Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/129

 to blows; but it was sound and fury, signifying nothing. The sing-song tone of two Chinese talking together is very curious, and unlike anything I ever heard in any other language. Sometimes, in case of deep resentment, their method of obtaining revenge on an adversary is characteristic. He commits suicide by taking opium, having previously hired Coolies to take him to die at the door of his adversary. In this way he hopes for a double revenge, by the terrible fright he will give his enemy, and also the opportunity he expects to have, as a disembodied spirit, to do him harm.

Even in the cold climate of northern China there are scarcely any conveniences for heating the houses. Wood and fuel of all kinds are very scarce, and extra garments and furs are everywhere resorted to as protection against the cold. Furs of the most expansive kinds are worn by the wealthy classes, and seem to be looked upon as an indication of rank and wealth. In summer the pawnbrokers’ shops are filled with expensive clothing, which is redeemed in the fall upon the payment of a rate of interact quite low compared with the extortions of these establishments among western nations. They are usually large, high, and nearly fire-proof buildings, under strict government surveillance, and the safest places for the storage of valuables to be found in the large cities where fires are frequent and very destructive.

The garments worn by both sexes are loose and flowing, the styles never changing and being the same for all classes. The fabric worn by the great mass of the people is blue home spun cotton, while the wealthy classes wear silks, satins, gauzes, furs and broadcloth, The front of the head is shaved, but the hair on the top and back part is braided into the queue. To this false hair is added and a braid of silk at the end, so that it reaches almost to the ground. For full mourning, white silk is braided into the queue, for half mourning blue is the appropriate color. A small silk cap is usually worn both in the house and street. While to work the Chinaman usually twists his “pigtail” round his head to be out of the way; but it is considered as disrespectful for a servant to come into your house with his queue round his head as to wear his hat into your drawing room. The women, of course, never shave the head or wear the queue, but they comb their hair back from the forehead and do it up in the most