J^lanntrs and Customs, The excessive populousness
of this country has given rise to the cruel custom of
exposing infants. Parents who cannot support their fe-
n^ale children, ar^ allowed to cast \\kem into the river;



S44 VHINA PR0PS21.
but they fasten a gourd to the child, that it maj float on '
the water ; and there are often rich people of compas-
ftion, wh4(-ai^ moved bjr the cries of the children t68a?e
them ftiB death. A practice proTails of blDding the
feet of female children in tight bandages till they cease
to grow. This is done that they may have bandsome
feet, for a small foot is deemed very beaatifal. The
foot of a fall sized Chinese woman is not more thin six {
inches long.
- It is not allowed to bury the dead in towns, bat the
sepulchres are commonly on barren hills and moontains.
Mourners clothe themselves in white. The Chinese treat
their parents with great reverence. To strike a parent
is punished with death in all cases. Every Chinese
keeps in his house a table, on which are written the
names of his father, grandfather, and great grandfatlier,
before which he frequently burns incense and prostratei
himself.
Character. The Chinese are highly cultivated, mild,
affable, and very ceremonious. They are remmrkably
vun, timid, artful, and jealous. Foreigners are carefully
excluded from the country. Polygamy is permitted, and
the women are in the most abject degradation.
Fa^e of the country^ &ic. China is principally a leTel
country, with a fertile M<nL The climate is very differ*
ent in different parts. In the noi'th, the winters are cold
and severe ; in the south, the temperature is warm at all
seasons.
