er. We were passing the spot where, years before, a ship had sunk
with a great number of Chinese on board. Our Chinese were sending off
fire crackers and burning thousands and thousands of small papers of
various colors and shapes, with six to ten holes in each paper. Some
were burning incense and praying before their Joss. The interpreter
told us that every time a steamer passes they go through these rites to
keep the Devils away from the souls of the shipwrecked Chinese. Before
any Evil Spirit can reach a soul it must go through each one of the
holes in the burnt papers that were cast overboard.

Bishop Potter asked us one day if we thought those Chinese people
were our brethren. I am sure it took some Christian charity to decide
that they were. One of these "brethren" was a Salvation Army man,
who was married to an American woman. They were living in heathen
quarters between decks and each day labored to teach the way of
salvation. Many of these poor people died during the passage; the
bodies were placed in boxes to be carried to their native land. A
large per cent. of the whole number seemed to be going home to die,
so emaciated and feeble were they.

There was fitted up in one of the bunks in the hold of the vessel a
Joss house. I did not dare to see it, but I learned that there was
the usual pyramid of shelves containing amongst them the gods of War
and Peace. Before each god is a small vessel of sand to hold the Joss
sticks, a perfumed taper to be burned in honor of the favorite deity,
and there is often added a cup of tea and a portion of rice. There are
no priests or preachers, but some man buys the privilege of running
the Joss house, and charges each worshipper a small fee. The devotee
falls on his knees, lays his forehead to the floor, and invocates
the god of his choice. Soothsayers are always in attendance, and for
a small sum one may know his future.

As between Chinese and Japanese, for fidelity, honesty, veracity and
uprightness, my impression is largely in favor of the Chinese as a
race. Captain Finch told me that on this ship, the Gaelic, over which he
had had charge for the past fifteen years, he had had, as head waiter,
the same Chinaman that he started out with, and in all this period
of service he never had occasion to question the integrity of this
most faithful servant, who in the entire time had not been absent
from the ship more than three days in all. On these rare occasions,
this capable