166 VOYAGE TO THE 



creepers entwined themselves round the stems of these 

 canes, and a variety of flowers, • some of which were 

 new to us, exhah^d a dehcious fragrance from the 

 gardens which bordered these dehghtful avenues. A 

 more comfortable residence in a hot climate could not 

 well be imagined, but I am sorry to say that the 

 fascination was greatly lessened by the very filthy 

 state of the dwellings and of the people who occupied 

 them. In one of these huts there was a spinning- 

 wheel and a hand loom, with some grass-cloth of the 

 country in a forward state of preparation for use. 



Several little children accompanied us through these 

 delightfully cool lanes, running before us catching 

 butterflies, or picking flowers, which they presented 

 with a low Chinese salam, and then ran away laugh- 

 ing at the idea of our valuing such things. We 

 afterwards crossed two high roads, on which there 

 were several horses and jack-asses bearing panniers ; 

 but we saw no carriages, nor the marks of any wheels, 

 nor do I believe there are any in Loo Choo. The 

 horses, like the natives, were very diminutive, and 

 showed very little blood. Several peasants, both male 

 and female, were working in the plantations as we 

 passed through them, neither of whom endeavoured to 

 avoid us, and we had an opportunity of beholding, 

 for the first time, several Loo Choo women. They 

 were of the labouring class, and of course not the 

 most attractive specimens of their sex ; but they were 

 equally good-looking with the men, and a few of them 

 were pretty, notwithstanding the assertion of An-yah, 

 tliat " Loo Choo womans ugly womans." There was 

 nothing remarkable about them to need particular 

 description; they were clothed much in the same 

 manner as the men, and generally in the same colours; 



