The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-07-22

glossy black, they called themselves the
''black-haired race" But In the seventh
century, when the Manchus conquered
the country, they issued an order that all
OF the people should adopt their pigtails.
under penalty Of death, as a sign of ale
glance. The fashion thus begun by COM
pulsion is now followed from choice; the
mead is shaved to the crown, and the
hair carefully braided in a single plait
Dehlnd SO proud are the Cinnamon Of
this ornament that they are very apt to
piece out their natural Qucus with horse
hair or other artificial hair, thus Increas-
ing the length of the appendages.
Notwithstanding the popular impress
sion to that effect, the Chinese do not
eat rats, save rarely, perhaps. 1t Is not
that they would despise such animals as
food, but these rodents, as most people
Know, are very hard to catch, and would
De decidedly expensive as a regular dish.
Cats they like, and one often sees them
Tor sale In shops in Chinese cities A
special breed of dogs IS raised for food,
and they are probably mucS more edi-
bic than is imagined by the average Occi-
dental Kittens and puppies are sold
alive in cages, mewing and yeping as II
in expectation of their fate, or, perhaps,
from pain caused by the pinching and
handling they receive at the hands OF
dissatisfied customers. Perhaps the most
unpleasant item of the Chinese dietary,
from our standpoint, Is the water-snake,
which Is kept and fed until 1t reaches a
suitable condition of fairness for killing.
Carp are kept in troughs and other re-
ceptacles, being fed in similar way until
they are so big that they can hardly turn
around in the water space allowed them.
The Chinese Matched chickens and ducks
arti1cially before such process was
dreamed of anywhere else Ia tn world.
They put the duck eggs between layers
of mud, and keep them at the requisite
temperature by means of sow fires in
brick ovens. Every visitor to Canton
remembers the duck boats, In which those
birds are Matched and reared and carried
up and down the river seeking for pas
ture along Its muddy banks. In this way
the ducks are reared very cheaply, sub
sisting upon the small fishes and crusta-
ceans that come in their way. Duck eggs.
buried for a year and then dug up, are
said to be regarded as a special delicacy
by the Celestials.
ALL CHINAN1EN GAMBLE.
Nowhere In the world Is the art of fish
ms so highly developed as in China Riv-
ers, creeks, stagnant pools, the great
ocean and the little tank lakes and gar
den ponds, all furnish their quota to the
sustenance of man. Even rice grounds
are turned into fish ponds in winter The
the spear caught with the hook, scraped
up by the dredge, and captured by nets.
They are even dived for by birds trained
for the purpose Eels are fed in tubs and
Jars until customers carry them off.
There are no such gamblers In the
world as the Chinese. Combats between
crickets, for money stakes, are contested
with great spirit, and tubfulls Of them
are caught in the autumn and sold In the
streets to supply gamesters Two we'll
chosen cOmbatants are put into basin
and irritated with straw until they rush
upon each other with the utmost fury,
chirruping as they make the onset and
the battle seldom ends without a tragical
result. Quails are also trained to mortal
combat Two are placed on a rafied table,
on which q handful of millet has been
strewn, and as soon as one picks up a
kernel the other flies at him, and the
struggle is kept up until one retreats by
hopping into the hand Of the disappOint-
ed owner. Some times hundreds Of dol
lars are bet upon these fights.
The arms of the Chinese consist prin-
cipally of bows and arrows, spears,
matchlocks, swords and cannon of varl-
Gus degrees of pTimitiveness. Recently
however, modern weapons, including
Maxim guns and Mauser rifles, have been
imported into the country, where they are
now being used with very destructive eff
nese have been casting some pretty good
brass cannon for themselves. too.
QUEER LOOKING SOLDIERS.
Chinese troops, dressed as they are In
loose jackets and trousers, with bamboo
caps, do not present an appearance that
would be regarded as military from a.
Western standpoint. The soldiers often
carry fans or umbrellas in their hands
while on parade, and in their exercises
they sometimes WELD lanterns in place Of
guns or swords. In attempting to repress
rebellions, the government has often been
compelled to buy off the turbulent lead
ers with offices and rewards, thus disor-
ganizing and scattering the enemies they
could not vanquish. Nevertheless, il is
asserted that Cinnamon are capable OF
being converted into very good regimental
material, with the help of proper leaders
Many of the troops now operating against
the foreign allies in the neighborhood OF
Picking and Tien Tsin have been drilled by
European officers, and judging from re-
cent accounts by cable, they seem to have
first rate artillerists among them. In
deed, 1t is their artillery practice that
has made most Of the trouble for the
little army now cooped up in Tien Tsin
The Chinese have never been fighters
They have been conquered repeatedly
and eventually have absorbed their in
vaders. Even the Manchus, who now rule
the empire, having intermarried largely
with the native race, so that the stock Is
very much mixed. The Chinese army OF
today, properly speaking, is composed Of
Manchu warriors, numbering less than
100000, supplemented by a militia of half
million natives, whose business in
peace time is farming mainly.