clad in this costume, if he happens to fall down, is often as utterly unable to rise as if he had been strapped into a cask. Of the discomfort of such clumsy dress we never hear the Chinese complain. The discomfort is in the want of it. It is certain, however, that no Anglo-Saxon would willingly tolerate the disabilities of such an attire, if he could by any possibility be relieved of it.
In connection with the heavy clothing of winter must be mentioned the total lack of any kind of underclothing. To us it seems difficult to support existence without woollen undergarments, frequently changed. The Chinese are conscious of no such need. Their burdensome wadded clothes hang around their bodies like so many bags, leaving yawning spaces through which the cold penetrates to the flesh, but they do not mind this circumstance, although ready to admit that it is not ideal. An old man of sixty-six, who complained that his circulation was torpid, was presented with a foreign undershirt, but told to keep it on every day, to avoid taking cold. A day or two later it was ascertained that he had taken it off, as he was "roasted to death."
Chinese shoes are made of cloth, and are always porous, absorbing moisture on the smallest provocation. Whenever the weather is cold this keeps the feet more or less chilled all the time. The Chinese have, indeed, a kind of oiled boots which are designed to keep out the dampness, but, like many other conveniences, on account of the expense, the use of them is restricted to a very few. The same is true of umbrellas as a protection against rain. They are luxuries, and are by no means regarded as necessities. Chinese who are obliged to be exposed to the weather do not as a rule think it important, certainly not necessary, to change their clothes when they have become thoroughly wet, and do not seem to find the inconvenience of allowing their garments to dry upon them at all a serious one. While the Chinese admire foreign gloves,
