﻿THE CHINESE. 



123 



shut up by themselves, and kept on wholesome vegetable diet, before 

 they are considered fit for eating. A small species of wild-cat is 

 caught in the southern provinces, which is considered a great dainty, 

 and brings a great price in the market. Rats and mice are eaten 

 only by the poor ; but they are often seen skinned and hanging in 

 long rows, on sticks, ready for sale. 



I have collected the following facts, which may be interesting to 

 you. If not, you can easily skip over the remainder of the page. 



Pekin has winters like the average of those in Boston, and sum- 

 mers like those in Washington. 



The thermometer ranges from about 10 in winter, to 105 in 

 summer. 



Average depth of rains at Canton is seventy inches per annum. 



Pekin was made the capital A. D. 1411. 



The foreign factories are thirteen in number ; they are a mass of 

 huge buildings, sixty rods long and about forty deep. 



In the year 1627, 

 the Tartar rulers of 

 China passed a law 

 that every person in 

 the empire should 

 have all the hair shav- 

 ed from their heads, 

 excepting a tuft for a 

 braid, or tail, in the 

 fashion of this fruit- 

 seller. Some persons 

 were allowed two tails, 

 and some three, ac- 

 cording to their quali- 

 ty ; but any man who 

 refused to comply with 

 the decree was pun- 

 ished as a traitor. 

 Many submitted to the - 

 punishment rather 

 than to lose their hair. 



