with, at the Kuldja oil factory. Our host then proceeded
gravely to help us with his fingers, placing the
eatables a few at a time on our plates, first wafers, then
grapes, apples, and cakes. A t the same time was
brought tea of a strong jasmine flavour, called red,
but pale and highly aromatic.
Tea was put into each cup, water poured thereon,
and covered with an inverted saucer, a little smaller
than the rim of the cup, and, consequently, keeping in
the steam. This was well enough, but now came a
feat of manipulation, for the cup had no handle, but
had to be held with the fingers, whilst the thumb was
left free to tilt the saucer into the beverage, in such a
way as in drinking to hold back the floating leaves
from entering the mouth. We succeeded pretty well,
and I expressed admiration for his tea, which remark
bore fruit, as will presently be seen.
He soon opened fire upon me by asking, in a stereotyped
manner, who I was, and whence and how I had
come. I at once showed him my map, and put to
the test his Chinese geography. He asked whether
Turkey was north or south of England, and how far,
respectively, from London were Paris, Berlin, and
Constantinople. He inquired how long I had been
travelling, and whether I had left the Marquis Tseng
in London, to which I replied that he had sent me my
letter from Paris. I invited him to ask further questions,
whereupon he inquired of what our daily food in
England consisted. When my host had finished his
queries, I began by asking if it were likely we should
have the pleasure of seeing him in London. That
depended, he said, entirely upon the Chinese Government,
as to whether they chose to send him ; but he
did not expect it. I assured him that we should have
a great many strange things to show him, and inquired
how soon he thought they would have railways in
China. He thought “ not at all ” ; for that in one
instance where they had laid down a line, they had,
after trial, taken it up again!
This I thought was “ progress ” with a vengeance,
and I expressed my surprise. Meanwhile, after drinking
tea, his Excellency began to smoke a pipe, drawing
the cloud through water placed at the bottom of the
bowl, which he did not hold continually in his hand,
but took one long, long whiff, and then the bowl was
emptied of tobacco, and taken away by an attendant
until called for again. This suggested my asking him
if the smoking of opium were general among the
Chinese. He replied that many practised it, and
when I expressed a fear that it was working evil in
China, he replied that it was against the law, the
penalty for breaking which was to have one’s
tongue cut. I fancy, however, this was said with
a wink, for in Kuldja (under the Russians, it is true)
I saw men smoking opium publicly, and the materials
for opium-smoking appeared easily obtainable.
I then offered him a Chinese Bible and a Mongolian
and a Buriat New Testament, which he accepted, after
inquiring what they were. Lrom the manner, however,
in which he looked at them, I fancy he was a
Manchu. After the gushing reception my Petersburg
letters had secured me at the hands of the Russian
governors, I had thought, perhaps, this good man
would be at the pains to ask if he could do anything
for me, or show me anything, especially as he
said he had received official notice from London of
my coming. But he seemed not to dream of such
a thing, nor to get his official temperature above