Round the World | Page 8

proclaim that this is a "white man's
country," and "down with the nigger and the Heathen Chinee," and
"three cheers for whiskey and a free fight!" The Chinese question has
not reached a stage requiring legislation, nor, if let alone, will it do so

for centuries to come--and not then unless the Chinese change their
religious ideas, which they have not done for thousands of years, and
are not likely to do in our time.
* * * * *
FRIDAY, November 1
We saw flying-fishes to-day for the first time. The captain had been
telling us as we approached the 3Oth degree of latitude that we should
see these curiosities, and, sure enough, while standing on the bridge
this morning, looking toward the bow, I saw three objects rise out of
the water and fly from us. One seemed as large as a herring, the others
were like humming-birds. They have much larger wings than I had
supposed, and shine brightly in the sun as they fly. We have on board a
gentleman connected with the Dutch Government, who visits their
out-of-the-way possessions in the Malay Archipelago. He has been
where a white man never was before--in the interior of New
Guinea--and has seen strange things. He tells us that the birds of
paradise take seven years to develop. The first year male and female are
alike, but year after year the male acquires brighter feathers, until it
becomes the superb bird we know. Some one remarked that it is just the
reverse with the birds of paradise in man's creation. Here our Eve puts
on gayer plumage year after year until finally she develops into a still
more superb bird, while the male remains the same sober-suited fowl
he was at first; but this was from a bachelor, I think.
We are in a new world, and the talk is all of people and islands and
animals we never heard of. Do you know, for instance, that such a
potentate as the Sultan of Terantor exists? and, ambitious ruler that he
is, that he now claims tribute from the whole of New Guinea? Then,
again, let me tell you that the Sultan of Burnei gets $6,000 per year
tribute from Setwanak, and, like a grasping tyrant, demands more;
hence the wars which rage in that quarter of the globe. The Setwanaks
have appealed to the "God of Battles," and are no doubt shouting on all
hands that "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God;" and "Millions
for defence; not a cent for tribute." Look out for their forthcoming
declaration of independence; and why shouldn't they have their
"_Whereases_" as well as your even Christian? The only trouble is that
when monarchs fight nothing is settled as a rule; what one loses to-day,
he tries to win back to-morrow, and so the masses are kept in a state of

perpetual war, or preparation for war, equally expensive. If Herbert
Spencer had never formulated anything but the law underlying these
sad contentions between man and man, he would have deserved to rank
as one of our greatest benefactors. "When power is arbitrarily held by
chief or king, the military spirit is developed, and wars of conquest and
dynasties ensue; and just in proportion as power is obtained by the
people, the industrial type is developed and peace ensues." Therefore
the greatest thinker of the age is a republican. I quote from memory, but
the substance is there, and it is because this law is true that there is
hope for the future of the world, for everywhere the people are
marching to political power. England is yet the world's greatest
offender, because she is still ruled by the few, her boasted
representative system being only a sham. When the masses do really
govern, England will be pacific and make friends throughout the world
instead of enemies, "and sing the songs of peace to all her neighbors."
The Dutch have 35,000,000 under their sway in Java and the other
Malay Islands; as many as Great Britain has within her borders. The
world gets most of its spices and its coffee from these people. So the
Dutch are not to be credited only with having taken Holland, you see.
Another Chinaman is reported gone to-day: all have to be embalmed, of
course, and the doctor gets as his fee $12.50 for each corpse. He
complained to me the other day that these people would not take his
medicines, and, Scotchman--like, didn't see the point I made--that they
might naturally hesitate to swallow the potions of one whose highest
reward arose from a fatal result. The Heathen Chinee is not a fool. The
coffins of the dead on the wheel-house begin to make quite a show;
they are covered with canvas, but one will sometimes