He Has Persons In His Own Employment Who Pay And Receive All Monies, And Who Examine And Test Every Separate Coin With The Most Marvellous Rapidity.

They take a whole handful of dollars at a time, and toss them up separately with the finger and thumb:

This enables them to determine whether each "rings" properly, and on the coin falling into their hand again, reversed, they examine the second side with a glance. A few hours are sufficient to pass several thousand dollars in review; and this minute inspection is very necessary, on account of the number of false dollars made by the Chinese. Each piece of money is then stamped with the peculiar mark of the firm, as a guarantee of its genuineness, so that it at last becomes exceedingly thin and broad, and frequently falls to bits; no loss is, however, occasioned by this, as the amount is always reckoned by weight. Besides dollars, little bars of pure unstamped silver are used as a circulating medium; small portions, varying in size, being cut off them, according to the sum required. The counting-house is situated on the ground floor, in the comprador's room. The Europeans have nothing to do with the money, and, in fact, never even carry any for their private use.

The comprador has no fixed salary, but receives a stated per-centage upon all business transactions: his per-centage upon the household expenses is not fixed, but is not on that account less certain. On the whole, these compradors are very trustworthy. They pay down a certain sum, as caution-money, to some mandarin, and the latter answers for them.

The following is a tolerably correct account of the mode of life pursued by the Europeans settled here. As soon as they are up, and have drunk a cup of tea in their bed-room, they take a cold bath. A little after 9 o'clock, they breakfast upon fried fish or cutlets, cold roast meat, boiled eggs, tea, and bread and butter. Every one then proceeds to his business until dinner-time, which is generally 4 o'clock. The dinner is composed of turtle-soup, curry, roast meat, hashes, and pastry. All the dishes, with the exception of the curry, are prepared after the English fashion, although the cooks are Chinese. For dessert there is cheese, with fruit; such as pine- apples, long-yen, mangoes, and lytchi. The Chinese affirm that the latter is the finest fruit in the whole world. It is about the size of a nut, with a brown verrucous outside; the edible part is white and tender, and the kernel black. Long-yen is somewhat smaller, but is also white and tender, though the taste is rather watery. Neither of these fruits struck me as very good. I do not think the pine-apples are so sweet, or possessed of that aromatic fragrance which distinguishes those raised in our European greenhouses, although they are much larger.

Portuguese wines and English beer are the usual drinks - ice, broken into small pieces, and covered up with a cloth, is offered with each.

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Words from 52851 to 53368 of 187810