The chief priest wore a kind of white {110} fool's cap, with three
points; the other persons, who consisted of men alone, had a kind of
white cloth bound round their head or arm.
I was lucky enough to be enabled to visit some of the summer palaces
and gardens of the nobility.
The finest of all was certainly that belonging to the Mandarin
Howqua. The house itself was tolerably spacious, one story high,
with very wide, splendid terraces. The windows looked into the
inner courts, and the roof was like those in European buildings,
only much flatter. The sloping roofs, with their multitude of
points and pinnacles, with their little bells and variegated tiles,
are only to be found in the temples and country-houses, but never in
the usual residences. At the entrance there were two painted gods:
these, according to the belief of the Chinese, keep off evil
spirits.
The front part of the house consisted of several reception rooms,
without front walls, and immediately adjoining them, on the ground
floor, elegant parterres; and on the first floor magnificent
terraces, which were also decorated with flowers, and afforded a
most splendid view over the animated scene on the river, the
enchanting scenery around, and the mass of houses in the villages
situated about the walls of Canton.
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