dollars per pound. Between the courses the hosts and guests left the table, and were entertained by a Chinese opera, consisting of a one-stringed fiddle, a sort of gong, and something looking like a mud turtle, on the back of which they beat. They are exceedingly industrious, and if a Chinaman makes only half a dollar a day, he will save half of it. If he is well off he lives well, but still saves. At their new year (in February) all accounts must be settled up, otherwise good reason must be shown why he should con ― mandarin in his own country, and he will often take to the mountains when he hears of the sheriff coming his way. In Southern Oregon, where nearly all the diggings are occupied by Chinese, the sheriff, in order to take them by strategy, has to send a few deputies in the guise of miners, with packs of blankets on their backs, who surprise John before he has time to escape, and if he shows any symptoms of resistance, with a revolver at his head, force him to "pungle down the dust." I remember hearing a few years ago of some Chinese who, expect-tinue in business, or hold further commering the tax-gatherer, went and took refuge cial dealings. Most of them speak a sort in a cave which they had bribed a digger of broken English -known in Canton as Indian to show them. After their guide "Pigeon English," and all are exceedingly had taken their money, he went off to the anxious to learn. Still, notwithstanding all sheriff, and receiving another bribe, in- their industry, they will occasionally come formed him where they were hiding. A to grief, and land within the interior of the fire was kindled at the mouth of the cave, Californian Whitecross Prison. A Chinese and the poor fellows, fairly trapped, had to named Ah Sam, who kept the "Lord Nelson crawl out one by one, and to pay their Restaurant," in Victoria, Vancouver Island, money without loss of time; they never became bankrupt, and was ordered to file a think of the wretched economy of all this, schedule of his assets. Not knowing the and of the loss of time being more than all names of his customers, he had entered the tax amounts to, but only of the sum short descriptions of them in his ledger, and which has to be squeezed out of their hoard. when he entered court, he had nothing more Yet John is not such a bad fellow - even than the following to show. It was given when from home. Though rarely mingling me by his solicitor as a legal curiosity: in general society, yet on high occasions he is most hospitable. Once a year in South-A butcher owes ern Oregon the Chinese give a grand dinner, to which they invite the neighbouring storekeepers and other friends. These storekeepers almost live by the Chinese, as there are no native dealers there. It is amusing to see the stock in trade of one of these 'cute Yankees, who is possibly a pillar of the church-Chinese gods, papers to burn in the temple of Joss, Chinese suanpans, almanacks, novels, medicines, pickled cabbage, slugs, &c., possibly the whole superintended by a Chinese clerk. These entertainments were, however, greatly eclipsed by the grand dinner they gave to Mr. Burlingame, at present chief ambassador to the treaty powers, on his way out to China as United States' ambassador, and some time previously to Mr. Colfax, the Speaker of Congress, on the occasion of his visit to San Francisco in 1865. It was given by the five great hongs, or mercantile companies, of San Francisoo, and was quite unique in its way, Chinese dishes and European being both presented. Of the former I counted some one hundred and sixty-five, but there must have been many more. They included every possible delicacy-sharks' fins, birdnest soup, young bamboo, scorpions' eggs, &c. &c. &c., eaten with chopsticks, with dessert about the beginning of the feast, including tea, which is said to have cost fifty Captain of a schooner Man comes late (a printer?) Lean man, white man Captain, tall man dols. cents. 18 50 8 8 50 30 62 18 37 Whiskers man's friend Double blanket man's friend Indian Ya Dick make coal shoveller The last entry the Commissioner decided • Drunk. 6 25 6 50 9 25 7 50 4 62 15 62 39. 16 7 was of much too general a character to allow | ing on as innocently as possible. Some of the slightest hope of fixing the debt upon few years ago they put a considerable any one in particular. amount of base coin into circulation. They were also accused of "sweating" the coin In San Francisco there are five great hongs, or merchant companies, called the shaking it up in a bag for some hours, Yung-wo, the Sze-yap, the Yan-wo, and and then burning the bag to obtain the few Wing-Yeung companies. These companies grains which clung to the fibres of the have large wooden buildings in the town, cloth. They had a still more ingenious where they not only carry on business, but method of swindling, and that was to split lodge and board all the people attached to open the twenty-dollar gold pieces, adroitly their companies when in the city. There are extract the inside, and then filling it with also benevolent associations to take care of some metal of equal weight, close the two the sick of their own people. There are no sides again. So neatly was this done that Chinese beggars in San Francisco, and that the union was not detected until some time nation alone has no representatives in the after the trick had been in successful operapublic hospital. Most of the Chinese on the tion, and then only in the Mint at PhiladelPacific coast come to California under con- phia. They are notorious gamblers, and tract to one or other of these companies, expend a large proportion of their earnings engaged at a low rate of wages (generally in this manner. In San Francisco and all about eight dollars per month), and these the large towns there are regular gamblingcompanies again let out their labour in vari- houses; and in the mining camps they ous ways. This is essentially the coolie spend a great proportion of their leisure in system, and I think there need be little playing-generally for "pice," or other doubt but that this prevails in California. low stakes. The keepers of these houses The labourers are said to be very faithful must be wealthy, as they invariably pay the to their contracts. They have never yet large fines which are sometimes inflicted on learned to use the food of the people among them when detected infringing the_act whom they live. Rice is still the great passed against gambling-houses. They staple, with sometimes a little pork; and on seem to have no idea of the binding nature high occasion, ducks and other fowls. He of a legal oath, and accordingly their eviis not, however, at all particular in his dence is always received most cautiously. commissariat. Rats, mice, and even their In the courts of law they are usually sworn. mortal enemy the cat, is not safe from John's by breaking a plate, and cutting the neck omnivorous stomach. I have often heard off a fowl, or by burning a piece of paper the miners venting curses both loud and before them. They do not intermarry with deep on the prowling Chinese, who had the whites, and few of the labourers bring cleared the creek" of cats. Their houses wives with them. There are upwards of have a peculiar faint, sickening odour, per- fifteen hundred of their women fectly indescribable. A friend of mine used Pacific coast, one thousand of whom are in to declare that they smell of nothing but San Francisco, and nearly all of them are effete civilization! of the vilest class. on the I have said so much about John's honesty that it may not be out of place to close this article with a few remarks upon the disreputable side of the Chinese character on the Pacific, albeit some have been of opinion that there is only one side, and that the shady one. It cannot but be expected, where thousands of men are continually arriving, but that some rogues will slip in, more especially when the labourers are recruited from the notoriously scoundrelly coolie population of Chinese cities. Some of them are most adroit fowl thieves, and will clear a fowl-yard between sunset and sunrise. They rarely attempt burglary, and chiefly lay themselves out for the "sneaking line." As they pass in single file along the street, with a basket on either end of a bamboo pole, loose inconsidered play seemed to have been going on for sevtrifles are speedily transferred from shop-eral years when I last visited it, and is not doors to these receptacles, the thief march-yet finished. Kite-flying is a favourite out The children are tolerably numerous in San Francisco, and are pretty little creatures, with their sparkling black eyes and queer little queues behind, eked out with green or scarlet silk. Suicides are very common among them, the Chinese seeming to care nothing for life. They are mostly Buddhists of a very corrupted type, though a few Christians are found among them. The former have a fine temple in San Francisco, and in every house is a little family temple, or Joss-house, before which papers are burnt and offerings made at stated times. With the exception of gambling and opium smoking, they have few amusements. In San Francisco they support a curious little theatre, where the music is a demoniacal band of gongs; and the same at their own feasts. The first four days at the beginning of each new year are appropriated for the lower classes, and thirty days for the gentry, as a time of feasting in China, but on the Pacific coast the custom is somewhat modified. Some of the wealthy Chinese keep up a round of festivities for two or three weeks, while the special holiday season may be said to expire at the end of-doors amusement. Chinese kites, made in the form of butterflies and birds, which give out a singing noise, are in great demand among the youth of the Pacific coast. Occasionally, on a Sunday, a few of them will have an "out" on horseback, or in a wagon. On these occasions some of them dress in European clothes, and the horsemanship and general display is a sight for gods and men! Except on the great festi- of three or four days. They have also val of their new year, you see very little dis-other holidays in the course of the year. sipation among them. These holidays gen- About these times, indigestion and other erally last three or four days, when all bus-ills trouble John, and the doctor has to be iness is suspended, and you must wear foul called in. There are many of these profeslinen until John your washerman has fin- sional gentlemen on the Pacific coast, graveished his jollification. The morning of the looking old fellows, but generally arrant first day of the holidays is ushered in by a rogues. Deer-horns when in the "velvet " loud display of crackers and other fireworks, are eagerly bought, being esteemed a valuand before nine o'clock the streets are cov-able medicament by the Chinese. The gall ered with red papers. Sometimes, to the of a bear is valued at its weight in gold, and great delight of young California, a whole the rare Albino deer is equally prized. caskful is let off at once. A Chinese merchant told me that it generally costs about one thousand pounds each new year for fireworks alone; and some houses in the city will expend from sixty to eighty pounds for this item alone. In 1864, there was quite a furore in San Francisco about a Chinese doctor, whose consulting-rooms were besieged by the élite of the city. His success was said to consist in careful regimen, his medicines being very harmless. He used, however, to insure attention to diet and general conduct by laying down strict rules, to diverge from which, he informed his patients, would cause certain death to ensue from the medicine. He was of a fine appearance, richly dressed, and spoke through an Englishman as an interpreter. His lionization lasted a few weeks, and after that he gradually dropped into oblivion, to make way for some other sensation. On the whole, the rapidly increasing Chinese population is an advantage to the American States and territories on the Pacific, as well as the British colonies further north. They cultivate ground which no one else will, and work gold mines disregarded by the whites. They are consumers to some extent of European and American manufactures, and whether or no, their merchants pay taxes and import duties. On the whole, though kicked and abused, simply because they are harmless, inoffensive and weak, and do not retaliate on the ruffians who maltreat them, as would any one else, they are an industrious people who, if they do not become citizens, yet do not interfere in politics, and in proportion to their numbers, give less trouble to the law than any one else, and are therefore deserving of every encouragement. During this season no allusion to anything sad, such as death, sickness, losses in business, or any misfortune, is tolerated by any one. Every sentiment must be of hope, good will, and good cheer. Every true subject of the Flowery Land does his best; and the attire of some of the wealthy Chinese far exceeds in cost the dresses of the richest of the whites. A sable cape, silk trousers, and embroidered silk jacket, make a very expensive turn out. The greetings and salutations are very ceremonious, and all imaginary blessings are included in the interchange of good wishes. Upon almost all the stores, places of business, and tenements of the Chinese, may be seen during the holiday season, sundry strips of red paper pasted up, inscribed with Chinese characters. They are usually five in number, and are recognized in common parlance as "charms," but among those familiar with the usages of these people as the "five blessings." Each is inscribed with a separate blessing, such as health, wealth, friends, long life, and posterity. At this period they also visit the temple, observing certain religious rites, and making offerings of roast pigs and other dainties to their idols, which are afterwards withdrawn and eaten VIRTUES OF IPECACUANHA.- That there is nothing new under the sun is an ancient and trite saying, but one nevertheless containing a great deal of truth. History, as we know, has a tendency to repeat itself- a remark applicable indeed to most sublunary affairs. Of course science creates exceptions, but a marvellous number of those vaunted new inventions, disturbing our equanimity in the nineteenth century, are but revivals of what was once as comIron as "household words." Like fashion, however, science even is subject to "cyclical changes;" and particularly so that portion of this wide term appertaining to the practice of medicine. Of this we (Delhi Gazette) have a recent example. Dr. Murray, the InspectorGeneral of Hospitals for the Upper Provinces, in addressing Government, remarks that the success which has attended the introduction of the cinchona plant into India leads to the desire for the naturalization of other valuable medicines. Ipecacuanha, he states, is a specific against dysentery, but the drug, a native plant of Brazil, is expensive, and it is submitted that it would be desirable to cultivate it in India, with the same attention now being paid to cinchona. Drs. Farquhar and Ross also contribute memoranda in support of Dr. Murray's proposition, and both these gentlemen bring forward statistical arguments tending to demonstrate that since ipecacuanha has been used in India for the cure of dysentery the mortality from this disease has decreased by one-half. Dr. Ross commits himself to the statement that when ipecacuanha fails to act specifically, it is either from there being organic complications, which must of themselves in the end prove mortal, or that the remedy has been administered without proper knowledge or precautions. It is also added, that ipecacuanha is as much a specific for dysentery as quinine for malarious fevers; and Dr. Farquhar sums up by remarking that its " importation and cultivation would be a most valuable boon to the country." Public Opinion. ROMAN CATHOLICISM IN AMERICA. -The Roman "doctors" disagree on the question as to whether their Church is gaining or losing in America. Father Hecker, at present on a lecturing tour, says impetuously-"The increase of Catholic population over that of others is 100 per cent. He believed the dominant influence of the country at the close of the century would be on the side of Catholics. They stand in this country as a Macedonian phalanx, bound together by truth, while Protestantism is disintegrading itself and dwindling away. The result he predicted was founded on figures and logic. This great republic is bound to be a great Cathhlic nation." A Protestant paper says in reply to this: "We hold it capable of clearest proof that this country has received - take the existing United States together - at least two Romish emigrants to one Protestant, and that consequently at this day the population of this country should be two-thirds Romish, instead of being, as it is, one-eighth Romish. A delusion has been put upon us by this Anglo-Saxon common origin' theory. The truth is, Romanism has lost fearfully by American immigration, and is losing daily masses who belong to it by birth and training. The Romish Church knows this tolerably well, and at times her bishops have uttered solemn warnings against emigration." This is confirmed by the Universe, a Roman Catholic paper. After stating that "in one city alone" (evidently meaning New York) the Roman Church "loses at a single stroke twenty thousand souls," the editor proceeds: "Taking the figures for New York to be correct—and the authority that gives them is reliable it is a certain fact that not less than two hundred thousand baptized Irish Catholic children are lost every year to the faith in America. How true the great Archbishop Kendrick was, as a clergyman wrote in these columns last week, when he maintained that the Church here is constantly losing more than it gains. What does it gain? Emigrants-nothing but emigrants. What does it lose? The one case in issue shows that it loses every year two hundred thousand of the children of these same poor emigrants. What can be more unfortunate or degenerate than that? Two hundred thousand Irish children—the best Catholic stock in the world — lost every year! Talk of your converts! your growth of liberty towards Catholics! Well may American Protestants be liberal to the Catholic Church, when the latter loses every year, for their advantage, two hundred thousand (these figures are much too low) of the best Catholic stock that ever received baptism." Public Opinion. POLAR ICE.-The following statements in regard to the polar ice are given by Professor Nordenskiold, as the experience of the Swedish Arctic Expedition of the past year. First, that the polar ice is far more open in the autuma than at any other season; but that even then the passage is soon stopped by dense and impenetrable masses of broken ice. Second, that during the winter the polar basin is covered by unbroken ice, the freezing point of the surface beginning about the end of September. Third, that an autumn cruise north of 80 1-2 degrees is attended with unusual dangers, owing to the darkness and storms then prevailing. Fourth, that the idea of an open and comparatively milder polar basin is quite chimerical; on the contrary, that from 20 degrees to 30 degrees north of Spitzbergen, a region of cold begins, which probably stretches far around the pole. Fifth, that the only possible plan of attaining the pole consists in going northward in sledges in winter, either from Smith's Sound or Seven Islands. JUST PUBLISHED AT THIS OFFICE: A HOUSE OF CARDS, by Mrs. Cashel Hoey. Price 75 cents. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY LITTELL & GAY, BOSTON. 259 277 279 292 293 299 302 803 806 801 309 311 314 316 818 258 NEW BOOKS: EVENING BY EVENING; OR READINGS AT EVENTIDE. By C. H. SPURGEON. Shel don & Co. New York. EDELWEISS. 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