emigrated to
this country. One looks in vain among the smooth chins, shaved heads,
and almond eyes of the crowd for signs of intelligence and manliness.
There are no tokens of humor or cheerfulness to be seen, but in their
place there is plenty of apparent cunning, slyness, and deceit, if there
is any truth in physiognomy. With the Japanese the traveller feels
himself constantly sympathizing. He goes among them freely, he enters
their houses and drinks tea with them; but not so with the Chinese. In
place of affiliation we realize a constant sense of repulsion.

We embark at Hong Kong for Singapore by the way of the China Sea and the
Gulf of Siam. The northerly wind favors us, causing the ship to rush
through the turbulent waters like a race-horse. The Philippine Islands
are passed, and leaving Borneo on our port-bow as we draw near to the
Equatorial Line, the ship is steered due west for the mouth of the
Malacca Straits. Off the Gulf of Siam we are pretty sure to get a view
of a water-spout, and it is to be hoped that it may be a goodly distance
from us. Atmospheric and ocean currents meet here, from the China Sea
northward, from the Malacca Straits south and west, and from the Pacific
Ocean eastward, mingling off the Gulf of Siam, and causing, very
naturally, a confusion of the elements, resulting sometimes in producing
these wind and water phenomena. A water-spout is a miniature cyclone, an
eddy of the wind rotating with such velocity as to suck up a column of
water from the sea to the height of one or two hundred feet. This column
of water appears to be largest at the top and bottom, and contracted in
the middle. If it were to fall foul of a ship and break, it would surely
wreck and submerge her. Modern science shows that all storms are
cyclonic; that is, they are circular eddies of wind of greater or less
diameter. The power of these cyclones is more apparent upon the sea than
upon the land, where the obstruction is naturally greater. Yet we know
how destructive they sometimes prove in our Western States.

Singapore is the chief port of the Malacca Straits, and is an island
lying just off the southern point of Asia, thirty miles long and half as
wide, containing a population of about a hundred thousand. Here, upon
landing, we are surrounded by tropical luxuriance, the palm and cocoanut
trees looming above our heads and shading whole groves of bananas. The
most precious spices, the richest fruits, the gaudiest feath