Chapter 3

Frenchmen pleasant travelling companions--Their limitations--Vicomte de Vogue--The innkeeper and the ikon--An early oil-burning steamer--A modern Bluebeard--His "Blue Chamber"--Dupleix--His ambitious scheme --A disastrous period for France--A personal appreciation of the Emperor Nicholas II--A learned but versatile Orientalist--Pidgin English--Hong-Kong--An ancient Portuguese city in China--Duck junks--A comical Marathon race--Canton--Its fascination and its appalling smells--The malevolent Chinese devils--Precautions adopted against--"Foreign devils"--The fortunate limitations of Chinese devils--The City of the Dead--A business interview