hing, I say, gained by it when the
origin is forgotten, because the bond of a common creed _does_ do a
little towards drawing these different races together. They are not
separated from each other by that impassable barrier of mutual
contempt, suspicion, and antipathy, which alienates us from the
unhappy natives in those lands where we settle ourselves among
inferior orders of men. An administrative net of a not very flexible
nature encloses all, and keeps each member of the body politic pretty
closely to the post allotted to him; but the belief in a common
humanity, drawn perhaps rather from the traditions of the early, than
from the practice of the modern church, runs like a silken thread
through the iron tissue. One feels a little softened and sublimated
when one passes from Hong-Kong, where the devil is worshipped in his
naked deformity, to this place where he displays at least some of the
feathers which he wore before he fell. So you must pardon me, if my
letter reflects in some measure the phase through which my mind is
passing.

[Sidenote: State of the Island.]

I found next me at breakfast the Chief of the _Secretariat_, an
intelligent man, speaking French. He confirmed a good many of the
impressions which my own observations had led me to form respecting
the state of affairs here. The army is composed of natives; officers
and non-commissioned officers, Spanish. The artillery, or a portion of
it, also Spanish. The native Indians pay a capitation tax of $1 a
head; half-castes double; Chinese $50, $30, or $12. As usual, my poor
Chinamen are hated and squeezed. They are not obliged to become
Catholics, but the native Indian women can/will not marry them
unless they are, and they are not allowed to make public profession of
any other religion.... After breakfast came in an English merchant,
who made the passage from Suez to Singapore with me in 1857. He says
foreigners are very well treated here, but they have some difficulties
about customs duties, which I have asked him to state in writing to
me, that I may say a word about them if occasion offers. The greater
part of the trade here is in English hands.

[Sidenote: Indian women.]

To pass from the higher thoughts which suggested themselves when I
visited the churches this morning, I may tell you that I saw some of
the devo