fifths are occupied by the English residents, their
Church, cricket-ground, and race-course. During my
short stay in this little colony, I had the opportunity
of eyeing an entire Chinese family, who had come to
gratify their curiosity, having previously obtained my
host’s permission to look over the house. There was
John Chinaman, a rich merchant of parchment complexion,
black lanky hair, with a tail down to his feet,
thin, long moustache, and oblique eyes, accompanied
by his five wives and quite a brood of little Celestials,
all dressed up for the occasion in their very best,'—the
ladies in upper and under-dress of rich figured silks,
an elaborate frisure, and highly rouged, their feet
ensconced in little shoes of barely six inches, beautifully
embroidered, and thick felt soles. The cramped
position,—the whole of the toes being tucked under,—
prevents them walking like other human beings, and
every lady therefore requires a servant to support her.
The children looked very funny, wrapped up in silken
gowns, and with their shaven crown, just a few jet-
black hairs being left over each ear. They all seemed
to enjoy their inspection from roof to cellar, and had
no end of questions to ask as to the uses of articles they
had never seen before. The better class are very fond
of their children, and it seems strange that they should
■countenance in their midst, amongst the lower orders,
the horrible vice of exposing and abandoning their
offspring, which is carried out to an alarming extent.
The females in China are considered of little value ,'
hence, only one-tenth of the children picked up along
the city wall by the French Catholic Mission belong to
the male sex. That admirable institution, headed by
a bishop who is paid the munificent sum of 1,200
francs per annum (!) consists of two orphanages,—one
for boys, brought up, taught, and started in life by the
priests; the other for girls and infants, in charge of
four French and fifteen Chinese (converted) sisters of
charity. The cost of each establishment is only £600
a year.
The Mission has been erected on the very spot
where the cruel Governor Yeh, who was captured in
1857, after the storming of Canton by the Allies, used
to hold his court, the land having been granted for the
purpose by the Government, and a large cathedral has
since been built upon it. To convey an idea of the extent
to which infanticide is carried on, I need only
mention th a t on an average the Mission picks up between
4,000 and 5,000 babies annually, many of them
found dead, others in a dying condition from neglect
and exposure. Such inhuman cruelty seems hardly
credible, especially in a people who treat their dead
relations with the most tender veneration. The bishop