These are distributed with particular regard to the economy of space,
and accordingly the visitor may see at a glance objects huddled
together, the uses of which are of the most opposite nature. On the
first shelf of cases 1, 2, are distributed the tally of a Chinese
soldier describing his age and place of residence; ladies' gloves;
military boots; bows and arrows; and the mock spears shown above the
walls of Woosang in 1842 to intimidate the British forces. The second
shelf exhibits the grotesque varieties of Chinese deities and leaders
of sects; and in other parts of the cases are endless Chinese
curiosities, including Chinese scales and weights; padlocks; mirrors;
a pair of Chinese spectacles in a leather case; shoe brushes from
Shanghai; chopsticks; a brass pipe; Chinese mariners' compasses; a
Chinese bank-note, value one dollar; Chinese needles; agricultural
implements; joss sticks; the sea-weed eaten by the Chinese; ancient
bronze bell; vase in shape of a lotus leaf; and an advertisement for
quack pills. The visitor should remark the great royal wicker shield
that is on the top of the case, ornamented with the head of a tiger;
and the model of a junk. The third case contains Chinese divinities,
of which the goddess of Mercy, Kwan-yin, on the first shelf, is the
most noticeable figure. The two last cases 4 and 5 given up to
Chinese, are filled chiefly with Chinese musical instruments,
including the pair of sticks used by Chinese beggars as castanets to
attract attention to their petitions; Chinese shuttlecocks, made of
feathers and lead, the Chinese battledores being the soles of their
feet, suggestive of vigorous exercise; fly-flaps; surgical
instruments; paints; boxes; and Japanese shoes. Over these cases is a
circular stand, in twenty-two parts, representing, in relief, the
chief deities of the Hindoo mythology. The four next cases (6-9) are
given up to