Note 39 — Chapter III · JOURNEY TO DONGTSE.
Reading edition
January 1, 1882.—For about half an hour the minister practised writing the Roman characters on a wooden slate (chyang-shing) about two feet long and ten inches broad. A little bag of powdered chalk was tied to it; and when the slate had been washed and dried, the minister rubbed the chalk-bag lightly over the board, and thus covered it with a thin white film. In this he scratched letters with a steel style about a foot long. I told him of the slates we had in India—how much more convenient and neat they were than his rude contrivance. He smiled and said, “My chyang-shing is a very nice one; even the great ministers of China use the like;39 but they are not clean. And if you can get me a couple of your Indian slates from Calcutta, I shall be much obliged.”