Page:To the Court of the Emperor of China - vol I.djvu/29

xxx All authors concur in praising the Chinese Coulis for the address with which they carry the heaviest loads, by means of bamboos, which they lay across their shoulders, and to which the load is suspended by a cord. (Fr. Ed.)

That fabulous animal is at once symbolical and mythological in China. Every thing that emanates from the Emperor bears the figure of a dragon; and it is also put upon all the Imperial edifices, furniture, and ornaments.

The Dragon is venerated throughout China; but the Emperor alone has the right of having them painted, embroidered, or sculptured with five claws or talons. The rest of the nation cannot use figures of dragons with more than four.

It has been said erroneously (Lettres Edifiantes, tome 17, page 69) that he alone has the right of having his palace exactly fronting the south; for every individual turns his house as much as he can to that quarter of the sky, as the most salubrious and convenient exposure. See Memoires Chinois, tome iii. in 4to. page 434. (Fr. Ed.)

It is with the same disregard of truth that it has been said, that the Chinese shut themselves up in their houses when the Emperor goes out, and that those he happens to meet on his road turn their backs with their face to the ground, to escape the penalty of death. It has even been, asserted, that this is the reason why the houses have no windows looking into the streets. These assertions, already contradicted by the Memoires Chinois, tome ii. page 273, are formally, disproved by what the Author relates of the Emperor, while on his way to Yuen-ming-yuen. (Fr. Ed.)

He, of whose hanging himself the Author speaks, was Hoai-tsong, the last Emperor of the Chinese dynasty of Ming. Seeing