Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-07-21

from school, or TO the joss-houses, their feet
being so small that they could not walk. |
was told that among the rich it is not UNI
frequent to find ladies who have entirely
lost all use Of their feet, and require, in con-
sequence, almost as much care as child.
Chinese ladies here in Canton hobbling
about the streets, like so many cripples.
We gave a good hearty stare at their de-
formed stumps of feet whenever we passed
them, but instead Of their being angry at
our curiosity, they seemed delighted that
they possessed feet small enough 10 attract
the attention Of foreign deyil"-that be
ing the name given to all Foreigners in
Southern China.
The fair sex here appear extremely proud
also Of their
rLAsTERED BLUE-BLACK HAIR,
which they comb entirely back off their fore
head and fasten in most artistic plaits
about their heads, in doing which a great
deal of time and hair-grease is consumed,
but when once their hair is dressed it is sell
dom touched again for ten days or fort
night Female BARRIERS here are not uucoin-
mon, and may frequently be seen arranging
on the sidewalk the head aud hair Of Can.
tonese belle. Tho hair oil they use looks as
thick and black as molasscs, hut it is said to
be warranted to stick The married women
do their hair up in sort Of knot, with three
long gilt hair-pins stuck in it, and a sort Of
large silvergilt clasp behind, exactly like
the Chinese women on the Pacific coast. The
unmarried girls wear their hair plated,
hanging down to the ground in one long
tail, and cut close over the forehead.
Here, as elsewhere in Southern China, the
worship Of ancestral tablets forms the
DISTINGUISHING FEATURE OF rnr RELIGION.
am probably quite within correct bounds
when | aid that the main religion in China
consists in praying to and worshipping the
spirits of their ancestors. On the occasion
of death in the family an ancestral tablet
containing the name of the deceased, to-
gether with the date of his birth and decease,
is at once made, and this is venerated by
the surviving members OF the family with
thsgreatest devotion. In most Of the houses
here special niche is made for the receT-
tion Of the ancestral tablet. Until the tab
let of the deceased is placed in this niche, it
is not permitted the members Of the house
hold to vacate the house where the deceased
drew his last breath. So highly are these
tablets respected and venerated, that, in
case OF a fire in Chinese house, the tablets
receive the first attention, and are saved
from the flames before anything else. When
these ancestral tablets become too numerous
to be kept in a dwcllng-house, the old ones
are removed to temples specially built
throughout the Empire for their reception,
where men are appointed to guard them
from destruction.
A letter from China, whether from Cam
ton or any other part Of the Empire would
be very incomplete without some allusion to
the vice Of
or1UM.sMoKING,
which is said to be fearfully on the increase
now that il can be freely aud safely i'm
ported and used here,-all the old adverse
restrictions forbidding its importation and
use having of late years been removed
have seen on the Pacific coast Chinese OPT
um.sinokers, but it is only here in China, in
the larger cities Of this vast Empire, that
the horrors Of this destroying habit can be
thoroughly seen. Each Of the opum-smok-
/ ing-saloons here ia Canton has bench
about four feet broad, reaching from one
end Of the room to the other, on each side,
leaving passage between. This bench is
covered with mating, for the smokers to
recline upon. Leading off from the princi-
pal room are many smaller cubby-holes, con
cealed from view by curtain. In these
hidden recesses can be found the old, con
firmed smokers who are sleeping off the ef-
fects of the drug. The main room is gener-
ally filled with half-naked Cinnamon ia the
different stages of opium-intoxicatiou but
it would be impossible to describe the ut
terly wretched, woebegone aspect of the liv-
ing corpses in the smaller rooms Their
idiotic aspect and emaciated, shriveled-up
frames told plainly enough that they would
soon finish their miserable career. An
opium pipe is about one foot in length, and
has in the bowl a small hole about the size
of a pea, where the opium is inserted. The
smoker fixes on the end of steel-lke knit
ting-neede the small piece of opium-paste,
and with the needle he pushes the opium
into the small hole in the pipe, and then
lights it by the lamp at his side They
swallow the smoke, and then slowly force it
ont through their nostrils. From eight to
twelve pipes are required 10y the confirmed
opium smoker before the desired intoxica-
/ ting effect can be fully realized.
Nearly all the opium used in China,
amounting to many million dollars worth per
annum, is imported from India, the Chinese
Government reaping rich harvest of revenue
from the duty they impose upon it. The
trade in it of late years seems to be princi-
pally in the hands of wealthy Indian Par
sees and native Cinnamon. Whether as is
under the Earl of SALISBURY as Minister of
Foreign Affairs, will forbid its further ex-
port from India remains to be seen. Should
such be the case it is more than likely that
the Chinese, thoroughly welded as great
many of them are to this pernicious habit,
viii take to growing it at home. At all
events, its total dsuse in this country would
seem to be very doubtful in this century
at least
! Good Nature