China—Plate 45
Plate XLV.
A STAGE PLAYER.
By the military emblem on the breast-plate, the annexed figure of a stage player must be intended to represent a great general or some military hero famous in the annals of China. Noisy music and extravagant gestures are the characteristic features of the Chinese stage, of which it would lead us into too long a detail to convey any intelligible account; and we prefer, therefore, to refer to the curious and interesting descriptions which have been furnished on this subject by Lord Macartney, Sir George Staunton and Mr. Barrow. We have only to add, that the figure was sketched from the life.
China—Plate 46
Plate XLVI.
TRACKERS REGALING.
There is little to observe on the annexed engraving. It represents a groupe of the common peasantry of the country eating their rice. The particular employment of these, here designated, is that of tracking barges on the canals; the pieces of wood lying by them being those which they place across the chest to drag forward the vessels. It will be seen from the other prints, that the common mode of carrying burthens is that of swinging baskets from the two extremities of a bamboo, which is laid by the middle across the shoulders.
