CORRESP ONDENCE. 



845 



one despise any religion which contains any 

 good. The central doctrine of their religion 

 is ancestor -worship. It is believed that the 

 spirit of the father, or ancestor, wanders 

 about in an unhappy, restless condition, 

 unless it is worshiped. While every Chi- 

 naman worships, therefore, the spirits of 

 his forefathers, he is always on the lookout 

 for a son who will, in turn, worship his 

 spirit. This is no idle business with these 

 people. It is no Sunday affair. It will not 

 do to meet in the temples and say we ought 

 to worship our forefathers. They do it. It 

 is a practical belief, which controls every 

 man's life. The father, while living, is the 

 head of the family, and the profoundest re- 

 spect is paid to him till he dies. If a Chi- 

 naman has money, he would starve himself 

 just as quickly as he would allow his father 

 to go without support. Of the thousands 

 of poor "coolies," or laborers, who have 

 gone from China to the Hawaiian Islands to 

 work on sugar-plantations at eight dollars 

 per month, the majority remit money to their 

 parents ; so a missionary in Hong-Kong told 

 me; much of it went through his hands. 

 But the worship of ancestors requires pres- 

 ence at the tomb. So the Chinaman, the 

 moment he has obtained a little money, re- 

 turns home and worships at the tomb. But 

 every Chinaman must have a son, as I have 

 said. (Of course, under this system of re- 

 ligion early marriages are the rule.) Prob- 

 ably every one of the seventy-five thousand 

 Chinamen in California is a married man, 

 but has left his wife at home. It is clear 

 to me that they would not hesitate to bring 

 them firstly, if they could afford it ; sec- 

 ondly, if they felt secure of property and 

 liberty. The Chinaman has found that, so 

 far as he is concerned, the treatment given 

 him by the proud and Christian civilization 

 of America is more unjust than that of the 

 most despotic of any taotai (magistrate) of 

 his native land. 



It is said in America : " Oh, these Chi- 

 nese don't intend to stay ; they will not mix 

 with our people. They make money, and 

 go home ! " True ! But here are some 

 twenty " treaty ports " in China and Japan 

 opened to Europeans and Americans. These 

 people come here, engage in business, make 

 money, and go home. There is not an Eng- 

 lishman, or' a Frenchman, or an American, 

 or a German, who does not frankly admit 

 that he came here to make money, and that 

 he shall return home at the earliest possible 

 moment to spend it. Make one of these 

 foreigners believe that his life must be 

 spent here, in the East, and he would look 

 about for his razors. 



Here, in Singapore, the Chinese are at 

 the head. Look at the map, and you will 

 see the commanding position of this place, 



at the southern extremity of Asia. Here 

 the trade of the East centers. The English 

 took it over sixty years ago, when its popu- 

 lation numbered about four thousand, all 

 Malays. Now there are one hundred and 

 thirty-seven thousand people, and of these 

 sixty thousand are Chinese, who have come 

 from China, a thousand miles away. All 

 that is valuable, in the way of trade, or 

 business of any kind whatsoever, is in their 

 hands. The Malay can not stand against 

 them for a moment. They outdo him at 

 every turn. Trade from Japan, northern 

 China, the Malaysian peninsula, the vast 

 archij^elago of immense islands which in- 

 clude Sumatra and Borneo, stretching away 

 for three thousand miles to the skirts of the 

 Australian Continent, centers here. Thirty 

 languages are spoken, but the Malay is the 

 language of trade, because it is easy to 

 learn. Though, as I say, the Malaysians 

 are of little account here, they were, at the 

 start, the dominant race, and their language 

 became the medium of conversation between 

 the score of races which meet here. Though 

 they have got into the background, in the 

 great struggle, they have left their language 

 to the common use, till some other takes its 

 place. 



The similarity of the Malays to the Ha- 

 waiians is striking. Though these two na- 

 tions are five thousand miles apart, and 

 there is no tradition of any intercourse in 

 the ancient days, even the languages have 

 words in common. For death, the Malay 

 says " mate," the Hawaiian says " make " ; 

 for eye, the Malay says "mata," the Ha- 

 waiian says '* muka." For want of thrift, 

 laziness, and supreme indifference to the 

 future, the Malay and Hawaiians are one 

 and the same. The Chinamen will soon be 

 masters of the situation here, and the Malay 

 will submit to it. 



W. N. A. 



HARVEST-MITES OR JIGGERS. 



Messrs. Editors. 



The minute creature about which Dean 

 y. R. Manly asks for more definite informa- 

 tion, in your September number, is undoubt- 

 edly the Lejytus Americanus^ described and 

 figured bv me six or seven vears aL-'o in the 

 " American Naturalist." It is a minute, six- 

 legged mite of the genus Leptus, now gen- 

 erally recognized as but the larval form of 

 some eight-legged Trombidmm. Being 

 away from home, I can not now give you the 

 exact references, bui may send you more 

 particulars at some future time. Respect- 

 fully, 



C. V. Riley. 



Albany, New York, August 31, 1881. 



