•CHINESE SECRET SOCIETIES." 



Part II. 

 BY W. A. PICKERING. 

 Bead at a Meeting of the Society held on the 9th June 1S79. 



Having in the first number of this Journal, given an ac- 

 count of the origin and establishment of the '*'Hung League " 

 or Thien-Te-Hui, I will now describe an initiatory ceremony, 

 as actually witnessed by myself and others, in the best dis- 

 ciplined Lodge in Singapore, and which lasted from 10 p.m. 

 to 3 a. bl, 3 during which period some seventy new Members 

 were admitted into the Society. 



As I have neither the time to re-translate in full, nor the 

 ability to improve on 31. Schlegel's version of the ritual, I 

 shall describe the ceremonies and furniture of a Lodge, as 

 I myself have seen them in Singapore ; merely translating 

 such portions as may seem necessary for my purpose, and, at 

 times, taking the liberty of quoting from the "Hung 

 (or Aug *) League." 



Any reader wishing to become more minutely acquainted 

 with the Tliien-Te-Hui, should procure M. SchlegePs book, 

 in which he will find a graphic description of the working, 

 rales, and ceremonies of the Society, as (from all I hear) 

 it now exists in China, and in semi-civilised Countries, 

 where Chinese Colonists are compelled to combine against 

 the unscrupulous and capricious tyranny of Xative rulers. 



In the Straits Settlements, the secret Societies are in fact, 

 but large Friendly Societies, without political objects ; dan- 

 gerous no doubt, to a certain extent, but only for the reason 

 that, owing to the nature of our Chinese population, each 

 Hoey contains a large proportion of lawless and unprincipled 

 c haracters. 



* In this paper I shall pronounce this word and all Chinese names ac- 

 cording fee the Hohken dialect. 



