This tendency is not maintained, however, in that other ancient civilization in a sense equal in antiquity as in importance to the civilization of western Asia. The Chinese, from the oldest times of which we have any knowledge. have been among the greatest artists in textile fabrics, as in other industrial arts, and history does not tell us of the time NA lieu the population, of true Chinese origin or of conquering Tatar dynasties and their followers, have not been more and more clothed in proportion to their rank and station. Porters may go bare-legged and bare armed, and, in warm weather, with the body naked above the belt, but as one ascends in the orders of rank, the clothing becomes more and more complete. This tendency is not, however, accompanied by any objection to brilliant and rich stuffs. The more abundant the means of the wearer, the richer his costume—that seems to have been the rule from all time and this is partly explained by the beauty of the floral and foliated designs. Embroidery. too, is used to heighten and complete the splendid weaves, and at least from the tenth century of our era until the present day, the most magnificent stuffs in texture and in color are those used by the ladies and gentlemen of the Court. On the other hand, personal jewelry, that which is worn apart from the garments, is not very rich nor very costly, though it may be effective. Strings of pearls are known, and many stones that we, in the West, ignorantly despise because they are inexpensive, are made much of by the Chinese, who will use a rough turquoise, a piece of veined or spotted agate, or even a beautiful piece of glass acci dentally rich in its veining and cut deliberately from the vessel to which it belonged—setting them in bronze or silver-gilt, and making a very decorative clasp, or buckle, or pommel of a sword-hilt. Chinese costume should be most carefully studied, because it has been maintained in its traditional character even to our owns time. The blue cotton blouse of the working man, and the garment of delicate blue and gold silk, woven in very elaborate patterns expressly for this garment. with gold or gilt buttons spherical in shape and working in loops, are mainly the same garments as those of a century ago.
The people of India are even more divided among themselves in details of costume than are the people of Europe. The general character of the different races, north and south, leads toward a great distinction between classes of the population. The simple piece of stuff, four feet wide by thrice as long, worn by the women, is most gracefully draped about the shoulders and breast; in very recent times it is often a piece made in Europe of three large handkerchiefs, with their several borders complete. This is worn over a petticoat; arms and legs are bare, and the feet, except for occasional use of sandals; but the dark skin is barred and spotted with many and large jewels. Necklaces, broad armlets and wristlets, rings for toes and fingers, earrings, and nose-rings, are all made of silver wire for the poorer women, who often put their whole savings into these adornments. The necessity of providing for a very warm summer climate, and in the south for a wholly tropical year, has caused the making of muslins of a fineness and perfection of weave never approached in Europe, though these native manufactures have been destroyed by the com petition of British cottons. A few of the native princes alone encourage the making of these exquisite weaves. Besides these there are figured cottons of such perfect make and so beautiful in design that they are worn even by princes. as if of equal importance with silk. The gold-flow ered and silver-flowered textiles of silk and cotton, or even of fine cotton alone, are famous in Europe, under the name kinkab or kineob. The costume of India in general is mainly an affair of beautiful stuffs, very little shaped to the body, and usually worn loosely, and of jewels in great abundance.
Among the people of the tropical islands, the Malays, and the black and brown inhabitants of Polynesia, the art of weaving has never reached sufficient perfection to allow the stuffs to be sought for their own sake. Very beautiful pat terns are printed upon cotton by the women of the larger islands, wood blocks being used for the purpose in a way almost exactly like that employed in the printing of paper hangings among the Western nations; hut these stuffs, however attractive to our eyes, however superior in design, are yet inexpensive—they could he produced by any one who has a little skill in the use of the hands, and are, therefore, not a part of ceremonial or decorative costume. A
few very beautiful weaves exist, as in the Solo mon Islands, and especially in New Zealand, hut still they are not of rare material, nor is the elaboration of the design very great. The skill in the working of metals which is great among the Indians of the continent is much smaller among the islanders, and so it happens that personal jewelry also is but little sought for by the chiefs. The result of all this is seen in the simple and tasteful use of natural pro ductions. brilliant flowers. and richly colored fruits and seeds, which. strung as necklaces or worn as pendants, have especial significance and are attached each in its way to the traditional ceremonies of these curiously civilized peoples.
If now we turn to the race which of all peoples has had the most influence over modern intellectual life, we shall find that the Creeks of antiquity limited their desires in the way of textile fabrics to very simple patterns, as of stars or round spots arranged in a 8C1)1 e over all the surface of a stuff, and in somewhat more elaborate patterns of zigzags and frieze in the borders. Their costume, including their jewelry, was, in fact, marked throughout by extreme sim plicity, which increases as our studies bring us to a later time. The statues discovered on the Acropolis at Athens since 1883 are certainly of the century before the Persian invasion of Lc. 480. They show a number of garments, certainly as many as three, worn one over the other by the priestesses represented in the statue; and each of these garments is made of a different stuff, all the stuffs, or all but the craped under shirt (the ehifon of later dress), covered with elaborate patterns in several colors. There is nowhere a more interesting study of brilliant coloring in costume than were these statues when first discovered, and, fortunately, the finest of them have been reproduced in water-color paint ing. and these water-eolors often multiplied in chromolithography. and published by the archm °logical societies. It is clear that, immediately after the Persian War, during the period of the Athenian hegemony in Greece, beginning with B.C. 477. the use of these striped and spotted stuffs becomes much less common, at least in the mainland of Greece, and the use of plain mate rials, white, bordered with stripes, or of one rather subdued color perhaps striped at the edge, becomes the rule. Those admirable bronze stat ues which were discovered in the famous villa at Herculaneum and now stand in the Museum of Naples (the Room of the Greater Bronzes), show perfeetly well—better than any has-reliefs, however elaborately detailed—the trite Greek sense of what was beauty in costume. The long ehiton. which, left. ungirdled. would sweep the floor, is belted up so far as to allow a foot or more of its length to hang over the girdle out side of the skirt or lower part, forming a sort of pocket, known as the kolpos. Outside of this is seen hanging what looks like a cape, and which generally reaches •just the line of the girdle, or may fall a little below it. This, however, is not a cape nor a separate garment at all: it is the reverse or turning over of the ehiton at the top. Of the chiton there were several forms. The earliest was not scum at all, and therefore left the right side, thigh and leg, exposed on the slightest movement. A later form Was a sewn up cylinder, a long shirt in the modern sense. The stately maidens of the reliefs and the vase paintings often wear one of these two forms of (Athol). and nothing else. To such a dress. even on occasions of great ceremony, there is nothing to be added, except perhaps 0 more splendid brooch on the shoulder, a broader and more brightly colored border to the chiton. perhaps an armlet, perhaps richer and moire glittering ear rings. Splendor in the more modern sense was hardly desired, and beauty was shown in the perfect taste with which these simple appliances were disposed. Other garments, however, are seen in the sculptures and vase paintings: the himation and a variety of it, the chlamys, were square or oblong pieces of woolen cloth, draped about the left shoulder and covering the body more or less as it might be adjusted; it was held sometimes by brooches. Statues show a garment arranged nearly as the Scotch plaid is, at times folded long and narrow, falling over one shoulder and passing around the waist: and this is thought to be a long and narrow himation. It is impossible to distinguish these garments from the opiblenzata. The essential fact is that the Greeks, both women and men, wore a long shirt and a loose, square shawl over it, and nothing else on body or limbs.