The horse commonly seen in China is a mere pony, not much larger than the Shetland pony ; it is bony and strong, but kept with little care, and presents a worse appearance than it would if its hair were trimmed, its fetlocks shorn, and its tail untied. This custom of knotting the tail is an ancient practice, and the sculptures at Perse polis show that the same fashion prevailed among the Persians. The Chinese language possesses a great variety of terms to designate the horse ; the difference of age, sex, colour, and disposition are all denoted by particular characters.
Flora.—The only trees to the cultivation of which the Chinese pay any attention, are the fruit bearing kinds ; and in some places in China there are very fair orchards, containing the mango, leechee, longan, wangpee, . orange, citrons, and ptunelows. The yang-mai is a scarlet fruit, not unlike an arbutus or strawberry, but having a stone like a plum in the centre. The kum-quat is a small species of citrus, about the size of an oval gooseberry, with a sweet rind and sharp acid pulp. A small quantity is sent to England pre served in sugar. Groves of the kum-quat bush are common on all the bill-sides of Chusan from three to six feet high, and when covered with its orange-coloured fruit is a very pretty object. The shaddock, plantain, and persimmon are com mon, and several varieties are enumerated of each ; the plantain is eaten raw and cooked, and forms no inconsiderable item in the subsisteuceof thepoor. The pomegranate, carambola or tree gooseberry, mango, custard-apple, pine-apple, rose-apple, bread-fruit, fig, guava, and olive, some of them as good and others inferior to what are found in other countries, increase the list. The whampe, leechee, longan or dragon's eyes, and loquat, are indigenous fruits at Canton. The first resembles a grape in size, and a gooseberry in taste; the loquat (Eriobotrya) is a kind of medlar. The leechee looks like a strawberry in size and shape; the tough, rough red skin encloses a sweet watery pulp of a whitish colour, surrounding a hard seed. Grapes are plenty, and tolerably good.
In China, the staple summer crops are those which yield textile fibres. The jute of India, a species of Corchorus, is grown to a very large extent, and in China is used in the manufacture of sacks and bags for holding rice and other grains. A gigantic species of (Cannabis) growing from 10 to 15 feet in height, is also a staple summer crop of China, and is used in making ropes and strings of various sizes, such articles being in great demand for tracking the boats up rivers and in the canals of the country. China grass-cloth, a beautiful fabric made in the Canton province, is largely exported to Europe and America. The Urtica nivea plant, which is supposed to produce this, is also abundantly grown i and other provinces. Fabrics of various degrees of fineness are made from this fibre, but nono are so fine as that made about Canton ; it is also spun into a very strong and durable thread. There are two very distinct varieties of this plant common in Che-kiang,—ono the cultivated, the other the wild. The cultivated variety has larger leaves than the other ; on the upper side they are of lighter green, and on the under they are much more downy. The stems also are lighter in colour ; and the whole plant has a silky feel about it, which the wild one wants. The wild variety grows plentifully on sloping banks, on city walls, and other old and ruinous buildings. It is not prized by the natives, who say its fibre is not so fine, and moro broken- and confused in its structure than the other kind. The cultivated kind yields three crops a year. A species of juncus is grown, the stems of which are woven into beautiful mats, used by the natives for sleeping upon, for covering the floors of rooms, and for many other useful purposes. This is cultivated in water somewhat the rice plant, and is therefore always planted in the lowest part of these valleys. In the begin ning of July, harvest of this crop commences.
Burials. — When the life has departed, the dead body is arrayed in robes of state, or in most costly apparel ; ablutions are not performed, nor any unnecessary handling of the body suffered. White is the sign of mourning. The Chinese worship the spirits of the dead ; and amongst that nation the desire to have a good coffin is universal. Many purchase for themselves that last tenement, and keep it by them, and it is usually substantial, of metal or wood. In Burma, where many Chinese are settled, the best block of teak is selected, and, the upper portion being sawn off to form a lid, the block is hollowed and ornamented. These may be seen iu Moulmein in every carpenter's shop. In China, the coffin-makers' shops have a very gay instead of a lugubrious appearance, as the coffins are usually painted red, or some equally bright colour, and the more expensive ones are decorated profusely with gilding ; these coffins are placed on shelves one above the other, and the prices vary from one dollar up to four or five hundred. They are often presented by children
to parents. The funeral customs of China vary in the different districts. In Foh-kien, the body is placed in a coffin soon after death; a fan is placed in the hand, a piece of silver in the mouth, and a hole is sometimes made in the roof for the spirit to effect its exit. The tombs are on the bill-sides, where lucky spots are chosen by geomancers. Paper images of clothes, horses, and other luxuries are cast into the grave, and a sacrifice of cooked provisions is offered on the day of the funeral. Every year, in the month of April, the whole popu lation visit, the tombs and worship the manes of ancestors. Sometimes a poor family will keep the coffin for many months in their house till able to purchase' a tomb, but the very poor are buried en anas.ce within enclosed buildings. The dead are occasionally left exposed on the sides of hills, at the wayside, and on banks of rivers, creeks, and canals. At Nankin they are exposed in great numbers. The rite of respectful burial is, however, so revered, that burial clubs exist in all the large cities. The monumental tombs are small raised truncated cylinders. In mourn ing for near relations, every part of the cere monial is exactly regulated,—even the period, manner, and degree of the mourner's grief being duly prescribed. The corpse, being dressed in warm clothes, is deposited in a substantial coffin, and kept for several days above ground, whilst the survivors express their measured grief by gesture, dishevelled hair, sackcloth, and mournful silence. When a good spot has been selected for the grave, the corpse is consigned to the earth. Building a tomb in the form of a horse-shoe, they inscribe thereon the name of the deceased, erect a tablet to his memory in the hall of his ancestors, and repair annually to the grave, in order to prostrate themselves before the manes, and to offer victuals in sacrifice to the spirits. In the temples, divine honours are paid to their memory. To supply their full wants in the other world, they burn gilt paper, paper chariots, and houses, with every necessary article of furniture, which are i supposed to be changed in the other world into real utensils ; whilst the gilt paper, when burnt to ashes, becomes so much ready money. The greater the personage, the more protracted is the mourning. The emperor mourns three years for his parent, and every good subject follows his august example. Mandarins resign their office during this period of affliction ; literati avoid entering the examinations ; the common people abstain for some time from their labour. Sati prevailed to a considerable extent until about the 18th century. It does not appear, how ever, to have been regarded as a compulsory rite, but was generally the widow's own choice, to show her extreme fidelity, or to escape the hard ships of widowhood, or, in the case of dutiful sons, to save the life of a parent. Fire was never used ; but opium, poison, or starvation was the means of suicide employed. Yiun Chang was the first emperor who discountenanced those practices, which his immediate predecessors had encouraged ; and he forbade honorary tablets to be erected to self-immolating victims. In 1702, a memorial was presented to the emperor, praying for the dedication of a tablet to a most dutiful son, who had cut out his liver in order to cure his mother's sickness. The imperial Board of Rites, after mature deliberation, respectfully observed that the practice of cutting out the liver is that of the ignorant, showing a contempt for their lives, and after all but foolish devotion ; and a decree was issued discountenancing the custom.—Williams' Middle Kingdom; Fortune's Wanderings; Maury's Physical Geography; Thunberg's Travels ; Rev. Frederic W. Farrar ; Mr. Morrison ; Edinburgh Review, 1867 ; Gutzlaff, Chinese History ; Forbes, Five Years in China ; Meadows' People of China ; ib., The Chinese and their Rebellions; Sirr, China and the Chinese; Huc, Chinese Empire; ib., Journey through Tartary, Tibet, and China ; Chris tianity; Wade's Chinese Army; Duhalde, History of China ; Bunsen's God in History ; Journal, Indian Archipelago, 1848 ; Prinsep's Tibet ; Tim kowski ; Stinnett; Sir John Davis' Chinese; Dr. IV. W. Hunter ; Marco Polo ; Bowring's Siam; Yule's Cathay ; Edkins' Religion in China ; Foreigner in Far Cathay ; Frere's Antipodes; Gray's China ; Dr. A. Gordon's Chinese, 1860-61 ; Oriental Herald; Oriental Linguistic Studies ; Tod's Rajasthan ; D. C. Boulger's China ; Lock hart's Medical Missionary; R. K. Douglas' China; H. A. Giles' China.