[113] This is exceptionally rare at the present time. The overwhelming majority of women are married before the age of twenty-five.
[114] Mercenary views are held all the same.
[115] In proportion to the population there are very few concubines in Weihaiwei, and most of them are imported from Peking and other places.
[116] It is a curious fact, and one never yet satisfactorily explained, that people of non-European races all seem to lose their native grace of manner after a period of contact with Europeans. This does not apply to Asiatic peoples (Indian and Chinese) only: it is apparently equally true with regard to certain African races. Miss Bleek, in a recent work published by the Clarendon Press under the auspices of the Royal Anthropological Institute, remarks that the Bushmen are by nature truthful, clean, honest and courteous. "Once another Bushman visited ours for a few days. He was so much rougher than the other that our man was asked why his friend was different. He said, 'Missis must excuse: this man lost his parents early and was brought up by white people.'"
[117] The United States and China, by Wei-ching W. Yen (American Association for International Conciliation: New York).
[118] See illustration.
[119] See illustration. The T'ien Kou is the Japanese Tengu. See Trans. As. Soc. Jap. Pt. ii (1908).
[120] For the magic uses of peach-wood see De Groot's Religious System of China, vol. iv. pp. 304 seq.
[121] "I see no race of men, however polished and educated, however brutal and barbarous, which does not believe that warnings of future events are given, and may be understood and announced by certain persons." Cicero's words, after the lapse of a couple of thousand years, are still true. (See Cic. de Divinatione, i. 1.)
[122] A very similar method of divining is practised in the Malay States. See Swettenham's Malay Sketches, pp. 201-7, and Skeat's Malay Magic, p. 542.