th him. I told him I should not start till after the
arrival of the steamer from England, and he requires that time to get
ready, as it appears that he had only twelve hours' notice that he was
to take me when he left England. On Tuesday, at noon, the Chinese
arrived with an address to me. I had a reply prepared, which was
translated into Malay, and read by a native. It is a most
extraordinary circumstance that, in this place, where there are some
60,000 or 70,000 Chinese, and where the Europeans are always imagining
that they are plotting, &c., there is not a single European who can
speak their language. No doubt this is a great source of
misunderstanding. The last row, which did _not_ end in a massacre, but
which might have done so, originated in the receipt of certain police
regulations from Calcutta. These regulations were ill translated, and
published after Christmas Day. The Chinese, believing that they
authorised the police to enter their houses at all periods, to
interfere with their amusements at the New Year, &c., shut up their
shops, which is their constitutional mode of expressing
dissatisfaction. It was immediately inferred in certain quarters that
the Chinese intended, out of sympathy with the Cantonese, to murder
all the Europeans. Luckily the Governor thought it advisable to
explain to them what the obnoxious ordinances really meant before
proceeding to exterminate them, and a few hours of explanation had the
effect of inducing them to re-open their shops, and go on quietly with
their usual avocations. Just the same thing happened at Penang. There
too, because the Chinamen showed some disinclination to obey
regulations of police which interfered with their amusements and
habits, a plot against the Europeans was immediately suspected, and
great indignation expressed because it was not put down with _vigour_!

[Sidenote: The Sultan of Johore.]
[Sidenote: _Freres Chretiens_.]
[Sidenote: _Soeurs_.]

_June 13th_.--I have just been interrupted to go and see the Sultan of
Johore. These princes in this country, and indeed all over the East,
are spoilt from their childhood, all their passions indulged and
fostered by their parents, who say, 'What is the use of being a
prince, if he may not have more _ghee_, etc. etc. than his
neighbours?' I do not see what can be done for them. At t