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And then his yarns of Chinese life! How on his first landing at a port, the natives in proffering their services hastened to assure him in “pigeon English” (“pigeon” is a native corruption of “business,” as a mixed jargon had and has to be used in trading with the lower classes) that “Me all same Englische man; me belly good man;” or “You wantee washy? me washy you?” which is simply an offer to do your laundry work;94 or “You wantee glub (grub); me sabee (know) one shop all same Englische belly good.” Or, perhaps, he has met a Chinaman accompanying a coffin home, and yet looking quite happy and jovial. Not knowing that it is a common custom to present coffins to relatives during lifetime, he inquires, “Who’s dead, John?” “No man hab die,” replies the Celestial, “no man hab die. Me makee my olo fader cumsha. Him likee too muchee, countoo my number one popa, s’pose he die, can catchee,” which freely translated is—“No one is dead. It is a present from me to my aged father, with which he will be much pleased. I esteem my father greatly, and it will be at his service when he dies.” How one of the common names for a foreigner, especially an Englishman, is “I say,” which derived its use simply from the Chinese hearing our sailors and soldiers frequently ejaculate the words when conversing, as for example, “I say, Bill, there’s a queer-looking pigtail!” The Chinese took it for a generic name, and would use it among themselves in the most curious way, as for example, “A red-coated I say sent me to buy a fowl;” or “Did you see a tall I say here a while ago?” The application is, however, not more curious than the title of “John” bestowed on the Chinaman by most foreigners as a generic distinction. Less flattering epithets used to be freely bestowed on us, especially in the interior, such as “foreign devil,” “red-haired devil,” &c. The phrase Hungmaou, “red-haired,” is applied to foreigners of all classes, and arose when the Dutch first opened up trade with China. A Chinese work, alluding to their arrival, says, “Their raiment was red, and their hair too. They had bluish eyes, deeply sunken in their head, and our people were quite frightened by their strange aspect.”