facts that when the system of transportation of convicts to Australia was first adopted, in some of the earlier voyages one-half of those who embarked were lost; later, on the passage to New South Wales, in the "Hillsborough," out of 306 who embarked, 100 were lost, and in the "Atlas," out of 175 who embarked, 61 were lost. In the period from 1795 to 1801, out of 3,833 convicts who embarked, 385 died, or nearly 1 in 10. But after the principle of pecuniary responsibility for the lives of passengers began to be applied, in 1801, out of 2,398 who embarked only 52 died, or 1 in 46. The improvement has continued up till the present time, when it amounts to only 1 per cent., which is even lower than the average mortality of the same class living on shore. On the steamers of the Pacific mail line from San Francisco to Shanghai and Hong-kong there appears to be reasonable care exercised. But there are numerous sailing vessels, carrying Chinese passengers elsewhere, which should be made the subjects of strict supervision, and, where the laws are violated, of just punishment.

Those Chinese who make voluntary contracts, which they clearly understand, if honorably and kindly treated, will as a general rule be disposed to abide by them. But it should be a point most carefully guarded by the legislatures and courts in the parts of the country where they shall be employed that they shall be only subjected to pecuniary liabilities in cases of violations of contract. The infliction of corporeal punishment upon them will not alone be a great wrong which may lead to very grave results in the case of the parties inflicting it; it will moreover be a door to the return of those who may have them in their power to the scenes of barbarity and

tyranny for which our nation has too recently atoned to eternal Justice by a sea of blood!

An immigration which does not include virtuous females will of necessity be a vicious, unhappy, troublesome and unprofitable one in any country. It is cheaper to pay the passage of such women-wives, mothers, daughters, sisters-than for any community or any employee of a considerable number of men to be without their offices and influences. The Chinese is a race among which the affection for kindred holds a high place, and over which it exerts a powerful control. Every possible means ought to be employed to check the coming of the wretched, pestilential creatures now brought over, and to encourage the men to bring their families.

And in all the general measures, legislative or commercial, which we adopt in reference to this element of our population, we ought to remember that we are not acting for temporary, or personal, or our own national interests; but that we are set by divine Providence in a position which demands that we should be inspired by loftier and broader motives, which are derived from the suggestions of an enlarged observation of history, a sincere devotion to the best interests of humanity, and by a humble and earnest desire to be but the instruments by which the Supreme Being shall execute his great and beneficent plans.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHINESE LABOR.

IT is important before as a nation we introduce to a

large extent Chinese labor that we should form some distinct conception of its character, of the probabilities of its usefulness and the objections to the employment of it.

The close observer will soon discern that several elements are fundamental in regard to Chinese laborthe antiquity of the social system, the respect for intellectual employment, the density of the population and the difficulty of obtaining subsistence. These make it peculiar in any of those respects in which it differs from labor in any other country. They imply that the institutions have become thoroughly settled; that the arts have attained a high degree of perfection; that there are broad lines between the rich and the poor, and between the intelligent and the ignorant; that the poor must exercise ingenuity, industry and thrift to support life; that the characters of men will be more definite; that the employments will be more numerous and each branch better understood; and that remuneration will be fixed at lower rates.

We may group the characteristics of Chinese labor under four heads: the industry of the people, their

habits of economy, their intelligence, and the variety of their employments. Let us consider each of these more fully.

The first impression made upon the traveler in China in relation to the teeming multitudes around him, after that of the mere novelty of forms and costumes, is the intense industry of nearly every one he sees. The river people do not wait for wind or tide, but drive vessels as large as our brigs and schooners by numerous long sideoars or immense sculling-oars behind or on either quarter of the stern; and the water is crowded with men and women and children, toiling in their vessels of various shapes, buying and selling the commodities of the loom, the garden or the shop. On the shore he looks over a landscape every portion of which except barren hillsides is cultivated to the highest degree and covered with different kinds of grain, vegetables and fruit. The narrow streets are packed with men intent upon all the varied employments of the inhabitants of great cities, and are lined on either side with shops for the manufacture and sale of the countless articles which a numerous and luxurious population can require. Abodes of wealth adorn the more retired streets or the suburbs. The rich project and push their larger schemes; the poor struggle and toil for the subsistence of the passing day. There is no Sabbath known, and few holidays are observed. No equal population of any other part of the Old World is more intently and incessantly busy than that of the cities and towns of China.

The physical system of the Arab or the North American Indian through successive generations has become conformed to his roving and predacious habits. His

blood and flesh are like those of the wild animals of the forest or the desert. But ages of toil seem to have tamed the nature of the Chinese till now patience and diligence have become elements of both mind and body. They work because they love work, honor work and maintain happiness and self-respect by work. Work is a necessity of the muscular and mental, like food for the digestive, or air for the pulmonary system.

Foreigners in China see this national characteristic exhibited in manifold ways. The tea they purchase is prepared with an amount of manual labor that is almost beyond belief. The tender leaves are separately rolled, and finished with a twist in the preparation of some kinds of it. The amount and variety of manipulation which the Chinese think necessary and cheerfully bestow upon the tea, to retain its highest flavor, is the principal reason why its culture has not become extensive in any of the numerous other countries where the plant itself thrives. Silk is wrought with a care and embroidered with a delicate and patient skill which are not elsewhere known in the preparation of the fabric. The paintings upon rice-paper are so elaborately finished in every vein and stripe and spot and tint of a butterfly's wing, or of the petals of a tiger lily, or of the bright feathers of a tropical pheasant, that one has to examine them carefully to be satisfied that they are not the article itself attached to the surface. In the ordinary employments of the household, whatever faults may be attributed to the Chinese indolence is not included among them. They are ready, at all hours, promptly and patiently to obey all orders which they understand and which relate to their own sphere.