46 



PHYSICAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



The upper classes of Chinese presented a very different picture; 

 and I was much impressed with the respectability of their standing, 

 with their general intelligence, and their ease, politeness, and refine- 

 ment of manners : in all which, there was evidently nothing derived 

 from their Spanish rulers. They had shops furnished with costly 

 articles of Chinese manufacture; and individuals were pointed out to 

 me, who would undertake commercial transactions of tens of thou- 

 sands of dollars. One man was desirous of procuring an engraving 

 of a steamboat, "to send to his friends in China; who," he said, "had 

 been much alarmed at the accounts they had heard of these vessels." 



The main object with the Chinese of all classes was alleged to be, 

 " to make a fortune and return home." They intermarry freely with 

 the Malays; but whether in such cases the children are admitted into 

 China, I did not learn. Persons of mixed descent were numerous in 

 the city ; but in the Interior, I could not discover the least trace of the 

 Chinese: it was said, that whenever they leave the city, "they are 

 subject to imposition and bad treatment, as the Malays have an aver- 

 sion to them." They in consequence confine themselves to the com- 

 mercial ports, as throughout the East India Islands ; where they every- 

 where bear the character of being the most flourishing class of the 

 population. 



Chinese umbrellas were observed to be in general use among the 

 Malay population, and the importation of them must form an impor- 

 tant branch of commerce, not only at the Philippines, but in the other 

 Malay countries. 



A few Chinese were settled at the capital of the island of Sooloo, 

 where they had the best shops, and conducted machinery for hulling 

 rice. Their presence sufficiently disproved the assertion, that in the 

 East Indies "the Chinese require European protection:" although, it 

 is true, they are ready to avail themselves of its advantages. It is 

 known, too, that the Chinese have independent establishments on 

 Borneo ; but the acquisition of political power, does not enter into 

 their plan of operations in foreign countries. 



At Singapore, some unlooked-for testimony came to the support 

 of views already expressed ; and on a point of this kind I would lay 

 great stress on the observation of uncivilized man. Our Feejeean, 

 Veindovi, was now, for the first time, brought in contact with a body 

 of Chinese; and he at once identified them with his old acquain- 

 tances, the tribes of Northwest America. 



Singapore differs essentially from all the other cities I have visited; 

 bearing the character rather of a commercial camp. The female por- 



