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tasting light refreshments and conversing with the girls. At midnight or thereabouts the guests will again collect round the table and enjoy a further meal. This meal is the solid meal of the entertainment and consists of numerous courses and lasts for three or four hours. No singing takes place during this meal. The girls, however, are still in attendance and remain on to the close.
They sit with the guests and drink wine with them. Each guest is supposed to drink one glass with each of the singing girls in turn. This is a matter of ceremony, and does not preclude the guests from drinking as many other glasses as they please with each or all of the girls. At the commencement of the midnight meal, the favourite girl of the host stands up and helps each of the guests to a spoon full of shark's fin. This is the first principal dish of the dinner, and is selected on this account. The ceremony is repeated with the pastry and at the end of the meat with betel nut. The betel nut is the signal for the close of the entertainment and the guests rise and take their departure. The girls throughout are seated.
The girls are present throughout the whole of the proceedings. They prepare the opium for the guests and are attentive to their needs. It frequently happens that some of the girls are engaged for dinner on the same night at different places of entertainment. In this case, they divide their presence impartially and flit from one place of entertainment to another. The fee is the same, whether they are present for part of the time or for the whole of it.