Reds for revenge, Browns for excitement, Whites for blue, Blacks for self-defence and Yellows for -advantage. Our hero gould qualify in any class el]
cidentally. "Whppehing to" need a My-deayaintance came about.acwith rubbish adjoining a' building lot, I injured for the owner. None could be found, it was "waste land." The local "ti pao" while collecting his third birthday fee for the same year remarked that a friend of his ould secure the desired plot of ground. In a: few days appeared the land agent, nicely dressed, with 'a large visiting card. He said he felt so friendly to foreigners that hho wished to make me a present of the worthless little plot of ground. He would not fix a price but T could pay "a nominal sum for the expense of transfer. I told him to produce proper title deeds. and I would pay twice the market value. In the course of time he came with two old deeds and young man claiming ownership who made out a new deed in proper form, they were proved by the local "tt pao," the yamen surveyor, stamped by the Icest magistrate, transferred by the Recorder and ' possession. given. Then the money was paid. In some row over the division of the spoils, he incurred the anger of the assistants in the deal and he had to disappear. He had acted within the pate of the law throvighout, but had misrepresented the price to each party in the deal and put most of It in his own pocket. After hiding for some months, he reappeared with an option on a large and valuable lot for which he demanded fabulous price. However, his old time enemies got after him again snd made him sell the next time in presence of those concerned and a ion of the proceeds was made on the spot.
Ambiguous Title Deeds One of the favourite schemes was to sell vacant lots or waste land, to all. appearances unclaimed, Shrewdly enough, the agent usual-secures the signature of a renegade son or a delinquent relative of possible owners. When the head of the clan or the senior of the family come out to reclaim, they must first punish one of their own number before they can touch the wily land agent. Sometimes the title deeds are so written, that after sale the former owner or the land agent come and claim tiles from the roof, or partitions, staircases, doors and windows, pavements and even the lining of a well not being specified in the deal. Wealthy families rave a motto "We buy, never sell landed property." It t5 only debt or misfortune that will compel the average Chinese to ell their holdings. The sentiment prevails that selling property precedes the decline of a family. Consequently, a man that makes a business of, selling homes and farms is a shade less popular than the coffin-maker or the undertaker. T have seen high-born Chinese ladies wither and wilt as their homes. were sold from over them and their children, by opium smoking husbands. The land agent was doubly detested for his share of the procedure. There may be honest and truthful real estate dealers. in China—if so, it would be refreshing to meet one. Of my acquaint ange, one committed suicide in chagrin, another disappeared entirely, a third lingers in the disesteem of his fellow citizens.—Qui
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.