The Costume of China / Picturesque Representations of the Dress and Manners of the Chinese

The very general use of tobacco throughout the whole extensive empire of China, and the still more extensive regions of Tartary, would seem to contradict the commonly received opinion, that this herb is indigenous only in America. One can hardly suppose that the Chinese, who are so remarkably averse from the introduction of any thing novel, would, in the course of three centuries, have brought the custom of smoking into universal use; yet so it is; men of all ranks and all ages; women, whatever their condition in life may be, and children even of both sexes of eight or ten years of age, are furnished with the necessary apparatus for smoking tobacco. In walking the streets, in almost all the occupations of life, the tobacco pipe is seldom out of the mouth. When not in use it is placed in a small pouch suspended from the girdle; and another appendage is a small silken purse generally attached to the pipe for containing opium, areca nut, or some other masticatory. The tube of the pipe is generally made of bamboo, and the cap or bowl of the metal called tutanague or porcelain. The shape and structure of this machine are strongly marked with originality, being unlike those in use among any other people; but the plant itself is, we understand, of a different species to any of those found in America, which is perhaps the strongest proof of all, that the custom of smoking has existed in China from time immemorial.