Page 352 - Chinese Porcelain Vol I, Galland

CHINESE PORCELAIN.
204
Catholic ritual. The in China sometimes wear this at
laity
the waist, perfumed with musk, and it the name of
give heang-
clwo The various worn at the
(fragrant beads). appendages
as the or the steel and flint case for
girdle, purse jdoucIi, light-
ing the pipe, the watch-case, etc., are generally of the finest
silk which forms one of the principal accomplish-
embroidery,
ments of Chinese ladies.
"
A Chinese is seldom seen without his snuff-bottle, which is
of oval construction, and less than two inches in the
length,
stopper having a small spoon attached, similar to that for
cayenne pepper, with which a portion of snuff is laid on the
left hand, at the lower joint of the thumb, and thus lifted to
the nose. The material of these bottles is sometimes of porce-
lain, or of variegated glass, carved with considerable skill in
the of cameos ; or of with small or
style rock-crystal, figures
writing on the inside, performed in a manner which it is not
easy to account for.
"
The head of the men, as we have before noticed, is invari-
ably shaven, except at the top, whence the tail depends in
with the Tartar custom, the in
conformity only change being
mourning, when the hair is allowed to grow. The Chinese
so little beard, the work for the razor is on
having principal
the head, and consequently no person ever shaves himself.
It is not the custom for the men to wear moustaches before
of nor beards before These
forty years age, sixty. gene-
rally grow in thin tufts, and it is only in a few individuals
that they assume the bushy appearance observable in other
Asiatics.
"
Unmarried women wear their hair hanging down in long
tresses, and the putting up of the hair is one of the cere-
monies to It is twisted towards
preparatory marriage. up
the back of the head, ornamented with flowers or jewels,
and fastened with two bodkins stuck in crosswise. They
sometimes wear an ornament representing the foong-hoang,
or Chinese phoenix, composed of gold and jewels, the wings
hovering, and the beak of the bird hanging over the fore-
head, on an elastic spring. After a certain time of life, the
women wear a silk wrapper round the head, in lieu of an}^
other dress. The eyebrows of the young women are fashioned
until they represent a fine curved line, which is compared to