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National Geographic : 1910 Sep
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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE and yet they eat things a thousand times more dangerous. They eat the beaks of birds, the fins and brains of fishes, the entrails of animals, and consider that the claws of tigers, boiled to a jelly, impart strength. The flesh of snakes gives cunning. Eggs are appreciated according to their age. Those 100 years old, black with age from being preserved in ashes, are great dainties but not uncommon. Husband and, wife are betrothed in infancy. The intended bride comes to his home and becomes a servant to her mother-in-law as long as she lives. No separate family is set up on a son's mar riage; simply another addition is made to the house. Thus there are little villages, consisting of a single family, scattered all over China. Some have reached the dignity of cities of a single clan. Pawnshops are in rich, not in poor neighborhoods, and are only patronized by the well-to-do. With robbers and beggars they have regular contracts, and the night watch man goes round your house beating at intervals a hollow bamboo to inform the thieves of his whereabouts and at the same time prevents your sleeping, so that you may be ready to repulse the thief if he should attack. It is a pretty theory for comfort, surely. In mathematics their decimal fractions are our vulgar fractions and vice versa. Their denominator is our numerator, etc. They row a boat standing up, facing the bow, and haul the boat on shore by the stern instead of the bow. They tow by the masthead instead of the bow. There are excellent reasons for these re versals. The Chinaman says we were not given eyes in the back of the head and should see, certainly, where we are going, which our method prevents us from doing. They always write Smith John, and date a letter by the year, the month, and the day, and in these customs they are decidedly right. THE MARINER'S COMPASS A CHINESE DISCOVERY The mariner's compass was discovered by them IIoo B. C., and was first used on land. The needle points to the south. Chariots equipped with it were called "south-pointing chariots." Contrary to our mode of expression, they say west south and east-north. In contradiction to their own ideas of dignity, however, "the superior man" will play battledore and shuttlecock with his feet and fly kites, while the boys, like old men, stand sedately by and look on. This he does as a method of instruction, and to show the children how the supe rior man can relax when the high pur pose is to entertain and educate the young. The woman in sewing pushes the needle from her, while the carpenter draws his plane and saw toward him in working, the teeth of their saw being set in the reverse order of ours. Money is divided by weight, and consequently the Mexican silver dollars, which are current, are chopped into bits and handed out as change. They have only one national coin, the "cash," which is of varying value, from one-sixth to one tenth of a cent. Vegetables, eggs, wood, etc., are sold by weight. In this they are far in ad vance of our absurd and unjust custom. Men only have the honor of a funeral granted to them; women, having no souls, are not of sufficient importance. Their mourning color is white. Mourn ers at a funeral are all hired. The traveler has constant and annoy ing experiences of the proverb, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." Meet ing a fellow-traveler and asking him how far it may be to the next village, he will be told, "Oh, only 6 li." After traveling what he feels must be nearly that and inquiring again, he finds it is now 8 li. The simple explanation is that each trav eler estimates distance, not by measure ment, but by the difficulties of the road. In some sections even the axles of their carts are fixed in the wheels and revolve on the body. They can be heard a mile away. To the Chinaman the foreigner is a boor and a barbarian. It seems a hope less task to teach him politeness. He 798
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