316 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



grows very luxuriantly. The hair is ordinarily of a deep hlack, and is allowed to grow in long 

 locks behind and at the sides of the head, while the middle of the pate is shaved clean. The 

 hair heing well oiled and gathered up from the sides and hack, is formed into a large knot and 

 affixed to the hald place in the head with pins either of gold, silver, or brass, according to the 

 rank of the wearer. 



The Lew Chewan male has generally a well proportioned figure, with hroad and largely 

 developed chest, narrow hips, and a slim waist and neck. A deformed person is a very rare 

 sight in Lew Chew. The costume is neat, graceful, and suitable to the climate, and its flowing 

 outline is particularly becoming I'o the aged, who, with tlieir long white beards, have quite a 

 patriarchal look. The dress is a loose robe, with very wide sleeves, which falls nearly to the 

 ankles, and is gathered in at the waist with a girdle of silk or grass cloth, to which is attached 

 the invariable pouch containing the pipe and a supply of tobacco. The cap worn by the higher 

 classes, and called in the Lew Chew tongue a hacJiee-machee, is of cylindrical form, and seems to 

 be made of two bands crossing each other in a figure of eight form. The laboring people go 

 invariably barefooted, but the better classes wear a white stocking, to which, when they go out, 

 a straw sandal is added. A band from the front passes between the great and next toe, as is 

 seen in the ancient statues. The peasants in the country go bareheaded as well as barefooted, 

 and are scantily clothed in a coarse cotton shirt, or with a mere cloth about the loins. 



The women are kept so secluded, particularly those of the higher rank, that it is difficult for 

 a stranger to obtain a sufficient opportunity to investigate their peculiarities very thoroughly. 

 They are generally short of stature, and by no means handsome^ having a great squareness of 

 face, and more depressed noses than the men. Some of the ladies of distinction, the exclusive 

 few, are described as being tolerably good looking, and of fair complexion. The women wear 

 a robe very much like that worn by the men, though without the girdle, while their hair, none 

 of which is shaved^ is dressed in ■ the same style, except that the top knot is rather more in 

 front, and somewhat to the side of the head. Woman is by no means as high in the social 

 scale in Lew Chew as she should be, being regarded as a mere slave or chattel, and always 

 slighted by the men, who seem hardly to notice her, either in the houses or in the streets, 

 although the females in their deportment toward strangers show apparently much modesty 

 and amiability. 



The Lew Chewans are a remarkably courteous people in their ordinary intercourse with each 

 other, and in tlieir occasional relations with foreigners. Their usual form of obeisance is jire- 

 posterously polite, they clasp their liands with a S23asmodic earnestness of courtesy, and pressing 

 them to their forehead, bow so low that it is a marvel how they preserve their centre of gravity. 

 The ordinary bending of the body, which seems to be to the utmost extent of suppleness of 

 back, is still further extended on coming into the presence of those of very high rank, when 

 the polite but inferior Lew Chewan bows so low as literally to touch if not to fall upon the 

 ground. 



The people of Lew Chew are naturally among the most intelligent of the eastern nations, 

 but they are kept in general ignorance by their rulers. The higher classes are well instructed 

 in the learning of China, whither the literati and professional men, and especially the physicians, 

 are sent to finish their education. Tlie literature, whatever they may possess, is derived from 

 the Chinese and Japanese. 



The occupation of the Lew Cliewans is chiefly agricxiltural, although they have some little 



