290 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



from head to foot, he wears a black, perfectly transparent hat, 

 with small crown but wide brim, made of bamboo fibre dyed 

 black, or, among the moneyed classes, of horsehair. The latter 

 stalk along with measured tread and dignified air; they are 

 never seen without their pipe, a metal bowl and mouthpiece, 

 with a stem 3 feet long or more, which when not in use is 

 carried like a cane. The material of the dress varies according 

 to the means of the individual ; the lower and middle classes 

 wear cotton garments in several layers, thickly padded in the 

 winter, the upper are only seen in silk. The feet are protected 

 by long white toeless wadded socks, into which are tied the 

 tight ends of very wide sacklike trousers. The coat falls to well 

 below the knee, and is fastened above the waist by large bows. 

 The poor put their wadded feet into grass sandals, the rich into 

 very shapely slippers, embellished with a pattern corresponding 

 in colour to the tint of an outer garment of blue silk, or one 

 made of grass cloth. 



While the poorer people are entirely in white, the dress of the 

 richer is really very splendid, a fashion which must be a very 

 expensive one, especially as the outer garment seems always to 

 be new. A travelling companion of mine an official was 

 arrayed in a very long coat of flowered white satin, reaching 

 almost down to his feet, which were encased in blue velvet 

 slippers ; over the white he wore another full-sleeved dress of 

 sky-blue silk, which again was partially covered by a loose 

 sleeveless silk garment of a lighter shade ; a crimson cord held 

 it all in place. The hair is gathered into a top-knot the sign 

 of having reached manhood and is protected by a curiously 

 formed horsehair cover like a pudding shape, the lower flaps of 

 which are tightly tied round the forehead and back, thus 

 covering the hair entirely ; the black transparent hat, with its 

 flat stiff brim, surmounts all, and is kept on by means of ribbons 

 tied underneath the chin. It is a most unique garb, matched 

 probably nowhere else, of a most delicate colour, which always 

 appears clean, most surprisingly so, considering the narrowness 

 and dirt of the streets, and the wattled and thatched houses, 

 with their tiny rooms, often not more than 6 feet by 8 feet, and 

 their many occupants. 



Women, who have no position and are spoken of as " things," 

 seem to be everlastingly washing and pounding their lord's 



