that was among other reasons why we were ten thousand miles from home on our way around the worldwe went through our Chinese dinner. The dishes that we knew were so disguised that even when they made themselves known they were beyond recognition. The dishes we did not know we experimented upon. We discovered that the bird's-nest soup was insipid; that sharks' fins were oily and 66 rancid; that fish brain was too rich; that the preparations of whale sinews and bamboo and fish maw, mushrooms, and a whole family of the fungus species were repelling; that the chipping of the ham and duck and pigeon into a kind of hash took away all the qualities that inspire respect for them at home, and that the fatal omission was bread. If you go to a Chinese dinner," said a friend on shipboard, "be sure and take a loaf of bread in your pocket." I thought of this injunction as I was preparing to dine with the Viceroy, but had not the courage to go into a Chinese palace, like Benjamin Franklin, with a loaf of bread under my arm. If we had been dining we should have missed the bread; but none of us went through RETURNING FROM THE VICEROY'S. 343 the dinner, except the Doctor, perhaps, who viewed the entertainment from a professional point of view and went through it in a spirit of discovery. When the feast was about two-thirds over, the Viceroy, seeing that General Grant and Mr. Borie had gone beyond the possibility of dinner, proposed a walk in the garden. The remainder of the party waited until the dinner was over. It was a long and weary repast, once that the novelty passed away. It was about half-past ten when we returned to the audience room and took leave of our hosts. The Viceroy said he would come down to the " Ashuelot" and see the General off. But the General said he was to sail at an early hour, and so said that he would prefer not putting his Excellency to so great a trouble. Then the Viceroy said it was a custom in China to send some memento of friendship to friends; that he was sorry he could not, without violation of Chinese etiquette, entertain Mrs. Grant, and he would like to send her a specimen of Cantonese work which might serve to remind her of Canton when she came to her own home beyond the seas. The Viceroy also spoke of the pleasure and honor he had felt in receiving General Grant, and said that his welcome in Canton would be repeated throughout China. In taking leave the Viceroy asked the General to be kind to his people in the United States; 'for you have," he said, "a hundred thousand Cantonese among you, and they are good people." Then we entered our chairs, and amid the firing of guns, music, the cries of attendants and the waving of lanterns, we returned. The journey home through the night was weird and strange. party was preceded by torch-bearers, and every chair carried lanterns. At regular points on the route were attendants holding torches and lanterns. The streets swung with lanterns, and the effect, the light, the narrow streets, the variety of decoration, the blended and varying colors, the doors massed with people, the dense and silent throng through which we passed, their yellow features made somber by the night-everything was new and strange and grotesque; and when we crossed the river and came under the green trees and saw our boat in the The river and felt ourselves again among our own ways, it seemed that in the scenes through which we had passed the curtain had been lifted from a thousand years, and that we had been at some mediæval feast of Oriental and barbaric splendor. Consul Lincoln also gave General Grant an entertainment in the shape of a state dinner, to which were invited the leading members of the foreign settlement to the number of forty. The house was dressed with wreaths and evergreens and American flags. At the close of the dinner there was a display of fireworks. A bamboo scaffold, sixty feet high, had been built in front of the Consulate, and from this rockets and various forms of fireworks were displayed. The next morning we left Canton and our many kind friends, to sail down the river to visit the old Portuguese settlement of Macao. The following correspondence took place between the Viceroy of Canton and General Grant: "TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE LATE PRESIDENT: It has been a high honor and a source of the deepest satisfaction to myself, the high provincial authorities, and the gentry and people of Canton that your Excellency, whom we have so long desired to see, has been so good as to come among us. "Upon learning from you of your early departure, while I dare not interfere to delay you, I had hoped, in company with my associates, to present my humble respects at the moment of your leaving. I refrained from doing so in obedience to your command. "I have ventured to send a few trifles to your honored wife, which I hope she will be so kind as to accept. "I trust that you both will have a prosperous journey throughout all your way, and that you both may be granted many years and abundant good. Should I ever be honored by my sovereign with a mission abroad, it will be my most devout prayer and earnest desire that I may meet you again. "I respectfully wish you the fullness of peace. "LIU KUN." "UNITED STATES STEAMER ASHUELOT,' "HIS EXCELLENCY THE VICEROY OF KWANGTUNG AND KWANGHAI: "DEAR SIR: Before leaving Hong-Kong for more extended visits through the Celestial Empire, I was placed in possession of your very welcome letter giving expression to the best wishes of your Excellency and of all the high officials in Canton for myself and mine. Since then it has been my good fortune to visit Swatow and Amoy, both, I understand, under your Excellency's government, and have received at each the same distinguished reception accorded at Canton. Myself and party will carry with us from China the most pleasant recollections of our visit to the country over which you preside, and of the hospitalities received at your hands. 66 Mrs. Grant desires to thank you especially for the beautiful specimens of Chinese work which you presented to her. With the best wishes of myself and party for your health, long life, and prosperity, and in hopes that we may meet again, I am, your friend, "U. S. GRANT." E sailed down the river from Canton on the morning of the 9th of May, bound for Macao. Macao is a peninsula on the east coast of China, within five hours' sail of Hong-Kong, a distance of about forty miles. In the days of Portuguese commercial greatness, when Albuquerque was carrying the sword and St. Francis Xavier the cross through the East, Macao was picked up by Portuguese adventurers, and added to the Indian possessions of Portugal. That empire has crumbled, has been taken by Englishman and Hollander. Macao remains as a remnant, a ruin of an empire that once bid fair to rule the continent of Asia. The town looks picturesque as you come to it from the sea, with that aspect of faded grandeur which adds to the beauty, if not to the interest and value, of a city. As the |