I think they proposed to pay him what is for
them an unusual compliment, partly because they were pleased with some
remarks he made yesterday at Government House, and partly because they
think so much of his enterprise in making a voyage round the world in
a yacht with his wife and family. They examined everything on board,
and seemed to be specially interested in Tom's Board of Trade
certificate, which one of their number translated in full for the
benefit of the rest.
The Chinese part of the town stands quite away from the foreign
settlement. It is dirty and crowded in spite of its wide streets, and
the large, gaily coloured houses have the names and advertisements of
their proprietors painted all across them. The theatre is in the
middle of the city, and was densely crowded. A box had been reserved
for us, for the ordinary seats are like a carpenter's bench. On the
floor of the house men and women sat together, but in the galleries
the men sat apart, and there were separate boxes for the women. The
acting was rough, and accompanied by the most discordant music. The
scenery seemed of an excessively rudimentary description, as you may
imagine when I tell you that a steep hill up which the hero and
heroine climbed with great difficulty was composed of five kitchen
chairs arranged in a pyramid on the top of three kitchen tables, held
in position by men in their ordinary dress.
Pages:
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498