Oxe of the most curious customs of Shanghai is doubtless the eagerness with which the residents in the Model Settlement take advantage of the fine weather of the winter season: Half of the foreign population, from the middle of November till sume undefined time in the spring of the year, can scarcely be said to be chez eux, unless indeed we dub with the name of home those singular specimens of naval architect ture denominated house-boats, Durin, this serson of temporary withdraw from the rights of society, the individual may be said to have put on other nature, so that itis hard to di tinguish, in the rough and ready spor' man or explorer, the noll me tengere of ordinary Shanghai life. Strangerthanall, perhaps, istheindulgence with which this annual malady ofthe -place is looked upon by those few who do not take advantage of the opportunities provided for a continuous outing. Unlike the morbid dislike which frequenters of scientific or quasi-scientific meetings display to their theatrical ce-residents, or which the musical or athletic sections of the community affect towards those whose predilections differ in these important elements; far removed, too, from the jealousy which paper-hunters evince towards boating
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.