At Chinese funerals, as often as relations or friends come to look at the corpse, the women and children set up a dismal cry.
In their pagodas the image of a woman and child, with rays encircling the head, is often worshipped under the name of “the Sacred Mother.” It seems difficult to reconcile this circumstance with their early and strong aversion to the Catholic religion.
In some of their temples there is another image of a woman, whose attributes seem to correspond with the Lucina of the ancient Romans.
The women of Chinese Tartary assemble, to the number of ten or fifteen, who annually elect a directress. An aged bonze or priest presides, and sings anthems in praise of their god Fo. These meetings continue seven days, during which they employ themselves in laying up treasure for the world to come. This consists of small paper houses painted and gilded, filled with minikin boxes, in which are little rolls of paper done over with gold and silver leaf. The houses and their contents are intended to procure a comfortable home, with all its conveniences, in the world to come. These miniature dwellings are locked with paper padlocks and keys; and when a lady dies, the survivors burn the whole with much ceremony, believing that from the ashes will arise to her just the same things, only made of real silver and gold.
The Tartars generally lead a wandering life, with no other wealth than their flocks and herds; though some subsist by fishing, and a few by agriculture. Their dwellings are usually tents made of felt, and their food horse-flesh, mare’s milk, and millet. They drink tea, boiled with milk, butter, and salt. Mare’s milk is said to be deliciously sweet; but the Tartars will not drink it till it has been fermented in leather bottles, which are never washed. Their habits are filthy, and, in common with the Chinese, they have very little delicacy about their food. Dr. Clarke says he saw a Calmuck girl grinning with delight because she had succeeded in snatching a portion of a decaying horse from thirteen hungry dogs. The Tartar women in general perform a greater share of labor than the men; for it is a prevailing opinion that they were sent into the world for no other purpose but to be useful and convenient slaves to the stronger sex. Besides cooking and other household avocations, they milk the mares, cows, and goats, take care of the cattle, tan leather, and make garments, mattresses, pillows, &c., of skins.
The baron de Tott gives the following account of their method of tailoring: “I approached a group of Tartars assembled round a dead horse, which they had just skinned. A young man about eighteen, without clothing, had the hide of the animal thrown over his shoulders. A woman, who performed the office of tailor with great dexterity, began by cutting the back of this new dress, following with her scissors the round of the neck, the fall of the shoulders, the semicircle which formed the sleeve, and the side of the habit, which was intended to reach below the knee. She proceeded in the same manner with the other parts, till the cutting out was finished. The man, who had served as a mould, then crouched on his hams, while the several pieces were stitched together; so that in less than two hours he had a good bay coat, which only needed to be tanned by continual wearing.”
The Mongul race of Tartars are very ugly. Their complexion, which is naturally fair, becomes tawny by exposure. They have high cheek bones, broad flat noses, exceedingly small eyes, widely separated and placed very obliquely, scanty eyebrows, thick lips, and projecting ears. The infants are said to be so unsightly, that they resemble bear’s cubs rather than human beings.
The Tartar men and women dress very nearly alike. Both wear wide trowsers; but the women’s robe reaches to the feet, while that of the men does not extend further than the knees. The poorest wear garments made of the skins of animals, with the hair turned inside in winter, and outside in summer. Some wear woollen, others linen; and the khans, or princes, with their families, sometimes wear embroidered silks and brocades, trimmed with rich furs. Tartar women of all classes are very fond of ornaments. Their ear-rings are plain hoops of metal, to which strings of beads, or pieces of mother-of-pearl, are suspended. The neck and bosom is often covered with a net-work of beads, and their caps are frequently embroidered with beads, or covered with coins, laid one over another, like shingles on the roof of a house. The shape of these caps vary with the different tribes; some are conical, some round, and others exactly resemble a bishop’s mitre.
Married women may generally be distinguished from unmarried, by the arrangement of the head-dress. Girls braid their hair in a much greater number of tresses than the matrons, and adorn the ends with ribbons or coins. They sometimes interweave a quantity of horse-hair with their own. Children wear no clothing whatever, until they are ten or twelve years old.