ow inability to procure the wherewithal to live.
Their nerves are somehow different from our Western nerves.

In China nothing is wasted, not only in food, but in everything
affecting the common life.

That a beast dies of disease is of no concern. It is eaten all the same
from head to hoof, from skin to entrail, and the remarkable fact is that
they do not seem to suffer from it, either. At Kiang-ti (mentioned in a
previous chapter) I saw a horse being pushed down the hillside to the
river. It was not yet dead, but was dying, so far as I could see, of
inflammation of the bowels. Its body was cut up, and there were several
people waiting to buy it at forty cash the catty.

From Hungay onwards I met a class of people I had not seen before. They
were the Minchia (Pe-tso).

Major H.R. Davies, whose treatise on the tribes of Yuen-nan at the end of
his excellent work on travel in the province, is probably the best yet
written, writes that he met Minchia people only on the plains of Tali-fu
and Chao-chow, and never east of the latter place. This was in travel
some ten or twelve years ago, and the fact that there are now many
Minchia families living in Hungay is a testimony to their enterprise as
a tribe in going farther afield in search of the means to live. There is
little doubt that the Minchia originally came from country lying between
the border of the province and round Li-chiang-fu and the Tali-fu plain
and lake. Most of them wear Chinese dress; many of the women bind their
feet (and the practice is growing in popularity), although those who
have not small feet are still in the majority. In a small city lying
some few li from the city of Tali all the inhabitants are Minchia, and I
found no difficulty in spotting a Chinese man or woman--there is a
distinct facial difference. Minchia have bigger noses, generally the
eyes are set farther apart, and the skin is darker. Pink trousers are in
fashion among the ladies--trace of base feminine weakness!--but are not
by any means the distinguishing features of race.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote AP: Carlyle, _Sartor Resartus_.]

[Footnote AQ: Wind-cap, a long Chinese wadded hat which reaches over
one's head and down over the shoulders, tied under the chin with
ribbons.--E.J.D.]

[Footnote AR: Likin, as everyone knows, is custom duty. All along the
main roads of China one meets likin stations, distinguished by the flag
at the entrance.--E.J.D.]

[Footnote AS: I passed this spot