All classes of women in China pay much attention to the cultivation and arrangement of the hair, and often display much taste in their picturesque styles of wearing and ornamenting it. In some of the Northern provinces the women of every class are at all times seen with beautiful flowers in their hair; but at Canton, and at the South generally, we observed that this tasteful fashion was confined to the ladies. Among the flowers used to ornament the hair of the few Chinese ladies we met at Canton, the rose was conspicuous, and we learned that it was as great a favorite among the Chinese as it is with us. There are twenty native species of the rose in China, besides a good many varieties, and it is very extensively cultivated. The women very seriously injure their skin by the free use of cosmetics. A Chinese lady, when making her toilette for any grand occasion, blackens her eyebrows so as to form an arch; and after making a free use of white paint upon her face, finishes by deeply rouging her cheeks and lips. To avoid tottering, the women of small feet step quickly, and swing their arms in order to keep their equilibrium. At the same time they have a mincing gait, peculiarly their own, which is doubtless considered very elegant; as I frequently observed that the large-footed, but smartly dressed, women of the common classes endeavored to imitate it. A descendant, and the representative of the noted hong merchant, Mingqua, of Canton, was, with one exception, the only Chinese gentleman we met who could speak English with fluency, and some degree of correctness. He is a man of very _suave_ and courtly address, which, combined with elaborate manners, make up a gentleman well suited to his Oriental style, and in fine keeping with his character and conversation.