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the river. The larger junks had an eye painted
very conspicuously on their bows and the reason
for that custom is the Chinese say, "spose boat
got no eye, how can boat see". We now and then
passed pagodas of different heights, and far away
in the distance we could see them, connected
in some way with their religion, but I had very
few opportunities of learning anything of their customs
about such matters.

The dress of the common Chinese boatmen
is chiefly of nankeen of different colours, a large loose
sort of long jacket, with trousers of the same material,
seldom wearing shoes, but all wear a large broad
hat as protection from the sun. Their heads shaved
except a portion at the back which is left to grow
long and neatly braided, sometimes hanging down the
back and often wound round and fastened on the head.
The females' belonging to the river boats did not differ
much in their dress from the men, but blue seemed
to be the prevailing colour of their nankeen, and their
heads are not shaved but had an abundance of long
coal black hair, and their feet are not confined
as the aristocratic Chinese ladies' feet are, but are
naturally small and well made. Of course the mandarins
and people of a higher rank dress very different. In
cold weather our good English broadcloth is in great
request, the jacket fits close to the neck with no
shirt collar, and they have very long sleeves wholly
covering their hands and fingers. They also rejoice in
stockings, and thick shoes with white soles, another sign
of their well to do in the world and exemption from
toil is letting the nails of their little fingers grow
to an enormous length, to such an extent I have heard
that they tie them round their wrists but that I did
not see. The boat womens' hair is neatly turned
up and confined at the back of the head with a
piece of ivory or bone of some fish nicely polished,
and they are fond of ornaments and wear large