I was on the highest seat, of course, because I was the most important person present, when a bystander, seeing that I spoke no Chinese, coolly said the words "_Yang kweitze_" (foreign devil).

I rose in my wrath, and seized my whip.

"You Chinese devil" (_Chung kweitze_), I said in Chinese, and then I assailed him in English.

He seemed surprised at my warmth, but said nothing, and, turning on his heel, walked uncomfortably away.
I often regretted afterwards that I did not teach the man a lesson, and cut him across the face with my whip; yet, had I done so, it would have been unjust.

He called me, as I thought, "_Yang kweitze_," but I have no doubt, having told the story to Mr.Warry, the Chinese adviser to the Government of Burma, that he did not use these words at all, but others so closely resembling them that they sounded identically the same to my untrained ear, and yet signified not "foreign devil," but "honoured guest." He had paid me a compliment; he had not insulted me.