. It may thus be said of him, as of the Confucian
Superior Man, "riches adorn his house and virtue his person, his heart
is expanded, and his body is at ease."

A Szechuen man, a native of Chungking, fifty-nine years of age, Wong is
a man of immense wealth, his bank being known all over China, and having
branches in capital cities so far distant from each other as Peking,
Canton, Kweiyang, Shanghai, Hankow, Nanchang, Soochow, Hangchow, and
Chungking. I may add that he has smoked opium for many years.

I formed a high opinion of the intelligence of Wong. He questioned me
like an insurance doctor as to my family history, and professed himself
charmed with the amazing richness in sons of my most honourable family.
He had heard of my native country, which he called _Hsin Chin Shan_, the
"New Gold Mountain," to distinguish it from the _Lao Chin Shan_, the
"Old Gold Mountain," as the Chinese term California. I was the more
pleased to find that Wong had some knowledge of Australia and its gold,
because a few months before I had been pained by an incident bearing on
this very subject, which occurred to me in the highly civilised city of
Manila, in the Philippine Islands. On an afternoon in August, 1893, I
stood in the Augustine Church, in Old Manila, to witness the funeral
service of the Padre Provincial of the Augustines. It was the first
occasion for one hundred and twenty-three years that the Provincial of
the Order had died while in the actual exercise of his office, and it
was known that the ceremony would be one of the most imposing ever seen
in the Islands. The fine old church, built by the son of the architect
of the Escorial--the only building in Manila left standing by the
earthquake of 1645--was crowded with mourners, and almost every
notability of the province was said to be present. During the service
two young Spaniards, students from the University close by, pushed their
way in beside me. Wishing to learn who were the more distinguished of
the mourners, I asked the students to kindly point out to me the
Governor-General (Blanco), and other prominent officials, and they did
so with agreeable courtesy. When the service was finished I thanked them
for the trouble they had taken and was coming away, when one of them
stopped me.

"Pardon me, Caballero," he said, "but will you do me the favour to tell
me where you come from?"

"I am from Australia."

"From Austria! so then you come from Austria?"

"No, sir, from