THE CHINESE FAMILY. 45 



of youth wears off."* The old people of both sexes are for the most part much 

 wrinkled and very ugly; and the women are proverbially celebrated for the 

 artificial smallness and deformity of their feet. 



The Chinese skull, so far as I can judge from the specimens that have come 

 under my inspection, is oblong-oval in its general form ; the os frontis is narrow 

 in proportion to the width of the face, and the vertex is prominent : the occiput 

 is moderately flattened ; the face projects more than in the Caucasian, giving an 

 angle of about seventy-five degrees ; the teeth are nearly vertical, in which respect 

 they differ essentially from those of the Malay ; and the orbits are of moderate 

 dimensions, and rounded. 



The moral character of the Chinese is thus summed up by Dr. Morrison, 

 whose opinion is derived from long and intimate acquaintance with these people. 

 " The good traits of the Chinese character, amongst themselves, are mildness and 

 urbanity; a wish to show that their conduct is reasonable, and, generally, a 

 willingness to yield to what appears so: docility, industry, subordination of 

 juniors ; respect for the aged and for parents ; acknowledging the claims of poor 

 kindred. These are virtues of public opinion, which, of course, are in particular 

 cases often more show than reality; for, on the other hand, the Chinese are 

 specious, but insincere ; jealous, envious, and distrustful to a high degree. Con- 

 science has few checks but the laws of the land ; and a little frigid ratiocination 

 on the fitness of things, which is not generally found effectual to restrain, when 

 the selfish and vicious propensities of our nature may be indulged with present 

 impunity. The Chinese are generally selfish, cold-blooded and inhumane."t 

 " He might with great propriety have added," says Mr. Ellis, " that in the punish- 

 ment of criminals, in the infliction of torture, they are barbarously cruel ; that 

 human suffering, or human life, are but rarely regarded by those in authority, 

 when the infliction of the one, or the destruction of the other, can be made sub- 

 servient to the acquisition of wealth or power." 



The intellectual character of the Chinese is deserving of especial attention, 

 although in letters, in science and in art, they are the same now what they were 

 many centuries ago. They have their national music and their national poetry, 

 but of sculpture, painting and architecture, they have no just conceptions, and 

 their national pride prevents their adopting the arts of other countries. Their 

 faculty of imitation is a proverb ; and their mechanical ingenuity is universally 

 known. " That nation cannot be viewed with indifference which possessed an 



* Davies, Descrip. of the Emp. of China, I, p. 253. t Morrison, in GutzlaiF, Introd. p. 28. 



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