The women wear all their hair, which they comb entirely
back off their forehead, and fasten it in most artistic plaits to
the head; they spend a great deal of time in the process, but when
their hair is once dressed, it does not require to be touched for a
whole week. Both men and women sometimes go about with no covering
at all on their head; sometimes they wear hats made of thin bamboo,
and very frequently three feet in diameter; these keep off both sun
and rain, and are exceedingly durable.
On their feet they wear sewed stockings and shoes, formed of black
silk, or some material like worsted; the soles, which are more than
an inch thick, are made up of layers of strong pasteboard or felt
pasted together. The poor people go barefooted.
The houses of the lower classes are miserable hovels, built of wood
or brick. The internal arrangements are very wretched: the whole
furniture consists of a worthless table, a few chairs, and two or
three bamboo-mats, stools for the head, and old counterpanes; yet,
with this poverty, there are always sure to be some pots of flowers.
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