Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/116



First impressions are not always the best, but in attempting to describe the strange and curious sights of a foreign country, where the traveler expects only to skim over the surface, and has no time to dive beneath and comprehend the rationale and philosophy of the people, his first impressions are often of interest, if photographed at once. An old traveller or long resident will cease to notice and wonder that a stranger is interested in scenes which are full of interest and novelty to the fresh comer. To Bayard Taylor, there would be nothing novel in seeing people eat with chop-sticks, old men flying kites, or women toddling through the streets with feet only three inches long, I do not propose to wait until familiarity with such sights has destroyed their novelty and freshness, but shall try and give the first impressions, which to me are very curious and vivid, of the habits and manners of this strange race.

China is said to be a country of paradoxes and anomalies. Many familiar things are strangely reversed. The people do not walk upon their heads, to be sure; but the old men fly their kites, while the children look on; they write and print their books from top to bottom, from right to left, in perpendicular instead of horizontal lines and their books end where ours begin; their locks are made to fasten by turning the keys from left to right; the carpenter uses his plane and saw by drawing it towards him, and the tailors stitch from them. Their horses stand in the stables with their heads where we place their tails; they mount them from the off-side, and fasten the bells upon the hind quarters instead of round the neck; the anti-crinoline style of their garments seriously impede locomotion, and destroy all grace of movement; white is the color of mourning, and their religion consists not in love of God, but in fear of the devil. In this respect, however, they do not differ so very much from some so-called Christian nations. Some other customs of the Chinese differ materially from ours, but the comparison is rather to their advantage. The children