CHINA. 



963 



that the culprit cannot feed himself. Death is inflicted by sirangulution, or beheading, and 

 criminals are generally reserved for execution on a particular day in autumn. Torture is some- 

 times used to extort confession in charges of great crimes. A debtor's goods are sold to 

 liquidate his debts, and if he has no goods he receives 30 blows for every month in which pay- 

 ment is delayed, so that he is often forced to sell himself as a slave to satisfy his creditor. 



The subjects are divided into seven classes ; the great oflicers of state, called by Europeans 

 mandarins, the military, the learned, priests, husbandmen, artisans, and merchants, several of 

 which are subdivided into two or more ranks. 



15. Inhabitants. The great mass of the people in China consists of the Chinese, but the 

 ruling race, to which belongs the emperor, is the JManchoos. The Coreans, and many inde 

 pendent people of the interior, belong to distinct races. The complexion of the Chinese is 

 an olive or dark brown. The hair is black ; the eyes are small and black, with the point next 

 the nose inclining a liitle downwards. The forehead is wide, the cheek bones high, and the 

 chin pointed. The dress is long and loose. The chief garment is a robe reaching almost to 

 the ground. Over the robe is worn a girdle of silk, from which is suspended a knife in a 

 sheath, and the two sticks which are used instead of forks. The shirts are short and wide. 

 The trovvsers are wide, and in winter they are lined with fur. In warm seasons the neck is 

 bare. The Chinese are by no means a cleanly people, either in person or dress. They sel- 

 dom wash their garments, and they carry no pocket-handkerchiefs. The hair is shaven, except 

 a long tuft on the crown, which is plaited somewhat lik^ a whip, and often extends below the 

 knees. The covering for the head is generally a cap of woven cane, shaped like an inverted 



Group of Chinese. 



cone. No person is fully dressed without a fan. The dress of females of the common ranks 

 differs little from that described. Their robes are long and closed at the top. An outward 

 jacket is worn over them. Paints are universally used, though with little taste. The teeth are 

 colored yellow or green. The nails of the higher classes are permitted to grow to several 

 inches ; and they are kept in bamboo sheaths. The shoes of a Chinese lady are about 4 

 inches in length, and 2 in breadth. In infancy the feet are so closely swathed, that they 

 cease to grow. This deformity is considered as a beauty, and so far from being able to dance, 

 it is with the utmost difficulty a female thus mutilated can walk. The IManchoo ladies and the 

 women of the lower classes do not compress the feet. Children are not permitted to wear silks 

 or furs, or to have the head covered, till a certain age, when they assume the dress of men 



