the Malay Islands, and the South Sea Islands, to collect edible
birds' nests, trepang, ornamental woods, pearls, pearl-shells,
tortoise-shell, and the skins of birds of paradise. At Singapore, there
are hundreds of Chinese shopkeepers, who sell all kinds of miscellaneous
articles, such as penknives, cotton thread, writing-paper, gunpowder,
and corkscrews, often at a price which would be considered cheap even in
England.

But it is when the Chinaman settles in some American or Australian town
that his special abilities are best seen. He is surrounded and
outnumbered by Englishmen and Americans, and is entirely under their
government; and yet there are some kinds of work which he can do so well
and so cheaply that no European can compete with him. He is an excellent
gardener in a small way, and if he can obtain only a very little plot of
ground, he will cultivate it so constantly and so carefully that he will
be able to maintain himself in comfort with the money which he obtains
from the sale of his vegetables and fruits. Many gardens belonging to
Chinamen are to be seen on the outskirts of the cities of Australia and
New Zealand, and early in the morning the Chinamen hawk their products
through the streets.

The Chinaman is equally good as a laundryman, and in some cities the
Chinese colonists do the whole of the laundry-work. In San Francisco,
where there are thousands of Chinese, all the washing is performed by
them. They work in the open air, just as the English and Scotch women
used to do in their public washing-grounds, standing in the water
rubbing and wringing their clothes. They have a curious practice in
ironing, of spraying the linen with water through their mouths. They do
the work very thoroughly, and at the same time cheaply. A Chinaman will
live very comfortably on forty pounds a year, and, as he is an almost
incessant worker, he can make sufficient money for his needs by work
which is very poorly paid from an Englishman's point of view.

A BUSY WORLD.

What a busy world is this!
Everything I view
Has some task it must not miss--
Something it must do;
There is nothing idle stands,
All things work with head or hands.

All day long the busy Sun
Runneth through the skies,
And its work is never done
Till the stars arise:
Then it goes to other lands,
Nor one moment idle stands.

In this world where all things work,
I must bus