, or some other
play among the multitude that they have invented, which are altogether
unknown in Europe: To this they apply with such eagerness as scarcely to
allow time for the necessary refreshments of food and sleep; so that it
is as rare to see a Chinese idle, as it is to see a Dutchman or an
Indian employed.

In manners they are always civil, or rather obsequious; and in dress
they are remarkably neat and clean, to whatever rank of life they
belong.[156] I shall not attempt a description either of their persons
or habits, for the better kind of China paper, which is now common in
England, exhibits a perfect representation of both, though perhaps with
some slight exaggerations approaching towards the caricatura.

[Footnote 156: Whatever may be their personal cleanliness in appearance,
their moral impurity, according to all accounts, is most gross and
detestable. We shall not pollute our page by the slightest mention of
the abominable gratifications in which they are said to indulge,
contrary to the most palpable enactments of nature.--E.]

In eating, they are easily satisfied, though the few that are rich have
many savory dishes. Rice, with a small proportion of flesh or fish, is
the food of the poor; and they have greatly the advantage of the
Mahometan Indians, whose religion forbids them to eat of many things
which they could most easily procure. The Chinese, on the contrary,
being under no restraint, eat, besides pork, dogs, cats, frogs, lizards,
serpents of many kinds, and a great variety of sea-animals, which the
other inhabitants of this country do not consider as food: They also eat
many vegetables, which an European, except he was perishing with hunger,
would never touch.[157]

[Footnote 157: The reader may turn to our account of Anson's voyage for
some particulars respecting their taste. Indeed, in almost every voyage
he will find abundantly disgusting information of this singularly
unamiable people. It is but fair, however, to allow them credit for one
of the virtues of necessity. Their capability of subsisting on such food
as others reject, is a very requisite part of education in their own
country, where the danger of famine is so great and frequent.--E.]

The Chinese have a singular superstition with regard to the burial of
their dead; for they will upon no occasion open the ground a second time
where a body has been interred. Their burying-grounds, therefore, in the
neighbourhood of Batavia, cove