icial coats, as seen in China at the present day, are made with very
peculiar sleeves, shaped like a horse's leg, and ending in what is an
unmistakable hoof, completely covering the hand. These are actually
known to the Chinese as "horse-shoe sleeves"; and, encased therein, a
Chinaman's arms certainly look very much like a horse's forelegs. The
tail completes the picture.

When the Tartars conquered China two hundred and fifty years ago, there
was at first a strenuous fight against the queue, and it has been said
that the turbans still worn by the Southern Chinese were originally
adopted as a means of concealing the hateful Manchu badge. Nowadays
every Chinaman looks upon his queue as an integral and honourable part
of himself. If he cannot grow one, he must have recourse to art, for he
could not appear tailless, either in this world or the next.

False queues are to be seen hanging in the streets for sale. They are
usually worn by burglars, and come off in your hand when you think you
have caught your man. Prisoners are often led to, and from, gaol by
their queues, sometimes three or four being tied together in a gang.

False hair is not confined entirely to the masculine queue. Chinese
ladies often use it as a kind of chignon; and it is an historical fact
that a famous Empress, who set aside the Emperor and ruled China with an
Elizabethan hand from A.D. 684 to 705, used to present herself in the
Council Chamber, before her astonished ministers, fortified by an
artificial beard.

Dyeing the hair, too, has been practised in China certainly from the
Christian era, if not earlier, chiefly by men whose hair and beards
begin to grow grey too soon. One of the proudest titles of the Chinese,
carrying them back as it does to prehistoric times, is that of the
Black-haired People, also a title, perhaps a mere coincidence, of the
ancient Accadians. In spite, however, of the universality of black hair
in both men and women, there are exceptions to the rule, and I myself
have seen a Chinese albino, with the usual light-coloured hair and pink
eyes.

* * * * *

The Rev. Dr. Arthur Smith, an American missionary, has long been known
for his keen insight into the workings of the Chinese mind. In his last
book, _China in Convulsion_, under the head of "Protestant Missions," he
makes the following important statement,--important not only to those
who intend to take part in missionary work, but also to