Add to all these sights, crowds of donkeys, small and wiry, with their padded saddles on a wooden frame, with a bulging Chinaman with swinging pigtail seated far back, and with his legs tucked up, trotting along--of horsemen on rough Tartar ponies, generally white in colour, and which run along at a great pace, so that there is no rising in the saddle, and lastly the mules, a beautiful breed, large and strong, with glossy coats, cruelly bitted, with a double bit and wire over the upper gums.
We have grown so accustomed to John Chinaman, with his innocent yellow face, so smooth and hairless,--except when as a grandfather he wears a moustache,--his obliquely-slit eyes, and his flowing pigtail, with plaited ends of cord and tassels, that we have ceased to observe him. We are now quite familiar with his baggy pantaloons, which sometimes he binds tightly to the ankle--with his turned-up hat with velvet brim, or eight-sided cap, always with coloured button atop--with his loose blue coat fastened by two buttons on one shoulder, with the sleeves hanging long over the hands, and that serve him as pockets. It is beginning to get cold, so that the wadded coats worn in winter are coming into general use. Whilst there is a level monotony of colour in the lower classes, the upper have the most gorgeous brocaded coats of crimson, blue, and purple, with pantaloons of other colours, that combine in pleasing effect. Some of the men have the long claw nail, but only on the little finger, in token that they do no manual labour, and a disgusting sight it is to see this transparent substance of several inches in length, bending backwards and forwards, as they use their hands.
The pigtail! What is it for? What is its origin? It is simple. The Tartars were few, the Chinese many. Let not the latter see this and be tempted to say: "Arise, drive out the conqueror." Let them shave three-fourths of the head; let the back hair grow long and braid it into a bridle as is the Tartar custom. The pigtail was intended as a mark of subjection to signify to the Chinese that, even as it resembled a horse's tail, so might they be driven like one, whilst the cuff of the official sleeve to this day is cut into the shape of a horseshoe.