ontaining red slices of eggs and cucumber, boiled fish and
mustard, fried beef, bits of hog's liver, and a variety of other similar
dainties, at which we picked away without much consideration, but which
might have been bits of dogs, cats, or rats, for aught I knew to the
contrary. The people of Loo-Choo must be very abstemious if we judge
from the size of their drinking cups--no larger than thimbles! The
liquor they drank, called sakee, is distilled from rice.

We only spent two days on shore, so that I cannot pretend to know much
of the country. From its elevation, and being constantly exposed to the
sea-breezes, it must be very healthy. It is also very fertile. All the
agricultural instruments we saw were rude. The plough was of the old
Roman model, with an iron point. One of the chief productions of the
island is rice, and as for it a constant supply of water is required,
there is a very extensive system of irrigation. To prepare it for
cultivation, the land is first overflowed, and the labourer hoes, and
ploughs, and harrows, while he stands knee deep in mud and water. It is
first grown in plots and then transplanted. The banyan-tree is very
abundant, and so is the bamboo, which supplies them with food, lodging,
and clothing, besides, from its stately growth, forming a delightful
shade to their villages. The sugar-cane is grown, and much sugar is
made from it. The islands are of coral formation, but, from some mighty
convulsion of nature, the rock on which the coral was placed has been
upheaved, and now in many places appears above it. The sketch I
introduce will afford a better notion of the country-scenery in Loo-Choo
than any mere verbal account which I could give.

The people of Loo-Choo are well formed, and the men have full black
beards, and their hair being well oiled is gathered to the back of the
head, and fastened with a gold, silver, or brass pin, according to the
rank of the wearer. Their dress is a loose robe with wide sleeves,
gathered round the waist with a girdle, in which they carry their
tobacco pouch and pipe. The upper classes wear a white stocking, and
when they go out they put on a straw sandal secured to the foot by a
band passing between the great toe and the next to it, as worn by the
Romans. The peasants go bareheaded and barefooted, and wear only a
coarse cotton shirt. Their cottages also are generally thatched with
rice straw, and surrounded by a palisade of bamboos. Th