42
Official Guide to the
Gas andotherIllumi-nants.
As the visitor proceeds southwards, the next Section of the EastArcade is given up to gas and other illuminants. Messrs. GeorgeWaller & Co.—J. Somerville—and Kirkham and Clark, exhibit gas-making apparatus, or improvements in the details of such machinery.Messrs. C. Hearson & Co. show the Sun Gas-making Machine for twohundred lights. This machine makes gas from gasoline. Messrs. W.Sugg & Co. exhibit a variety of their well-known burners, governors,photometers, &c. In the Oil Lamp Section the most interestingexhibit is Defries & Sons’ new safety lamp. It gives a perfectly whitelight of great power, emits no unpleasant odour, and is so constructedthat it is inexplosible, even when upset. Any ordinary Americanoils can be used with this lamp, the use of refined oil being quite un-necessary. The two refreshment rooms adjoining “ Old London "■are illuminated by these lamps.
There are several doorways leading from the East Arcade into theEast Gallery, and the visitor will do well to inspect this portion of thebuildings next. The northern half is reserved for China , and the col-lection contributed by that country will be found to be one of the mostinteresting features in the entire Exhibition. The walls and roof of theCourt are beautifully coloured by Chinese artists, and are hung with-Chinese lanterns and coloured flags ; the walls are richly decoratedwith porcelain plates, educational pictures, and specimens of old armsand armour, conspicuous amongst the latter being the striped blackand yellow tiger clothing of the old soldiery. The writings of manyof the symbols on the walls were executed by the Chinese Ambassadorthe Marquis Tseng, who is famed for his skill in caligraphy. On eitherside of the central passage are beautifully carved shop fronts, whichare exact reproductions of those in actual use in the cities of Pekin,Kienkang, Canton and Hankow. Between the shop fronts on eitherside of the central gangway are sedan chairs adapted for mule trans-port. Close by, on both sides are cases of Chinese boots, the absurdlysmall size of some of which afford one more proof of the ridiculousresults which may he produced by fashion. On both sides are somecases of beautiful soapstone ornaments. Farther on the visitor willfind on his right-hand a bedroom with two beds beautifully curtained,one for summer, the other for winter use, together with a completeset of bedroom furniture. On the left-hand side are the magnificentappointments of a salon , consisting for the most part of ebony andmarble couches, chairs and tables, reversible stools, the side for summeruse being of straw, that for winter of a warm material. The carpet,which is most beautiful, is also of Chinese manufacture, as are themetal charcoal hand and foot warmers.
The wall-cases beyond these contain a collection of Chinese books,many of them being of an educational character; there is also a seriesof rubbings from old tablets, some of which are two thousand years old.The Chinese are famous for their study of literature; they were theoriginal inventors of competitive examinations. Lately they have takento the study of modern sciences, and many of the books exhibited aretranslations of European text books. The wall-cases round the Northernend of the Court are filled with wax figures, draped to illustrate thesummer and winter clothing of various ranks in Chinese society. There