Rows of roasted duck, brilliantly varnished; luscious vegetables, which she had been warned against; baskets of melon seed and water-chestnuts; men working in teak and blackwood; fan makers and jade cutters; eggs preserved in what appeared to her as petrified muck; bird's nests and shark fins.

She glimpsed Chinese penury when she entered a square given over to the fishmongers.

Carp, tench, and roach were so divided that even the fins, heads and fleshless spines were sold.

There were doorways to peer into, dim cluttered holes with shadowy forms moving about, potters and rug-weavers.
Through one doorway she saw a grave Chinaman standing on a stage-like platform.

He wore a long coat, beautifully flowered, and a hat with a turned up brim.