Tableware and toilets are both made of porcelain.

Besides the chair and rider, they carry a roll of leaves of the vijao, a species of banana-tree, which they gather near Ibague, in order to form the huts that it is necessary to construct at night, or, if overtaken by heavy rains; […]

But this is not all. It will be remembered that from Hanoi, the capital of Tonkin, a second line has been spoken of as leaving for Chinese territory — the Hanoi-Langson-Lungchow Railway. This strategic railway is already in fair way of being entirely completed, and the extension to Nanningfu, Pakhoi, and the leased port and territory of Kwangchow-wan will shortly be taken in hand.

But it is also a world repopulated by fantastical creatures, camped behind all the shopfronts or lurking behind all the portes cochères; by new divinities from the earth and the underworld.