Manchurian Books

They have not the
slightest sense of honour, and if you detect them, content
themselves with saying: "You are more clever or cunning than I." I
was told that when they have any live stock, such as calves or pigs,
for sale, they compel them, as they are disposed of by weight, to
swallow stones or large quantities of water. They also know how to
blow out and dress stale poultry, so as to make it look quite fresh
and plump.
But it is not the lower classes alone that indulge in cheating and
fraud; these agreeable qualities are shared by the highest
functionaries. It is a well-known fact, for instance, that there
are nowhere so many pirates as in the Chinese sea, especially in the
vicinity of Canton; yet no measures are taken to punish or extirpate
them, simply because the mandarins do not think it beneath their
dignity to secretly share in the profits.
For example, though the opium trade is forbidden, so much of this
drug is smuggled in every year, that it is said to exceed in value
that of all the tea exported in the same period.


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