adopted to palliate the evil is to tolerate begging in public, and to place the lazzaroni under the local jurisdiction of a responsible chief. In Foochow the city is divided into wards, and within the limits of each ward a head-man is appointed, able to trace his descent from a line of illustrious beggar chiefs, who, like himself, exercised the right to keep the members of their order under their own management and control. During my stay in Foochow I was introduced to one of these beggar kings; he was an inveterate opium-smoker, and consequently in reduced circumstances. I afterwards visited the house of another head-man. His eldest son received me at the entrance and conducted me into a guest's chamber; and while I was seated there two ladies dressed in silks passed the door of the apart- ment in order to steal a glimpse at its inmate. These were the chief and second wives of this Lord of the Lazzaroni, who was himself unfortunately absent on business. I afterwards secured his photograph.
Beggar chieftains of this kind have it in their power to make an agreement with the business men of the streets in their re- spective wards, under which they levy a kind of fluctuating poor- rate for the maintenance of themselves and their subjects. A composition thus entered into exempts the streets or shops whereon the chief has placed his mark, from the harassing raids of his tattered troops. Woe betide the shopman who has the courage to refuse his dole to these beggars! The most loath- some and pertinacious specimens of the naked tribe will be de- spatched to beset his shop. Thus, while walking along one of the best streets of the city, I myself saw a revolting, diseased and filthy object carried on the shoulders of another member of the fraternity, who marched into a shop and deposited his burden on the polished counter, where the tradesman was serv-
