inclined to think that the prices are still the same. When Barrow was at Pekin, rice sold from three-halfpence to two-pence per lb., bread four pence, and wheat-flour from two-pence halfpenny to three pence. Dobell, a late writer, makes the price of rice cheaper, it generally selling from three quarters of a dollar to one and a quarter dollars the picul of 1334 English pounds.

As there does not appear any regulation confining distillation to particular individuals, all the makers of wine distil from the lees, while other persons manufacture from the grain direct. The produce is distinguished in Europe under the general appellation of rack, raki, or arrack, a term in use from the earliest dawn of civilisation. The manufacture of this liquor, Grosier tells us, is carried on to a great extent through the whole of the Chinese dominions. Its strength generally exceeds the common proof, and is free from that empyreumatic odour so often perceptible in European spirits. Numbers of carts laden with it enter Pekin daily. The duty is paid at the gates, which are nine in number, three on the south front, and two on the other three sides, and the liquor is sold publicly in more than a thousand shops that are dispersed through the city and suburbs. The sale of this attractive article is conducted in the same way through the whole of the cities, towns, and villages in the fifteen provinces; and it is not a little surprising that, amidst a population of 333,000,000, the consumption of so dangerous a beverage should be attended with so few fatal consequences, since we are assured on the testimony of the most respectable writers,† that a quarrel or murder occasioned by intoxication is rarely or ever heard of. But, I apprehend, that to the strictness of the police, and to a regulation rendering every tenth housekeeper accountable for the conduct of the nine neighbouring families, more than to the steadiness of the Chinese, must be attributed this forbearance, since human nature is much the same in region of the world. As to the population of this empire, writers disagree. Lord Macartney and Staunton rate it as just stated; the Abbè Grosier makes it 200,000,000; and Father Allerstain, 198,213,713; others limit it to 150,000,000. Most writers, however, agree with Staunton, and from the opportunity he had of obtaining accurate information, it may be presumed his estimate is more to be relied on than any other. The population, as given by order of the emperor Kea-king, in 1812, appeared to be 360,279,897:

Travels, vol. ii. p. 192.

† De Guignes, Barrow, Osbeck, Van Praam, Sil. de Sacy,

Staunton' Embassy, vol. ii. p. 56.

&c.

every

The census of this vast empire is taken annually, and therefore ought to be more accurate than that of any other nation, as officers appointed for the purpose visit every village, town, and city, to collect the returns of the householders, who are obliged to attach, on the outside of their doors, the number of the inmates, male and female, attested by their signature. These returns are made up and forwarded to the government. No kind of imposition can be practised, as the reporter is held accountable for the truth of his statement; and any deviation from accuracy is most severely punished. Were such a practice adopted in this country, parliament could never be at a loss to ascertain the physical and disposable strength of the empire at any time, and thus make a considerable saving in the expense of obtaining such returns. In so dense and populous a country, houses for general accommodation are very numerous. Abel gives the following picture of the public houses he had an opportunity of visiting, while the embassy stopped at the city of Tong-chow, on its return from Pekin:-These, says he, were large open sheds, fitted up with tables and benches, and affording means of gambling and drinking to the lower orders of the people. They were generally filled with players at dominos or cards, who seemed to enter with intense earnestness into their game. The cards were small pieces of pasteboard, about two inches long, and half an inch wide, having black and red characters painted on them. The beverages most largely partaken of in those houses were tea, wine, and Sam-su. All the guests were smoking from pipes of various lengths, from two to five feet, formed of the young and tender twigs of bamboo, fitted with bowls of white copper about the size of a thimble.* Every person smokes to excess, and should any one in company refuse to smoke, he is accused of affectation, as it is deemed necessary that every man should make a chimney of his mouth.† The Chinese, in their cheerful and idle moments, amuse themselves at a game on the fingers to procure drink and enjoyment, called houa thsionan, or tsoey-moey. It is thus described by Dobell:-The winecups being filled, the two persons engaged stretch forth their right hands towards the centre of the table, with their fingers closed. When the hands come almost in contact, they open as many fingers as they please, and each person cries out the number he opens, as one, three, five, &c. Whoever hits on the exact number of fingers presented by both persons, obliges his adversary to drink. "I have seen," says he, "this game continued for an hour, until one of the parties, finding himself the loser, and his head affected, is forced to retire. It is an † Dobell, vol. ii. p. 264.

Abel's Narrative, p. 117.

extremely noisy amusement when any number of guests engage in it. In passing up and down Canton river on a holyday, one's ears are assailed on all sides with this boisterous merriment." Another festive trick, which they practise, is that of rapidly passing a bunch of flowers from hand to hand, during which a kettle-drum is kept beating; and whoever holds the flowers, the instant the drum is stopped, is obliged to drink a cup of wine as a forfeit. The public inns and victualling houses have their fiddlers and comedians to entertain their guests at meals, and other occasions of refreshment.* Such houses, however, are seldom frequented for the mere love of drinking, and although intoxication is not unusual, that vice forms no part of the general character of the people. Mr. Dobell says, that the Chinese are in general sober, and that habitual intoxication is very rare. Ellis is of a contrary opinion, for he says, that whatever may have been the assertion of travellers, his experience led him to consider the Chinese scarcely less addicted to the use of spirituous liquors than Europeans; and that it is only their superior sense of decorum that prevents them from exhibiting themselves as often in public under the influence of spirits. There are likewise laws to regulate the sale of spirituous liquors and to guard against irregularities. One of these enactments says, "A man, who, intoxicated with liquor, commits outrages against the laws, shall be exiled to a desert country, there to remain in a state of servitude." This judicious ordinance can scarcely fail in producing the desired effect, as the dread of punishment ought to counterbalance every inducement to criminal indulgence. Martini and Navarette have stated, that the Chinese sometimes drink to excess, although they are the reverse of a drunken people. Occasional intoxication is not considered shameful, but treated with ridicule or pity; and the enactment here cited is only to restrain habitual and egregious offenders.

The rice-wines are all drunk warm, as indeed is almost every other kind of fluid. Whether this practice is owing to national habit, or that it is more salutary to the people, who are of weak constitutions and subject to pulmonary and bowel complaints, it is not so easy to determine; but a general opinion prevails that fermented and spirituous liquors made hot, are accounted not only agreeable, but preventives of disease, and hence one reason why the custom is so prevalent. In warm climates, it is considered that heated beverages are the most wholesome, and contribute to alleviate the sensations of fatigue. Even in the parching climate of Hindostan, weak but warm liquors

Nieuhoff''s Travels in China.

Travels, vol. ii. p. 239.

are ready for all travellers at the public inns or choultries. Through China, in like manner, warm tea and other hot beverages are sold at public inns, along the roads, canals, and rivers; and it is not uncommon to see porters or carriers lay down their burdens to refresh themselves with a cup of tea, and afterwards pursue their journey. In Bootan and Thibet, it is the first object of a traveller to procure for himself a dish of hot tea, which is generally served to him the moment he arrives at a caravansary. The Chinese, rather than drink their liquor cold, plunge the jug in which it is contained into boiling water, until it obtains the proper temperature; but the general practice is to warm it over a fire. So careful are persons of rank respecting the quality of their drinks, that besides the heating of all manufactured liquors, they seldom take water without its being first subjected to distillation, in order to free it of animalculæ or other impurity. Some philosophically account for the Chinese and other Orientals drinking their liquors warm, on the grounds that in all hot countries the stomach loses its activity by a too copious perspiration; and consequently, every thing which warms it, not only invigorates it but repairs its losses. The contrast is remarkable; when we compare the Chinese custom of drinking warm beverages even on ordinary occasions, with that of the Russians, who, when in a profuse perspiration after coming out of a warm bath, drink copious draughts of mead as cold as it can be procured, without sustaining the least injury. It is customary in China to eat cold meats, though the drinks are warm, and they are so particular in this respect, that attendants are appointed at feasts to pour hot wine into the cups, and remove that which is cold. The drinking cups usually employed by these people are either of silver, porcelain, or precious wood. Very small cups are used at first, but about the middle of an entertainment they are changed for larger. They are always presented full, having no idea of half-measures. It is facetiously related that a parsimonious host, afraid of filling a bumper, presented a friend with a glass only half full, when the guest, attentively looking at it, said, "This glass is too deep; one half must be cut off." The astonished host inquired the reason, to which the other replied," If the upper cannot hold wine, of what use is it ?"

Among the Chinese, it is a common saying that wine is the way to try people's strength; and that those that are strong always shew it by their eating and drinking; but that there are only three occasions on which it is strictly proper; and for each of these, three cups are allowable; these are for friendship, mirth, and to satisfy nature. Sir William Temple's regulation, mentioned in the Spectator,

far surpasses this for its temperance.-"Let the first glass be for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humour, and the fourth for mine enemies." "* After dinner, in order to promote a relish for a cup, some highly seasoned or salt meat is used, which they term a guide, and among friends when the liquor begins to exhilarate, or the party are desirous of retiring, the same enticing inducements to detain them are practised as in Europe; so that social moments, we may see, greatly assimilates man in every country.

As distillation occupies the attention of multitudes in China, it is generally conducted on a limited scale by each individual. The machinery of a still-house much resembles that in use on the continent of Europe, or what is employed in this country by illicit distillers, with the exception that the head and condenser of the still are of a different construction, having no worm-tub. The condensation is effected by a cylinder full of water surrounding the head, and kept full either by a small stream or being poured in by the hand. The head is, for the most part, globular, with a neck to fit into the breast or body of the still. Near the neck, inside the head, is a gutter from which a tube projects through the cylinder of water to convey the condensed vapour into a receiver, as shewn in the annexed drawing.