return to China, or, if he is
so unfortunate as to die while in exile, that his bones will be sent
home. This very important matter is one of the duties of the six
companies. This comforting assurance, however, is not shared in by the
women, whom, excepting those who are the wives of men of the better
class, are brought over by a vile class of traders, and sold as
chattels, or slaves, having no relation to the six companies.

There is in the Chinese quarters a ghastly underground place, where the
bones of the departed are conveyed, after they have remained a certain
time in the ground. Here they are scraped, cleaned and packed,
preparatory to their last journey back to the fatherland, and their
final resting place. Among the Chinese residents of San Francisco there
are comparatively few of those of the higher class. The difference
between them and the masses is very pronounced, and they appreciate the
difference to the fullest extent. They are educated, well-bred
gentlemen. The coolie and lower class are an ignorant, repulsive and
ill-mannered people. They seem to be mere brutes, and not a gleam of
intelligence is apparent in their dull, expressionless faces.

The "Highbinders" are bound together by solemn obligations, and are the
instruments used by other Chinamen to avenge their real or fancied
wrongs. The Highbinders are organized into lodges or tongs, which are
engaged in constant feuds with each other. They wage open warfare, and
so deadly is their mutual hatred, that the war ceases only when the last
individual who has come under the ban of a rival tong has been
sacrificed. These feuds resemble the vendettas in some of the Southern
States of Europe, and they defy all efforts of the police to suppress
them. Murders are, consequently, frequent, but it is next to impossible
to identify the murderers, and if a Chinaman is arrested on suspicion,
or even almost positive evidence of guilt, the trial uniformly ends in a
failure to convict.

The theatres are, to the visitor, probably the most interesting feature
of the Chinese quarters. A few years ago there were several of these
playhouses, but the number is now reduced to two. The charge of
admission is 25 cents or 50 cents.

The white people who, out of curiosity, attend a performance, generally
pay more, and are given more comfortable seats upon the stage. The stage
is a primitive affair. It boasts of no curtain, footlights or scenery of
any kind.

When, during t