GOSSIPPING AT LEW CHEW. 219 



covered with stockings only ; when thoy enter from without, tliey slip off their loose straw 

 sandals at the door. In every instance where he entered, our informant found that the men were 

 the drones of the hive, and the women the workers. From three to half a dozen of the former 

 were invariahly to he seen, seated upon their crossed ankles, in a circle, with a cup of live coals, 

 a little box of fine cut tobacco, and a spittoon, in the centre. Thus seated, in dreamy indolence, 

 they would draw forth their little pipes from their belts, unsheath them, take a mere pinch of 

 the tobacco from the box, and place it in the little metallic bowl of the pipe, which was not 

 more than half the size of a young girl's thimble, light it, and after two or three long whiffs, 

 they would retain the smoke for a minute or more, and then, with a strong impulse, send it 

 through the nostrils, as the opium smoker does. This ended the enjoyment for that occasion. 

 The pipes were then returned to their sheaths, when a little tea-pot, holding less than half a 

 jiint, with half a dozen cups, each of about the capacity of three teaspoons, was brought by a 

 servant, and a general sipping took the place of smoking. The tea disposed of, the pipes were 

 again resorted to, and thus did they alternate between tobacco and tea. Before rising to 

 separate, the said was introduced and circulated, sometimes beyond the limits of prudence and 

 discretion. These were the occupations of the "lords of creation;" the poor women, mean- 

 while, might be seen, half naked, delving with the hoe or the spade, in the adjacent gardens, 

 under a scorching sun. Sometimes this idle gossipping over tea and the pipe is carried on in 

 the open air, under the shade of some spreading tree . 



When the poor females are not thus employed in the cultivation of the earth, there is still 

 found work enough for them of some other kind, for their destiny is labor. In every house may 

 be seen the loom for weaving grass cloth, and it is quite a curiosity in its way. It is small, not 

 more than two feet high, and generally is placed in the corner of the room. The shuttle is two 

 or three feet long, so that before it leaves one hand of the weaver it may be grasped by the 

 other. It is but a rude implement, and yet the fine, glossy fiihric wrought by its agency is 

 exceedingly beautiful. 



What has here been said must be understood as applying to the men who are not of the very 

 lowest class. According to the best observations the Commodore could make, he classified the 

 inhabitants into four grades : these were, first, the high officers of state ; secondly, the priesthood 

 and literary men ; thirdly, the under officers and spies; and lastly the laboring class, (including 

 particularly the fishermen,) by the toil of which last all the rest live ; for it was never seen that 

 any of the classes above named, except the last, ever appeared to have any thing to do, save the 

 spies, and they might be met at every step. These infest every corner and every thi'eshold. If 

 the officers walked the streets, these fellows might be seen preceding or following them, directing 

 all doors to be closed, and the women to keep out of sight. The people, indeed, whenever they 

 were sure of not being seen by some of these vermin, manifested no indisposition to communica- 

 tion and intercourse, and gladly received from the strangers little gratuities and presents, which 

 were taken with a trembling hand and instantly concealed, while their eyes glanced rapidly and 

 furtively from side to side to see that they were unobserved. The Commodore was deeply 

 moved, as indeed were all the gentlemen of the expedition, by the tyranny exercised toward the 

 mass of the people. " God pity these poor creatures !" says the former in his journal : "I have 

 seen much of the world, have observed savage life in many of its conditions ; but never, unless I 

 may except the miserable jjeons in Mexico, have I looked upon such an amount of apparent 

 wretchedness as these squalid slaves would seem to suffer." "The poor, naked creatures, who 



