IF we except the unnatural custom of maiming the feet, which swells and
distorts the ankles, and wrapping the latter up in bandages, the dress
of Chinese ladies in the upper ranks of life is by no means unbecoming.
In the head dress, in particular, they sometimes exhibit great taste,
and great variety; and the materials of which their garments are made,
and especially those parts of them which consist of their own
embroidering, are exceedingly beautiful. Confined by education in their
mental acquirements, a great part of their time is employed in works of
this kind, in looking after and cultivating plants growing in pots which
decorate their apartments and inner courtyards, and in attending to
birds, which are either kept for singing, or some particular beauty of
form or plumage. The buildings in the back ground form part of a view of
Pekin, near one of the western gates.
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[Illustration:
CHINA—PLATE 44
]
Plate XLIV.