220 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



at least an hour, in order to give it a uniform color. {PL ^2, jig. 1, The 

 planting and preparation of tea.) 



The Chinese pay the greatest attention to the rearing of cattle, the main 

 support of agriculture, and besides the common domestic animals they 

 possess camels. Hunting, fowling, and fishing are frequently followed by 

 them. 



Silkworm rearing is a very ancient occupation, dating as far back as the 

 age of the Emperor Hoang-ti, who, according to the earliest Chinese 

 authors, ruled when the country had just been rendered habitable and man 

 was yet dressed in skins ; but when, owing to the increase in population, 

 skins became scarce, the use of silk for clothmg was invented by a consort 

 of the Emperor. This report from a time rich in tradition and fable con- 

 tains one unquestionable truth, namely, that the production of silk had its 

 origin in China. The provinces which have obtained the greatest celebrity 

 in raising silkworms, and in the silk manufacture, are Tshe-kiang, Kiang-sUy 

 and Ugan-lioei ; here silk stuffs are fabricated, the fineness, softness, and 

 lustre of which European manufacturers have not yet attained, and which 

 are distinguished also for their great variety. {Fig. 2, Sorting of silkworm 

 cocoons in China.) 



Cotton manufactures are quite ^s noted, of which we will mention only 

 the well known nankeen. In the fabrication of porcelain, called in China 

 Ze-ki, the Chinese long since arrived at a perfection not attained in Europe 

 until within the last few years. Latterly, however, the Europeans have 

 excelled the workmen of China in this branch of art. The Chinese, more- 

 over, have made extraordinary progress in the manufacture of lacquered 

 and varnished work, in dyeing and embroidery, in the fabrication of black 

 color (known as India ink), and in paper making ; but especially in fine 

 carving in wood and ivory. In many of these branches they excel the 

 Europeans. 



With respect to the sciences, we only mention particularly the fact that 

 imperial schools of medicine formerly existed ; at present, however, the 

 most celebrated physicians are those whose ancestors belonged to the same 

 profession, and whose knowledge has been transmitted from father to son. 

 The medicines, which are prepared by the physicians themselves, there 

 being no apothecaries in China, are mostly of a very simple nature ; and 

 affusion with cold water, as well as cauterizing with red-hot pins, or fire 

 buttons {moxa), are remedies greatly esteemed. Bleeding, emetics, clysters, 

 and purgatives, are not in use among them, and the main cure is a strict 

 diet. There are plenty of travelling quacks {pi. 25, Jig. 3), who perform 

 all sorts of experiments before spectators, particularly juggleries with 

 venomous snakes. 



Among the holidays kept by the Chinese, new year and the feast of 

 lanterns are the most important. By the commencement of the new year, 

 they understand the space of time included between the end of the twelfth 

 and about the twenty-first day of the first month in the following year. 

 During this period, all work, even the post-office business, is discontinued, 

 and all transactions of the administration of the state cease, which is called 

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