This is effected by placing small pieces of wood betwixt them, and then drawing them very forcibly together with cords. It is frequently
inflicted as a punishment upon disorderly women .
There are no people existing, who pay so sacred an attention to the laws of decency as the Chinese ; habituated in preserving the constant appearance of modesty and self -controul, nothing is more uncommon
amongst them, than deleterious examples of unblushing vice ; and if there be truth in the old maxim , that want of decency, either in action , or in word, betrays a deficiency of understanding, they certainly indicate more sense than some other nations , who affect to excel them in education and refinement. The general manners of people of every condition in China wear as modest a habit, as their persons. They discover no gratification in wresting their proper language into impure
meanings; and grossly offensive phrases are only to be heard amongst the very dregs of the community, and at the risk of immediate and
severe judicial correction .