lves; not only because many of them
wear clothes which appear to have been handed down from their remotest
ancestors, but they have ancient ideas. This boy, although he is of such
a cheerful temperament, seems always to keep his own death in view, as
much as the old Egyptian kings ever did. He pays a kind of burial-fee,
amounting to nearly a quarter of his wages, every month, to some one
appointed by the Chinese company to which he belongs; and when R----
remonstrated with him, and told him how foolish and unnecessary it was,
and how much better it would be to spend the money for something else,
he seemed to regard his remarks with great horror, and said he _must_
pay it; to leave off wasn't to be thought of, for then, he said, he
should have "no hole to get into" (meaning no grave), and there would be
no apples thrown away at his funeral.

We one day heard him speaking of one of his countrymen as an Irish
Chinaman; and, when we asked him what he meant, he said there were
Irish Chinamen, French Chinamen, and Spanish Chinamen. Our own
observation seems to confirm this idea. We see often among them the
light, careless temperament which marks the French; these are the men
who support the theatres, and patronize the gaming-dens. The grave,
serene Spanish is the common type; and, since the hoodlum spirit has
broken out among the Californians, it has called out a coarse, rough
class among the Chinese, corresponding to the lower grades of the Irish.
To this class belong the "Highbinders,"--men bound by secret oaths to
murder, robbery, and outrage. The actual crimes that can be justly
charged against the Chinese in this country are due, almost wholly, to
the spirit that evoked these men.

Their ingenuity is equal to their perseverance in accomplishing an end.
The Six Companies having made a regulation in regard to the wash-houses,
that there should be at least fifteen houses between every two of them,
one of the washmen was notified that he must give up his business, there
being only fourteen houses between his and the next establishment.
Although the Six Companies' directions are absolute law, he had no idea
of doing this. He carefully examined the fourteen buildings, and found
among them a deserted pickle manufactory, which he hired for one day,
with the privilege of putting up a partition which would divide it into
two houses,--in that way fulfilling the requirements of the law.

APRIL 30, 1877.

There has lately bee