1866.) 99 fSeeva. 



The people of the northern provinces are generally taller than 

 those belonging to Kwongchowfoo (Canton). The superior strength 

 of" the Chinese over the people of India is well shown in the bearino- 

 of heavy burdens, two coolies carrying easily a sedan chair with its 

 load, while four Bengalis stagger under a loaded palkee, which is but 

 little heavier than its Chinese equivalent. 



Mr, George Sceva stated that when in China, some ten or 

 twelve years ago, he had made some examinations of the 

 cramped feet of the women, by persuading one or two poor 

 women in reduced circumstances, to allow him to remove the 

 bandages which cover them, and are always retained through 

 life. 



It had been supposed that the custom of swathing belonged only tc 

 the aristocratic portion of the population, but it was really confined to 

 a single caste, whether its members were rich or poor ; the custom 

 seemed to be dying out. It had been stated that the feet are com- 

 pressed by means of wooden shoes ; but these are not worn at all in 

 China, the only ones he had seen there being regarded by the natives 

 ^s a curiosity, though they frequently have wooden soles to their 

 shoes. The compression is produced by bandages of a strong, inelas- 

 tic silk, which, commencing at the toes, are wound tightly around 

 the foot to a short ways above the ancle ; in consequence of which 

 the development of the calf of the leg is very slight. Besides these 

 bandages a small pad, about an inch in thickness, is placed beneath 

 the heel, forcing the bone of the heel upwards, so that a person ap- 

 parently gains in height by standing on the metatarsal bones. The 

 gait of the women under these circumstances, is much as if they were 

 Tvalking on stilts ; and they are always supported by two servants, one 

 upon either side. The feet of the Chinese women before compres- 

 :sion are very small in proportion to their weight. Mr. Sceva had pre- 

 pared the bones of two compressed feet, one by disarticulation, and 

 the other with the ligaments in place, and they are now in one of the 

 medical museums of this city. 



In alluding to the remarkable way in which children followed the 

 ■customs and occupations of their ancestors in China, Mr. Sceva re- 

 marked that families, which for many generations back had made 

 it their business to carry chairs, showed unusual powers of endur- 

 ance ; two of them would carry a man for a mile on a dog-trot, and 

 ■others were accustomed to carry great burdens of perhaps three hun- 

 dred pounds Aveight with ease ; this was done by suspending the di- 

 vided burden upon the ends of a pole which rested on the shoulder 



