Chap. IV. 



LUNCHEON. 



75 



their beauty. It is a curious and striking fact 

 that in this old city and its vicinity one rarely 

 sees an unpleasing countenance. And this holds 

 good with the lower classes as well as it does 

 with the higher. In many other parts of China 

 women get excessively ugly when they get old, 

 but even this is not the case at Tse-kee. With 

 features of more European cast than Asiatic, and 

 very pleasing, with a smooth fair skin, and with 

 a slight colour in their cheeks, just sufficient to 

 indicate good health, they are almost perfect, were 

 it not for that barbarous custom of compressing 

 the feet. Perhaps I ought to add, that, from the 

 want of education — and this applies to females 

 generally in China — there is a want of an intel- 

 lectual expression in the countenance which ren- 

 ders it, in my opinion, less beautiful than it would 

 otherwise be . W ' ' 



I had now been chatting with my acquaintance 

 for more than half an hour, and thought it time to 

 take my leave. But when I rose for this purpose 

 he informed me he had prepared luncheon for me 

 in another room, and begged I would honour him 

 by partaking of it before I went away. I tried 

 to excuse myself, but he almost used force in order 

 to induce me to remain. He now led me into 

 a nicely furnished room, according to Chinese 

 ideas, that is, its walls were hung with pictures 

 of flowers, birds, and scenes of Chinese life. It 

 would not do to criticise these works of art ac- 

 cording to our ideas, but nevertheless some of 



