844 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



coal w ill be delivered to ships. If the Chi- 

 nese prefer to consume the coal in their 

 own vessels, instead of selling it to the 

 foreign steamers, it will not take long to 

 wipe out the foreign service, as the cost of 

 the coal will be so much less than that now 

 used by all steamers. 



Butler is a leading man in this magnifi- 

 cent enterprise in China. 



I have related this incident because it 

 bears on the question of the " color-line," 

 and I write this from a city where the pres- 

 ence of twenty-six different nationalities has 

 obliterated all color-lines. There is a lesson 

 in Butler's life. He fought for his position 

 and won it. He did not sulk for it, or cry 

 for it, or beg for it ; he commanded it. He 

 made himself the peer of men about him, 

 and they acknowledged it, as all men will 

 admit, when forced to meet the matter. 

 Men sought him, as they alw^ays seek men 

 who have advantages, either in brains or 

 experience. Interested as I am in the negro 

 question, it w^as to me a most important in- 

 cident to meet, on the seaboard of the great 

 Chinese Empire, an American negro, edu- 

 cated, capable, doing his work w'ell, and a 

 leader among men. 



Several weeks after meeting Butler, I 

 was with the King of the Hawaiians on 

 board the royal yacht of the King of Siam, 

 on the river Menam. On the way to the 

 capital of the country, Bangkok, the yacht 

 stopped for a moment at the custom-house, 

 in order to take on board some officials. 

 I noticed a negro sitting in the stern of 

 a boat, and inquired about him. A mer- 

 chant said to me : " He is at the head of 

 the custom-house on the river. It is a very 

 responsible place. This negro is a man of 

 considerable education, is honest and capa- 

 ble ; so he was appointed to the place, and 

 discharges the duties well." I had no op- 

 portunity to speak to this man, but I count- 

 ed it as another incident of my trip that I 

 had met another negro who was doing credit 

 to himself. I have written this letter for 

 the sole purpose of presenting these facts 

 to the younger colored people in America, 

 that they may know that their race can 

 hold itself if it will. 



[Mr. Armstrong adds to the above val- 

 uable information a few notes on travel, 

 which we are sure will interest our readers :] 



The city of Bangkok contains about four 

 hundred thousand people. Through the 

 center of it flows a large river; from the 

 river canals are cut in every direction ; and, 

 while most of the people live on land, very 

 many thousands live on the water entirely. 

 A raft is made of harnhoo^ and tied to the 

 river-bank. A house is then built on the 

 raft. In it one or more families live. The 

 back part of the house, or the part toward 

 the river-bank, is used for living purposes, 

 while the front part, facing the river, is 



used for stores or manufacturing purposes. 

 One wishing to do some shopping hires a 

 canoe, rowed by two men. This canoe is 

 moved along the river, and stops in front of 

 the houses. The passenger, sitting in it, 

 leans over the side and inspects the articles 

 in the house on the raft ; when the trade is 

 over the canoe moves off to another place. 

 It is, in fact, a river-carriage. These water- 

 houses extend for three miles up and down 

 the river. They rise and fall with the tide. 

 In rowing the canoes or boats, the men 

 stand up, facing the bows. The oar is 

 fastened to a stake in the boat, and the 

 rower dips the oar in and pushes it while 

 standing. 



About one year ago the Queen of Siam, 

 while passing up the river in a royal barge, 

 was run down by a steam-tug. There were 

 numbers of people standing by, but none 

 of them dared to rescue her, because she 

 was sacred, and could not be touched; so 

 the poor w^oman went to the bottom. Just 

 before we arrived at Bangkok she was cre- 

 mated ; a vast temple was built for the 

 occasion, and an altar of sandal-wood was 

 erected in the center of it. In this the 

 body was placed, and burned to ashes. 

 Festivities continued for ten days. The 

 total cost of the cremation was above one 

 half million dollars. Cremation is univer- 

 sally practiced in Siam. In many cases 

 the bodies are taken to a temple and ex- 

 posed in the open air ; vultures and carrion- 

 birds come down in dense flocks, and con- 

 sume the flesh in a few moments. The 

 bones are then burned, and the ashes are 

 scattered in the waters of the sacred river 

 Menam. 



The Siamese are a pleasant people, but 

 very lazy. Eice and fish are cheap, and if 

 the people can get this food they will not 

 work. Few of them are forehanded. The 

 consequence is, that the Chinese come in, 

 get the best lands, and do the best part of 

 the business. In the end the four million 

 Siamese will pass away, and the country 

 will be in the hands of the Chinese entirely. 

 It is a case of the " survival of the fittest." 



The Chinaman is the New-Englander of 

 the Pacific in his energy and pluck. The 

 Chinaman of the northern part of the em- 

 pire docs not emigrate. Though he is poor, 

 he prefers his mud-hut and his associations 

 to foreign lands ; no inducements so far 

 have brought him out of his home. The 

 southern Chinese, living along the coast, in 

 the vicinity of Canton, are the people who 

 emigrate. All who have left are, however, 

 but a fraction of the people in only one 

 province. California holds seventy-five 

 thousand of these people ; Australia, per- 

 haps, as many more. What are these num- 

 bers to the forty millions of one province 

 alone in south China ? 



I do not despise their religion. Let no 



