this country at
all."

And I forgot all about India for ten days while I went out to dinners
and watched the social customs of the people, which are entirely
different from our customs, and was introduced to the men of many
millions. These persons are harmless in their earlier stages; that is
to say, a man worth three or four million dollars may be a good talker,
clever, amusing, and of the world; a man with twice that amount is to be
avoided; and a twenty-million man is--just twenty millions. Take an
instance. I was speaking to a newspaper man about seeing the proprietor
of his journal. My friend snorted indignantly: "See _him_! Great Scott!
_No!_ If he happens to appear in the office, I have to associate with
him; but, thank Heaven, outside of that I move in circles where he
cannot come."

And yet the first thing I have been taught to believe is that money was
everything in America!

No. XXIV

SHOWS HOW THROUGH FOLLY I ASSISTED AT A MURDER AND WAS AFRAID. THE RULE
OF THE DEMOCRACY AND THE DESPOTISM OF THE ALIEN.

"Poor men--God made, and all for that!"

It was a bad business throughout, and the only consolation is that it
was all my fault. A man took me round the Chinese quarter of San
Francisco, which is a ward of the city of Canton set down in the most
eligible business-quarter of the place. The Chinaman with his usual
skill has possessed himself of good brick fire-proof buildings and,
following instinct, has packed each tenement with hundreds of souls, all
living in filth and squalor not to be appreciated save by you in India.
That cursory investigation ought to have sufficed; but I wanted to know
how deep in the earth the Pig-tail had taken root. Therefore I explored
the Chinese quarter a second time and alone, which was foolishness. No
one in the filthy streets (but for the blessed sea breezes San Francisco
would enjoy cholera every season) interfered with my movements, though
many asked for _cumshaw_. I struck a house about four stories high full
of celestial abominations, and began to burrow down; having heard that
these tenements were constructed on the lines of icebergs--two-thirds
below sight level. Downstairs I crawled past Chinamen in bunks,
opium-smokers, brothels, and gambling hells, till I had reached the
second cellar--was in fact, in the labyrinths of a warren. Great is the
wisdom of the Chinaman. In time of trouble that house could be razed to
the ground by the mob, and yet hide a