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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



and yet they eat things a thousand times 

 more dangerous. They eat the beaks of 

 birds, the fins and brains of fishes, the 

 entrails of animals, and consider that the 

 claws of tigers, boiled to a jelly, impart 

 strength. The flesh of snakes gives 

 cunning. 



Eggs are appreciated according to their 

 age. Those lOO years old, black with 

 age from being preserved in ashes, are 

 great dainties but not uncommon. 



Husband and wife are betrothed in 

 infancy. The intended bride comes to 

 his home and beconies a servant to her 

 mother-in-law as long as she lives. No 

 separate family is set up on a son's mar- 

 riage ; simply another addition is made to 

 the house. Thus there are little villages, 

 consisting of a single family, scattered 

 all over China. Some have reached the 

 dignity of cities of a single clan. 



Pawnshops are in rich, not in poor 

 neighborhoods, and are only ])atronized 

 by the well-to-do. 



With robbers and beggars they have 

 regular contracts, and the night w^atch- 

 man goes round your house beating at 

 intervals a hollow bamboo to inform the 

 thieves of his whereabouts and at the 

 same time prevents your sleeping, so that 

 you may be ready to repulse the thief if 

 he should attack. It is a pretty theory 

 for comfort, surely. 



In mathematics their decimal fractions 

 are our vulgar fractions and vice versa. 

 Their denominator is our numerator, etc. 



They row a boat standing up, facing 

 the bow, and haul the boat on shore by 

 the stern instead of the bow. They tow 

 by the masthead instead of the bow. 

 There are excellent reasons for these re- 

 versals. The Chinaman says we were 

 not given eyes in the back of the head 

 and should see, certainly, where we are 

 going, which our method prevents us 

 from doing. They always write Smith 

 John, and date a letter by the year, the 

 month, and the day, and in these customs 

 they are decidedly right. 



THE mariner's compass A CHINESE 

 DISCOVERY 



The mariner's comj^ass was discovered 

 by them iioo B. C, and was first used 



on land. The needle points to the south. 

 Chariots equipped with it were called 

 "south-pointing chariots." Contrary to 

 our mode of expression, they say west- 

 south and east-north. 



In contradiction to their own ideas of 

 dignity, however, "the superior man" 

 will play battledore and shuttlecock with 

 his feet and fly kites, while the boys, like 

 old men, stand sedately by and look on. 

 This he does as a method of instruction, 

 and to show the children how the supe- 

 rior man can relax when the high pur- 

 pose is to entertain and exiucate the 

 young. 



The woman in sewing pushes the 

 needle from her, while the carpenter 

 draws his plane and saw toward him in 

 working, the teeth of their saw being 

 set in the reverse order of ours. Money 

 IS divided by weight, and consequently 

 the Mexican silver dollars, which are 

 current, are chopped into bits and handed 

 out as change. They have only one 

 national coin, the "cash," which is of 

 varying value, from one-sixth to one- 

 tenth of a cent. 



A'egetables, eggs, wood, etc., are sold 

 by weight. In this they are far in ad- 

 vance of our absurd and unjust custom. 



Men only have the honor of a funeral 

 granted to them; women, having no 

 souls, are not of sufficient importance. 

 Their mourning color is white. Mourn- 

 ers at a funeral are all hired. 



The traveler has constant and annoy- 

 ing experiences of the proverb, "Hope 

 deferred maketh the heart sick." Meet- 

 ing a fellow-traveler and asking him how 

 far it may be to the next village, he will 

 be told, "Oh, only 6 li." After traveling 

 Vvhat he feels must be nearly that and 

 inquiring again, he finds it is now 8 li. 

 The simple explanation is that each trav- 

 eler estimates distance, not by measure- 

 ment, but by the difficulties of the road. 



In some sections even the axles of 

 their carts are fixed in the wheels and 

 revolve on the body. They can be heard 

 a mile away. 



To the Chinaman the foreigner is a 

 boor and a barbarian. It seems a hope- 

 less task to teach him politeness. He 



