A heavy fall of rain, and the approach of night, soon obliged me to
seek the interior of the vessel, where I passed my time in observing
my Chinese fellow-travellers.
The company were, it is true, not very select, but behaved with
great propriety, so that there was nothing which could prevent my
remaining among them. Some were playing at dominoes, while others
were extracting most horrible sounds from a sort of mandolin with
three strings; all, however, were smoking, chatting, and drinking
tea, without sugar, from little saucers. I, too, had this celestial
drink offered to me on all sides. Every Chinese, rich or poor,
drinks neither pure water nor spirituous liquors, but invariably
indulges in weak tea with no sugar.
At a late hour in the evening I retired to my cabin, the roof of
which, not being completely waterproof, let in certain very
unwelcome proofs that it was raining outside. The captain no sooner
remarked this than he assigned me another place, where I found
myself in the company of two Chinese women, busily engaged in
smoking out of pipes with bowls no bigger than thimbles, and in
consequence they could not take more than four or five puffs without
being obliged to fill their pipes afresh.
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