The custom of exposing infants, principally daughters, prevails in China, as well as in some parts of Hindostan. Every morning five carts drawn by buffaloes traverse the streets of Pekin to pick up babes, whom parents are either unable or unwilling to support, as well as those whose lifeless bodies are thus exposed to avoid the great expenses attending burial. The dead infants are conveyed to a public cemetery, and the living are placed in a charitable asylum. As the streets of Chinese cities swarm with hungry dogs and swine, the fate of these poor innocents is sometimes horrible. Catholic and Mohammedan missionaries station themselves at the gate of the cemetery, to save such as appear to have any remains of life. Sailors and fishermen often put their new-born infants into gourds and toss them into the water, where they perish, unless some kind hand is stretched forth to save them. The children thus cruelly exposed are usually girls, because they are less likely to be profitable to poor parents than boys, and it is more difficult to bring them up. It is supposed that as many as twenty or thirty thousand infants are annually exposed in the Chinese empire. These scenes principally occur in cities, and are more frequent in seasons of scarcity. The Chinese celebrate the commencement of the year with great festivities. The tribunals and shops are closed, the posts stopped, and all business, public and private, suspended; presents are given, children formally pay respects to their parents; mandarins do the same to their superior officers, and servants to their masters. This is called “taking leave of the old year.” In the evening, all the family partake of a great feast, to which no stranger is admitted; but the next day they are more social, and spend the whole time in feasting and amusements. The celebration is concluded by brilliant illuminations in the evening. Chinese children are not allowed to make the remotest allusion to the infirmities of old age, in the presence of their father or mother. If their father be in mourning for any relative, they must abstain from playing on instruments; and they must give up music, all kinds of entertainments, and even bright-colored dresses, if their father or mother is ill. White is the mourning color among the Chinese. A son cannot wear it while his parents are alive, but he can wear no other for three years after their death; and even after this period of mourning is ended, his garments must ever be of one color.