296 



EXPEDITION TO JAP AN. 



people until tlie puMication of Pere Hue's book of travels, wliicli contains certainly the best 

 account extant of the inner life of Cliina. What is seen by a casual visitor of Chinese society is 

 not calculated to imj^ress him very favorably. The position of women is such as to destroy all 

 the best features of domestic life. Polygamy being allowed by the laws of China, as well as 

 concubinage, women are naturally considered as mere household slaves to gratify the passions 

 and do menial service at the will of their lords and masters. The men do not treat females as 

 equals, and seemingly avoid their society as much as possible, for they are passing their leisure 

 hours at the tea and opium houses, while the women are kept at home in a state of domestic 

 slavery. As among the negroes on the western coast of Africa, the wealth of a king or chief ia 

 estimated by the stock of wives he has been enabled to purchase, with all the cocoa-nut oil, gold 



Dress of Chinese Lady of Rank. 



dust, and elephant's tusks he can muster, so in China, the number of damsels who can be bought 

 to call a man husband, make up the estimate of his wealth and swell his importance. The very 

 wealthy and aristocratic are the exclusive few, however, in China, who can afford the luxury of 

 a multiplicity of wives. 



