CHINESE SECRET SOCIETIES. 17 



A. u The swords of Sincerity and Justice." 



Q. " For what are they used ?" 



A. "Tobehead.traitors." 



Q. Which are the harder, these swords or your necks ? 



A. "'As our hearts are truly loyal and sincere, our necks 

 aie harder than your sword." With a loud voice the Gen- 

 erals say, " Pass on," and the same ceremony is exactly re- 

 peated at the " Hall of Sincerity and Justice," and at the 

 " Gate of the City of the Willows;" where, as this paper has 

 grown to an unconscionable length, I must leave them for 

 the present. 



4 I am not of course blind to the fact, that the parts of the 

 oath relating to obedience to British law, and to the Regis- 

 trars of the Societies, were probably introduced in deference 

 to the presence of official foreign visitors, though I have 

 good reason to. believe that new members are warned to obey 

 the Colonial laws, and so keep their chiefs out of trouble. 



For some years I have strongly discountenanced the use of 

 the words " Ang-mo" or " Eed haired," for " English," ex- 

 cept in those unavoidable cases when a " freshly caught" Sin 

 Kheh would be totally unable to understand any other term. 



I have no doubt that on occasions when I have been pre- 

 sent at meetings, special instructions have been given to 

 the u Generals," to avoid the objectionable expression, and 

 to use the words " Eng-kok" or " Tai-Eng-kok" for English 

 or British, as also to give the proper titles to local Officials. 

 It is however an unpleasant fact that the Chinese in desig- 

 nating foreign officials, use terms somewhat less complimen- 

 tary than those to be found in the appendix to Mayers' 

 " Chinese Government"; Inspectors of Police for instance, are 

 called " big dogs," and the Superintendent of that body has 

 no higher title than that of " Head of the big-dogs." In- 

 spectors of Nuisances are called " Earth buffaloes," and so 

 on. At the meeting above described, it was most amusing 

 to hear the " Generals" correcting themselves when guilty 

 of a lapsus linguce, or to see the austere visage of a 

 " Guardian" relax, as he called out to a " General" fresh 

 from the jungle, " You fool ! they will be angry if you say 

 Aug mo ; you must only say ' Eng-kok.' As for the 

 candidates, the effort to comprehend such words, as the 

 Chinese equivalents for "British Government," and "Inspec- 

 tor General of Police," was evidently too much for them, and 

 seemed to be an even more severe ordeal than the drawn 

 swords under which they had to pass. 



