On this occasion we visited Tsi-nan-foo in the spring, and during Carnival time. Holiday makers were numerous. A large space around the great temple and all its courts were completely occupied with booths and stalls, on which goods of every description were exposed for sale. There were stalls completely filled with whips; stalls where pens alone were sold; stalls for ink-stones; stalls for books—the Chinese classics in most choice editions, and novels innumerable; stalls for shoes with the whitest of soles; stalls for hats of most fashionable shapes; stalls filled with toys; and stalls for sham jewellery and endless quantities of pins and other ornaments wherewith the Chinese women decorate their hair. These last stalls were surrounded by many purchasers, showing that Mrs. John Chinaman is not forgotten when John goes out for a holiday. The toy stalls were also much patronised, and juveniles were strutting about in the splendours of wooden swords, brilliantly painted, their faces adorned by false moustaches of the fiercest cut. Smaller children shook rattles, flourished whips, and hugged toy horses.

Most interesting to me was a fine pavilion, where the sale of plants was going on quite briskly. The favourites were dwarf flowering shrubs. Many dwarf fruit trees were laden with blossoms.