964 



CHINA. 



The principal article of food is rice, which is eaten with almost every sort of victuals, but 

 in the north corn is more used. The Manchoos eat horse-flesh, and the lower classes, who 



Infantry Soldier, 



Chinese Children. 



are miserably poor, and often suffer from famine, do not refuse the most loathsome vermm. 

 Tea is the usual drink, which has now become almost as common in Great Britain and the 

 United States, as in its native country. Edible bird's nests, which consist of some sort of 



gelatinous matter, tripang or sea slug, shark fins, 

 and fish maws are among the luxuries of the 

 Chinese table ; opium, though forbidden by law, 

 is much used. Dogs, cats, and rats are eagerly 

 sought after by the poorer classes, and puppies 

 are constantly hawked about the streets, to be 

 eaten. 



When China was first explored by European 

 travelers, it was believed to be a nation that had 

 alone found out the true secret of government ; 

 where the virtues were developed by the opera- 

 tion of the laws. A greater familiarity with the 

 Chinese has destroyed the delusion, and their 

 virtues are the last subject for which they can 

 claim any praise. Few nations, it is now agreed, 

 have so little honor or feeling, or so much dupli- 

 city and mendacity. Their affected gravity is as 

 far from wisdom, as their ceremonies are from 

 politeness. The females, as in all unenlightened 

 countries, have to suffer for the state of society ; 

 they pass a life of labor or of seclusion, the 

 slaves rather than the companions of man. 

 China is known to us principally from the missionaries and the embassies. Wherever the 

 European passes, by land or water, for the rivers have their thousands, he sees masses of peo- 

 ple ; but only of one sex, with good humor pervading the whole. He sees soldiers with paper 



Bog Seller. 



