ne of them
who had not at least a thousand dollars in specie with him, and many had
three times that amount, which would be sufficient to support them for
life and without labor in their native land. The same authority assured
us that it did not cost over ten cents a day each to feed these men,
they being quite content with boiled rice, three times a day, seasoned
with a little dried fish or curry. Their passage money costs them
forty-five dollars each, including food, so there is a liberal margin
for profit to the ship. A careful estimate was made which showed that
these passengers were taking out of the country over half a million of
dollars in specie, though they had landed on our shores without a dollar
in their pockets, and the number returning by the Belgic was below the
general average. This proved the complaint of the people of San
Francisco to be correct so far as figures went, namely, that the Chinese
came to take away what they earned, and that they do not spend any of
their wages in this country, living on almost nothing and hoarding what
they receive. Still, there is another side to this case. We must
remember that they leave behind them the result of their labor at least,
which in fact represents just so much capital. It is Chinese labor which
has built the railroads of California, dug her canals, forwarded her
public works, erected the houses of San Francisco, discharged and loaded
her shipping, until she has grown up to her present high position in the
political and commercial world.

Six of our cabin passengers were missionaries, four ladies and two
gentlemen, bound to Japan and China; the rest were travelers intent upon
business or pleasure. Of these some were seriously prostrated by
seasickness, and especially the ladies; but this finally passed away,
the greatest sufferers being exempt from it during the last half of the
voyage. The inevitable monotony of our daily life was somewhat
oppressive, there being few events to vary it. Occasionally a whale was
sighted, throwing up a small column of water, as it rose at intervals to
the surface, and thus marking its course, leading the passengers to some
discussion as to the nature of this monster of the deep, whether it was
properly a fish at all. A whale can be as surely drowned in the water as
a man, but this cannot be said of a fish. A whale differs also in many
other respects from the finny tribe proper. They bring forth living
young, they breathe atmos