, the above,
his national form of oath, has been resorted to. He has among us some
secret government of his own. Before his secret tribunals more than
one Mongolian has been hurried in Star-Chamber fashion, and never
seen afterward. The nature of the offences thus visited by secret and
bloody punishment is scarcely known to Americans. He has two chief
deities--a god and a devil. Most of his prayers are offered to his
devil. His god, he says, being good and well-disposed, it is not
necessary to propitiate him. But his devil is ugly, and must be won
over by offering and petition. Once a year, wherever collected in any
number, he builds a flimsy sort of temple, decorates it with ornaments
of tinsel, lays piles of fruit, meats and sugared delicacies on an
altar, keeps up night and day a steady crash of gongs, and installs
therein some great, uncouth wooden idols. When this period of worship
is over the "josh-house" disappears, and the idols are unceremoniously
stowed away among other useless lumber.

He shaves with an instrument resembling a butcher's cleaver in
miniature. Nature generally denies him beard, so he shaves what a
sailor would term the fore and after part of his head. He reaps his
hirsute crop dry, using no lather. His cue is pieced out by silken
braid, so interwoven as gradually to taper into a slim tassel,
something like a Missouri mule-driver's "black snake" whip-lash. To
lose this cue is to lose caste and standing among his fellows. No
misfortune for him can be greater.

Coarse cowhide boots are the only articles of American wear that he
favors. He inclines to buy the largest sizes, thinking he thereby gets
the most for his money, and when his No. 7 feet wobble and chafe in
No. 12 boots he complains that they "fit too much."

He cultivates the vegetables of his native land in California. They
are curiosities like himself. One resembles our string-bean, but is
circular in shape and from two to three feet in length. It is not
in the least stringy, breaks off short and crisp, boils tender very
quickly and affords excellent eating. He is a very careful cultivator,
and will spend hours picking off dead leaves and insects from the
young plants. When he finds a dead cat, rat, dog or chicken, he throws
it into a small vat of water, allows it to decompose, and sprinkles
the liquid fertilizer thus obtained over his plantation. Watermelon
and pumpkin seeds are for him dessert delicacies. He consumes his
garden pro