NEW PACIFIC HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE GIFT OF MAY TREAT MORRISON IN MEMORY OF ALEXANDER F MORRISON THE NLV PACIFIC HVBERT HOWE BANCROFT ^ OTHER WORKS WEST AMERICAN SERIES OF HISTORIES RESOURCES OF MEXICO LITERARY INDUSTRIES THE BOOK OF THE FAIR THE BOOK OF WEALTH RETROSPECTION THE NEW PACIFIC BY HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT it REVISED EDITION There shall be sung another golden age, The rise of empire and of arts, The good and great inspiring epic rage, The wisest heads and noblest hearts. Not such as Europe breeds in her decay: Such as she had when fresh and young, When heavenly flame did animate her clay, By future poet shall be sung. Westward the course of empire takes its way; The first four acts already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day: Time's noblest offspring is its last. REHKEI.KY. NEW YORK THE BANCROFT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1918 Copyright, 1899, by Hubert H. Bancroft Copyright, 1912, by Hubert H. Bancroft Electrotyped and printed November, 1899; reprinted March, 1900, May, 1900; Revised and reprinted September, 1912, October, 1912. IN THE UNITED S of AMERICA THE TBOW PRESS, NEW YORK *\\ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Now AND THEN ........ 1 11. THE YEAR OF NINETY-EIGHT ..... 15 III. EUROPEAN BARBARISM IN AMERICA . . . . 33 IV. THE AWAKENING ... ...... 54 V. THE FAK EAST . . *:" . . . . . 73 VI. EUROPE IN ASIA ........ 108 VII. THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS . . . 151 VIII. INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION . 199 IX. RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC ..... 210 X. CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC ...... 236 xi. MINES AND MANUFACTURES ..... 259 XII. COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC ..... 292 XIII. A GLANCE BACKWARD . . ..... 338 XIV. SOUTH SEA ISLES ........ 358 XV. HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC . . . 368 XVI. PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO AND ASIATIC ISLES . 386 XVII. RACE PROBLEMS . . . . . ... . 403 XVIII. NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC . . . 436 C 427623 vi CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE XIX. CRUSOE ISLAND 480 XX. LEAVES FROM THE LOG BOOKS OP THE PIRATES . 497 XXI. THE TERRESTRIAL PARADISE 519 XXII. STORY OF CALAFIA, QUEEN OF CALIFORNIA . . 535 INDEX 545 PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION THE occupation of the Pacific by the world's foremost civ- ilization will prove the most absorbing problem of the coming centuries. The attractions are superior to any hitherto offered to progressive peoples, soils of every sort, climates of every variety, airs of every temperature, wealth in every form. All new lands have their primeval resources to draw from. As compared with the seats of ancient empires in the Medi- terranean, of Syria and Carthage, of Greece and Rome, or of the less prolific shores of the broader Atlantic, whether of Eu- rope, Greenland, or America, the untouched wealth of the Pa- cific is vastly superior to them all. So that with the natural and inevitable progression of the race, while the material reduction of the Pacific is going on, we may with reasonable confidence predict for these shores a culture and development such as the world has never imag- ined. The wealth of the Pacific, for the most part lightly held by inferior peoples, invites the presence of the strong and domi- nant. The great ocean has waited long for fit occupancy and ownership. This was well that the best results might ensue. Many centuries must elapse before a crude culture planted in aboriginal regions can attain to a front rank; wherefore a transplanted civilization of a higher order were better here, and it should be drawn from the purest sources. We have in China an example of arrested progress, of prog- ress paralyzed by long lapses of dead monotony and exclusive- ness. In Spanish America we see what work sixteenth century viii PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION civilization makes of it. Change the quality of humanity in these countries and the face of the world is changed. Here is room for a new and regenerated humanity. Men are gregarious ; the tendency of population is toward aggrega- tion, and large cities are not conducive to the highest well being. A few profit while the many suffer from the blighting influence of the merciless rich and the suffocating areas of vice. Here is room to spread out, with ocean air and frontage enough for all, and with endless facilities for many small cities instead of a few large ones. It is fitting that the Anglo-Saxon race should dominate these waters, and that English should be the language of the new civilization. Let us hope that on both sides of the Atlantic may now quickly appear a revival of those noble ideals that tend to in- tellectual and industrial supremacy. All former editions of THE NEW PACIFIC having been long since exhausted, a revision at this time was deemed expedient. NEW YORK, June 17, 1912 THE JSTEW PACIFIC *^ f I .! rte "/ V o'-V'-v'-'.'-'.'.''--'-^' , Borin \ " / / ">-^iV Knnkorum "vC ft \ >/'/ f y ISLANDS ESSO VANCOUVER>:> v v V "/.' ' ISLAND \X\(i!!" f U T. . MANITOBA VI MMHi Sao Francico%S Santa BarbaraV; IWashingloa ^^f^yjK^ + D " ?< \^L : lj^w^rIM "]"A^j;.~'f I - ^%ti,p<''- E 1 " s . CMEw :' V OJ- M *. CLA ; K . 81 *; < LOWER l^^V'^f i * oci!;xAr ,; MARSHALL .' .'ISLANDS CAROLINE IS. / "1 ^ /COl-OMBIA'V/: . r>,^ /'^'" : . ; ' : '; -;.O. C .. '' UNION GROUP *. i A' ARQUESAS IS. ^ >r * ft<;nmpnu>t e SAMOAN IS. --..CTV INDIAN *"r? ^r n ' e *. s< g iET r J\Paldfer|top^4Cooktown | ^. F . IJMS - '. ? '.'' Roeburne OCEANS .LOVALTY . 'AUSTRAL RbckbamptonV V"- TorToi is. '..'?. Aricay \ >_ Cobijafc .'W^i Carnarvon^ A U S vT R A L ; I A ") r ' v P i < f <^P^ I Ouldabinna . : : j* Pertho f < ) s y (lne y SorthCaj* ... t~^/~^?*J $&<:-., I Auckland^, .Albany ,ft /^~>M Mbmrue M NORTH ,. ^ NEw4> _ ^Wellington ZEALAND/ ') ^CHATHAM I. EASTER I.* I/ ^ - P!TCA.RI. Coquimbo^ r;^ JUAN FERNANDEZ l.^*'P* r * is VJ > i ^ ^ VAN DIEMEN'SLANO 10 SOUTH, Si? InJemiil^* un .? diB argil] AUCKLAND I. a MACQUARIE I. EMERALD I. BOUNTY I. ANTIPODES I. CAMPBELL I. WELLINGTON ij ||^ SHETLANDSti ^ GRAHAM LAN Of" THE NEW PACIFIC CHAPTEK I NOW AND THEN A DOZEN lines of steamships, or thereabout, now cross the Pacific between America and Asia, where for two and a half centuries a single galleon made its slow and clumsy way forth and back from Acapulco to Manila once a year. Ships com- prising scores of lines ply along shore, unite the islands and mainland, or sail direct for foreign ports. Thus Hawaii and California are linked; Australia with Asia and America and all the larger islands; North America with South America, Africa, and Europe; Japan and China with Southern Asia, the Philippines, Australia, India, and Europe; Alaska and Pacific ports, Mexico and Pacific ports, Central and South America, while the shores, islands, and rivers of Asia swarm with foreign vessels where half a century ago a timid com- merce found for the most part sealed ports. Sixty years ago vessels trading into the Pacific rounded Cape Horn or Good Hope, and creeping along the coasts of America or Asia called at the various points for traffic and made their exchanges, returning after an absence of one or two years. Now, all the important ports have their fast-run- ning steamships, sailing on stated days, direct to or connect- ing with the chief cities of the world. At such places as Vladivostok, Yokohama, Tientsin, Shanghai, and Hongkong twenty-five or fifty steamers of the Pacific Mail, The Canada Pacific, the Northern Pacific, the Oriental and California, the Oriental and Peninsula, the Transsiberian, and the Nipon Yusen Kaisha, or Japan Mail Steamship company, may any day be seen at anchor, or arriving and departing, the last named company alone, the largest but one in the world, operat- ing hundreds of vessels, including eighty-three steamers, and 1 2 THE NEW PACIFIC entering every commercial port of Japan, China, Korea, and Siberia, witlj lines to t Calcutta, the Philippines, Australia, the Hawaiian islands, and -.America. ; Then, besides the swarms of native junks and river. steamboats and fleets of sail, are thou- sands ofcl dr^ign- fe*jtin^ ye^shall be pre- served. So in Korea, where Russian and Japanese unite to promulgate loftier ideals, we find that the cause of education is indeed not neglected. Let us read a few lines from one of their text books, say the Confucianist Scholar's Handbook of the Latitudes and Longitudes, which must mean geography; at all events it was printed at Seoul, in 1896, at government expense, under the auspices of the learned and veracious Sin Ki Sun, minister of education, for teaching the youth of eastern Asia the truth concerning this world and the people thereof. " How grand and glorious is the empire of China, the middle kingdom! She is the largest and richest in the world. The grandest men in the world have all come from the middle em- pire. " Europe is too far away from the centre of civilization, which is the middle kingdom; hence Russians, Turks, English, French, Germans, and Belgians look more like little beasts than men, and their language sounds like the chirping of fowls. " According to the views of recent generations, what west- erners call the Christian religion is vulgar, shallow, and erro- neous, and is an instance of barbarian customs, which are not worthy of serious discussion. " They worship the heavenly spirits, but do not sacrifice to parents; they insult heaven in every way, and overturn the social relations. This is truly a type of barbarian vileness, and is not worthy of treatment in our review of foreign cus- toms, especially as at this time the religion is somewhat on the wane. " Europeans have planted their spawn in every country of the globe except China. All of them honor this religion; but we are surprised to find that the Chinese scholars and people have not escaped contamination by it. " Of late the so-called Christianity has been trying to con- taminate the world with its barbarous teachings. It deceives the masses by its stories of heaven and hell; it interferes with the rights of ancestral worship, and interdicts the custom of bowing before the gods of heaven and earth. These are 102 THE NEW PACIFIC the ravings of a disordered intellect, and are not worth dis- cussing." Japan is the 'natural aftd hereditary enemy of China, their lands being adjacent and their interests often conflicting, while America aivl' Kngjand axe* lifer nafcurai allies, as there are no ancient wrongs, or ' present jealousies, or fear of future en- croachments that are likely to arise. Naturally, these two great Asiatic nations have been always jealous and often at war. The conquest of Japan was seriously considered by the wall-builder, Chin, and Kublai Khan despatched for the sub- jugation of the islanders an armada with 100,000 men, of whom none ever returned. After this the Japanese ravaged the mainland coast so fiercely that China drew back and closed her doors, shutting out with the Japanese all the rest of the world. Japan was just as exclusive until the coming of Com- modore Perry on behalf of the United States, when she was brought to consider a more enlightened and genial policy, and better for China had she profited by her example, and saved the empire perhaps from dissolution. Instead of that, China's hatred increases as Japan progresses. Japan regards China as insensate and blind; China despises Japan as recreant to their common traditions. In war, China is the whale and Japan the harpooner. First in this latter-day epoch Liuchiu, one of China's dependencies, was made to divide her allegiance. Then a move was made on Formosa, the cause alleged being the killing of Liuchiuan fishermen on her eastern coast; the real object of course was spoliation. After that, in 1878, came difficulties in Korea, the destruction of the Japanese consulate at Seoul resulting and being followed by a diplomatic victory for Japan which gave her a political foothold on the peninsula. In the rebellion of 1894 the Korean king appealed to China for aid; Japan also sent soldiers to Seoul, and finally brought on the war with China which yielded the victor no small profit. It is easily seen how completely the Russians are masters of the situation, neither China nor Japan being able to make a move toward hostilities in any direction without their sanction. If Japan conducts herself to Russia's satisfaction, she may be allowed in time to acquire Borneo, first purchasing the interests of the North Borneo company. Terms might perhaps be made also with Rajah Brooke and the sultan of Brunei. Other isl- THE FAR EAST 103 ands Japan may be allowed to gain, but nothing on the main- land, as may be seen by her enforced evacuation of Liaotong. As in all recent conflicts between civilized nations, the war between China and Japan was short, lasting eight months from July 25, 1894, the latter soon proving her superiority on both land and sea. It was in the superior energy and ability on the part of the Japanese which enabled them to win in this war against greater numbers. In the naval battle off the Yalu river the Chinese fleet was badly defeated; four of their war- ships were sunk, and though the Japanese lost none of their vessels, one of them was disabled and three badly damaged, while in all of them was considerable loss of life. One of the greatest of Japan's statesmen was Count Inouye, who in a measure created the new Japan, and ruled Korea and her king during the transition days following the war. In the treaty of peace signed at Shimonoseki in May, 1895, besides securing independence to Korea, Japan received a large indemnity and the island of Formosa, thus becoming a formi- dable power in the Far East. It was the desire of Count Inouye and the emperor of Japan, while giving Korea independence from China to strengthen the royal house of Korea, and re- organize Korean affairs on a more honest and economical basis. By the treaty between Russia and Japan made at Seoul in 1896, the king of Korea must ever have moderate men as ministers, and show clemency to his subjects. Japanese guards may be placed to protect the telegraph line between Fusan and Seoul, fifty men at Fusan, fifty men at Kaheung, and ten men each at ten intermediate posts between Fusan and Seoul. For the protection of Japanese interests at Seoul and the open ports against possible Korean attacks, companies of troops of 200 men each, might be stationed one at Seoul, one at Fusan, and one at Wonsan, and the Russians might have an equal number of troops at the Russian legation and consulates. The Korean government must retrench expenditures, and so far as possible make revenues cover expenses. In case of a loan becoming necessary, the consent of both Japan and Russia must be obtained. One thing there was which came about in the evolution of Korean progress which touched the hearts of the people more sorely than the loss of allegiance to China and the intermed- dling of a detested neighbor, or the assassination of their queen, 104: THE NEW PACIFIC or the imposition of independence; this was the royal edict of December 30th, 1895, enforcing the cropping of the hair. The top-knot of the Korean was as the queue of the Chinaman; it signified respectability, and more; it was a badge of loyalty to one's self and to the nation; it was a mark at once of in- tegrity, patriotism, and religion. As the Korean is more sen- sitive than the Chinaman, so the loss of the hair, which had been for a thousand years sacred to him from its antiquity and associations, was indeed a calamity. But off it must come, for Count Inouye had so willed, and the king had so ordered. With all the rest the Korean top-knot was an emblem of manhood; it was not given to the boy, as in the case of the Chinaman's queue, but was assumed usually with marriage, when the child became legally and socially a man, was clothed for the first time in the raiment of the man, and took a new name by which he was ever afterward known; it came at this turning-point of life, and showed to all the world that he was now indeed a Korean, pride of antiquity uniting with pride of person, of family, of country, to invest this sacred emblem with high distinction. Therefore there was mourning in Ko- rea, and wailing in the household, as the sacrificial shears were placed at the roots of this worshipful tuft of hair. The removal of this emblem of barbarism was warmly ad- vocated by the more intelligent Koreans, particularly by those who had travelled in America and Europe; these supported the Japanese in having it abolished, and the king was forced, not only to sign the decree, but to begin its enforcement by having his own hair cut. " The present cropping of the hair," so runs the decree, " being a measure both advantageous to the preservation of health and convenient for the transaction of business, our sacred lord the king, having in view both administrative reform and national aggrandizement, has taken the lead in his own person. All the subjects of Great Korea should respectfully conform to his majesty's purpose." Now if the Chinese would but bow their stiff necks to the prejudices of civilization, and cut off their queues, perhaps the powers of Europe would forego in their case the pleasures of partition. The enforcement of the hair-cropping edict was not unat- tended by riot. What rendered it the more obnoxious to the people was the fact that priests cut the hair short; and be- THE FAR EAST 105 sides being disgraced, were they all to be turned into odious priests? Throughout the country the people were profoundly moved. First of all the issue was forced on the officials, who if they cut their hair were mobbed by the populace, and if they disobeyed the edict were discharged from office. The disciples of the top-knot desired no monk magistrates to rule over them. Country merchants would transact no business in the city until the offending tuft was removed, and with cut hair they dare not return to their homes. So matters continued, until the llth of February, 1896, when the king, who had been kept in his palace in state confinement by Japanese influence, escaped to the Russian embassy, and there to the delight of his millions of loyal subjects cultivated his tuft again. A new edict was issued restoring the top-knot, in which the king thus reasoned. "As to the cutting of the top-knots, what can we say? Is it such an urgent matter? The traitors, by using force and coercion, brought about the affair. That this measure was taken against our will is no doubt known to all. Nor is it our wish that the conservative subjects throughout the country, moved to righteous indignation, should rise up as they have, circulating false rumors, causing death and injury to one an- other, until the regular troops had to be sent to suppress the disturbances by force. The traitors indulged their poisonous natures in everything. Fingers and hair would fail to count their crimes. The soldiers are our children. So are the insur- gents. Cut any of the ten fingers, and one would cause as much pain as another. Fighting long continued would pour out blood and heap up corpses, hindering communication and traffic. Alas! if this continues the people will all die. The mere contemplation of such consequence provokes our tears and chills our heart. We desire that as soon as orders arrive the soldiers should return to Seoul, and the insurgents to their respective places and occupations. As to the cutting of top- knots, no one shall be forced in this respect, nor as to dress and hats. Do as you please." On the same day, while the people were eagerly devouring the printed repeal of the hair-cropping edict, the members of the king's cabinet who had favored the obnoxious law, all of them that could be caught, were publicly beheaded, the dead body of the premier being insulted and mutilated in the streets. The king of Korea is friendly to foreigners, and is not averse 106 THE NEW PACIFIC to progress, though it -was with reluctance that he took the oath renouncing the suzerainty of China and political reform on receiving from Japan the gift of independence. This com- pulsory oath was taken by the king at the sacred altar of Pukhan, in the depth of a dark pine forest, surrounded by the royal family and nobles and high dignitaries of the court, on the 8th of January, 1895. Prior to the late reorganized government of Korea, the system which prevailed was similar to that of the Ming dynasty of China. The sovereign was absolute, though assisted by a cabinet. The eight provinces of the peninsula were each under a governor and his magistrates, who controlled the local gov- ernments, and the land tax, which was paid in kind. The government was fast falling into decay, the land was scourged by officialism and corruption. Then came Japan with her chastisements, her infliction of independence from China, and her reforms, which perhaps saved this portion of the Asiatic coast from European greed. In Korea, Chinese ascendency came naturally from near- ness of territory and the intercourse of centuries; the Japanese 'are now exercising a mild superintendence, while ascendant over all is Russia. Japan's excuse for making war on Korea, and through her on China, was the misrule and corruption of a country so near as to exercise a demoralizing influence upon her own people. Her real object is seen in the results: Korea has undoubtedly been benefited and is now independent, for which thanks are due to Japan, and Japan secured For- mosa, a liberal indemnity, and much prestige. Japan felt that she had moral and commercial rights in Korea, and that it was her province to abate a nuisance at her door. She had colonies at Fusan, and for centuries her fishermen had secured rich returns from that direction. Japan always had resented the interference of China in Korean affairs. The difference between Russian and Japanese influence in Korea is that the latter assumes control while the real ascen- dency remains with the former. Now that the suzerainty of China was destroyed, Korea turned from the destroyer to a stronger and more sympathetic power. Occupants of the island of Formosa are Pepohoans, Chinese, and native savages. On the Kilai plain is an aboriginal com- munity of Malay savages lately subdued by the Chinese, whose THE FAR EAST 107 religion they abhor and whose language they cannot speak. The Chinaman calls it civilizing, just the same as the Euro- pean, to catch the wild islanders and teach them new ways, or drive them further back into the mountains while seizing and partitioning among themselves their rice lands and other prop- erty. The people live in villages walled by growing bamboo beside a ditch, as the natives of southern California used to throw around their rancheria a wall of cacti. In the onward march of the Malay savage toward Chinese civilization, it is not until he has well advanced that the era of chop-sticks is reached, rice being conveyed to the mouth before that period by the fingers alone. They have long grown tobacco, which is made into cigars of liberal dimensions, six or eight inches long and an inch and a half thick, and smoked by men women and children; this comfort, with the betel-nut for booziness, tends to make life endurable, notwithstanding the sudden rise of imperialism in the United States. Japanese rule in Formosa has thus far proved little less harmonious than Spanish rule in the Philippines. The barbarous tribes of the interior revolted, and insurrection among the southern tribes resulted in battles fought near Taichu and Taihoku in which the natives met with defeat. CHAPTER VI EUBOPE IN ASIA Now that the tsar has brought to the attention of the powers of the world the palpable absurdity of each maintaining a large number of its people as trained fighters, at the cost of the pro- ducing classes, for the purpose now and then of gladiatorial display, would it not be well for some one to call a convention to pass upon a few simple points which would make easier the duties of teachers? It would greatly simplify the course of education if a few questions were answered by those who deter- mine the fate of nations, as, Is it settled that one people may seize and possess themselves of the property of another people if strong enough to do so? If not strong enough alone, may nations rightfully unite to despoil another nation? If so may they rightfully unite to despoil any nation? Call it settled as good politics that trained men-slayers may be turned into the forest to kill the inhabitants, or huddle them in corners to die, on the ground that these wild lands are required for purposes of civilization, and that civilization has a right to them; does this right of superior strength and culture apply as well to the half savage, or to the quarter savage; and if so how civil- ized must be the civilization, and how savage the savagism before the Author of all peoples, and all power, and all justice and humanity may be invoked to witness the righteousness of the robber's cause? Is Germany sufficiently civilized to capt- ure and partition Central America on this hypothesis? May the powers unite and demand the division among them of Russia, where there is more waste land than in Africa? Spain wants a piece of China; suppose China were to demand the partition of Spain, or Italy, among the powers of Asia. that is to say the emperors of China and Japan, and Aguinaldo, emperor of the Philippines, could the plea be justly set up that Spain and Italy were too advanced and the powers of Asia 108 EUROPE IN ASIA 109 not advanced enough to permit of such a course? And this too when Romulus and Remus were sucking the wolf while the inhabitants of the Far East were studying the stars of heaven? Is isolation a crime? If not why is China punished for it? If so, how much of isolation may the anti-imperialists of the United States be permitted to indulge in before England has the international right to come thundering at our portal, de- manding the door to be opened? Is exclusiveness a crime? If not, why is China punished for it? If so, why are not Aus- tralia and America punished for excluding the Chinese? Old men and old women and old nations are a nuisance and deserve obliteration; how old or weak or useless must a man or woman or nation become in order to justify extermination? Could some of these questions, round which the diplomats keep up their war dance, be settled for the benefit of the simple, how much clearer to the mind would be the studies of international ethics and economics! Coming up from the south coastwise in 1590, Portuguese navigators sighted on their right high mountains covered with green foliage, and down whose sides fell silvery cascades on which danced the bright moonlight, while feathery bamboo fanned the terraced foothills below. " Ilha formosa! " they cried, " Beautiful isle! " And the Malayan or aboriginal name of Pekando was dropped, among foreigners at least, the island becoming known to commerce as Formosa. The Portuguese settled there, and for a time were unmolested by any of their friends from Europe. But long before this, in 1514, the Portuguese had found themselves in a Chinese port, and three years later Andrada had made a trading voyage to Canton. And while at one time Formosa was under their sway, only Macao became a perma- nent dependency of the Portuguese in the Far East. Macao, once the seat of commerce in this region has fallen into deca- dence. Of the port and town the Portuguese obtained control in the latter part of the sixteenth century; merchants became wealthy as the town rose to be one of the chief commercial marts of the East, and well-filled storehouses and sumptuous dwellings followed. The Spaniards were on the coast of China soon after the Portuguese, trading there from the Philippines since 1543. Afterward, when Spain and Portugal were under one crown, they had two forts in Formosa. 110 THE NEW PACIFIC Queen Elizabeth of England made unsuccessful advances to the emperor in 1596 to open trade with China, and another futile attempt was made in 1637, when Captain Weddell was sent with an English fleet to Canton. Holland found her way to the Far East, after securing independence in Europe, through war with Spain, attacking her Asiatic possessions and capturing Malacca. But repulsed at Macao in 1622, the Dutch gained a foothold in the Pescadores and in Formosa. Then in 1624 the Dutch appeared farther up the coast, and two years before the Spaniards came. The Spaniards were driven away by the Dutch in 1642, and the Dutch were driven away by the Chinese pirate, Koxinga, who proclaimed himself king. In 1683 Koxinga's successor was expelled by the emperor of China, who first made the island a dependency of Fukien prov- ince, and in 1887 erected it into a province of the empire. At the end of the war which broke out in 1894, the island was ceded to Japan, and the flag of the rising sun floated over Formosa. The Dutchman De Vrees discovered the Kuriles in 1634, the Russians knowing nothing of these islands until 1711, when Kamchatka was visited by Japanese traders. After that the fur tax was collected there, and in 1795 the Eussian American company established a factory at Urup. The world, when first it became known to Europe in its entirety, was partitioned among the powers, the pope finally dividing the unclaimed remnant between Spain and Portugal. After some three centuries the American colonies for the most part achieved their independence. After a period of rest Eng- land turned her attention to modern territorial expansion, se- curing vast additions to her domain in Africa and in Asia. Russia, already possessor of a large part of the world, likewise began to add territory, so that most of the available lands of the temperate zones were in time secured by these two powers. Then France and Germany, perceiving somewhat late that they must have somewhere more lands or become second or third rate powers, set out in search of territory, and the struggle between them all has been fierce for a foothold in every part of the earth. The policy which Count Goluchowski would have Europe enforce in Asia is the policy of foreign influence for the ad- vancement of home interests, the policy of selfishness, of mo- EUROPE IN ASIA 111 uopoly, repression, and closed ports. Great Britain has ever contended for free commercial interchange for all the world, with local self-government, and the taxes of colonists to be imposed by themselves and for their own benefit. Obviously the inhabitants of equatorial regions are not such as rise to culture and self-government, and are destined there- fore to be ruled by some power stronger than themselves. In pursuance of the law based upon the tendencies of the race to the gratification of its ever-increasing necessities, the bountiful food-producing areas under the equator are fast falling into northern hands. Now that so much of this so greatly to be desired domain has been unexpectedly added to our republic, what folly it would be to relinquish it either to those too weak to hold it, or to those whose passion and policy it is to grasp and hold too much. Western civilization has the ascendancy the world over, and were the nations united they might easily parcel out and possess the remainder of the earth among them. But robbery must have a reason; there must be present always some moral, po- litical, or commercial necessity to serve as an excuse for the commission of national crimes; otherwise the remaining por- tions of weak and unappropriated Asia would soon be taken. Eternal justice has found its way thus far, but seems unable to abolish international crime altogether. Apart from Africa, the world's tropical lands are finding rapid partition. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century, five millions of square miles of tropical lands were secured by. continental Europe, while to the United States fell also some square miles. In the conquest and partition of the world, it is not difficult to understand the principle on which the plan is worked in cases where the occupants of valuable lands are naked savages. It is the right of the strong to despoil the weak; and so the aboriginal Americans are killed off almost to a man, Australia is burned over, and Africa is divided. But why China next? The celestial empire has returned to earth and is now rapidly enrobing in the new civilization, which Europe says she must wear or die. Awhile ago it was European religion that defence- less savages must adopt; now it is European culture, the sin- cerity of the French, the integrity of the Italian, and the honor of the Spaniard must be imitated in order to be saved. Certain beasts of the forest, when one of their number becomes old 113 THE NEW PACIFIC and disabled, rush upon it and tread it to death. Let the powers look at their neighbor of the Peninsula, and then, if they will, have at him. If chronic revolution and unrest, with- out half the progress that China is making, are sufficient excuse, there are Central and South America, whose lands are rich and whose people are weak and ignorant. While the European powers to some extent deem it essential to their position in the world to secure, each for itself, as much as possible of such portions of the earth as have not yet been seized by civiliza- tion, there have been many leading statesmen, particularly in England, who regard territorial extension undesirable, and who would refuse fresh accession of domain even when offered free among others Lord Palmerston, Mr Disraeli, and Mr Gladstone. The possession and protection of undesirable coun- tries are a source of weakness to a nation; and this has led to refusals on the part of England and the United States of an- nexations on any terms. Yet it is found necessary at times to annex or assume protection over distant lands which may be necessary to our interests, or lest they fall into unfriendly hands. The influence of Anglo-saxon rule over Asiatics is aptly illustrated at Hongkong, where the government is British and the people part white and part yellow. The Chinamen here not only become good citizens but. successful merchants and manufacturers, sometimes rising from the coolie state to high positions. The coolies are not only common laborers, but sometimes pedlers or petty artisans, until by virtue of thrift and ability they lift themselves up, Englishmen helping rather than deterring them. The Chinaman is a natural speculator, and makes daring ventures, whether in commerce or on the gambling table. When he sets himself up in the attitude of respectability, with the Englishman present for patron and ox-ample, he can be as honest shrewd and energetic as any one. Much of the wealth in the colony of Hongkong is in the hands of the Chinese. When the gold fever first raged in California, in 1849; when the Panama railroad was being constructed in 1852; and again in 1865 when the Central and Union Pacific were hurrying forward their overland railway, thousands of coolies, and many of a better class, poured from every quarter into Hongkong to find passage, and employment as contract laborers or otherwise. The contracting for and transportation EUROPE IN ASIA 113 of coolies became a profitable business, and materially assisted the Hongkong colony to gain a foothold on the Asiatic coast at the most critical period of its history. The coolie traffic which before this was mainly with Singapore, Peru, and the West Indies, was thus diverted to the United States, and Cen- tral and South America, and later to British Columbia and Australia, the Malay peninsula and the Pacific islands. There are few places on earth, be they wet or dry, hot or cold, health- ful or reeking with malaria where the Chinaman will not go when invited by what seems to him his interests. And he makes the best of colonists, being patient, adaptive, and in- dustrious. He lives on little and seldom complains. He makes himself equally at home in Siberia or Burmah, in Alaska or in the Hawaiian or Philippine islands. If fairly treated by con-, tractors and employers, these migrations might become bene- ficial to all concerned. The British treatment of the Chinese is a matter of policy, and dealings with them have been no less successful at the Straits and Rangoon than in China. Nothing shows more clearly Anglo-saxon influence in Japan than party government. Thinking that German institutions would better fit the Japanese mind, the constitution of Japan was largely modeled on that of Russia, while codes of pro- cedure, army organization, and educational administration are essentially German. But the Russian system as embodied in the constitution of Japan was found to be not altogether prac- ticable, and so was modified from time to time, and made to fit emergencies, the new workings leaning decidedly to the English system. Fifty Japanese speak English where one speaks Russian, and the English language and American law are prominent in the open ports. The political weakness of China is due primarily to physical causes, which indeed may all be referred to one cause, the absence of facilities for' easy and rapid intercommunication, all the more necessary where the empire is so vast and the emperor so exclusive. True, they have waterways, but civili- zation and commerce never have reached the stage where long distances can be traversed in regular traffic by either men or merchandise. The various near and distant provinces, sepa- rated by great rivers, mountains, and marshes, with dialects many of them so different that they cannot be understood one district by another; the ignorance, superstition, and des- 114: THE NEW PACIFIC potic rule which attends their poor development; the imposi- tion of burdensome taxes, the poverty of the people, and the absence of inspiriting songs, books, and speeches promoting patriotism, all have a tendency toward provincial autonomy on the part of the ruling class, and for the people at large a selfish disregard of others, near or far, lack of any conception of public duties, hatred toward rulers, and utter indifference as to the country at large, whether it be at war or peace, tribu- tary or independent, prosperous or otherwise, whether the em- peror is well or ill, wise or foolish, the empire united or broken, or whether or not there be any emperor or empire. China's safety, if she has any, lies in the avariciousness and greed of her spoilers, who jealously watch lest one of them should get the better of the others. Were the crowned heads of Europe and their ministers all to read the Chinese classics, and practise the teachings of heathen diplomacy, there would come a reign of righteousness such as has never yet appeared in Christendom. To quote the words of one Chinese diplomat only, Viceroy Tseng of Nanking, who said, "What is bene- ficial to us and not injurious to you, I demand; what is bene- ficial to you and not injurious to us, I concede." Restricted in their limits at home by lines which those who have the balancing of power will not allow to be broken, the nations of Europe feel that they must have territory abroad at any cost. As Curzon says of English commerce:' "How vital is its maintenance, not merely for the sake of our empire but for the sustenance of our people, no arguments are needed to prove. It is only in the East, and especially in the Far East, that we may still hope to keep and to create open markets for British manufactures. Every port, every town, and every village that passes into French or Eussian hands is an outlet lost to Manchester, Bradford, or Bombay." Two agencies are offered the powers 1 of the world with which to break the barriers of Chinese exclusiveness, namely, war and diplomacy, both of which are employed, the former fre- quently with the more decisive results. The great obstacle to diplomatic intercourse in the first instance was the concep- tion the Chinese had of themselves and others, that there was but one celestial and civilized people on earth, and to this all nations must bow. Until Europeans thundered at the door in the name of friendship, China had no friend or equal among EUROPE IN ASIA 115 nations, but only dependencies and tribute-payers, whose sov- ereigns must enter the sacred presence, if at all, in such atti- tudes of grovelling subjection as no European plenipotentiary would by any means assume, even before offsprings of heaven. They are just now learning the lesson that there exist else- where their equals, and perhaps in some things even their superiors. Western civilization signified in China warships, Christian- ity, opium, railways, telegraphs; they wanted none of these, and did their best to stamp them out as soon as they appeared. In opposing opium, they encountered disastrous war. The first telegraph line, established about 1858 by an English mer- chant to operate between Shanghai andWusung, was destroyed by a mob with the secret approbation of the authorities, who feared with the true instinct of weakness the presence of for- eign influence. The first railway, begun at Shanghai, was pur- chased by the authorities and destroyed. No progress could be made toward the enlightenment of the Chinese save by war; and to protect themselves from the attacks of foreigners, they were forced to adopt foreign devices, as a telegraph in For- mosa to give information of the movements of the Japanese, the purchase of warships, and the construction of a railway from Tientsin toward the northeast, to frustrate if possible Russia's Siberian scheme. The day of China's deliverance from herself is long in com- ing, but let us hope will come at last. Let us recall how in- terest in the west was first awakened by the travellers Polo and Mandeville, and what Europe was then, and what Asia was. When Vasco da Gama rounded the cape of Good Hope and Yernak crossed the Ural, two paths were opened to eastern Asia, which were soon filled with lovers of lust and power, and pilgrims to the shrine of mammon. First were the Rus- sians, themselves a tribe of Tartars, and conquered by a son of Genghis Khan. They were then feeble, and far away, and China was not afraid of them. Their agents and emissaries found entrance to Peking, and in due time they obtained the cession of the region watered by the lower Amur, with a thousand miles of seacoast, including part of Manchuria. When China saw to what a colossus her pigmy had grown, saw mili- tary and naval fortresses erected near her border and within easy access of her capital, she was indeed troubled. Yet Russia 116 THE NEW PACIFIC and China have managed to live of late without much fighting. Overstepping their boundary during the reign of Kanghi, the Chinese captured the garrison at Albazin, but the Russians took no lasting offense. War was threatened in 1880 over the recovery of Hi, which territory Russia had occupied during a Mohammedan revolt, but China's superior diplomacy, and the pacific influence of General Gordon, averted bloodshed. No small anxiety has come from the building so near the Chi- nese border of the transsiberian railway, not so much on ac- count of its agency in war, as a means of peopling the con- tiguous country in times of peace. Though Russia is quiet and friendly, she is watchful, and doubts not in the least the ultimate ownership of northern China, with imperial Peking as its capital. Give her time enough and China will drop into line among the progressive nations of the earth. But the time required is not a little. Having been so long half-civilized, as it is called, while nations who imagine themselves now wholly civilized were yet man-eating savages, and with an egotism far more rank and insufferable than any possessed by her superiors, the time enough required by China to emerge from her present idiocy, and begin to see things as they are, will it is to be feared be indeed long. As elsewhere remarked, the empire fills the north temperate zone, on the same lines that mark the latitudes of the United States and Europe. No wonder the powers bend on this piece of earth the evil eye, for there is no more like it remaining which is available for looting; that is to say inhabited by weak and vain peoples feeble with age or fresh with savagism. And however the Chinese may love isolation, and hate the contaminating presence of foreigners; however opposed they may be to imperialism and expansion, it was not always so, in regard to themselves at least. There are here the territory, the people, and the wealth to become a great nation. And although Europe has no more right to seize and partition China than China has to seize and partition Europe, yet it is the destiny of the weak to fall before the strong; therefore China would do well straightway to strength- en herself, not by the multiplication of men and gods, but by centralizing the strength and resources of the nations under more concentrated authority. China just now wants a man for chief ruler, not a god. EUROPE IK ASIA 11? Among the many reforms which western civilization is in- rlicting on the eastern is that of enforced cleanliness, political, moral, and municipal. The bribery of magistrates, the pecu- lations of officials, the immorality and criminality of all those who live by grinding the poor, all these and like evils are severely rebuked by foreigners, and under their influence are gradually diminishing. The filth of a thousand years is being removed from the streets of cities, and the political slums are also becoming somewhat renovated, that is to say where Ameri- can or European influence obtains. We do not find in the governments of Europe now the same disposition as formerly to snatch from each other territory once clearly possessed, though the feud between France and Germany over the Rhine provinces might seem to point that way. There must be some show of weakness, of incapacity, or cruelty as a pretext for intervention on the part of the stronger power. The tendency is somewhat so now abroad, and let us hope it will become more so, and also that the Asiatics them- selves will become a little more decent, according to European standards. Meanwhile there is little wonder that in the imme- diate juxtaposition of western civilization and the oriental type there should be wry faces made and prejudices to overcome. Each thinks his own way the best, at all events is perfectly sat- isfied with the existing state of things, and desires no change. What is the inherent force which has so long held the Chinese nation together, when all the other nations of the earth have been falling in pieces? Is it a force for good or for evil? The temper of the people is pacific, and the gov- ernment has never been aggressive; are these qualities which tend to national longevity; and is national longevity desirable or otherwise; and if desirable why is the system which pro- duces such results so much more reprehensible than a system which tends to disruption and decay? While all the other nations of the earth have been coming and going, rising and declining, fighting and annihilating each other, China has been quietly attending to her own affairs, in her own way, most of the time in advance of other nations, much of the time in advance of the nations which are now so far in advance of her. Prior to the consolidation in 240 B C, the empire had been but a union of principalities, when diplomacy was a fine art as in Italy in the days of Machiavelli. But when all became 118 THE NEW PACIFIC one, and that one without an equal, there was little room for diplomatic discussion, and the empire lapsed into a silence, which western Europe with their better guns alone could break. In 1866 Pinchun, a Manchu prefect, was induced to visit for- eign parts as a diplomatic scout. The following year Anson Burlingame, formerly United States minister to China, was given an imperial commission to the treaty powers, and with two native officials visited the United States and Europe on behalf of China, with a view to gain time for further reflection rather than hasten into distasteful diplomatic relations. After this Chunghau was sent as envoy to France, and later, in 1878, on a mission to Eussia; Kuo Sungtao was sent as minister to England and Germany, Chenlanpin and Yung Wing to the United States, and Hojuchang and Changluseng to Japan. Thus legations were established in the west, and for the first time in her history nations were visited and plenipotentiaries received on terms of equality. This was pronounced by a Chi- nese statesman, the " greatest political revolution that has taken place since the abolition of the feudal system, in the days of the builder of the great wall." Perhaps the defunct civilization of the Far East can never be vitalized within, if so let improvement come from without. Superstitions and sovereign power must be in some degree restricted while the light of a more intelligent culture is made to penetrate the dark places. But spheres of influence, and all that, are too shadowy a title to exclusive rights in large areas of barbaric lands. This bold, bald trickery is but the fresh hold taken of his victim by the strangler preparatory to the final catastrophe. In Africa, boundary lines of posses- sion and spheres of influence are by mutual arrangement of the powers marked out and allowed, though the same euphem- ism is employed to cover the crime. Still longer in Asia this process of cutting up and allotting has been going on, in Turkey and Afghanistan, in Persia Siam and China, until scarcely a nation there is independent of Europe, whose gov- ernments strike their talons deep into the flesh of any weaker people whose possessions are worth the taking. The contentions of the great European powers are for the most part childish in the extreme, therefore selfish and silly as appearing in any person or power pretending to greatness. Thus when in 1898 a petition from his people to construct EUROPE IN ASIA 119 a railway from Tientsin to Shanghai was granted to the em- peror, the German minister protested, and the permission was withdrawn. Commenting on which the China Gazette says: " We stated in our issue of the 24th of February that a taotai named Yung had memorialized the throne for permission to construct a railway through Chihli and Kiangsu, to which several governors, viceroys, and other high Chinese officials for various reasons objected. It was first proposed that the railway should run from Tientsin to Chinkiang, touching Shantung at one or two points along its route. The native press now reports that the German minister in Peking also protested against the enterprise, alleging that the German rights to rail- way construction in Shantung were involved. Taotai Yung proposed that he should obtain the aid of American capitalists and engineers to carry out the undertaking, and the German minister says that Germany has obtained the sole right to in- vest capital and supply engineers for railway construction in every part of the province of Shantung, on which grounds he strenuously opposed the scheme proposed by Taotai Yung. The latter, therefore, altered his scheme so far as to provide that the proposed railway should not clash with the interests of the line which the Germans say they are going to build from Kyao-chau to Ichow, with which alteration the German minister professed himself satisfied." The empire is making some progress, and will make more. Burlingame in his time spoke of the extended business and reformed revenue system; the change in the naval and mili- tary organizations; and the establishing at Peking of a uni- versity where modern science and modern languages were taught. A railway line was opened from Shanghai to Wusung in 1876, and was so largely patronized by the natives as to excite official jealousy, and was closed in consequence the following year. A railway was ordered built, in 1886, from Tientsin to Tungcho, to be continued to Peking, but was countermanded because a fire broke out in the palace, and the Temple of Heaven was struck by lightning. According to an imperial decree issued at Peking in March 1899, the Chinese government decided to hasten forward the construc- tion of railways, building trunk lines first and branch roads afterward, the first being the Lu Huan and Hankau-Canton railway, the Tientsin-Chinkiang line next, and then the Shan 5 120 THE NEW PACIFIC Haikuan, the Nieuchwang, beyond the Moukden, and others. A company capitalized at $40,000,000, under the leadership of Calvin S. Brice, obtained a concession to build the railway from Hankau to Canton, and to the sea opposite Hongkong, traversing one of the richest districts in the Chinese empire. The political significance of this enterprise is apparent when we consider that it originated at Hankau, near the so-called Eussian sphere of influence, passes through a section where English influence predominates, and reaches Canton on the northern boundary of French interests, as previously men- tioned. The material for the construction of this road was to be drawn largely from the American coast. The construction of the railway from Peking to Hankau, half of the distance from Peking to Canton, was given to the management of Belgium, that nation being neutral as a military power, though industrially active. As the Belgian syndicate obtained a large part of the necessary funds from France, the jealousy of England and Eussia was aroused, as thereby the French would gain undue influence in this quar- ter. The Chinese had long wanted a railway from Peking to Canton, though certain Europeans who seek to rob them of their country, their religion, their civilization, say that they are not progressive, as if that were a crime. The Chinese preferred the Belgians to build this road, because the celestials supposed that the Belgians were not in a position to take over the whole country for their trouble, on some murdered mis- sionary or other pretext. The distance is 780 miles, the road to be completed in 1903. The first railway in Asiatic Eussia was in the lieutenancy of Caucasia, and completed in 1872. There is now in operation part of the great overland Siberian railway, which with the seventy steamers and hundreds of other craft on the Amur, supersede the old-time camel caravans. It required 50,000 dromedaries for the tea service alone across the plains of Mongolia, and the railway to Vladivostok places China and Japan within twenty-one days of western Europe. The tsar is greatly interested in his Siberian railway, and in order to accomplish more work of this kind he would like to lay aside war for a time. The road is solidly built, with steel bridges, track well ballasted, fine offices, and stations, of stone and brick, extensive workshops, all neat and substantial, and EUROPE IN ASIA I'M more like an English than an American railway. The towns are full of life and enterprise. The lands through which the road runs for some distance are well occupied with thrifty people, who if not possessing great wealth have among them no poverty. Grain is extensively grown in this region, and there are several large flouring mills along the first 400 versts of the railway. Great military stations are likewise frequent. On the 15th of December 1898 the French chamber of depu- ties adopted a bill loaning 200,000,000 francs for the con- struction of Indo-Chinese railways. The United States furnished China with her first steam- boat, which was built by Russell and company and placed on the Yangtse river, coasting also between Canton, Shanghai, and Tientsin. In 1862 the Shanghai Navigation company was formed, and the American steamers transferred to it. Under government authorization, and composed entirely of Chinamen, the China Merchants Steam Navigation company was formed in 1877, with all the old and several new Ameri- can boats. A network of railway and steamboat lines through- out the Chinese empire would indeed bring about a trans- formation; and there are native men and native resources on the ground for its accomplishment, but whether or not when it is done there will be any thing left for Chinamen, or indeed any Chinamen left, is a question. China's first knowledge of England was when the latter be- gan the acquisition of part of the former empire of the great mogul, and the expansion of the Bombay colony set in which was destined to overspread the Indian peninsula. Though humiliated and defeated in two wars with Great Britain, the Chinese have given clear evidence that they will fight further for their rights and traditions. England has always declared that all she wants in China is trade; and some proof indeed has been given of the truth of this assertion in her declining to take more ground than port and commercial necessities required when she might as easily have demanded a large extent of territory. The East India company appeared upon the scene in 1613, establishing a factory in Japan, with agencies two years later in Amoy and Formosa. The Portuguese succeeded in de- feating an attempt made by England in 1627 to establish trade with Canton through Macao; but by the treaty of Crom- r THE NEW PACIFIC well with Portugal some time later, participation in the trade of the Far East was secured. With the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1664 the Chinese affected a contempt for for- eigners and for trade; and in 1681 the factory at Amoy was destroyed; but learning that the Manchus would protect trade provided their government was properly recognized, British vessels were sent out to Macao, the Amoy factory was restored, and an agency established on the island of Chusan. It was the custom at this time, as in almost all oriental and Latin countries, to present the chief in authority, in this instance an officer of the imperial household, as well as of the hoppo, or native customs, with some valuable considera- tion, which should materially lessen the amount of duties demanded. In early times the East India company's chief supercargo was an important personage, being on the Chinese coast ex- officio king's consul and minister. This becoming known, an emperor-merchant was appointed by the Manchu government to supervise for China in the foreign trade, who in 1720 was superseded by a board of Chinese merchants called cohong, responsible to the governor and viceroy, with power to levy four per cent duties on both imports and exports. Out of these offices and emoluments evolved intricate commercial systems, relics of which remain to this day. The trader was held in contempt, not only by the nobility but by the literati; they might house themselves for short intervals in the suburbs of Canton, but foreigners could not enter the city gates nor penetrate the interior. Indeed, extremes meet when the bluff John Bull conies in contact with the obsequious celestial, instance the arrival of Commodore Anson in the Centaur, in 1741, the first British man of war in Chinese waters. The Chinese officials were astounded at the audacity of this stranger, who dared so un- ceremoniously not only to enter the Bogue and pass on to Whampoa, but to call in person on the viceroy. Another Englishman who in this quarter attempted high-handed pro- ceedings was Captain Maxewell of the Alcest, who in 1816, was fired on from the forts; he returned the fire and con- tinued his course to Whampoa. Then there were Lord Macartney in 1792, and Lord Amherst in 1815, who had trouble on the score of barbarian etiquette. EUROPE IN ASIA 123 Upon the approaching extinction of the East India com- pany, the viceroy of Canton, who had been informed of the fact, intimated that the presence of a British officer to con- trol trade would be acceptable to the Chinese authorities. Thereupon in 1833 an act of parliament, passed to regulate trade in the East, declared it expedient to establish British authority in China. Three superintendents of trade were appointed, Lord Napier, Mr Plowden, and Mr Davis, one of whom was to act as judge, with criminal and admiralty jurisdiction in matters pertaining to English subjects. Lord Palmerston's instructions were, " to foster and protect the trade of his majesty's subjects in China, to extend trade if possible to other parts of China, to induce the Chinese gov- ernment to enter into commercial relations with the English government, and to seek with peculiar caution and circum- spection to establish eventually direct diplomatic communica- tion with the imperial court at Peking; also to have the coast of China surveyed to prevent disasters; and to inquire for places where British ships might find requisite protection in the event of hostilities in the China sea." Lord Napier's mission failed. After his death at Macao, coercive measures were recommended, and the necessity of an island in the vicinity, which could be occupied by the British as a colony, became apparent; and in 1841 a cession of the island of Hongkong to Great Britain was made, and ratified by the treaty of Nanking in 1842, five ports being at the same time opened to British trade, Canton, Amoy, Fuchau, Nimpo, and Shanghai. Hongkong was proclaimed a free port in 1842, and the following year was constituted a crown colony. Although sovereign absolute as regards his people, the em- peror of China lies under a crushing weight of ponderous ma- chinery and traditional form, and England has always been somewhat brutal in her dealings with such personages. Eng- lishmen visiting Macao in 1635 opened intercourse by amic- able trading, and closed it by fighting, as has long been their way. Obtaining a foothold at Canton in 1684, for over a century the East India company monopolized the foreign trade of China. A fruitful source of trouble between foreign- ers and the Asiatics and islanders has been the turbulent con- duct of seamen, who were too apt to express their contempt 124 THE NEW PACIFIC in words and blows for customs and opinions which differed from their own. The Chinese customs service as managed by Sir Robert Hart evolved from the rebellion of 1853. When the city of Shanghai was taken by the insurgents, neither they nor the Chinese government were able to collect customs dues from the merchants, who refused payment to the former because they had not taken the forts, and to the latter because they had lost the citadel. The government threatened, and then invested the city. The merchants offered bonds to make payment when government rule should be reinstated, which offer was accepted. Meanwhile each of the nations concerned appointed a collector, and together an inspector general. The system worked so well that it was continued after peace was restored, and was extended to other cities, until 800 Europeans and 4,000 Chinese passed under autocratic rule as customs employes. See the absurdity of Europe's position before Asia, which is about where England was in the early part of the century. Until a comparatively late date China had never held herself aloof, as exclusive or isolate. But when, while in the enjoy- ment of prosperity and happiness, strangers came with teach- ings she did not want, naturally she closed her doors to them, just as the United States closes her door to unwelcome Chi- nese. " Take away your horrible drug and your religion. If your drug is good, eat it yourselves; if your religion is good, practise it yourselves," said China. " Friend ", replied Eng- land, " this medicine you must take, if not for your good, then for ours." The story is well told by C. C. Coffin in Our New way Round the World: " In 1773, about the time that the people of Boston were throwing British tea into the harbour, the East India company were disposing of their first small venture of opium at this port. From the topmasts of their vessels the sailors had looked out upon these fertile valleys, and beheld them white with poppy blooms, from which opium was manu- factured for the wealthy classes.' A chest of opium in the market of Canton was worth $500; but the banks of the Ganges were more fertile than these mountain slopes, the climate more genial, and a chest of the drug could be pro- duced for $100. Here was a chance for speculation. No EUROPE IN ASIA 125 other product of India would yield four hundred per cent profit. The trade rapidly increased, and in 1800 amounted to two thousand chests per annum. Up to that year no action had been taken by the Chinese government against its in- troduction; but the withdrawal of coin from the empire, and the demoralization of the wealthy classes and public officials who had the means of indulging their appetites, induced the emperor to prohibit its manufacture and sale. Confiscation of property and death were the penalties, not only for those who cultivated and sold, but for those who smoked the drug. Notwithstanding these prohibitory measures, the consump- tion still increased. Armed English vessels were stationed in the Canton river, which supplied smugglers boats, also well armed and ready for battle with the Chinese war-junks. Of- ficials were bribed, mandarins conciliated, the imperial laws set at defiance. The government at Peking used every effort to stop the sale, while the East India company employed every means to stimulate it. The Chinese authorities, when fortu- nate enough to catch smugglers or dealers, strangled them in front of the English factories; but the death of a Chinaman now and then did not deter the English from violating the laws of a weaker nation, and the illicit sale increased from year to year, till in 1840 it amounted to forty thousand chests per annum. " In 1839 the Chinese government determined to break up the traffic at all hazards. Lin, the imperial commissioner at Canton, pushed matters so vigorously that the trade for a time nearly ceased. The emperor demanded a surrender of all opium in the hands of the English, which at the command of Admiral Eliot was given up, and twenty thousand chests destroyed, at a cost of six million dollars to the imperial treasury. The English merchants who had dealt in the article signed an obligation not to reengage in the traffic, and then immediately violated it. The trade being revived the Chi- nese officials became insolent, over-bearing, and the merchants were subjected to humiliating exactions, exceedingly galling to high-spirited Britons. The result of it all was the war of 1840, waged ostensibly to avenge insult to the British flag, but in reality to force opium upon a government laboring to suppress the traffic. It was an easy matter for the British fleet to knock down the Bogue forts at the entrance to the Canton 126 . THE NEW PACIFIC river, and to take possession of Canton, and all the other maritime cities. Avarice, supported by fleets and armies, accomplished its end. So Christian England dealt with heathen China! " Said the emperor when asked to license the sale of opium at Hongkong, " It is true I cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poison. Gain-seeking and corrupt men will for profit and sensuality defeat my wishes; but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people." Englishmen have often commented on this infamy in terms by no means complimentary to England. Said the British treasurer at Hongkong, Martin, " The records of wickedness since the world was created furnish no parallel to the wholesale murders which the British nation have been, and still are, hourly committing in China. What has been done on the subject? Have we simply remained passive, and allowed the crimes and the murders caused by the opium trade to go on silently, unnoticed and unopposed by her majesty's government? We cannot even allege the poor, mis- erable plea of winking as a government against a crime which it is pretended could not be checked. On the contrary, the representative of Queen Victoria has recently converted the small barren rock which we occupy on the coast of China into a vast opium-smoking shop; he has made it the Gehenna of the waters, where iniquities which it is a pollution to name cannot only be perpetrated with impunity, but are absolutely licensed in the name of our gracious sovereign, and protected by the titled representative of her majesty! Better, far better, in- finitely better, abjure the name of Christianity, call ourselves heathens, idolaters of the golden calf, worshippers of the evil one. Let us do this, and we have then a principle for our guide, the acquisition of money at any cost, at any sacrifice. Why, the slave trade was merciful compared to the opium trade. We did not destroy the bodies of the Africans, for it was our immediate interest to keep them alive; we did not debase their natures, corrupt their minds, nor destroy their souls. But the opium seller slays the body after he has cor- rupted, degraded, and annihilated the moral being of un- happy sinners, while every hour is bringing new victims to a Moloch which knows no satiety, and where the English mur- derer and the Chinese suicide vie with each other in offering EUROPE IN ASIA 127 at his shrine! No excuse can be offered for the conduct of England in forcing opium upon the Chinese. It will ever stand forth in history as the high handed barbarian act of a nation which puts forth the highest claims to Christian civili- zation." Even after the enforcement of the drug upon China by the English, the opium evil might have been exterminated had the mandarins acted together. Some of the governors did indeed prohibit the cultivation of the poppy; others were indifferent. This is China's most dangerous weakness, lack of unity in purpose and action. The foreign opium is now becoming less and less, while native production is rapidly in- creasing. Japan is wise indeed in prohibiting it, not only at home but in Formosa. Some excuse there may have been for the opium war, attended by the heat of passion and the action of unwise agents, but there was no excuse for a continuance of the wrong, other than the loss of money this exercise of right and morality would have entailed. As great a loss to them- selves, the loss of 1,700,000 per annum import duties, the half-civilized unchristian Chinese would gladly have suffered, but even the pathetic appeal of Prince Kung to the British minister in 1869 had no effect. " That opium is like a deadly poison; " he said, " that it is most injurious to man- kind and a most serious provocative of ill-feelings between the two countries is perfectly well known to your excellency. The officials and people of this empire all say that England trades in opium because she desires to work China's ruin. For if the friendly feelings of England were genuine, since it is open to her to produce and trade in everything else, would she still insist on spreading the poison of this hurtful thing through this empire? " The Taiping rebellion, coming ten years after the treaty of Nanking, was but another link in the chain of events which was to destroy Tartar prestige and give Europe the ascendency over the Manchu dynasty, then occupying the throne. A native convert to Christianity, Hung Sin Chuen, in the year 1852, gathering about him kindred spirits in the mountains of the south, proclaimed himself emperor, and took up his march toward the sea with an ever increasing following. De- feating the imperial armies on the way, he captured Hankau, and with the spoils freighted a thousand junks, and descended 128 THE NEW PACIFIC the river 850 miles to Nanking, choosing the southern city as his capital because the Ming dynasty had been there estab- lished in 1388, after the expulsion of the Mongols by Hungwa. The capture of Nanking by the insurgents was followed by the butchery of the entire garrison of 25,000 men. Yangchau, Chinkiang, and other opulent cities in the vicinity fell also after brief investment, and with no small satisfaction Hung Sin Chuen seated himself in the old imperial palace as a worthy successor of the Ming emperors. The day of reckon- ing came, however, when to the neglect of the coast provinces he sent his armies into the north, leaving open the door for the western governments, which would make a more profit- able use of a Taiping rebellion could they have one to-day. Upon the recovery of Nanking, planned by General Ward, and carried out under the auspices of the taotai of Shanghai, and whose efforts were continued by Colonel Gordon, a mas- sacre occurred similar to that which attended the capture. Thus one after another fell the blows which were in the end to demolish the medieval wall of isolation. And another was now at hand. It was the custom for Chinese vessels, for a small consideration, to obtain permission from the authori- ties at Hongkong to fly the British flag, and in 1856 the lorcha Arrow, sailing under these auspices, was seized by the Chinese government and the crew imprisoned as pirates. A protest was made by the British consul, whereupon the viceroy sent the prisoners to the consulate, but the consul refused to re- ceive them, arbitrarily demanding that the crew be restored to the deck of the vessel. Upon the return of the prisoners to the now infuriated viceroy, he ordered them all beheaded. Sir John Browning, governor of Hongkong, then took the matter up. War ensued, in which the French took part, offer- ing the already stale excuse of murdered missionaries, her real purpose being to share in the spoils. The emperor left matters to take their course; Canton was captured the follow- ing year, and the viceroy was taken to Calcutta, whence he never returned. Meanwhile, though still neutral, Russia and the United States took this occasion to have their treaties revised. The same policy of exclusion was maintained by the young emperor on his accession to power in 1850. In answer to a congratulatory letter from Queen Victoria he replied: EUROPE IN ASIA 129 " Foreigners are under obligations to be grateful for our gen- erosity; but their recent proceedings in forwarding despatches direct to ministers of state can be looked on only as contu- macious and insulting." Hence it was that attempts made in 1854 by the British and American ministers to reach Pe- king by way of Taku proved unsuccessful, and a letter from President Pierce sent from Fuchau was returned with word that to receive attention it must come through Canton. The opium war, the Taiping rebellion, and the Arrow war, with their attending inroads and influences, were long strides into the realms of isolation, but the emperor still remained invisi- ble to ministers accredited to him, and they were forced to transact their business with a provincial governor. It was through the injudicious conduct of English repre- sentatives of foreign commerce and diplomacy, that the ani- mosities were stirred up in 1834 which led to the opium war. The emperor, seeing the evil effects of the drug upon his people, had issued an edict against opium as early as 1800, and the government was no less determined now to put it down. But India made opium, and England must see it sold. Hence the Chinese were told to choose between opium and war. And war it was, as we have seen. Nanking, the ancient capital of China, should be seized and held for the settlement of the difficulties. " Why can you not deal fairly with us? " the Chinese asked. " Why do you not prohibit the growth of the poppy in your dominions, and stop a traffic so pernicious to the human race? " " Ah! " said the sapient Englishman, " our laws for- bid the arbitrary exercise of power over those who cultivate our soil; besides, you know, if we didn't furnish you with opium, some one else would do so." Seventy-two steamers and transports in five divisions, with an advance squadron, were sent up the river, to the terror of the inhabitants. After some fighting a treaty was made, which was ratified in 1842, the Chinese government agreeing to pay England six million dollars for opium, twelve million war expenses, and three million debts, this, together with the cession of the island of Hongkong, and the opening of the five ports to British trade residence and religion. Two years later treaties were made with the United States and France, in which the opium question was not discussed. The treaty of 130 THE NEW PACIFIC Nanking created a sensation among the more commercial nations of the world. The governments of the United States, Prussia, Holland, Belgium, and Spain sent out agents to look after their interests, and secure like advantages. The island of Hongkong when ceded to the British in 1841 was the resort of native fishermen and smugglers. It is now one of the most beautiful and unique of oriental cities, with stately buildings, clean streets, and usually 200 or 300 vessels in the harbor. Besides 400,000 Chinese, the population, displaying every costume and color, is made up of American English and French, Portuguese Indian Malay Arabian and Persian mer- chants, many of them intelligent and wealthy. It was not the intention at first to create a colony at Hong- kong, but merely to hold the island as an emporium of com- merce and a point of military occupancy. It was long before its value was appreciated or success attained, so long that the advisability of its abandonment was seriously discussed. It is now one of the most prosperous places in the world, the har- bor full of shipping, fifty ocean steamers at anchor there at one time, besides hundreds of sailing-vessels and sea-going junks; and on shore docks, wharves, and granite esplanade, public buildings and private dwellings, stores and warehouses of imposing and costly proportions. Its 17,000,000 tons of shipping entering and clearing in 1897 makes it third in im- portance of all the ports in the British empire. " The aggregate burden of shipping is greater than that of the four leading Australian colonies " says Colquhoun of Hongkong, while des Vceux remarks on the " long line of quays and wharves, large warehouses teeming with merchan- dise, shops stocked with all the luxuries as well as the needs of two civilizations; in the European quarter a fine town hall, stately banks, and other large buildings of stone; in the Chinese quarters, houses constructed after a pattern peculiar to China, of almost equally solid materials, but packed so closely together and thronged so densely as to be, in this respect, probably without a parallel in the world, 100,000 people live within a certain district not exceeding half a square mile in area, and finally streets stretching for miles, abounding with carriages, drawn for the most part not by animals but by men, and teeming with busy population, in the centre of the town chiefly European, but towards the west EUROPE IN ASIA 131 and east almost exclusively Chinese." A lease for ninety- nine years of the islands and mainland opposite Victoria, em- bracing 200 square miles, was granted to Great Britain in 1898, thus giving the islanders room for further development. Opium-testing has become a profession. From each chest offered for sale a small piece is selected and put into a thin shallow brass pan containing a little clear water, and the pan placed over a charcoal brazier. When thoroughly dissolved it is strained through paper filters, resting on wicker baskets, into porcelain cups. If the solution passes quickly through the paper the opium is good; if slowly, and leaving a sedi- ment, it is of inferior quality. Best of all is that which, boiled to the consistency of molasses, shows red on being removed from the fire, and lifted to the light on a small stick. Hear an English admiral in China discourse on the drug forced on China by an English admiral a few years previous. " It is strange what a fascination is attached to the smoking of opium. To obtain the means of gratifying his taste for this enervating and demoralizing habit, the Chinaman would pawn his shoes, coat, hat, or anything he possessed. In some of the back streets of Shanghai there are a number of opium shops. Passing through a narrow street, and being attracted by the smell of burning opium, I was induced to enter one of these veritable hells. The room was dark and dismal, and the occupants one might say were in the lowest state of degra- dation. Along the wall on one side of the room, some covered sofas were placed; a small table with lamps stood before each, affording sufficient light to expose the squalid faces and per- sons of the smokers. They were in different stages of intoxi- cation; some slightly exhilarated, others talkative, their eyes wild and bright and their faces red; others becoming drowsy, their limbs relaxing into an easy posture for sleep. One, com- pletely overcome, lay prostrate and asleep; near him were his opium pipe and low-crowned hat with broad brim. " A well dressed Chinaman entered, and depositing the necessary sum, took his place on a lounge; having obtained the pipe and opium, he commenced operations by taking a long needle and stirring the point of it in the small opium box, whence he drew forth a piece the size of a small bead, which he placed over a minute hole on the head of his pipe. The lamp was now brought into requisition; holding the head of 132 THE NEW PACIFIC the pipe to the flame, he inhaled the smoke from the bamboo stem. He evidently relished the luxury, as he again and again replenished the pipe. Now he appears pleased with himself and all the world; a few whiffs more and his eyes grow bright, his face is jolly, red, and laughing; still more, and the pipe be- comes too heavy for his hand, and his head for his shoulders; he becomes forgetful of the world and of its cares, and sleeps, to dream of elysian fields, paradise, or Soochow." There are those who predict that within one or two genera- tions there will be but four great powers in the world, Great Britain, the United States, Russia, and Germany; that as Rome died so will die all Latin peoples, Spain being already prac- tically defunct, Italy a third-rate power, and France fast fol- lowing their footsteps. While England has Hongkong and Singapore, while France has Saigon, and Germany Kiaochau, and Russia Port Arthur, it was necessary that the United States should have some large commercial metropolis in Asia before we could be upon an industrial equality with other nations in the Far East. Though the United States has never manifested any dispo- sition to interfere in the affairs of Asia, nor to acquire terri- tory there, her influence in the Far East has not been far be- hind that of others, and it has always been for good. To disillusion Japan, and place upon their feet among civilized nations a barbarous people, without war and within so short a time, was an achievement such as the world had never before witnessed. And in the interests of peace and political well- being, America has always been a true friend to China as well as to Japan, many times through her ministers exercising dis- interested and beneficial influence in her affairs. Nor is the obligation all one way. America owes something to Asia. In the upbuilding of United States commerce, and the rise of opulent cities on the Atlantic coast, China played her part. In the achievement of our first continental railway the influ- ence of this commerce was felt, and the aid of Chinese laborers was not scorned. So with regard to the wonderful unfolding of the New Pacific which now is and is to come, all the nations contribute, to the better glory and prosperity of all. Nine years ago Spain offered to sell the Ladrones to Japan, and viscounts Enomoto and Aoki favored the purchase. But the project being opposed by Count Inouye, the offer was de- EUROPE IN ASIA 133 clined. Now Japan would like to buy, and would pay for the islands a good round sum, not for the construction of a naval port, nor for the acquisition of prestige and power in the south Pacific, but for the extension of her fisheries. So she says. When the war with Spain was ended, the powers requested the United States government to define its policy in regard to China. If the empire was to be dismembered, let all share in the booty and then none could complain. Europe's first recognition of the United States as one of the world's powers was when Italy asked what would be America's attitude in regard to the seizure of San Mun bay, and was told that the attitude of the United States would be one of indifference and non-intervention. All the powers, particularly England, would like to have the United States join them in the partition of China; but aside from the ethical aspect of the question, Amer- ica has all she wants of Asia at present in the Philippine problem. The motives and purposes of the several powers are quite different. Thus Russia desires territory, absolute ownership; not being content with half the world she would now like the other half. With the machinery of her despotic government in good running order, she would not feel the burden of re- sponsibility like England, with her more liberal policy. Eng- land wants customers for her manufactured articles, rather than more Asiatics to govern, but she stands ready to govern any thing for its trade, if it has any. England prefers the integrity of China with open door trade. A coolness between England and Russia arose over the New Chwang railway loan by England to secure the 2,500,000 Jap- anese indemnity loan, the Russians claiming that the Chinese foreign office was not to give any othe"r power the control of any railway in Manchuria, and that if a loan was required theirs was a prior right. " To understand the present situa- tion", writes Colquhoun in his China in Transformation, "the natural sequel to 1895, it is first of all necessary to recognize the fact that Russia is actually the protector of China against all comers, and that France supports her solidly, while Ger- many, having taken the decisive step of placing herself along- side Russia, is likely to follow the Russian lead, for two suffi- cient reasons, for fear of displeasing Russia, the ally of France, and because concessions are not likely to be got in 134 THE NEW PACIFIC China by Germany in direct and open opposition to Russia. Eussian influence has for some time been all-powerful at Pe- king, mainly through the timely assistance rendered to China in 1895, followed up by a persistent policy, cemented by an understanding, offensive and defensive. The fundamental fact of a close understanding between Russia and China has for some time been patent to all the world except ourselves, the chief features being, (1) an alliance offensive and defensive, (2) branch railways through Manchuria, (3) the refortification of Port Arthur and Talienwan, and the fortification of Kiao- chau, all to be paid for by China, any or all of the three war harbors to be placed at the disposal of Russia whenever desired/' England's dependencies in Asia comprise, besides the Indian peninsula and the adjacent islands, the Straits settlements and islands, the Malay peninsula and island, Hongkong and the Keeling islands. The Maldive islands are nominally con- nected with Ceylon, and the islands of Singapore and Penang with the Straits settlements, while Burmah is the southern entrance to China. All these possessions are peninsulas and islands, and most of them in the tropics; for unlike Russia, England has not gained large accessions of inland territory, her object being trade and strategic stations rather than colonization. Thus Aden, on the way to India, serves com- mercially Arabia; at Singapore unites the commerce of the Malay peninsula, Australia, and India; the military-com- mercial station of Hongkong guards the British interest of northern and western China. The Englishman in Asia is merchant and dominator, not a settler. England can enter China through India as well as by the eastern ports. The British gateway to China is Burmah. A railway from Burmah to the navigable waters of the upper Irrawaddy and Yangtse will place western and southern China and the vast interior under British control. The British pos- sessions adjoin the Chinese empire on the southwest, as the Russian possessions adjoin on the north. Here then are the two great dominating powers in China,' Russia on the north and Great Britain in the central and southern parts. The railway from Mandalay, in upper Burmah to Kunlon ferry, on the Salween river, is a move in this direction. The route from Bhamo, as the commercial highway from Burmah to . EUEOPE IN ASIA 135 western and central China, was long held by the Indian gov- ernment in high esteem. Following the acquisition of California by the United States, public attention was drawn to the new field for enter- prise thus offered by the enlargement of our domain on the Pacific and closer relations with the opposite shores of Asia, and in 1852 M. C. Perry was sent with a government squad- ron on a mission of investigation to that quarter. Several scientists accompanied the expedition, elaborate reports were made, and important results ensued. Eastern Asia was reached by way of the cape of Good Hope. A letter from Millard Fillmore, president of the United States, to the em- peror of Japan was brought by Commodore Perry, in which friendly relations between the two countries were advised, the opening of commercial intercourse suggested, and the proper treatment of our shipwrecked seamen demanded. Ar- rived at Uraga, Perry was informed that this letter must be delivered at Nagasaki. This the commodore refused to do, and the Japanese authorities waived custom and received the president's letter. And in so doing they were wiser than they knew. A treaty between the tycoon and the United States was signed opening two ports to trade. Not long afterward several of the European powers sent thither representatives to secure whatever of good might fall in their way,, among others the French admiral in the frigate Jean d'Arc, the Rus- sian admiral Poutatine, and the English admiral Sir James Stirling. Korea preserved her isolation until 1876, when a treaty was forced on her by Japan, followed by trade and frontier regulations by China in 1882. Treaties were negotiated by the United States in 1882, by Great Britain and Germany in 1884, by Russia and Italy in 188G, and by Austria in 1892. By these conventions the ports of Chemulpo, Fusan, and Won- san together with Seoul the capital, and later Mokpo and Chinnampo, were opened to foreign intercourse and com- merce, and diplomatic representatives of the several powers took up their residence at the capital. In 1895 the inde- pendence of Korea was recognized by China, whose long-held suzerainty was formally renounced. So long dependent on China for language, religion, and guardianship, the peninsula became little more than an imitation of her neighbor, who 136 THE NEW PACIFIC gave her first Buddhism and then Confucianism, and even since her independence Korean sympathies are still with China. " It is into this archaic condition of things " says a late visitor, " this unspeakable grooviness, this irredeemable, unreformed orientalism, this parody of China without the robustness of race which helps to hold China together, that the ferment of western leaven has fallen, and this feeblest of independent kingdoms, rudely shaken out of her sleep of cen- turies, half frightened and wholly dazed, finds herself con- fronted with an array of powerful, ambitious, aggressive, and not always overscrupulous powers, bent it may be on over- reaching her and each other, forcing her into new paths, ring- ing with rude hands the knell of time-honored customs, clam- oring for concessions, and bewildering her with reforms, suggestions, and panaceas of which she sees neither the mean- ing nor the necessity." The Russians were early in China, two cossacks appearing at Peking in 1567. Russian incursions were made in 1643, while the Manchus were acquiring dominion over the Chinese. An envoy sent by the tsar Alexis in 1653 was denied access to the court because he refused obeisance. Toward the end of the seventeenth century the Manchu-Chinese army repelled a Russian invasion, and so disputes arose and continued re- garding settlement on either bank of the Amur. Then came the treaty of Nerchinsk, in 1689, which established a boun- dary line between China and Siberia, giving China the valley of the lower Amur, later to fall to Russia. Commercial rela- tions were established between the Amur valley and Peking in 1567, and in 1689 the first Chinese treaty was signed, and for the past several centuries the relations between the two countries have been for the most part friendly. Yet Russia will never permit China to pass out entirely from her in- fluence and control, particularly in the valley of the Yellow river, and ports on the Yellow sea, which she may feel her- self called upon to occupy at any time. Before the end of the seventeenth century, the Russians were in Kamchatka, Vladimir founding Nizhne-Kamchatsk in 1696. Thence rapid progress was made southward. Yet it is not long since China extended north to the Yablonoi mountains and the sea of Okhotsk, the Amur province falling into the hands of Russia in 1858 and the coast province in EUROPE IN ASIA 137 1860. With her war ports of Vladivostok, Port Arthur, and Talienwan, Russia still further dominates the northeast Pa- cific. Russia was once a part of the Mongolian empire, which extended from the Baltic to the Pacific, and from the Indian to the Arctic ocean, and from whose ruins she is now rising. Thus for the maintenance of her preeminence in China she has geographical position and race affinity. Russia's water frontage on the Pacific will prove more and more valuable to her as the centuries go by, and besides influencing her destinies in the east, will in some degree make good the narrowness of outlet in the west. She has the advantage over the other powers of Europe in several ways. First, the whole northern line of provinces lies contiguous to her own territory. Second, with the sarnie facilities of approach from the sea that the others possess, Russia has an all rail overland line straight across Asia and down to China, all of her ownership and on her own soil. Foreign immigration to southeastern Siberia is not en- couraged, but Russians are liberally dealt with by the Rus- sians. Families without means receive free passage, and to all families are given on arrival 200 to 300 acres of good land, and a loan of 600 roubles for 32 years without interest, while agricultural implements are furnished by the government at cost, and the men exempted from military service. Truly the little father is becoming a great benefactor, and it is really a pity that he cannot abolish war, and save himself and others the half of their money which now goes to support the study and practice of killing men, of killing many hired men quickly. The transsiberian railway brings London within 6,000 miles and sixteen days of the Far East. Russia and England have lately come to an understanding by which England concedes Russia's supremacy in Manchuria, all northwest of the old wall, including the Liao-tung penin- sula, while in return Russia concedes England's authority in the Yangtse basin, the heart of China, with a population of 150,000,000, and limitless resources. While sphere of influ- ence is differentiated from ownership, this is practically parti- tioning the empire, as at the same time France and Germany come in each for a small slice. Questions will all the time arise which the new powers will decide, which is equiva- 138 THE NEW PACIFIC lent to a protectorate, which is the next thing to annex- ation. Naturally, should a partition of China among the powers of Europe occur, Russia would prefer territory contiguous to her own; France would like to make larger what she has in the south; England, perhaps, might not object to the Yangtse valley; while Germany would take the remainder, that is to say the provinces of Fukien and Chekiang. It is a pity thai these great nations, the high and mighty of morality and righteousness, champions of Christianity and civilization, should have always to hunt about them for some low and lying pretext, some mean and paltry excuse for war, instead of the open and chivalrous ways of old in which men rode forth to the plundering of their neighbor. As Russia dominates Japan, naturally she dominates what- ever Japan dominates. Owing to the protest of the Russian minister, the Korean government felt obliged to cancel the .engagement of thirty foreigners who arrived at Seoul in Sep- tember to serve in the imperial body guard. This great polar power, with her advanced peace proclivities, continues active operations in organizing into a cavalry army some half mill- ion of the Turcoman horsemen of Asiatic Russia, which may prove serviceable in the Far East. Russia's 135,000,000 have a square mile of territory for every 25 inhabitants. The sexes are nearly equal in number, but the quality of the people is low, and physical conditions to some extent unfavorable for the fullest moral and intellectual development. While the Asiatic dependencies of Russia contain 6,575,000 square miles with a population of 23,000,000, England's area in Asia of 1,617,000 square miles has a population of 292,000,000. And in the extension of her dominions, a purpose she pursues with quiet though relentless intent, Russia prefers diplomacy, but will accept war if necessary. In his journey from St Petersburg through Siberia, and voyage down the Amur, in 1857, Perry Collins speaks of the gold and silver mines of Nerchinsk, Zarentunskie, and the Onon, where were flourishing towns with shops well filled with merchandise from China and Europe. The people of the Amur were mostly Mongols and Tartars, and on the river were many Chinese junks. At Nikolaivski, a short distance above where the Amur enters the strait of Tartary, at a dinner party EUROPE IN ASIA 139 in the house of the Russian governor, although Collins was the only foreigner present, eight of those at table spoke English with fluency. There were indeed in the town several Ameri- can merchants, all of whom carried on a profitable business. Their storehouses were of varied material and construction; one a log house with iron roof, one a frame house brought by a San Francisco firm from the Hawaiian islands, and other log houses with zinc or shingle roofs. The Russian-American company also had an agency there, dealing in Russian mer- chandise and controlling the fur trade. From Nikolaivski, at the mouth of Amur river, to de Cas- tries is about 100 miles, and yet Collins was nineteen days in making the voyage, on account of calms and adverse winds. There is drift ice here in winter, and the bay freezes. The coasts of both Tartary and Sakhahlin are rugged and moun- tainous. In the vicinity are good mines of coal, the quality of which has been tested by the China steamers, the America then using it. A week more, after touching at Emperoi har- bor, brings him to the beautiful city of Matsmai, Japan, front- ing the strait on the slope between the mountains and the sea, and the residence of a prince. Coasting and passing many junks, he comes to Hakodadi. We are told that the Japanese are a polite nation; coast officials however present quite a business front. "What you want here?" is the first question. "Trade, provisions, and water," is the reply. " What have you to trade, what provisions do you want?" "We have silver, lumber, and furs. We want rice, tobacco, fruit, vegetables, lacquered-ware, and silks." "How muchee lice?" "One thousand piculs, say sixty tons." "No, no have so much." " Give us what you can." " God is great." The conversation is carried on in English by means of an interpreter. The Japanese, like the Chinese, stumble at the letter r, turning it into I, not always to the improvement of the conversation. Unfortunately for him, the name of the United States commercial agent at this port was at this time Doctor Rice. The town was full of little shops, mercantile and manu- facturing, and exported fish, furs, lumber, sea-cabbage, be- sides other produce of sea and land, and the manufactures of the country. 140 THE NEW PACIFIC While the Paris commissioners were deliberating, it be- came evident that owing to Russian intrigue a reaction toward extreme anti-foreign conservatism had taken place in the government at Peking, though the immediate designs of the tsar in Asia did not appear. At the same time, the inference drawn from a significant change in the attitude of Lord Salisbury, and the large quantity of British war stores sent- to Hongkong, seemed to indicate a better understanding be- tween Great Britain, Germany, the United States, and Japan, if not indeed a British counter move to offset Russia's ad- vantage; though it was difficult to see how a fresh coup d'etat could be effected without producing anarchy, which would compel the powers to seize and divide the country among themselves. To this partition, it was said, England seemed more and more inclined, as sooner or later it was deemed inevitable. If in China we see the largest aggregation of men under one government since the world began, in Russia there are the largest number of white men ever ruled as one nation. There are more English-speakers than Russian-speakers in the world, and although all Anglo-Saxons are nearer akin than the various tribes of Russia and China, they are not politically bound together as one nation. If there is a new epoch of industrial development opening for the Anglo-Saxon, there is none the less prosperity in store for the Slav. The tsar and his advisers see this, and specially desire that Russia may develop her material resources with the development of the moral and intellectual, and so all parts grow into strength together. Then Russia will domi- nate the world, unless at the same time the Anglo-Saxon peoples unite under some kind of compact such as will give them strength as the strength of one nation, and enable them to grow in power and wisdom even as the Russians grow. At present, few of the 120,000,000 ruled by the tsar know little and care less of what is or happens beyond the limits of their horizon. But this will change. Americans for the most part are well received in Russia, and they will be brought more and more to the front, particularly in Siberian enter- prise, and such as will most vitally affect the countries bor- dering on the Pacific, that is to say the agricultural prairies and mineral mountains through which runs the eastern part EUROPE IN ASIA 141 of the 8,000 miles of railway which the tsar and Prince Khilkof are now constructing. American engineers are to-day everywhere in Russia; one is constructing steel works near St Petersburg, another dredg- ing the Volga, Don, and Dnieper, another laying 200 miles of 8-inch pipe for the Rothschilds' oil concession, while sev- eral are engaged in the gold mines of northern Siberia and the copper mines in the Khirgi steppes. The Russian laborer, like the Chinese, is a purely mechan- ical man; he is docile and quick enough to learn, even where no small skill is required, but he has not the faculty of im- agination or invention; he does as he is told but never makes a suggestion. He has yet to emerge from the patriarchal despotism which so benumbs his faculties, and breathe the electric atmosphere of modern progress. A few thousand bright Americans scattered through western Russia would soon find channels for the inflowing of this vitalized air from the Pacific. Germany, like France, is greatly concerned because of her restricted room for colonies. The theory is becoming current in Europe that no European nation can long endure without colonial expansion, that is without room for national growth beyond the present narrow limits. What a breeding-ground has Russia! Equal to half the world, almost, leaving out the Americas. To obtain a piece of China, Germany feels she must cultivate the friendship of Russia, and not too greatly offend England. Prior to the occupation of Kiaochau, Ger- many had no interests in the Far East, though there had been a Prussian expedition in 1861 by Count von Eulenberg, and later an attempt was made by German traders to induce their government by some means to get possession of a piece of China or Korea. Germany like England covets the trade of the Far East, while Russia and France desire lands and domination. Thus Russia and Germany can fraternize, their aims being not precisely the same, and France and Russia can maintain friendly relations, because France is not strong enough to fight. When Germany assumed control of Kiaochau and Russia of Port Arthur and Talienwan, many thought the partition of China had begun. Others said, there will be no partition of China, or if there is, it will be the worse for the Caucasian 143 THE NEW PACIFIC race. The Chinese are great imitators. Though superfi- cially mild, they are fierce fighters when roused and well offi- cered. Let European colonies occupy the coast of China, and European civilization will permeate the interior, and the weapons thus be placed in the hands of these millions of Mongolians to retaliate, and not only sweep clear their sea- board, but invade Europe and America as well. The young emperor has declared Germany a world-power, which implies further possessions under home rule. These can only be found in South America, in Holland, or in Asia. The attempts at colonization in Africa and the south Pacific have failed; German emigrants prefer the United States. Germany wants land to colonize, where the colonists will ever remain German; but alas! the world is small. The attitude of Germany in the Far East, and her acquisitions in China, indicate as I have said a desire to influence if not to control trade in that quarter. Under the customs service of Sir Rob- ert Hart the products of all countries are admitted on equal terms. The young emperor must therefore obtain a Germany in Asia by spoliation, or some other equally honorable and efficient means, before he can obtain his heart's desire. And if no more is necessary to become a world power than so to de- clare oneself, why should not we of the United States, who are twice or thrice as strong as Germany, so declare ourselves ? Without colonies, and with limited commerce and coastline to protect, what use has the young emperor for so many ships as his naval appropriation would seem to call for, $118,000,- 000, the new battleships to be all finished by 1904. The tsar, who has no beyond-seas colonies, and but little commerce to protect, still continues to order battleships. And so with France. How absurd it all is, as the caustic Carlyle has shown, that the world's destinies should be determined by iron, salt- petre, and cheap humanity, bought for so much money, and pitted one side against another like fighting cocks in a pit. The Germans cannot longer be regarded as preeminently a nation of thinkers. Madame de Stael travelling through Ger- many would scarcely be impressed with the country as a land of thought, or the people as specially distinguished by reflec- tion and meditation. They are indeed far in advance of the Latin races, who may be said scarcely to think at all, but Eng- lishmen, and offshoots of England are in mind as well as man- EUROPE IN ASIA 143 ners fast becoming superior to them. From mind force, since the beginning of the century, the Germans have descended to physical force. They depend now for greatness on military organizations, and the strength and skill of war. Instead of Kants and Humboldts, Germany now breeds Moltkes and Bis- marcks. One would think that French and German priests could find something better to do than to force their way into foreign parts, and stir up strife among the people in order to get themselves maltreated, and so give an excuse to their gov- ernments for robbing the people of their country. A late German outrage, instigated by priests, was an assault on the magistrate and the desecration of the birthplace of Confucius, which the Chinese hold in special sanctity. In their trying situation the Chinese turned for aid and sympathy to their old enemy the Japanese, all semblance of justice having fled from continental Europe. Piracy is forbidden by civilized nations, also slave-stealing, and the grosser forms of swin- dling. As wrong, as infamous as any of these, was the demand of France of a large and valuable mining concession of 1,- 200,000 taels in the province of Zre Chuan as indemnity for the imprisonment of a French missionary. The price of mis- sionaries seems to have advanced, French missionaries in par- ticular, a half dozen of whom, scattered about China and making themselves obnoxious to the rabble so as to have shel- ter given them in a prison, might suffice France as an excuse to pocket the entire empire. If Christ had come to China, and if Buddha had reigned in Europe, how different it all might have been, proselyting and partitioning! France has in the Far East Cochin China, Cambodia, and Annam, including Tongking, amounting in all to 22,000 square miles, with a population of 1,800,000, and a total trade of some $45,000,000. Her Asiatic possessions lie -mostly within the tropics and are unsuitable for white colonization. They are totally unfit for what she most desires their use, that is lands for the occupation of the French people. Com- merce is not wanted, but the expansion of France, which re- quires the money and the coherent ideas and action which are not present. With natives of the tropics Frenchmen seem less at home than she was formerly with the natives of North 144 THE NEW PACIFIC America. French colonies are expensively administered by incompetent officials, are non-commercial and conducted at a loss. Why she desires more of that kind of expansion, it is difficult to understand. In occupation of one-third of Indo- China, she aims at political as well as commercial power, which she means to secure by railways into the southern provinces. Here might be a race for empire in the south were France sufficiently strong. At one time the prestige of France in Asia was equal to that of any other nation. Eastern peoples were impressed with her prowess as displayed by her knights during the crusades; but when her possessions in India were wrested from her by England, she was held in lighter esteem, and she is now regarded with aversion and suspicion. In neither of her two wars with China did France gain for herself much credit, while China in the second war won the admiration and respect of Christendom by her wise diplomacy and liberal conduct. The killing of certain missionaries by an exasperated popu- lace was the pretext on the part of France for the first war. And as excuse for a second war some ten years later more martyrs were found. Indeed, murdered missionaries have often served civilization a good turn in furnishing an excuse for war sure to result in rich spoils of gold and lands to the aggressor. Joining the Spaniards, the French came down on Annam, to wrest from Gialung a rich province which was the entrance to Cambodia, and of which Saigon was the capital. An attack on Tonquin followed. The king of Annam appealed in vain to his suzerain. But when the French demanded sixteen mill- ion dollars because two strategic forts were not immediately abandoned, the empress regent refused and prepared for war. Then, first of all she sought to know the rules of European warfare that she might conform to them, and so make inno- cent people, French non-combatants as well as those of other nations, as little trouble as possible. Failing to take Formosa, and repulsed with heavy loss in an incursion from Tonquin, hostilities came to an end, neither side paying indemnity nor yielding territory. France and Germany are both sore because while wanting so much they get so little, or what they deem little where the EUROPE IN ASIA 145 plunder is so large, and to which they seem to think they have a right. In vain they send over priests to be insulted; the insult is so small and the apology in the form of lands and concessions demanded so great as to assuredly exalt re- ligion above principalities and powers. Long have they been jealoue of England, and now they are jealous of the United States and the unwritten alliance between English-speaking peoples. To the Anglo-saxon race territory which they find so hard to get comes so easy, unsought, undesired frequently; it exasperates them, and they feel like fighting somebody with their great armies which cost so much and have so little to do. As the Tonquin boundary matter was not satisfactorily set- tled in 1884, a French fleet appeared in the China sea, and without warning began the bombardment of Fuchau and other fortified places. The inhabitants became greatly excited, and made reprisal on the churches and property of the mission- aries. Among other places Kelung, on Formosa island, suf- fered severely. After the French had retired, the missionary in charge, George Leslie Mackay, submitted a statement of losses by the Chinese rioters amounting to $10,000 to the commander-in-chief of the Chinese forces, Liu Ming Chuan, who without delay, and without submitting the claim to the Peking authorities, paid the amount in Mexican dollars as in- demnity. It was only when it became apparent that she could acquire preeminence in Tonquin that there appeared evi- dence of a French policy in China, based on " the force of cir- cumstances and the weakness of the Chinese ", as Louis de Came admits, while appealing to his chivalrous people that in the coming dismemberment of China they should be pre- pared to secure a portion for themselves. The more intelligent French statesmen have long held the opinion that with 120,000,000 of the Anglo-saxon race on one side, and the same number of Russians on the other, it became a matter of the utmost importance to find room for expansion somewhere, either in Africa or Asia or both. Says the economist Beaulieu, " Colonization is for France a ques- tion of life or death; either France must become a great Afri- can power or she will be in a century or two but a secondary European power; she will count in the world scarcely more than Greece or Roumania counts in Europe." In the colonial policy of her possessions in Africa, southeastern Asia, and 146 THE NEW PACIFIC Madagascar, France leans somewhat closely to the mediaeval- ism of Spain, in forcing the inhabitants to buy only of her, a practice certain in time to result in the loss to France of her colonies, just as Spain lost her boundless possessions in the west and in the east, and, as was her boast centuries before England or France had stretched forth their grasping hand upon unprotected parts, on which the sun never set. When Italy demanded from the Chinese government a coal- ing station at San Mun bay she was flatly refused. Promptly the British minister to China sent a note to the Chinese gov- ernment supporting Italy's demand, and stating that Italy would take possession of San Mun bay with or without China's consent. It was apprehended by the Chinese government that Italy was acting for England in the matter, and that the partition of China was near at hand. And still China held off. And when the United States government declared its position in the matter as one of disinterested neutrality, though it was nothing but the simple truth clearly stated, it was considered by the foreign offices clever diplomacy, as sat- isfactory both to China and Europe. As San Mun bay is a southerly port of China, and important to the commerce of Manila, the position taken by the United States government was deemed important as significant of its future policy. It is now the mission of the powers to lie in wait for oriental opportunities. The mind of the German emperor is bent on expansion, and if he cannot find place for his people in the Far East, Asia Minor and Palestine may suffice; the country between Tigris and Euphrates and Syria is good for German rule and German trade. The late imperial pilgrimage to the Holy Land, it was thought, had other significance than the outpourings of a devotional heart. For some time prior to our war with Spain it had been Germany's determination to gain possession by some means of some part of the Philippine islands; when therefore the Paris commission claimed them all for the United States, Germany was naturally disappointed, and indulged in a little harm- less abuse. The German emperor in his speech opening the Reichstag in December 1897, recommended the building of more warships, as the navy had not kept pace with the growth of transoceanic interests. He called to mind the murder of two German missionaries in China, on which even a religious EUROPE IN ASIA 147 journal comments with appropriate sarcasm as follows: " The emperor declares that he ordered the eastern Asia squadron to proceed to Kiaochau bay, the point nearest the scene of the outrage, and to land troops in order to obtain full repar- ation. He does not add that the reparation already demanded included, first, the discovery and execution of the murderers, the punishment of implicated officials among whom must be the governor of Shangtung province and the reconstruc- tion of the missionary buildings; secondly, the payment of a 600,000 tael indemnity to the relatives of the victims, and of another indemnity sufficient to cover the expenses of the German naval expedition, the permanent occupation of Kiao- chau bay as a German coaling station, and the railway mo- nopoly of the province Shangtung. To the first demands China promptly acceded; to the last the Chinese monarch is reported to have replied that he would forfeit his crown rather than be so bullied. The German monarch will doubtless have an appropriate reply in turn, but it can hardly create more amusement than did the extemporaneous remarks which he addressed to the Eeichstag on the conclusion of his written speech. He ended with an apostrophe to ' the honor of the empire abroad, which I have not valued too low to give my only brother in pledge for it.' " Not that the fraternal af- fection is so overpowering in the breast of the emperor, or that he really cares for one or two missionaries more or less, but the poor fellow is dying of hunger for land in China. Because China is old, and disunited, and exclusive, and above all because she is weak, the powers of Europe regard her as lawful prey. How long will statesmen and diplomats continue to draw such marked distinctions between interna- tional fraud and individual fraud? Following in the wake of the civilization it imitates in lootings as in other things, Japan thinks if China is to be broken up and given away that she is entitled to a share. If little Italy may take San Mun without any by your leave, a province or two would not be too much for China's late con- queror. Wherefore Count Okuma advises the government " to so conduct itself as to induce China to rely solely upon the gallant assistance of Japan for the maintenance of independ- 9 ence." The time and purport of the division of China, if the em- 118 THE NEW PACIFIC pire is ever dismembered, will depend on circumstance, and the wisdom and energy the Chinese government displays in centralizing its strength and developing its resources. Rus- sia cares nothing for territory not lying contiguous to her own; that is why she valued Alaska so lightly. Hence Eus- sia may have her strip across the north, while England will confine her diplomacies to the Yangtse basin, comprising one- half of China proper, and the best part of the empire, leaving France and Germany and the rest to such crumbs of comfort as they are able to pick up in the south and southwest. Eng- land's late acquisition of Wei-hai-wei, and the country back from Hongkong, is all in this direction, and she gives fair notice, " that there can be no question of the territory in the valley or region of the Yangtse being mortgaged or leased or ceded' to any power ", other than herself. " Still another evi- dence of British enterprise ", says an able review writer, " is seen in the long-termed concessions secured for an Anglo- Italian syndicate to work the coal and other mines of the provinces of Shansi and Honan, and build railroads there. The coal fields of Shansi cover an area of more than 14,000 square miles, and are estimated to contain enough coal to supply the entire world, at the present rate of consumption, for 2,000 years or more. A large proportion of it is anthracite, equal in quality to the best found in Pennsylvania. Of it there are believed to be at least 630,000,000,000 tons, or more than 1,200 times as much as all the coal of all kinds now mined in the whole world in a year. There is also nearly as much bituminous coal, of a fine coking quality. Lying close by, in fact, mingled with the coal seams, are billions of tons of the choicest iron ore, while petroleum abounds in many places; and apart from its mineral wealth the country is the most fertile, especially for wheat growing, in all China. The province lies on the bank of the Yellow river, which under civilized management may readily be transformed from the woe of China into one of its most beneficent highways of trade." The aggregate population of the six nations to which China has fallen a prey is but three-fourths of that of China; but as President Kriiger says, " China is not a state but a people, headless like a flight of locusts, but lacking the community instinct which makes of locusts a great people though they no king." EUROPE IN ASIA U9 The edicts of reform issued by the emperor show a realiz- ing sense of the danger which threatens the empire, and the proper means of averting it. There must be a centralization of the strength of the empire and the admission and exercise of modern methods and development. Hence the emperor now encourages the construction of railways, and forbids his subjects interfering with them, as they were at first inclined to do. So with regard to steam navigation on the interior waterways, the opening of mines and the introduction of man- ufactures, the establishing of schools where English and science, and the ways of westerners, are taught. China is awakening. To turn the balance of European power we do not now go to the Rhine or the Danube, but to eastern Asia. And as the people of the United States are as intelligent, as wealthy, and as enterprising as are any of those of the other world powers, though we do not want any of China's people or property for nothing, yet it is as clearly our duty to exercise for good the influence God has given us in China as it was in Cuba. The war, and the Asiatic domain it secured, give the United States an influence at Peking which should be second only to that of Great Britain, an influence which might always be used in behalf of justice and humanity, in preventing the seizure and partition of China, in holding open the door to commerce, or at the least in securing access on the most favorable terms for American manufactures. But for England's jealousy, and I will add sense of de- cency, and her policy of an open door for commerce, and the necessity of preserving the world's potential equilibrium, with herself as first and strongest, China would long since have been partitioned among the cormorants of the continent. Though England's sins are many, she has long ago repented of her opium infamy, and can now be trusted better than any of the others to do about the fair thing in regard to China. China, too, is behaving very well under the infliction of en- forced civilization, and if allowed the opportunity will de- velop under her own rule as Japan has done. And it is not only the policy but the duty of the United States to come squarely to the front as one interested in the affairs of China, and not afraid of responsibility. Let congress be not quite so parsimonious; it has done and can do worse than to spend 6 150 THE NEW PACIFIC money for the advancement of the best interests of the people. AVhat is to be done with the immense wealth which the peo- ple of the United States are rolling up for themselves? What better can be done with money than to develop the resources of the Pacific, where fame and fortune invite. Not that tax- ation need be increased so as to become a burden; few have felt the cost of our war with Spain. But give to the encour- agement of commerce and manufactures on the Pacific at least one short line government railway across the midconti- nent desert, thus delivering the Pacific from the power of monopolies; give to this latest and greatest of progressional evolutions one-tenth of the time devoted to the selfish schem- ing of statesmen, one-tenth of the money drawn from the people and spent by politicians and office-holders on them- selves and for useless purposes, and the shores of the Pacific will soon bloom with manufactures, and her waters swarm with an American merchant marine. CHAPTER VII THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BOBDEBS FIBST the Mediterranean, then the Atlantic, and now the Pacific. For as culture ever crystallizes round some sea, great or small, since our civilization has become so great, it must needs have a great ocean for its use and pleasure. For four thousand years we have known the first; the last knows us scarce four hundred; and yet three of these four centuries, passed under the dreamy influences of Spain and far Cathay, make the place seem to us old, very old, only the present being new. Seems to us long ago since Vasco Nunez de Balboa, on the 25th of September, 1513, with uplifted face and drawn sword, strode into Panama bay, and pompously laid claim for Spain to the rest of the world, to all not previously taken, all that ocean sea, all that it held or bordered on. Yet fifty other years and it was asleep again, and indeed is but just now awakening. If Balboa's claim held good, and practically it proved valid enough until quite recently, then by virtue of this call to winds and waves Spain became owner and possessor of the western part of all the two Americas, of Australia and all the islands of the Pacific, besides half the eastern coast of Asia, only Japan and China being then known to Europe, and those by no means well or definitely known. Never before or since were made of t expressed human pretensions so vast and varied, or if made so nearly realized. Spain thus claimed by rights at that time regarded valid, and held as long as she was able, loosening her grasp on piece by piece of it as her strength gave way, the whole Pacific ocean, or nearly all of it. In the uplifting of the primeval mists which had kept this region hidden from the eyes of Europeans, there stood re- vealed another world, another sky, a new earth and a new heaven. And there were fresh souls to save, if peradventure 6 151 152 THE NEW PACIFIC these naked dark-skinned things had souls; and there was ready pay for the work, pleasant work and good pay, the fun of killing, with double compensation, an earthly reward and an heavenly; gold and glory here and a blessed immortality. Long enough time they had for this holy contemplation, and for the many dastardly deeds which accompanied it; for it was more than 200 years after the performance of Balboa at Panama that the Russians found Kamchatka, and 250 years before Cook encountered Australia and the Hawaiian islands. The economic centre of the civilized world, along with civilization itself, has ever been moving westward. There were the successive changes from Carthage to Italy, from Italy to Holland, and then to England; receding eastward for the moment on the continent from France to Germany and Rus- sia; but from England crossing the Atlantic, and continuing overland to the Pacific ocean. Thus the United States war with Spain, which helped and hastened the opening of the Pacific, proves itself a factor in bringing about the industrial equilibrium of the world. And now this Pacific sea is destined to assume its natural supremacy. Once all the nations clus- tered round the Mediterranean; then the Atlantic became the theatre of commerce and international intercourse; but the world is not now too large to take into its consideration the greatest of its seas, and sail its ships and send its commerce over and around it, as formerly the Golden-Fleece searchers sailed the mighty Mediterranean. This ocean gives us breathing space which the world has never had before. It shows if God be good how much better water is than land. This ocean with its pearl-lined bottom and jewelled sides comes in at this juncture of the world's history as a new fighting ground, a broader field for the dis- play of naval athletics than we have ever had before. The chivalrous doings of the Alabama to merchant vessels pale be- fore Dewey's smiting of Spain at the Philippines. The influence of the ocean on man is marked. The savages who live by the sea are different from those who live inland; if not so cunning they are bold, and seem to have more breadth of brain. The small classic Mediterranean had at an early date its classic inhabitants; thus far the Atlantic is more symbolical of wealth and strength; the Pacific of romance and adventure. The Northmen lived by the sea. as did the THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 153 Phoenicians; but they were different seas and different peo- ple. Mexican culture blossomed in the middle of a lake, like Venice by the sea, and Rotterdam in the ocean; the Peruvians were a maritime people like the Carthagenians. The waters of the Mediterranean were quite broad enough for the quality of civilization planted on its borders. With expansive environment the mind of man is forced to expand. With the enlarged knowledge of the Pacific came further knowledge of physical forces, the distribution of heat, the courses of atmospheric and marine currents, and the lux- uriant organic phenomena thus brought to light. It was the sea that made Holland and England. It was the sea that de- stroyed Spain, protesting, perhaps, like the sensible thing it is, that Spaniards are not fit to live. The sea gave England her navy, her merchant marine, her colonial possessions, each the greatest of its kind in the world, and the last the greatest the world will ever see again. Amidst the evolutions of nations the sea is regaining su- premacy. When the Mediterranean was the world, and its borders the boundary between time and sense, an eternity of supernatural frost and fire rose on either side. From out the waters came the land, where there was no land, and from chaos the kosmos. Since the time when the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, the ocean has exercised a paramount influence on the destinies of man. Then comes an order under a new dispensation, the dis- pensation of the New Pacific. And it says, The sea dominates commerce but man dominates the sea. The circulation of oceanic waters from currents, counter-currents, and tides is the life of the body. Not that oceans grow from small Medi- terraneans to large Pacifies, but man's ideas and capabilities are ever enlarging, so that to the mind of to-day the Pacific is no larger than was the Mediterranean to the Carthagenians. Around the shores of the Pacific, the greatest of the world's waters, are now circling the world-currents of progress, in- stinct with thought and energy. All the elements, earth air and water, breathe of activity and life. The civilizations of the future will cluster here, and become merged into one civilization, with this ocean as a common centre, across and around which swift intercourse will bring the various parts into near relationship. 154 THE NEW PACIFIC And should the sea need further eulogy, let the reader turn back to that noble and prolific old chronicler, Samuel Purchas, His Pilgrimes, who thus declaims: " Man should at once lose half his inheritance, if the art of navigation did not enable him to manage this untamed beast, and with the bridle of the winds and saddle of his shipping to make him serviceable. Now, for the services of the sea, they are innumerable; it is the great purveyor of the world's commodities to our use; conveyer of the excess of rivers; uniter by traffic of all na- tions; it presents the eye with diversified colours and motions, and is, as it were with rich brooches, adorned with various islands. It is an open field for merchandise in peace, a pitched field for the most dreadful fights of war; yields diversity of fish and fowls for diet, materials for wealth, medicine for health, simples for medicine, pearls and other jewels for orna- ment, amber and ambergris for delight, the wonders of the lord in the deep for instruction, variety of creatures for use, multiplicity of natures for contemplation, diversity of acci- dents for admiration; compendiousness to the way, to full bodies healthful evacuation, to the thirsty earth fertile moist- ure, to distant friends pleasant meeting, to weary persons de- lightful refreshing, to studious and religious minds a mass of knowledge, mystery of temperance, exercise of continence; a school of prayer, meditation, devotion, and sobriety; refuge to the distressed; portage to the merchant; passage to the traveller; customs to the prince; springs, lakes, rivers, to the earth; it hath on it tempests and calms to chastise the sins, to exercise the faith, of seamen; manifold affections in itself, to affect and stupify the subtlest philosopher; sus- taineth movable fortresses for the soldier; maintaineth, as in our island, a wall of defence and watery garrison to guard the state, entertains the sun with vapours, the moon with obse- quiousness, the stars also with a natural looking glass, the sky with clouds, air with temperatures, the soil with supple- ness, the rivers with tides, the hills with moisture, the valleys with fertility; containeth the most diversified matter for meteors, most multiform shapes, most various, numerous kinds, most immense, difformed, deformed, unformed mon- sters; once for why should I longer detain you? the sea yields action to the body, meditation to the mind, the world to the world, all parts thereof to each part, by this art of arts, Navigation ". THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 155 Thus an ancient Englishman; and now a modern French- man: " The sea ", says Alphonse Esquiros in La Neerlande et la Vie Hollandaise, " has been for modern nations, but more particularly for Holland, a grand theatre of moral de- velopment. The influence which this mass of water has ex- ercised on civilization has hitherto been too little considered; without it man had never fully recognized the extent of his powers; he had not turned his eyes towards heaven with in- trepid perseverance to observe the planetary motions; the physical sciences, industry, and the useful arts had never ad- vanced a step beyond the limits of the middle ages. Hol- land is the child of the ocean, and has marched upon the ocean to the conquest of boundless wealth ". And now for a sun-picture of this Pacific. Place before you a map of the world while I fill in the details. Not the map of Hipparchus of Nicaea, nor the map of Marinus of Tyre, nor even Ptolemy's map of the world, made in the second century of our era, for these men knew little of the world, and still less of the Pacific. Some say that Ptolemy's Magnus Sinus represents this greatest of waters; but if so why should the first of cosmographers, and those who came after him, have placed it near the gulf of Siam in the Indian ocean? Neither knew Christopher Columbus aught of this vast liquid expanse, which covers one-quarter of the globe and comprises one-half of its water surface. In the mind of the Genoese the world was smaller than it is, and where stands the Pacific, all was blank, save that somewhere thereabout was the Terrestrial Paradise of Dante, the India to the west being but the other side of the well-known India to the east. No attention had been paid by the map-makers of the pre-Columbian period, or by any of the earlier geographers, to the wild tales told by Sulaiman, the Arabian merchant, who lived in the ninth cen- tury, and affirmed that he had seen and sailed upon great waters beyond China, or by Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, the importance of whose discoveries were seemingly in pro- portion to the extravagance of his stories concerning them. Those alone who had lived upon its isles or along its shores, coming and going with the centuries, stolid savages for the most part, had ever seen this ocean, or seeing had scarcely more conception of its nature and extent than the rocks and trees around them. Let us glance round the arena, from Pata- 156 THE NEW PACIFIC gonia to Australia, and see what manner of men are these who come no one knows whence and pass on no one knows whither. For the question was early settled by the cardinals in solemn conclave that these were men, and not brute beasts merely, but animals with souls, and so subjects for christiamzation by the Spanish process, thus giving honor and emoluments to both church and state. Thus unknown to all then known to history stood this ocean sea, on that memorable day when Europeans first beheld it, gazing with rapture on the sun-lit waters from the hill of Quarequa. See now what these steel-clad specimens from Europe did after taking a good look at this water. First, they all knelt down and thanked God. For what? For giving them this ocean sea, as they called it, signifying thereby a large sea and not a small one, for giving them this immeasurable ocean of Avealth and opportunity; which was taking much for granted. The manner in which they manifested their gratitude to the Almighty for his alleged gift, was to go down to the beach and rob and burn some villages of the natives. Then seizing some boats, they compelled the owners to paddle them over to some islands where they had been told were pearls, and called the Pearl islands, off Panama, to this day. Panama was a native fishing station, the word signifying " A place where many fish are taken". Capturing the village at the Pearl islands, they secured a basin of pearls, 240 of which were of extraordinary size and value. This was almost Cathay; as with the gold and pearls they found women. After Balboa came Pedrarias to the Pacific, and established a Spanish town at Panama, and then went to govern Nicara- gua, where Gil Gonzalez had been before him baptizing and looting the natives. Yasco Nunez had built some boats in the Darien hills for a sail on the Pacific, but was charged with treason and beheaded, the king pretending to fear that it was really the intention of the cavalier to pocket the entire Pa- cific. The winds and the waves to which Balboa had dis- coursed so eloquently, claiming the mastery over them, the king seemed to fear would really obey him, and thus royalty be cheated of its rights. Finding Balboa's boats, Gil Gonzalez coasted northward, and presently came to the gulf of Nicoya, the chief there liv- ing as well as the bay being then so called, as the latter is THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 15? called to-day. Then to Nicaragua's town and lake, of whose chief Nicoya had assured the Spaniards: " He is wise and valiant, and your little army will melt before his warrior host." Into Nicaragua's fresh-water sea Gil Gonzalez rode his horse, and took possession of it under the very eye of the wondering chief, not with wet feet like Balboa in the Pacific, but still with sword-shaking, and drinking and spouting out the water. From Mexico came two captains of Cortes, Alvarado to Guate- mala and Olid to Honduras; and so this country became colonized. From Panama southward, after Andagoya had found Biru, went Pizarro and a cutthroat crew after the treasures of the incas. It was in 1524 that they set sail in a small caravel, 100 men and four horses. Passing the spot where afterward was placed Trujillo, Pizarro came to Tumbez and Cuzco, dis- covering and taking possession of the coast and towns of Peru. Already Magellan had coasted Chili, before turning off for the Philippines, and so South America was encompassed. In every quarter an ardent desire prevailed to discover a shorter route to the Spice islands. Cortes was urged to this by Charles V. Alvaro de Saavedra was despatched from the coast of Mexico to the Moluccas, and in 1527 we find the Spanish conqueror of Mexico writing letters from his capital of Tenochtitlan to the kings of Zebu and Tidor in the Asiatic island world. Before the coming of Magellan, whose voyage was one of the most important in history, nothing further than what I have told was known of this ocean, or that on it one might sail straight as the crow flies from south to north, and from east to west, 10,000 miles without touching land, or that it was the same ocean as the south Pacific which when first en- countered from India was regarded as the continuation of the sinus magnus of Ptolemy, with an eastern boundary not far distant. Balboa, Pedrarias Davila, and Cortes all held the opinion that the Pacific was part of the Indian ocean, whose shores and islands were rich in rare woods and spices, and in gold pearls and precious stones. By each subsequent discov- ery the mind was more and more wrought into excitement as the wonoers of knowledge increased, still leaving so much as yet undiscovered and so many marvels unexplained. No one had imagined such a world as this. And when half 158 THE NEW PACIFIC known, which indeed is the worst form of ignorance, never was there a Don Quixote more wild in his wind-mill vagaries, according to the tales of them that were told, than some of these knights of antipodal adventure, who sought for straits through continents, for Amazonian Californias, picturing meanwhile in their new geographies the sea-monsters and hob- goblins of the past in truthful and orthodox colorings. And it was so much better, they thought, filling up the blank spaces in charts from imagination than to leave bare white paper. There was no room in the geography of the time for a Pacific ocean. The great cosmographer, Paul Toscanelli, still held to the opinion expressed in Ptolemy's Almagest, that the continent of Asia extended west over half the earth, or 180 equatorial degrees from Spain to eastern Sina?. Other cosmographers extended this area to 240 degrees, bringing the coast of Asia to the meridian of San Diego, and leaving no space for the Pacific ocean. Hence the opening of eyes that followed the discoveries of Balboa and Magellan, and the loosening of tongues that talked the world into beliefs in Anian straits and other northern mysteries. That the first discovery of America by the Northmen should have produced so little effect upon progress was be- cause the world was not ready for it. The world was yet too ignorant; the human intellect was not sufficiently advanced to properly comprehend the nature and extent of this great wonder, or its effect on their destinies. Besides, it was not generally or adequately or precisely known outside of Scan- dinavia. The knowledge thus obtained was immediately locked in sagas away from the world, and the value of the discovery was not realized until centuries after when the sagas revealed the facts with new and striking force and vivid- ness. The influence upon the world of science, and upon in- tellectual development, of the discovery and exploration of the Pacific ocean, was if possible even greater than that of the discoveries of the Northmen and of the Genoese. For not only were the extent and configuration of the world thus de- termined, the relative water and land surface, the atmospheric and oceanic currents, the distribution of animals and plants, but many other things hitherto not understood were accounted for, humidity and dryness, influence of mountains and vege- tation on moisture, effect of cosmic forces on man, and a hundred other like subjects. THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 159 The world was unfolding her secrets, and to Europe knowl- edge of the Pacific ocean came as a surprise, and a not alto- gether pleasing one. It made the world larger, too large; it was large enough before. To get round it, or on to the other side, and back of India, going west, after crossing the At- lantic and doubling the horn of America there was this other great ocean to traverse before reaching the famed Zipangu, Cathay, and the Spice islands, with all their great riches, their mountains of metal, and islands of pearls and precious stones. What was the use of such a waste of water, only to distress the poor sailors? On the one side of this great ocean sea is the newest of the New World, on the other side the oldest of the Old World, that is to say the oldest still existing of the old world civili- zations. The borders are for the most part mountainous, vol- canic ranges rising behind low narrow seaboards, some of whose highest peaks stand sentinel in perpetual snow under the equator. Round the amphitheatre of water runs a circle of fire, some of these volcanic mountains, in lateral or parallel ranges, others in a line along the shore, and others again in in- land lacustrine basins, this volcanic ring being about 22,000 miles in circumference. Beginning in the south at New Zealand and the Fiji islands, as an early centre of volcanic ac- tivity, round which are hundreds of extinct or active craters, and proceeding on the one side to and beyond the basaltic islands of Juan Fernandez, and on the other to Australia and the Solomon isles, we find ourselves at what has been called the focus of the lava streams of the planet. Off the Indo-Chinese peninsula are a hundred volcanoes vomiting ashes lava and mud, bursting forth now and then in terrible explosions which destroy villages and cover with dust and debris areas hundreds of miles in extent. Every large island, and nearly every small one, is punctured with one or more outlets for internal fires. Java alone has forty-five vol- canoes; while from beautiful Sumatra to Borneo, and on to Mindanao and Luzon, there are two gigantic tracks of fire. North of the Philippines the volcanic line curves east- ward, following the trend of the coast, Formosa and the Liou-Kieon archipelago first, then the isles of Japan, where stands conspicuous the sacred Fujiyama, whose gods look down on Niphon; the Kurile archipelago, with a dozen vol- 160 THE NEW PACIFIC canic orifices, and then the peninsula of Kamchatka, where a dozen more are usually active. With a graceful curve thirty-four cones swing southward round the Bering sea to Alaska, on the peninsula Ounimak standing conspicuous, and further eastward St Elias and Fair- weather, pouring forth venom, the former at a height of 17,716 feet, and the latter of 14,370 feet. And so on, from Edge- cumbe in Lazarus island, all along the volcanic region of British Columbia, along the Cascade-Nevada range of Wash- ington Oregon and northern California, there are notable peaks, Hood, Shasta, Helena, and others, from 9,000 to 16,000 feet high. In southern California and northern Mexico the basaltic and trachytic coast elevations have fewer outlets, but on the high plateau of Central Mexico, Colima, Jorullo, Popocatepetl and the rest stand proudly forth. Central Amer- ica has some famous volcanoes, as del Fuego and del Agua in Guatemala; the Phare d'lsalco, which at night lights up the broad plain of Salvador with its jets of molten stone and red smoke; Coseguina, whose late eruption is counted among the greatest of modern times; and Momotombo and other moun- tains, worshipped in a propitiatory way on account of the evil they do. Crossing at Panama by the isthmus which bridges the continental break to South America, and we find ourselves at once in a nest of enormous equatorial volcanoes, Tolima, 17,716 feet high; and to the south the Pasto group of sixteen, some smoking some extinct, among them Cotopaxi, Tunguragua, Carahuizo, and the rest, and towering over all the proud dome of Chimborazo. Then Sangay, one of the most destructive of all the burning mountains, and after that, still pointing southward, a subterranean rest in the Cordilleras for a distance of 930 miles to southern Peru, where volcanic peaks and domes of trachyte again appear. The volcanic chain of the two Americas, coining from the north, may be said to terminate in the three smoking peaks Antuco, Villarica, and Osorno, in Chili, though subterranean action breaks out in milder form all the way to Tierra del Fuego. Within this Pacific basin are myriads of charming isles of volcanic origin, some still spluttering, some quiescent, chief among them being the far-famed Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea of Hawaii. In the Marianne and Gallapagos groups are many active orifices, and some 2,000 extinct craters. THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 161 This much may we behold upon the surface of things, but who shall say as to the craters and crevices of ocean, the sub- merged peaks and domes, mountains burning beneath the waters, over their crests perhaps islands of scoriae, or the flat- tened sea-mountains themselves upheaved by the mighty powers of unrest. Thus have arisen within recent times two mountains of the Aleutian isles, and if the ancient chroniclers may be believed several cases of volcanic emergence from waters which wash the coasts of Japan, China, and Korea have occurred within historic times. The American side of the Pacific is bluff, the Asiatic side has low fertile shores. Alaska's borders are low and swampy. We notice on the eastern side comparatively few islands, while on the western side, and at the northern end are islands in- numerable. Nowhere on the globe is found so many groups and such an innumerable number of islands, in size from the up-shooting rock to the island-continent of Australia. The American Pacific seaboard has fewer indentations and sea- ports than the littoral line of Asia, broken by earthquakes and ocean currents into various forms of bays peninsulas and continental fragments. North of the equator there is more land than water; south of it there is more water than land. The lands of the north- ern hemisphere are largely in the temperate zone; the lands of the southern hemisphere lie chiefly in the tropics, become hot, and engender great animal and vegetable vitality, regu- late the action of winds and rains, and give rise to hurricanes. Once an unbroken basin save at the southern side, the now disjoined isthmus between Australia and Asia and the Bering passage from the Arctic being closed, and all encircled by fire, molten rocks with torrents of gas shooting forth from in- ner combustion, where were forged the metals that seamed the mountains, of a truth the Pacific, eras past, as now, was full of wonders. The rivers emptying into the largest of oceans are not the largest of rivers, nor are they as numerous here as in some other quarters. The Andean range runs too near the shore to permit of large streams in Pacific South America, while in western North America there are only the Colorado, Sacra- mento, Columbia, and Fraser, which may be dignified by that term, until we reach the Yukon, whose waters enter the Pa- 163 THE NEW PACIFIC cific by way of Bering strait. On the Asiatic side are the Amur, Hoang-ho, Yangtse, and Mekhong, only the large con- tinent having large streams. In their hydrographical systems the oceans differ widely, most of the great rivers of the world flowing into the Atlantic, and lesser ones into the Pacific. That is to say, as against the Columbia, Fraser, and Yukon, the Amur, Hoang-ho, the Yangtse, and the Cambodin of the Pacific, there are the Uru- guay and Parana, the Amazon and the Orinoco, the Missis- sippi and St Lawrence, not to mention the Congo Niger and Gambia, and by way of the Mediterranean the Nile and the Danube. No country so mountainous is so poorly supplied with rivers as the west coast of South America. Australia is remarkable for its small streams and the periodicity of their flow, a few only like the Murray being navigable at all times. The commerce of the United States is rapidly extending in Asia, and it was a piece of special good fortune that the war with Spain should carry us at once where conquest would prove of the greatest service. The states of the Pacific are now in position to compete with the world for industrial su- premacy. On the north Asiatic coast, and along the shores of the two Americas, all except the tropical part, might be set up wheat granaries. Still following in the wake of that basest of discoverers, the swineherd Pizarro, we will look along the southern coast, then turning to Panama follow the seaboard northward from where we left Gil Gonzalez and Cortes. Panama was once the richest city in America, and next to Cartagena the most strongly fortified, the walls being in places 60 feet wide and 40 feet high. These walls, and the massive granite ramparts of a new fortress, were erected just after the capture of old Panama, which was six miles distant from the site of the present city, by the pirate Morgan, who, in 1671, after three weeks of horrible atrocities perpetrated upon the defenceless inhabitants, burned the city, carrying away 175 mule loads of plunder from private persons, government, and churches, and 600 prisoners. So complete was the destruc- tion of the ancient city, with its cathedral, its monasteries, hospitals, 200 richly furnished Moorish houses, and 5,000 or- dinary dwellings, and which had been up to that time the entrepot for the products of the Spice islands, and the gold THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 163 and silver of Peru, that it was never rebuilt on that spot, but was abandoned for other ground, this, and because of the unwholesome site. Panama is a free port, and exports gold- dust, tobacco, hides, india-rubber, manganese, shells, vanilla, sarsaparilla, whale-oil, and cocoa-nuts. At the Pearl islands, off the bay of Panama, the pearl fisheries continue as in the days of Vasco Nunez de Balboa, though in lesser degree. The Panama railroad, 48 miles in length, built in 1850-4, was the first to span the continent. After this followed the Central and Union Pacific; the Southern Pacific; the Northern Pa- cific, and others in Canada, Mexico, and Central and South America. Peru extends from latitude 19 10' south nearly to the equator, and with Ecuador and Colombia reaches the isthmus of Panama. The prevailing wind is from the south. The absence of rain is owing to the influence of the snowy moun- tain tops on the southeast trade winds from the Atlantic, which wring from it all moisture, leaving it thus arid to de- scend the western slope to the warmer regions below. There are three distinct longitudinal zones, the coast, the sierra, and the montana, the first lying between the ocean and the mari- time cordillera, mostly a sandy desert twenty miles wide, and crossed by rivers flowing through fertile valleys; the second, 250 miles wide, in which stands the Andean chain, with its high plateaus and warm fertile ravines, the home of the potato, the abode of the vicuna and the alpaca, and rich in metals; the third, the eastern slope and valley of the Amazon, covered with dense tropical forests. Nature in the sierra, which is the heart of Peru, is on a stupendous scale, where within short distances appears every variety of scenery and climate, from tropical to alpine. Monumental remains in South America show a high aborig- inal civilization, as the cyclopean stone edifices at Tiahuanacu in Bolivia, the huge structures of carved stone at Cuzco, in Peru, and the ruins at Vilcamayu, Titicaca and Coati islands, Chiru, and elsewhere. Besides buildings, the vast reservoirs for the storage of water and the expensive systems of irriga- tion are among the grandest monuments of the old Peruvians. The resources and commerce of the ancient Peruvians were rich and extensive, silver gold and copper, vicuna and alpaca, maize and cocoa, potatoes and quinuas, medicinal plants, cot- 164 THE NEW PACIFIC ton and maguey fibre, fruit vegetables and guano being con- spicuous. To these native products the Spaniards added horses, asses, cattle, swine, goats, and sheep, which rapidly increased and overspread the land. Bullocks were yoked to the plow on the plain of Cuzco in 1550, and in 1554 a Spanish cavalier turned stock-raiser, buying ten cows at Lima for $1,000. Sheep were introduced from Europe in 1556; and also about that time wheat barley and grapes from the Canary islands; oranges figs and pomegranates, peaches apples pears and quinces. The first sugarcane was grown at Huanuco; all the European vegetables were growing in Peru prior to 1560. In the coast valleys cotton is indigenous. In the montana the missions founded by the Franciscans grew into settlements as in Mexico, Texas, and California. The public works of Peru, ancient and modern, are by no means insignificant. Aside from such structures as the tem- ples of the Sun, the temple of Cacha, the fortresses and palaces of Cuzco, Vilcamayu, and Titicaca, and the reservoirs, aque- ducts, canals, roads, and bridges of the ancients, there are the government buildings, the cathedrals, monasteries, hospitals, railways, and boulevards of modern times equal to any upon the shores of the ocean. The wealth which Peru is now giving to the world is mainly the product from the growth and man- ufacture of sugar and cotton, with the cultivation also for commercial purposes of wheat, corn, grapes, and alfalfa for stock-grazing. These and the mines; the barren deserts and rocky islands even largely contributing, the former in various salts and the latter in guano. Paita has a good harbor, which was once the resort of whalers. Considerable cotton, grown in the interior, is shipped from this port, much of it to Mexico, and some to Europe. Wood and water once were scarce, and were brought in by burros, and sold, the former at two reales per cargo of 24 sticks, and the latter at four reales for 20 gallons. Tumbez, the town of Peruvian antiquity and civilization, is built largely of bamboo, on account of the abundance of that material, and notwithstanding the presence not far distant of mighty ruins, and example of such structures as the temple of the Sun. Trujillo was founded by Pizarro in 1535, and has now a popu- lation of about 15,000. An oval adobe wall with fifteen bas- tions, built by the duke of Palata, viceroy, encircled the city THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 165 in 1686, and was the only walled town in Peru except Lima. Squier found the best hotel in Trujillo kept by an association of Chinamen, each having his special work, and all perform- ing their duties with the best results. They had burned their ships, that is cut off their queues, and one of them had mar- ried a native of the country. The chief port and capital of Peru, Callao, eight miles from Lima, where the Pacific Steam Navigation company have their works, affords fair anchorage and outfitting accommodations. There is a floating dock, harbor works, forts, government of- fices, hospitals, shops, and banks. French and German steam lines have also quarters there. Callao exports silver, gold, sugar, cotton, wool, and hides. Callao harbor, the commercial gateway of Peru, is a circular basin, six miles in diameter and of good depth. Adobe and stone houses of one or two stories, bordering streets twenty feet wide paved with cobble stones, with churches and public buildings constitute the city. A railway connects this port with Lima, the capital, built upon the model of all Spanish- American cities, with plaza, alameda, cathedral, public buildings, and dwellings with low roofs and thick walls. The more pretentious residences occupy a square, with a patio in the centre. Any where else Callao would be but a poor harbor, but as the only winds here are from the south and southwest, the island of San Lorenzo, and the pro- jection of land marking the site of old Callao, suffice for protection. Lima, the city of the kings, as it was christened by Pizarro when he made it the capital of his conquered domain in 1535, was for a time the haughtiest, as well as the most luxurious and profligate of all the viceregal courts. The church and the inquisition flamed brightly here, as no where else in America, the cathedral rivalling in costly adornments the sacred edifices of Europe, and even the old Peruvian tem- ple of the Sun. Lima is a city of many institutions and much culture. There are churches and colleges, museums and libra- ries, military and naval institutes, hospitals and halls of legis- lation. The city has a botanical and a zoological garden; a panteon, or general cemetery, where the dead rest in mural niches, of which there are many thousands prepared. The houses, built on the usual Spanish-American plan, with flat roof and inner court, are elegant, and the women beautiful. 166 THE NEW PACIFIC An ecclesiastic city, it has ever been aristocratic. In 1873 many house-walls were demolished to make room for trees and boulevards. The old plaza of the Inquisition became the plaza de la Independencia, and what was University chapel became the legislative hall of the chamber of deputies, the senate occupying the old tribunal hall of the Inquisition. With wealth and aristocracy presently came nobility, 29 Peru- vian noblemen being created in the seventeenth century, and 54 in the eighteenth; so that when independence and republi- canism came there were no less than 46 American marquises, 35 counts, one viscount, and one duke. Every afternoon about five o'clock, particularly on Sundays and Thursdays, the beauty and fashion of Spanish America are seen displayed in the drives and promenades of all the cities. Wealth is there, and likewise poverty in the garb of wealth; for these people love to make a display, and will starve themselves six days in the week to sport a gaudy garb on the seventh. Some of the equipages are equal to any in Hyde park; blooded horses in harness of silver and gold, with elegant carriages and liveried coachmen and footmen. Cuzco, the city of the Sun, and seat of the Peruvian empire, is situated in one of a cluster of valleys 11,380 feet above the level of the sea. Wheat, corn, barley, and potatoes grow there, but twenty miles distant are deep hot gorges where thrive semi-tropical fruits. The splendid highways of the incas radiated thence in various directions, the ruins of which are now seen, as well as those of temple edifices, ancient smelt- ing-works, bridges, baths, and aqueducts on arches. Under the Peruvians, Cuzco was connected with Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, by a paved highway, portions of which still remain. Quito stands 9,520 feet above sea level, and consists mostly of one-story adobe houses. Among the notable places in the Andes of Peru under the old regime were Tiahuanuco, the centre of Peruvian civilization and the Baalbec of America, and Titicaca, the sacred island and lake. The war between the republics of Peru and Chili in 1879 to 1882 was wholly uncalled for, and productive of no good results. It was over a question of boundary regarding territory to whose inhabitants it made no difference to which common- wealth it might be said they belonged. However, men and dogs will fight for even less issues than this, and indeed for THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDEKS 167 no issue at all. Peru was badly beaten, and long remained prostrate under the heel of the conqueror. Large sums of money were extorted from the private citizens of Lima, many of whom were imprisoned or transported to Chili for refusal to pay. Besides thousands of lives and millions of money, the "Peruvians lost the guano and nitrate trade, and the war vessels Huascar and Independencia. But all this is nothing for a country whose mountains are of metal, whose sands are of precious salts, and whose soil and sterile rocks even supply so profusely so much of what all the world wants. Two or three hundred millions of dollars have been invested in Peru in railways, mostly by the government, the ties com- ing from the United States and the rails from England. Sil- ver mines are worked all along the Peruvian cordillera, Ceiro Pasco being an important point, 1,500,000 ounces being some- times annually there produced. Upper Peru in 1825 became Bolivia, a lofty isolated region, including the old province of Charcas and half of the basin of Lake Titicaca. Here also are the gold mines of Tipuani and the silver mines of Potosi. Bolivia has two outlets for her products, the one a long land transit to the port of Arica attended by heavy dues, and the other over a still longer road .to Buenos Ayres. Yet the best coffee and chocolate in the world are grown here, and chinchona bark rich in quinine. Chili is a strip of seaboard from 40 to 200 miles wide, run- ning northward from Cape Horn 2,270 miles. There are many passes over the cordillera into Argentina, the highest being the Dona Ana, whose altitude is 14,770 feet. The larg- est lake, the Llanquihue, 22 by 30 miles, is 197 feet above the sea; and the largest river, the Biobio, 220 miles long and navigable for 100 miles. Chili abounds in mineral waters, and has some fine wooded islands. Timber is the principal product of the south, but grain flax and potatoes are also ex- ported thence, while from the north figs, olives, peaches, grapes, and maize are sent abroad. The Chilian Andes pre- sent an imposing sight, with their clear white summits over- looking the variegated green of the valleys, while beyond is the blue ocean. The transandean railway and telegraph route connecting Chili and Argentina is through the Uspalata pass, 13,000 feet high. The Araucanians who once occupied the greater part of 168 THE NEW PACIFIC Chili, and who so bravely fought the invaders, attacking Spanish cities and destroying Spanish forts, killing Pedro Valdivia, founder of Santiago, still preserve their national identity as well as their hatred of Spaniards. Driven south- ward during the three centuries of Spanish rule, the remain- ing 50,000 inhabitants affect some degree of civilization, own- ing lands through which runs a government railroad. Valparaiso, the chief city of Chili, is one of the prominent ports of the Pacific, and has always been conspicuous in com- merce. It was founded by Juan de Saavedra in 1536, and captured by Drake in 1578, and again by Hawkins in 1596. After pirates came earthquakes, giving the place other severe shakings up, and in 1866 it was bombarded by a Spanish fleet, which demolished once more a large part of the city. And yet it lives, and has its forts, and government palace, and warehouses, and hospitals, and theatres, naval academy, and many industrial establishments, among which are railway shops, sugar refinery, and wagon works. Valparaiso takes its form from a crescent-shaped harbor, with a background of hills, some of which are terraced and adorned with residences. The population which in 1820 numbered 5,000, in 1860 had reached 80,000. Many of these are foreigners, the profes- sional and business men of the higher grade being mostly English, Americans, French, and Germans. Santiago, the capital of Chili, cut in twain by the river Mapocho, has many fine buildings with picturesque surround- ings. In the soft air of evening the wealth and fashion of Chili congregate in the plaza de la Independencia, a common name for the principal square in these republics, and here filled with foliage and statuary. Government, educational, and benevolent institutions abound, and patriotism and prog- ress predominate. The houses are mostly of one story, and cover seven square miles of ground. Santiago has an astro- nomical observatory and mint. Tongoy is a small port serving the coasting trade, and sup- plying the rich copper mines of Tamaya. Talcahuano has a fine harbor and a flourishing agricultural trade, with good coal near by. Coronel and Lota mark a large coal district. Valdivia has a good harbor, and is surrounded by a fertile ag- ricultural country. A colony of Germans was some time ago established there. Caldera has a good bay with a long pier THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 169 and every facility for shipping. There are the Copiapo and other railways to rich silver districts. Huasco, though only an open roadstead, is a port of entry. It exports copper ore and supplies the mines of Atacaraa. Coquimbo is a fairly good port, with the advantage of the Serena railway. An important point on the Pacific coast of South Amer- ica is Concepcion, eight miles from the fine harbor of Tal- cahuano. Half a dozen lines of foreign steamers call here regularly; there is a good naval dry dock, and every accom- modation for refitting and coaling. It is the centre of the Chilian coal region, and screenings from the mines for gen- crating electricity can be bought for 35 cents a ton American money. Not far distant are rich copper mines, which only require capital for profitable development. English com- panies cover a good part of the nitrate fields with an aggregate capital of $100,000,000. Chili has 1,300 miles of government railways, 1,000 miles of private lines, owned chiefly by the English, 25,000 miles of public roads, and 2,875 miles of waterway. Steamship com- munication is regular and direct along the Pacific coast from Valparaiso to Panama, where connection is made to New York, Liverpool, Central America, Mexico, and. California; and also by steamers and sailing vessel via Magellan strait to the eastern American coast and Europe. Along this stretch of Pacific American seaboard is a variety of aboriginal humanity, with decided differences, yet exclu- sive and enough alike to mark them different from all the rest of the world. There are the big-headed giants of Patagonia, who hunt the ostrich with a sling; the Araucanians, and other intelligent and war-loving tribes of Chili, who assume su- periority and delight in drunkenness; the truly cultivated Peruvians, with all the paraphernalia of civilization and the only American domesticated animal; the dark-skinned naked inhabitants of the malarious seaboard of the Mayas and Nahuas of civilized Central America and Mexico; the house- less root-diggers and vermin-eaters of California; the nobler Chinooks and Haidahs of Oregon and British Columbia; and the cunning Aleuts. Doubtless some day Alaska and Patagonia will be connected by coast line railway and telegraph along the Pacific, part of the distance being already accomplished. So on the Asiatic 170 THE NEW PACIFIC side, which in the race for development will not be far behind the American. Nearly a decade ago an intercontinental rail- way commission was organized, twelve republics being repre- sented, to examine and report on the feasibility of connecting North and South America by rail. The report cf the com- missioners advocated a road from New York to Buenos Ayres, 10,228 miles in length. As Hammerfest, in Norway, is the northernmost town in the world, so Punta Arenas, on the site of the old Spanish colony in the strait of Magellan, is the most southern. Situ- ated opposite Tierra del Fuego, and environed by mossy plains and low hills covered with stunted trees, Punta Arenas pre- sents by no means a pleasing picture. The place was founded in 1843 as a penal settlement of the Chilian government. The houses are of one story, standing irregularly, and in the harbor are usually a fleet of coal ships, this being the leading in- dustry. It is no longer the official rendezvous of criminals. The region round Cape Horn is not a thickly inhabited por- tion of the world, the nearest neighboring tc^n to Punta Are- nas being 2,000 miles away on either side. Representatives from the world's refuse of population seem to h&ve drifted in and lodged here, almost every type of humanity, and every lan- guage, being seen and spoken, wrecked seamen and wander- ing Jews, convicts and men of commerce, all of every shade of color and every nationality. For sale here, besides coal gold-dust and silver ores, are native goods, turtle-shells, snake- skins, sea-lions' tusks, armadillo tails, ostrich and seal skins, and rugs made from the soft downy breast of young ostriches, the plumes adorning them being plucked from the wings and tail of the live bird. Nor is the great island of Tierra del Fuego the altogether cold and barren land of desolation one might imagine. It is true that snow rests perpetually on the higher peaks, but there are fertile valleys and grassy plains, mountains lakes and rivers affording beautiful scenery, and a climate far less rigorous in the main than that of northern Canada. But the savages who call this place home better leave them unhon- ored and unsung. Yet they are no worse than the Fijians and Tahitans, or even than the dusky denizens of fair California. Back to the Isthmus, as before said. The Panama railway had been fifteen years in operation when it was said of it that THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 171 there was no work of ancient or modern times which had accomplished so much in so short a time, and which still promised such great benefits to the commercial world. Con- necting with it, on both oceans, were lines of steamers which with their connections reached every quarter of the globe. Besides the Panama railway, both Americans and English have several short lines in Colombia, the latter being from Santa Marta to Savilla; the Dorado, from Yeguas to Honda; the government also own and operate railways. On the Magdalena river and its tributaries are a score of small steam- boats operated by various companies. The so-called republics of Central and South America are in reality governed by no one; rulers and people alike are given up to revolution and anarchy, the dominating influence of the land really emanating from a few foreigners, coffee- growers, merchants, bankers, and transportation officials. A republican form of government is suited only to a people of advanced intelligence and integrity. The fundamental idea is a government by the people, and if the people are ignorant and debased a nominal republic is worse for them than pure despotism. The governments of Spanish America are no more republics than are the black republics of the West Indies and Africa. They lack the first principles of repub- licanism, a strong self-contained, and progressive people. With admirable codes and constitutions they are totally de- void of political morals and official honesty. Corruption in public affairs is the rule, and their commercial ethics are not much better. Here as elsewhere the inexorable laws of progress will in the end prevail. Every people must either advance or fall backward, and where people of low develop- ment, whether African or European, whether Asiatic or American, continue for any considerable time to decline, they are certain in the end to be swallowed up by some stronger race. Many times the Central American republics have attempted federation, but have failed, owing to selfishness and jealousy, and lacking the political consistency to hold together. The more immediate impediment, after the solution of the great question, Who shall rule? has been the collection and dis- position of duties, Salvador claiming that with one-fourth the area of either, her imports and exports exceeded those of Hon- duras and Nicaragua combined. When those who would rule have grown up to the occasion, the Greater Eepublic of Cen- tral America will be an accomplished fact, provided in the mean time the hand of the United States does not appear in their affairs. Canals at Panama and Nicaragua require con- struction and will demand protection. One of the several births of the new republic, the United States of Central America, took place on the 1st of November, 1898, when the republics of Nicaragua, Honduras, and Salvador disappeared, and a new map was required for the middle America. The new republic had an area of 110,000 square miles, and a popu- lation of 2,000,000. Its industrial advantages were great. Centrally situated, with a good soil and good interior climate, a long stretch of seaboard on both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and the site of the canal through which will pass the world's western commerce, a great future is assured. In due time Guatemala and Costa Eica might perhaps find it to their in- terest to join a federation. Amapala was the present, and per- haps would be the permanent capital. The constitution was modelled on that of the United States of America, a president elected for four years, who was commander-in-chief of the army and navy, a congress of two houses, the senate consist- ing of six senators from each of the three states, and three from the federal district, and a house of representatives hav- ing one representative for every 30,000 inhabitants. Then as usual it collapsed. The interior of Central America is picturesque, while nature there is charming, but the people are not in keeping with the country. Mexico is slowly becoming somewhat civil- ized, and may in time even become republican, but as for the rest of Spanish America, with the large native and mixed populations, the tendency is downward rather than upward. Guatemala, Honduras, and Tehuantepec have or soon will have each a railway from sea to sea. The bay of Fonseca, on which Salvador Honduras and Nicaragua all have frontage, is highly important as a commercial port. Nicaragua is a beautiful bit of earth, and in proper hands would become a garden, healthful though tropical. But ever since it has been free from the tyranny of Spain it has been subject to a worse tyranny, the tyranny of chronic revolu- tion, the kind of tyranny that Aguinaldo would, if he could, THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 173 inflict on the Filipinos. Walker, who went with a handful of California adventurers in 1852 to rule this fair land, was a filibuster, as Maximilian of Austria, who with French soldiers went to rule Mexico, was a filibuster; they both died for their adopted country, as let us hope Aguinaldo will some day depart, he who has caused thousands of others to die for the gratification of his base ambition. Back of these were the filibusters from Spain, who took the country from the natives three or four hundred years ago, and held it because they were the stronger. But whether held for chronic revolution by sons of the soil, or for a ship canal by a Chicago syndicate, or by the United States whose congress has been playing with the subject through the century, and can do nothing even now when it really desires a canal because the railway men and politicians are greater than the United States, Nicaragua is a beautiful and healthful country. On a large fresh-water sea stood Nicaragua's town in the days of old, and there Gil Gonzalez found the chief, and gave him two good things, Christianity and death. This town was but three leagues from the South sea, and the water on which it stood was connected with the waters of the North sea by a river, which afforded easy transit; so the chief Nicaragua in- formed the Spanish captain Gil Gonzalez, who like Vasco Nunez had essayed the passage of the Isthmus from Darien, building boats on the mountains for use in the South sea. The fine woods of this section are extensive and valuable. One dollar a log used to be paid for the privilege of cutting rosewood, mahogany, and cedar, but now districts are marked off and concessions given for a consideration. The Nicara- guans must make what they can of what nature has done for them, as they seem inclined to do but little for themselves. The old chief who dwelt by the lake, were he living now, might do well with some American or European syndicate in disposing of his aboriginal property rights. The inhabitants of Nicaragua are mostly half-breed Indians and negroes, or rather a. mixture of Indian, negro, and Span- ish blood in nearly every individual, except the few foreign- ers. Amapala, the Pacific port of Honduras, receives the trade of the Atlantic as well as of the Pacific. Honduras as seen from the Pacific presents a wall of mountains whose tops bristle with volcanic peaks. From this mountain rampart THE NEW PACIFIC flow several rivers; the largest, the Ulna, is navigable. These mountains are veined with silver, Olancho being the place for gold washings. The isthmus of Tehuantepec, a tropical garden, has long been conspicuous in connection with interoceanic communi- cation, projected railways, ship canal, and ship railroad. Acapulco is the best Mexican port on the Pacific, being so land-locked as to be scarcely discernible from the sea; but for a town site it is a wretched place, being a basin surrounded by mountains which prevent circulation of air, and therefore hot and unhealthy. This little indentation, where ships can be moored close to the surrounding rocks if necessary, was, as we shall see later, for a long time prior to the independence, the great depot of Spain on the Pacific for East Indian trade, a galleon sailing once every year to the Philippine islands, and returning laden with the products and treasures of the East. On the arrival here of the annual ship from Manila, a great fair was held, to which buyers resorted from all parts of Mexico. The California gold steamers to Panama used also to stop here going and returning. Though sunk to in- significance, Acapulco still exports wool, hides, cocoa, cochi- neal, and indigo. Mazatlan is a thriving port, and the distributing point for a large area of western Mexico. Business is reported always good, failures rare, and industrially the place is steadily pro- gressing. The new Eio Grande, Sierra Madre, and Pacific railroad traverses an extensive cattle country tributary to the Yaqui gold fields. Besides ores and cattle for export, the country supplies lumber for local use, the greater part of which is consumed by the 10,000 Mormons settled along the line. The silver ore, which should be smelted on the coast is taken to reduction works at El Paso. Mexico is a high plateau rimmed by the two sierras into which the continental range splits as it enters the tropics on its way southward from Alaska. On either side of this tierra templada are the low malarial tierras calientes. The uplands are dry, and fertile only in places; the lowlands are wet, and covered with redundant vegetation. Minerals and metals are every where, the belt from Sonora and Chihuahua to Durango, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, and Oajaca being probably the richest argentiferous region in the world. And if the united sierra THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 175 be followed up into the valley of Alta California, there will be found one of the richest of auriferous regions. High in air from the Mexican plateau rise Popocatepetl, Ixtaccihuatl, and other volcanic peaks. Besides much fertile soil and vast mineral wealth, indigenous to Mexico are 114 species of trees, many of them yielding the most beautiful cabinet woods; there are also 60 medicinal plants and dye- woods, and 17 oil-bearing plants. Among the trees and plants of commerce are rosewood, mahogany, indiarubber, copal, sar- saparilla, vanilla, and jalap. Then there is maize, likewise indigenous, of which the soil yields in places four crops a year of from 200 to 400 fold; also grown there are coffee cot- ton rice indigo and tobacco, beans sugar cocoa and bananas, the maguey, mango, and many other products. There are wild animals in the woods, wild fowl on the lakes, and alliga- tors in the rivers, while along the seashore are fish and turtles, and pearl fisheries in the California gulf. The city of Mexico belongs equally to the Atlantic and Pa- cific, and is the most wealthy and beautiful metropolis in Spanish America. Round the historic zocola cluster the legends of the centuries, Aztec and European. Near where is now the great cathedral, once stood the temple of the war god Huitzilopochtli, who delighted in human sacrifices; while across the plaza, where now is the government palace, stood the palace of Montezuma in all its native splendor. The peninsula of Lower California consists of broad plains interspersed with mountains, on some of which are forests and good grazing, and sandy areas productive when watered. Placer gold is found at Real del Castillo; at Ensenada and elsewhere are colonization societies. Other parts of the pen- insula are rich in minerals, and there are large tracts suitable for stock-raising. The whole country is productive, with the application of water, which is easily collected and stored in the mountains. This long strip was once an island, so tradi- tion had it, or at least it was supposed to be an island, which answered every purpose of the early cartographers. The Colorado river, rising in western Wyoming as Green river, and flowing 2,000 miles through wild canons and sandy plains to the gulf of California, affords some navigation, besides sup- plying fertilizing waters for the desert. The coast line of the United States on the Pacific and Arc- 176 THE NEW PACIFIC tic oceans is twice as long as that of the Atlantic. California has about 800 miles of coast line, with but few harbors as compared with those of the eastern side of America, or with those of the eastern side of Asia. Oregon's great harbor, the beautiful Columbia, extends hundreds of miles inland, while Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska, each has a plenti- ful supply of safe ports. Besides the harbors of San Fran- cisco, San Diego, and Humboldt, there are many anchorages along the coast of California where vessels can lie in safety in calm weather. San Diego, the south-westernmost city in the United States, has a land-locked harbor six miles long, and except San Fran- cisco bay the best on the California coast. The city is situated on the fine-weather- route from the gulf states to Asia, and on a shorter route than any other from the government capital to its Pacific island possessions. Los Angeles is a prosperous and beautiful city, with many manufactures, a large com- merce, and environed by orange groves and fruit farms of wide extent, with the port of San Pedro, twelve miles distant. Santa Barbara is charming; San Luis Obispo is a busy city; Santa Cruz is something of a watering place; San Jose is a thriving business city, while the capital, Sacramento, unites legislation with industry. The bay of Monterey sweeps round in front of the hills and forest in the rear, which form a beautiful background to a charming picture in front. Though by no means land-locked, the southern bend affords protec- tion for shipping during the greater part of the year. Most of the white lime-covered adobe buildings along the broad irregular streets that characterized the Hispano-Californian capital, have long since given place to improvements more befitting a modern city. A line of Franciscan missions along the coast from San Diego to San Francisco was the first move toward wresting California from savagism. The church buildings were mostly of stone brick and adobe, stuccoed and cemented, in a mixture of Moorish and Byzantine architecture. The mission church of San Xavier del Bee, ten miles from Tucson, in Arizona, was thirty years in building, being completed in 1798. Sea-fishing as an industry in southern California has scarcely been begun. Peculiar to these waters are the black sea bass, the barracuda, bonita, mullet, and yellow-tail, while THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 177 the sardines here are of a variety known elsewhere only in the China sea and off the coast of Africa. Myriads of mackerel swarm along the entire coast. In northern waters the in- dustry assumes larger proportions, but is still small as com- pared with what it might be. San Francisco, upon a bay second to none in the world, began in 1835 as Yerba Buena, the presidio, or military quar- ters, being a few miles away in one direction, and the mission buildings in another. The waters of the bay, which is 60 miles long, come in from the junction of the rivers Sacramento and San Joaquin through the strait of Carquinez, and find the ocean through the Golden Gate, a strait five miles long and one mile wide, with a depth of thirty feet on the bar at the entrance. San Francisco has now the opportunity to become the London, New York, or Chicago of the Pacific, if her lead- ing citizens will take the trouble to make her so. Cities are made by men, not by Micawbers. There are a score or two of life-saving stations on the American coast, a drill being kept up at the Golden Gate sta- tion, where the shore is patrolled night and day for a distance of sixteen miles. The Pacific United States coast has sixteen lighthouse districts, in all of which are good service. During the century dating from 1776, the United States government spent upon lighthouses $93,250,000. New naval stations are established at several points, and thus the Pacific is gradually being supplied with all the requirements of a great and grow- ing comjnerce. The Americans as well as the British have in hand the con- struction of transpacific telegraphic cable lines. A route was laid out by the United States government from San Francisco to Honolulu, thence to Wake island, of which possession was taken by the United States for that purpose, and then to Guam island, of the Ladrone group, and on to Manila. Dis- tance from San Francisco to Honolulu, 2,089 miles; thence to Wake island 2,000 miles; 1,300 from there to Guam; and from Guam to Manila 1,372 miles; total 6,761 miles. The line passes south of the submerged mountain 570 miles from San Francisco. Average depth of ocean two and a half to three miles. Estimated cost $1,000 to $2,000 a mile. There are now 1,500 submarine telegraphs in the world, aggregating 170,000 miles in length, constructed at a cost of $250,000,000, and 178 THE NEW PACIFIC over which 6,000,000 messages are annually transmitted. With all these submarine wires and hundreds of thousands of land lines, the Pacific cables will connect, so that there will be no more hidden or remote places in all these vast waters. Mexico reaches the Atlantic by lines which traverse the gulf, while from South America wires through the ocean and the Caribbean sea connect with Central America and the United States, and thence to Europe, Africa, and Asia. Along the islands and mainland of the eastern Asiatic coast, cable lines extend from port to port, connecting with land lines from eastern Europe through Siberia to China, Japan, the Philip- pines, the Straits settlements, Australia, and New Zealand. The borders of North and South America, and of Africa, are skirted with land or cable lines; in fact every considerable body of water lying between important countries is crossed by marine lines, except the Pacific, which will soon be amply supplied. The lines along the shores of Asia, from Siberia to Australia, represent a large amount of work, while that from Australia to New Zealand is 1,000 miles long, and from Australia to New Caledonia 800 miles. Fears have been ex- pressed that the depth of water in the Pacific would prevent the successful operating of cables here. But it has been ascer- tained that the difference is not so great. A cable has been laid, however, between Hayti and the Windward islands in 18,000 feet of water, while between San Francisco and Hono- lulu the greatest depth is 18,300, and between Honolulu and Manila the greatest depth is estimated at 19,600 feet. From such bathymetric data as he has been able to procure, Otto Krummel estimates the mean depth of the Pacific 2,160 fathoms, that of the Atlantic being 2,040 fathoms. There were 8,000 miles of railway in operation in Australia in 1887, all those in the two oldest colonies, New South Wales and Victoria being either built or purchased by the govern- ment. The capitals of the four leading colonies are con- nected by a continuous line from Adelaide to Brisbane. In New Zealand railway construction was begun in 1860, and Lyttleton connected with Christchurch. The total cost of railway construction in the United States is about $10,000,000,000 for 175,000 miles, more than all elsewhere on the globe. Cost of construction in the United States and Australia about the same, $58,000 a mile; run- THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 179 ning expenses in Australia under government management 58 per cent, and in the United States 65 per cent. Railway traffic in the United States began in 1830. In 1869 was completed the Central Pacific and Union Pacific, the first overland railways in America north of Panama, at a cost of $200,000,000 furnished mostly by the government, though held and controlled when finished by individuals who repudiated their obligations to the government, and operated the road upon the plan of charging " all the traffic will stand." The Southern Pacific company was incorporated in 1865, re- ceiving a land subsidy, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific obtaining both land and money. The Canadian Pacific was completed in 1885 at a cost of $120,000,000, the government giving 25,000,000 acres of land, $47,500,000 in money, guar- anteeing three per cent interest on $100,000,000 for ten years, besides building and giving the company 70 miles of the road at a cost to the government of $30,000,000. Mexico has the Central, the National, and the Interna- tional, all running up and down the continent. The Pacific coast railway has been for some time projected, running down the coast from San Diego to Mexico, and Central and South American ports, with a direct line also from San Diego to Yuma and the east. Railway lines were established hi Central America, one in 1880 from San Jos6 to Esquintla, Guatemala, and later from Champerico to Retalhulen, and from San Jose to Guatemala city; in Honduras, a road was begun from Puerto Caballos, on the Caribbean sea, to Amapala, on the bay of Fonseca; in Salvador, from San Miguel to Port La Union, and from Aca- jutla to the coffee growing districts of Santa Ana; in Nica- ragua, from Corinto to Leon by way of Chinandega, connect- ing with steamer service on the lake; in Costa Rica, from San Jose 1 and Leon respectively to the Pacific, and from Puntarenas to Esparta. In Ecuador was established in 1887 a railway from Yuag- uachi to Puente de Chimbo, and later one from Puerto Bolivar to Machala. Peru began in 1852 connecting by rail the seaports with the interior valleys, and in 1878 there were about 2,000 miles of road in operation, costing $180,000,000, the longest crossing the cordillera at an elevation of 15,000 feet above sea level. 180 THE NEW PACIFIC Chili was yet earlier, the Copiapo railway being in opera- tion in 1850, followed by 1,700 miles of other roads, one-third of which are the property of the state. Tributary to the two chief ports of Oregon, Portland and Astoria, is a large and fertile agricultural country with every facility of rail and river for inland transportation, and every opportunity for the development of wealth and industry. The Columbia river renders tributary to the ocean a vast region extending eastward through the Cascade range, to which its rushing waters give the name, to the Rocky moun- tains and northward into British Columbia, the Willamette, on which stands Portland, branching southward toward Cali- fornia. Oregon and her cities will contribute their full share to the commerce and wealth of the New Pacific. Seattle and Tacoma, on Puget sound, the termini of overland railways and transpacific steamship lines, are shipping points of great present and prospective importance, having saw-mills, ma- chine-shops, shipyards, foundries, breweries, and many other manufactories. Said Wilkes of Puget sound and its sur- roundings: "I venture nothing in saying that there is no country in the world that possesses waters equal to these. The shores of all these inlets and bays are remarkably bold; so much so that in many places a ship's side would strike the shore before the keel would touch the ground. The country by which these waters are surrounded is remarkably salubri- ous, and offers every advantage for the accommodation of a vast commercial and naval marine." In the interior of Washington the autumn intermixture of yellow and green, in fir poplar and pine, presents a richness and variety of coloring of which the artist never tires. Of interior cities Spokane is susceptible of development into one of the most beautiful and picturesque places on the con- tinent, and work in this direction is well begun. The river adds charm, while the fertile lands around afford wealth. British Columbia is about the size of New South Wales; large interior areas remain yet unexplored. Vancouver island has a mild equable climate, and Victoria is a delightful city for residence. The Canada Pacific railway left New West- minster at one side, but gave rise to Vancouver, the railway terminus, and port for transpacific steamers, which is well laid out on a peninsula between an arm of the sea overlooked THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 181 by a mountain range, and a background of forest. At the southern end of Vancouver island is the naval station of Esquimalt, which when first established was an isolated frontier of a far away British colony, but now on a great high- way, by which an Englishman can travel all the way from London to Australia on his own soil and by his own ships. Time was when the British Columbia representative to the Ottawa parliament must take steamer for Panama, or later, for San Francisco, and thence overland by rail. The Canada Pacific railway, the building of the town of Vancouver, es- tablishing a transpacific line of steamships, and the union of Canada with British Columbia, did more proportionately for British America in consolidating and developing the country, than the three transcontinental lines, the Northern Pacific, the Central and Union Pacific, and the Southern Pacific did for the United States. Vancouver, the terminus of the Ca- nadian Pacific railway, like Seattle and Tacoma, is a point of departure for the Yukon gold fields. With the railway from the head of navigation on the Stikine river, the entire dis- tance from Pacific ports to Dawson and the upper Yukon can be made by water and rail. Trained dogs for the Yukon ser- vice are brought to Vancouver from Newfoundland and Bel- gium. The broken shores of Alaska, of which Sitka is the metrop- olis, warmed by the Japan current, and with their wealth of minerals timber fish and furs, present some interesting feat- ures. All along the coast to Norton sound and Icy bay are native villages, notably at the sand-spit at Hotham inlet, a summer rendezvous for trade and fishing; also at Point Hope, and elsewhere. Over the White pass and connecting Skagway with the Bennett, Tagish, and Atlin lakes runs the Pacific and Arctic railway through primeval solitudes born of ice, but now ministering to the hot passions of avarice and am- bition. Besides mining and a little vegetable culture and stock-raising, Alaska has added to her industries reindeer ranching and the raising of blue foxes for the fur. The great Yukon river of Alaska, 2,100 miles long, empties into Bering strait; the Copper, Suschitna, Nuschagak, and Kuskokwim rivers flow into the Pacific, and the Colville into the Arctic ocean. The great Sierra-Cascade and Coast ranges of Cali- fornia and Oregon continue through British Columbia and 7 182 THE NEW PACIFIC into Alaska, where in wild confusion they meet with the continental range coming in from South and North America. As coast sentinel of this great northern ice-land stands the active volcanic peak of St Elias, 14,970 feet high. Said William H. Seward in a speech at St Paul in Septem- ber, 1860: " Standing here and looking far off into the North- west, I see the Russian as he busily occupies himself in es- tablishing seaports and towns and fortifications on the verge of this continent as the outposts of St Petersburg, and I can say, ' Go on and build up your outposts all along the coast, up even to the Arctic ocean; they will yet become the out- posts of my own country, monuments of the civilization of the United States in the Northwest." It was surely with prophetic inspiration that the great statesman thus saw and spake, for before seven years had passed by those words were fulfilled. Pelagic sealing, or the capture of fur seals in the open sea, was prohibited by congress in 1897; and inasmuch as citizens of the United States were debarred from their own markets for seals thus caught by them, it was enacted that the skins of seals caught in the open sea by citizens of other countries, whether made into sealskin garments or otherwise, should not be allowed entry through the United States custom house. Though annoyance is thus caused to travellers from the United States, in compelling them to obtain a certificate of identification to permit the reentry of such garments on their return, the purpose of the law justifies all inconvenience. Over the sea of Okhotsk and Bering strait, along the chan- nel caused by the rending asunder of the continents of Asia and America, tower the coast line of peaks which are the prolongation of the mountain chains coming forth from the plateaus of Central Asia and forming in the northeast the highest portion of the continental amphitheatre, while the Aleutian isles mark the northern limits of the great ocean before the continents were disjoined or the shore line sub- merged. In the far north are the Aleutian, Kurile, and Pribylof isl- ands, where are the salmon and seals, bears foxes whales walrus and water-fowls which furnish the inhabitants with food and clothing, as well as boats and hunting implements. There is scant vegetation on these isles, except where the interior rises THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 183 into mountains as on the mainland, where are splendid pine forests. There is ice enough at times in Bering sea, but the water is not sufficiently deep in Bering strait to permit the flow of the larger class of icebergs. Whalers had what they called times of icing in connection with whale-catching, which required skilful navigation. The Eskimos of Siberia and Alaska, besides catching animals, birds, and fishes, including bears seals and whales, tan leather, and make clothes of skins and cloth; also weapons and boats. Important industries are raising dogs and making sledges and snow-shoes, also catching fur-bearing animals of every kind. Alaska has a coast line of 18,211 miles, nearly twice the united lengths of the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards of the United States. The Alaska coast range is 7,000 to 9,000 feet high, with occasional peaks of 14,000 or 16,000 feet, perpet- ually snow clad. Alaska is wide, but Siberia seems laid out on a yet wider scale, with high mountain ranges and broad plateaus and deserts. On the northeast Siberian coast, for miles seaward the ocean remains frozen for more than half the year. In Norton sound ice forms in October. Except at the extreme ends, the waters of the Pacific never freeze. The peninsula of Kamchatka has several imposing volcanoes. Petropaulovski stands among the hills, with a good deep har- bor, a long spit in front, and a smoking white mountain, Kor- iatski, in the distance. Between the bay and the mountains is a grassy plain, intersected with streams and covered in places with underbrush. Separating the sea of Kamchatka from the Pacific proper are the Aleutian isles, or insular con- tinuation of the Alaskan peninsula, the broken ridge which may at one time have connected the continents of Asia and America. On the Asiatic side, beginning at the Arctic ocean, we have first the arctic plain, then the grassy steppes where dwell the nomadic Tartars with sheep and horses for food. All through this vast region of eastern Siberia are forests, filled with fur- bearing animals, interspersed with open plains, and beyond the tundras, or mossy swamps, where fish and reindeer supply the inhabitants with food. Bordering the sea of Okhotsk and along the Amur the more hardy cereals are grown, rye oats and barley, the fertility of the soil increasing southward, where cedar forests fringe the mountains and the valleys are good 184 THE NEW PACIFIC for general agriculture. Throughout all this region north of Mongolia the Eussians used to scatter themselves for furs, which were then the currency of commerce; now the precious metals are sought, though the fur-trade is not neglected. As the seal herds on the Pribylof islands die and disappear, principally from pelagic sealing, herds of sheep and cattle will fill the islands of the Aleutian archipelago. Some of the islands are covered with timber, others with grass, enough of them on which to produce a fresh crop of cattle kings. Petropaulovski presents a picture of desolation. Scarcely a human being is to be seen on ordinary days, and even the starving dogs howl piteously. In the distance sullenly smokes the volcano Koselskoi, whose outlines, with the neighboring peaks, are clearly defined against a cloudless sky. The air is calm and cold. The setting sun lights up the hill-tops in various hues, from blue and green to red and gold. Yet there are here, besides dwellings, church, barracks, and hos- pital, the government buildings of logs, and covered with red-painted iron. Vladivostok, the Pacific metropolis of Siberia, presents the appearance of an American rather than an Asiatic city. The deep bay is a mile wide and two and a half miles long; back of it are rolling hills, once well wooded. It is a naval as well as military station, with admiralty board and club house, navy yard, and floating and dry docks. The port is now kept open in the winter by means of mechanical ice-breakers. The pop- ulation are mostly Russians, Chinese, and Japanese, with a few Americans, English, and Germans. But while in every sense Asiatic, the city grows and property booms as in a young town of the United States, lots which in 1864 sold for 500 roubles now being worth 5,000. At Possiet bay, on the coast of Russian Manchuria, is a military station, with extensive barracks and storehouses; there is another large military post at Nowo Kiewsk near by, the population, aside from the Russian soldiers, being princi- pally Korean. At these stations are barracks for 30,000 men. Siberia must necessarily become more and more tributary to the Pacific, as that country increases in wealth and impor- tance under the influence of advancing civilization. Though arctic in location and character, there are unlimited resources, both agricultural and mining, which will one day surprise the THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 185 world. There are vast areas of fertile black earth which send forth rapid vegetation during the hot short summer. End- less rich steppes and rivers and alpine lakes, dense forests and marshy plateaus, and every where minerals without end, gold in the alpine region, and iron and the rest elsewhere. In lineal extent the Siberian railway is the greatest in the world. It is destined to change the face of nature, and renew the life of man throughout northern Asia. Construction is at the rate of one or two miles a day, and traffic is increasing with wonderful rapidity, grain being the chief freight. Japan is rapidly developing in industry and intelligence. The islands have an abundance of good ports, Yokohama be- ing one of the most important in Asia. Nagasaki and others are rapidly growing into prominence. The town of Simoda, in Japan, was totally destroyed in 1854 by an earthquake ac- companied by tidal waves, and a few hours afterward tidal waves appeared on the coast of California. The port of Hiogo was opened to commerce in 1868, and the cities of Hiogo and Kobe now form one community. Their growth during the past thirty years has been phenomenal. Substantial brick buildings line the paved business streets, and private resi- dences cover the suburbs. The bay is filled with shipping, and exports and imports from nothing have reached $80,000,- 000 a year. It is said by geologists that during the tertiary period sub- sidences of land occurred at intervals all along the coast of China, and thus the islands were made, not by upheavals, but by the dropping down into the depths of the land around them. It is an easy explanation of a lengthy mystery, for thus we have accounted for all the islands from the Kamchat- ka peninsula to Siam, that is to say the Kurile, Japan, and Lew Chew groups, Formosa, the Philippine archipelago, as well as Borneo, Java, and Sumatra. All these once were a part of the continent, and the waters which cover the sub- merged land now constitute the seas of Okhotsk, Japan, and China, the Yellow sea, Formosa channel, and the rest. Physi- cal changes continue, the coast line to vibrate, and new lands and new waters to appear. Earthquakes are frequent, bring- ing disaster and death. The configuration of China is written in her river and mountain systems, which correspond to each other in number 186 THE NEW PACIFIC and magnitude. From the length and volume of the water- courses may be imagined the area drained, and from their sediment may be seen the kind of soil through which they flow. The Yangtse, which rises in the mountains of Tibet, receives contributions from half the empire, and reaches the Pacific at Nanking and Shanghai, is the central stream in the river system of China; it is the third river in volume in the world, and the first in regard to the number of people it serves. In the south, entering the Pacific at Canton is the Si-Kiang, navigable for small craft for 1,000 miles, and in the north toward Peking the Hoang-ho, 3,000 miles long. What the Nile is to Egypt these rivers are to the plains of China. The Hoang-ho has a way of breaking away from its old channels and rushing at random over the country. In 1852 it left its banks and wandered off toward the north; in 1889 it broke away and ran south to the Yangtse, and was brought back to its proper course at a cost of $13,000,000. Another char- acteristic of the streams is the way they have of extending the continent into the sea, at a rate of progress unprecedented elsewhere, which doubtless is gratifying to the powers of the world in view of the coming partition. Besides the three great rivers, there are many minor streams floating the prod- ucts of the interior to the sea, where they have provided them- selves for the most part with good harbors. The seaports of China are not on the sea, but on a river, or a little inland, and walled, and so better protected from pi- rates and foreign devils. Chifu is one of the three important northern ports of China, the other two being Tientsin and Niuchwang. Not far from Chifu the Russians are at work, with six ships under charter to bring them lumber from Ore- gon or Puget sound. The custom house jetty is a busy place, crowded with people and piled high with merchandise. At the junction of the Huei river, or grand canal, with the Peiho, and distant eight miles from Peking, is the site of Tientsin, formerly a military station, but assuming importance as a city some 200 years ago. It has now a population of 1,000,000, with an ebb and flow of commerce aggregating 65,000,000 haikwan taels, or $42,250,000 annually; and this, although the Peiho is not always navigable, and freight has to be brought up from the mouth of the river in lighters. " The growth of Tientsin " says the United States consul, " within THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 187 the past few years is most astonishing. The mudholes and swamps of a few years ago have been filled in; one, two, three, and even four story brick buildings erected; streets macadam- ized, trees planted, gas works constructed, and now pipes for a very elaborate water system are being laid, all due to foreign enterprise. On the other hand, the Chinese authori- ties have been seized with the spirit of progress, and to them is due the building and furnishing of the Imperial Military college, the Imperial university, arsenals for the manufacture of guns and ammunition, a mint for the coinage of silver, and last, but not least, 320 miles of splendid railway. Machinery has also been purchased for a complete woollen mill, and many other improvements are now under consideration." A mint with a coining capacity per hour of 5,000 dollars and 18,000 smaller coins was established at Chengtu in 1898, the machinery being brought from New Jersey. This mint coins dollars, half and quarter dollars, dimes and half dimes. A mint was lately established at Wachang for making copper cash, capacity 36,000 an hour. Ningpo lies inland twelve miles, on the river Yung, and is a fortress as well as a port. (J roves of fir make green the hills back of the city, while beyond is a fertile plain watered by a network of canals, used for transport as well as for irrigation. The English colony of Hongkong is elsewhere mentioned, as well as the industrial mart of Shanghai. To reach Fuchau, the capital of Fukien province, one enters the river Min, which with its picturesque scenery and mountainous background reminds one of the upper Hudson. Fuchau is a clean well-built city of 650,000 inhabitants, 22 miles from the sea. It is situated in a rolling plain, and is the centre of black tea culture and traffic. Gun- boats are built in this vicinity, where are shipyard, naval school, and arsenal. Fusan is now more Japanese than Korean. The boats and harbor are Japanese, the shops and streets of the town and the well-filled cemetery are all Japanese, while on the bluff is a Buddhist temple established in 1592 during Japanese occupation. Two hundred miles north of Hongkong is the flourishing port of Amoy, among whose merchants are found wealth luxury and refinement. On the island of Kul- angsu, in the harbor, is a foreign colony. The peninsula of Korea is about 600 by 135 miles, with a coast line of 1,740 miles, and contains 80,000 square miles. 188 THE NEW PACIFIC For eleven miles its northern frontier is conterminous with Eussian territory. There are few good harbors, the best be- ing Fusan and Wosan. Kings of the present dynasty have ruled Korea since 1392, some constitutional modifications hav- ing been made since Japanese ascendancy, though the mon- archy is still hereditary, and the sovereign in a measure abso- lute, his edicts being law. The peninsula is divided into thirteen provinces containing 360 magisterial districts. Eev- enue is derived from customs duties, and land tax of about a dollar an acre. Chinese was the court language, that is to say the archaic Chinese of a thousand years ago, but the na- tional feeling now inclines to a Korean language. Opposite the Fukien province, and across the channel, is famed Formosa, the centre of hostilities during the late war between Japan and China. The island is 250 by 50 miles in extent, and contains some 15,000 square miles. The moun- tainous interior is clothed in forests, while plantations of rice, tea, sugar, and indigo overspread the lowlands. Here are coal deposits and oil springs. Eussian oil, which threat- ened the supremacy of the American article, fell off before the superior methods of United States shippers, who now send kerosene to Shanghai in tank steamers and have it tinned on arrival. On the west side of the Korean peninsula the tide rises and falls from 26 to 38 feet. Lines of electric rail- ways are either projected or in operation in Japan from Hiogo to Amagaski, from Amagaski to Osaka, and from Hiogo to Armina. The Philippine islands, now rising into prominence under United States regime, are destined henceforth to play no un- important part in the affairs of the Far East. Manila was one of the earliest commercial centres on the Asiatic coast, and in many respects maintains her preeminence to the present day. For the protection of shipping Manila harbor is not among the best, being without safe anchorage, and swept by mon- soons in every season of the year. The Pasig river cannot be entered by vessels drawing over sixteen feet of water, that is to say without the assistance of the typhoon. A breakwater has been attempted, at the cost of several millions of Spanish money, for a distance of three-quarters of a mile out from the south bank of the Pasig, affording however but little pro- tection. THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 189 Subig bay, opening from the China sea 251 miles north of Corregidor and 60 miles from Manila, the Spaniards deemed the better place for their new navyyard, which was under con- struction when Dewey came. Indeed, it has long been thought that Subig must eventually become the maritime centre of Luzon. The south islands have some good harbors, that of Iloilo being the best. The single-track railway from Manila to Dagupin, 123 miles, is of steel rails, well built, with bridges of stone or iron, and substantial station buildings. Trains with English engines make 45 miles an hour. It was built under government concession of land, right of way, and guarantee of eight per cent for ninety-nine years, when it becomes the property of the state. It has paid stockholders thus far ten per cent on the capital. One of the first acts of the new administration after the capture of Manila was to clear the mouth of the Pasig river of the obstructions placed there by the Spaniards, thus opening the port to interisland steamers, which Admiral Dewey had held at anchor in the bay. In consequence of which a large traffic sprang up along the water front, which deluged the custom-house and port .offices with business. The Hongkong cable was also soon in operation, giving communication with the outside world. Iloilo, the second city in importance of the Philippi^ a group, is situated 250 miles southeast of Manila, on the island of Panay. It stands by a narrow inlet near to the sea. If coaling stations are needed for the navy they are also needed for the merchant marine, and opportunities for sup- plying this deficiency, all the way from the Antilles to Asia, our late misunderstanding with Spain has amply provided. A beautiful string they make, Porto Rico, Nicaragua, Hawaii, the Ladrones, and the Philippines, a necklace of black dia- monds, when arrangements are completed. The Ladrones are 3,300 miles west of Honolulu, 1,350 south of Yokohama, and 1,640 southeast of Manila. The best harbor of the Ladrones is on the west coast of the island of Guam, a port little known to commerce, though visited sometimes by whalers for supplies, and that without fear of the desertion of the crew. Then Japanese craft found the place and tool: away every year the copra crop, and a Manila ship, driven from her course, sometimes took in water there. It is now a United States coaling station. Angana, the chief town of 190 THE NEW PACIFIC the island, has an anchorage, but not much of a harbor, but six miles away is the bay of San Luis d' Apra, a broad ex- panse of protected waters capable of giving safe anchorage to a hundred of the largest ships. The northern side is pro- tected by Cobras island, and the south side by a coral reef, the entrance channel being under the heights of Point Orote where the Spaniards had a fort. It is an ideal coaling station, and of great value to the United States as a way port for vessels sailing to the Orient. The islands are 1,500 miles from Luzon, 1,350 from Yokohama, and 3,300 from Honolulu. They are of volcanic origin, prolific, and healthy; popula- tion 10,000. The natives are peaceable and hospitable. Obliquely across the South sea from the Philippines to Easter island extends the Polynesian archipelago, the line between the different directions of wind and water currents, no less than of wave undulations. In the famous Fiji islands is where cannibalism becomes classic. Here are 100,000 peo- ple on 200 islands, cultivating sugar and tobacco, and per- mitting many fruits and roots to grow without much cultiva- tion. They are an ill-favored lot; large and strong but thin; not quite so beastly and idiotic as they look, but sufficiently so. Most of the aboriginal islanders hereabout are below the average European height, but the Fijians are above it. The fruits and products are about the same here as at the other South sea islands, sugar and tobacco, cocoa bread-fruit oranges and yams, also sandalwood and palms. On most of the Pacific isles are American English and German planters and traders who dominate society and commerce. At Fiji, and elsewhere in the South Pacific, are coral mountains, 1,000 feet high> raised by submarine action and still growing; a salt water lake bordered by yellow calcareous slime, which stands upon the summit, indicates the presence of living coral. The name Caroline islands is broadly applied to all Micro- nesia, including the Pelew islands and the Mulgrave archipel- ago. The Carolines proper, with hundreds of small islands, lie between them. The natives are Malays, and under proper guidance are not unwilling to work. Left to themselves they prefer a life of pleasure. At the time of the treaty with Spain, the purchase of the Pelew islands was deemed desirable, as well as the retention of the Carolines, as "Waloa, the southern- most island of the Ladrones is only 300 miles north of Ponape, THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BOHDEKS 191 of the Carolines, and the Pelew islands are only 600 miles distant from the Philippines, and their possession would give the United States a chain of islands extending half way across the Pacific. A great part of the Asiatic trade passes between the Ladrones and the Carolines, and the advantages of the control of this natural channel of commerce are obvious. The Caroline islands are very fertile. There are large areas of un- appropriated lands which with capital can be turned to very profitable account. The Marshall islands are of coral formation, on which is a vegetable mold growing cocoanuts and bread-fruit. The sur- face of the Solomon islands is more elevated, and is as a rule fertile and well wooded. It is said that the discoverer called these islands after King Solomon, because he obtained there the gold for the temple, taking it all away; at all events none is there now. How all this came to be known is not stated. For food the naked natives like best lizards, crocodiles, and missionaries; though when they are not plentiful they find nuts and wild fruit, and find happiness further in chew- ing the betel nut, and smoking tobacco, the weed being like- wise the regular currency. The Galapagos islands were so called from the turtles which abound there. The Moluccas, or historic Spice islands, eight in number, grow for the Dutch cloves and nutmegs, peppers, and other spices. The opossum and the bat are here conspicuous, and snakes in plenty, among them the charming python, thirty feet long, and which finds no difficulty in swallowing men, or even deer. The Sulu archipelago, which has been called an annex of the Philippines, or a continuation of the promon- tory of Mindanao, comprises three groups of small islands known as Baseeland, Sulu, and Tawutawa, numbering about 140 in all. They extend 35 miles from east to west, with a breadth varying from five to ten miles, and an area of 2,000 square miles, where dwell 75,000 people, mostly Moham- medans. The Sulus are good sailors and delight in piracy. They are mendacious and perfidious, proud and cruel, ostenta- tious and revengeful. There has been a desultory conflict with Spain running along the centuries, but the island of Sulu was formally conquered by the Spaniards in 1851 and added to the archipelago in 1878, the sultan receiving an income of $2,000 per annum. Each island has its despot, whose rule is 193 THE NEW PACIFIC subject to the nobles. Besides the products of their pearl fisheries, which are not inconsiderable, the more conspicuous articles of their own growing are camphor pepper and dye woods, sea-slugs and edible birds-nests, cinnamon and cloves, and beeswax, tortoise-shells, rattans, and sago. The pearls though small are of good quality. Elephants were brought here from India. Quite a traffic is done in slaves. New Caledonia, the French penal station, is supposed to be better for mining than agriculture, nickel being the promi- nent metal thus far found. The inhabitants of the Loyalty islands, the Samoan, Friendly, and Society islands, are all upon about the same plane, low enough in the scale of hu- manity, lazy, improvident indeed it is not necessary for them to be otherwise. How few in this world will work if not obliged to! The soil here is of wonderful fertility, pos- sibilities of production limitless. To say that there may be grown in most cases two or four crops a year does not fairly express it, but rather I should say most products grow and ripen every day the year round. Besides sugarcane tobacco and pine-apples, sweet potatoes, yams, coffee, oranges, and bananas, there are the banyan, bamboo, rattan, bread-fruit, and other valuable trees, of spontaneous if not of indigenous growth. The Tahitians are superior in some respects to their neighbors. Oceanica, with its Caroline islands, and Pelew islands, and the rest, occupies waters 2,000 miles in extent east and west. There was at one time quite a little nest of pirates, not of Mongolian or Malayan breed, some of whom are always pres- ent in these eastern Asiatic seas, but European pirates, who left on one of the Bornabis a fortification, now in ruins, the stones of which were some of them ten feet in length, and evi- dently brought thither from a distance. The inhabitants are skilful boatmen, but the frequent hurricanes do not add to the felicity of life upon the water. Their houses are of bam- boo, and their boats the trunk of a tree cut out with a hatchet, with vines for cordage, sails of split rushes, and mats for clothing, that is when they have clothing. At the southwest corner of this aqueous amphitheatre, under the terms Australasia and Malaysia, are grouped, both as to size and number, probably half of the islands on the globe, covering an area 6,000 miles in length from the Philip- TUP] PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 193 pines to New Zealand, by 3,000 miles in width from the Indian ocean and the China sea to the Pacific. Among them are in- cluded the Philippines, Borneo, the Moluccas or Spice islands, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and several thousand more. The Malay archipelago alone, if we include in that term the Philippine islands, is not only the largest but the most important group of islands in the world. The island-continent of Australia is in size 2,500 by 1,950 miles, and consists of several colonies of Great Britain. For the same reason that the Pacific ocean remained so long, un- known to civilization, being on the other side of the world and impossible for the ancients to reach, so it was with this great body of land antipodal to the Mediterranean world. Yet it is somewhat strange that with the early idea of a Terra Australis some day to appear, little was positively known of this country prior to the time of Tasman and Cook. Even these were nearly a century and a half apart in their discoveries, and before Tasman's voyage of 1642, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutchmen report having seen patches of land thereabout on various occasions. Captain Dampier, the Brit- ish buccaneer, was on the Australian coast in 1688, in the capacity of pirate, but later as a respectable navigator under the auspices of the English admiralty. Then came Cook, and after him England's criminals, and finally the gold-hunters, sheep-raisers, and colonists of staid respectability. Thus the outer edges of this Australis Terra became known to navigators and settlers, but the interior remained yet for a long time a terra incognita, until in 1860 the government of South Australia offered to give 10,000 to the man who should first cross the island from Adelaide to the northern side. The Victoria colonists raised a fund for the same purpose, and others elsewhere for explorations east and west, until wide areas became known. Great ranges of mountains are interspersed with vast plains, with forests and grassy hills, lakes and inland seas, and rivers, one, the Murray, 1,100 miles long, and navigable eight months in the year for nearly its whole length. As a rule, however, the Australian rivers are not long. All the metals exist in all the provinces, but the great gold fields, discovered in 1851, are in New South Wales and Victoria. In the two decades following, Victoria exported 40,750,000 ounces of gold, and 194 THE NEW PACIFIC New South Wales not quite 10,000,000 ounces, while Queens- land from 18GO to 1873 gave out 1,000,000 ounces. Australia for the most part is hot and dry, yet there are places where 90 inches of rain fall. The colony of Victoria, occupying south- eastern Australia, known first as Port Phillip, was begun as a convict settlement in 1803. When in 1851 Edward Har- graves found gold in New South Wales, half of the hundred thousand people in Victoria rushed thither, and when six months later gold at Clunes, and the rich Ballarat deposits were found, they all rushed back again, and with them fifty thousand more. They had a way in Australia when they wanted a thing of hunting for it. When the Victorians saw their country depopulated by the New South Wales mines, the citizens of Melbourne offered a reward to him who should first find gold in Victoria, and Clunes and Ballarat were the result. They tell the story of this same Edward Hargraves that in California he saw Marshall shortly after he had found gold at Coloma. " Yes," said Marshall, " I first found this gold that is turning all the world wild/' " That is nothing ", Hargraves replied " I can find gold if I want to." " Where ? " demanded Marshall. " In Australia ". " Well, you had bet- ter go and find it ". And he went. Of the Australian colonies, New South Wales and New Zea- land do the largest trade with the Pacific. The largest city in Australia is Melbourne, the capital of Victoria. The gold discovery gave the city its first great impetus, 100,000 diggers landing at this port the first year, the permanent population rapidly increasing from that time. The manufactures of Melbourne are flour, articles in leather wood and iron, cloth- ing, carriages, and fifty other like important industries. The commerce is large, 1,500 vessels sometimes arriving in a year. In Melbourne and in San Francisco the cheap restaurant has become an institution, some of the former having become rich on sixpenny meals only, and the latter furnishing good dishes at five and ten cents each. Sydney is to Australia as New York and San Francisco are to the United States, namely, the chief seaport of a long line of coast, a beautiful harbor with picturesque surroundings, and a commerce reach- ing to all parts of the world. As a rule the railways in Aus- tralia belong to the government, even such as were built by THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 195 private companies becoming later the property of the state. The system works well, and people are satisfied with it. The vast and vital interests connected with interior traffic and transportation are thus always in the hands of the people themselves, and not under control of grinding monopolies. Personal profit is here not the only, or even the primary ob- ject of government, but the welfare of the country. To southeastern Australia Cook gave the name of New South Wales, whose area was subsequently extended, and erected into a separate colony, and whose commercial and political metropolis is Sydney, on Port Jackson, one of the finest har- bors in the world. Cook missed this anchorage, and entered Botany bay, six miles southward, where was also landed the first convict fleet from England in 1788. Sydney has three large public wharves, several parks, government house, bo- tanic gardens, colleges, town hall, cathedral, theatres, and all the other adjuncts of advanced civilization. New South Wales has rich alluvial soils on which thrive all grasses, tend- ing to extensive grazing industries; also grain and tobacco. Wool is one of the chief industries of Australia. Gold, silver, copper, tin, and coal are mined extensively. For a long time New South Wales was little more than a penal settlement. Papua, or New Guinea, lying just north of Australia, is the largest island in the world, except Australia, being 1,490 miles long and 300 or 400 miles wide. It was sighted by Dabreu in 1511, and visited by the Portuguese, Meneses, in 1526. Upon the spread of Islamism to the Moluccas early in the fif- teenth century, the Malay rulers of contiguous small isles claimed sovereignty over New Guinea, which was later exer- cised by the sultan of Tidore. Then came the Dutch, and later the officers and men of the East India company. The natives are of medium stature, in color a Polynesian brown, and are altogether about the lowest of the Malayan race. New Caledonia, next in size among the Pacific isles to New Zealand, some 240 miles long, was discovered by Cook in 1774, and was used by the French as a convict settlement in 1853. Noumea, the capital, has a good harbor, with a beautiful and varied landscape. The country consists of mountains and cul- tivable plains, and at one time supplied commerce with large quantities of sandal-wood. Australian miners are here, and concessions have been given to colonists, but the convict agri- 196 THE NEW PACIFIC cultural establishments are said to be more successful. From December to March the weather is hot and wet; the timber is fine, and all the tropical plants grow in profusion. The colony of New Zealand comprises the Chatham and the Auckland islands, situated antipodal to Great Britain. Dense forests are here interspersed with agricultural plains, all watered by countless streams, though but few of them are of navigable size. There are great lakes, however, one of them, Lake Taupo, covering an area of 250 square miles. Rain is abundant, and the climate is not unlike that of England. All the grains, grasses, and fruits pertaining to temperate climes, and all the domesticated animals of civilization here prosper in a high degree, wheat and barley being conspicuous. There are extensive coal and gold quartz deposits. The true discoverer of New Zealand, as we have seen, was Tasman, who was there in 1642, hence Tasmania. But Cook in 1769 was the first European to land; and as he took formal possession for George III, that according to the international ethics of Europe makes the country England's, so long as she is strong enough to hold it. The natives are Maoris, of Poly- nesian instincts and traditions, accustomed in times past to human flesh as food, and delighting like the rest of humanity in killing each other. The scenery of New Zealand is unsur- passed by that of any temperate clime. The coasts of Japan and Guatemala are perfect, and though unlike either, New Zealand is -equally charming, owing to the great rainfall and the absence of cold. The New Zealand province of Auckland is rich in gold and timber, with some coal. The city of Auck- land is well laid out, and adorned with the usual paraphernalia of progress. It is expected that in the group of English col- onies in the southwest of the Pacific, comprised under the general term of Australasia, there will develop a high and advanced type of Anglo-saxon civilization. Thus far thinly peopled, large areas being void of population, there is room for many millions Though there is an abundance of good agricultural land ready for cultivation, there are parts of comparatively little value, and other parts, like the so-called desert lands of America, which will grow almost any kind of vegetation if sufficiently watered. Australian federation is slowly but surely progressing. The refusal of New South THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ITS BORDERS 197 Wales to accept the proposed constitution retarded matters somewhat. On the other hand, parliamentary elections in- dicate the near approach of the federal union of Australia. These colonies have probably advanced as far in democratic freedom as any other people in the world; in nearly all of their legislative bodies the upper house is omitted, the ma- jority of a single chamber being absolute. Beautiful indeed to the eye of the English traveller are New Zealand and Tasmania, but most charming of all is Brit- ish Columbia, with its noble harbors, its mountains rich in metals, its grassy plains and fertile foothills, its wheat-produc- ing prairies, its rivers lakes and seaboard swarming with fish, its forests of fine timber and inexhaustible coal deposits, with inland scenery which makes tame the grandest that Europe can display. There are conditions favorable to the expansion of Euro- pean civilization in other regions than China. Several of the South American countries, where no progress is being made in science industry or government, are already attracting the attention of those who make it their affair to regenerate and repartition the world. What would happen were all the towns round the Pacific like Genoa, Amsterdam, or Salem of old? What would hap- pen if one in fifty of our Pacific seaports possessed the men and genius, the intelligence industry and activity, of some of the ancient seats of commercial empire? Such a rise and overturning and awakening and development, intellectual and industrial, moral and political, as the world has never yet seen. Most of us, like Mr Micawber, wait for something to turn up, for some persons or influence, other than ourselves or outside of our efforts, to bring about the means of progress and wealth, instead of doing and achieving in our own proper mind and person. The leading men of our Pacific coast should be of excep- tional quality, being the successors and survivors of a com- munity of picked men, who came early to the gold-fields and agricultural districts and succeeded where others failed, and who survived as seemingly the fittest. Never was a grander opportunity for men having the energy and ability, for men of the kind that built Chicago, and are now building scores of 198 THE NEW PACIFIC cities and hundreds of railway lines in various parts, to come forward and take possession of the Pacific ocean, industrially and commercially, and so dominate the western seaboard of the United States as to make it absolutely the greatest coun- try in the world, and themselves the wealthiest and most beneficial of men. CHAPTER VIII INTEBOOEANIO COMMUIUICATON DURING the two decades which elapsed from the discovery vf America to the discovery of the Pacific ocean, European co?mographers and navigators were puzzled in regard to sev- tral matters. First, this new land, is it continent, or island, or archipelago? If the last, which seemed for a time most probable, then the islands, or groups of islands, must lie scattered along the east coast of Asia, whose existence had been reported by early travellers overland across Asia, and by navigators from the Indian ocean to the Spice islands, per- haps they were the Zipangu of Polo, or, which would be nearer the proper latitude, the constellation of isles spoken of by Ptolemy as lying between the China sea and the Indian ocean, and which we now know as the Philippines, Java, Su- matra, and their thousand satellites. Secondly, if these were the Asiatic isles as reported, obviously there were many chan- nels or water ways between them leading to the continent. There was mystery attending it, whatever hypothesis might be adopted, whether this should be called the true India, or regarded as some land intervening. Polo had reported Zipangu as an island 1,500 miles from the mainland; and there might be other islands, at a greater or less distance from Cathay, an ocean full of them. The land which had been found was about where the discoverers expected to find it; the world, as they measured it, was smaller than it is in reality; and then to say that besides a great continent, a vast sea lay between them and Asia, would have been an idea too great to grasp. It remained to be finally brought home to the mind of Magellan during his long and perilous voyage into the un- known, reckoning his leagues by the number of dead dropped into the sea. It was exasperating to these early navigators, this long wall 199 200 THE NEW PACIFIC of land which so persistently obstructed their passage to the khan's kingdom which they so desired to reach. And when Magellan, the first and only one to find a way through the continent, passed into his strait, he could of course form no conception of the extent of the land he saw lying on his left. It might be a large island, this Tierra del Fuego as he named it, or it might be a small or large continent, extending part or all the way to and around the south pole. Of one thing he was sure, for by this time it had been well searched, that there was no break in the land between Florida and where he entered his strait. Further than that he knew nothing, ex- cept that this must be a great sea, as it was probably part of the one seen by Balboa 1,500 leagues to the northward of where he then sailed. For many years afterward, however, the search was con- tinued, more particularly in the north, where explorations progressed more slowly, the southern continent soon becom- ing pretty well known to those who followed the track of Magellan in his new route to India. Long indeed was the effort continued, and many were the false reports made; and when a way was finally discovered round the northern end of this line of land which lay stretched out in ocean almost from one end of the earth to the other, it was found to be worth- less to commerce. Eobert McClure, sailing from England in 1850 and wintering near Melville sound, was the first to make the northwest passage, 328 years after Magellan made the southwest passage; while the northeast passage was made by Nordenskiold, in 1879, 326 years after the first attempt was made by Willoughby in 1553. Apocryphal voyages to the Northwest in search of a strait from the Pacific to Hudson bay and the Atlantic were set forth from time to time, like the pretended discoveries of Juan de Fuca as given to geography in 1596 by Michael Lok, an Englishman, and printed in Purchas, His Pilgrimes, in 1625. Fuca was a Greek whom Lok met in Venice, and be- tween them they made out a good story, which was believed for a hundred years or so, that being long for even the truth to endure at the present day. Fuca had been forty years a pilot in the Spanish West India and Pacific service, he said, and was on board the galleon captured by Cavendish off Cali- fornia in 1587. Then he was sent north to fortify the strait INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION 201 of Anian against the English, which statement answered as well as another, no one then knowing that there was no strait and no Englishmen there. Fuca's falsehood was rewarded by giving to the entrance to Puget sound his name, which it bears to this day, an honor such as is the too frequent reward of a lie well told. Fuca said his strait was 100 miles wide at the entrance; he carefully mapped it, filling up the blank spaces around with cities of the plain, as Quivira, and mon- sters of the deep, such as all mythical geography then con- tained; finally, sailing this strait for twenty days he came to the Atlantic ocean. This same Anian strait was first placed further south, where it would cut through the continent at about the mouth of the Columbia river; but as the southern coast became explored, and it became known that no such passage-way existed, rather than lose altogether so interesting a feature, and so betray their ignorance, the map-makers kept shoving it further north, until they finally got it up to Bering strait, where it will probably remain. The Wytfliet-Ptolemy maps of 1597 assisted to perpetuate mythical geography, being filled with fanciful conjectures received as fact by the scholars. In his Book of Sea Heroes, 1598, Conrad Low gives a general map supposed to be original, yet copied from Ortelius and Ptolemy, in which the kingdom of California is placed near the north pole, by the large strait of Anian, which separates Asia from America. Then there were the stories told by Torquemada and Father Ascension; the tale of the wonderful island of Zinogaba, rich in pearls; the story of Maldonado, who in 1588 sailed from Labrador into the Polar sea, and through the strait of Anian into the Pacific; the stories of Father Zarate Salmeron, of Pierre d' Avity and Penalosa, of fathers Kino and Salvatierra, of Ad- miral Bartholomew de Fonte, whose letter appeared in the London Memoirs for the Curious, in 1708, and others, which if told in full would fill a volume. Whence it appears that this matter of interoceanic com- munication, which is now so plain to the members of congress, who would dig the ditch and have done with it if their all- opposing politicians and the railway magnates did but gra- ciously permit, was for a century or two a great mystery, which, like all mysteries that cannot be fathomed, men translated to suit their fancy, stoutly asserting the same as fact, and so 202 THE NEW PACIFIC far as the use or effect of their knowledge went, was perhaps to them as good as fact. By the middle of the sixteenth century the Atlantic coast was known northward only to lati- tude 60, and the Pacific coast to latitude 40, yet there are many maps of the region beyond drawn prior to 1550. Honest old Sebastian Cabot stated squarely before the century began, " And understanding by reason of the Sphere that if I should saile by the Northwest I should by a shorter tract come into India, not thinking to finde any other land then that of Cathay, and from thence to turne toward India, but after certaine dayes I found that the land ranne towards the North, which was to mee a great displeasure." Leaving the Northern Mystery and returning to sober statements, we find that for a period of 400 years efforts have been made to obtain a water-way through the American con- tinent. Columbus spent the later years of his life in search of a strait, before Vasco Nunez ascertained that there was a great ocean so near at hand. Passage was attempted by the Atrato river from ancient Darien. Angelo Saavedra proposed to cut a waterway through the isthmus of Panama as early as 1520, and not long afterward Cortes had the isthmus of Tehuantepec surveyed for a canal. Antonio Galvao in 1550 submitted four different schemes for a canal. The Spanish cories in 1814 ordered work begun at Tehuantepec, but inde- pendence intervened to prevent; and yet a survey was there made in 1821, and to Jose de Garray in 1842 was given a con- cession to construct a canal, and there the matter dropped. President Bolivar instituted an examination of the Panama isthmus for canal construction, as did the Frenchman Garella, and others. Then came the discovery of gold in California,, and the con- struction, on the Panama isthmus, of the first railway across the continent of America, from ocean to ocean. This, indeed, was a great event, though the distance was only 48 miles. The work was completed, at the cost of much money and many human lives; in 1855, and thereafter 40,000 passengers were annually conveyed across this narrow neck of land at a fare of $25 each. The canal of M. de Lesseps was to follow the route of the railway, which indeed was purchased by the French company. The estimated cost of the canal by the de Lesseps company, which took form in 1881 as the Inter- INTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION 203 oceanic Canal company of Panama, was 600,000,000 francs, but which failed as every previous attempt had failed. Charles V was thoroughly interested in the project of a waterway across the Panama isthmus. When he first saw mapped the Darien country he was struck with the near ap- proach of the heads of streams flowing in opposite directions, and he soon formed a plan to unite the Rio Grande with the Chagre, and Andagoya, who made an expedition to Biru in 1522, was directed to make a survey, with estimate of cost. His report was unfavorable. At that time, a ship arriving at Xombre de Dios discharged cargo into flat-bottomed boats which ascended the Chagre to Cruces, distant about six leagiies from the South sea. There muleteers took the mer- chandise in charge for Panama. Monte jo, governor of Honduras, in 1539 addressed a letter to the emperor urging the construction of a road for pack- animals between the bay of Fonseca and Puerto de Caballos, by way of Comayaga, the distance being 32 leagues. He claimed this to be a more favorable route for merchandise be- tween Spain and Peru than that via Panama, the harbors on either side being better and the climate less unhealthy. The governor asked for negroes to do the work, as the natives were not reliable laborers. In 1554 Juan Garcia de Hermosillo was commissioned by the king to inquire into the merits of the respective routes, and he reported in favor of Honduras. Still the interest in the canal was kept up, for this same year we find the old chronicler Gomara writing, " It is true that mountains obstruct these passages, but if there be mountains there be also hands; let but the resolve be formed to make the passage and it can be made." In early times several millions were spent on a canal from Cartagena bay to Calamar, on the Magdalena river; it is called el dique de Cartagena, but never proved successful, because the work was not properly done, and navigation is obstructed by the batata grass which fills the canal. The isthmus of Tehuantepec is 130 miles wide at its nar- rowest point, where, besides lakes and lagoons, are the rivers Coatzacoalcos and Tehuantepec, emptying into the bays of Campeche and Tehuantepec respectively. The plan here was to enlarge and connect these two rivers, and it was seriously discussed at various times, and surveys made. 204 THE NEW PACIFIC It was proposed in France, in 1791, by La Bastide, to cut a channel from the gulf of Nicoya to the Sapoa, widening that river between the lake and the gulf of Papagayo, but the French revolution drove the matter from the minds of the projectors. So it was in Spain, in 1814, when survey and con- struction were decreed by the cortes, subsequent political events rendering the decree inoperative. The attention of the Spanish court was for many years occupied by projects for a ship canal through Nicaragua. Search was made for the outlets of lakes Managua and Nic- aragua by Pedrarias Davila, first governor of that region under the crown of Spain. The falls of the San Juan were carefully examined by Este and Rojas, officers of the king, and a water- way round them for ships recommended. Not only were the Spaniards interested in this scheme, but also the French and English, the latter even contemplating the conquest of the country. The contrivance of locks being then little under- stood, Galisteo in 1781 declared the plan impracticable. " If the isthmus of Panama is cut through some day " said Decres to First-consul Napoleon, who asked his ministers' ad- vice about the cession of Louisiana to the United States, " it will occasion an immense revolution in navigation, so that a voyage around the world will be easier than the longest cruise to-day. Louisiana will be on the line of this new route, and its possession will be of inestimable value. Don't give it up." It is now three quarters of a century since the attention of the United States was first directed to the subject in 1825. After considering it for a full decade, the president was re- quested by the senate, in 1835, to enter into negotiations with the Central American states and New Granada, having in view treaties for the protection of Americans who should at- tempt opening communication between the two oceans. With New Granada a treaty was made in 1846, which gave the United States right of way across the Isthmus, but instead of a canal a railway was built. Let us hope, as regards a ship canal, a short line railway across the continental desert, or irrigating and land-reclaim- ing canals and systems, that hereafter when the government pays for a thing it will keep it, and operate it, and not hand it over to private persons to be used to grind the people who contributed to the construction. As to the routes for a ship INTEKOCEANIC COMMUNICATION 205 canal, the commercial world will be satisfied with either; probably to all except North America the Panama route would be preferable, being more central and shorter; through Nic- aragua, however, will best suit the United States, being nearer, and therefore more useful. Cornelius Yanderbilt, Joseph L. White, and others, in order to make more secure their exclusive privilege for conveying freight and passengers across Nicaragua, organized in 1849 the American Atlantic and Pacific Ship Canal company, prob- ably having no intention then or at any time to construct such a waterway. A survey was made, and in 1851 White secured a charter from the Nicaraguan government authorizing the formation of another company for the same purpose, com- posed of the same members but with a different name. No wonder that Nicaragua, wearied at the long and useless delay of congress to take action, should permit the privilege to pass into private hands. While it is better for the United States government to control the canal, it is of less consequence to commerce who builds it than that it is built. Nothing exemplifies more forcibly the great awakening of the American people incident to the war with Spain than the revolution of opinion regarding the importance of an inter- oceanic ship canal. Except upon the Pacific coast, and among those more especially interested on the Atlantic side, there was a general apathy as to the question, especially in the mid- continent states, where it was looked upon as a measure to benefit the coasts at the expense of the interior. Politicians arrayed themselves against it for personal reasons, and there were statesmen and journalists who saw in it only a scheme for swindling the government. But with the war, and the expansion of ideas which followed, all this was changed. As to the necessity of the canal to commerce, or the feasi- bility of constructing it, the time has passed for such discus- sion. As to its relative value to one part of the world and to an- other, it will prove nearer of equal value to all than might ap- pear at the first glance. Whatever helps London, helps all who do business with London, and that is all the world. I cannot say much for the intelligence of the midcontinent man who claims that because his town is not a seaport he will derive no benefit from a ship canal. Let him consider that an inter- oceanic waterway across any isthmus of America will make 206 THE NEW PACIFIC not only a seaport, but a Pacific seaport, of all the cities in the United States which are situated on or near navigable waters. From all the towns on all the principal lakes and rivers, lakes Michigan Ontario and Erie, rivers Ohio Missis- sippi and Missouri, and a score of others, vessels of medium tonnage will ply direct to San Francisco, Yokohama, Hong- kong, Manila, Sydney, Valparaiso, and every other Pacific sea- port; and where water communication is not already open for access to the sea, the canal once constructed such communica- tion will soon be opened, and there will be such a revolution in the world's commerce as is now not even dreamed of. As to the relative benefits to be derived by the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, they lie unquestionably more largely with the former. I know that California is expecting the millen- nium when the canal comes, as was anticipated when the first overland railway was finished. The millennium came, but not to California; it came to certain railway monopolists, who pocketed the money given them by the government to build the road, while grinding as much more as possible out of the country tributary to the road, throwing the debt of construc- tion, with interest, finally back on the government. I never have known another instance in the history of railroad build- ing, where a government paid for building the road, and then gave it to the builders to use for the destruction of the people it was supposed to benefit. California would be better off to- day had none of the present overland railways ever been built. From the day the Central Pacific ran an engine through Market street, in San Francisco, as the signal that the road was finished, the poor sheep that crowded the thor- oughfare bleating their joy, from that day to this the iron heel of commercial despotism has never been lifted from this country. And if now Californians take the matter of a ship canal as tamely as they took the railroad infamy, the water- way will be of little benefit, but rather a disadvantage, in car- rying traffic directly through it, and away from us, instead of by our door. There will, of course, be our share of the general benefit which will accrue to all the countries bordering on the Pacific, with overland freight reductions on certain classes of goods; but to derive a proper benefit from any ship canal from the Atlantic to the Pacific, we shall have to rise and meet the occasion, by establishing on our shores full lines of all 1NTEHOCEANIC COMMUNICATION 207 kinds of manufacturing industries, with the closest com- mercial relations with every country bordering on the Pacific. In other words we shall be compelled to exercise the same in- telligence, energy, and liberality that has built up so many large and flourishing cities and sections throughout the entire United States save in California alone. I have only to remark in conclusion, as I have elsewhere intimated in this volume, that as a business proposition, clearly apparent to a business man, the United States govern- ment at this juncture can better afford to spend some money for national advancement than not to do so. As we figure it up, we are the greatest and the richest nation on earth, the most enterprising, brave, and humane, a nation of boundless potentialities, which in my soul I believe to be true; and yet, seeing how freely the public money is spent on what is of so little use to the public; on political jobbery; on private schemes for the personal advantage of our good patriots; on popular fads as soldiers' pensions and public schools for the piano; on army and navy supplies, necessary as humanity is made, but tending in no wise to the upbuilding of the indus- trial interests of the nation; when I see how easy the mill- ions come for foolish and unnecessary things, and how dif- ficult it is to get any thing done for the country, such as the construction of this canal, which in truth is too small a matter to haggle over so long, I cannot but feel that we need some men at the head of affairs whose minds are not laid out on such narrow lines, and whose souls are not wholly absorbed in the selfish seekings of party and place. It is the business of the government, for example, if the government has any business further than the comfortable support of the poli- ticians, to reclaim its waste places and desert lands by systems of irrigation, which with less than the cost of the late Span- ish war, would add one-fifth to the agricultural area of the United States, or three times as much as we get by all the tropical islands secured. These now waste lands, which can be made as rich as any Egypt by the application of water, of which there is an abundant supply at hand, lie in the heart of the continent, dividing the republic into two parts, be- tween which commercial intercourse is restricted to the arbi- trary rule of railway monopolists, who constructed their roads with funds furnished by the government, and now used with 208 THE NEW PACIFIC government permission to crush the industrial life of the people who are forced to use them. A few hundred millions more of debt just now would not embarrass this nation, if the money instead of being wasted in political clap-trap, went for the promotion of public necessities, as a merchant marine, a government railroad across the desert, a ship canal, and like investments, which would yield to both government and peo- ple a large and quick return in wealth, power, and prestige. Five hundred artesian wells would be worth more to the United States than five thousand dead Filipinos, and would not cost as much. The price of three battleships would bring the waters of Lake Tahoe to San Francisco, fertilizing a thou- sand farms on the way, and adding millions to the taxable property of the state. And there are many such needful de- velopments west of the Rocky mountains, awaiting the atten- tion of government. Many volumes have been written on the subject of interoceanic com- munication ; many men have spent their lives in studying it ; nearly all the principal governments of Europe have been interested in some one or more of the many plans brought forward, and several of them have had surveys made at different points. The governments of Netherland America have lived for centuries on the hope that this work would some day be done. Those who should wish to pursue further this interesting study I refer to the following authorities. Garella, Projet d'un canal, 11-194, 230; Chevalier, Pan. 117-22; Reichardt, Cent. Am , 164-5; Cul- len's Isth. Darien Ship Canal, 19 ; Nicaragua, Gaceta, Nov. 18, 1848 ; Liot's Panama, Nicaragua, and Tehuantepec, 6-12; Ramirez, Mem., 1- 108; Gar ay, Survey Isth. Tehuan., 3-188 ; Hakluyt, Voy. , iii; Gomara, Hist. Ind., 37-89; Duflot de Mofras, Explor. de I' Oregon, 119; Nouvelle Annales des Voy., ci, iii, 8-9; Cortes, Diario, 1813, xix, 392; Robles, Prov. Chiapa, 17; Bustamante Med. Pacific, M S ii Sup. 15; Herrera Hist. Ind., iv, 234; Rivera Gobern. Mex., ii, 116; Ward's Mex. , i, 311 ; Dublan and Lozano, Legist. Mej., i, 738-9; Manero, Notic. Hist., 51-6; Davis' Report, 5-6 ; Mex. Diario Debates, 10th Cong., i, 273-1930, passim ; Frobel, Aus. Am., i, 144, 241 ; Squier's Nic., 658 ; Humboldt, Essai Polit., i, 1-17; Niles' Reg. xxx, 447; London Geog. Soc. Jour., xiv, 127-9; Scherzer, Cent. Am., 241 ; Belly, Nic., i, 84-7, 137; Sampson's Cent. Am., 7-18; Maruro, Mem. Hist., 1-47; Billow, Nic., 44-57; U. S. Gov. Doc., Sen. Miscel Cong. 30, Sess. 1, no 80, 69-75; Id.. H. Ex. Doc. Cong. 31, Seas. 1, no 75, 50-326, passim; Marcoleta, Min. Nic., 1-32; Hunt's Mer. Mag., Iv, 31-48; Ivi, 32-4; Panama Star and Herald, Dec 5, 1885; Andagoya, Carta at Rey, in Squier's M S S, xi, 8 ; Juan and Ulloa, Voy., i, 94; Fitz-Roy, in Land. Geog., Soc., Jour., xx, 170, 178; Ariz. Darien M S, 11-12 ; Philosophical Trans. 1830 ; Arosemena, Examen, 8-34; 1NTEROCEANIC COMMUNICATION 209 Interoc. Canal and Monroe Doc. t 23-4; Panama Gaceta 1st., Sept. 20, 1841; G. B. Watts, in Am. Geog. and Stat. Soc. Bull, i, pt iii, 64-80; Datos Biog., in Cartas de Ind., 761; Tucker's Monroe Doc., 43-4; Bid- well's Isth. Pan., 299-308, 397-417; Strain's Inter. Com., 18-27; Mex. Anales Min. Fomento, i, 83-88; Selfige, DarienExplor., U. S. Gov., Doc., Cong. 43, Sess. 3; Bulletin du Canal Oceanique, 1883-4; Sullivan's Problems fntero. Communic., Washington, 1883; Ammen s Interoc. Ship Canal, Phil. 1880; La Estrella de Pan. July 21, 1884; Guatemala Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1880-5 ; Pirn's Gate of the Pac., 313-21 ; Laferriere de Paris a Guat., 101-6; Costa Rica Informe Sec. Goberu.) 1873-4; Colombia Diario Ofic., 1874. CHAPTER IX RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC VAST as are the resources of the countries round the Pa- cific, they present themselves at the present time in the form of industrial potentialities rather than of concrete wealth. True, there are here, with the limitless natural wealth and possibilities, money and property in abundance, but accumu- lated stores of riches such as are found in older communities we must not look for in new and undeveloped regions. Speak- ing generally, if one may speak generally of an area of land and water extending from pole to pole and covering half the earth, the soils here are very like the soils in the other hemi- sphere, and the flora and fauna, though differing, are much the same. The low-lying lands, where there is heat and moist- ure, are fertile; the higher and drier regions less so. There are mountains and swamps, and some volcanic debris on which plants grow reluctantly; but there are no great deserts, such as are found in the interior of continents, and no large stretches of land which may not in some way be found of use to man. Beginning at the southern extremity on the American side, we will take a brief glance round the arena. Patagonia is still largely in a state of nature with some good soil and a fair display of vegetation; elsewhere there are places more barren in aspect and with trees dwarfed, though the largest of birds and the longest of men flourish here, the latter loving their country as well as if it were a better one. Both Chili and Bolivia, and indeed the whole South Ameri- can seaboard, produce largely of minerals for export, as silver, gold, tin, bismuth, antimony, mercury, lead, copper, as well as borate of lime, sulphur, and nitrate of soda. Southern Chili abounds in forests, but northern Chili without irriga- tion is sterile. The southern section, which long remained in its primeval state, the government is now opening to settle- 210 RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 211 nieut, extending its railways, and establishing new towns. Every year is held an auction sale of government lands, which bring from $1.50 to $30 an acre. Many Germans came to Chili under a plan to encourage immigration which is no longer in force, being too liberal for practical purposes. Pas- sage money was loaned to the immigrant, and 100 acres of land allotted him on arrival, with an ox team, boards and nails for a house, and $15 a month advanced him for one year, amounting in all to about $600, the amount to be paid back in eight years. Though wheat is abundant, there is here no such grain country on the Pacific side of South America as is found over the Andes in Argentina, which is one of the several granaries of the world. From Rosario are shipped weekly thousands of tons of wheat, corn, and linseed. The Chilian farmers as a class are as wealthy as any in the world, living like feudal barons, with hacienda in lieu of castle, with broad acreage, hosts of retainers, and thousands of sheep cattle and horses. At the annual roundup of some of these great estates, an army of cow-boys are present, with their captains and chiefs of all grades. Some 30,000,000 bushels of wheat are annually raised in Chili, and at harvesting a score of American thresh- ing machines may be sometimes seen in operation on a single plantation. While in the United States only 31,000 men own farms of over 1,000 acres, in Chili few who consider them- selves of any importance own less. Farms of 10,000, 20,000 and 30,000 acres are not uncommon. Agriculture is the chief industry; half of the population are devoted to farming, and it is not uncommon to find millionaires among the great estate owners. Irrigation is carried on to a considerable extent from mountain streams. Some of the farms are surrounded by stone walls, board or wire fences being little used. At one time, during the early mining period, Chili sup- plied California with almost her entire supply of flour, 50 and 100 pound sacks being then first used by Americans. Flour from the east came as of old in barrels, from which it had to be taken and sacked for mule transportation to the mines. Peru as well as Brazil is a great producer of raw material; rubber is almost the currency of the Para and Amazon coun- tries. The tropical vegetation of the Orinoco is gorgeous. The Peruvian forest?, where is found the indiarubber tree, 212 THE NEW PACIFIC the chinchona or quinine tree, and varieties of vanila and sarsaparilla, and through which flow the great navigable rivers Maranon and Ucayali, the latter 600 miles long, are in the tropical basin of the Amazon, on the eastern side of the cor- dillera. Here may be grown the finest coffee, sugar, and cacao. Sugar is cultivated in the coast valleys, where cotton is in- digenous and also largely cultivated. Other products are grapes, olives, rice, silk, and cochineal. Grain and vegetables are grown in the sierra, whence likewise are exported large quantities of alpaca and sheep's wool. On the Peruvian Andes are the wild vicuna and the do- mestic alpaca and llama. There are also black bear deer and fox, and among birds the condor and alcamari, the latter fur- nishing the black and white wing feather for the head-dress of the incas. Myriads of sea-birds frequent the lofty head- lands and adjacent isles. Between fifteen and twenty millions of tons of guano have been taken from the Chincha islands, near the coast of Peru, for the fertilization of distant lands. The supply is practically exhausted. It is because the region is rainless, and the deposit is thus enabled to retain its am- monia that makes it so valuable as a fertilizer. Along the southern seaboard runs a deposit of nitrate of soda, enough to supply the world for a century, from which hundreds of thousands of tons are annually exported. Guayaquil is the commercial clearing-house of Ecuador, the whole foreign commerce of the country passing through this port. In common with Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Peru, the currency of Ecuador is on a gold basis. Freights from the eastern United States are so excessive that little trade from that quarter with Ecuador need be expected until there is an interoceanic canal. Under contract is a government railway to connect Guayaquil and Quito, 350 miles in length, with an elevation to overcome of 12,200 feet. This road will open to the world a high tropical plateau, having a rich soil and a temperate healthful climate, inhabited by an industrious but isolated people, with unlimited water-power for manufactur- ing and streams for irrigating ditches, and where cotton grows wild and the grazing ranges are unrivalled. The soil is a vol- canic ash, on which grow in greatest luxuriance cereals and fruits of all kinds belonging to the temperate and tropical zones. Between this plateau and the coast is a series of val- RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 213 leys of wonderful fertility, through which the road passes after leaving the low malarious coast, with its plantations of cacao and sugarcane, and its groves of rubber and ivory-nut trees. Agriculture is still carried on in Ecuador by the ancient Peruvian methods, the tropical Indian, dense and debased but industrious and peaceable, ploughing the ground with a stick of wood, threshing out the grain with the branch of a tree, spinning his own thread and making his own cloth, happy to be a slave to the land owner upon the peonage plan with labor at from 20 to 30 cents a day. The Quito and Guaya- quil railway enterprise is American; the proprietary natives care little for modern methods. So great has been the de- struction of the wild rubber-tree in Ecuador by cutting them down for the gum, that its cultivation was started, and is quite a successful industry. There are in the distant forests multitudes of rubber-trees which have never been touched, but the difficulties attending obtaining the gum and bringing it to the coast are serious. As in Ecuador, the uplands of Colombia are healthful and prolific of all the plants necessary to man; the lowlands, par- ticularly about the Panama isthmus are hot and in places marshy. The soil on the Isthmus is apparently bottomless. The interior of Netherland America is a delightful region, and one of limitless possibilities, but its development never will be great under its present government and possessed by its present people. If Barrios had lived and had his way, like Diaz in Mexico, he could have made something of the whole five states of Central America, as well as of his own state of Guatemala. When France has finished with China, she might turn her attention this way, though she came off rather poorly in her attempt on Mexico. What can be ex- pected of countries in a constant state of war and revolution, eaten up by imposts and impositions, the great mass of the people too lazy to labor, and their masters bent on self-en- richment on lines worse than highway robbery? As it is now these so-called republics are fit only for despotic rule. Not long since Guatemala had a despot, and a good despot too, but he was called away by a bullet from the Salvadorans. During his reign the country was prosperous. The cities of Alvarado and the Quiches, Guatemala and Quezaltenango, supported fine shops filled with rich merchandise. The jewel- 311 THE NEW PACIFIC ry stores M r ere a sight indicative at once of the wealth and vanity of the inhabitants. It was here the coffee planters, grown suddenly wealthy from large crops and high prices, loved best to spend their money, and deck themselves and their families and friends with gold and gems. Then came a fall in the prices of products, depreciation of silver until ex- change on New York ruled at 250 per cent premium, with the high customs duties and expenses, and the shops put on a dismal appearance. It is by no means certain that at some future time commerce will not require United States' inter- vention in the affairs of Nicaragua for the protection of our canal interests. And this may become the entering wedge of intervention in other Central and South American coun- tries. Europe could never interpose objections, having all the rest of the world as a field for her lootings; in view of which, and on further general principles, it will be as well for us to keep out of China. Western Nicaragua grows excellent coffee, but owing to the low price obtained, that industry is to some extent sup- planted by efforts in cotton. Immediately after the civil war quite a number of cotton planters went from the southern United States to various points, as Nicaragua and Brazil, in Central and South America. Their operations in some places were attended with success, not as marked however in Nica- ragua as elsewhere, the plantations in that quarter being aban- doned after a time. In the mountains of Nicaragua is some good coffee land, and in the upper valleys cacao is indigenous. Large rosewood, cedar, and mahogany trees grow on the mountain ridges, besides other valuable forest trees of com- merce, and medicinal and fibrous plants. The railway from Corinto to Momotombo, on Lake Managua, is owned by the government, in connection with small steamers on the lake. Coffee culture in Honduras, though in its infancy gives good promise for the future. While the plantations are small they are numerous, and may be profitably increased in size, as the soil is suitable, and the climate and conditions equal to those of Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica, where the industry is large and profitable. Eubber culture is developing in Guatemala. A large tract in Central America is covered by the indigenous tree, which produces the best quality of gum. The hot moist tropical sea- RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 215 board possesses the soil and climate best adapted to the de- velopment of the plant, yet the wild tree avoids a too perpen- dicular sun, and seeks the shade of some larger tree, so that in artificial culture the woods partially cleared have been chosen as affording the necessary protection. Mexico's 12,000,000 people have a country which by the methods formulated throughout the ages in the old world would provide comfortably for 100,000,000 inhabitants. In- dustrially, the population may be divided into three classes, those above work, those below work, and those who do the work, each one of the middle class thus having to support besides himself three or five persons in idleness. As else- where, and more perhaps than in other places, altitude and latitude here unite to diversify and determine products. The fibrous plants of Mexico are many and important. Species of the agave, as henequen, ixtle, lechuguilla, and pita, are in places the most important products. Cotton grows all along from Tamaulipas to Campeache. There are also jute, ramie, Spanish grass hemp, and a score of other native textile plants in which lies limitless hidden wealth. The vanilla bean grows in Tehuantepec, though its indigenous home is a strip 30 by 90 miles back of Tampico and Vera Cruz. A kind of sugarcane called canamiel, or honey cane, is grown extensively in half the states of Mexico. Cacao flourishes in the latitude of Oaxaca and Tabasco from the Pacific to the gulf. The marine pine is cultivated for turpentine, pitch, artificial cam- phor, and vegetable tar, and land suitable for this culture commands a higher price than any other in Mexico, except that on the central table-land where the pulque plant is grown. Hops and grapes, both of rich aromatic quality, are raised in several sections, with oranges, lemons, bananas, and all tropical fruits in the ocean border lands. There are many large tobacco plantations, and much unoccupied land suit- able for that purpose. Cereals grow on the table-lands, which however are better adapted to grazing. The precious woods of southern Mexico are of great value. Stock-raising is a large industry, and is often attended by extensive irrigation. On the lower terraces facing the Pacific are hundreds of coffee plantations, where new trees are every year coming into bearing. On these terraces also the growing of corn is in- creasing, while on the plateaus, cattle sheep and horses are raised. 8 216 THE NEW PACIFIC Where is the poet who shall sing the praises of maize? It is surely indigenous to tropical America, for it is found in the tombs of the ancient Peruvians, though Bonafous in his Histoire du Naturelle intimates that it may also have grown in Asia; but the Chinese work on natural history, Li-chi-tchin, in which a drawing of the maize plant appears, was not pub- lished until 1562, seventy years after it was first found in America. The uses of the maize, or Indian corn as we call it in the United States, have of late years greatly extended in Europe as well as in America. In the northern midcon- tinent states, where the product is seen at its best, the crops have been large and the prices high. The alta California country, that is to say the states south of Oregon and west of the Kocky mountains, is not the best for corn, being too dry; but in the belt of states which terminate with Oregon and Washington on the Pacific, the plant thrives well. Sev- eral years ago the United States department of agriculture sent agents to Europe to disseminate more general information as to the value of corn as a food product, since which time the German government has placed it among the foods for the army. The economic epochs of California have been four, which may be called the age of grass, the age of gold, the age of grain, and the age of fruit. The golden age was not the age of gold, nor yet the pastoral age, or age of grass, but rather the age of fruit, or at least it would have been so had not the serpent crept into this fair garden and devoured its substance. Per- haps it is too late for the United States government to own and operate its railways; perhaps it is not best. Some are of opinion that the state should have nothing to do with busi- ness of that kind, as it might tend to peculation, corruption, indifference to results, and inefficiency. In face of what gov- ernments have done and are doing in this and other directions, such fears fall to the ground. The many states in Europe, South Africa, Australia, and America that own and operate their own railway and telegraph lines, are satisfied as to re- sults. Our postal system, conducted by the government, is essentially good, it certainly would not be improved, or give the .public better or more economical service, under the con- trol of individuals or companies. So "with regard to canals and other public works. The people prefer to trust their in- RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 217 terests to the government rather than to monopolists. What California complains of, is for the government to give its means and lend its credit to furnish the wealth and power to monopolists to crush the people and kill the country. This is what the railways have been doing for California these many years past. If the government had a few trunk lines, or even one, say the one proposed by United States Commis- sioner Longstreet from Kansas City to San Diego, the evil would be obviated, and the benefit to the country incalculable. Waves of industry roll over the United States at intervals, leaving in their wake liberal deposits of wealth. To get lands was the great purpose of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- turies, and to get rid of them was the serious work of the nineteenth, when the people of all nations were urged to come and take as much as they desired for nothing, or at a small price. Then clearing and farming were in order, after which roads canals and railroads were constructed, and finally various developments one after another as iron, coal, gold, sil- ver, oil, cotton, cattle, and the like. While the coast states have always grown cattle, the great cattle industry has been developed in the Rocky mountain states, from Texas to Mon- tana, where sun-cured grasses preserved by the snow of winter afforded free food for vast herds of stock, which resulted in a new crop of American millionaires. United States exports of late have been about $100,000,000 a month, and if the same skill and energy were employed to exploit our goods abroad as at home, our exports would soon be doubled, and doubled again. The attention of the world is just now given up to trade; people may not be any the better or happier for it, but all the same that is what they want. Governments are turning their attention to manufactures and commerce, evidently beginning to regard these industries of as much importance as war and politics. Some of them are establishing among the offices of administration departments of commerce. While united in sentiment against all the world, the race of progress between the United States and the British empire will continue, running in the main side by side, the latter if any thing falling behind; none of the other powers, not even Russia, competing. In the production of gold and iron the United States and the British empire are about equal, the for- 218 THE NEW PACIFIC mer perhaps gaining in shipping, in the output of coal, in the production of wheat, in wool Great Britain and her col- onies are in advance; while the United States lead in manu- factures, in railway mileage, in the production of silver, maize, cattle, horses, and swine. England's tropical commerce is 38 per cent of her whole trade outside of English-speaking peo- ples. The tropical commerce of the United States is 44 per cent of our entire foreign trade exclusive of the trade of Great Britain. Yet not a tenth part of the world's tropical resources have been reached, not a quarter of them have been even touched. The mechanical facilities of the United States are now such that goods sufficient for a year's consumption are manufactured in eight months; in a short time six months will suffice; therefore, we want an outlet for half of our manu- factures, and if we cannot sell them abroad our factories must stand idle. This shows the vast importance to us of our ex- port trade and foreign markets. Though not in the cotton belt of nature, the United States thus far has produced four-fifths of the world's consumption. England has been able largely to control the price, owing to her manufactories and her hold of tropical commerce. As one of the results of our war with Spain all this will be changed, as having now a larger area of cotton and sugar lands, United States manufactures in these lines will increase. The cotton crop of the United States in 1897-8 was 11,200,000 bales, of which 2,211,744 bales were consumed in northern mills, 1,227,939 in southern mills, and 7,758,317 bales exported. During the previous three years, consumption in the south increased 44 per cent, decreasing 9.3 per cent in the north. Among the leading agricultural products of California are wheat, barley, and other grains; all fruits of the temperate zone fresh and dried, and all semi-tropical fruits, notably olives, oranges, and lemons; also hops, raisin and wine grapes, nuts, and sugar beets. In Europe forestry is a profession, and New York has a college of forestry in connection with its agricultural college. The big trees in the Sierra foothills of California are of the redwood species, found also on the coast in Santa Cruz and Mendocino counties. There are pine spruce and fir in the mountains, but neither the lumber nor the coal interests of California are to be compared with those of Ore- gon, Washington, and British Columbia. California redwood HESOUKCES OF THE PACIFIC 2l\) finds ready sale in France, if not less than eight inches in thickness and fourteen feet long, as lumber of these dimen- sions enters duty free. Likewise California fruits and wines find ready sale in Europe. " Western America ", says James Bryce, " is one of the most interesting subjects of study the modern world has seen. There has been nothing in the past resembling its growth, and probably there will be nothing in the future. A vast territory, wonderfully rich in natural re- sources of many kinds; a temperate and healthy climate, fit for European labor, a soil generally, and in many places mar- vellously fertile; in some regions mountains full of minerals, in others trackless forests where every tree is over two hun- dred feet high; and the whole of this virtually unoccupied territory thrown open to an energetic race, with all the appli- ances and contrivances of modern science at its command, these are phenomena absolutely without precedent in history, and which cannot recur elsewhere, because our planet con- tains no such other favored tract of country ". What has the past century given to mankind, in the way of inventions, and the application of natural forces to these inventions, result- ing in ocean steam navigation, the telegraph, and the applica- tion of steam and electricity to the development of railways and all kinds of mechanical industry? And is it to be for a moment supposed that the human mind and human progress is to stop here? So rapidly are our powers of production in- creasing that we can only consume a portion of what we grow, or of what we manufacture; so that exporting becomes of vital necessity to us, an increasing foreign trade in proportion to increasing production. Arizona raises horses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, and swine. As to agricultural products, so great is the diversity of soil and climate that all plants with water grow well, those ac- customed to cold as well as those delighting in semi-tropical airs. In the main, however, Arizona is a grazing rather than an agricultural country. Date-growing has of late been at- tracting special attention. Considerable wheat is raised in the vicinity of Phoenix, Tempe, and Tucson, where large flour- ing mills are established. Irrigation is attracting much at- tention here and in New Mexico. A plan is on foot for the irrigation of the arid lands of the United States, amounting to about one-fifth of the entire area, at a cost of $5,000,000, the 220 THE NEW PACIFIC lands affected being mostly in and west of the Rocky moun- tains. Oregon and Washington have agricultural lands which for durability and certainty of production, as well as fertility, have not their superior in the world. The region is never without moisture, and failure of crops is unknown. All the products of the temperate zone are here easily raised, semi- tropical fruits being left to the south. The resources of British Columbia are its mines fishes and timber; and though the natural wealth of the country is not as varied as in some sections, in what it produces it is unsur- passed. It is not an agricultural country, as it grows little except grasses and oats. Until recently Alaska, and part of British Columbia, have been regarded as but little better than fields of ice and snow, unfit for the habitation of civilized man. But profitable fields of enterprise are now found there, as mining, stock-raising, furs, and fisheries, and some farm- ing. West of the Cascade-Nevada range, as well as in British Columbia and Alaska as in Washington and Oregon, there are not only the fertile lands of the lower slopes and the plains, but fine forests in the mountains, and in the midst of the mountains themselves a thousand fertile valleys of the very best for farming. Time was when half the road from British Columbia to Nova Scotia ran through the woods; but fires and settlement have quite changed the aspect in places. While eastern Canada has about 1,000,000 square miles of woodland, bear- ing mostly pine spruce and hemlock, as walnut tulip and plane are becoming extinct, British Columbia may justly lay claim to the largest compact body of timber in the world, and of which only the edges have been touched by lumber- men. All along the coast, from Washington to Alaska, the land is densely timbered, mostly with spruce, cedar, and Douglas pine. With such opportunities as the Pacific coast presents for building ships, and such inducements as the Pacific ocean offers for sailing them, the people inhabiting these shores have only themselves to blame if they do not now quickly become maritime nations. Great Britain still goes steadily forward leading all countries in ship-building. The Belfast yard, where was launched the Oceanic, the largest ship in the world, with the keel laid for another still larger, has contracts gen- RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 221 orally for five or six years in advance. Of the world's total output of 1,893,000 tons mercantile ships for 1898, there were launched in the United States 761 vessels aggregating 1,367,- 570 tons. Of British ship-building in this connection the London Times says: " One of the special causes that have contributed to bring about so large demand for shipping dur- ing recent years has been the greater economy of tonnage, due to the substitution of steel for iron. The use of steel has given to the steel shipowner a vessel of greater carrying capacity for the same nominal tonnage. At the present time, more than 1,350,000 tons of steel shipping are under con- struction, against less than 9,000 tons in iron; but there are still many iron ships in our merchant navy, and the amount of new shipbuilding is likely to be heavy until they have been wholly displaced, and until the most modern engines and boilers have superseded the more wasteful systems of an ear- lier date. The extraordinary boom in our shipbuilding in- dustry has caused a condition of affairs in relation to all our great mechanical industries that is almost without parallel. That shipbuilders themselves are full of work may be taken for granted, since they have nearly, if not quite, 500,000 tons more actual business on their books than they have ever had before. But this large volume of orders does not mean ac- tivity in our shipyards alone. It involves a corresponding amount of pressure on marine and mechanical engineers, electrical contractors and engineers, iron and steel manu- facturers, and the makers of the hundred and one different ar- ticles of greater or less importance that go to make up the equipment of the average ship. The value of the work which our mercantile shipbuilding industry alone has furnished this year to the engineering industries generally, including electrical engineers, will certainly not be less than five and a half millions sterling, while the current value of the orders placed with our iron and steel manufacturers from the same source is likely to be at least five millions. The total value of the mercantile shipbuilding completed during the year 1898 is likely to be quite twenty millions sterling, and the value of the shipbuilding for purposes of war on hand at the present moment for British and other navies, including guns and other equipment, will probably exceed twenty millions more. All this means a pressure on our great mechanical industries 222 THE NEW PACIFIC from home demands that has led to the enforced rejection of much foreign work, and to that extent has been unfortunate as regards our export trade." While there is an abundance of fish everywhere in the sea, as we proceed northward we find fisheries more and more an industry. When the gold-seekers first came, the Sacramento river was full of salmon, and not long before that, there were seals and sea-otter in San Francisco bay. Then the Columbia, and then the Fraser, and after these the Yukon, each in turn became the centre of salmon canning. Alaska fisheries amount to about $3,000,000 annually. The United States government receives $317,500 a year from the seal fisheries, equal to four per cent on the cost of the country. It is remarkable to what extent lands at first considered worthless have been since found most valuable. Few con- sidered California, where no rain falls for six months in the year, of any value whatever except for mining. The snow- covered mountains of Wyoming and Montana, and the bunch- grass region of eastern Washington, were regarded as the least favorable spots of earth whereon to fatten cattle, considering which let us not be surprised when farms on the Yukon are spoken of. By an agent of the department of agriculture, ex- periments have been made showing that portions of Alaska have a soil and climate open to agricultural possibilities. Oats, barley, flax, vegetables, and grasses were planted and made to grow in the vicinity of Sitka, and on Kodiac island, and about Cook inlet. Likewise on the Yukon, experiments have been made as to the growing of vegetables, flax, and clover, which proved successful. It is said also that cattle can be easily fattened here in summer. In vegetation the entire shore, following the Japan cur- rent round to Asia, is in summer mostly park and garden, forest field and flowers. In cold Kamchatka the luxuriant grass grows five feet high, but the flora of the Kuriles is poor, though in places the islands are well-wooded. Wolves, foxes, and sea-otter are hunted in the Kurile islands for their fur. Siberia, extending from the Ural mountains to the Pacific ocean, and from the Arctic ocean to the ever varying bound- ary line of China, is a country of vast natural wealth, both in minerals and in agricultural possibilities. However icy the tundra marshes may be along the frozen ocean, in the south- RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 223 ern part the climate and vegetation is half-tropical; hence of course there is a temperate zone between, with all the pos- sibilities of good soil and temperate climate. Along the Amur river there is no reason why provinces or states may not be made and peopled like those along the Mississippi. Eastern Siberia, Russia's Pacific empire, aside from its inhospitable Arctic border, has boundless wealth and boundless possibili- ties. There are present all the minerals in abundance, and much of the land is as good as any on earth. China little knew, and cared less, how valuable is that part of Manchuria ceded to Russia in 1860, how full it is of agricultural and min- eral wealth. Through these provinces and between well- wooded banks flows the Amur, more than fifty steamboats and hundreds of small craft constantly going to and fro upon its surface to a distance of 1,000 miles above its mouth. The valley of the Ussuri, through which flows the river of that name, and where there is now scarcely one person to the square mile, will easily support thirty inhabitants to the square mile. Thus far the products of Siberia, aside from minerals, have been grain and cattle. Nine-tenths of the 400,- 000 tons of cereals sent from Siberia in 1897, was wheat product, either whole or ground. In 1898 Siberia exported 21,244 tons of tea, besides cedar nuts, fish, timber, oil seed, flax, wax, honey, eggs, meat, tallow, furs, wool, bristles, but- ter, sheepskins, and cow hides. American ploughs are in use in central Siberia, and along the Amur. Korean colonists bring the rich lands of Russian Man- churia, near Possiet bay, into high state of cultivation, by fer- tilization, deep ploughing, and rotation of crops; grain and cattle-raising are among the chief industries. Lying under the tropics, with abundance of moisture from the Japan current which flows by its eastern border, and a fertile soil, the island of Formosa is prolific. On the moun- tains are fir, pine, chestnut, cedar, and camphor, the last the largest tree of the forest, the others growing not high but thick, with great branches. The mulberry oak and tallow- tree are common; also the shaulam, a fine lumber tree; the pung-tree, resembling soft maple; the bead-tree, banian, wil- low, and screw pine; and among shrubs the raspberry, thorn, tree-fern, rattan, and red bamboo. The cayenne pepper, or chile, of the Spanish Americans is indigenous here; also the 224 THE NEW PACIFIC mango, soap-tree, and castor bean; the betel pepper, a creeper, and the betel-nut likewise grow here, the last a tree fifty feet high, with leaves only at the top, and bearing the betel-nut which the Malays chew as an intoxicant. For fruit trees there are the longan, about the size of a cherry; the loquat, per- simmon, arbutus, angular fruit, pomelo, banana, orange, peach, plum, pear, crabapple, guava, pomegranate, lime, cit- ron, pineapple, papaw, jujube, breadfruit, hongkaw, and fig. Among leguminous plants are the peanuts, bean, pea, vetch, siusi, and indigo; bulbous plants, sweet potatoes, yam, hoan-koah, taro, and tumeric; vegetables, pumpkin, squash, cucumber, melon, gourd tomato, cabbage, onion, and garlic. Abundant also are rice, sugar-cane and millet, with some wheat, barley, and maize; tobacco and tea are also grown here, and there are few plants that do not flourish either on the lowlands or in the mountains. The fibrous plants are conspicuous, as jute, cloth-grass, rush, palm, paper-mulberry, and getho. The cultivation of rushes for mats is an industry in Japan. The plant used in the manufacture of matting, the igusa as it is called, is grown like rice, swampy ground being best for it. It is planted in rows and harvested in August. So great is the draft upon the soil in China and Japan from the constant growing of crops that the question of fertilization becomes a serious one. In 1897 Japan imported 249,524 tons of oil and seed cake, dried sardines, and bones, valued at $4,758,529. A large quantity of like fertilizers was produced in the country, so that according to the best estimates not less than $7,000,000 worth of substances went into the soil of Japan in one year to sustain and enrich it. Among animals are the monkey, flying squirrel, civet, wild boar, goat, deer, leopard, ant-eater, and otter; while among domestic animals are the horse, dog, cow, and water buffalo. Of birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects, there are the usual trop- ical swarms. Almost the entire industrial interests of the island are in the direction of agriculture. In view of the prevailing sentiment throughout the world that China should lay aside to some extent her ancient ex- clusiveness and open her interior to foreign trade, thereby benefiting her people and saving the empire it may be from the hands of spoilers, the emperor in March 1898 promulgated a decree admitting to all inland waters foreign as well as na- RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 225 tive vessels, and establishing ports of treaty, custom houses, and other trade adjuncts. The treaty ports thus opened were Yochoa, a military and customs station in the province of Hunan, situated at the mouth of Tungting lake, and distant from the treaty port of Hankau about 130 miles; Santuao, in Fukien province; and Chingwangtao in the province of Chihli. Heretofore only the coasts of Asia had been touched by foreign commerce, but now the whole vast interior is begin- ning to be outspread for the benefit of mankind. The canals and rivers, the highways of the nation, are thronged with steamboats and small craft, all swarming with an industrious people. Upon this important development the North China News, of Shanghai, thus remarks: " China has hitherto aroused a feeling of antagonism simply on account of her ex- clusiveness. The enormous possibilities of trade, which the nations of the west believe to exist in this country, have naturally excited competition. Hitherto it has been found that trade was only to be gained by force or threats, and a tendency has lately become manifest to take action which, if not checked, would undoubtedly lead to the dismemberment of the empire. Sphere of influence is a convenient phrase for glossing over what is apt to become actual control, and by agreements among the powers that any sphere of influence should be open to the trade of all of them on equal terms, it is conceivable that we might see rapid developments in this direction which would soon leave very little of China inde- pendent. But if the Chinese adopt a liberal policy, and throw their country open freely to all, it is evident that the old grievances will no longer exist. China becomes one of the comity of nations, and her interests become those of her friends and customers. Any attempt on the part of one nation to obtain a preponderating influence, which might be used to the advantage of its own commerce and to the detriment of that of the others, would at once arouse diplomatic resistance. Is it possible that the Chinese are at length awakening to this view? We are at the beginning of a great change which will have stupendous issues. Let the Chinese once realize that they are safe from aggression as long as they are friendly, and that they secure the protection of foreign nations by utilizing foreign capital and foreign enterprise, and we shall see this 226 THE NEW PACIFIC country make such strides as may in time make it one of the richest and most powerful in the world." Another act on the part of the Chinese government tending to the preservation of the integrity of the empire was the con- cession made in May, and the first ever granted by the imperial government to a foreign company, to the Peking Syndicate, limited, of London, to open mines and construct and operate railways, with the sole right to develop the coal and iron de- posits of Central and southern Shansi, and the petroleum of the entire province. Of this the consul at Tientsin says: " The signing of this contract marks the most important epoch in the industrial policy of China. The precedent has been established of allowing foreigners, for commercial pur- poses, to own real estate in the interior of China, open and operate mines, and construct and maintain railways. The Peking syndicate is composed of a few men who control im- mense capital, and who have obtained the most valuable con- cessions China could make. The preliminary work has been in progress for over two years. The concessions will be worked by the Anglo-Italian syndicate with a capital of 6,- 000,000. The success of this enterprise is due, first, to the fact that the syndicate was willing to spend money upon the chance of getting a concession, and that, after sending their general agent to China, they simply allowed him to manage affairs here and kept him supplied with money. The agent has shown wonderful tact in dealing with Chinese officials, judgment in selecting his assistants and in utilizing all avail- able means to success, and untiring perseverance. The prov- ince of Shansi lies to the west of Chihli. It consists of an interior plateau of 3,000 feet elevation, more or less cut up by rivers. This plateau is bounded on all sides by mountains rising to 8,000 and 14,000 feet above the sea. In some places, these ranges have been cut through rivers; but in all parts they are rugged, and transportation must be effected by pack mules or camels. In the eastern portion of the province, and running into the province of Honan, are deposits of anthracite coal. The western half has bituminous coal covering some 12,000 square miles, and all along the western boundary are deposits of petroleum. At many different points in the coal region are deposits of rich iron ore. The coal strata are prac- tically horizontal, and at an elevation of about 2,500 feet. RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 227 They show wherever erosion has cut to a sufficient depth. This anthracite coal vein is unbroken over an area of 13,500 square miles, and its thickness varies from 25 to 50 feet, an average of 40 feet. All of this deposit is within the limits of the concession. There are thousands of native coal mines now in operation, and the coal has been used for probably three thousand years. The iron ore is now worked by the na- tives. There is probably no coal field known in the world that can compare with this of Shansi, either in quality or quantity of coal or the possibility of cheap production. In addition to the concession in Shansi, there was signed on the 21st of June an identical agreement ceding to the Peking syndicate all of that portion of Honan north of the Yellow river about 10,000 square miles and another agreement by the terms of which all of the mountainous part of Honan south of the Yellow river is ceded to the syndicate as soon as work is begun on the Shansi concession. The total area of these concessions is 71,000 square miles, equal to England and Scotland." The continental nations seem to act upon the theory that if they can fence off the waste places of the earth and hold them exclusively for their own people that they are thus gaining an advantage, which would seem a narrow policy for Germany in particular to adopt, eager as she is to overrun the world with her traffic. Orientalism is the embodiment of pleasure. The China- man loves luxury though he may deny himself the comforts of a lifetime to attain it. Eastern civilization or Asiatic bar- barism, whichever may be the proper term, has been under- going a long period of poverty, owing to exhausted lands and an excess of population. But with the coming prosperity of the Pacific a taste for the luxuries of western civilization will spring up in the Far East, which will accrue to the permanent advantage of commerce.- Probably the soil of China is as severely taxed to produce the requirements of mankind as any in the world. Of the older and nearer east, as Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, less is demanded and less given, though Father Nile seems still to remember the children of men with his periodic beneficence. So do the rivers of China, which however are less free with their gifts than the Nile, and this requires of the Chinaman harder work to sustain life than the Egyptian is called upon to 228 THE NEW PACIFIC endure; and surely it speaks well for the resources of China, the fact that the soil has sustained this dense population these forty centuries. Some of it has become worn out in so doing, but it is not so far past reclamation but that the Europeans will take it. provided they can by any means cheat or frighten the Chinese out of it. Densely crowded as may seem three or four hundred millions of people in a million and a half square miles, the land is still rich enough to sustain a much larger population. This Avorld is a puzzle into which people are continually poured, and it never gets full. Malthus could not find standing-room for all the humanity his economics were going to hatch. The farms in China are small and well cultivated. First among products are rice, tea, and sugar; then come vegeta- bles, a little grain, with indigo, camphor, and silk. The cot- ton industry of India has assumed large proportions, while Indian tea is rapidly taking the place of the Chinese article in the chief marts of the world. Three-fourths of the tea shipped from China to the United States is sent from the port of Amoy, where it is first graded and packed. The ship- ments hence in 1897 amounted to 14,742,341 pounds, valued at $2,855,847.30. Until recently this tea, which is largely consumed in the United States, has been regarded as the finest grown, but inferior mixtures gave it a bad reputation. Then a tea commission was created in the United States to supervise the importation of tea, and the evil was remedied. As in olives and wine, soil climate and culture have more to do with quality than has species. It is less than thirty years since the tea culture of Formosa island began to assume importance. A school was then established and a plantation started for teaching new methods, which found favor and produced beneficial results. Assam is the indigenous home of the tea-tree, and decoc- tions of the plant have been used as a beverage since the third century of our era. Its culture was carried from China to Japan in the thirteenth century. The Chinese are not great tea-drinkers. Russia gets the best, being willing to pay for it. "While for a long time the chief article of export, the industry in China is declining, owing to its increase in India. Hankau is a great tea centre, where the brick tea is prepared for the Tibet and Mongolian markets. RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 229 The whole Bangkah plain on Formosa island is flooded for rice culture from an irrigating canal which winds around down from the mountains. For this artificial watercourse a tunnel eight by six feet is in one place cut through solid rock, and in another place the water is carried over a river in an aqueduct fifty feet in height. On reaching the plain the water from the canal is divided and carried in every direction by innumerable irrigating ditches. The ox is used for dry ploughing, and the water buffalo in rice cultivation. The lat- ter animal, though uncouth and of bad disposition, is invalu- able to the rice grower, who is obliged to furnish large pools of water for the beast to wallow in by way of a bath. Tobacco is cultivated throughout the province of Szechuan; at Chung- king the Chinese have a cigar factory. The native opium industry is increasing, while the importa- tion from India is on the decline. England laments her loss; when the traffic has fallen so low as to be no longer profitable, let us hope, as in the slave-trade, that she will set the world an example of good morals, prohibit the poison, and turn her opium fleets into warships to fight against it. Or, plant the poppy in Africa and send forth more of those philanthropists who preach the healthful and beneficial effects of the divine drug, which even though it kills so many superfluous Asiatics makes life so sweet for them while they have it. Yunnan and Szechuan now supply largely the smokers of the Yangtse. An acre of poppies is worth two acres of wheat. Korea is mountainous with but few plains. Much of the upland soil is dry and thin, but the small valleys of the low- lands require irrigation only for the rice crop. Pine, oak, maple, birch, ash, lime, plum, and peach are among the in- digenous trees. The forests are all in the mountain!?, the coast hills being quite denuded. The fauna includes antelope, and deer: bears, tigers, and leopards; beavers, badgers, foxes, cats, and marten. The Portuguese brought tobacco to Korea, whence it found its way to Manchuria and central China. The use of the weed is now common throughout the empire, the Manchurian tobacco having the highest reputation. A family of man, wife, and three children can live for a month in Formosa on one bag of rice, 140 pounds, and which costs usually $3, but during the scarcity of 1898 the price was $5 gold; so that the wages of thirty cents silver, or fif- 230 THE NEW PACIFIC teen cents a day gold, leaves little margin even for those who find work, while many of those who have no employment starve. Wheat in China is a luxury for the rich, not a food for the poor. The lower classes make a small cake of rice flour; those who can afford it substitute for their little bread cakes, wheat flour. Sometimes the rice flour cakes are coated with wheat flour, the people thus cheating themselves in their petty indulgences. And yet the local mills at Shanghai sell China flour at $1.85 in Mexican currency, or 87 cents Ameri- can, for 50 pounds, while American flour is sold at $2 Mexican, or 94.4 cents American money. Among the greatest of undeveloped possibilities in the Far East are in the Philippine islands, with their broad areas of fertile lands, their mountains of metals and timber, and their valleys of native products, all teeming with wealth. It is safe to say that this archipelago is worth as much intrinsically as that of Japan;, it can grow as good crops, supply as much metal, and accommodate as large a population, namely 42,- 000,000. The mountain areas, now in a state of nature, have a good soil, and are the most delightful for habitation. Cof- fee and cotton were once largely grown, the former for ex- port and the latter for home consumption; but insects almost exterminated the coffee plants, while home-made cloth was driven out of the market by the English imported article. Mindoro raises rice and com, the former crop reaching 765,- 000 tons annually; yet it is not enough to feed the many Chinese, who have to obtain more from Saigon, Hongkong, and Singapore. The Visayas grow sugar-cane; all the islands will grow tobacco. Of the manufactured tobacco 70 per cent goes to China and Singapore, and ten per cent to England. Southern Luzon produces largely of cocoanuts, which besides furnishing food for some millions of people, leave for export $2,500,000 worth of the product. The islands also produce a superior indigo. The four principal native industries of the islands are hemp, sugar, copra, and tobacco. The export product of sugar for ten years ending in 1897 was 1,582,904 tons, more than half of which went to the United States. Coffee, though growing wild in places, has not yet been extensively cultivated on the islands, though there would be little risk in doing so. The exports of hemp during the same period were 6,528,965 bales, RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 231 or 914,055 tons, the value of that portion of the two products which went to the United States being about $9,000,000 per annum. Not only the principal sugar plantations, but the great tobacco fields are on the island of Luzon, the latter in the valley of Cayagan, 200 by 100 miles in area, and where is grown a leaf equal to the best Cuban, and which gives em- ployment in its manufacture to 10,000 persons in one Manila factory alone. Hemp is grown chiefly on the other islands. Rice is a staple crop, but is consumed mostly on the islands. Pigs are prolific; also poultry. Cattle goats and sheep were introduced from Spain, and are not numerous. There are present small native ponies, but not many large horses. The carabas, or water buffalo, is the all-round beast of burden and plough animal. In the forests of Negros and Samos there are thousands of square miles over which the foot of the white man has never trod, and where is an illimitable wealth of precious woods, as cedar, ebony, sapan, ironwood, and logwood. In the valleys and on the plains are the fruiting trees, the orange, mango, tamarind, guava, and cocoanut. Much is being said of the opportunities for enterprise of- fered to Americans in these islands, opportunities for artisans and laborers and a grand army of colonists. No folly can be greater than to lay plans or build hopes on this foundation. In the first place there are abundance of opportunities for those now here, as well as for all who will appear during the coming century, for the exercise of the fullest energy and in- telligence in developing our home resources. In the next place the experiment has repeatedly been tried and failed, to acclimatize the native of the midway zone to the heated regions under or near the equator. At the close of the war bankers and business men were quick to see in which direction lay their interests, and were not long in changing their allegiance and arranging their business to meet the new order of things. They urged the Spanish authorities to come to some understanding with the Americans in regard to commercial matters, so that trade might follow its natural and proper course without interrup- tion. On the well-wooded fertile lands of the Ladrones grow corn, cotton, rice, indigo, cocoanuts, bananas, and bread-fruit. 232 THE NEW PACIFIC Guam grows in great abundance yams and sweet potatoes; also corn, bananas, and cocoanuts. Fish are plentiful; the island is prolific of swine; and there is some game, as deer goats turkeys and ducks. Since the decline of piracy as a profession, the Sulus have devoted more attention to agriculture. The land is held by the nobles, under a kind of Mohammedan single tax principle, the government taking all. The people are ground down by oppression, many of them being held as slaves. The noble- man is always armed with a kris, or peculiarly shaped sword, and a blowpipe, the latter the national weapon, a hollow tube of palm, through which darts are blown. The blowpipe is used mostly for birds and other game; or if for men the darts are poisoned. The people live chiefly on rice and fish; favorite dishes are chicken and eggs cooked in cocoanut oil, and square cakes of sago mixed with fish and citron juice. Fruits thrive abundantly, chief among them being the mango, durian, cus- tard-apple, and the plum called bolona. Bread-fruit is an important product, and cinnamon, ginger, and the chocolate bean are everywhere prolific. Cacao trees introduced by the Germans are proving successful. Extensive beds of valuable pearl shells have been found on the west coast of New Caledonia, and a company formed in Paris with a capital of a million francs to exploit the beds, under a concession covering 130 miles. Commercial-agent Wolff thus writes of it in August, 1898: " New Caledonia will soon, it is probable, play an important role in the production of pearl shells and pearls. The varieties of shells discovered are, first, the avicula margaritifera, containing a large num- ber of pearls; second, the meleagrina margaritifera, which furnishes a very beautiful white pearl, similar to those found in Tahiti and Gambier; third, a variety commonly called epaule de mouton, of which the mother-of-pearl is magnifi- cent, with many-colored reflections; fourth, still another variety of flat oyster, called jambonneau. The pearl is abun- dant, generally white and of a beautiful water. Frequently pink, yellow, gray, and black pearls are found, and large numbers are often found in the same shell. One is cited as containing the fabulous number of 256. To give a just idea of the riches of these seas, a little boat of one and a half tons, furnished, in the year 1897, the enormous quantity of 10 RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 233 kilograms, 23 pounds, of pearls. Up to the present time, and in consequence of the difficulty of procuring divers, the waters have not been sounded to a greater depth than 2 meters, 6 feet, 7 inches. New apparatus and larger capital will give a great impetus to this industry, permitting sound- ings of 8, 10, 15, 20, and 25 meters, at which depth the large shells are found." The pepper of the Straits settlements, which grows in hunches of 20 or 30 on a spike, is picked before the berry is ripe; and dried in the sun or on iron plates and marketed in bags. Australia possesses vast areas of grazing lands and exports largely of wool. Besides mines and minerals, there are pres- ent valuable hard woods, which are now an article of com- merce, and sent to the United States and Great Britain for street-paving and furniture. Late droughts in New South Wales reduced the sheep flocks of the colony from 66,000,000 to 46,000,000 sheep, besides losses of 300,000 horses and 150,- 000 cattle. Wheat and flour are rising into prominence, and instead of importing from the United States, as was done in 1896, to the value of $3,400,000, it is expected that Sydney will soon have wheat and flour for exportation. At New- castle, New South Wales, are some twenty collieries, each with an acreage of coal-bearing land, owned or leased, of from 1,225 to 9,000 acres. New Zealand has some rich agricultural country, besides her mineral and grazing lands. The gold fields are assuming large proportions under the influence of English capital. Wages in Australia are for farm hands and servants per month with board $12 to $20; artisans per day, $2 to $3. Sheep-raising is among the chief industries of New Zealand, and wool is largely exported from all the Australasian colonies. The soil of the Hawaiian islands, though as a rule rich, requires fertilization in the absence of rotation of crops. The sugar crop of 1897 from 56 plantations reached 251,126 tons, notwithstanding the dry season. The cultivation of coffee is increasing, though not characterized thus far by many large plantations. Oranges grow wild in the mountain canons, and are not extensively cultivated in orchard. It is somewhat strange that these islands are so poor for certain fruits, as peaches, plums, apricots, and apples, the production of which 234 THE NEW PACIFIC so far as undertaken has not proved successful. Grapes and figs are always in market, and the mango is greatly relied upon. Tropical and semi-tropical products are as necessary to northern civilization as northern products. We need the cot- ton, sugar, rice, coffee, tea, cocoa, silk, drugs, and spices of the south nearly or quite as much as the grain, meat, and vegetables of the north. As population increases and the tastes and requirements of civilization become yet more arbi- trary and pronounced, tropical products will become more and more necessities, and fertile tropical lands, which are quite limited in area, will increase correspondingly in value. Henceforth Cuba, commercially and doubtless politically as well, will always be American. The $50,000,000 American capital invested there before the war will be increased to many hundred millions. A little larger than the state of New York, the possibilities are great; but only 2,000,000 of the 28,000,- 000 acres are cultivated, 9,000,000 being waste and 17,000,000 virgin forest. The usual annual product of $85,000,000 can be increased ten fold. Sugar and tobacco are not only the chief industries, but comprise nearly all the business of the island, exports usually reaching some $80,000,000 a year, say $70,000,000 sugar and $10,000,000 tobacco; though fruit lumber and iron ore are likewise produced. Three-fourths of the $2,000,000 fruit exports are bananas. In the forests are some sixty varieties of valuable woods, hardwood and dye- woods, as ebony, lignum vitae, and mahogany. There are also medicinal and textile plants. From the iron mines near Santiago, owned by Americans, $700,000 worth of ore is ex- ported. There are other mines of iron and other metals, and new discoveries to be made in unexplored parts. Prior to 1868 Cuba exported $7,000,000 worth of coffee annually; but the wars of the Spaniards and insurgents ruined the industry. So with cocoa. Guano might be mentioned, and also fish, of which latter commodity some one soberly claims to have counted up 785 varieties. In regard to coffee, of which the United States consumes 700,000,000 pounds per annum, the plantations of Cuba have been in the main destroyed, while the industry has received a decided impetus in the Hawaiian islands. The product of Porto Rico is 50,000,000 pounds a year; Cuba used to raise nearly twice as much. Of the 2,500,000 tons of sugar con- RESOURCES OF THE PACIFIC 235 sumed every year in the United States, the newly acquired islands have been furnishing about one-quarter of the amount. With the opening of the year 1899, commerce in Cuba and Porto Eico was fairly progressing. The blockades were raised, the Spaniards had taken their departure, and all was as if there were no Spain, no Weylers, and no rebels. Plantations were put in order, sugar-makers set up their factories, rail- roads were built, and the seeds of wealth and prosperity were planted on every side. The United States imports annually 25,000,000 pounds of leaf tobacco, three-fourths of which formerly came from Cuba, besides receiving 40 per cent of the 200,000,000 cigars and 50,000,000 packages of cigarettes annually sent forth from that island. The Philippines export 350,000,000 pounds of leaf tobacco, and 150,000,000 cigars, comparatively small por- tions of which formerly went to the United States. Cat- tle-raising in Porto Rico is a promising industry; also dairy farming, and poultry sheep and swine growing. There are present good clays for burning, and from which pottery and tiles are made. Organized industry, in the form of trusts and combinations, will rule agriculture commerce and manufactures here as else- where, instance the North American Commercial company, incorporated with a capital stock of $14,000,000 for the pur- chase and development of 20,000 acres of land in Porto Rico and Cuba. This is a specimen of twentieth century farming, and as with many other like companies on the Atlantic and on the Pacific, agricultural, mining, and commercial, it was organized for legitimate purposes. Coffee plantations come first under consideration in Porto Rico; they are held at from $75 to $200 an acre, and pay a profit of from 15 to 25 per cent. Next are sugar and tobacco, the former less attractive as an industry, and the latter more so, for the moment, on account of the troubles in Cuba. The foreign trade of Porto Rico in 1896 was $36,624,000, and the exports exceeded the imports. The largest share of Porto Rico trade has hitherto fallen to Spain, being about ten millions a year, the United States ranking next at seven millions. Tropical products comprise the exports, and textile fabrics, fish, flour, rice, and pork are the chief imports. Clipperton island is yielding im- portant results in guano, Japanese labor being chiefly em- ployed in handling the deposits. CHAPTER X CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC THE currents most affecting the climates upon and around the Pacific ocean are the trade winds of the southern hemi- sphere, and the Japan current of the north. Like the gulf stream of the Atlantic, by whose influence alone the British isles are made habitable for man, the Japan current warms the islands and shores of Alaska, and governs temperature and rainfall all the way down the American coast to the mid- dle of Lower California. To Europeans coming to the New World nature presents herself on a grander scale than any to which they have been accustomed. The air is clearer, heat and cold intenser, and colors brighter. The mountains are higher, the plains broader, the lakes deeper, the rivers larger, and vegetation more re- dundant. The lands at first occupied by the Spaniards lay within the tropics, having high interior mountains, and pla- teaus raised within miasmatic borders into cool ethereal heights, whereon the aboriginal civilizations first awoke to consciousness. Into the bay of Bengal flows the warm equatorial current, thence passing through the strait of Malacca into the Java- China sea, a volcanic basin, in which the water is warmed upon the surface by the sun, and at the bottom by the earth's in- ternal heat; thence passing along the Asiatic shore to Bering sea and the Aleutian isles, it sweeps round to the American coast, which it descends toward the equator. This is the great river of the Pacific, the kuro-siwo, or black river, as the Jap- anese call it, the gulf stream of the Pacific, and the counter- part of the gulf stream of the Atlantic. These are the great arteries of ocean, and the analogy between them is striking in every particular. The kuro-siwo brings from the coast of Asia to the Aleuts, whose islands are treeless, trunks of the 236 CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 237 camphor-tree from China, and valuable timber trees from Japan, and deposits them on their shores, and this drift-wood furnishes the people of the islands all that they require for fuel as well as timber for house and boat building. The water of the Japanese current is of deep blue, dark as compared with the water of the ocean through which it passes, and so called black by the Japanese. It is owing to this river of the sea which comes up from the south, bathing the icy coasts with genial warmth, tempering the air and fringing the otherwise treeless coasts with forests, that Puget sound, and the mouths of the Eraser and Columbia rivers are not blocked with ice nine months in the year, and that the Arctic climate is not spread southward over sea and shore far below Mount St Elias. And the effect on man of this climatic influence is as palpable as the effect on vegeta- tion; as witness the difference between the short thick-set, bunchy, and blubber-eating Eskimo, and the tall, well-de- veloped, strong and symmetrical native of the Washington and Oregon coasts. So heavily charged with moisture are the clouds caught up by the Japan current, upon setting out on the long journey from the southern seas of Asia, that when they strike the icy peaks of the farthest northwest, the precipitation is copious, being at Sitka seldom less than 83 inches for the year, while in one year, that of 1861, the rainfall was 95.8 inches. The mean annual temperature of the Aleutian islands is but little lower than that of Scotland, the former being 38, and the latter 45, while the average rainfall at Unalaska is not more than 41 inches, owing to the absence of high snowy mountains acting as condensers. The mean winter temperature of Sitka is 33 Fahrenheit, which is warmer than that of New York, and about the same as that of Washington, 1,095 miles further south, about the same as that of Mannheim, on the Rhine, and warmer than at Munich, Vienna, or Berlin. At Fort Yukon and Nulato, where the temperature is often 100 in summer, the mean winter temperature is at the former place 17 below zero, and at the latter 14. Reindeer brought from Lapland for pur- poses of transportation, and dogs from Siberia, make no ob- jections to the climate, but the Klondike miners like travel by the railway over the mountains a? well, perhaps, as that by sledges. 238 THE NEW PACIFIC The Eskimos' long night of winter begins about the mid- dle of October and lasts not quite six months. All is then a silent and dreary solitude, but for the howling of a wild beast now and then, and the occasional lighting up of the aurora borealis. Slowly light begins to come in March; in April the dozing Eskimo rubs his eyes and crawls forth; in May the snow begins to melt, the impatient grass and flowers arriving as it departs; in June the summer has fairly come. In Alaska rise the three mountain chains which next to the ocean winds and currents, or rather in conjunction with them, govern climates on the American side of the Pacific, first the Coast range, which hugs the shore through British Columbia Washington and Oregon to southern California; then the Cascade-Nevada range, which extends to Lower Cali- fornia; and finally the Rocky-Andean range, which consti- tutes the back bone of the two Americas, and extends from Alaska to Patagonia. Among the hills and valleys of the Coast range, which is nowhere so high as to shut out entirely the influence of the ocean, and back to the steeper and higher Cascade-Nevada range, is the garden of the world, and per- haps, taking it all in all, the most favored spot on earth as a dwelling-place for man, that is for the white race of temperate climes. Protected on the eastern side from the winter winds and cold of mid-continent, the temperature is modified and regulated by the ocean air and currents. Warmed by these waters in winter, and cooled by them during summer, there are no severe extremes as to times and seasons. Even in the upper latitudes, as Washington and British Columbia, it can- not be called a cold climate, the occasional light snows dur- ing the warm winter scarcely remaining on the ground more than a day or two, while the cool summers are made healthful by thousands of miles of ocean air. This at the north, while in the south, at San Diego for example, there is not on an average more than ten degrees difference in temperature be- tween summer and winter and night and day. If sometimes hot days come, as is not unfrequently the case but never very cold ones with the mercury up to 100 or more, the air is so pure and dry that the heat is not unpleasantly felt. It is not debilitating, never in the least enervating, seldom malarious, and never so in southern California, where the summers are dry and no decaying vegetation on the hills or CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 239 in the valleys. In New York, or at Manila, a temperature of 90 would be more severely felt, and cause more suffering, than would a temperature of 120 along this west American seaboard a few miles back from the water; for if too close to the sea, the evaporation and moisture are unpleasantly felt in a very high temperature. I might say further, that a tem- perature of 80 at San Francisco affects people more unpleas- antly, and throws them into a more profuse and exhaustive perspiration, than a temperature of 110 twenty-five miles back behind the hills; while 500 miles south the difference between a hot day in close proximity to the water and ten miles back in the country, where this same ocean air comes a little dried out by the intervening hills, yet still fresh, cool, and inspiriting, is very marked. The tsar's transsiberian railway is destined to accomplish several transformations in the country through which it passes. First it will open this land to settlement, this land, and Manchuria, and all that can be choked from China besides, is being made ready for millions of unborn Russians so kind of the tsar to think of it, and to ask the powers of Europe not to fight him while he is finishing his railway, and finish- ing China, is surely no unreasonable request; but how about the millions of unborn Chinese who want their lands for themselves? Then, the country is being made respectable by respectable settlers, no more penal colonies allowed, no more exiles of Siberia. Merchandise and agriculture too are com- ing, and exploitation of mines; and last of all to change and be made new, in name at least, climate. Sunny Siberia is the new name, christened since the railway, the town building, and the late lootings. Sunny Siberia! It sounds well, if one can forget for a moment the Arctic belt of ocean, and the Arctic belt of tundras, or ice-morass, and some more belts of dog and reindeer travel before coming to Pullman and church cars. With all these changes, doubtless there is sunshine in Siberia, sometimes. But however eternal the ice and snow of the frozen ocean, it is warm enough considering the latitude at the Aleutian isles, where the rainfall is almost continuous during winter. And all along down as the weather becomes warmer the rainfall is less, being at Alaska 84 inches, British Columbia 76 inches, Washington 71 inches, Oregon 65 inches, and so on. 240 THE NEW PACIFIC On all sides of the Pacific, though varying between wide ranges, climate does not on the whole reach the extremes of heat and cold found on the Atlantic. The mean temperature in January at Petropaulovski is 17.6 degrees. The climate of Vladivostok is in summer hot and moist, with mists not un- like those of Oregon and Washington on the American coast directly opposite; autumn and spring come abruptly and are welcome; the winters are not severely cold, the sky is bright and cloudless, the fall of snow light, and the temperature seldom below zero. On the Yukon in November the temperature falls some- times to 40 or 50 below zero; then again throughout the winter there are times when there is no wind and the weather not more severe than that of our midcontinent. The sun hides behind the hills of Dawson from December 5th till January 7th, yet it is not exactly dark. The temperature of sheltered creeks is about 10 warmer than along the open river country. On the coast of Alaska, and in British Columbia Washing- ton and Oregon, it rains all the year; California has a rainy season, from November to May, and a dry season from May to November; Panama has a rainy and a dry season; Bogota has two, Chili one, and Peru none. While in Oregon the rain falls every month in the year, it rains five times as much in winter as in summer. Over the Sierra all is different. Between this high steep wall and the broad tumbling elevations called the Rocky mountains are the great deserts and bad lands of North Amer- ica, deserts that congress would do well to water and reclaim before conquering China, bad lands which it will well pay the government to turn into good lands for the benefit of its supporters. There the earth is powdered, while the air is too arid for comfort. From whichsoever direction comes the wind it comes stripped of its moisture; if from the west, then by the high snow-clad sierra, that is snow-clad in winter, the only time it rains in California; if from the east, long enough has been the journey over the plains and over the mountains from the Atlantic to wring dry the clouds; besides there are not present in the great interior basin the high sharp cold condensers necessary for rain-making. It does not ex- actly rain salt water in this region, but the lakes there are mostly salt, and the streams empty into the ground, all but CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 241 the Colorado, which manages to exist until it reaches the gulf of California, though it passes through some broad stretches of sand which might be turned into another Egypt with the Colorado as another Nile. Mirage is frequently met in these deserts, each locality having its own. In the sandy region below the level of the sea, the scene is usually a beautiful land- scape, in which are lakes, and islands, and shores of luxuriant foliage. Lower California presents the peculiarity of rain fall- ing from a clear sky. In British Columbia the Cascade-Nevada range forms a barrier against the cold of the Arctic, and the severe winters of the whole northern and eastern interior. Then the two sides of the Cascade-range in Oregon and Washington, like the two sides of the Sierra Nevada of Cali- fornia, present quite a different appearance, owing to soil clim- ate and conditions. Great forests rise on the western slope, and fertile valleys below; on the eastern are dry sandy stretches covered with bunch grass and sage. Yet eastern Washington is fertile, and better watered than the deserts of the south. The Colorado basin, embracing parts of southeastern Cali- fornia Arizona and Sonora, has a mean temperature, for four or five months of the year, of 92, rising at midday sometimes to 115 or 120. The clouds of the Japan current, which we left in the north, as they proceed southward are wrung drier and drier by these cold hill-tops against which they beat them- selves, until when they reach the middle of Lower California there is little moisture left in them. The distribution assumes various phases in different places. Thus in some parts of Ore- gon and Washington there are heavy, straight downpours; in other parts, more especially along the coast and away from the mountains, the rain descends in the form of mists, or a gentle drizzle; but as if by way of apology for the modest downfall, it mists and drizzles most of the time. Such saturating moisture is good for crops of many kinds, which are said never to fail here; so that with a mild climate and rich soil, the agricultural possibilities of Oregon are beyond compute. At the northern end of the California coast the annual rainfall averages 54 inches; at the southern end ten inches. Back from the south- ern coast among the mountains the fall is sometimes 30 or 40 inches, and it may not be more than that in the northern in- terior. The rainfall is largely increased or diminished by local causes, overruling the general wind and current regulations, which, however, for the most part govern all. 22 THE NEW PACIFIC It is not difficult to understand how on the coast of Cali- fornia, and elsewhere, the summer winds blow from the ocean to the land during the day, and either cease altogether or blow from the land during the night, the air being warmer on land during the day and warmer on the water at night; also that a southeast wind in winter brings rain, the moisture-laden currents of ocean being drawn thence, while a north wind, coming from barren mountains or sandy plains is dry and withering. In South America the wind's changes are quite different. " At Chili " says a French savant, " the daily al- teration of the breeze assumes a very singular character in the season when the southern zone or belt of calms attains, in its extreme oscillations, its southern limit. It is the period of the greatest heat at Valparaiso. The sky is pure, the air trans- parent; the radiation in space operates without obstacles. The atmosphere, in this condition of perfect equilibrium, ap- pears admirably disposed to obey the lightest impulse which may be given it by the smallest change in the temperature. As early as ten o'clock the earth has felt the influence of the sun; the heated air dilates and ascends. The breeze forms upon the waves; it freshens, it rushes towards the land. At about two o'clock it blows from the open with extreme vio- lence. Ships at anchor are often sorely beset; they drive upon their anchors, and navigation in the roadstead is impossible. But at six o'clock the wind begins to spend its force. It falls rapidly, sinks, and falls out, and the repose of the evening becomes as profound at that of the morning." Arizona has two rainy seasons, one in July and August and the other in February and March. The mean annual tem- perature of Lower California is 60, and the annual rainfall in the northern part of the peninsula is about eight inches, the quantity lessening toward the south. The larger part of tropical North America is occupied by Mexico, whose central pleateau rises to a height of 6,000 to 8,000 feet above the ocean. Upon this high table-land stand mountains with their tops in eternal snow, while the base of the plateau is wrapped in malarial mists or broils under an equatorial sun. These, then, are the climates of the country, of every conceivable variety from the hottest to the coldest, from the wettest to the driest, and from the most salubrious to the most deadly. Rain falls heavily along the hot seaboard, CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 243 except in Lower California, the central portion of which, like the relative position in South America, is almost rainless. The greater part of the table-land has a moderate rainfall of from 60 to 70 inches, though the average in the valley of Mexico is 73 inches, while at times, in Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila the rainfall is so light that nearly every year in some places crops fail and cattle die. Then, too, in these parts, instead of being properly distributed throughout the season so as to benefit the soil, the rain comes spasmodically and often in torrents, doing sometimes more harm than good. The rainy season in Mexico is the summer, the reverse of that in upper California. The terraced slope between the high plateau and the sea is delightful, being above the malarious humidity of the seaboard, and below the electrical aridity of the denuded highlands. Thus we see that although Mexico is nearly all within the tropics, but a portion of her area has really a tropical climate. Besides the rapidly growing and rapidly decaying vegeta- tion of the tierra caliente, or hot land, there are extensive areas of overflow breathing infection. The tierra templade is semi-tropical in temperature and vegetable life, which latter is exuberant and varied on the terraces, and even on the pla- teau where it falls to an altitude of three or four thousand feet. Except in marsh lands having no drainage, all the tierra fria, or high and consequently cold land, has a pure and healthful air. On the plateau the wind is sometimes severe; on the Pacific seaboard, northeast and southwest winds pre- vail. At the isthmus of Tehuantepec, where the great continental chain is disrupted, dropping away into undulating hills of 500 or 1,000 feet high, and the breadth of the continent is reduced to 115 miles from sea to sea, the country thence sweep- ing round to the eastward broadens out for hundreds of miles over Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, and Yucatan, then rising abruptly to an altitude of 8,000 feet and over, these peculiar conditions unite to produce a climate found nowhere else in America; that is, the surroundings of certain spots so modify winds moisture and temperature as to present peculiarities which being met by the modified results of other peculiarities produce phenomenal effects. Thus from the insular position of Tehuantepec the temperature in winter frequently falls 244 THE NEW PACIFIC below 57, though the average is 69, while the heat of sum- mer, which with a south wind is dry, is seldom above 97. Ordinarily the temperature of summer is from 70 to 85, with winds from the north and east. The rainy season is from June to October, though light showers fall throughout the year. The two sides of this isthmus have likewise their climatic peculiarities. For example, the Pacific side is warmer and drier than the gulf side; the rainy season is shorter, and the precipitation is less than half that on the gulf side, which sometimes reaches 100 inches in the year. The Eocky mountain chain, which on entering Mexico sep- arates into the two sierras on either side of the great plateau, unites at Tehuantepec, and continues its course in the form of broken table-land through Guatemala, throws up a formid- able barrier on the Pacific side of Honduras, which sends east- ward several transverse ranges, passes on at diminished alti- tudes through Nicaragua, rising once more on reaching Costa Eica, bold and rugged, with the volcano of Cartago as a land- mark, sinks again on entering Veragua, passes as low hills through the Panama isthmus, again to rise to towering heights as the great cordillera of the Andes, and so on by the Pacific shore dominating the winds and rains to the southern ex- tremity of the continent. All along its central and southern course the northeast trade winds blow the greater part of the year, and striking the high ranges drop their moisture on the eastern side, filling the marshes and covering the eastern slopes with rank vegetation, leaving the Pacific side, as far as Peru at least, rainless and treeless, except where the south- west winds blow in upon the land from May till October. Probably, taking it all in all, the hot, marshy atmosphere of the Isthmus is the worst in the two Americas, where a vertical sun lifts and lets fall on the spot a deluge of water, decom- posing the rank vegetation, and engendering a miasma deadly to the unacclimated. Central America has a delightful interior climate, cool and invigorating in the mountains, but hot and malarious on the two seaboards. Punta Arenas, in the gulf of Nicoya, is the Pacific seaport of Costa Eica, whose capital of San Jose is situated midway between the two oceans. Nicaragua has for its chief port on the Pacific Bealejo; San Salvador has La Libertad, the capital being 32 miles inland. The chief Pa- CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 245 cific port of Guatemala is San Jose; and that of Honduras, Amapala. Guatemala city is 90 miles from the coast; the average mean temperature is 65. Though warm, the climate of Nicaragua is not unhealthy, scarcely uncomfortable; swamps and lagoons are rare in the uplands. Parts of Colombia, particularly the Panama isthmus and on the borders of both oceans, are hot, humid, and exceedingly unhealthy, the malarious vapors rising from the decaying vegetation being constant and very pernicious to all but the natives. So it is on both sides of Central America, and in- deed on all the wet tropical shores of America and Asia. Yet the high interior air of Colombia is delightful, the soil pro- lific, and in the cities are some manufactures. High in the cool air stand the equatorial cities of Quito and Bogota, so high and so steep their approach from the Pacific side, it is found better to make the ascent, particularly to the latter, from the more distant Atlantic. Each of these cities stands upon a great plain where wheat barley and potatoes grow well, and where many cattle find excellent pasture. Horses sheep and swine likewise enjoy the climate. In both cities the people have respect for earthquakes, building their adobe houses low in consequence of them, and with iron grat- ings over the street windows on account of the thieves, and even then not feeling safe when the shaking comes or the thieves appear. There are business blocks in the centre of the cities built of stone and bricks, some of two stories. Bolivar was the Washington of all this region, and his effigy in marble is everywhere. The Ferdinand he had to fight was even less of a man than the George whom Washing- ton opposed; but all the same Bolivar became the father of republics, and let us hope that some of them will become in due time, if they are not already so, good and great ones. Bogota has a mint and several banks but no carriages. Equestrians and occupants of sedan-chairs are permitted pas- sage along the narrow streets. The national capitol, on the south side of the plaza de la Constitucion, and containing the halls of the senate and house of representatives, besides the offices and residence of the president, is a massive two-story edifice, with yellow stone fagade, which cost a million dollars. Here likewise is a school of fine arts, an opera house, and a national library and national museum. 246 THE NEW PACIFIC The trade winds of intertropical regions, atmospheric cur- rents arising from the action of temperature and the earth's diurnal motion, were great aids to early commerce as they became properly understood and utilized. Their movements are continuous on both sides of the equator, in the southern hemisphere, north, from northeast to southwest, south from southwest to northeast; in the northern hemisphere, north, from north-north-east to east-north-east; south, from south- south-west to west-south-west; at the equator from east to west. The world's trade winds are broken by the continent of the two Americas, interposing its entire length across the world's expanse of waters, where otherwise the two great- est of oceans would be thrown into one, as indeed the fifteenth century cosmographers thought them to be. In the south Pa- cific the trade wind springs up some distance from the shore of South America, and blows toward Australia. The north- east current is regular between latitude 2 north and 25 south, though in summer it veers northerly. These are the winds which carried Magellan so successfully across the vast unknown wilderness of waters, and helped the old rich- freighted galleons between Acapulco and Manila. Humboldt reported an ocean current which flows along the coasts of Chili nearly to the equator, modifying and making more habitable by its cool moisture the rainless regions of Peru. In the heated waters of Polynesia rises a current which flows south along the eastern coast of Australia to New Zea- land, giving delight to the coral-reef makers that here con- struct their atolls. Central and South America receive their moisture from the meeting of the northeast trade winds of the Atlantic with the southeast trade winds of the Pacific, and the rains wrung by the high summits of the Andes from the clouds thus formed feed the great rivers flowing eastward, while the winds descend the western slope dry and cloudless, leaving behind a rainless region watered only by the melted snows of the mountains. Within the limits of the movable equatorial calms, which surround Panama from June to November, it rains almost incessantly; during the remainder of the year, when the northwest winds prevail, it is the dry season at Panama, though even then it sometimes rains. The annual variations of the trade and calm wind belts are about 1,000 miles in latitude. The zone of equatorial calms is in July and CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 247 August between 7 and 12 north latitude; in March and April between 5 south and 2 north latitude. The varia- tions of the zones are governed by the sun. The southwest winds reach the coast of southern California late in autumn, bringing rain. In California the land is cooler than the ocean in winter and warmer in summer; hence the sea winds are condensed into rain in the former instance and not in the latter. The empire of the incas comprised every climate, and was capable of growing all the products of every, zone. Along the dizzy precipices of the cordillera roads were constructed, the chasms spanned by bridges, while on the mountain side were terraces of hanging gardens. There is practically no rain on the Peruvian seaboard, owing to the lofty snow- capped Andean chain, where are peaks 21,000 feet high and more, which breaks the southeast trade-wind coming over Brazil from the Atlantic, and wrings from it all its remaining moisture, leaving it to descend the western slope cold and dry, to be charged with fresh moisture only on reaching the Pa- cific. The prevailing wind along the coast is from the south. There is a fog from June to September which sometimes amounts to a drizzling rain; from November to April the air is dry and the sky clear. Mean temperature at Lima 70. The rain is heaviest in the mountains when it is hottest and driest on the coast. Irrigation is effective. The city stands 512 feet above the level of the sea. Winter here is from June to November, during which the air is cold, from 57 to 61; in summer from December to May, the mean temperature is 72. Callao is the port of Lima, the temperature of the latter city ranging from 60 to 80. Rain is very rare; practically there is none. The climate of Chili is equable and healthy, the interior warmer than the coast. North of latitude 27 it seldom rains. The mean temperature of Santiago is 70. South of latitude 27 it rains in June July and August, which are the winter months of the southern hemisphere. Coming north- ward from Cape Horn, the climate of Chili opens cold wet and boisterous, and turns to scorching heat as the Capricorn tropic is entered, the land extending from ocean level on one side to snow line on the other. The rainy months are June July and August, during which time the wind is northerly, while 9 248 THE NEW PACIFIC for the rest of, the year it is from the south. Winter opens with June, spring with September, summer with December, and autumn with March. Chili has frequent temblores, with a thorough shaking up "once in ten years, and a grand focusing of earthquake forces once in about fifty years. Seventy-two severe earthquakes have occurred in Peru since 1575, Callao being well-nigh destroyed in 1745, and Arequipa in 1868. In the north, the northeast winds meet those from the south- west at about latitude 40, and precipitation follows. The climate of Victoria, Australia, like that of California is exceptionally fine. In fact, all round the Pacific the con- ditions are favorable to health wealth and happiness. There are extremes of heat and cold, of course, in places, and some malaria, but there is enough left of earthly perfection in re- gard to all that make for man's welfare as to justify Dante in placing his Terrestrial Paradise in the middle of this ocean. Queensland has a tropical climate, but it is salubrious, and white men live there in considerable numbers as miners, herders, sugar-workers, and all kinds of mechanical laborers. Mean temperature of Melbourne 57 6; of Sydney 62 6; of New Zealand, 55. In the centre of the Pacific, the climate of the Hawaiian isles is peculiar to itself. From the warm moisture of the seaboard to a wintry mountain height the distance is not great. For the most part the atmosphere is clear; there is fog, not much mist, and no sunstrokes. A cool ocean current comes in from Japan rendering the temperature from two to ten degrees lower than in other lands on the same line of latitude. Nevertheless, it is always wet on the windward side of the islands, where the precipitation is heaviest, and where the ocean rain-clouds first strike the mountain tops. The trade winds come in from the east in March and con- tinue for nine months, not always in temper mild and be- nignant, but upon occasion angry and boisterous. The tidal wave is not a welcome visitor, when it comes rushing and roar- ing in from the ocean, toward the frightened inhabitants in form of a water-wall dashing itself upon the shore, flooding farms, floating houses, throwing into wildest confusion men women and children, dogs, canoes, and household effects, killing some and half killing the rest with fear. Honolulu is on a hot, moist flat, but radiating thence are CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 249 valleys covered with taro and rice fields, where the visitor can become dry and cool. A light rain falls at Honolulu nearly every night, quite different from the floods which drop on Molokai and Hilo, which are measured not in inches hut in feet. At the old capital, Lahaina, it is still warmer. The isle of Hawaii has hundreds of waterfalls dashing into the sea. The scenery of Kilauea and Haleakala is sublime, but for quiet landscape beauty the garden isle is Kaui. The mean temperature of the Hawaiian islands is 75; extremes 65 and 85. Honolulu temperature for five years gives the high- est 88 and the lowest 54. On Maui the temperature is higher, and on Hawaii lower; Olaa, 60 to 80; mean tem- perature of the sea 70. I have said that all round the Pacific its borders are lined with volcanoes, active and extinct. There are 23 in Chili alone. Peru has many volcanic peaks, though not generally active, the highest ranging from 19,000 to 22,000 feet. Kamchatka has twelve active and twenty-six extinct volcanoes below latitude 57. The whole chain of the Kuriles is of volcanic origin, and on several of the islands are active craters. New Zealand has a number, also Mexico and Central America. Says Professor Shaler, of Harvard, in his Aspects of the Earth, " It is in the region round the Pacific ocean that we find the kings of this race of giants. Around the shores of this great area of waters we have a singularly continuous line of vol- canic vents. Counting only those which have been in activity since the beginning of the present geological period, the aggre- gate probably amounts to many hundreds." The climate of Japan, like that of California, is varied, the southern isles, near the tropics, basking in perpetual summer, while the Kuriles partake of the arctic cold of Kamchatka. Winter fills the mountains with snow, from some of whose peaks it never disappears. After summer are heavy rains, after winter lighter ones. The winds are southerly at Yokohama and on the Pacific coast of Japan; in the sea of Japan the south-west monsoon prevails from April to September. As a rule the wind is southerly from May to August, and in calm weather land and sea breezes alternate as elsewhere. The typhoons, or violent revolving storms, similar to the cyclones of the Indian sea and the hurricanes of the West Indies, come once a year, from July to September. 250 THE NEW PACIFIC The earthquakes of Japan have heen far more frequent and destructive than any known to history on the opposite coast. Without going back to tradition, 286 B C, when Mount Fuji rose from subterranean realms and Biwa lake was formed, we have authenticated the destruction of the imperial palace in 416, and severe shakings up of these isles scores of times since, one in 1855 destroying 16,000 buildings. Among the many active and inactive volcanic peaks rises 12,000 feet the sacred mountain Fujisan, conspicuous far out at sea, with a crater 500 feet in depth, and visited by pilgrims in early summer. The Malayan archipelago is a nest of volcanoes, where eruptive energy has reached its height. Here are more great cones than in any other equal area in the world. I will give a few examples of the freaks nature here sometimes plays. Japan can boast of many earthquakes and great destruction of lives and property; as at Yeddo, in 1703, when the lives destroyed numbered 190,000. In 1721, 400,000 were killed at Peking, and in 1731, 95,000; in 1746 at Lima and Peru, 18,000; in 1797, in Quito, 41,000; in 1830, at Canton, 6,0(/0; in 1859, in Quito, 5,000; in 1861, at Mendoza, 12,000; in 1875, in Colombia, 14,000; in 1880, at Manila, 3,000; in 1883, at Java, 50,000; in 1888, at Kien Shin, 4,000. Not infrequently Japan villages are overwhelmed, like Simoda. in 1854. The Aleutian islands are a volcanic chain along the whole length of which are warm springs, with here and there an intermittent volcano. Severe winter succeeds a cloudy spring and hot summer. The vegetation consists of low scrubby trees with bushes, grasses, mosses, and lichens. Vegetables are grown successfully, and in places the hardier grains. On the Alaskan coast are localities with a temperature of from 58 below zero to 95 above. There are points on the coasts of China and Japan where the temperature is 100, but gener- ally the climate is delightful. Extremes at Canton, 42 to 96. Mean at Panama 86, at San Diego 65, at San Francisco 59, gulf of California 80, Acapulco 90, Valdivia, Chili, 52, San- tiago 55, Valparaiso 58. The sun and the salts of sea-water determine the circulation of ocean. At the extreme ends of the two Americas, near the north and south poles, the rainfalls are heavy; in the Chilian territory of Magellan the rainfall is so great that grain cannot be grown; but toward the north CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 251 it lessens, until in Atacama there is nothing more than an occasional mist. Upon the line of volcanic activity, which extends from Japan to Java, the Philippines have frequent earthquakes and several burning mountains. The volcano of Papan- dayang, 9,000 feet above the sea, in 1772 had 4,000 feet of its top blown into the air and the debris distributed over forty villages. The eruption of Sumbowa, in 1822, was heard 720 miles away, while but 26 of the 12,000 inhabitants of the prov- ince escaped alive. About the same time Galongoon ex- ploded, destroying 140 villages and killing 4,000 people. There was an eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, and three months afterward there was an explosion, heard 1,500 miles distant, which blew most of the island away, and raised waves in the ocean which, sweeping over the plantations and villages of Sumatra and Java, killed 30,000 people, and then struck across the Pacific, making themselves felt on the American coast and in the Atlantic. It is useless any one attempting a bigger earthquake story than this, with the expectation of its being believed. From the northern end of the Philippine islands, a vol- canic belt extends along their eastern side, thence to Celebes and Morty island, and on through Java and Sumatra, where are many active and extinct craters, with frequent earth- quakes, and occasionally severe ones. Java alone has 45 vol- canoes, and in 1772 a mountain was blown up and 40 towns destroyed. The Philippine islands lie wholly within the tropics, the southern side being within four and a half degrees of the equator. The heat is trying, being moist and the air too often malarious. The bright sun of the dry season is often less difficult to bear than the close murky stifling atmosphere which comes with the rains. Manila always seems hot and moist, the narrow streets, after the manner of the Iberian towns, tending to make the place close rather than cool. Being within range of the monsoons, the Philippines are swept by occasional violent hurricanes; the monsoons bring rain to the east coast in October, while the rainfall on the west coasts is from May to September. Malaria and fever often attack the unacclimated in the low river and shore lands, while in the higher interior the air is as pure as it is balmy. 252 THE NEW PACIFIC High temperature as marked by the thermometer is not al- ways indicative of the severest or most disagreeable heat. Thus at Manila, where the climate is regarded so bad for Europeans, the average temperature for January is but 77, for February 78, for March 81, April 83, May 84, June 82, July August and September each 81, October 80, No- vember 79, and December 77. On the lower levels of the Philippines the temperature is seldom below 60 or over 100, yet the climate is far more trying than in places on the other side of the ocean where the extremes are 45 and 115. But far worse than heat is the malaria; both however may be avoided by taking to the mountains where the air is cool, dry, and invigorating. During the monsoons the rain descends in torrents; the annual rainfall at Manila is 100 inches; in Agusan valley, Mindanao, 156 inches. Typhoons, originating in the Pacific, swing with a curve over these islands on their way to China, causing at times great damage. While Iloilo is nearer the equator than Manila, it is cooler at all seasons, owing to its situation close to the sea, and the prevailing winds. Though there are disagreeable times and places, the climate of the Philippines is by no means altogether bad. During the cool dry season, which is from October to March, the other months being characterized as hot and wet, the . weather is in some respects delightful, though the northern islands are subject to storms, as they are in the line of ty- phoons which revel in the China sea, with a course from northeast to southwest. The time of their coming is from July to September, though they are liable to appear before or after these months, but seldom south of latitude 9. Heavy rains attend the typhoons, all destructive of life and property. Thus Jansen illustrates the Asiatic monsoon. " Sudden blasts come from the east; these are often followed by inter- vals of calm. The clouds gathering in the clear heaven, and driving across one another, indicate the strife of adverse cur- rents encountering in the upper regions of the atmosphere. The electricity thrown off from these masses, in whose depths it mysteriously accomplishes in tranquillity and silence the mighty task imposed upon it by nature, then reveals itself in all its blinding, dazzling majesty. It flashes and its noises disturb the mind of the mariner with uneasy apprehensions, and no atmospheric phenomenon produces upon him a greater CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 253 impression than a violent storm in calm weather. Day and night the thunder growls; the clouds are in continual move- ment, and the darkened air, loaded with vapor, rages in whirlwinds. The struggle which the clouds seem at once to invite and to dread renders them more keenly athirst, and they have recourse to the most extraordinary means to collect water. When they cannot obtain it from the atmosphere, they descend in the form of a trumpet and greedily absorb it from the surface of the sea. These water-spouts are frequent at the changes of the season, and especially in the neighbor- hood of small groups of islands, which seem to facilitate their formation. The wind frequently prevents them from gather- ing form and density; but in their place wind-spouts rise with arrow-like speed, and the sea appears to make vain efforts to overcome them. The furious billows arise, foam, and roar in their passage. Woe to the seaman who knows not how to avoid them! " China has three climatic belts, extending east and west; the northern belt, comprising Mongolia, lies opposite British Columbia and Washington, and is too cold for tea and rice. The central belt borders on the Japan and Yellow seas, lies opposite California, is drained by the Hoang-ho and Yangtse, has mild winters and warm summers, and grows successfully not only rice and wheat, but the better kinds of tea, with silk and cotton in the eastern part. It has the climate and the trees and plants of the south temperate zone, forest trees in the mountains, with the mulberry orange and bamboo, cot- ton sugarcane and jujube in the lower lands. The middle part is the granary of the Far East, and might supply the whole Asiatic coast with rice. The southern belt borders on the open ocean and the China sea, lies opposite the Hawaiian islands and Mexico and near the Philippines, and is hot; many of the plants of the temperate zone, however, are here in- digenous, but are less thrifty than further north. Hongkong was at first a very unhealthy spot, full of ma- laria and malignant fever, due largely it was thought to the upturning of the soil, which is a disintegrated granite, but by systematic works the place has become greatly improved in this respect. Yet it is not a healthy place, for even now at intervals there comes from the mainland or elsewhere a bu- bonic or other plague which leaves in trail a mortality so 251 THE ItfEW PACIFIC appalling as sometimes seriously to threaten the prosperity of the colony. Of the climate Colquhoun says, " During the summer months, from April to September inclusive, when the southwest monsoon prevails, the heat and rain are great, and Victoria loses the benefit of the wind. From October to April the northeast monsoon prevails, and little rain falls. ' The air is cool and bracing, fires being in common use until the end of February. The temperature varies from about 40 to 90, the coolest month being January and the hottest August. The average annual rainfall is about 80 inches, mainly con- tributed by the summer months. From time to time Hong- kong is visited, usually about the date of the autumn equinox, by typhoons, which work havoc among the shipping in the harbor and occasionally among the buildings on the land." Englishmen live in India to administer its affairs, but not to labor; and these by taking good care of themselves, keep- ing out of the sun in the heat of the day, with long annual vacations in the mountains for those dwelling in the lowlands, and occasional visits to England, manage to exist for a while, though with life more or less curtailed by reason of the cli- mate. It is true that their death rate, reckoned for a century, is less than that of the natives; but this proves nothing, ex- cept that the natives die too easily. So with regard to French- men in Martinique, Tonquin, and Cayenne, some of them can live there long enough to establish and conduct colonial gov- ernment and collect taxes, but not with French institutions permanently to plant the French people in those parts. It is the same with the Dutch in Java, and all the European col- onizers in Africa and the West Indies. The climate of the tropics may be beneficial for some diseases, but for the perma- nent residence of white men, there is abundant proof to the contrary. The climates of China are more varied if possible than those of the United States. It may be said that all the phase of temperate torrid and frigid zones are here presented in endless variety. The winters of the northern provinces dif- fer little from those of Siberia, while in the south are places where one has to endure the heat of hottest India. Between these two extremes, in the temperate zone, between the val- leys and mountains, the sea and the plains, there is a world of beauty and variety. CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 255 Korea has a charming climate, alike for natives and for- eigners. For nine months of the year the sky is bright and unclouded, with a dry warm air by day and cool nights; dur- ing the hot, rainy season, which comes in July August and September, the air is cooled by sea breezes, and is seldom oppressive. Of the 36 inches annual average rainfall, 22 inches come during the rainy season. The climate of tropical Hainan, an island in the China sea near the mainland, varies with the varying altitudes of the interior, which is a fascinat- ing conglomeration of mountains and valleys. Half of the island of Formosa lies within the tropics, and the whole of it has a somewhat treacherous climate. During the months of June July and August, the heated atmosphere carries a degree of moisture at once oppressive and enervat- ing. Typhoons come in September, when the tropical storms tend to clear the air. October and November, in the north- ern part, and in the higher altitudes, are charming months. The rainy season is from December to February, when the fall is heavy. Owing to the presence there of the Japan cur- rent, and the mountain-tops which pierce the moisture-laden clouds, the heavier rainfall is along the eastern side of the island. Growth and decay being alike rapid, the air is thick with malaria except when the monsoon drives it away. Ma- larial fever here assumes the form of general and universal scourge, natives and foreigners suffering alike. Asiatic chol- era is also dreaded as a pestilence, the bacteria sweeping over the country at intervals with fatal effect. The typhoon, or ta-fung, great wind, of the Chinese, springs up under the hot sun of the Indian ocean, sweeps over the Malay and Philippine archipelagoes, and continues along the coast of China to Japan, in its course wrecking ships, tearing up trees, and demolishing houses, all at a loss of thousands of lives and the destruction of much property. Felix Julian thus gives his experience of a hurricane which caught the frigate La Belle Pouk, and in which he fancied he discovered the direction of the gyratory movement of cyclones. " The breeze blew from the southeast," he says, "the sea rolled heavily. Towards evening the barometer sank abruptly be- neath the lowest limit marked on its scale. The wind as it freshened veered to the south; it gradually increased in force, and ended by breaking loose with irresistible violence. At 256 THE NEW PACIFIC midnight, in spite of the most energetic exertions, the dis- masted frigate, without helm, without sails, lay on her broad- side, with her rigging in tatters and her deck swept by a furious sea. It was not until two hours later that we reached the centre of the cyclone. A sudden calm succeeded the first crisis of this atmospheric convulsion, but it was of brief dura- tion. The winds which had abandoned us in the south reap- peared in the west and north with the rapidity of lightning. We entered the second segment of the circle of the storm. Caught this time on the left, our ship keeled over anew, un- able to resist the enormous pressure directed against her side." " Their ordinary form," says the author of La Mer, " is that of a funnel. A seaman overtaken by one said to me, ' I saw myself, as it were, at the bottom of a crater of an enormous volcano, around me nothing but darkness; above, an aperture and a gleam of light/ Once involved in it there is no hope of drawing back; it holds you in its grasp. Savage roarings, plaintive bowlings, rattling and shrieks of the drowning, the groans of the unfortunate vessel which having sprung to life again as in her own forest, bewails her approaching end; and all this appalling tumult does not prevent you from hearing the shrill hissing of serpents in the shrouds and rigging. Suddenly, silence! The nucleus of the wind-spout then passes afar in a burst of horrible thunder, which deafens and almost blinds you. You recover yourself. It has rent and split the masts, and not a sound was heard! " The climate of the Japan islands is influenced by their proximity to the continent of Asia, the changes being less slow and more pronounced than in more distant isles. The temperature on the continent becomes very cold in winter, and this affects the air of the islands, being below freezing everywhere throughout the country, except in the vicinity of Okunawa. Snow at times clothes in white the entire group, though in the southern part it remains but a short time. In summer the great continent, being raised to a high tempera- ture, the islands are affected accordingly, though not in such a marked degree as in winter. The winds are likewise governed by the heating and cooling of the continent, being toward the mainland in summer and away from it in winter. As the continent cools in autumn the continental atmosphere be- CLIMATES OF THE PACIFIC 257 comes denser, and the pressure increases until strong winds from the south-southwest prevail. On the other hand, when the air of the continent becomes heated by the suns of spring and summer, it becomes rarer and lighter, with southeast currents. So that with southeast winds in summer, and northwest winds in winter, the mountain systems meanwhile running southwest and northeast and dividing the islands into two sides, front and back, the amount of precipita- tion differs on the two sides, as well as during the two sea- sons. Japan has some four or five hundred temperature and rain- gauge stations, all provided with mercurial barometer, wet and dry bulb thermometers, maximum thermometer, mini- mum thermometer, windvane, anemometer, rain-gauge, and atometer. At some of the stations observations are taken hourly. The islands are so mountainous, the one level tract being the plain of Kwanto, that temperature varies with the altitude, from far below freezing to over 120. Autumn is warmer than spring. There is less variation in the velocity of the wind at night than by day, when it begins to increase at sunrise, and reaches the maximum at four o'clock. The strongest winds come in December and January; the least wind is from August to October. Some of the most violent gales of the year are in summer, when the mean velocity is at the minimum. The humidity of the atmosphere is governed by tempera- ture, being relatively great in summer and small in winter, with the maximum in August and the minimum in December. And as the variations of temperature are influenced by lo- cality, it is so with regard to humidity. On the back Nippon, for instance, the minimum humidity is between April and May, and the maximum in July; on the front Nippon the maximum is in July and the minimum in February. As the country sits in the sea, the relative humidity is high every- where, though highest at Hokkaido, the mean of the year being 85, and not lower than 79 in the driest month. In July it reaches 91, owing to the cold current from Kamchatka, which strikes the warm air of the islands and produces dense fogs. As to the sky, during the day the clouds hang heaviest over the land, and at night over the sea. On the back Nippon the amount of cloud is great in winter and small in summer; 258 THE NEW PACIFIC on the front Nippon it is the reverse. The mean annual sun- shine is in duration about two-fifths of the day, but the varia- tions are different on the two sides of the islands. So with precipitation; the rainfall is greater on the back Nippon, which drains into the Japan sea, in autumn and winter than in spring and summer, while on the front Nippon, which faces the Pacific, the reverse is the case. CHAPTEB XI MINES AND MANUFACTURES IT is worthy of remark that all the countries round the Pa- cific are essentially metalliferous, abounding in silver and gold, while, however much of iron and coal the Atlantic sea- boards may contain, there were never present, with some few exceptions like the isthmuses which connect the two Ameri- cas, and which belong to the Pacific as much as to the At- lantic, any large deposits of the precious metals. On the shores of the Mediterranean, and in India and China gold was found sufficient for the requirements of the ancients, but the vast deposits of Australia and America were held secret until the world broadened, and commerce required more currency. Great as was the effect upon the mind of man, in the work of illumination and enlightenment, of the discovery and ex- ploration of the Pacific ocean, the effect of the precious metals found at various times and in various ways along its shores on the world's finance, commerce, and manufactures was none the less marked. The early gold-gatherings which were sent to Spain were felt in the factories of England and Flanders; the gold of California vitalized the industries of the United States and saved the credit of the nation during the civil war; the gold of Australia gave the impetus to England's colonization and spread of empire that make her now the mis- tress of the world. The gold of the Pacific; how tell the story! Marco Polo and Mandeville went to China many centuries ago, and when they returned hiding in ragged raiment stores of precious stones, they told of the great khan and far Cathay, how there were cities whose temples were roofed with gold, so resplen- dent that when the sun shone the eyes could not rest on them. And the streets were paved with silver, and the very portals of the palaces studded with gems. Toward the north was opulent Zipangu, whose wealth no man could tell. 259 260 THE NEW PACIFIC Cross now to the other side and see where Columbus came in search of these great riches, telling Christ if he would give them him, they should rescue his holy sepulchre from the infidel Turks. The Genoese would find a short way to this Far East, to this Cathay and Zipangu on the other side of India; but the long drawn continent of the Americas ob- structed him, and though he sought diligently for a passage through or round this land, he found it not; so he picked up a little gold and went home and died. A rollicking adventurer from Spain, Balboa by name, find- ing himself one day bankrupt on the streets of Santo Do- mingo, to escape his angry creditors and get to sea, had him- self headed up in an empty cask and rolled on board a vessel bound for Darien. Assuming in due time the leadership of a colony established there, and hearing of a sea toward the south, where were gold and pearls, with a small party he ad- ventured thither, found the great South sea, found the gold and pearls, and finally found death, the death of a traitor, but falsely accused by a jealous governor, whose deeds were sanc- tioned by a sovereign all too ready to cancel the services of his discoverers by killing them. , It was in the bay of Panama, in the year 1513, when the valiant Vasco Nunez de Balboa, helmeted and cased in steel, with drawn sword waded far out into the water and took pos- session of that great sea for the king of Spain. He called upon the waves to hear him, and upon the winds to witness the solemn act, that he then and there took possession of all those waters, of the shores they washed and the islands they encom- passed, of the treasures they contained, gold and gems and pearls, fishes and birds, and the people that inhabited their lands, all this for his sovereign lord the king, whose right he would maintain against all comers. Far to the south that voice was heard, and to the north, and across to Asia; the porpoises and sea-gulls heard it, and the cormorants of the cavalier's own country; for soon came Spain demanding from the nations allegiance and service, acknowledgment of owner- ship by reason of the pope's promise and the antics of the ad- venturer whom his king had so quickly beheaded out of the way. And in the train of this Spanish claim to domination came ravening wolves, one wolf going hence to the north and one wolf to the south. The wolf who went to the north was called Cortes, and he to the south Pizarro. MINES AND MANUFACTURES 261 v From Cuba Hernan Cortes set out with men and ships, some half dozen years after Vasco Nunez had discovered the South sea, to find wealth and adventure in Mexico, his first chivalrous act being to cheat his patron, Velazquez the gov- ernor, out of the entire outfit, all in the line of loyalty, re- ligion, and Spanish honor. Coasting northward the wolves heard of the mighty Montezuma, how he ruled as God and man all that region from sea to sea, and had stores of gold so great that houses could not contain them. Whereat the wolves smiled, and burning their ships for fear of repentance, trotted off to the capital, to catch this great king, who granted them admittance, mistaking the chief wolf for an expected ambassador from heaven. Traitorously these Spanish wolves robbed the great king, and then traitorously slew him, all in the line of loyalty, religion, and Spanish honor. The wolf who went south, another six years later, with a small band of adventurers, also found a great and opulent na- tion, but just then weakened by war, so that a handful of mailed cavaliers might turn the scale either way. The king of this country saw the strangers, and listened to their tale in wonder. As easily as Montezuma had been done to death by Cortes, Atahualpa was entrapped, robbed, and treacher- ously slain, all again in the line of loyalty, religion, and Span- ish honor. In neither Mexico nor Peru was the use of iron known in those days, but gold and silver were abundant, and among both Aztecs and Peruvians were many skilled artisans, workers in gold and feathers. After Cortes had made Montezuma prisoner, he promised his release on payment of ransom, which freely came forward in form of gold in dust, quoits, leaves, and trinkets constituting to some extent media of trade. All the while the Spaniards demanded more, increasing the ran- som under some trivial plea from time to time, until the spoils amounted to $6,000,000. In like ma'nner in Peru collectors were sent to distant parts, tributes were imposed, and tombs and temples profaned to gather in the required ransom. For Atahualpa had said, " I will fill this room as high as you can reach with gold, if you will let me go; and I will fill that room twice full with silver." And the plunder here was twice as much as that in Mexico. How the world advances! How different these times from 262 THE NEW PACIFIC those, swords turned into pruning-hooks, lions and lambs sleeping sweetly together, and the rest. War machines are so nicely oiled now, French manners so much more Frenchy; and the brotherhood of man and the sisterhood of women, and freedom fraternity and equality have come; justice humanity and the rights of man have come; universal liberty and uni- versal equity have come; culture refinement and sweet char- ity, all, all have come. And yet Cortes in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru seem to me very like France and Germany in China. Some centuries pass, during which there is continuous gold- gathering on both sides of the Pacific, and then California. Here the performance is quite different. The love of gold remains, but the love of glory has died away. No thought of conquest or conversion, but just a huddling of humanity from every quarter of the earth, and a rushing hither and thither about the Sierra foothills, grabbing up the dirt and washing out the metal, roaring and swearing and drinking and fight- ing, many of them dying in their frantic attempts to secure more and more of the sweet stuff. Five hundred ships lay at anchor in San Francisco bay in 1849, three-fourths of them deserted, while 50,000 diggers camped in the chaparral. Among the more immediate and proximate effects of the discovery of gold in California was to bring together repre- sentatives of rather pronounced types from every nation of the earth, from southern California and Mexico first; then from the Hawaiian islands, Oregon, and South America; also from the Atlantic states, Europe, India, Africa, China; and with the others a full delegation from the penal settlement of Australia. Until the coming of these last, Sydney ducks as they were called, there were no better behaved or more honest people on earth than this conglomeration of gold-seekers, who never locked doors, but left the stuff in tin cans or broken bottles on the shelf while away at work during the day or off carousing at night. It was the better class of young men who had come, representatives from the best of every nation, the intelligent and enterprising, not the lazy rich nor the squalid poor. And for a few brief months in 1848 and 1849 there was order without law. But later, when the birds of evil omen appeared, with robberies murders and incendiarism, then popular tribunals sprang up, and hangings became easy and frequent. MINES AND MANUFACTURES 263 This California gold excitement advanced the development of western North America a full half century. Settlement was slowly creeping westward when the cry was called, and at a bound it leaped over half a continent, from the Mississippi to the Pacific. The region intervening was then, and for some time afterward, occupied chiefly by buffaloes and Indians, and another quarter-century passed before they were greatly cleared away, even with the Pacific seaboard populated. Few of the gold-gatherers came to stay, though many remained, principally because they could not get away. These, and others who a little later came to make a home here were a brave, chivalrous, and liberal-minded people, and so remained, and so became known and recognized the world over, until with civil war came that greater than the Australia convict curse, the railway monopolist, who with the aid of the govern- ment crushed the spirit of the people and supplanted enter- prise with desolation. The gold development which followed the occupation of California, the rich discoveries in Australia shortly afterward, followed by continued rich finds in Nevada, Montana, Col- orado, and finally the great uncovering of gold and diamonds in Africa, while civilized humanity was fast overspreading the earth to the obliteration and extermination of weaker peo- ples, completed the transformations of the century. Califor- nia has given to the world in precious metals not less than $2,000,000,000; Nevada and the Eocky mountain states as much more. This money went east to make rich those who are too apt to grudge the coast its just due in the way of aid toward development, all which with the advent of the New Pacific let us hope will be felt no more. For the first decade after discovery the annual yield of gold in California averaged $53,000,000; second decade, $36,000,- 000; third decade, $19,000,000; fourth decade, $14,000,000. The total annual mineral product of California which in 1895 was valued at $22,844,664, was in 1898 $27,389,079, gold being first in importance, then copper, and then quicksilver. As soon as the general character of deposits and the distri- bution of the gold became known, a series of mining excite- ments set in, rushes hither and thither in search of some great harbor or home of gold. In 1852 there was the Gold Bluff excitement, it having been reported that on the beach above 264 THE NEW PACIFIC Trinidad the ocean waves had thrown upon the shore ship loads of gold. Then Kern river became the attraction, stages from Sacramento and all points being daily loaded to their fullest capacity. The Fraser river mines nearly depopulated San Francisco in 1857; and then Washoe, as Nevada was called, followed by a decade of fierce gambling in stocks at San Francisco, from the evil effects of which the country did not recover for thirty years. Men will rush upon any number of unknown evils, hidden from immediate view, in order to attain pleasure and power, or the substance which most of all symbolizes pleasure and power. From $150,000,000 in 1851 the world's annual production of gold has fallen to $100,000,000 at the present time. It is scarcely to be expected that new discoveries and increased facilities will keep pace with the increased demand for the purposes of currency and the arts, although there is more gold in the ground than has ever been taken out of it, and more men and better machinery with which to mine it. The world's gold coinage was $437,719,342 in 1898 as against $195,899,- 517 in 1896. The United States now manufacture iron for England, Rus- sia, Japan, Africa, and Australia. The Alabama and Penn- sylvania furnaces began to furnish ship plates and frames for European yards, when the conclusion was reached that if we could do this better than any one else, we could build the whole ship, and so we began building the best steamships, as once before we had revolutionized sailing vessels in the evolu- tion of the Baltimore clipper for the California trade. Both the Cascade-Nevada and the Rocky ranges have their starting-point in the highlands of Alaska, the former running parallel with the coast until lost in the California peninsula, the latter continuing on to the southern end of South Amer- ica. Oregon's wealth is in her grain and grass fields, rather than in her mineral deposits; yet of these latter there is no small store, as coal and iron, all the precious metals, besides cin- nabar, nickel, copper, fine stones, and marble. So it is with Washington; both of these states have given forth and still possess much metal. Washington coal was first shipped to San Francisco from Bellingham bay, from a mine opened within the city limits of MINES AND MANUFACTURES 265 Whatcom, owned by the Bellingham Bay Improvement com- pany. Bituminous coal suitable for steamer and railway en- gines is shipped by the Blue Canyon Coal company, whose railroad from the mines and bunkers at tide-water afford the best facilities. Then there are the Fairhaven company's mines, and many others. Of the 211 shingle-mills in the state, one-fourth are at Whatcom. The salmon pack of Puget sound is large, Whatcom alone having ten canneries employing 3,000 persons. Also tributary to Bellingham bay are the Mount Baker gold mines, forty miles distant. Nevada likewise came on apace, with its Comstock bonanza, and its Pioche and Bodie districts; then Utah and Arizona, Idaho and Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico. And last of all Alaska. Indeed, instead of particularizing, one sweeping assertion will suffice for all, and be not far from the truth, namely, that throughout this vast area of mountains, valleys, and sandy wastes, on every side of the Pacific, the earth is largely impregnated with the precious metals, with here and there large deposits of the baser sort. Nevada has given in a single year precious metals to the value of $50,000,000, and in all some $800,000,000. Utah also has some great mines, and is a better agricultural state than Nevada, whose chief industry now is stock raising. Arizona is essentially a min- ing country. For some years past the New Mexican bullion product of gold and silver has averaged $4,000,000 per annum. The silence of the ages was broken in British Columbia by the cry of gold on Fraser river in 1857. The days of the fur hunters were then numbered. Neither the native men nor the native beasts could long live in the vicinity of roaring camps of miners fresh from the gold-fields of California. Provisional government, restricted hitherto to the island of Vancouver, was extended over the mainland, and the colony of British Columbia took the place of the Hudson's Bay com- pany monopoly. From Fraser river the hunt for gold ex- tended to Thompson river, Quesnel, and Cariboo; to Van- couver and Queen Charlotte islands, and later to Omineca, Stikeen, and Klondike. Valuable coal deposits were early found on Vancouver island and the mainland, which proved of great value in the general development. From the discovery of the rich auriferous deposits in the bed of Fraser river, which sounded the death knell of the fur 266 THE NEW PACIFIC monopoly in these parts, to the present time, mining has been the chief industry in British Columbia, though stock-raising and agriculture are gradually assuming larger proportions. The output of coal from Nanaimo is large, while the port of Vancouver, at the mouth of the Fraser, where the Canadian Pacific railway and the Asiatic line of steamers come together, is growing rapidly into prominence. Thus we see what wonderful revelations of mineral wealth have been made between the Rocky mountains and the Pacific ocean north of Mexico within the last half century. First were the hundreds of tons of placer gold found strewed for five hundred miles along the Sierra foothills, not to mention other hundreds of tons locked up in quartz. Then there came to light the gold fields of Oregon and Washington, and the rich deposits along Fraser river, in British Columbia, and in the Cariboo country, and on almost all the little tributaries of the upper Columbia. After this arose the Pike peak epi- sode, when men swarmed and delved in Colorado with meagre results for twenty-five years before they found the famous Cripple creek deposits, scarcely fifteen miles away from the scene of their earlier efforts. During this time Central city, it is true, had given out half a million of gold annually, and Leadville the silver and lead peculiar to its mines, and there was some other mining in southwestern Colorado, but all this was but little compared with what followed. Mining in Alaska, and the rushes thither at various times, the difficulties encountered, the sufferings endured, altogether form an episode unparalleled in the human race for riches. The adventurer knew well enough in a general way what was before him; he knew that the time for work was short, the difficulties certain, and he had no ground on which to build great expectations, as in California, Australia, Colorado, and Montana. Dim in the distance, they were unknown quanti- ties, hardship success or failure, and the unknown is ever full of fascinations, and is one of the mainsprings of progress. Few indeed, comparatively, would adventure in any thing, commerce, mining, manufactures, or even education and a profession, were the end visible at the beginning. Not one in a thousand who came to California for gold met with any marked success; not one in ten thousand who went to the Klondike to get rich, succeeded in doing so. MINES AND MANUFACTURES 267 Off over the terrible White pass, where so many met their death from cold and starvation, thousands rushed madly for the gold fields of the Yukon, as if for all these many centuries the treasure had not lain there enshrouded in snow waiting the day of this awakening. Some twenty millions a year Alaska and the Klondike country are giving to the world, while the world gives to Alaska and the Klondike country forty millions a year for taking it out. Such is mining. The great rivers of Siberia, the Lena, Yenisei, and Obi. flow into the Arctic, the occupants of the last two having trade with Archangel In these mountains and streams of the far northeast are many minerals, gold silver copper and lead, while along the Amur are emeralds, topaz, zinc, arsenic, an- timony, and plumbago. The Nerchinsk silver mines have been worked since 1700. In nothing is the contrast greater between this and other parts of the world than in the metals found around this ocean. There is gold in other lands, but the Pacific is literally gold-rimmed. And likewise silver; the veins are well-nigh continuous from Patagonia to Alaska and round along Asia to Australia. So on both sides of these waters, and on the islands thereof are copper, iron, and coal. Japan is full of mineral wealth. Marco Polo, who never was there, used to say that the palaces of the princes were covered and ceiled with gold, which veracious report so ex- cited the Mongolian emperor, Kublai Kahan, that he made a futile attempt to possess himself of the country. From 749 A D, when gold was first mined and melted, during the coun- try's long seclusion, none of the precious metals were sent abroad, and so it became rumored about the world that Japan was full of gold. It is said that the Portuguese exported during the period of their sway, from 1550 to 1639, nearly 60,000,000. The Dutch also carried away large quantities of metals, the gold and silver exported during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries being estimated at 103,000,000. Iron and copper ores have been worked in Japan since the tenth century. The steel sword blades of the Japanese are of ex- cellent quality. Copper is employed largely in household arti- cles, and the exportation of that metal has been enormous. Japan has also lead quicksilver and tin, and coal is plentiful. The Japanese government has established an iron foundry in Fukuoka prefecture with a capital of about $10,000,000. 268 THE NEW PACIFIC In regard to the mineral resources of China, it is safe to say that the country has never been prospected nor the dis- covered mines exploited to any considerable extent. There are parts of the Chinese empire of whose mineral deposits no more is known than was known of the wealth of California, Aus- tralia, and South Africa a hundred years ago. Who shall say what of silver and gold and precious stones, of iron and coal the mountains of Tibet and the upper tributaries of the three great rivers do not contain? We know that the southwest, Kweichau and Yunnan, is full of mineral wealth, which can- not be utilized until roads are opened. The Chinese empire has not everywhere that dense mass of population which per- haps the alleged four hundred millions lead us to imagine. The region is so immense that even four hundred millions do not fill it all, only the seaboard side and along the great rivers being densely populated, the far away interior and western side being as yet uncleared in places of its savages and wild animals. The coal fields of China some say are the most extensive in the world. Iron the same. Gold and silver have not thus far put in so conspicuous an appearance, but there are some valuable deposits in Manchuria and other bordering regions. In all the zones of the western highlands gold is found, and in nearly all the provinces, notably in Manchuria and Shan- tung, with placer deposits on Han river, and on hundreds of other streams. The metals of Yunnan and Kweichau are lead zinc tin and iron, as well as coal copper cinnabar and sulphur. Copper and lead developments are conspicuous in south China, from Hupei to Hunan provinces. Coal has been used extensively from early times, in the arts and in the house- hold, by those living near deposits, powdered anthracite be- ing sometimes mixed with earth, sawdust, or dung, in the proportion perhaps of five or seven to one. There is abun- dance of coal in places, in the north of Chihli and in the basin of Taiyuen-fu, for instance; the anthracite collieries of Chaitang and Kaipsing are extensively worked by European methods with success. Pingting-chau is another coalfield, and there are remarkable deposits of iron and coal in the Shansi region, as elsewhere noticed. Here alone is a Pennsyl- vania of wealth. Then there are the fields of Honan, of Shan- tung, of Weihien, and a hundred others, known and un- known. MINES AND MANUFACTURES 269 Along the Yangtse river and in the northern provinces, are extensive iron and coal fields. In Hunan province alone there are 21,000 square miles of coal, besides extensive forests of good timber. The iron mines worked near Hankau are not of the best deposits in China. In the hills of Anhoui are iron and lead; on the Thibetan border is gold, and the salt of Kokonor is as plentiful as it is fine and white. The mines of the Chinese company at Tong Shan employ 8,000 to 10,000 men, and put out 1,500 tons of coal a day. The company owns six steamers to carry coal to various ports; overseers re- ceive $20 to $60, Mexican, a month, and European or Ameri- can superintendents from $100 to $300 a month, gold. This company operates a silver mine in Mongolia, the machinery for which was supplied from Chicago. An example of Chinese prejudice and stupidity is found in the chronic opposition of the authorities to the development of underground wealth. At Ichang, 1,000 miles up the Yangtse river, are large coal de- posits, and yet the steamboats which go there are obliged to use coal imported from Japan. Importation of foreign salt is prohibited, the industry in China being a government monopoly, from which is received 14,000,000 taels on a basis of 34,000,000,000 pounds con- . sumption. Holes are bored in the ground for salt. The chief salt-works are in Lutswun; in the valleys of Hinchau, Tai- yuen-fu, Pingyang-fu, and Sian-fu; price here from seven to 20 cash a cattie for a brown and bitter article of very inferior quality. A triangle of 1,500 square miles, with Tzelintsing for the apex, and the Min river from Chingting-fu to Sui-fu for a base, will contain 1,200 or more salt wells, with an average diameter of six inches, and a depth of from 500 to 6,000 feet. While our ancestors were eating raw meat without salt, these ingenious barbarians were boring for it through solid rock, as some of the wells of the dynasty of Han, the wall-builder, at- test. In the Wonsan district of the Peng Yang province of Korea are rich gold mines worked by Americans. Of the precious metals Korea yields about $3,000,000 annually; there is excellent undeveloped coal, with abundance of iron and some copper. Gold-bearing quartz is worked by an Ameri- can company in the province of Phyongan, where a conces- sion was obtained and machinery introduced. Korea export- ed gold in 1896 to the value of $1,390,412. 270 THE NEW PACIFIC Formosa is composed geologically of sandstone, slate, gray- stone, shale, gneiss, limestone, and granite. Coal is scattered over at least two-thirds of the island; petroleum and natural gas are found in places. Though rock salt is plentiful on the land, the natives prefer to get their salt from sea water. The method is peculiarly their own. Sea water is poured upon the hot sand until a crust is formed^which is boiled in sea water until sufficient salt is obtained. Sulphur is plentiful, and there are indications of iron. Chinese miners from California found gold on the Kelung river in 1890 while digging for the construction of a railway bridge. In the province of Shantung are many diamonds, found here and there scattered along the low sandy ridges, or among the stones of the foothills. They lie as when washed out by the rains; the natives say they cannot find them by digging. Some of them are small, of tea color, and of little value, but are in demand for drill points; some are as large as a hazel- nut, and of fine quality. " The mineral resources of this province are something wonderful " says the consul at Chifu. " The Germans know what they are about. Twenty-five li, about 8 miles, southwest of this city are beds of good soft coal, which the natives mine. They make a good article of coke, which we use in our stoves. It cost 5 cash per cattie, that is, about 60 cents Mexican per 100 catties, 26 cents per ISSVa pounds. In the same region iron abounds. Forty-five li, 18 miles, west of the city is a small hill composed of what seems to be phenomenally pure red oxide of iron. For that matter, the south extremity of this city rests upon a hillock from which good ore crops out. Coarse native pottery is made near the coal mines above referred to. Far to the north of the city, in the mountains of I Sui and Ming Yin are deposits of gold, silver, and lead of unknown value. A native friend of ours a few years ago organized a company and opened a silver mine in Meng Yin. They produced, with very crude methods, excellent silver in paying quantities, but the usual thing happened, the jealous neighbors objected, and the of- ficials stopped the work. I have just heard of a placer mine recently opened on the west bank of the I Sui, about 160 li, nearly 65 miles, north of this city. My informant visited it in person. It was worked at night and several thousand cash worth of gold was taken out of every bucket full of sand." MINES AND MANUFACTURES 271 An imperial edict, issued on the 2nd of August 1898, creat- ing a bureau of control for railways and mines reads as follows: " Railways and mines are now-a-days the most impor- tant in this empire. We have already had the Tientsin- Shanhaikuan and the Tientsin-Peking railways built and in regular working order for some time past, while steps are now being taken for raising funds to build the Shanhaikuan ex- tension to the Taling river, Niuchwang and vicinity. As for the Canton-Hankau and Hankau-Peking lines, full control had been granted the Head Commercial company to find ways and means for the construction of these railways, and matters appear to be now taking definite shape in this connection. Then as to mines, we have the Kaiping colliery and the Miho Amur gold mines as the most successful, so far, among the many mining enterprises embarked upon, and we have already further commanded those in control to seize every opportunity to extend the works of the two mines above noted. We are, however, apprehensive, in view of the number of provinces in the empire and the various conditions of men who will attempt to open mines of all sorts in the future, that a diversity of methods and ensuing confusion will be the result, which would, of course, be detrimental to the principal object we have, of getting the fullest advantages obtainable out of each and every undertaking in this direction. It is therefore highly important that there should be a central bureau to direct, under a single system, the working and ex- ploitation of mines and railways in the empire, and we hereby command that a bureau of control for railways and mines be established in Peking, to the chief commissionerships of which we now specially appoint two ministers of the Tsungli Yamen, namely, Wang Wenahao and Chang Yin-huan. The said chief commissioners shall from henceforth have special con- trol over the opening of mines and construction of railways throughout the empire, and companies formed for the above purposes will in future be required to apply to the said com- missioners for permission and guidance in their operations." In the province of Shanli a British syndicate secured a con- cession which is to result in the unlimited production of iron and steel. Minerals impregnate the surface earth of almost the entire Philippine archipelago. The elevated auriferous gravels of 212 THE NEW PACIFIC Mindanao are suitable for hydraulic washing, and in the streams is placer mining. In the province of Abra, on Luzon, there are also placer and hydraulic mines. Lapanto has gold quartz veins as well as auriferous gravels, while near at hand are copper mines. The streams of Benguet, Nueva Ecija, and Camarines Nore carry gold. In various parts of the isl- ands are deposits of iron so pure that separation is made in the roasting. In Australia, Victoria began to be settled in 1834, the coun- try giving itself up to wool-growing. But a change quickly came when gold was found at Buninyong, Mount Alexander, and Ballarat, the yellow metal thereafter becoming king. At Ballarat one man gathered 31 pounds in a day, a nugget weigh- ing 106 pounds was found at Bathurst; Victoria yielded 48 tons of gold in one year. The total product of 1852, 1853, and 1854 in New South Wales and Victoria was $231,000,000. The gold mines of Coolgardie are valued at $80,000,000. Among the famous Australian nuggets were the " Welcome Stranger ", found in Victoria in 1869, weighing 3,286 ounces, and valued at 9,534; the " Welcome ", of Ballarat, 2,217 ounces, 9,325; the "Blanche Barkly ", 1,743 ounces, 6,905, and another gold lump of Ballarat weighing 1,619 ounces; from which huge specimens the precious stuff scales down- ward in size to particles like fine-ground maize. All the ordinary minerals abound in Chili, auriferous veins, rich silver mines, copper, iron, zinc, and gypsum. Coal de- posits extend along the coast for 100 miles, or more, sloping down to the edge of the ocean, and in places under the ocean. At Coronel the mines are profitably worked for quite a dis- tance under the sea. The great Cousino coal mines, whose output represents millions of dollars, are at Lota, 25 miles from Concepcion. Important developments have been made at the coal mines on Aranco bay and Puchoco. Seams of coal five feet thick begin at the shore and run down under the sea, in places for miles. Over the seams are water tight layers of slate and shale, so that the tunnels are quite dry. The best appliances are now in use in working these mines, which are lighted by electricity, electric trolley trains bring- ing forth the coal from under the sea. The output of the Lota mines in 1898 was 1,000 tons a day, 50 men being em- ployed at a wage of 90 cents or $1 a day Chilian money, being MINES AND MANUFACTURES 273 equivalent to 30 or 35 cents American money, about one- tenth of the wage received by workers in the coal and copper mines in the United States. The town of Lota was established and built up by Cousino, who owned coal copper and silver mines, besides smelters and landed estates. He employed 3,000 men at one time, all transportation being done in his own steamers. Jutting out over the coal-bed is a high penin- sula, where is the park and palace of Lota, and where Cousino left his widow with an income of $1,000,000 a year. Alas! that she too must die. The wealth of Peru! The term is a household word, sig- nificant not of broad acres and fat cattle, but of metal, yellow metal of the kind that shone on Cuzco's temple of the Sun when it was stripped for Atahualpa's ransom. Yellow metal, and white; the latter being what we fancy in speaking of Potosi and the riven sides of the Cordillera. Ecuador has an abundance of all the precious and base metals, and is a good grazing and agricultural country. Con- spicuous among the rivers flowing into the Pacific are the Esmeralda and Guayaquil, the chief seaports being Guayaquil, Manta, and Esmeralda. Quito, the capital, stands above the level of the ocean 9,453 feet, in a temperature of 56 to 62. "Vegetable life and minerals abound. In Colombia, along the Darien shore and across to Panama, is where the North American gold gatherings began, when Rodrigo de Bastidas traded his trinkets there, and Columbus came, and Balboa; these and others, here and in Costa Rica and Guatemala. A rich mine of manganese at Viento Frio, thirty miles east of Colon, is owned and worked by Americans. The entire republic of Mexico is surfaced with silver and gold. The uplands are richest in these deposits, but all along the Pacific terraces, from Sonora to Oaxaca, one metal alter- nates with the other in forming a chain of valuable mines. In the northern part of the republic, the deposits seem rather to follow the line of the mother ranges on either sido of the plateau, but in the central part the mines are massed without order in the states surrounding the Anahuac valley, as Hidal- go, Queretaro, and Morelia. There is a metalliferous belt in Guanajuato which has yielded for centuries, and is still yield- ing largely, as the Valenciana, whose output from 1766 to 1826 was $226,000,000. Since the coming of the Spaniards, Guana- 2U THE NEW PACIFIC juato has given to the world not less than $1,000,000,000, and Zacatecas almost as much, while the yield of Hidalgo has been if any thing still greater. Yet great as has been the product of the mines of Mexico, probably there is no safer field for mining enterprise at the present time than this. Nor are the precious metals alone abundant; in Durango and elsewhere are mountains of iron, in Queretaro lead, in Guer- rero and Lower California copper, and in various sections are found zinc, tin, bismuth, and quicksilver. Then there are fields of coal, as in Puebla and Tlaxcala; and mountains of sulphur, like the famed volcano Popocatepetl, whose crater one of the captains of Cortes descended for sulphur to make gunpowder for use in the capture of Mexico. This famous fiery mountain was lately sold to an English syndicate for $250,000. In Sonora are beds of graphite, and in Vera Cruz and Tabasco asphaltum and petroleum. All this, and fine marbles, onyx, and precious stones every where in endless pro- fusion. In Lower California, fifty miles south of Ensenada, is the Tepustete iron mine, whose proprietors secured facilities for shipping the ore to Japan, where there is a demand for it, and also to the new smelter at Port Angeles, on Puget sound. Near the Tepustete mine are valuable graphite and mineral paint deposits. I have but brief space left in which to speak of manufact- ures; yet enough, for the New Pacific is not as yet bordered by a superfluity of factories, or its waters disturbed by the din of industrial machinery, howsoever in the future it may be. While Great Britain has the lead in shipping, the manu- factures of the United States have so increased as to be now second to none; and so long as the coal supply for the Pacific is in foreign hands, that prime necessity for industrial de- velopment should be admitted free of duty. England and her colonies in their coal resources dominate to a far too great extent the industrial development in the Pacific. Formerly we drew largely, even for our own consumption, on England and France; now there are but few articles in the manufacture of which we cannot compete successfully with any other nation; and great as has been the importance of our export trade in the past, it will assume greater im- portance as the years pass by; for if we cannot find markets MINES AND MANUFACTURES 275 our manufactures will decline, capital seek other channels, and laborers be thrown out of employment. Until recently iron rails were shipped to America from England; now Pitts- burg iron is placed in Calcutta at a rate less than Great Britain can compete with. And fortunately for us foreign markets can be successfully cultivated to almost any extent. Cali- fornia, where the best facilities are afforded for the manu- facture of a great variety of articles, and where manufactures have only begun to develop as compared with their capabili- ties, might furnish many articles not now on her export list to Central and South America, to Australia, British America, and the coast of Asia, to say nothing of the rest of the world. It is true that an Englishman will consume many times more of our manufactured goods than a Malay or a Mongol; but that United States exports to the 5,000,000 of Canada should be more than to the 350,000,000 of China seems somewhat out of proportion, particularly if the comparison is limited in proportion to the American states of the Pacific. The cotton current from New Orleans to Liverpool for the thousand mills of Manchester and Lancashire and Bolton and Oldham, has been turned toward California and China, where men and machinery can do what can be done elsewhere. The cotton manufactures of England, which in 1800 were 200,000 in value, had reached 76,000,000 in 1860, when the civil war caused the closing of English mills by the score. In some such ratio will be the increase of industries round the Pacific during the coming century. The cotton belt of the United States is changing from east to west. Originally Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas were the cotton-raising centre; then the area was extended to the Mississippi; now three-fourths of the crop is grown west of that river. The south Atlantic states have mills enough to spin all or nearly all the cotton they raise, leaving little for the New England mills, or for export. As the cotton-raising capacity of Texas, Kansas, and Arkansas fills up, and the in- dustry gradually extends westward, the cotton-raising centre of the United States will be nearer the Pacific than the At- lantic ocean. In its westward march the plant improves; the harvesting is facilitated by the rainless autumn, and insects are less troublesome. Thus the cotton-growing area of the United States, esti- 276 THE NEW PACIFIC mated now at 20,000,000 acres, will become still further en- larged, and exercise a powerful influence over the destinies of the Pacific coast. Fears might be entertained that the low prices incident to large production might check the cotton- growing were it not for the new markets opening in Asia. China and Japan alone can use all the cotton we can raise, to say nothing of the now naked hordes of Africa and the isles of the Orient, who with progress will be compelled to put on clothes. The Far East has hardly yet begun the use of cotton. One-half of the human race live in climates where the little protection needed for the body is best furnished by cotton cloth, and in order to place the commodity within reach of all the price must be low. This necessity is being met; the world's cotton production has doubled during the last ten years, and trebled within twenty-five years. Egypt, India, and China can raise cotton, and also manufacture it; but the southern planter of the United States, with ever increasing available lands and ever increasing cheap negro labor, with his capital, his experience, his home institutions and surroundings, will always be able to compete successfully with the rest of the world. With these facts before us, it is clearly evident that the most suit- able place for the erection of new mills is the coast of southern California, practically near at once to the base of supply and to the market. It is comparatively a short haul and down grade, the shortest and easiest way from the great cotton grow- ing centre to the Pacific, where the healthiest climate and best facilities are at hand for the manufacture and steamers ready to take the product at small expense to every shore of the greatest of oceans. The time has passed by when our cotton must go to Eng- land for manufacture, to be brought back by us as cloth. The time is rapidly passing by when Texas cotton will be sent to New England, or even to North Carolina, for manufacture into cloth for the markets of the Far East. With four cents to the grower, as some predict will be the price of cotton within the next decade, the future mills of the California coast can be supplied at five cents, and limitless markets found at a trifling cost by ocean transportation. Every advantage is thus offered for successful competition with the other manufac- tories of America, and with any which may be established in Asia. MINES AND MANUFACTURES 277 The growing and manufacture of cotton is as yet one of the world's primitive industries. New methods of farming will be introduced and new machinery invented; and if Ameri- cans, with their usual energy and intelligence, continue to im- prove in manufactures in the future as in the past, they will control the cotton industry of the world. Through selection and adaptation to soils superior plants will be engendered, and economic cultivation will be developed on large and sys- tematically organized plantations; so that, as long as the new land lasts which will be for a long time yet more cotton to the acre and at less cost will be produced than has been the case heretofore, that is to say until a permanent four-cent, or perhaps three-cent basis is reached. However great the value of the Nicaragua canal to the nations on the Atlantic, to those on the Pacific it will be much greater, provided the men of the Pacific will make it so; and of all others the southern states of both the eastern and western seaboards will be the most benefited. Texas cotton can then be landed from vessels at the future southern California mills at a trifling cost without the aid of any railway, and thus the southern states will par- ticipate in the advancement of the Pacific. Favorable conditions for extensive manufacturing exist no- where in the world as on the several Pacific seaboards. Near the coast on every side are all the raw materials found any where else in the world, metals fibres and fuel, animals and plants and all that they can give, with water, wind, steam, electricity, and every other power, and with good climates and the best and cheapest of skilled labor. Let the mind and materials be brought together under the proper conditions and management, and great will be the results. Of the Chinese in India, Lord Elgin says: " That the most active, industrious, and enterprising race in the eastern world should be regarded as a source of weakness rather than of strength to a community, implies prima facie a certain degree of mismanagement. The Chinese who have been attracted to Singapore by its freedom from commercial restrictions and advantages of position, have contributed to make it what it is, the most prosperous settlement in the East. Without Chinese labor neither the Malay nor Philippine archipelago, nor Siam, nor Cochin China would have sugar or tin for their exporta- tion." 278 THE NEW PACIFIC When the free and intelligent peoples of these Pacific sea- boards shall have emancipated themselves from their indus- trial superstitions; when the barriers of race prejudice shall be removed and unrestricted intercourse established; when new fields of enterprise shall have been opened by new and enlarged ideas and measures; when skilled industry and raw material can be brought together under favorable conditions of capital and competent management; when in every land all legislations impeding or restricting commerce shall be laid aside; when an apathetic indifference to the welfare and progress of neighboring communities interdependent on each other shall have been overcome, and all of our grand poten- tialities have the full exercises of their powers, we shall then see round these Pacific waters a transformation such as the mind of man has never dreamed of. Economists partially demonstrate that well-paid labor is the more profitable for manufacturers, and will successfully com- pete with cheap labor on its own ground. The control of the markets of the world in iron and other articles has passed, and is passing, from England and other low-wage countries to the United States, a high-wage country. This can be ac- counted for only on the ground of superiority of skill and application, and improvements in the economy of production and manufacture. There are some articles, however, which cannot be rightly placed in this category, where for genera- tions cheap labor has been perfecting itself in the production of a superior article. This is shown in regard to certain Asiatic goods, where our government for example found it necessary to impose a duty of 75 per cent on Habutai silk, which costs from eighteen to thirty cents per square yard, and from 250 to 750 per cent on Chinese pongee silks. It is not a question of wages, the superiority of Americans in certain lines of manufactures, but in American mind and American methods. Gumption, the Yankee farmer would call it, who thrives on his hundred acres while paying his help twice as much as his neighbor who fails. It is genius of suc- cess as against the genius of failure. Successful Americans, like poets, are born, not made; or at least they are first and the best part of them born, while the other part may be de- veloped. Next after methods of our own is that over-ruling spirit of all success, work. As an Englishman visiting the MINES AND MANUFACTURES 279 Baldwin locomotive works in Philadelphia said: " It seems that everyone in America works harder than in England, from the president of a large firm down to the office and tool boys. It is work, work, work, and not a mere attempt to put in eight or ten hours a day." In reply to which he was told: " Amer- ican workmen are paid higher wages than any in the world, but their labor is cheaper in the end. For instance, here in this country, if we can find a way or devise a machine by which one man can do the work it had required two men to do, we put one man to do the work, and the other man we place some- where else. The American is satisfied with this arrangement, for he sees advantage ahead of him if he applies himself with industry to his work. It is as our English friend remarked, ' Everyone works like their very lives depended on how much they accomplished.' The Englishman is different. He will say, ' I am doing two men's work,' and then, instead of doing it like the American and earning his spurs, he merely puts in the allotted number of hours. The free and general use of machinery is another reason why America is ahead of the world. American workmen use much more machinery than other workmen of the world, and the machines in themselves are far superior to foreign makes: Machine work is always much cheaper, more trustworthy and accurate than hand- work." The following average rate 'of weekly wages paid by competing countries was compiled by the Massachusetts bu- reau of labor. OCCUPATIOHl, p CM 1 If II Russia. 1 1 K 1 - /. Blast-furnace, men Machine-making men $5.96 7.80 $4.28 5.00 $4.46 $3'. 38 !!* 811.63 5.57 4.28 bS^ Cotton-manufacture, men Cotton-manufacture, women. . . Wool and worsted, men Wool and worsted women ..... 6.14 8.71 5.64 3.22 4.03 2.38 1.55 1.75 1.90 cents a di bor.'carp SO cents o!sb 8.39 5.90 8.39 6.05 Boot and shoe factories, men. . . Root and shoe factories women 5.89 8.04 4.65 3.64 2.92 |Ja 12,70 7.88 Carpet-making, men Carpet-making women 6.46 2.69 4.28 2.38 ...... , .v... 111 ....;. 9.10 6.87 Silk-manufacture, men Silk-manufacture, women 5.40 2.45 . 2-.07 ...... Unskilled meals, and mas 1.05 (0.24 1 to ( 01.05 10.62 6.57 10 280 THE NEW PACIFIC If the Asiatic artisan be not permitted to enter the fields of skilled labor beside the white man, he will follow his voca- tion at home and send the product abroad. This he is already doing in the manufacture of cotton cloth, furniture, and other articles in the production of which he proves an adept, and will in due time compete successfully with all the world, and supply a great portion of it with his handiwork. An import duty may be placed on these articles which will afford the white laborer some protection, but no tariff will ever be able to make up for all the advantages of cheap material, cheap labor, and cheap living in China and Japan. Thus our ar- tisans by insisting on less work, will have less work to do. The Asiatic will learn, and will labor, if not abroad then at home. England once took our cotton and returned it to us, greatly increased in price, in cloth. China will do the same, and will also supply Europe and her colonies. The funda- mental laws of trade can no more be subverted than the laws of gravitation. And in this way the nations of the Pacific will be brought together in a better relationship than that of a union of labor or race amalgamation. On the western coast of the United States, wages are no higher than on the eastern, except in regards to household service, while the cost of living is less, and the climate better adapted to continuous labor. With manufactures well estab- lished, skilled artisans can live comfortably and lay up money on a wage at which a family could scarcely live at the east or in Europe. Silk-spinners and male weavers receive in Yoko- hama seventeen cents a day, while female weavers are paid two yens a month, or about four cents a day. In the progress of manufactures in Oregon the making of lumber came first, then ship-building, flour milling, salmon canning, and finally woollen mills, iron founding, and the making of lime, paper, flax and linen twines, and other like articles. Portland and San Diego, as well as the cities of the Sound and San Francisco, aspire to ship-building, with dry- dock and all the facilities for naval construction work. For lumber-mills and ship-building Puget sound affords the best facilities. Here, likewise, are coal deposits, and a long line of manufactures coming forward, such as foundries, machine- shops, smelters, tanneries, and fish-canneries. During 1898 Washington built 147 vessels, aggregating a tonnage of 28,- 774 tons. , MINES AND MANUFACTURES 281 The fisheries of British Columbia led to the first industrial movement after fur-gathering, grazing, and a little agricult- ure. Salmon were at first dried, smoked, salted, and put in barrels; later they were canned fresh. Then came sawmills, flour mills, and tanneries; breweries and boatbuilding; and factories for making boots and shoes, furniture, pianos, doors, soaps, matches, and cigars. Victoria manufactures cigars, some being brought from eastern Canada; the supply im- ported from the United States is not large, owing in some degree to excessive customs duty; the excise duty on home manufactures of tobacco is less. Pacific coast goods, Asiatic and American, such of them as are suitable should have representation at the Russian annual fair held at Nizhni Novgorod, which during the last decade has assumed larger proportions than ever before. To develop more rapidly the mineral resources of the Ural mountains, and in the region traversed by the transsiberian railway, Rus- sia grants free admittance for ten years to all articles for use in the Ural or Siberian mines. Here is a prospective market for all the mining machinery made in the United States. This of course applies to that portion of northern China which Russia has so unceremoniously taken possession of, Manchuria and the country through which the transsiberian railway runs as it deflects to Peking, Tientsin, and the gulf of Pechili on the west, and to Korea on the east, while the direct line to Talienwan and Port Arthur will pass through the rich mining districts of Shansi, and on to .the Hoang-ho river. One thus writes: " In possession of a Chinese frontier of 4,000 miles, Russia is making the best use of her opportunities to assimi- late to her own people the inhabitants of all northern China. In offering free trade for machinery to be used in the mining industry, the tsar practically invites the great manufacturing states to aid him in the conquest of the populous east. The development of the mining interests of the Russian and Chi- nese empires, the building of railroads, and the navigation of rivers, with the opening of the tea, silk, and rice countries through which they run, not to speak of the new line of rail- way through Afghanistan to the frontier of India, are enter- prises in the execution of which Russia needs the cooperation of the great industrial nations of the world." Wages in eastern Siberia, though not yet reduced to fixed 282 THE NEW PACIFIC rates, are higher than in western Siberia, and much higher than in China, and yet are only about one-half of the rate ruling in north-western America. At Vladivostok mechanics receive one dollar a day, and laborers half a dollar. Consider- ing the climate, the cost of living, and the absence of many of the essentials of progressive industry, we shall never expect to see many flourishing manufactories there. The govern- ment has leather works at Tomsk, where hides from the west- ern steppes of Siberia are tanned and worked into merchant- able stock. San Francisco is a manufacturing as well as commercial city, all the leading industries being well represented. Prom- inent among the manufactures of California are iron and steel works, agricultural and mining machinery, ship and boat building, flour and feed mills, leather and other works. Throughout the interior are irrigating and electrical works, fruit curing and canning, oil, powder, and pottery works, and scores of other active industries. Thousands of tons of beet sugar are now made in California, and beer for the million. We build some ships but we should build more. So long as we have at hand steel and wood, abundance of material and every facility for shipbuilding, and $179,000,000 freight money is paid on our exports, we need not complain of lack of occupation. The silk manufactories in the United States aggregate in value $150,000,000, the product growing from $6,607,771 in 1860 to about $150,000,000 in 1898. On both sides of the Pacific, in temperate and half-tropical latitudes, the best facilities are afforded for growing the worm and weaving the silk. San Francisco and New York merchants, some of them, have their own plantations of tea in China, of coffee in Central America, of sugar in the Hawaiian islands, of cocoa in Mexico, and of hemp and tobacco in the Philip- pines. In the manufacture of textile goods in Japan, spinning- wheels have given place to mills, which are well scattered throughout the empire. There is a large silk factory at Kioto, and woollen factories at Osaka and Tokio. The por- celain and silk factories of Kioto are still carried on mostly by hand labor with the crudest of tools. Silk weavers get thirty cents a day wages, and boy helpers twelve cents. Paper is made from the bark of the same trees that supply leaves MINES AND MANUFACTURES 283 for the silkworm. Osaka and Hiogo are the manufacturing centre of Japan. Raw cotton is imported largely and spun into yarn, when it finds a ready sale throughout the entire Asiatic coast. Cotton-spinning and other machinery, also white sugar and leather are largely imported. During the money stringency which fell on Japan in the autumn of 1898, large quantities of American cotton accumulated at Osaka, importers being unable to take it up. Millions of dollars worth of other goods, mostly from the United States, were at the same time stored in Yokohama and Kobe, as the mer- chants for whom they were imported had not the means of paying for them. In the manufacture of cotton goods, the Asiatics first feel their way by importing the yarn and weaving it into cloth on their own looms. Then, obtaining machinery, they finally perform the entire work. Thus far, however, they have been able to compete with American manufactures only in the coarser grades. Japan now works up 27,000,000 pounds of raw cotton, and turns out 24,000,000 pounds of yarn per annum. The manufacture of cotton into yarn and cloth is a large and growing industry in Japan, and is also rapidly coming forward in China. Carpets and rugs are made at Sakai, a suburb of Osaka. The extensive manufacture of clocks in every part of Japan, has stopped the importation of all except the cheapest grades. In Nagoya are seven factories, which with the factories of Kioto, Osaka, and Tokio, produce 30,000 clocks a month. The manufacture of matches, begun twenty years ago, has assumed large proportions, as there are now no less than fifty factories on the islands. Japan manufactures smokeless gun- powder, bringing the alcohol from Illinois in train lots. There are in Japan three factories each for the manufacture of mousseline de laine and ribbons, the latter in Tokio, Maye- bashi, and Hamamatsu. Japan is developing coal oil to an extent which will affect the market for American oil in China, as capital and energy will not be found wanting to develop the industry. The man- ufactures of India, China, and Japan are beginning to take their place in the Asiatic markets in competition with Ameri- can and European, and while Asiatic manufactures of articles hitherto made abroad will not immediately find place in America and Europe, the time may come when they will do 284 THE NEW PACIFIC so. Japan is already well started in the manufacture of goods to meet the requirements of people of every land, and China is fast coming forward to administer to the wants of civiliza- tion. With the aid of the directing American mind and American machinery, the millions of deft Chinese fingers will go far in ministering to the wants of the world. Among many other things which prove in the end a profit or a loss, the Japanese have taken up the manufacture of glass. Says the Japan Times of July 1898, " Side by side with the satisfactory development of various lines of industry, the glass-making business is languishing in its preliminary stages. To account for conditions in this line of industry, it is al- leged, in the first place, that in Japanese establishments there are no experts or skilled workmen, while the engagement of foreign experts is rendered impossible, owing to the heavy pay required by the latter; secondly, the cost of coal and labor is out of all proportion to the prices of the manufactured article; thirdly, as the result of competition among the fac- tories of small means, proper finish is wanting in the articles produced, so that the market is flooded with foreign-made goods. There are at present private factories in the capital, where the products are limited to beer and medicine bottles. The Tokyo glass factory is the only place where chimneys for use in light-houses, as well as other articles, are manufactured to any extent, but nowhere has the manufacture of window- glass yet been started. The depression in the trade has com- pelled all the lamp-chimney manufacturers in Osaka to sus- pend business for a month. It has been arranged by the union that each factory shall deposit the sum of 250 yen, which will be forfeited in the event of a breach of the agree- ment." The telegraph and telephone service in Japan is owned by the government, the machinery coming mainly from the United States. Japan makes a poor quality of leather for export, but when a good article is required it is brought from abroad. The Japanese leather is used for making satchels, furniture coverings, cheap shoes, and machine belting. The two principal tanneries in Japan are at Osaka and Tokio. The Japanese are making rapid advance in shipbuilding, having just completed at Nagasaki the largest steamship ever built outside of the United States or Europe. The vessel, MINKS AND MANUFACTURES 285 called the UUaclii Maru, was constructed by the Mitsu Bishi company for the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, and was about twelve months in the yards, and the same company has already a sister ship in the works. Near the engine works of the Mitsu Bishi company is their new granite dock, all with the latest improvements. The company employs 2,000 men; laborer's wages 60 sen or 30 cents a day, artisans one yen, or 50 cents, and upward. Wages are advancing with the increased cost of living. As to cheap labor in Japan, it is said that while the Osaka Watch company pay their workmen 40 to 50 sen, or 20 to 25 cents a day, as against $3 a day in the United States, one American will accomplish as much as seven or eight Japanese, and with all their ingenuity and skill, applications and cheap labor, the Japanese cannot make profitable the manufacture of watches and like industries. The world of manufactures owes China something on the score of her inventions. Pity that the mariner's compass that guides the spoiler's ships to her shores, and the gunpowder with which to blow open her gates for the entrance of foreign devils with their uncelestial contrivances, should have origi- nated in the land thus injured by them. The celestial empire offers alluring prospects to American enterprise. With her hungry hordes advancing rapidly in all the arts and appetites of advancing thought and purpose, she will require to know much which America can teach, and to have many things which America can furnish. With her great resources her exports now are next to nothing, being one seventh of those of France, with seven times the population. There are mines to be developed and manufactures to be established; the yield of coal and iron, of gold silver and lead will be limitless, and under proper direction the Chinese laborer and artisan are among the best in the world. Silk and cotton manufactures in China are situated mostly in the western part of the temperate zone, it being too cold in the north and too hot in the south for the profitable de- velopment of those industries; nevertheless silk of some sort is grown in all parts. Steam filatures under foreign manage- ment are now established in Shanghai, Canton, Hankau, Chifu, and Chingkiang. Cotton-growing has not as yet as- sumed very large proportions, though cotton manufactures are increasing. There were in 1899 a dozen mills perhaps in the 286 THE NEW PACIFIC cotton-growing region from Shanghai to Hankau and Tchang. An impulse was given to building of cotton and silk factories by the concession to import machinery to Japan in the treaty of Shimonoseki. With raw material and cheap labor without limit, textile manufacturing is making a rapid ad- vance in China. The advance in the price of foreign cottons, and a consequent decline in imports tend all the more to stimulate manufactures on the Asiatic coast. Within a few years great industrial changes have taken place in China, a revolution in some branches of manufacture having been brought about by railway, steamboat, and tele- graph construction, and the introduction of American ma- chinery. The branches most affected by the Shimonoseki treaty between Japan and China, which gave Japan the right to manufacture certain articles in China without taxation, are in cotton and silk; hence ginning mills, weaving mills, and silk filatures sprang up on every side, threatening to make of Shanghai in particular an oriental Manchester. Mukden is a comparatively clean city, with broad streets and fine resi- dences. Its manufactures are large and lucrative, the more important being silk weaving and the dressing of furs. Shang- hai has a cigarette factory, with a constantly increasing de- mand for the product. Silk manufacture here is also increas- ing. There are in operation about twenty-five steam filatures in Shanghai, and several at Hangchau and Suchau in process of construction. In an old-time factory the hum of machinery is never heard; the work is all done by hand. The industries of every considerable town include those of the carpenter, blacksmith, tailor, shoemaker, weaver, dyer, stone-cutter, brickmaker, jeweler, undertaker, workers in gold, silver, pewter and brass, and lime and charcoal burners. Workmen and artisans' wages are from twenty to forty cents a day. The leading Hongkong local industries are rope-making and sugar-refining. The raw sugar is brought from Java, Manila, Formosa, and south- ern China; the refined sugar is sent to California, Australia, India, Japan, and to several of the ports of China. The rope is made mostly from Manila hemp. Contracts for river and ocean vessels have been freely given to English ship-builders, who have their agents constantly in the field soliciting con- tracts. Englishmen and Americans are also on the ground MINES AND MANUFACTURES 287 seeking contracts for building railways and manufactories, in view of the present and future industrial development. As American greatness continues to grow, and worshippers at her shrine increase in numbers, the traffic in Asiatic en- ginery for the expression of American feeling enlarges, until the quantity of fire-crackers of the long past Fourth-of-Julys, as compared with that of the present time, sinks into insig- nificance. Long before America or her independence was known or thought of, fire-crackers were made and used in China, first to frighten away spirits of evil, and secondly to arouse the spirits of pleasure at weddings, births, and new- year celebrations. There are no large factories with me- chanical inventions for this manufacture, but the fire-crackers are made in shops and the houses at which they are sold. Kawangtung is the principal province for this industry, and the chief ports are Kowloon, whence in 1897 were sent out 24,074,267 pounds; Canton, exporting 1,067,200; Lappa, 907,733 pounds; and Swatau, 656,533 pounds, the whole 26,- 705,733 pounds being valued by the Chinese imperial cus- toms at 1,993,082 haikwan taels, or $1,584,151. The larger part of these shipments were by sailing vessels to New York, at a freight rate of from $2.25 to $4.25 per ton of forty cubic feet. Large as is the export of this article, it is small as com- pared with the fire-crackers used in China, whose devils are legion and at times annoying. Thirty women and ten men make 100,000 firecrackers in a day, which is from 6 o'clock in the morning till 11 o'clock at night, and there are in China seven such days to the week. An expert workman earns from seven to ten cents a day. Korea manufactures but little for export; the paper, mats, blinds, fans, and brass and copper utensils there made, all of the coarsest fabrication, are used by the Koreans them- selves, for the reason if none other that no one else would care to have them. They could do well in the culture of silk, and could extend their rice plantations, were their rulers disposed to leave them some of the results of their labor, and help them to get started on the road to prosperity and wealth. In ancient times the Koreans made fine pottery, as found in the royal tombs; they taught the art to the Japanese, who a hundred years ago came down on the Koreans in force and carried off pots and potters, so that now Japan fattens on the theft, while ?88 THE NEW PACIFIC the poor Koreans have forgotten all they ever knew. So few are the manufactures that the middle class are almost entirely without skilled occupation. They must either live in idleness like the upper class, or apply themselves to rude labor for mere subsistence like the lower class. A tough paper is made in Korea, as strong as vellum, some of it oiled; also window blinds of split bamboo and grass mats. Manufactured ginseng pays an excise duty of $16 a cattie. On their native looms they weave yarn, for which a large demand is springing up. Of brass, many articles are made, among others dinner sets. From old designs black lacquer is inlaid with mother of pearl; they also embroider in silk and gold thread. The cabinet-makers do some really fine work in the way of bureaus and boxes of solid chestnut, and in maple and peach veneer with brass fastenings. On the island of Formosa grows the paper-plant, from th'e pith of which the so-called rice paper of commerce is manu- factured. From this paper artificial flowers are here made, and at Hongkong sun hats. The distillation of camphor from the water in which has been boiled chips of the root, stump, and branches of the camphor tree is one of the most important industries of the island. From the varnish tree is made a good varnish, used in cabinet-making. Pottery is made by the savage Malays, mixing and moulding both being done by hand. Chinese potters at Sakaeng, in the north of Formosa, use a horizontal wheel, like the one spoken of in biblical story, and used even now in Palestine, where no doubt the Chinese obtained it, if indeed the Jews did not get theirs from the Chinese. The proposed railway through Formosa and the im- provement of Kelung harbor will require no small quantity of American material and machinery. Raw material in China is abundant, and skilled labor as low as ten cents a day; so that the opportunities for manu- facturing are of the best. In the cotton factories of Wachang the operatives are paid from four to eight cents a day. Flour mills even in the interior are taking the place of mortar and pestle, which are still used however, as well as the ancient method of grinding by turning one large rough stone placed on another by means of ox and pole attached. On a par with ox or horse grist-mills are ox or horse saw-mills, which after all offer advantages over the ripsaw method by which the MINES AND MANUFACTURES 289 United States forest clearings were largely made. Each one of a thousand small saw-mills should pay well in China. It is in and near the tropics that the fullest conditions are found for the production of material for manufactures and food for men. Yet in the absence of skilled artisans and effi- cient administration there is a lack of manufactures in many of the most important branches of industry. There are many large cigar and cigarette factories at Manila; some of them are owned by Germans Swiss and English, and employ each 4,000 operatives. The Spaniards have an electric plant, tele- phone exchange, steam and horse tramway, and brewery. There is a steam rice mill, a sugar refinery, a German cement factory with TO hands, a Swiss umbrella factory, a Swiss hat factory, an English cotton-mill of 6,000 spindles. Pina cloth, woven from the fibre of the pineapple, is costly, and worn only by the wealthy, an elaborately embroidered pina gown being valued at $1,000 to $2,000. The tobacco manufactory is con- ducted on a large scale, in rows of rooms filled with women. It surrounds a court, on entering which a noise and din strike the ear not unlike that of a large cotton factory. The finest shops are kept by Chinamen. The 30,000 Chinese in Manila are divided for purposes of taxation by the government into four classes, merchants, shop-keepers, artisans, and laborers. The sugar factories make nearly all of their machinery. The Honolulu Iron works give good satisfaction. Two fac- tories manufacture the 10,000 tons of fertilizer which is re- quired every year to sustain the land under continuous crops. About 700 tons of hard coal for manufacturing purposes are brought each year from the United States, but most of the coal here used comes from British Columbia, Australia, and New Zealand. In Australia the labor unions are stronger than in the United States; wages are higher and time shorter; eight hours being the rule. In Melbourne wages are 100 per cent more for twenty per cent less time than in London, and yet the c.ost of products are scarcely twenty per cent more in the colonies. New Zealand offered a prize of $10,000 for the best process, mechanical or chemical, of treating the native fibre of New Zealand hemp, which works up into a fabric as soft as silk. Carriages are made in the colony of Victoria under a protective duty of 40 each, the wood for the same being ob- tained from the United States. 290 THE NEW PACIFIC Wages along the South American coast vary somewhat ac- cording to locality, being higher in the cities and seaports than in the country. Thus common, or peon, labor, which in the interior is from 20 to 30 cents a day, is from 50 to 75 cents at Valparaiso, and $1.25 at the nitrate works. Factory operatives are, female 22 to 90 cents a day; male, 40 to $1.20; mechanics $1 to $3.50 a day; servants wages $2 to $20 a month. In Chili, tobacco and playing-cards are government monopolies, and no person may grow the one or manufacture the other without special permission, which is seldom granted. On such tracks of folly and vice, with lotteries and intoxicat- ing drink, the wheels of justice and legislation are made to revolve. Bolivia and Chili manufacture and export copper. Valdivia manufactures large quantities of sole leather, shipped largely to Russia via Hamburg, good tan bark being plentiful in south Chili. Soap is an important article of manufacture at Valparaiso, the caustic soda being brought from England. Flour sacks are made in Chili from United States cotton, but gunnybags for wheat, nitrate, and ores are brought from India via London or Hamburg. Four large breweries at Valparaiso manufacture most of the beer used in the country, distribut- ing it liberally up and down the coast. Rolling stock for rail- roads is made mostly in the country, though some of it is im- ported. As in New South Wales, nearly all the railways of southern Chili, and the manufacturing connected with them, are in the hands of the state. There is very little cloth made in this country, the greater part of the cotton and woollen goods consumed being brought from England. There are many large tanneries in Chili, but they are employed only on the coarse hides of the country, some of the production being thus used for a low grade of native leather, and some of them sent to Germany. The good leather is brought from England. Boots and shoes are extensively made, mostly by piece and prison work. The better quality is imported from England principally, though some comes from Germany. Saddlery and harness are made at home; also leather belting. ; Loveto, situated near the headwaters of the Amazon, is fast becoming an industrial centre, manufacturing as well as com- mercial. But owing to the excessive freight rates over the crest of the cordillera there is but little trade intercourse be- tween these two parts of Peru, even the manufactures of chev- MINES AND MANUFACTURES 291 lots, blankets, and buckskins seldom finding their way in large quantities over the mountains. Guayaquil, the chief port of Ecuador, has extensive tobacco and cocoa factories, and ex- ports lumber and various fine woods. In Colombia the sierra reaches a height of 23,779 feet, per- petual snow covering the summit. Although there are some manufactories, agriculture is first among industries in this re- public. Some work is done in metals, all of which are here plentiful. Great discoveries are yet to be made in this region, as it has been but partially prospected. There are also virgin forests of precious woods, the indiarubber, cinchona, sarsa- parilla, cotton, indigo, and many other commercial and medi- cinal trees and plants. Bogota has glass-works, distilleries, and sulphuric acid and cigar factories, while Panama makes hats and exports cotton, coffee, tobacco, silver, cinchona bark, and indigo. Turtles and pearl oysters abound. The manu- factures of Nicaragua are not large; they consist of sugar, soap, aguardiente, coarse leather and common furniture, most manufactured articles being brought in from abroad. In the other Central American states manufactures are much the same. Mexico has scores of breweries, the bottles coming from Germany. Thus far there has been no bottle factory in the republic, though Chihuahua is seriously considering estab- lishing one in that section. Manufactures in the city of Mexico have increased three fold within twelve years, and they would increase still faster but for the high cost of fuel, wood being $18 a cord and coal $20 a ton, a Mexican dollar being worth about half of an American dollar. On the other hand manufactures have been stimulated by a high protective tariff, high rate of transportation, and the depreciated currency, making the cost to the consumer of an article manufactured in the United States nominally about five times the original cost. But though fuel on the table land is scarce, there is good water-power in places, and cheap labor everywhere. Woollen clothes, blankets, carpets, prints, underwear, hats, and shoes, once imported are now manufactured in Mexico by mod- ern machinery obtained for the most part from the United States. Shoes are even sent into the United States. CHAPTEK XII COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC IF the earth is primarily for the use of man, then the sea is primarily for the use of commerce; for in no other way can the world of waters be so successfully subordinated to the benefits of the human race, as in bearing the surplus prod- ucts of one country to another to the ultimate advantage of all. In the midst of a world of intellectual and industrial ac- tivity, of startling thought and daring venture, we find pre- eminent above all other powers and potentialities, Commerce. Wars command our interest; politics and industry, the rail- way and the mines, have our attention; but all are tributary to King Commerce, whom the tsar serves, and to whom Salis- bury and sweet William bend the knee. And the great field for the new commerce of the coming century is the New Pa- cific, where so lately reigned supreme barbarism and savagery. As agricultural and industrial pursuits may be said to con- stitute the body politic of the nation, so commerce is its vital blood, without which there is little life or progress. For the main-springs of human action are found in the wants rather than in the wealth of mankind, and commerce is organized for the supply of those wants, as well as for the accumulation and concentration of wealth. As a matter of interest to the human race, commerce now assumes the position formerly occupied by discovery and sea adventure. The earlier voyages into and around the Pacific were not so much for purposes of territorial acquisition and legitimate trade, as for gold-gathering with valueless trinkets, or in connection with soul-saving at the point of the sword. Henceforth commercial supremacy as a nation signifies first of all trade with eastern Asia, Australia, the South Sea isles, and the west coast of North America, that is to say supremacy on the Pacific. No sea power will hereafter pretend to the 292 COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 293 first rank unless it is a power on the Pacific, the Pacific being first of oceans, its waters the broadest, its shores the richest, and its islands the most important. And great as has been prosperity and the growth of wealth in the United States dur- ing the past century, all will pale into insignificance before present developments. The opening of the Orient to our commerce will be but an incident to the general uprising of the industrial world, in which America and all the countries around the Pacific will play prominent parts. England leads as a maritime nation, with a steamship capac- ity in 1898 of 11,576 vessels, aggregating 18,887,132 tons, and a sailing-vessel capacity of 28,885 ships, aggregating 8,893,- 769 tons, the latter declining in number and capacity as the former increases. Next in steam tonnage is Germany with 1,625,521 tons, while next to England in sail is the United States with 1,285,859 tons, followed by Norway with 1,144,- 482 tons, and Germany with 535,937 tons. France has 925,- 682 tons of steam tonnage, the United States 910,800 tons, and Norway 628,493 tons. Great Britain's largest trade is with India; then follow Australia and the United States. Yet England reserves no advantages to herself over others in her Indian trade, while India is at liberty to send her products anywhere. The greater part of England's colonial empire has been created within the last half century. A hundred years ago her West Indian possessions were highly esteemed, but now, though not diminished, they are of comparatively little value. Thus we see that even tropical lands may depreciate in value, owing perhaps as much to political or economic, as to physical or commercial, causes. The inhabitants of these declining isles have no standing, and every country great or small should guard well its credit. There can never exist true commercial intercourse between nations without confidence and credit, and these can be established only by proper laws and regula- tions, backed by individual integrity. England loans to her colonists 800,000,000 at a lower rate of interest than she loans elsewhere, because she knows her own people, and knows the money will be paid. England is far from her own country nowhere in the world, and hence she is in a position to domi- nate the world commercially. She is never far from a market, or from a source of supply; never far from a naval or coaling station of her own. 294 THE NEW PACIFIC To most men Alaska seemed a superfluity when the purcnase was made, but we see now a good use for it in the north Pacific, as the Hawaiian and Philippine islands may be useful to us in the middle Pacific. Commercial federation upon some sound basis has been proposed for Great Britain through- out her broad dominions, involving the formation of a fiscal parliament, with power to impose a special duty of two and a half per cent on all .imports, which would furnish a fund of 9,000,000 to carry out the purposes of the federation, which would be to promote a cohesive force, and provide markets and regulate transportation. As the United States becomes the first of commercial na- tions, New York steps to the front as the chief commercial city of the world, the proud supremacy held for several cen- turies by London having at last crossed the Atlantic to the metropolis of America. This, as the work of a century; how will matters stand at the end of another century? For 87 years prior to 1876, when the tide of international commerce first turned in favor of the United States, there were but 16 annual balances of trade in our favor, while during the 23 years succeeding that date there have been but three annual balances against us. During the period first named imports averaged $167,000,000 per annum, and exports $141,000,000; during the latter period the imports averaged $667,000,000 a year, and the exports $811,000,000. At the beginning of the year 1899 the authorized capital of organized trusts or combines amounted to some $3,000,000,- 000, and the work of organization was going forward more rapidly than ever, even the powers of Europe making moves in that direction for the purpose so far as possible of monopo- lizing the commerce of the Pacific. Exports from the United States to Great Britain are in- creasing while our imports from that quarter are decreasing, the increase of late being notably in grain, metals, fruit, meat, and cotton. The increase in agricultural exports is due to the increase in both quantity and value. The increase in manu- factured exports is owing largely to the increased iron products. To this and other branches of manufacture cheap- ening processes have been introduced. Iron ore and coal have been found in various parts, near boat landings, with such natural and artificial conveniences and proximity to COMMEKCE OF THE PACIFIC 295 navigation as to lessen the cost, and thereby increase the de- mand. These, together with the differentiation in trade, are among the causes which have given to America commercial preeminence. Our commerce has been not inconsiderable for a century past; the war with Spain, however, convinced the world that henceforth the United States would be a great power, not only in international politics but in foreign com- merce, successfully contesting for trade the world over, and capable of protecting her rights and interest therein. The foreign commerce of the United States, aggregating for the fiscal year 1897-1898 $1,800,000,000, being of exports $1,200,- 000,000, and of imports $600,000,000, exceeds that of either France or Germany, and is second only to that of Great Britain. The business prosperity in the United States dur- ing and after hostilities with Spain must not be attributed to the war, but rather as coming without regard to it, and be- cause the people were somewhat indifferent as to its cost. It was the same in England. Not for ten years had business and stocks been so active. Most of the manufactories in both England and America were run at their full capacity, par- ticularly those handling iron and steel; one company or a combination of companies was incorporated under the laws of New Jersey with a paid up capital of $200,000,000. Should our national government ever deem it advisable to have a defined policy in commercial matters, whether with its own distant possessions or with other nations, it will be one such as England has cultivated in her colonies, and with all the world, and not like those of France and Spain, that is to say it will be a free and enlightened policy, giving to all the equal right to buy and sell at their best advantage, even as to-day the New York merchant and the Liverpool merchant stand upon precisely the same footing in sending goods to India or Canada, while the Calcutta and Montreal merchants can buy their goods wherever they like. Such an opportu- nity, which is and will be ours, is all we require with our growing manufactures to build up a trade around the Pacific such as the world has never before anywhere experienced. A generous, liberal policy in trade, as in everything else, is not only the best but the most profitable. It is not the narrow- minded, penurious man or government that thereby becomes the most wealthy and prosperous. Were the same business 296 THE NEW PACIFIC policy pursued at New York and Chicago as at Washington, the world's commercial supremacy would never have removed itself to this side of the Atlantic. To take rank as a first-class commercial power the United States must have more shipping, and stop paying $150,000,- 000 every year for transportation; and to accomplish this the government should take such steps as are necessary. If the authorities at Washington are not familiar with the business, or have not the intelligence or energy or money to do this, let them learn methods from the Japanese, and borrow money in China, and man our ships with Malays, only let us have a merchant marine worthy of our position among nations and our pretensions as a sea power. It is surely unnecessary to speak here of the first principles of national development, or to consider how Phoenicia, Italy, Holland, and England each became great through their sea commerce; and now when the United States has every opportunity and every incentive to lead the world in the carrying trade, our maritime men sit down and begin to figure up the difference in seamen's wages, and the amount of money mail contracts and ship subsidizing will draw off from such legitimate purposes as political campaigns, soldiers' pensions, and the like. Americans should blush to have their mails and goods carried in foreign bottoms, even though it cost twice as much to carry them in their own ves- sels. While squandering hundreds of millions annually on worse than useless things, Americans should be ashamed of the legislation which allows demagogues, bribed by railway magnates, to impede progress by defeating such measures as an interoceanic ship canal. I should be loath to say that I think the Japanese a better people than the Americans, who so lately brought them out of their isolated barbarism; but there are some things which these Asiatics can even now teach their teachers. The expanding commerce of the United States immediately following the war was manifest in the unusual demand for ships and the increased activity in ship-building. The ad- ministration decided not only to retain all vessels purchased during the war, but to confine trade between American and Porto Rican ports to American vessels. It was realized at once that notwithstanding industrial supremacy had passed to some extent from Europe to America, we are far behind COMMENCE OF THE PACIFIC 297 some others in the carrying trade. And we saw again, as we have seen before, that we never shall be a great commercial nation so long as we depend on others for our carrying. We may think to get this done by others cheaper than we can do it ourselves. So thought Spain when she turned over her manufactures for America to France and Flanders, and, hand- ing over in payment therefor the gold from America, lapsed into laziness. England's policy has been not only the protection of her merchant marine by means of subsidies and mail compensa- tion, but to encourage ship-building by placing contracts with her own builders, who were thereby enabled to equip yards and construct dry docks, not only at home but in every part of the world. These plants in 1899 reached in value $100,- 000,000, and their building capacity was 4,500,000 tons, as against some 300,000 tons in the United States. Every har- bor on the Pacific coast should be alive with this industry. Under wise systems of subsidies all the great powers are en- couraging ship-sailing and ship-building, the United States the least of all. In Germany the industry is now nearly equal to that of Great Britain, no less than twenty-four men of war having been delivered from her yards to foreign governments within the past three years. The state railways are employed in the transportation of material at merely nominal rates, so as to enable the ship-builder to construct the best possible craft for the smallest amount of money. The duties on iron and other materials for ship-building have been reduced. It is against the United States especially that the competitive energies of Germany are directed, and with the determination to be before us in the Asiatic trade. Up to a late date the yearly contributions for the support of steamship lines to the east coast of Asia have been, by Great Britain, $1,250,000; Spain, $416,000; Russia, $405,000; Austria, $306,000; Italy, $277,000; United States, $40,000. As the commissioner of navigation remarked, " we have deluded ourselves into the belief that the Pacific trade will become ours without taking ordinary precautions to meet competition." For maintaining steamship lines to certain ports in Australasia, Oceanica, China, and Japan, the Nordeutscher Lloyd Steamship com- pany now receives from the German government 5,590,000 marks, or over $1,330,000 a year for fifteen years. This is 298 THE NEW PACIFIC about three times as much as Germany was previously paying for postal and commercial subsidies in that quarter. A century before the revolution American colonists seemed more alive to their shipping interests than the people of the United States do at present. It was for the protection and promotion of foreign commerce primarily that the federation of the American colonies was consummated, and it was trade impositions and the infringement of our maritime rights, which led with other causes to the American revolu- tion. The war for independence destroyed commerce and ruined ship owners. But by tonnage duties, discriminating customs, and other means of protection, American shipping was revived in 1789, and in 1810 ninety per cent of American commerce was carried in American ships, whereas now ninety per cent of American commerce is carried in foreign ships. To attribute England's success and America's failure in the ship-building and navigating business to economic conditions, as some put it, is absurd. The fault is in the men who make the conditions, economic or otherwise, or fail to make them, or in the government, which fails to make possible natural conditions. There are no economic differences worth men- tioning as regards the ship-building industry, in Europe or America, or even Japan, unless it be that the United States has natural advantages over both the others. It is no fault of American ship owners that they cannot compete with foreign subsidized ships. If we are to have a merchant marine it must have government protection, as has the shipping of other nations, else we want no interoceanic canals or Asiatic archipelagoes, no open doors or spheres of influence. We can build as fine steamers as any other nation, instance the American line across the Atlantic, which could not exist but for its mail subsidy. We can build fine war- ships, and fine lake and sound boats; yet we must stand idly by and see Great Britain and Little Japan getting away with our carrying trade because our government is too shortsighted or too indifferent to protect its own interests. There is much talk about the duty of the United States to the Philippines; less is being said of the duty of the United States to the United States. The public money is taken to fight Spain and capture islands, only to see our commerce fall to other nations who see the benefit of sustaining their own commerce. COMMERCE OP THE PACIFIC 299 A northern railroad man figures up that " a ship of 5,000 tons capacity, leaving the Pacific coast every day in the year, would carry 1,500,000 tons annually across the Pacific ocean to Asia. What would it cost? A bonus of $2 per ton would insure the building of ships as fast as the shipyard could turn them out; $2 per ton would amount to $3,000,000 per year. Our country cannot stand still. She must go ahead or back- wards. If the present changes in the Orient bring about the results in China that have been brought about in Japan, you will find a greater development of trade on the Pacific ocean in the next 25 years than the world has ever seen in its his- tory." Three millions a year for ten years this man says will place the United States on an equality with other nations as com- merce carriers, a sum equivalent to one-tenth the cost of the Spanish war, one-fortieth of the expenditure in pensions, one- half as much as we spent on the starving reconcentrados of Cuba, one-hundredth part as much as is wasted in personal patriotism, that is to say in that kind of service of country which seeks the good of the person instead of that of the nation. Of the benefits to our western seaboard of so insig- nificant a sum as this we are assured that " its disbursement under proper restrictions would convert the Pacific coast from a mere producer of raw materials into a manufacturing coun- try. Stretches of river bank which have never known the sound of industry would become great shipyards, rivaling those of Maine in the palmy days of American shipping. For- ests which would not be touched for years, probably ages, would be the scenes of wondrous industrial development. Pa- cific coast products which otherwise go to waste or find sale at prices barely sufficient to cover cost of raising, would find sale at fair profit in the markets of the world." One course or the other the United States government, in justice to itself and its business men, should adopt and con- sistently follow. Ordain either to have or not to have a com- merce. Everyone knows that to become a great commercial nation a merchant marine is necessary, and for a merchant marine ship-building must be subsidized. If government will not protect its commerce, it is better so to declare, and let its people abandon the effort. England has been subsidizing ships for half a century, and is doing so now. The policy of 300 THE NEW PACIFIC the United States has been different; hence while England's shipping interests have been increasing those of the United States have been decreasing. Hitherto the lakes, rivers, and railways, the last with their tariff discriminations of all the traffic will stand, and their subsidized rascalities protected by the government to the ruin of the people and the country, have developed abnormally certain sections of the United States, and left other sections undeveloped. The acquisition of a line of tropical islands extending half way round the earth, from the West Indies to China, with an interoceanic canal, and an air-line double-track railway from Kansas City to San Diego, owned and operated by the gov- ernment on a basis of running expenses or less, or both gov- ernment canal and government railway, would revolutionize the commerce of the world. All such work done by the gov- ernment for the benefit of the people, as cheap postage, a parcel post, the midcontinent desert bridged by a railway, reclama- tion of desert lands by irrigating systems, if operated even at a loss, comes back to the public a thousand fold in the form of increased revenue and wealth. The president seemed fully alive to the requirements of commerce in connection with the new acquisitions. Of com- munication with the Hawaiian islands, in his message of De- cember, 1898, he says: " The annexation of Hawaii and the changed relations of the United States to Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines, resulting from the war, compel the prompt adoption of a maritime policy by frequent steamship communication encouraged by the United States under the American flag with the newly acquired islands. Spain fur- nished to its colonies, at an annual cost of about two million dollars, steamship lines communicating with a portion of the world's markets as well as with trade centres of the home government. The United States will not undertake to do less. It is our duty to furnish the pepple of Hawaii with fa- cilities under national control for their export and import trade. It will be conceded that the present situation calls for legislation which shall be prompt, durable, and liberal." The average yearly imports and exports of the countries round the Pacific prior to the war were about $2,000,000,000. It is safe to say that during the twentieth century this traffic will be increased ten or twenty fold. During the ante-bellum COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 301 period, but a comparatively small portion of the Asiatic trade was with the Pacific United States; what it will be in the fut- ure, how much of it will come to the west coast, and how much go to the east and to Europe, depend upon the quality of manhood that inhabits these shores from this time on. The time was when to be of California was a matter of pride, was to carry wherever one went the halo of gold and com- merce and romance. This was before the merchants of San Francisco were ground into the dust beneath the iron heel of commercial despotism, before the American government lent its aid to ruin the fairest portion of its possessions, by ad- vancing to a band of robbers the money and credit to monopo- lize the fruits of industry, for a full quarter-century, of a sec- tion which at that very moment was doing more than all the others combined to sustain the government credit during the crisis of civil war, by pouring into the Wall street coffers a steady stream of four or five millions of gold a month, which even then could not be kept below from 150 to 250 per cent premium above the national promises to pay. A Boston editor writes: " Great, however, as has already been the effect upon the west of the war, we have nevertheless seen but the beginning of good things. We have been accus- tomed to think of the east as the maritime section of the United States and of the west as the agricultural and mining district. But there are unmistakable signs that the Pacific coast of the North American continent was designed as the greatest seat of commerce the world has ever yet attained. The future is, of course, a mystery, but if anything may be safely assumed, it is that the Pacific ocean is destined to be- come a magnificent highway of trade." " All commercial nations are now fighting for trade,'' says the governor of Oregon regarding the Philippines, "and in their race of cupidity and inordinate ambition China is threat- ened with partition. We need the business of these islands. Exchange of products, natural and artificial, would be mutu- ally beneficial to them and to us. We must find an outlet for the surplus product of our fields and forests, our factories and workshops; we must share on equal terms with all other na- tions the opportunity for trade in the Orient, which our possession of the Philippine islands affords us." With its past record for aid and loyalty to the federal gov-. 302 THE NEW PACIFIC eminent, and the certainty of a brilliant future, a future such as the wildest dreams of avarice and enterprise have never reached, the least the nation should do, for its own sake and the sake of the Pacific coast, is to bridge the desert with one or two lines of transcontinental railway, owned and operated by the government, on a basis of running expenses or less, and thus besides furnishing itself with the means of cheap and rapid transportation for its mails, its troops, and its munitions of war, superior to those of any interoceanic canal, while bringing nearer the two sides of the continent and shorten- ing the distance to its island possessions, at the same time deliver from a power threatening soon to become greater than itself a liberal minded and patriotic people. Possibly the peo- ple of the Pacific coast are expecting too much in the way of benefits to accrue from the canal. Like all good things it will prove a benefit if they bestir themselves to make a proper use of it, otherwise not. Conditions there may be under which it will prove to the American Pacific coast a disadvantage. First of all, it is very clearly to be seen that unless we have a merchant marine of our own, we had better have no canal, as the ships of other nations will come in and carry off our commerce. When England and Germany can pick up their traffic in China and carry it through the canal to their own door, they will scarcely trouble themselves to call at any Ameri- can port, either on the Pacific or on the Atlantic side. The internal commerce of the country can no longer be carried on in ox carts, nor by railway monopolies charging ox-cart freight rates. And if a New Pacific is ever to take its proper place in the world, there must be some shorter way opened into it from the Atlantic than round Cape Horn. A great commercial corporation for the past fifty years has been the Pacific Mail Steamship company, its operations now extending half round the world, from New York to Hongkong via Panama, San Francisco, and Yokohama. The company was established in 1847 under an act of congress authorizing the secretary of the navy to contract for a steamer mail service for ten years, sailing once in two months or oftener, from New York via Charleston Savannah and Havana to Chagres, across the Isthmus to Panama, and thence touching at San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco to Astoria Oregon, thus bringing the two great seaboards of the United States into COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 303 closer relationship than that afforded by water round Cape Horn, or by land across the United States. In accordance with this authorization a monthly mail service, at a yearly compensation of $199,000, was awarded to Arnold Harris, who assigned the contract to William H. As- pinwall, and the company was incorporated with a capital stock of $400,000. Three steamships were built, the Cali- fornia, the Panama, and the Oregon, and sent round Cape Horn to take their places in the line. But while these were on the way, great things happened; California became a pos- session of the United States, the construction of the Panama railway assumed more definite shape, a treaty with Mexico gave the California country to the United States, and the magnitude of the gold discoveries in the foothills of the Cali- fornia sierra became assured. The result was that none of these steamships touched at ports on the Atlantic, or got past San Francisco on the Pacific; the route became settled, New York to Aspinwall, and Panama to San Francisco, stopping only at Acapulco for coal. Opposition lines were established at various times, both by way of Panama and across the Isth- mus of Nicaragua, but the great Pacific Mail continued its course and dominated transpacific traffic until the northern lines were established. The capital stock of the Pacific Mail company was increased first to $2,000,000, then to $4,000,000, and finally to $10,000,000. In regard to the prospects and possibilities of the Pacific states, Chauncey Depew said before an audience in the Audi- torium, Chicago: "The open market of Japan and the open markets of China will absorb not only all the wheat grown upon the Pacific coast but all it can possibly produce. Its markets will be so great for our steel rails, our machinery and electrical appliances, and our agricultural implements, that with a merchant marine on the Pacific, Oregon Washington and California will in a few years be among the richest and most productive states of the union. There is in the trade the opening of a new field for labor and new opportunities for capital. The congestion of our market will be relieved, causes of panics will be diminished, the fierce competition among our- selves will be lessened, the farmers of the west and the middle west and of the northwest will find themselves better able to compete in the markets of Europe with the Argentines, Kus- 304 THE NEW PACIFIC sia, Egypt, and India. The wheat of the Pacific coast will go to the Orient instead of to Liverpool. Civilization and Chris- tianity and orderly liberty following the flag will bestow in- estimable benefits upon distant semi-barbarous and alien races. There will be to our own people reciprocal benefits which come from a thousand millions instead of 70,000,000 of peo- ple waiting the products of our soil, the results of our agri- culture, the outflow of our mines, and the surplus of our mills, our factories, and our furnaces." Each side of the Pacific is the natural markets for every other side; all the islands give products to the mainland and receive products in return. The disadvantages of the Pacific coast in distance from markets and cost of transportation are now in a way to be obviated by nearer consumers and recipro- cal trade. The wheat which California has so largely shipped to European and other distant ports will go to China, where the entire product of 20,000,000 bushels, and many times more from the other wheat producing states west of the Eocky mountains, will find consumption as flour. Before the war flour, oil, cotton cloth, and machinery, were sent to the Philip- pines from the United States; with the occupation of those islands by Americans and the development of new industries new wants will be created, and a thousand things now not thought of will be sent thither from the Pacific coast. California sends canned salmon, canned and dried fruits, and wheat, to England, flour to China, fresh and dried fruit and wines to the midcontinent and eastern United States, quicksilver and mining machinery to Mexico, and eastern raw material and manufactured articles to every port of the Pa- cific. Oregon sends wheat to England and flour to China. With her moist air and fertile soil she may double her wealth every twelve years. Washington sends flour, lumber, and a long list of her own manufactures to Alaska, Japan, and China. Connected with the university of California is a col- lege of commerce, which will prove an active influence in the development of the New Pacific, not only in the way of pre- paring students for mercantile pursuits, but in the study and solution of those economic questions upon the lines of which the commerce of the Pacific is destined henceforth to be evolved. From San Francisco are now established lines to every COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 303 quarter, the northern and southern American coasts, Asia, Australia and all of the more important islands. For the Philippine trade are appointed two new steamships, the counterparts of the historic St Louis and St Paul. To San Francisco should be transferred the tobacco and cigar trade of the Philippines which once made Barcelona one of the richest cities of Spain. In China and Japan and in all the islands the Manila cigar is extensively used. Likewise hemp and sugar San Francisco will consume in quantities, and pass on through her portals, from the old east to the new, the rich stuff's of famed Cathay. Here will always be the chief ren- dezvous of government troops destined for the Pacific. By way of San Diego, on the steamers of the California and Oriental company, the gulf states send cotton, and the midcontinent and Pacific states flour, beer, mining machinery, agricultural implements, and other manufactured products of these parts, to Japan and China. The return cargo consists of general oriental goods for the same and other sections of the United States. This is the natural and best route, to be still further shortened in the near future by a short cut direct from San Diego to Yuma, between the midcontinent, gulf, and southern Pacific states to the Hawaiian islands and the Far East. To his government, in 1898, James Longstreet, United States commissioner of railroads, reports: " With Cuba and Porto Rico producing tropical products, our annual demand for which is to the extent of $225,000,000, about one-third of our entire imports, will in a few years be entirely furnished from these new possessions, and our own products taken in exchange, while now our exports to these islands, I believe, do not exceed $15,000,000 annually. Heretofore, under their former control, every effort has been made to discourage busi- ness intercourse with Americans. Under the new order of things in these islands every effort will be made to encour- age trade with us, and when the population is doubled in numbers and is increased ten times in ability to produce and consume, which is not an unreasonable anticipation, what then will our trade amount to? It is almost impossible to imagine. Less than 35,000,000 British colonists in Austral- asia exchange products to the amount of $650,000,000 an- nually. It is only reasonable to suppose that in a few years 306 THE NEW PACIFIC the trade with our new possessions will fully equal if not sur- pass this, and the United States must control the bulk. Furthermore, the vast volume of wheat and other cereals which now find their way from the middle western grain prairies to Asia and other countries of the western hemisphere via the Atlantic seaports will, in a very few years, reach these same destinations via the Pacific seaports, and with this changed condition will come vastly increased tonnage and revenues to all the transcontinental lines. It may be timely just now to suggest that the government construct and operate a first- class double-track railroad from Kansas City to San Diego by air-line route. This will open the shortest line, measured by the map, from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia to the coast and along the coal fields of the east and west this side of the Eocky mountains, and making the most direct line from cur great commercial centres to the Sandwich islands and the Philippines. This with other lines now working overland may prove ample for the wants of commerce to the Pacific coast and the Orient, holding trade and travel within our borders pending the experiment of a canal through the isthmus. Nearly one-half of the total foreign trade of both the United States and Great Britain is with tropical countries. In this respect the states of the Pacific seaboard of North America are specially favored, as holding the key to the trop- ical trade of the Pacific, that is in being so situated as best to supply all products of the temperate zone, and all American manufactured products. There is no difficulty in our obtain- ing all the foreign trade we desire if we use ordinary industry and intelligence to obtain it. We must simply manufacture the goods that foreigners require, and sell them at prices and under conditions more attractive to the buyer than those which our competitors can or will offer. If we sit down and wait for trade, or even hoist our flag expecting trade to follow it, we shall be disappointed. No trade will follow the flag without due action and consideration, particularly the carry- ing trade. We have so long been accustomed to remain quietly at home, and have foreign goods brought to us and our own carried away in foreign bottoms, even prospering under this narrow policy, that we do not sufficiently realize the change incumbent upon us to make under the new conditions, COMMERCE OP THE PACIFIC 307 and that we must now do our own carrying or give up business. Every means should be employed by the merchants and manufacturers of the United States to introduce their goods, not upon the coast only, but into the interior of China, where the competition is less and the possibilities limitless. The native merchants are of course opposed to this, preferring to keep the business in their own hands; and they have many advantages, knowing the country, the people, and the goods required. But until the foreign manufacturer can himself carry his goods direct to the consumer, or to the provincial dealer, and explain their nature and use, there will never be a very large demand. Said the Shanghai Chamber of Com- merce in their report, speaking of trade with the Chinese: " They will not advance towards foreigners to seek their trade until foreigners have pressed it on them. Foreigners must provide the means of bringing different parts of the empire into close communication; they must also to a certain extent create the wants which they wish to supply, by offering their goods and introducing them to the customers. Commerce everywhere requires to be energetically pushed to be success- ful, and this is particularly true of the trade in foreign manu- factures in China. Though the Chinese are themselves in- capable of originating any such improvements, they are very ready to avail themselves of it when provided for them. But the spirit of enterprise is all on the side of the foreigners, and the onus of every forward movement in commerce must nec- essarily rest on them." This was written more especially for the benefit of Englishmen, but it is equally good advice for Americans, and applies no less to all the countries round the Pacific than to China. Permanent exhibition buildings at all the principal Pacific ports, American, Australian, and Asiatic, where samples of United States products and machinery could be seen and ex- amined would be of the greatest advantage. Neither the Chinaman nor the Spanish American is satisfied with circu- lars, or any kind of printed or pictured descriptions; they like to see the thing itself, and understand it. The Chinese are shrewd traders, and look thoroughly into men and things before parting with their money. Our Pacific coast merchants and manufacturers may profit- 308 THE NEW PACIFIC ably take a lesson from the Germans in commercial methods, more especially in regard to their dealings with South Amer- ica, which have trebled within the past six years. Chambers of commerce were opened by them at Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Ayres, and Montevideo, while exhibits were made at home of the wrought-iron and other industries of South America. Every body knows that commercial relations once established continue and grow under favorable conditions; sales of one article lead to sales of another, and thus we see American barbed wire sent to Japan by German exporters, who are able to buy it in the United States cheaper than they can make it. In their trade theories and practice the Germans exercise their characteristic thoroughness. They are as skilful in the inven- tion of new methods, as they are persistent in carrying them out, and tenacious in holding trade when they get it. It 'is interesting to read what the French consul at Hongkong says of them: " As soon as German commercial travelers land they begin to study the language; a slight knowledge obtained, they undertake with unequaled persistency to persuade some native merchant to give them a trial order. As soon as the goods arrive, they visit their client, and if he makes any com- plaint they assure him that the fault or error can be readily corrected or avoided in the next order; if necessary, they finally make a considerable reduction in the amount of the bill. AVhen the day of payment arrives, another visit is made. This time the purchaser is told he need not press himself to settle the whole account; a partial payment will suffice if he is willing to give a new order. If the client consents he is trapped. Although the merchandise may be inferior to French or English makes, it offers to the dealer the great ad- vantage of cheaper prices and greater profits. The consumer becomes accustomed to it and hesitates to pay the higher price for the better article. Thus, at the expense of many apparent concessions and much hard labor, relatively small however in proportion to the results, the market is opened to German goods. It is afterwards comparatively easy to enlarge it." And thus the United States consul at Hiogo writes: "It is probably true that the German exporter understands the na- tive taste better than any other. The markets here are full of small wares from Germany, put up in attractive style and in small quantities to find ready sale. Another point in favor of COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 309 German exporters is the fact that they do not confine them- selves to the quick and ready methods of others, but stay upon the ground until they get the trade. It would be well for Americans to note a little more closely the fact that the markets of the east cannot be obtained entirely by wide-awake methods, but that much patient and persistent effort is re- quired." The reports from other United States consulates as to the methods which might be employed by merchants and manu- facturers for increasing their business in the various parts of the world are not without interest. Says the consul at Japan: " Trade is not nearly as large as it might be if our manufacturers in the United States would give the attention to Japan that they do to the overflowing markets at home." From Honduras: " American manufacturers could probably increase their trade by making goods of special styles and pat- terns to suit the trade." From the consul at Bolivia: " This is where the Americans fail, or rather where they have never taken hold; to speak Spanish and reside among the people are indispensable." From the consul at Mexico: "The manu- facturers and merchants of the United States do not as thor- oughly understand the demands of this trade as those of Ger- many, France, Great Britain, and Spain." New South Wales: "In boots and shoes the business can be largely increased if the manufacturers will pay more attention to the peculiarities of the trade here." New Zealand : " We should have faster and more modern vessels plying between San Francisco and these colonies, and we should subsidize our sailing vessels trading to Australasian ports, so as to enable them to reduce the freight charges on American imports to the colonies, and thus encourage trade which cannot otherwise be alienated from the British manufacturers. I am confident if a generous and intelligent effort were made in the way of studying and cultivating the tastes and peculiar requirements of the peo- ple, we would in a few years divide a much larger proportion of the trade with England than we do now." Consul at Mel- bourne: " To increase the business relations between the two countries, the best way would be for some of our manufact- urers to establish agencies and carry stock here." From our consul at Victoria: " The trade between this colony and the United States is not by any means what it should be, and 310 THE NEW PACIFIC it depends solely upon our manufacturers to increase it." From Tientsin: "If our merchants would provide for sam- ple warehouses at Hongkong, Shanghai, and Tientsin, and send good, live, and responsible Americans to manage the same, they would be astonished at the increase in their ex- ports. The Germans are preparing to adopt this method, and, unless checkmated, will make sad inroads on the trade we now have. They are also getting ready to publish a paper in the Chinese language, especially to advertise their products." From our consul at Ecuador: " With proper effort our mer- chants could do a great trade with this country." From the consul at Colombia: " Branch houses should be established in these countries, thus assimilating the home market with the foreign." From our consul at Peru: "Drummers with samples should be sent round in lieu of the mass of circulars and catalogues." Strange as it may appear, the merchants of Portland and of Astoria differ as to where should be the entrepot of commerce in Oregon, at the mouth of the river by the sea, and convenient to sea-going vessels, or at the head of navigation, in the heart of the country that furnishes the supplies. Astoria thinks she should be the New York and Portland the Albany, whereas in her own eyes Portland is Paris and Astoria Havre. As a matter of fact, grain and flour ships load at both places, naturally preferring the one nearest the sea, other things being equal, but ready to go where the cargo may be obtained if necessary. Attempts to send one of the products of Oregon to sea with- out a ship proved rather unsuccessful. Rafting logs and boards from the Columbia down the California coast was pleas- ant and profitable until storms came and broke them up, scattering the lumber. Washington is especially adapted to maritime commerce, owing to the forests and inland waters which afford rare facili- ties for shipping and ship-building. Unite to these forests those of British Columbia and Alaska, and we have here more timber suitable for spars and ship-building than anywhere else in the world. The same may be said as to fisheries, while the agricultural resources of Washington are greater than is generally known. Washington sends to Alaska miners' sup-* plies; to Vladivostok general merchandise; spars and railroad COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 311 ties to Hongkong, Shanghai, and Nagasaki; flour to China and Japan; and lumber to nearly every Pacific port of North and South America and Asia. Puget sound imports rose from $95,441 in 1883 to $7,066,131 in 1897; exports in 1883 $1,770,219, in 1897 $11,864,925, the latter consisting largely of lumber, flour, wheat, and other cereals. Ships from. Seattle go to Australia with lumber, returning with coal for the Hawaiian islands, sugar from there to San Francisco, and back to Washington in ballast. Again, lumber to South America, guano thence to Europe, and back in ballast. Seattle and Tacoma send to the Hawaiian islands lime for the sugar refineries, flour, beer, bran, grain, hay, lumber, coal for the government, and general merchandise, and receive in return sugar, coffee, fruit, tea, silk, rice, and general Asiatic goods; to Japan and China these favored cities send flour, beer, oil, and stoves, and even cotton has been sent north by rail from Alabama to take this route to the Orient. Three competing transcontinental railways come to Bellingham bay and Puget sound; the Canada Pacific, the Great Northern, and the Northern Pacific. Coastwise railways also extend in every direction. British Columbia depends chiefly on the United States for a food supply, while manufactured articles are brought from eastern Canada and England. About one-quarter of the flour supply comes from Manitoba; canned meats from the United States, except mutton and sheep tongue, which are brought from Australia. Though less in price, Canadian hams and bacon are not so well liked as the American; oats, corn, barley, and hay are supplied by the United States. In fruit the Aus- tralian competition with the American is light. Of manufact- ured goods England and eastern Canada supply hats, caps, woollen and cotton clothing, and general drygoods, while the United States furnishes heavy bleached cottons, ginghams, and shirtings. Agricultural implements and mining machin- ery come from the United States, and cutlery from England. The province is largely populated by the English, who in the main prefer their own goods; nevertheless it is said that the sale of American goods can be largely increased by the due exercise of intelligence and energy. The Asiatic steamers of the Canada Pacific railway carry proportionately fewer Pacific coast products than the lines 11 312 THE NEW PACIFIC from the United States, and the British Columbian imports from China and Japan have not as yet assumed very large pro- portions. Most of the transpacific traffic from Vancouver, which is very large and constantly increasing, consists of European goods, and merchandise from the eastern and mid- dle United States. The same may be said of the Puget sound lines, and in fact of all the lines; but with an established and growing trade with eastern Asia, thousands of new industries will spring up all along the American Pacific seaboards. In transpacific voyages the northern lines claim advantage in distance, but this is offset by the cold, drizzling weather encountered. In truth, so far as physical conditions are con- cerned there is little to choose, each latitude having its advan- tages and disadvantages. Where there are so many fine lines, and from all the principal ports, one would scarcely care to spend much time running up and down the coast in making a selection. All sea-voyages are more or less monotonous, but all need not be dreary, and the monotony of comfort seems usually to shorten the time. Few care to follow a far north- ern circle, where the weather is always cold and stormy, even though the distance be less, and even though icebergs cannot find their way through the shallow Bering strait; for the greater safety and comfort of the more southern route will leave one with fully- as much time at his disposal on this earth in the end. From Vancouver to Yokohama the steam- ship time is three days less than from San Francisco to Yoko- hama, which is fourteen days, more or less. But from San Francisco or San Diego the voyage is pleasanter, especially with a stop at the Hawaiian islands. Alaska has commerce with Canada and the principal coast cities as far south as San Francisco, receiving supplies of every kind and sending out fish, furs, and metals. A sale of seal- skins is held in London every year, at which as the supply becomes less the prices are advanced. A year's catch off Cop- per islands, on the Siberian coast, was represented by a cargo of bear, seal, and other skins from Petropaulovski valued at $1,000,000. Whalers are still found in these waters, the catch running in value from $100,000 to $200,000 each vessel in bone and oil. Vladivostock has had commercial intercourse with Portland and Vancouver for many years. Russian trade with China began at an early date, three cara- COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 313 vans reaching Peking during 1658-77. A Russian embassy under Eberhard Ysbrand Ides was sent by the tsar to Peking in 1692, and in 1715 certain Russian prisoners were permitted to settle in Peking, an envoy being sent four years later by Peter the Great to establish commercial regulations between the two empires. By treaty of 1727, one caravan between Novgorod and Peking each way might be freighted once in three years, but after twenty years trial the long journeys proved unprofitable, and were less frequently made. Russia's exports now amount to about $400,000,000 per annum, and imports a little less, the former consisting of grain, hemp, eggs, cotton goods, and iron ware, principally to Asiatic coun- tries, and the latter, raw cotton, silk, and jute, and the manu- factures of iron. Though the Russians as yet have not a large commerce, being restricted in their manufactures to local and provincial supplies, they are nevertheless active and intelligent traders, being more particularly interested in Mongolia and north- western China. It is not a little remarkable that in times past Moscow and Tobolsk merchants have been able to send their goods by caravans to Lanchau, and compete with Eng- lishmen in that city. And Russian traders are gradually gain- ing a foothold in central as well as in western and northern China. They understand better the ways of the Chinese; they are nearer akin to them; they learn their language, show outward respect to their superstitions and traditions, and flatter their vanity in many ways. The Russian is content to advance slowly; he is shopkeeper as well as trader; while exer- cising rigid self-denial he will accept small profits. Whatever his opinion may be with regard to the honesty, morality, re- ligion, civilization, or general intelligence of the foreigner, the Chinaman has few prejudices and no patriotism in trade. With him the fashion never changes; but the cotton which is the best for the money and cuts for his garment with the least waste, is the kind he will buy. He is shrewd and sensible in his economies; he likes luxury, but is content with poverty; he seldom buys what he cannot afford. Articles new to him he is ready to accept if economical and useful. Vladivostok, the terminus of the transsiberian railway and commercial metropolis of the northernmost Far East, is the distributing point for the fertile region south of the Amur. 314 THE NEW PACIFIC There are two independent and two subsidized lines of steamers belonging to this port. Fortnightly steamers ply between Vladivostok and Odessa, and close steamship com- munication is had with all the ports of the Pacific, American Asiatic and Australian. Korean and Chinese colonists form no small part of the population, the latter keeping most of the shops, and having a monopoly in vegetables, fish, game, and fruit. The Chinese guild or shall we call it trust is here so strong as to drive the Russians out of business as regards these products; their business is transacted in four large wooden buildings by the water called the bazaar. The Japanese are largely employed as domestic servants, but they also have shops at Vladivostok. A Korean settle- ment near Possiet bay supplies Vladivostok with beef, and several Koreans have become wealthy furnishing meat and grain to the Russian forces by contract, bringing lean cattle to fatten for the purpose from Chinese Manchuria. Though not deficient in native food resources, Siberia will always be a good market for the products of the other coun- tries around the Pacific, and this more especially when the mining and grazing resources are more fully developed, and the country filled with an intelligent and thriving popula- tion. The same may be said of all those parts of Russia which are accessible to the Pacific ocean by water-ways or land-ways; Russia is a large purchaser of whatever she lacks and desires. From both Europe and China she imports enormous quanti- ties of tea, textile fabrics, and provisions, and now that she taps the Pacific with the Siberian railways, the products of the great ocean and its environs should be always for sale in all the chief cities. Commerce in Japan presents several anomalies. First, to those who buy the most from her she sells the least; from those who sell the most to her she buys tke least. American merchants buy from her five times as much as they sell to her; English merchants sell to her five times as much as they buy from her. The United States is Japan's largest customer; next is France, then Hongkong, China, Great Britain, British India, Canada, and Italy, in the order given, the purchases of the first being between twenty and thirty million dollars per annum, and those of the last named one million. This shows thrift and shrewdness on the part of the Japanese, who COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 315 not only do the transportation for the Americans but much of their manufacturing. In these two great essentials of com- merce, the Asiatics are outstripping the Americans, owing it would seem to our indifference and the indifference of our government. If we want Japan to rule the Pacific, indus- trially and commercially, all we need do is to leave matters to go their way as we are now doing. Japan exports to all na- tions a little more than she imports, the total amounts being from fifty-five to sixty million dollars per annum. The Japanese are indefatigable traders along the Asiatic coast; energetic and keen-witted, they penetrate every where, to every town and hamlet, examining the resources and study- ing the necessities of the people, creating new wants while supplying the old ones. Packages are put up to suit the kind of transportation before them on reaching a distant country, whether they are to go by the Eskimo kyak or the Korean pony. The Japanese trader is also shrewd enough to know that he can always do better by conforming to the interests of his customers, and not give people cotton 24 inches wide, when their clothes cut to better advantage from cloth 18 inches wide. If the manufacturers and merchants of the United States desire to compete for the Asiatic trade, they must meet the Asiatic on his own ground, and become as skil- ful traders as they. The ability of the Asiatic to undersell the American, so far as cheaper labor is concerned, will be- come less as time goes by, and the cost of food increases, and the demand on the part of intelligent and skilled labor for better living and fair wages. In the closer traffic and more intimate relations springing up under the new order of things, inequalities of work and wages, of prices and products, will adjust themselves, both sides conducing thereto; the Asiatic will not long work for half the price paid the American, and the American cannot always obtain twice as much as the Asiatic receives for doing the same work. The Asiatic loves luxury as well as the American, and this taste will grow. But even now money enough is spent for demoralizing gratifica- tions, as is seen by the thousands of opium dens in China, and the 1,100 tobacco shops and the 475 wine shops of Seoul, the capital city of Korea with 250,000 inhabitants. While never wholly free to foreign trade, Japan has six ports open to for- eign commerce; namely, Yokohama, Kobe, Osaka, Nagasaki, 316 THE NEW PACIFIC Hakodate, and Niigata, and thirteen other ports where for- eign trade is permitted under certain restrictions, but only under the Japanese flag. Railway development in Japan was begun by the English, who have always maintained the lead in locomotives and sup- plies, but of late the Americans are gaining ground. Rail- road iron which formerly was sent from Belgium and Ger- many is now supplied mostly by England and the United States. So with other articles in iron. Cotton-spinning machinery, of which great quantities are used, comes from England. The manufactures of Osaka, the cotton spinning and weaving centre in Japan, are assuming large proportions, supplying not only the domestic market, but finding their way all along down the Asiatic coast. In supplying paper- making, electrical, and other machinery, the United States stands first. The Japanese buy heavily of tobacco in Vir- ginia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. Butter they obtain in California; price in Japan thirty to forty cents a pound. United States trade with Japan is gradually increasing, the leading items sent thither being raw cotton, pig iron, steel rails, kerosene, manufacturing machinery, and locomotives. Export duties were abolished in Japan in 1898, the reduction of 2,500,000 yen in the revenue in consequence being more than compensated for by the increase of import receipts. The organization, public and private, known as the Japan Central Tea association, which includes the tea-growers, traders, and exporters of Japan, backed by the Japanese government, is putting forth every exertion to gain the ascendency for Jap- anese teas throughout the world, by local introduction as well as marked displays in exhibitions of products, as those at Chicago, Omaha, and Paris. If America is a menace to British commerce, Japan is a menace to American commerce. Less than three-quarters of a century ago the Washington government sent an expedition to the Japanese to deliver them from barbarism. The Wash- ington government now needs an expedition from Japan to teach it how to spend some of the superfluous wealth of the nation for the benefit of the nation. Japan sends to the United States tea, raw silks, and cocoons, some $20,000,000 worth a year, buying in return some two or three million dollars worth of coal oil, clocks, and like articles. COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 317 England will not drink Japan tea, but will sell Japan cotton, woollen, and iron goods, as much as she will buy and pay for. Profitable commercial relations between the United States and Japan have scarcely yet begun. America has done much for that country, and can do more, while the arts and indus- tries of Asia can be utilized by us to a far greater extent than has yet been done. The mineral and agricultural possibilities of Japan are great, while in some of the arts which combine utility and beauty they are superior to many other nations. Their skill in pottery and porcelain, their lacquer ware, carv- ings, wall papers, textile fabrics and embroidery command the admiration of the world. There are some 12,000 Japanese residents in Korea, with 250 mercantile firms. About 2,500 Chinese live at Seoul and Chemulpo, and there are a few American and European resi- dents, some of them doing business at Nagasaki and Chemul- po. The currency before the China-Japan war was a copper cash, 500 to the dollar; they have now the Japanese yen, and a twenty cent piece, the unit of a new fractional coinage; also a five cent nickel and a five cash copper. Banking facilities are given to Seoul and the open ports by the Dai Ichi Gingo and fifty-eight banks of Japan. Probably never before in the history of the world, not in India of the old nor in America of the new, has there been such a devouring hunger manifested for other men's lands, or such fierce rivalry for trade, as now displays itself among the nations of Europe, with regard more especially to China. All the great and small of the world, kings lords and commons, those who affect to despise trade and those who live by it, all peem to have turned shopkeepers in a large or small way, and go prowling around the world like ravenous wolves, eaten up with jealousy lest some one of the Christian brotherhood should snatch from the heathen a bone or two more than his alleged share. Since the visit of the first trading ship from the United States in 1784, friendly relations with China have been contin- uous. Between China and India of the east, and the western world of Europe, and around the Mediterranean, commerce was early established, mention being specially made in the early Chinese writings of trade with Yatsin-Kwoh, supposed to be Rome. By the middle of the fourteenth century, the 318 THE NEW PACIFIC two streams of traffic had marked out for themselves plain channels, in which commerce continued to flow until diverted by the discoveries of Vasco da Gama and Magellan. While others do our carrying; while an American steamer in a Chinese port, Hongkong being British, is a rare sight, yet American trade in China is constantly increasing. In 1893 the exports of Tientsin to the United States were 940,871 taels; in 1894, 1,751,800 taels; in 1895, 1,818,881 taels, the last amount equivalent to 2,425,000 Mexican dollars. The United States trade with China was in 1896 more than one-seventh of the whole, exports having increased 126 per cent in ten years, and being a third more than those of Germany. The cotton cloth sent to China in 1897 amounted to $7,485,000, or nearly one-half of all our exports of cotton cloth. Next to cotton is kerosene oil, the Chinese demand for which has trebled in ten years. Yet, United States trade with the Orient is not what it should be; and it is not what it will be if it is given the attention which commerce elsewhere has had by the people of the United States. Not long since our imports from Europe were largely in excess of exports; now we send there twice as much as we get from there, whereas we buy from China and Japan more than twice as much as we sell them. And this while our goods are the goods of the foremost civili- zation, while their goods are the goods of barbarism. True, Europe being civilized wants the articles of civilization; but the Asiatics are some of them on the road to common-sense, and when four hundred millions of them arrive at that happy stage American factories will have enough to do. In the latter part of 1898 China experienced more rapid and radical changes than during any previous period of her exist- ence as an empire. The opening of inland waters to foreign commerce, and the granting of railway and other concessions to foreigners on liberal terms exercised a beneficial influence against the inroads of the all-absorbing powers of Europe. The volume of United States trade in China was increasing year by year long before the war with Spain, until in 1897 it was second only to that of England, was double that of Ger- many, and represented fifteen per cent of the total of all na- tions. Cotton has displaced kerosene as the leading article from the United States, as a cheap and acceptable article of food supply will some day displace cotton. With cotton gar- COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 319 ments and cheap food, two hundred millions of human beings who never have known what it is to be decently clothed and have enough to eat can be made happy. Wheat flour is too costly for the common people. Corn as a life-sustainer is rel- atively half the cost of wheat, and by eliminating the germ, or oily portion of the grain, in its manufacture, the meal does not damage in transit. Now let an acceptable food article be found at half the cost of meal, and the millions of Asia may be fed. As it is rice remains as hitherto, giving the hungry poor of China more of vitality for the money than any thing else as yet discovered. America's influence in the Far East has been largely dis- interested, and always for the good of the Asiatics themselves, which is more than any other nation can truthfully say. We have never coveted their lands, nor forced upon them any of our products or poisons. We were the first to show to Japan the way out of the clouds of her barbaric environments, and for which we demanded no recompense, neither in the way of advantages in trade nor in the old-time harvest of souls. Neither are we hungry for advantages now. We have some rights, and these are all we desire. The United States people need new markets for their increasing manufactures, further use for their mineral and agricultural resources, and wider opportunities for their engineers and artisans, as well as oc- cupation for a large and intelligent industrial population. But all this they are satisfied they can secure without wrongfully appropriating the lands, or in any wise subverting the rights of another. They have given freely of their own lands. No fraud or diplomacy, or spheres of influence, or wrigglings and wranglings were necessary for the Dutchman, the Frenchman, or the Irishman to find his way into the United States. And there is too much of this country still unoccupied to permit the indulgence of an inordinate craving as yet for any part of China. All the European powers are eager to lend money to the Chinese government, and thus obtain a mortgage on the coun- try and an excuse for further intermeddling. Russia is an Asiatic as well as a European power, and a borrower rather than a lender, securing her looted lands in China by an ortho- dox title and then improving them. Thus Russia is now in- debted to France for $400,000,000, spent on the transsiberian 320 THE NEW PACIFIC railway, and is willing to borrow more wherever she can. All of her tropical ports, where is controlled nearly half of her foreign commerce, England opens to the people of other na- tions upon the same terms as to her own people. This policy is in direct opposition to that of the continental powers, who always seek preferential advantages, each for its own people, wherever they have been able to obtain a footing in a foreign land. Said the president in his message to congress: " In this re- lation, as showing the volume and value of our exchanges with China, and the peculiarly favorable conditions which exist for their expansion in the normal course of trade, I refer to the communication addressed to the speaker of the house of representatives by the secretary of the treasury on the 14th of last June, with its accompanying letter of the secretary of state, recommending an appropriation for a commission to study the commercial and industrial conditions in the Chinese empire and report as to the opportunities for, and obstacles to the enlargement of markets in China for the raw products and manufactures of the United States. Action was not taken thereon during the late session. I cordially urge that the rec- ommendation receive at your hands the consideration which its importance and timeliness merit. Meanwhile, there may be just ground for disquietude in view of the unrest and re- vival of the old sentiment of opposition and prejudice to alien people which pervades certain of the Chinese provinces. As in the case of the attacks upon our citizens in Scechuan and at Kutien in 1885, the United States minister has been instructed to secure the fullest measure of protection, both local and im- perial, for any menaced American interest, and to demand in case of lawless injury to persons or property, instant repara- tion applicable to the case. Warships have been stationed at Tientsin for more ready observation of the disorders which have invaded even the Chinese capital, so as to be in a position to act, should need arise, while a guard of marines has been sent to Peking to afford the minister the same measure of authoritative protection as the representatives of other nations have been constrained to employ/' " Trade follows the flag," says one. " No, it follows the price-list," says another. Both are right enough. The flag may make the price-list, though the price-list cannot always COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 321 carry the flag. Naturally, a distant dependency will hold nearer commercial relations with its own government than with another. Lord Charles Beresford advocates a trade understanding between the United States, Great Britain, Ger- many, and Japan, whose interests in China he claims are identical, for preventing dismemberment and establishing the open door and development. By an open door policy he means that treaties should stand as they are, and that no nation should have sovereign rights in China, or be allowed to ap- propriate lands or annex territory, and that all nations should have equal rights in every part of the empire in regard to trade. " What is the danger with regard to China? " he asks. " The danger with regard to China is that China herself, through her effete government, through her old-fashioned system of administration, may break up, owing to disturbances all over the country. Well, what will happen then? Those countries that have properties in China and have investments there, and have trade and commerce there, will naturally do their best to protect that trade and commerce, and for the life of me I can see nothing that can occur if there are disturb- ances in China owing to our having no army, no police, nothing that will occur, except the sphere-of-influence policy." John Barrett, late United States minister to Siam, believes that " the only permanent safeguard to the paramount American and British interests is immediate and united action by the interested governments to defend the integrity of the Chinese empire, to enforce reforms in the government, to prevent further cessions of ports and provinces, and to insist upon the open-door policy in all ports of China, including the spheres of influence claimed by Russia, Germany, and France. Half of the foreign commerce of China passes through Shanghai, the port of entry for the Yangtse country, and all the coast north of latitude 25. While the tea trade at Shanghai diminishes, the silk trade increases. Raw cotton is also largely exported, most of it going to Japan. The ex- port of matting to the United States is mounting up towards half a million rolls per annum; straw braid is falling off, as the quality is deteriorating; tin is exported from Mengtse. The United States purchases of tea at Shanghai, though still large, are on the decline, owing to excessive taxation and obsolete methods in its preparation. At the same time the exports of THE NEW PACIFIC tea from' this section to Eussia arc rather increasing than otherwise. Indeed, but for the Eussian demand, the Shanghai tea trade would show a large decline. Flour is entered free of duty, and the trade is rapidly increasing, American brands preferred. The government requirement for uniforms under new army regulations caused a demand for woollen cloth which continues to some extent. Matches are largely imported from Japan. Shanghai also receives in quantities sugar, drinking stock, ginseng, time-keepers, bags, and small articles. To the American Trading company at Shanghai regular shipments of lead are made from Puget sound. There is a growing demand in China for American drillings and sheetings. In demand likewise are American watches and clocks, food-stuffs and stoves, small-ware paper and groceries, builders' hardware, canned and dried vegetables and fruits, butter and condensed milk, wheat, corn, flour, beer, and kerosene. Goat-skins are shipped from Chinkiang to the United States and Europe. Large quantities of grain are shipped from this port; also beans and peas. Ground nuts are grown in the provinces of Honan and Kiangsu, the oil of which is used as an illuminant and for cooking. Lily flowers, from which a popular drink is made, are shipped to southern China and the Straits. Hankau now exports cotton cloth, as well as silk and tea. Japanese and Shanghai cotton yarns are sent to Kiu- kiang and other points. The two chief articles which Hongkong receives from the United States are flour and kerosene, sending in return silk piece goods, rice, clothing, opium, and tea. This being a free port, and general depot for English products on the coast of Asia, most of its merchandise enters for transshipment. Hongkong receives in round figures from China merchandise to the value of $25,000,000, and sends into China $45,000,000 worth of goods per annum. Martin in his Cycle of Cathay thus tells the story of an American financial venture in China. " Some years ago an American syndicate made its appearance with a formidable backing of capital, aiming at something like a commercial conquest. It was represented by a versatile Polish count, who by resorting to oriental methods, which come natural to Eus- sians, carried the outworks with the greatest ease. The viceroy Li, who had the initiative in such matters, was persuaded to COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 323 agree to a loan of fifty million dollars, to be employed in the establishment of a national system of banks and mints, there not being at that time a mint in the empire except for copper coin. He was to permit them, in return, to construct and run railways, to be handed over after a term of years free of cost. A preliminary contract was signed, and it looked as if China was emerging from the age of brass to have the ages of iron and of silver all at once. But the terms required to be sanc- tioned at Peking. It failed there, and the world imputed the failure to the incompetence of the agent. Never was imputa- tion more unjust. The true explanation was the alarm awa- kened among European diplomats by that startling outbreak of American enterprise. * Do you know why the count's scheme failed so signally?' eaid one of them to me. 'The German minister came to me, and the other ministers, and holding up a copy of the contract exclaimed, " There, gentle- men! see what the Americans have got. If we allow this thing to go on the Yankees will sweep the board. Then we may as well put our commissions in our pockets and quit the field.' " Nothing would do but we must go with him to the yamen to enter protest. And so that brilliant enterprise was killed. Whether the United States minister could have done any- thing to defeat this counterplot, if he had known it, is doubt- ful. But it is highly probable that the opposition would not have had time to organize if the agent had observed due se- crecy; or if instead of tarrying at Tientsin he had pushed on to Peking and taken the United States minister into his con- fidence, even without buying up a prince or two. The United States might then have had a bonanza, instead of seeing all the good things turned over to our neighbors." The Chinese importation of yarn from Japan" is assuming importance, though made of Chinese cotton which pays a duty on entering Japan, and destined to be returned to China as yarn. This state of things cannot last, as the Chinese are as well able to manufacture their own cotton as are the Japanese to do it for them, and pay duties and transportation besides. The Chinese are surely as skilful and thrifty as the Japanese, and can work for as low or a lower wage. Interprovincial trade can be almost indefinitely increased with proper transportation facilities. The great commercial entrepots and centres, as Tientsin, Chinkiang, Yangchan, Su- 324 THE NEW PACIFIC chau, and other cities, pulsate with the New Pacific life which beats upon the seaboard, but the great interior knows nothing and feels nothing. Away from the rivers and canals, where the traffic by steamers and small craft is large, the movements of men and products are restricted. But imperial railways are projected and in course of construction; imperial telegraphs are reaching far out on every side, from the capital to Man- churia and Siberia, to the seven treaty ports, to the border of Burmah, and by connections from all the principal cities of China to all the principal cities of the world. Banking and the postal service are also well begun. Besides the steamers on the Yangtse, 7,000 junks, some of them carrying 100 or 150 tons, are engaged in up-river traffic, including a multitude of tributary streams, boatmen receiving pay by the trip, and not by the week or month. Cotton can be grown cheaper in India than in China; this, with the great advantages of spin- ning by machinery, which few Chinamen as yet understand, is bringing forward Indian yarn to the detriment of Chinese cotton culture. Newchwang is a port of growing importance, owing to the export thence of native produce and Chinese productions, and the imports of foreign goods. The walled city of Mukden, the Tartar capital, situated well back in the interior, is the great Chinese emporium of furs, whose trade extends to all parts of the world. Next to furs it does a large business in grain and beans. It has many rich merchants, and the banks are important institutions. Since the Japan-China war the Koreans have prospered. Trade has increased from $3,000,000 in 1893 to $11,000,000 in 1897, owing partly to the occupation of the peninsula by Japanese troops, partly to the scarcity of rice in Japan while the harvests in Korea were good, and partly to the impulse given to progress which always follows a general shaking up of people and politics. The smuggling operations in the un- opened ports were checked by the Korean steamship lines es- tablished, proving also beneficial to the government. The imports of cotton goods and exports of gold have both in- creased. The Japanese manufactures from American raw cot- ton are in demand throughout Korea, where also the watches of Japan are sold. The United States exports to Korea ma- chinery, flour, and kerosene, besides groceries, household COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 325 utensils, and personal articles. The machinery is for mines, railroads, and agriculture. Besides the trade of the Far East countries with Asiatic treaty ports and foreign lands, there is no small traffic in junks with the non-treaty ports of China, Korea, and Japan. Says Isabella Bird Bishop, writing for England, " Our great competitor in the Korean market is Japan, and we have to deal not only with a rival within twenty hours of Korean shores, and with nearly a monopoly of the carrying trade, but with the most nimble-witted, adaptive, persevering, and push- ing people of our day. It is inevitable that British hardware and miscellaneous articles must be ousted by the products of Japanese cheaper labor, and that the Japanese will continue to supply the increasing demand for scissors, knives, matches, needles, hoes, grass knives, soap, perfumes, kerosene lamps, iron cooking pots, nails, and the like, but the loss of the trade in cotton piece goods would be a serious matter, and the possibility of it has to be faced." Korean imports for 1886 were $2,474,185; exports, $504,- 225. Imports for 1895, $8,088,213; exports, $2,481,808. Should the increase continue proportionately for the decade following, which is by no means improbable under the new regime, the imports of 1906 would be some $30,000,000; ex- ports, $12,000,000. In food supplies, Korea is for the most part self-sustaining, importing however a little wheat. Of manufactured articles the Koreans buy cottons and kerosene, Chinese silks and grass-cloths, and Japanese yarn, which they weave into cloth. The United States sends to Korea tobacco, drugs, time-keepers, and drinks. Imported goods are carried into the interior from Fusan, two-thirds of them by river and one-third by pack men and horses. The Naktong river is navigable to Sangchin, 170 miles; there is a projected Seoul- Fusan railway. The Koreans have a fancy for foreign goods, as muslins, cambrics, unbleached shirtings, and lawns. The demand for woollens is not so large, their own wadded cotton clothes suit- ing them better. The consumption of American coal oil is large, displacing as it does fish oil and rushlight. They are also partial to American matches. The Koreans export rice, beans, whales' flesh, dried fish, and hides. Since 1883, when Fusan was opened to trade, the foreign population of that city 326 THE NEW PACIFIC has increased from 1,500 to 7,000; while since 1885, when one steamer of the Japan Mail Steamship company called once in five weeks on its way to Vladivostok, the foreign trade of Fusan has risen from $386,000 to nearly $3,000,000, and the arrival of steamers is of daily occurrence. On market day, which in some places comes every five days, in the narrow streets which wind among the wattle-huts of a Korean town, are seen, displayed on mats lying on the ground, cotton cloth and thread, wooden combs, straw shoes, dried fish, and seaweed, dark colored barley sugar, tobacco pouches and pipes, cord and paper. In the villages there are no other shops than these. A large mat will hold perhaps three dollars worth of goods; but in the larger towns and cities there are many shops whose stock is worth never more than five or ten dollars. These have for sale, in addition to above, bamboo hats, glass beads, coarse pottery, candlesticks, spittoons, gog- gles, fans, inkstands, and the like. With the reorganization of the Korean government in 1894-5, on the basis of Japanese protection and independence from China, educational systems were remodelled and foreign trade assumed new proportions. On this peninsula are 12,000,- 000 independent people, all clad in cotton, and engaged for the most part in cultivating by primitive methods the rich valley lands which lie between the mountain ranges. For their rice and beans there is an unlimited demand beyond seas, and for their ever increasing cotton requirements they will learn to spin and weave the raw article, or yarn from abroad, which they now require in the form of piece goods. The market for all Korean exports except rice, that is to say beans, paper, seaweed, fish, cowhides, and ginseng, must be found in China and Japan alone; imports are from England, India, and the United States. Before the coming of Magellan there was a large trade be- tween the Philippines and China, interrupted now and then by typhoons and pirates, but on the whole profitable. This was ended for a time when Spain took possession, and by royal edict diverted traffic to the yearly galleons to Acapulco. In 1764 began direct trade with Europe via Good Hope, all goods from Manila being as ordered by the government, and carried in Spanish ships; and as if there were not impositions and restrictions enough, a monopoly of Spanish commerce in COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 327 the Far East was in 1785 bestowed on the Royal company of the Philippines. Slowly, toward the end of the eighteenth century, small concessions began to be made. An English commercial house was established at Manila in 1809, and in 1834 the monopoly of the Royal company ter- minated. Until 1842, when Cebu was opened to commerce, Manila was the only port for foreign trade in the Philippines. And although Jamboanga, Sual, Legazpi, Tacloban, and Iloilo, are also open for trade, only three, the last named with Cebu and Manila, are regarded of much importance. Manila ranks with Batavia and Calcutta as a trade centre. As the chief port of the islands, not only the products of the Philippines, but foreign merchandise flows thither in great quantities. Under Spanish misrule the imports and exports were about the same, some $16,000,000 annually, the former consisting of cotton woollen and linen goods, coal and iron, and -hardware earthenware and machinery, and the latter, besides metals, being the usual productions of the tropics. In 1897 the ag- gregate trade was a little above the average, Spain's com- merce amounting to about five million dollars; England bought to the value of $6,223,426 and sold $2,063,598; the purchases of the United States amounted to $4,383,740, sales $94,597. The Philippine sales consisted chiefly of hemp, sugar, tobacco, and cocoanuts, and the purchases were of cotton silk and woollen manufactures, machinery and metal manufactures, groceries, drugs, paper, shoes, liquors, and small goods. Japan's Philippine importations for 1897 amounted to $1,332,300, mostly in coffee, sugar, flax, and cigars, return- ing manufactures of cotton and silk, fish, beer, beans, coal, and small articles. Following the conquest, vessels registered as Spanish property were permitted to carry the flag of the United States and claim protection thereunder. The term open door, as applied to the Philippines, does not mean free trade, as the islands will have their tariff and pay the same duties on products of the United States as on those of other countries. From the interior of Luzon, and from the more distant provinces, hemp, sugar, tobacco, and wood are brought to Manila, and constitute the greater part of Philippine trade. The silk merchants are an important factor in inland com- merce. In every town, in common with other traders, they 328 THE NEW PACIFIC have their shops. The products of the country are brought to the town in baskets, and offered for sale to a great extent on ihe open street, or hawked about the place. Next to Manila, Iloilo, on the island of Panay, in the centre of the Philippine archipelago, is the largest and most im- portant town. Since it was thrown open to foreign trade by Spain several years ago, its imports of European and Chinese goods have largely increased, while exporting sugar and other island products. The retail trade of the Philippines is mostly in the hands of the Chinese, and after them come the Spaniards, or Creoles, who with the mestizos constitute the wealthy merchant class. Englishmen lead in dry goods and ship chandlery; the Swiss and Germans are importers of general merchandise, and ex- port hemp and sugar. Before the fall of Manila cotton yarns were brought from Barcelona. There is a heavy demand for American beer. The conquest of Manila seems to have created a new thirst all along the Asiatic coast, islands and mainland. As new lines of steamers were established, from Puget sound, San Francisco, and San Diego, the resources of the brewers were taxed to their full capacity. With the enthusiasm of victory every thing American became immediately popular, from beer wine and whiskey to clothing groceries and machin- ery, particularly at Hongkong and other British ports. Said an English naval officer: " I am pretty well informed as to matters in the Orient from having sailed in and out for many years, and this is why I notice these changes favorable to every- thing American. It's simply marvellous what the victories of your country have done to arouse enthusiastic friendship for you over there. It is very plain to me that by taking advantage of the changed conditions, as you certainly will, the entire business of the Orient will be practically revolutionized. The possibilities are enormous, and you have driven in an entering wedge that will surely open the way to a splendid commerce." In all the islands, in Porto Eico, Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines, business at the beginning of 1899 was in a flour- ishing condition, and rapidly increasing, though in the places where rebellion had been so lately rampant, some little time was necessary in which to recover from the effects of war. Be- fore insurrection 2,000 ships entered the ports of Cuba an- nually; the time will come when there will be 4,000, and then 8,000. COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 329 Before annexation the Hawaiian islands were importing some six millions annually, and exporting products to the value of about fourteen million dollars, most of which trade *was with the United States, and the chief article of export 'was sugar, with some coffee, pineapples, and bananas. Then and since, nearly all the requirements of the Hawaiian islands were supplied from the United States Pacific coast, general mer- chandise flour and fruit from California, flour grain and hay from Oregon, and lumber from Puget sound, sending in return sugar and tropical fruits. The islands have steamship inter- course direct with San Francisco, San Diego, Puget sound, Japan, China, and Australia. Freight rates to San Francisco $5 a ton by steamer and $3 by sailing vessels. Passage $75 and $100; steerage $25 and $30. The imports of 1897 were 76.94 per cent from the United States; 11.85 per cent from England and her colonies; and the remainder from Germany, China, and Japan in about equal proportions; of the total exports, 96 per cent was sugar, of which article, with rice, hides, wool, coffee, and fruits, 99.62 per cent went to the United States. Europe sends to the islands cement, crockery, corrugated iron, oils, paints, tin, and twine; immediate requirements may be obtained from San Francisco. Cotton goods, boots and shoes, and felt and straw hats are sent in quantities from the United States. By act of congress the maritime laws of the United States were extended over the Hawaiian islands, the interisland trade to be regulated by the laws governing internal commerce in the United States. The islands were established as one of the customs districts, with Hilo, Mahukana, and Kabiutius as sub- ports of entry, the collector's office to be at Honolulu. The articles of commerce most offensive in tropical trans- portation to the sailor are sugar, coffee, kerosene oil, and pine lumber. A vessel full of raw sugar becomes so sickening as to drive every man to the deck, day and night. Coffee is but little better, while a fortnight with pine lumber in the tropics gives the mouth a resinous taste throughout the entire voyage. Next in commercial importance to Hawaii, among the isles of midocean and the south Pacific, are Samoa and Fiji, whose people buy largely of kerosene, flour, and canned and dried fruits and fish. About one-half of the total imports of the Society islands is from the United States, and consists of all 330 THE NEW PACIFIC the grain, timber, and kerosene used, and from one-quarter to three-quarters of the salted and canned provisions, wines, oils, paints, tobacco, and cotton cloth imported. When Samoa was the rendezvous for the sperm whale fish- ery, the islands had quite a trade, but since then it has been confined mostly to the sale of its staple product copra, or dried cocoanuts, worth from $40 to $60 a ton. In the oil obtained from copra lies its chief industrial value. The Sulu islands connect the commerce of the Philippines with that of n'orth Borneo. Siam, with 8,000,000 inhabitants is larger in area than Japan, and the third independent king- dom in Asia. The city of Bangkok has 600,000 inhabitants. The people like cheap cloth of bright colors. They also buy flour, canned goods, sewing-machines, clocks, watches, and electrical machinery. The commerce of the Carolines is largely controlled by the Germans. The trade of New Caledonia is for the greater part with Australian colonies and with France. Breadstuff s go thither from the British colonies, and wines, and small manufactured articles, from France. In return New Caledonia sends mineral ores and metals to France, nickel and cobalt ores to England, and chrome ores to Australia. The island continent of Australia, whose possibilities are limitless and whose development is but just begun, should be one of the best of markets for the products of California Ore- gon! and Washington, being nearer to these states than to the eastern coast and England, and communication being easy and frequent. Ninety per cent of the trade of New Zealand is with Eng- land, and the greater part of the other one-tenth is with the United States. The exports to England consist of live cattle, frozen beef, and mutton, wool, and all kinds of farm and dairy products, including butter cheese and cereals. New Zealand sends also to the Australian colonies farm produce, particularly when crops fail from drought, which occurs fre- quently in the colonies, and has considerable trade with Sa- moa, Fiji, Tahiti, Raratonga, and Norfolk island. From the United States New Zealand obtains tobacco, kerosene, and hardware. To the colony of Victoria is sent from the United States tobacco, lumber, oil, and agricultural implements. Some wheat and flour have to be sent to New South Wales, owing to COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 331 occasional failure of crops. Lumber is brought here from Puget sound. Hence to the United States go tin, coal, wool, marsupial skins and shale. Auckland and Sydney obtain bananas and pineapples from Samoa; also limes and pine- apples from San Francisco. All foreign steamship lines have their terminus at Sydney, the commercial metropolis of Australasia. Weekly communication with London is had by vessels of the two companies, the Peninsula and Oriental, and the Orient Steamship company; first class fare 60 to 70, freight 2, 10s per ton. A monthly service to Marseilles is supplied by the Messageries Maritimes company, and month- ly to Amsterdam by the Nordeutscher Lloyds company. Be- sides these there are lines to Hongkong, San Francisco, and Vancouver, and fleets of fine vessels for the intercolonial trade. Writing in Problems of Greater Britain, in 1890, Charles Wentworth Dilke remarks: " I said in Greater Britain that in the relations of America to Australia lay the key to the future of the Pacific, and the Americanisation of Hawaii the most important group of the islands in Polynesia, and one by its central situation destined to become more and more flourishing as time goes on as well as the recent action of the United States with regard to Samoa, go to show that I was not far wrong. Germany in 1868 had hardly been heard of as a Pacific power, but even now her hold upon the islands that are mainly under German influence is rather commercial than political, and caused by the enterprise of the Hamburg houses which at the time when Greater Britain appeared, already had their branches in the western Pacific. We may possibly one day obtain by exchange New Caledonia, which lies in the very centre of the sphere of British influence in the western Pacific, or, at all events, bring about the neutralisation of the group with stipulations against differential duties, and that cessa- tion of transportation for which we have successfully bar- gained with the Germans. Australia and New Zealand and Fiji form neighbours too powerful for the continued inde- pendence of the French settlement in their midst, unless it should become wholly harmless, after the manner in which the French settlements in the neighbourhood of Calcutta and Madras and in other parts of India have been brought within the British Indian system. While at one end of the Malay archipelago we have annexed south-eastern New Guinea, at 332 THE NEW PACIFIC the other end we have obtained a dominant position in the northern portion of the island of Borneo. The first of the modern charters to great trading companies for the occupa- tion of territorial dominions, as I have pointed out, was that granted by Mr. Gladstone's second administration to the British North Borneo company in the immediate neighbour- hood of our island colony of Labuan. More recently we have obtained protectorates over Brunei and Sarawak, chiefly for the purpose of preventing the possibility of the interference of any foreign power in those countries, which lie close to our great commercial settlement of Singapore, and upon the track of our Australian trade through Torres straits. In the Malay peninsula, off which Borneo lies, we have also recently under- taken the protectorate already, in fact, virtually ours before that time of Johore and other of the Malay states. The western states, which face India and lie upon our track of trade, have long been within our influence; but our direct action in the north-eastern Malay country is more recent. The extraordinary development of trade at Singapore is a matter rather for statisticians than for me, except as regards mere mention; but I may point out the not altogether encour- aging fact that the increase appears to be with foreign coun- tries, and with our colonies and dependencies rather than with ourselves. Our great success in the Malay peninsula has lain in enlisting upon our side the warm and even enthusiastic cooperation of the Chinese. We may congratulate ourselves upon the fact that, while the French have failed to sufficiently conciliate the Chinese race to induce them to confer pros- perity upon the French colonies in Further India, we on the contrary have tempted the Chinese to settle the Malay penin- sula now for many generations. I have seen Chinese magis- trates at Penang whose ancestors have been magistrates there since immediately after the foundation of our settlement one hundred and five years ago, and who have completely identi- fied themselves with the interest of Great Britain. The latest of the Malay states to come within the circle of our protection has been Pahang, which will follow Perak and the others In the growth of cultivation and of trade. In no part of the world can we point to more obvious results from good govern- ment than throughout the Malay peninsula, where England in fact presides over a federation of Malay princes to whom we COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 333 have taught the arts of success, but to whose former subjects we have added a vast immigrant population of Chinese. In upper Burmah, recently annexed to India, the Chinese are pushing their way at every centre of activity. They have flowed into the country since our troops have occupied it, and many of them have married Burmese women, who much pre- fer to be kept in plenty by the Chinamen to being drudges of the men of their own race. The future of the Burmese prov- inces of India, as that of Malaya, lies in the development of great natural mineral and agricultural wealth by patient Chinese labor." And at a later date John D. Connolly, formerly United States consul to New Zealand, remarks: " There is a wide field in Australasia at present if we only take advantage of it. The sentiment of the people toward America and American products and manufactures is as genuine and kindly as it can possibly be. I take it to be our duty to cultivate and encour- age that generous friendship. We are losing trade every day owing to the deficient size and slowness of our present line of communication. The vessels are neither large enough nor fast enough. I am informed that freight has to be shut out here nearly every trip. This should not be so. I am told that only recently so much freight for the colonies had been shut out that the merchants had to charter a sailing vessel to take the surplus cargo to Sydney, New South Wales. This only feeds the Vancouver line and injures this port." Trade with the Pacific coast of South America can be greatly increased. A revival in mining, which industry has been somewhat neglected, would call for mining machinery, in the manufacture of which California has become famous. Agricultural implements will likewise be in demand, besides the many other articles in the manufacture of which the United States now competes successfully with Europe. Thus far, however, our showing is not as good as it should be. In South America, England France and Germany have the largest part of the trade, and for obvious reasons. Millions of British money have been spent in the development of the Plate river region, through which means the British have taken care to secure trade. The British also control the for- eign shipping and banking trade of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. The Frenchman sells cheap goods, while the Ger- 33-i THE NEW PACIFIC man studies the market untiringly, and adapts his business to the necessities of the country. As in Mexico, American mer- chants and manufacturers have not yet applied the requisite energy and skill for successful competition with Europeans in South America. Chili imports about fifty million dollars worth per annum of sugar, cattle, coal, cotton and woollen goods t groceries, steel goods, and lumber, and exports in nitrate, copper, silver, gold, wheat, barley, iodine, hides, and other articles to the value in round numbers of sixty million dollars a year. The export of nitrate amounts to one million tons, valued at seven million dollars, the latter amount including the export duty. The cattle for Chili come from Argentina, and raw sugar from Peru. Great Britain supplies textiles in the form of shirt- ings, drills, prints, baize, and other cloths, woollen as well as cotton; also bar and sheet steel and tin plates; coal, galvan- ized bar and pig iron, and linseed oil; also clothing, shoes, engines, and machinery, instruments and implements for the arts and industries, railway and shipping supplies, cotton and linen thread, and many other articles, particularly those for domestic use. Germany takes the lead in piece goods, cotton and woollen dress goods, telegraph supplies, nitrate refining machinery, small wares, wire, and wall-paper. The United States is first in coal oil, iron nails, and agricultural imple- ments. Spain supplies Chili with cigars, Germany with cigarette and cheap printing paper, pianos, and toys, and Peru with silver bullion. Except iodine and nitrate of soda, all of the staple exports of Chili are produced in the United States. Chili has two subsidized lines of coast steamers, and her European as well as Pacific trade is rapidly growing. There is here as well as in Peru a good field for active and intelligent industry with capital. At present the people confine their purchases in the main to what they have been accustomed, but with an enlargement of ideas they will become larger con- sumers. Germany imports from Chili about $9,000,000 an- nually, nearly half of which is nitrate for fertilizing exhausted lands. Next in importance are sole-leather, hides, gold, and copper. In return Germany gives woollen and cotton goods, iron articles, and sugar. Trade opportunities with Peru are among the best on the South American coast. Callao obtains from Chili charcoal COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 335 and lumber, rice from India, Asiatic products from China and the Philippine islands, and coal from Australia. The Germans who are in Bolivia speak Spanish fluently, are truthful and reliable, study the necessities of the country, and so command the trade. Residence among the people being one of the essentials of success, here as elsewhere in Spanish America, the Germans have the advantage of the business men of the United States, who find too many ad- vantages at home to justify them in leaving it in large num- bers for a life among the half-civilized societies of South America, where there are no spots set apart for foreign col- onies and spheres of influence as in China. The United States stands next to England in exports to Ecuador, the lead- ing articles being kerosene, flour, lard, barbed wire, and lum- ber, the last named being also sent to the Falkland islands via England. The San Francisco exporters of lumber, wine, fruit, wheat, and flour, have lately had cause to complain of Ecuador's discriminating against California in favor of Chili, as in violation of treaty with the United States. The people of Colombia want their cotton prints 30 yards long, 22 inches wide, and packed in bales of 60 pieces each, and not more than two pieces of one pattern. This shows how carefully both merchant and customer consider economy in cutting and making the gown, and naturally they buy from the manufacturer who serves their whims. Again, all goods for the interior must be in strong water-proof packages of 125 pounds each, ready to be laid upon the back of a mule when it comes from the ship. The two leading articles of export from Colon are mangan- ese and bananas, while Panama sends forth mother-of-pearl shells and ivory nuts. The ports of Panama, Colon, and Boca del Toro, receive flour and lumber from the United States, and mixed manufactures from every quarter of the earth. Branch houses control the trade in all these tropical coun- tries. Fairs are held three times a year at Magangue, on the Magdalena river, where from ten to fifteen thousand persons from every part of the republic meet and exchange commodi- ties. Netherland America now obtains from Mexico some of the manufactured articles formerly brought from Europe and the United States, but the trade of the latter is proportionately 336 THE NEW PACIFIC larger than in Mexico, and susceptible of increase. Guate- mala and Honduras could use more cotton and woollen goods, drugs, and groceries, while Costa Eica purchases from the United States cotton goods, hardware, galvanized iron arti- cles and earthenAvare, based on competitive German prices. Merchandise for Honduras, from New York and Liverpool as well as from San Francisco, enters for the most part from the Pacific side through the port of Amapala. Goods are brought from Atlantic ports via Cape Horn and across the Panama isthmus, the freight from Liverpool and Hamburg being a little less than from New York. The imports of Hon- duras are largely from the United States, and consist of cotton cloths and machinery from the east, and flour lumber and wine from the west coast. Nicaragua has two ports of entry on the Pacific, Corinto and San Juan del Norte. Nearly all the exports, consisting of hides, tuna, and indiarubber, go to the United States. Nicaragua imports mostly from the United States flour, kero- sene, iron articles, meats, groceries, vegetables, and beer wines and liquors. Not only may we expect a large increase in our Asiatic trade, but the commerce of the Central and South American republics may be cultivated with profit. We might furnish a much larger proportion of their imports with profit to them and to us. Says Mr Stuyvesant Fish, " The 36,000,000 of people living in the ten South American repub- lics buy goods from other countries to the value of $376,- 000,000 annually, of which we sell them only $33,000,000. The five Central American states, with a population of 3,500,000, take foreign goods to the amount of $23,000,000 annually, of which we sell them only $5,320,000. Mexico, our neighbor, with rail connection at several places on our border, with a population of 13,000,000, buys abroad to the extent of $42,000,000, but we sell its people only $21,000,000. The West Indies, not including Cuba or Porto Eico, buy $45,000,000 worth of goods in foreign countries, of which we provide $15,000,000. The startling fact is that we buy yearly from the South American countries $67,000,000 more than they buy of us; in other words, they sell us their products and with our money make purchases in Europe." While the people of the United States buy more from Mexico than Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC 337 combined, Mexico buys less from the United States than from these countries, whose merchants have held the trade so long that it is difficult to wrest it from them. They know the people, speak their language, and live among them; they study their wants, know the kind of goods to offer and in what size packages. They know how to sell so as to make a profit, and how to collect without offending. The United States obtain from Mexico coffee, tobacco, indiarubber, guns, textile grasses, fruits, hides, and dyewoods, furnishing in return agricultural implements, and mining and other machinery. Goods should be specially manufactured for Mexico, in the United States as in Europe, and put up in attractive packages of the proper size, with brilliant labels to catch the eye. The republics of America should stand in with one an- other, in trade as in political matters. Were the American republic in China there would be no dismemberment of that empire by the powers of Europe; and were there no United States in America those same European powers would soon have their evil eye on the weak and factious parts now dom- inated by the mixed Spanish and Indian populations, even as the French Napoleon and the Austrian Maximilian once had their eye on Mexico. CHAPTER XIII A GLANCE BACKWARD QUITE a contrast between Pacific commerce of the present day and traffic here fifty or a hundred years ago; but not greater than will be the difference between the present and a hundred years hence. A glance backward sometimes is as beneficial as a glance forward, for in comparing the present with the past are we best enabled to form some reasonable idea of what we may expect in the future. The primary motive attending all discovery was trade, bnt trade like proselyting is of different kinds. The first comers to America were no more particular about giving fair values to the natives of America than are the continental govern- ments to-day in their dealings with Asia and Africa; a few trinkets, glass beads and the like, a little religion consisting of talk and mummery, and all the gold within reach was the price, which if not freely given was taken by force. Hand in hand went forth robbery and religion then as now; let any one show if he can the fundamental difference in the Euro- pean conquest of America and the European conquest of China. Trade comes to mankind like respiration, unconsciously. We value less our own than another's belongings; and so the Indian would give ten otter skins for a red handkerchief, ten of which were not worth one otter skin. Traders and ship- masters used to regard it wrong in the unsophisticated savage to steal from them, but civilization never seemed to consider it wrong to steal from savages; and at the present day, in lieu of the savage pure and simple, as the naked wild man in primeval forest is becoming scarce, civilized or half civilized nations will do for European lootings if the lands are broad and the government weak. Long before ever a white man saw the Pacific, before the 338 A GLANCE BACKWARD 339 times of Polo and Mandeville, of Balboa and Magellan, trade was brisk all around this great ocean. There was commerce in ships between China and Japan, between China and the Philippines, between all the Asiatic isles and mainland shores, besides an inland commerce along the river courses and mountain paths, of the magnitude of which we can have little conception at the present day. Nor was this shore and inland traffic confined to Asia. On the American side it was the same; not so extensive, perhaps, but richer, more important, and more extensive than we ever shall know. Proof lies in what the conquerors saw, and in the writings of native his- torians. The balsas of the Peruvians were not so venture- some as the junks of the Japanese, whose wrecks have been found on the American shore as far south as California, but they plied the coast far and near, and visited such islands as were within their reach. It was so with the Aztecs in Mexico, and even with the wilder tribes of the north; they were all eager to interchange commodities, and besides the coast com- merce their dealings extended far into the interior. The Manila trade to Acapulco was confined by Spain within the narrowest limits, not unlike that of the registered ships from Cadiz to the West Indies. The crown furnished the ships, and paid the officers and crews. " The tunnage " says Richard Walter " is divided into a certain number of bales, all of the same size. These are distributed among the con- vents at Manila, but principally to the Jesuits, as a donation, to support their missions for the propagation of the catholic faith; and the convents have hereby a right to embark such a quantity of goods on board the Manila ship as the tunnage of their bales amounts to. Or if they chuse not to be con- cerned in trade themselves, they have the power of selling this privilege to others. Nor is it uncommon when the mer- chant to whom they sell their share is unprovided of a stock, for the convents to lend him considerable sums of money on bottomry." It is strange that men as avaricious as the sovereigns of Spain, or their ministers, should not have seen how this sys- tem worked against them. The Chinese silks were sold throughout America, as well as in Spain, cheaper than the silks of Spain, to the utter ruin eventually of the silk manu- facturers of Valencia. In like manner European linens were 340 THE NEW PACIFIC largely thrown out of the American markets by these cheap Chinese silks, and the cottons from the Coromandel coast, thus rendering Mexico and Peru less dependent on Spain for their staple commodities than this grandmother of colonies liked them to be; and all for the enrichment of the Jesuits, and of the merchants and officials directly interested in the trade. In fact, efforts were occasionally made to have this system abolished, but in every instance the Jesuits proved too powerful for their antagonists. The round trip occupied the greater part of the year, sail- ing from Manila in July, and reaching Acapulco in Decem- ber or January; and sailing from Acapulco in March and arriving at Manila in June. Sometimes two ships sailed in company, and there were always reserve vessels at either end of the route in case of accidents. Some of these ships were quite large; one of them it is stated carried a crew of 1,200 men. Usually, however, they were from 800 to 2,000 tons burden, and carried crews of from 350 to 600 men, and forty or fifty guns. Being king's ships, the captain was called general, and carried the royal standard of Spain at the main top-gallant mast. Although the value of the annual cargo was limited by royal edict to $600,000 in value, it usually so far exceeded this sum as to bring the returns up to $3,000,000. Suppose the goods to. have been sold at Acapulco at three times their cost at Manila, which is not an unreasonable supposition when we consider the high duties, royalties, freight, commissions, and profits, the value of the cargo out from Manila would then be $1,000,000, which is not far from correct. On clearing the islands the eastward bound ships sail north- ward to latitude 30, or beyond, where they meet the westerly monsoon, which carries them straight to the coast of Cali- fornia. The return cargo, aside from the silver for which the Manila goods were sold, amounts to little, some cochineal, American sweetmeats, European millinery for the women of Manila, and Spanish wines, the last mostly for the use of the priests for alleged sacramental purposes. On leaving port, the vessel bound from Acapulco for Manila steers southward to latitude 14 or 13, and thence straight for the Ladrones. Thus as before remarked these Spaniards seem to have sailed entirely around the Hawaiian islands every year for 150 years without seeing them. A GLANCE BACKWARD 341 The time usually occupied was six months for the eastward bound voyage, and three months for the return. Extreme caution in the navigation was exercised or affected, owing to the great riches on board, lying by unnecessarily, and rarely carrying a main-sail at night. Minute orders were issued by royal edict as to the navigation, the exact line of sailing both in going and returning, as well as to the quantity, kind, and disposition of the goods carried. On nearing the California coast, the Manila ship watched eagerly for a float- ing sea plant, which the Spaniards called porra, on seeing which they bent their course southward before sighting the shore. As for water and fresh food for a six-months' continuous voyage, the galleons had their own way of meeting the emer- gencies. The latter, indeed, they met only by endurance; they had no fresh food, and consequently were seldom with- out scurvy on board. Water was carried not in casks but in earthen jars, with which every available space on ship board was stored, not only between decks, but on deck, even the rigging being hung full of them, so that a Manila ship on embarkation was a queer looking craft. All that could be carried in this way, however, would of course be far from sufficient for 500 or 1,000 men for six months, but for the rest they must depend upon the rain, which they say in lati- tude 30 never once failed them, as water enough was caught every voyage to refill the jars several times. For a century or more the Portuguese derived no incon- siderable advantage on this " other side of the world " from the spiritual patent of Pope Alexander VI, regarded to a cer- tain extent valid by all the European powers. On the shores of China the Portuguese were at first well received, until their impositions drove the Asiatics to retaliation. In due time the Dutch were upon them, and then the ascendency was theirs, but only in their turn later to war on the Chinese. In regard to the China trade of this early epoch, a Hollander of 250 years ago writes: " The long residence of the Portuguese among the Chinese has made them perfectly acquainted with the merchandise of the country, and with the prices; they know better than other Europeans how to choose or procure to be fabricated by the Chinese the articles they want, whether for Japan, for the Indies, or for Portugal, as well 342 THE NEW PACIFIC with respect to fineness and size as to patterns in figures. But the fortifications they have erected have caused suspicions that they are contriving to act the same part in China as they have done in Malacca and other parts of India; and this has instigated the Chinese governors and mandarins to increase exactions on them, to cross them on many occasions, and to make them consume their means in expenses, so as nearly to produce a stoppage of all trade between them." Trade between China and Japan was once limited to ten Chinese junks a year, and all those must enter and discharge at one port, namely, that of Chapu, near Shanghai. And none but Chinese junks were allowed to engage in this busi- ness, hence Japanese junks were built more for local and coast trade. These Chinese junks carried to Japan sugar, spices, dyes, and drugs, and brought away copper, lacquered ware, dried fish, and whale oil. Even to this day few furs are worn in Japan, winter garments there being of cloth padded with wool. In China, however, rich furs please the rich, while even the poor wear sheepskin and like coarse pelts. While the Manila trade with Mexico was thus continuing its course through the centuries, the Spaniards were pushing their way from the capital of New Spain in every direction for trade and occupation. Following the more pretentious military or maritime expeditions went the missionaries, 'attended by a few soldiers, and planted establishments in Texas, Durango, and Lower and Upper California. These in time became trading posts, where were exchanged for European or Mexican goods the products which by the labor of the natives the missionaries were enabled to raise. Following the exploration of the California coast by Viz- caino in 1602, many projects were discussed, but little of importance arose prior to the expeditions by sea and land which resulted in the founding by Junipero Serra of a line of missions from San Diego to San Francisco bay, and bring- ing those two ports into commercial prominence. In the north, the Montreal fur traders had found their way across the moun- tains, and had established trading posts on all the principal streams, making their headquarters first at Astoria, where the .Northwest company encountered the Astor expeditions, one of which had made its way round Cape Horn to the mouth of the Columbia river, where it was joined by the Astor over- A GLANCE BACKWAED 343 land expedition, which had followed the track of Lewis and Clark up the Missouri and down the Columbia. The Astor enterprise resulting in failure, and the Hudson's Bay company succeeding by purchase to the property and rights of the Northwest Fur company, a metropolitan post was established at Vancouver, on the Columbia, and later removed to Vic- toria. United States commercial intercourse with the eastern shores of Asia began in earnest upon the conclusion of peace with Great Britain, following the revolutionary war. Up to this time Chinese tea, such as that which had caused the trouble in Boston harbor, had been brought to America in English ships. Our trade with China began with the ex- change of ginseng for tea, and soon extended to cotton and crockery. In 1784 the Empress, Captain Green, carried to Canton as supercargo Samuel Shaw, who returned in the Massachusetts, and was United States consul in China from 1790 to 1794. In 1785 an Englishman, James Hanna, sailed in a small brig from Canton to Nootka sound to trade old iron and coarse cloth for furs, which he successfully accomplished. To the same place the same year went from London the vessels of the King George's Sound company, under exclusive license granted them by the South Sea company, the furs thus ob- tained being exchanged for tea at Canton by special per- mission of the East India company. During this epoch of discovery and trade, vessels of different nationalities found their way to the Northwest coast, as those of Cook, Van- couver, La Perouse, Hears, Portlock and Dixon, and Ken- drick and Gray, the last named being the first to enter the mouth of the Columbia river, and the first to carry the flag of the United States round the world. The old whaling industry of Salem and New Bedford with arctic Alaska and Siberia is for the most part a thing of the past. The voyage lasted usually two or three years, the ships wintering at Honolulu, though whalers in Central Pacific waters used the harbors of San Diego and San Francisco, Sausalito being a favorite anchorage. It was a profitable business as a rule, though not altogether a pleasant one, living in the constant stench of oil and blubber in a vessel of 300 or 600 tons, subject meanwhile to the constant dangers of the 12 344 THE NEW PACIFIC deep. Whalers endeavored to include among their supplies BO far as possible live animals, pigs, and chickens, as well as vegetables and fruit. The natives of the arctic coast buy whale-boats from the ships and do quite a business on their own account. The primitive method was to fasten inflated whole seal-skins to the harpoon line, and so float the beast. But bombs shot from a gun after the iron is made fast to the whale, and exploding inside the body, have superseded the method which made of whaling royal sport, degrading it to mere butchery. The wages of the men are on a percentage basis, graded from the captain, who has from one-eighth to one-sixteenth of the cargo, to the steerage boy who is glad to get a two-hundredth. On a sand-spit projecting from Cape Prince of Wales, at the gateway of the Arctic, was a settlement of aboriginal buccaneers, or pirates, who were scarcely as successful among the whalers as were the West India free booters in their deal- ings with the Spaniards. In 1878 several vessels were robbed, and the natives were having it their own way, until twenty warriors in three canoes boarded the brig William H. Allen, George Gilley captain, and undertook to capture the ship, but were all put to death, with the loss of one sailor killed and two wounded. Every now and then in the. world's history a city or a town, a little seaport perhaps, becomes inspired, and the genius of commerce or manufactures, or it may be of art or literature bursts forth unexpectedly, and from no other apparent cause than that it is present and must have vent; just as genius in the individual man must find expression. Why were Venice and Holland so much greater maritime nations than their neighbors? Not altogether as some would say because they were born of the sea, and must conquer it or die. Some others in their place would have died. How was it that Salem and New Bedford, more than other towns on the coast of New England achieved supremacy in the Pacific? This is what George Bachelor says of it: " The foreign commerce which sprang up in the last century in Salem was the cause of a wonderful intellectual and moral stimulus, not yet spent. After a century of comparative quiet, the citizens of this little town were suddenly dispersed to every part of the oriental world, and to every nook of barbarism which had a A GLANCE BACKWARD 345 market and a shore. The borders of the commercial world received sudden enlargement, and the boundaries of the intel- lectual world underwent a similar expansion. This reward of enterprise might be the discovery of an island in which wild pepper enough to load a ship might be had almost for the asking, or of forests where precious gums had no com- mercial value, or spice islands, unvisited and unvexed by civilization. Every ship-master and every mariner returning on a richly loaded ship was the owner of valuable knowledge. In those days crews were made up of Salem boys, every one of whom expected to become an East India merchant. When a captain was asked at Manila how he contrived to find his way in the teeth of a northeast monsoon by mere dead- reckoning, he replied that he had a crew of twelve men, any of whom could take a lunar observation as well, for all prac- tical purposes, as Sir Isaac Newton himself. Rival mer- chants sometimes drove the work of preparation night and day, when virgin markets had favors to be won, and ships which set out for unknown ports were watched when they slipped their cables and sailed away by night, and dogged for months on the high seas, in the hope of discovering the secret, well kept by the owner and crew. Every man on board was allowed a certain space for his own little venture. People in other pursuits, not excepting the merchant's min- ister, intrusted their savings to the supercargo, and watched eagerly the result of their adventure. This great mental ac- tivity, the profuse stores of knowledge brought by every ship's crew and distributed, together with India shawls, blue china, and unheard of curiosities from every savage shore, gave the community a rare alertness of intellect." English is the commercial language of the world, and is spoken in all the free ports of Asia, and in all the larger mer- cantile and manufacturing houses of Spanish America. In the early New England trade with the Pacific, every sailor was trained to become a ship-master. He was allowed free freight to the amount of 800 pounds for goods to trade on his own account, or given a percentage on the profits of the voyage. In Cleveland's Voyages of a Merchant Navigator, it is writ- ten: " Salem ships led the way round the cape of Good Hope to the Isle of France, India, and China. They were the first 346 THE NEW PACIFIC to display the American flag and open trade at Calcutta, Bombay, Sumatra, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Australia, Batavia, Mocha, and St Petersburg. The adventures of her brave mar- iners in unknown seas, their encounters with pirates and sav- age tribes, their hair-breadth escapes, their tales of imprison- ment and suffering in the prisons of France, Spain, and South America, would make a story which could not be sur- passed in romantic and pathetic interest." With Captain Cook in his last voyage, as corporal of marines, was John Ledyard, who wrote a narrative of what he saw, which was published at Hartford, Connecticut. The New Zealanders he found to be an athletic people, living in a temperate climate, and possessed of warm hearts and tender sensibilities, with an eager appetite for human flesh, while the blood of enemies was their most delightful drink. In fact it was afterward discovered that cannibalism was com- mon throughout all the islands and the eastern shore-line of the Pacific. An English sailor here fell in love with a native beauty, and to remain with her he deserted his ship when about to sail, but was captured and brought on board. It was during this voyage that John Ledyard conceived the idea of setting in motion those commercial currents which led to a subsequent extensive traffic, namely, the purchase of furs with trinkets on the Northwest coast and Alaska, to be ex- changed in China for tea and silks for the home market. This traffic, and the north Pacific whale fisheries, made New England comparatively rich long before the buzzing of spin- dles set in. Says this traveller in his narrative, writing at Nootka sound in 1777, " The light in which this country will appear to most advantage respects the variety of the animals and the richness of their furs. They have foxes, sables, hares, marmosets, ermines, weazles, bears, wolves, deer, moose, dogs, otters, beavers, and a species of weazle called the glut- ton. The skin of this animal was sold at Kamchatka, a Russian factory on the Asiatic coast, for sixty rubles, which is near twelve guineas, and had it been sold in China it would have been worth thirty guineas. We purchased while here about 1,500 beaver, besides other skins, but took none but the best, having no thoughts at that time of using them to any other advantage than converting them to the purposes of clothing; but it afterwards happened that skins which did A (J LANCE BACKWARD 347 not cost the purchaser six pence sterling sold in China for one hundred dollars. Neither did we purchase a quarter part of the beaver and other fur skins we might have done, and most certainly should have done, had we known of meeting the opportunity of disposing of them to such astonishing profit." John Ledyard was regarded by many men of his day as visionary, and by some as of unsound mind. Such is often the case when one leaves conventional paths, or dares to have ideas and opinions out of the common. As the war for inde- pendence came to a close his active brain was full of projects, most of them in the form of mercantile adventure in the Pa- cific. He had experience but no money. He sought to in- terest merchants and shipping-men in a trading expedition to the Northwest coast. He would himself ship in any capacity, from captain to common sailor. He knew where dimes could be turned into dollars, and how to do it. No such adventure had at that time been attempted, either in America or Europe, though later they were common enough. He first applied to the New York merchants, but they thought his scheme wild. At Philadelphia he succeeded in gaining the attention of Robert Morris, who promised the outfit for a voyage. Unable to find in Philadelphia a suitable vessel, Ledyard went to Boston and New London to buy one, but met with no better success. A year passed by in desultory efforts, and Morris finally withdrew from the project. Ledyard sought to interest others, but the very brilliancy of his projects defeated his efforts. Like the man who could not sell good sovereigns for a shilling, he proposed to do more than he could convince people was possible. Yet what he said was true, and success as certain as in ordinary business; load ships with Indian goods, establish forts and factories on the American coast, and go to China for return cargo. That and more was successfully done two or three decades later. Much cast down by his failures in America, Ledyard went to Europe, where he learned that a Russian ship had been sent into the Pacific, and a successful voyage had been made thither by a vessel of the Hudson's Bay company. Under the auspices of the French king, Ledyard was promised a vessel of 400 tons, but failed to obtain it. At Paris he found a warm friend and advocate in Mr Jefferson, the American 348 THE NEW PACIFIC minister. He also became well acquainted with the marquis Lafayette, Paul Jones, and others. Jones became greatly interested in the Pacific project, and even advanced money for supplies, but finally gave it up. Ledyard then went to Holland, and England, and finally, one flattering vision after another vanishing in air, he became a wanderer over the earth, and in 1788 died in Egypt at the age of thirty-eight years. Never a sailor, whether common or uncommon, whether simple Jack Tar or admiral, or other captain or commander, made a voyage by sea and wrote a book so small which says so much and of such importance, and of such present and last- ing value to commerce, particularly in the Pacific, as the author of Two Years before the Mast, Eichard H. Dana, a Harvard undergraduate, who in 1834 sailed in the trading brig Pilgrim, from Boston for the west coast of America. Rounding Cape Horn to Juan Fernandez island, where they stopped for water, the traders thereafter saw neither ship nor land until they reached California, touching first at Santa Barbara, and then at Monterey, San Francisco, and San Diego. At Santa Barbara, one story adobe houses with red-tile roofs constituted the town, in the centre of which stood the presidio, or fort, and off toward the mountains was the mission. All of these mission towns were much alike, a bunch of adobe houses with the presidio in the centre, or the presidio surrounded by dwelling houses; the mission was always some distance away, so that the priests and neophytes should not be disturbed by the soldiers and towns people. Monterey, the capital, then made as good an appearance as any of the coast towns, four lines of one-story plastered houses surrounding a square, in which were six or eight cannon. The cargo of the Pilgrim consisted of groceries, drygoods, and liquors, the last sold only by the cask, crockery, hard- ware, and tin utensils; jewelry and furniture; a complete general merchandise store, " in fact, every thing that can be imagined, from Chinese fire works to English cart-wheels, of which we had a dozen pairs with their iron rims on." Sam- ples were spread out in the steerage, which was fitted up as a trade-room, and with the supercargo's clerk as store-keeper, business began. The boats of the traders plied constantly A GLANCE BACKWARD 349 between ship and shore, carrying customers, the Californians having no boats of their own. These goods were sold at about 300 per cent advance on Boston prices, and paid for in silver, or hides at two dollars each, and tallow. Silver coin was plentiful, particularly Mexican dollars and half-dollars. To a limited extent there were here for sale furs, brought in from over the sierra by American trappers, who usually spent the proceeds of their hunt on the fair senoritas before returning to the interior. The people were averse to work, to do any thing in fact that could not be done on horseback, like stock-raising. Bull-baiting and cock-fighting they en- joyed, also gambling and fandangoes. Hides were loaded from ships in small boats, as there were no wharves. A ship carried from 15,000 to 40,000 hides. There were several other vessels on the coast, English and American, engaged in the same trade, between which there was some competition. Many of these traders made their rendezvous at the Hawaiian, islands, of whose natives their crew was often largely com- posed. San Diego was the depot for all the vessels engaged in this trade on the California coast. The situation was con- venient, and the harbor safe. Every shipping company had its warehouse there, for storing and packing goods, coming and going. " For landing and taking on board hides " says Dana, " San Diego is decidedly the best place in California. The harbor is small and land-locked; there is no surf; the vessels lie within a cable's length of the beach; and the beach itself is smooth hard sand, without rocks or stones." Along the coast, except at San Diego and San Francisco, loading and unloading was done in the surf. In bringing off the hides from the shore, two men with their trousers rolled up stood on either side of the small boat, holding it in position at a point where every wave would float it. " The others were running from the boat to the bank, upon which out of the reach of the water, was a pile of dry bullock's hides, nearly as stiff as boards. These they took upon their backs, one or two at a time, and carried them down to the boat, where one of their number stowed them away. " ' Well, Dana,' said the second mate to me, * this does not look much like Cambridge college, does it? This is what I call head work.' " At San Juan Capistrano another method was employed to 350 THE NEW PACIFIC get the hides from the ox-carts to the small boats. They were hauled to the top of a bluff overlooking the sea, and 400 feet above it. "Down this height, one at a time, we pitched the hides, throwing them as far out into the air as we could; and as they were all large, stiff, and doubled, like the cover of a book, the wind took them, and they swayed and eddied about, plunging and rising in the air like a kite when it has broken its string. As it was low tide there was no dan- ger of their falling into the water, and as fast as they came to ground the men below picked them up, and taking them on their heads walked off with them to the boat. It was really a picturesque sight; the great height, the scaling of the hides, and the continual walking to and fro of the men, who looked like mites on the beach." Kanakas, the Hawaiian islanders were called on the Pacific American coast, where they were employed in early times in the mines and on farms, as well as about the water in boats and on the beach. They were lazy and thriftless, far below the Chinese in skill and application. Dana gives a picture of some he saw at San 'Diego in 1835, " A Eussian discovery- ship, which had been in this port a few years before, had built a large oven for baking bread, and went away, leaving it standing. This, the Sandwich islanders took possession of, and had kept ever since undisturbed. It was big enough to hold six or eight men, that is, it was as large as a ship's forecastle; had a door at the side, and a venthole at the top. They covered it with Oahu mats, for a carpet; stopped up the vent-hole in bad weather, and made it their headquarters. It was now inhabited by as many as a dozen or twenty men, who lived there in complete idleness, drinking, playing cards, and carousing in every way. They bought a bullock once a week, which kept them in meat, and one of them went up to the town every day to get fruit liquor and provisions. Besides this, they had bought a cask of shipbread, and a barrel of flour from the Lagoda, before she sailed. There they lived, having a grand time and caring for nobody. The captain was anxious to get three or four of them to come on board the Pilgrim, as we were so much diminished in numbers; and went up to the oven, and spent an hour or two trying to negotiate with them. One of them, a finely built, active, strong, and intelligent fellow, who was a sort of king among A GLANCE BACKWARD 351 them, acted as spokesman. He was called Mannini, or rather, out of compliment to his known importance and influence, Mister Mannini, and was known all over California. Through him, the captain offered them fifteen dollars a month, and one month's pay in advance; but it was like throwing pearls be- fore swine, or rather carrying coals to Newcastle. So long as they had money, they would not work for fifty dollars a month, and when their money was gone, they would work for ten. " ' What do you do here, Mr Mannini? ' said the captain. " ' Oh, we play cards, get drunk, smoke, do anything we're a mind to.' " ' Don't you want to come aboard and work? ' "'Aole! aole make make makou i ka hana. Now, got plenty money; no good work. Mamule, money pau all gone. Ah! very good, work! maikai, hana hana nui.' " ' But you'll spend all your money in this way,' said the captain. "'Aye! me know that. By-'em-by money pau all gone; then Kanaka work plenty.' " This was a hopeless case, and the captain left them, to wait patiently until their money was gone." An ancient islander at San Diego, whose front teeth had been knocked out by his parents by way of lamentations over the death of King Kamehameha I, caused much amusement. " We used to tell him ", Dana says, " that he ate Captain Cook, and lost his teeth in that way." " ' Aole, no! Me no eat Captain Cook. Me pikinini, small, so high, no more! My father see Captain Cook; me, no.' " ' Yes, your people eat Captain Cook.' " t No, New Zealand Kanaka eat white man; Sandwich island Kanaka, no. Sandwich island Kanaka ua like pu na haole, all'e same a' you.' " Their customs and manner of treating one another, show a simple, primitive generosity, which is truly delightful; and which is often a reproach to our own people. Whatever one has they all have. Money, food, clothes, they share wth one another; even to the last piece of tobacco to put in their pipes. I once heard old Mr Bingham say, with the highest indigna- tion, to a Yankee trader who was trying to persuade him to keep his money to himself, ' No! Me no all'e same a' you! 352 THE NEW PACIFIC Suppose one got money, all got money. You, suppose one got money lock him up in chest. No good. Kanaka all'e same a' one! ' This principle they carry so far that none of them will eat any thing in sight of others without offering it all round. I have seen one of them break a biscuit, which had been given him, into five parts, at a time when I knew he was on a very short allowance, as there was but little to eat on the beach." When Mr Dana returned to Harvard to complete his course, let us hope his history marks were raised, and that he in due time learned that Francis Drake never entered San Francisco bay, that Cortes never was in that section of the world, and that no Jesuits, nor any other order of friars except the Fran- ciscans, ever established a mission in Alta California. It is well to travel, to observe, to learn, to report, but Cambridge had better schoolmasters than California in the year 1835, and no doubt Mr Dana made use of them after the publica- tion of his matchless little book. The voyages of the Russians from north-eastern Asia began by order of the tsar Alexis in 1648, in seven kotches, or small decked boats, sent in search of the mouth of the Anadir, and of which Simon Deshnef gives an account. The Kurile islands were first seen from this direction in 1706, and ten years later was made the first voyage from Okhotsk to Kam- chatka, an account of which is given in Mulleins Voyages. In 1727 Vitus Bering coasted northward from Kamchatka far enough to satisfy himself that Asia and America were not united. Other expeditions surveyed the coast about this time, by land and sea, in which the sliore of America was described, and the strait mapped by Mikhoil Goozdef. The voyage of Vitus Bering, resulting in the discovery and occupation by Russians of north westernmost America, was made by order of the empress Elizabeth in 1740. Following the swarming of the promyshleniki over the islands and main land of Alaska, the more immediate result of Bering's ex- plorations were several Russian voyages of discovery, among them the expedition of Korovin in 1762, from the mouth of the Kamchatka river to Umnak island; the voyage of Glottof to Unalaska and Kadiak; the voyage of Lieutenant Synd in 1764; the government expedition to Unalaska under Kre- nitzin, and the surveying expedition of Zaikof to Copper A GLANCE BACKWARD 353 island, not to mention the adventures of Benyovski, Delarof, Pribylof, Shelikof, and others, mostly for furs. Among the European powers first officially to visit and ob- serve what Russia was doing in this quarter was Spain, Juan Perez appearing in the ship Santiago, under instructions from Revilla Gigedo in 1774, the Sonora, Bodega y Cuadra com- mander, coming to Alaska the following year. England put in an appearance in the person of Captain Cook, and after him came the Frenchmen La Perouse and Marchand; more Englishmen, as Meares and Portlock and Dixon; other Span- iards Martinez, Haro, and Fidalgo with other scientific and commercial expeditions like those of Vancouver and Billings, not to mention the colonization, mission, and fur-hunting efforts of the Russians themselves in the persons of Shelikof, Baranof, and Konovalof. Meanwhile were accomplished the organization of the Russian American Fur company, the founding of Sitka, the settlement of Yakutat bay, and the later visits of Krusenstern, Lisiansky, Rezanof, Golovin, Astor's ship Enterprise, and Kotzebue. Attention has been frequently drawn to the facility with which railway and telegraph lines can be carried across Bering strait. An expedition was sent out in 1865 under the auspices of the Union Telegraph company for the survey and construction of a telegraph line to Sitka, and thence to the continent of Asia. After two years of effort and an ex- penditure of $3,000,000 the enterprise was abandoned, chiefly owing to the successful laying of the Atlantic cable in the meantime. CHAPTER XIV SOUTH SEA ISLES THE islands of the south Pacific are many, and have many names, both as groups and individually, though some have none at all, and indeed are not worth naming. There are Micronesia, or ' little islands ' ; Polynesia, or ' many islands ' ; Melanesia, another ' many islands ' ; and Gilbert and Philip, and Caroline and Marianne, and Solomon, and the rest, not to mention those having true names, as Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, and Tokelan. Speaking generally, the terms Polynesia, and South sea isl- ands, signify those innumerable clusters lying mostly south of the equator, and altogether south of north latitude 10. Con- spicuous among them are Tahiti, called by Captain Cook Otaheite, 108 miles in circumference, in the form of two penin- sulas united by an isthmus, with a population early in the century of 10,000; the Society islands, population 20,000; the Marquesas, Navigators, Friendly, Fiji, and other groups. The Fiji islands are a valuable permanent possession of Eng- land's, favorable to extensive plantations of the most varied tropical products, which like those of Mauritius find a ready market at Australia and New Zealand, as well as in more dis- tant parts. The South sea isles are many of them of coral, and round each coral isle is a coral reef, one or two miles dis- tant from the shore, against which the waves perpetually play, rising into an aqueous wall ten or fifteen feet above the reef, and forming a most beautiful border. Within the circle the water is still and transparent, so that the bottom, paved with coral of every shape and hue, with the sportive fishes, is plainly visible. In most cases there is a gateway through which ships may enter the sparkling arena, and approach the island. The islands are overspread for the most part with a rich soil, with high mountains covered with verdure, and luxu- 354 SOUTH SEA ISLES 355 riant valleys equal to any Persian paradise. The air is hot and humid, enervating to Europeans but satisfying to the natives. Whirlwinds, hurricanes, and other destructive storms are frequent, uprooting trees and demolishing dwellings; but trees quickly grow again, and houses if sufficiently humble may be reconstructed. The rainy season is from December to March, during which the water and lightning play mad pranks. Vegetable life abounds. The trees are many, some of them remarkable for size, beauty, or usefulness. The foliage of the undergrowth is luxuriant and mostly evergreen, while fruits and flowers are everywhere. A fine timber tree is the apape, rearing to a height of fifty feet a straight and branch- less trunk of salmon-color, two or three feet thick, and crowned by a tuft of pale green leaves. The tamanu is more like mahogany; the hutu resembles the magnolia; while the aoa is not unlike the banian. These more particularly on the lower levels. In the mountains the candle-nut is conspicuous, its white leaves lighting up the dark rich foliage of the forest. It is the nut, however, and not the leaves which constitutes the candle, being about the size of a walnut, and with the shell removed and strung on the rib of a cocoanut leaf, is used as a candle. A fine lamp-black is also made from the nut, which is used in painting canoes. Several foreign plants, fruit-trees and others, were intro- duced to these islands by usurpers and navigators. Thus to the Spaniards, Portuguese, and Dutch the islands are indebted for the pineapple, fig, citron, and coffee plants, while Cook, Bligh, and Vancouver brought the vine, the orange, lime, and others. Native plants are many and prolific, as the vi, a bright yellow plum; the mape, a kind of chestnut. From the auti, or paper mulberry, is made cloth; the taro is an esculent root, prepared for eating like the bread-fruit; the yam is indigenous; sweet-potatoes are carefully cultivated; the banana is highly prized, as is also arrow-root, though the care of the latter in- volves too much labor for the indolent natives. To the South sea islander the bread-fruit tree is the most useful, as indeed it is among the most beautiful of plants. Its height is usually fifty or sixty feet, with a trunk two or three feet in diameter; leaves of glossy dark green, indented like a fig-leaf, and more than a foot long; fruit oval, and six 356 THE NEW PACIFIC inches thick. It is covered with a rough rind, at first of a pea-green, then brown, and when fully ripe of a rich yellow; it grows either singly or in clusters of two or three, at the end of the branch, to which it is attached by a short thick stalk. Several hundred of these clusters sometimes grow on a single tree, in beautiful and harmonious contrast with the surround- ings. There are two or three crops a year. The fruit is never eaten uncooked; it is usually baked in an oven of heated stones, and eaten as bread. The tree is to the South sea isl- ander what the pulque plant is to the Mexican, except that the one furnishes bread while the other gives drink; the trunk of the bread-fruit tree makes good timber, the wood being in color dark and rich, and of tough fibre. As there are many varieties of the tree, the wood is put to various uses, being good for building, for furniture, canoes, implements; in fact for all purposes. From the bark of the young branches is made cloth, while from the bark of the trunk exudes a gum with which leaks in canoes are stopped. Cloth is also made from the inner bark of the Chinese mulberry and the fig tree. The cocoanut, next to the bread-fruit tree, is the most valu- able plant of the South sea. A cylindrical trunk three or four feet in diameter and tapering to the top, composed of small tubes enclosed in rough bark, rises erect without a branch to a height of 60 or 70 feet, and is topped with long green leaves and bunches of fruit. It flourishes under almost any circum- stances, on a barren strand, in a marsh, or on the sun-beaten mountain side, but is by no means averse to the fertile valleys. Mats, baskets, bonnets, and screens are made of the stalks of the leaves, which are sometimes fifteen feet long. Early voyagers suffered severely from hunger thirst and sickness in navigating these waters, being mostly strange to them, and such islands as bring relief being often wide apart, and their existence or whereabouts not known. Scurvy, that dire dread of the sailor, which nothing but green food will keep away or cure, caused thousands thus to perish. Navar- rete says that Quiros and some other captains distilled fresh from salt water on a scale sufficiently large for the require- ments of the crew; but if done at all the way of it was not known to many. Before the English came the Spaniards had seen and named Tahiti and Sagittaria, and the New Hebrides of Cook they SOUTH SEA ISLES 357 had called the archipelago del Espiritu Santo. After the ex- pedition of Anton Abreu, and the establishment of Albu- querque in Malacca in 1511, the Malay archipelago, dimly de- picted by Ptolemy, assumed more definite form. As the Dutch gained the ascendency in the Moluccas, Australia began to emerge from the mists of the ages, so as to become visible to the eyes of the geographers. Then too began the epoch of Abel Tasman who had for his field of effort the Moluccas, or Spice islands, a term once applied to all the islands of the East Indian archipelago between Celebes and New Guinea, but later restricted to the Ternate group, the Batchian Obi Sula Ambon and other groups, and the Banda islands, the last named famous over all others for their excellent spices and nutmegs. Alvaro Mendano, who crossed the Pacific in 1595, touched at the Marquesas, and named them in honor of his patron, the marques Mendoza, viceroy of Peru. After the death of Mendano his wife, Isabella Baretos, continued his enterprises in the Pacific until 1596. The isle of Papua, or New Guinea, and the island of New Holland were discovered in the early part of the sixteenth century. The voyage of Jorge de Menezes was made in 1526, and that of Alvaro de Saavedra to Papua in 1528, each of whom discovered many islands. Among the islanders, thievery in early times was as com- mon as it is among the continental powers of the present day, as we have seen. Besides the Marianne islands many another was called Ladrones, until of Thieves island there were so many that some of the names had to be changed. Now we must not blame the savages for stealing from the ships, for they knew no better; the mother praised her boy for bring- ing off good plunder; he was never troubled by an accus- ing conscience except when he came home empty handed. Nor must we blame the powers of Europe for stealing Asias and Africas, for they know no better; great praise they all receive for much killing and stealing, praise from priests and people, nor has one of them ever a troubled conscience, ex- cept when his neighbor gets more than he. Cook found Tahiti under the rule of two feudal families, each with a king at their head, and the people enjoying many blessings, as cannibalism, circumcision, tattooing, polygamy, the taboo, and kawa, an intoxicating drink which they were 358 THE NEW PACIFIC induced by the temperance men and missionaries to abandon when civilization brought them rum, which they liked better. The Australians were as low in the scale of humanity as the Patagonians or Californians. They were of dark complexion, coarse features, and had rude dwellings and implements. The Hawaiians he fancied of the same race as the South sea isl- anders, all having the same accomplishments, and indulging in the same kinds of food and drink. When the king of Fiji died, ten other men must die and keep him company; so it was when the king of Hawaii departed this life, he was not permitted to go alone. Micronesia has a population of 94,372, which, apportioned properly among the four principal groups gives to the Mar- shall islands 13,000; to the Gilbert islands 35,200; Carolines, 36,000; Ladrones, 10,172. The natives of the Society islands are well-formed, tall, and strong; complexion olive, black coarse hair, the men wearing it long and the women cutting it short. Though the natives have features and characteristics in common, yet there appears to be the union of two races, one akin to the African negro, with black skin and crisp hair; the other, the Malayan, skin copper-colored, and hair black and glossy and worn long. Australasia is the more immediate home of the South sea negro. Tattooing obtains on most of the islands, burnt candle-nut mixed with oil forming the pig- ment, which is pricked in with sharpened bird or "fish bone. England, France, and Germany have ere this taken posses- sion of and partitioned among them for the most part the South sea isles, until there is scarcely one left without annexa- tion or a protectorate of some kind. Though geographically small, many of them, they are nevertheless important aside from trade considerations, as coaling and telegraph stations. In the divisions of the Solomon and Admiralty groups, and the Louisiade archipelago, it is to be noticed that discovery and original naming do not secure permanent possession, as England obtains the islands with French names, and the French those with English names. True, New Ireland and New Britain, in the Bismarck archipelago, attached to Kaiser Wilhelm Land, of German New Guinea, have been baptized anew as New Hanover, New Mecklenburg, and New Pomerania. In Fiji England forbids liquor and war, and has brought immigrants and given the chiefs a culture system with favor- SOUTH SEA ISLES 359 able trade results. In New Caledonia the French have given little heed to the rights of the natives, appropriating to them- selves their best lands without due compensation. In New Guinea the rights of natives to the soil have been fully recog- nized by England. The pure Polynesian is of clear olive complexion, with black hair and eyes, a bright expressive face indicative of a happy contented heart; for he is indolent and pleasure-loving. The temperature of this particular ideal climate, of which there are several millions in the Pacific, is seldom above 80 or below 60. It is a mistake, the popular impression that the whole south Pacific is unendurably hot in summer; some such idea prevails even with regard to southern California, which is by no means the south Pacific. Take for example San Diego, where I am now writing, ten miles back from the ocean; this region is regarded as specially a winter climate, and it is in- deed superb in winter; but the summer climate is as good, or better, and taking it all in all, its equal does not exist else- where in the world. The absence of long heavy rains and of a redundant and decaying vegetation, the absence of wind- storms, of the typhoons and tornadoes of Asia and the floods and hurricanes of midcontinent America, the absence of all those casualties elsewhere existing in whole or in part, as sun- strokes, lightning, and earthquakes; the absence of swamps breeding malaria, of excessive heat or cold, with the air cool and fresh from the ocean in summer and warm in winter, the temperature being thus remarkably even throughout the year, so much so that all the fault grumpy residents can find is ex- pressed in the one word e monotonous ', all together render this spot no less remarkable than delightful. Let it be once for all understood that the climate of San Diego is as excep- tionally perfect, the air as deliciously sweet and satisfying in summer as in winter; and of the two, with all the world to choose from, I prefer the summer. If tropical insular air is found oppressive to the unac- climated, it is because of its dampness rather than its high temperature. Where altitude can be attained, with some short remove from the sea, so that the winds can become dried some- what in passing over the land, there is little that is enervating to Europeans in air below 100 in temperature, and the tropi- cal shores of the Pacific are for the most part far below that 360 THE NEW PACIFIC point. Though the temperature of the south Pacific island is high, and the heat in the lowlands stifling, it is not so hot as in the same latitude and at the same altitude in South America. Though but fifteen or twenty degrees from the equator, the islands are surrounded by a vast expanse of water where perpetual breezes equalize temperature, and cool and refresh the otherwise hot and arid land. Of course all these hot, moist lands are enervating to foreigners, but the interior of nearly all the large islands being hilly, or even mountain- ous, with sides covered with verdure, and at the base beautiful and luxuriant valleys, delightful climates may be found in many places. Though frequent throughout the year, rains are heavy on most of the islands only from December to March, which is the rainy season there. Lightning and thunder play their part. Water-spouts present an unbroken line from sea to sky, a thick mist surrounding the liquid cylinder, while from within spiral jets of steam shoot up, beautiful indeed when viewed in safety from the shore, but less sublime and worship- ful when sending to destruction some unfortunate ship, or playing havoc with the small boats and huts along the beach. The western monsoon blows in the sea of Java in February. A wonderful thing happens at times on the coast of China. At the mouth of the river where the flow ascends as it pene- trates the bay with its gradually narrowing bottom, the tides make a brilliant display. Says a resident who has often wit- nessed them, and is referring specially to Hongkong: "All traffic in the town is for the time suspended. The hawkers cease to recommend their wares, the porters to unload their ships, which they abandon in the middle of the current. A moment suffices to give the appearance of solitude to the most laborious of the laborious cities of Asia. The centre of the river swarms with boats of every kind. Soon the flood an- nounces its approach by the appearance of a white line stretch- ing from one bank to the other. Its roar, which the Chinese compare to thunder, deafens the cries of the boatmen. It ad- vances with a prodigious velocity, with the speed of a fast rail- way train, and at not less than thirty-five miles an hour. In appearance it resembles a massive wall of gleaming alabaster, or rather a foaming cataract, four to five miles in length, and thirty feet in height, moving in one immense mass. Soon it SOUTH SEA ISLES 361 reaches the advanced squadron of the fleet, which silently awaits its coming, with their bows turned towards the wave that threatens to overwhelm them. Every ship is carried safely and uninjured over the ridge of the undulating mass. The spectacle is full of strange interest when the flood has swept under half the flotilla, for some are then seen reposing on a perfectly tranquil surface, while by their side, in the midst of a frightful tumult, others are wildly staggering to and fro. The striking scene lasts but for a moment. The flood flows onward, diminishing in force and swiftness, and finally ceases to be perceptible at a distance, according to the Chinese, of about eighty miles. The interrupted traffic is gradually resumed, the ships are moored anew to the shore, women and children busy themselves collecting the objects lost in the melee, the streets are wet with spray, and the great canal is filled with ooze and mud." Missionaries of the various sects and nations have always played a prominent part in the conquest and occupation of wild lands by European civilization. For next to conquest and cupidity as an agency of colonization comes proselyting, which indeed is but another form of cupidity, a laying up of treasures in heaven for future advantage instead of reaping the full and final rewards of faithful service in this life. Yet there was little to choose between the various kinds of con- quest, temporal or spiritual, gold glory and godliness being one and inseparable in all spoliations of heathen lands. And the soldier was usually willing to play the priest and the priest the soldier; for next to killing was converting, one or the other preceding, it did not much matter which. Among the early conquerors like Cortes and Pizarro, the sol- dier was no less ardent in spiritual conquest than was the priest in temporal warfare and victory. Even Magellan, from whom we might look for better things, was foolish enough to throw away his life in a religious brawl with savages. The regular missionary work of the Spaniards which followed con- quest, the occupation of the wilderness and the erection there- in of great agricultural and religious factories, were along more sober and humane lines, yet reaching the same end, death here and blessedness hereafter to the proselyte. Modern missionary societies, even, do not scruple to set forth the secular advantages to accrue from spiritual efforts, 363 THE NEW PACIFIC and though the present agents of Christianity and civilization do not land on the South sea islands with drawn sword and boiling oil, as of old they landed on the islands and mainland of America, the worldly benefits considered are the same, and extermination no less sure. To clear at any time any new land of its native inhabitants, all that is necessary is to introduce European epidemics, which always attend in greater or less degree European intercourse. In our new policy of expansion, all the islands of the Pa- cific assume an importance to us not hitherto felt. Samoa, for example, while of no great industrial consequence, having a population of less than 34,000 and a commerce of only some $600,000 a year, has now special value as a station on the route from San Francisco to Australia and New Zealand by way of the Hawaiian islands. It seems a somewhat insignifi- cant affair, after such a windfall of islands as we have had, this little Samoan group in the south Pacific; yet upon the recent death of King Malietoa the question came up of a tripartite occupation by Great Britain, the United States, and Germany. The treaty made by these powers at Berlin in 1889 provided for the Samoan succession by election after the na- tive method, but Germany seemed to prefer a division of the islands, which would give to the United States the smallest of the largest three, which is ours already, and contains the harbor and coaling-station of Pagopago. England would take the largest island } and Germany the one having the most trade. King Malietoa, while a scion of the true branch of cannibals, was a gentle savage, and loved his country, though fated to see it caught in the net of European diplomacy and dismem- berment. The Samoan islands belong to one of those several sub- merged mountain ranges that cross the Pacific in various places. Each island has its pet volcano, which however does not smoke at present, though the angry earthquakes frequently throw up mud from beneath the water. Savaii, the largest island and the most difficult of cultivation, being without rivers or other watering facilities, and with but one small harbor, is 40 by 20 miles in size. The next, Upola, has an area of 550 square miles, a fertile soil easily cultivated, and sup- ports large and prosperous plantations. The town and harbor of Apia, the commercial metropolis of the group, is on the SOUTH SEA ISLES 363 north side of this island. Tutuila, third in size, being seven- teen miles long by five miles wide, has one of the fine harbors of the world, the island being almost cut in twain by it. Sheltered by the high cliff, vessels lying here are beyond the reach of the hurricanes which so often visit these waters. Ow- ing to England's objections to German proposals to take for herself all the agricultural and commercial advantages, leav- ing England a large but worthless island and the United States a harbor but with little land, there was for some time con- stant fear of international complications. Besides nine in- habited islands, there are a number of islets and rocks, of which birds and fishermen make some use. It is over the three largest islands that the powers hold their solemn deliberations; they do not care for a rock or two more or less in the middle of the south Pacific. All these rocks isl- ands and intervening waters, 1,700 square miles will about cover, and with the aid of the foreigners the 34,000 inhabi- tants will in due time make away with themselves, and then the powers can each stock its own island with its own people, should they happen to like out of door work in that climate. It is all very well to call such places a paradise, but that comes only as it was in Eden, where clothes are not required and there is no work to be done. A hurricane destroyed seven large warships, three American, three German, and one Eng- lish, lying at anchor in the bay of Apia in March, 1889, which made international jealousy in this quarter rather an expensive pastime. The controversy over the Samoan islands has been out of all proportions to their importance, which goes to show over how small a matter the powers of this world are prepared to fight. Indeed it seems necessary to fight sometimes, with or without a cause, if for nothing more than to give practice to costly standing armies and unemployed navies. A score of years ago there were on the Samoan, or Navigator's islands, certain English, American, and German resident business men. The Germans, thinking as usual to get the better of the others, sought annexation to their country, which would give them control of all the traffic, to the expulsion of the others. Hear- ing which England and the United States said, " Not so fast, friend," whereupon Germany dropped her armful of islands, and the three powers have been scowling at each other over them ever since. 364 THE NEW PACIFIC When in 1880 Malietoa had ascended the throne by succes- sion, he was indignant over the arbitrary and unjust methods employed by the Germans, who had indeed no other right than might on those islands. Following the example of Cortes in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru, on some pretext the king was seized in 1887 by the German soldiers, and carried away a prisoner to the Cameroons. The country rose to arms, Mataafa, a kinsman, assuming the king's duties and preroga- tives during his absence, the Germans meanwhile setting up a ruler to suit themselves in the person of Tamatese. The British and American governments then appearing, in 1889 Malietoa was recalled and reinstated, and the independence of the islands guaranteed. By the treaty of Berlin, in 1889, a tripartite occupation of the Samoan islands was agreed upon by the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. For some time past Germany has seemed dissatisfied with a tripartite government, which is cumbrous, and desires a division. The United States has now a coaling-station, and harbor, Pagopago, on the smallest of the three largest islands. As the tripartite agreement of 1889 did not seem to work well, and as upon the death of Malietoa in 1898 fresh wranglings arose, threatening as it would seem the peace of the world, a great stir was made over the affair. Mataafa, who in 1893 had led a revolt against Malietoa, was permitted to return from exile, to add if anything to the com- plications. By agreement in 1881 between the United States, England, and Germany, Malietoa was made king of all Samoa, and Tamatese vice-king. When in 1887 Germany deported Malietoa to the Cameroons, and proclaimed Tamatese king, Mataafa, relative of the exiled king and representative of the royalist party, made war on Tamatese. Hostilities were active in 1893, when Mataafa was defeated and conveyed to one of the Union islands. Upon the death of Malietoa, Mataafa re- turned from exile and was elected king, though opposed by Tanus and Tamatese, the latter however withdrawing his op- position later in favor of Mataafa. Fighting ? in which natives and foreigners participated, was frequent, until finally it was agreed to leave the question of succession to the United States chief justice, Chambers, who decided in favor of Tanus, and this being unsatisfactory to all but the adherents of Tanus, all went to war again. Still another complication arises in the SOUTH SEA ISLES 365 form of pressure on the British government from the Austral- asian colonists, who do not fancy the idea of armed Teutons on the Anglo-saxon highway across the Pacific. East and west from Guam, islands extend for a distance of 2,500 miles. Those toward the east are the Marshall isl- ands, 46 in number, comprising 150 square miles and 10,000 people, and of which possession was taken by Germany in 1885. Vegetation here is scant, the natives living chiefly on bread-fruit and cocoanuts, though bananas taro and yams are cultivated. Great Britain annexed the Gilbert group of the 16 Marshall islands, or rather coral reefs, in 1892. On them there is but little soil, and scant vegetation, save cocoa- nut and pandanus trees. There are here 40,000 persons living on 170 square miles of land. The ocean furnishes the greater part of their food. The Caroline and Pelew islands, west of the Marshall group, were discovered by the Portuguese, claimed by the Spanish, and seized by the Germans, who however were forced to re- linquish them. The Carolines extend east and west along the ocean for 2,000 miles, a little off from the direct course from Honolulu to Manila. They are situated near the equator, and consist of 43 low coral isles, and five basaltic islands, the latter from 800 to 2,800 feet above the sea, and surrounded by coral reefs. Nearly all of them have good harbors. They lie out- side of the storm and earthquake belt; the climate is good, the air healthful, and the natives docile. The Lew-chew islands, that is to say the Loo Choo of early navigators, between Japan and Formosa, are a remote up- heaval of crystalline rocks, gneiss hornblende and granite, covered with sedimentary strata, and peopled partly by Jap- anese, though the real native is a type peculiar to itself. With- in the full influence of the kuro-siro, or Japan current, the climate is warm and humid; snow never rests even on the highest mountain tops. For religion and philosophy they have Confucianism and Buddhism mixed, and for physical requirements they grow sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, the egg- plant, maize, wheat, rice, bananas, and taro; pine and sago trees grow themselves. Though small in area, the Lew-chews are great in history. The eldest son of the first man and woman here began his reign 18,000 years ago, and many have been the dynasties since 366 THE NEW PACIFIC then. Sometimes independent, sometimes belonging to Ja- pan, or to China, they fought every thing in sight, the sur- viving remnant multiplying as opportunity offered. If pro- tection was required from the emperor of China, commerce with that country grew; and so with regard to Japan. Dur- ing periods of independence, as in the reign of Chang-tching, commerce greatly increased; Lew-chew became a great nation, the entrepot between China and Japan, acting often as mediat- or between these nations. Fleets of vessels plied between these isles and Korea, Fionga, and Satzuma, and the ships of Lew- chew even entered the carrying trade of Japan and China, and sailed as far away as Malacca. These merchant-mariners were also priests upon occasion, or they would fight pirates whenever their interests appeared to demand it. In religion and morals they were equally pliable; the Jesuit missionaries had no difficulty in converting them to Christianity, and hold- ing them there as long as they could perceive any special benefit from it; that subsiding, they fell back to the old staple article of their ancestors. Long ago whale ships touched at these isles when in distress; some of them are known to have made good their escape. The Sulus are famous pearl fishers, the occupation now being more profitable than piracy. The pearl fisheries are of course held by the nobles, while the divers are slaves. They have a rule, sometimes followed, that the slave who secures a large pearl is entitled to his liberty, which if it be given him he is often at a loss to know what to do with it. Wild hogs and deer are common, and all domestic animals abundant. Enter a Spice island store and one sees Chinese porters handling boxes of pimento, bales of cloves, and sacks of nut- megs, Chinese salesmen smiling in silks, Chinese accountants with their mechanical multiplication table, and their Chinese cashiers handling Mexican silver dollars. If you wish to change your rupees, you will find at the banking-house a Chinese teller as expert in handling coin and detecting short weight and counterfeits as any Lombard street money lender. The best hotel is a bungalow, where poisonous drinks made from rice and hemp are sold. The harbor of Singapore is alive with shipping from every quarter, European and American, the junks from China also intermingling with the old Malay pirate vessels, now used for SOUTH SEA ISLES 367 better purposes. In the public square, which is the exchange, the merchants meet in groups and pleasantly gossip and dis- cuss business. The Spice islands are a land of enchantment, priests peo- pling them with gods and merchants filling them with gold, or things more precious than gold, as frankincense and myrrh, pearls and precious stones, fine spices and death destroying drugs. From hills of richest verdure one may gaze on cloud- encircling peak and coral sea. The air is perfumed with flow- ers, and scented with cinnamon, pimento, nutmegs, and cloves. But there is less of enchantment in a steamy, sticky atmosphere at a temperature of 95; in living with lizards, cockroaches, flies, fleas, bugs, spiders, scorpions, centipedes, wood-leaches, ants, snakes, cobras, and the rest. The scenery is better than the vermin for purposes of enchantment, shades of green, light upon the mountain sides, dark in the ravines, while embowering the Malay huts that line the shore are groves of palms and betel, and back among the hills dorian and man- gosteen. The East India company took possession of the isl- and of Penang, opposite Sumatra and near Malacca, and held it until 1857, when the British government assumed control. Batavia, the capital of Java, where the Dutch are still in evidence, was called the queen of the east under the Dutch East India company regime, and it still fraternizes commer- cially with Ceylon and the Moluccas. Coffee and rice come first among the valued products of Java, where are made many mats from the cane which comes from Sumatra. Sandalwood of a delicate yellow color and fine fragrance grows in the mountains of Timor, and is exported largely to China for burning in the dwellings of the wealthy, and in temples. Here, also, an important article of commerce is the wax of the wild bees, which hangs from the trees in huge honey- combs. CHAPTER XV HAWAII, THE PEABL OF THE PACIFIC SAYS the author of Anson's Voyage, writing in 1746, " It is indeed most remarkable, that by the concurrent testimony of all the Spanish navigators, there is not one port, nor, even a tolerable road as yet found out, betwixt the Philippine isl- ands and the coast of California; so that from the time the Manila ship first loses sight of land, she never lets go her anchor till she arrives on the coast of California, and very often not till she gets to its southernmost extremity." Thus it would seem that when Cook came, a quarter of a century later, the existence of the Hawaiian islands was not known. Although one of the Hawaiian islands was discovered by Gaetano in 1542, the fact seems to have been forgotten, by the commanders of the Spanish galleons, as well as by the pirates and circumnavigators, if indeed the discovery had ever been known by them. Whatever the secret archives of Spain may have contained, it is very certain that Spanish navigators did not know of the islands for over two centuries. Evidently Captain Cook knew nothing of them, nor any of the geog- raphers, chart-makers, or navigators of his day. The memory of Columbus is honored as fully as if he had been the first to find America, as if he had been the first to deem it possible, or probable, that by sailing west, the other side of east might be found. So with regard to Captain Cook, who was a hired sailing-master ploughing in the Pacific a straight furrow from south to north, from the previously discovered South sea isles to the fur-seal lands of Vitus Bering, when he accidentally ran against this land. In the Hawaiian group are eight large and seven small isl- ands, the former mountainous, and some of them volcanic; the latter, little more than islets or rocks. The islands lie in midocean, just within the tropics, in latitude 20 more or less, 368 HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC 369 on nearly a straight line from Cuba to the Philippines. The eight large islands, with their total area of 6,740 square miles, are Hawaii, 4,210 square miles; Kahoolaui, 63 square miles; Lauai, 150 square miles; Maui, 760 square miles; Molokai, 270 square miles; Oahu, 600 square miles; Kaui, 590 square miles; and Niihau, 97 square miles. Kaui is called the garden island from its well-watered and luxuriant vegetation. It is devoted largely to sugar and rice, with coffee possibilities. Maui has sugar plantations and coffee lands; Haleakala, the principal mountain of Maui, is covered with small farms growing po- tatoes, corn, beans, and pigs. Oahu, besides containing the capital, Honolulu, with 30,000 inhabitants, and extensive sugar lands, has in course of construction a railway to make the circuit of the island. The peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, Hawaii, each some 14,000 feet high, are on the largest and most important island agriculturally, and which gives its name to the group. Oahu holds the commercial and political supremacy in Honolulu, the capital and chief city, which is American, so far as occupied by Americans, and native where the natives dwell. Kilauea, on the Mauna. Loa mountain, whose active crater is three miles wide, erupts 25 times as much as Vesuvius. It is always in action, but the great erup- tions come periodically; one occurred in 1840, one in 1843, and another in 1852. An eruption in 1855-6 continued for fifteen months. Mauna Kea, 13,805 feet high, always wears a cap of snow, even in the hottest season. Weaimea rejoices in a broad breezy plain, a grand sweep of mountain curves, all intermingled with the variegations of mountains and sea, from the white snow on the ragged volcanic dome to the innumera- ble hues of green and blue and red and gold overspreading the foliage below.. Nature is still at work enlarging the borders of these isl- ands by means of volcanic masonry, and there may be here another Australia in time. The flora too will increase and improve; there are no hurricanes, and thunderstorms are rare. The soil is prolific; a man can live on the products from 40 square feet of it, that is so far as food is concerned. An acre will grow 500 banana trees, yielding ten tons of fruit; there are two and a half tons of sugar to the acre. There is nothing like American farming on the islands; it is not necessary. Insectivorous birds should be propagated here for the benefit of horticulture. 370 THE NEW PACIFIC Honolulu, the capital city of the Hawaiian islands, is con- structed largely of one-story wooden houses, with government buildings, water-works, museum, and manufacturing estab- lishments, electric lights and tramways. The harbor is ample, with good wharves, and has direct communication with most of the ports of the Pacific. Among the prominent edifices are the Executive building, the Oahu college, and the Kame- hameha school. Many of the present native Hawaiians read and write English in addition to their own language. Be- sides schools there are libraries and churches; some of the stores are quite elegant, corresponding with those of the civil- ized world elsewhere, and all for the proper accommodation of the American English and native population. At the time of annexation there were a normal and training school, a min- ister of public instruction, reading circles, and several schools with foreign teachers. Modern industrialism has long held the attention of the islanders. The Kamehameha schools of manual training were established by the Princess Pauahi, the last of the Kamehamehas. The well-endowed Polynesian mu- seum is housed in a massive stone building. The first printing at the island was a school book in 1822, and two years later 2,000 natives, including the king and his chiefs, were able to read. Schools were established; and the days of Hawaiian feudalism were but just passed, when from the California coast came the children of Mexican rancheros for a better education than they could obtain at home. Laws and a written constitution were promulgated in 1840. At the mission one sees here and there an old adobe with thick grass roof projecting six feet to shade the windows, the house itself embowered in palms and algarobas, while the night air is filled with the fragrance of hibiscus and oleanders. An Hawaiian forest is a tangled mass of broad-leaved vege- tation, like that of the banana tree, intermixed with the koa, or mahogany, and the green and silver leaved candle-nut, and a score of other forest trees and plants, with an undergrowth of grass ferns and flowers. But for the open ways cut by the wood-haulers these vast hot-beds of redundant nature would be impenetrable. Lining and over-arching the roads are mango caoutchouc and umbrella trees, bread-fruit orange and bamboo, monkey-pod, date and cocoa palms, and alligator pears, while at the houses and hamlets the moist air is heavy HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC 371 with the odor of flowers. Paradise in the Pacific, the Hawaiian islands have been called, by those who knew nothing of the other paradise long ago established in these waters by one who knew little of either the Pacific ocean or of any paradise. The capital and metropolitan city of the Pacific may yet be planted upon this pearl; the great ocean could find no more fitting place for a capital than these charming central isles. The war made plain to all what long had been plain to some that as a strategic outpost of the Pacific coast the islands were necessary to the United States, and must be held by no other power. With the conquest of Manila, and the unfold- ing of large American interests on the Asiatic shores, the question of Hawaiian annexation assumed a different shape. The islands then obviously became a necessity. A German or a Japanese flag floating over Honolulu might not imply hostile designs on our coast, but it would be a serious incon- venience to our oriental commerce. Americans who opposed the annexation of the Hawaiian islands need only to shut their eyes, and imagine how it would be with this outpost of the American coast, and point d'appui in the centre of the Pa- cific, in the hands of a hostile power. Cattle-raising is the chief industry of Waimea, whose table- land, 2,500 feet in height, has an average temperature of 64, with clear cool evenings, but moistened by rain or mist nearly every day in the year. Over this high level Mauna Loa some- times throws a light such as enables one to read a newspaper at midnight forty miles away. But all the fierce eruptions to which these fiery hills are subject trouble not the gentle sheep that pasture on their slopes, nor yet the gentle shepherd, for that matter, particularly if he happens to be a mounted China- man or sleepy Kanaka. Coffee, fruit, and grazing lands are now offered at from $10 to $40 an acre. For the past half century the policy has been pursued by the government of selling lands at low prices for cash, and also of making long leases of large tracts. The terms have been so easy that the best lands are now practically monopolized by wealthy holders, who will sell only at a large price. Coffee, sugar, rice, peanuts, hides, paddy, goat-skins, tallow, horns, fungus, sperm oil, cocoanut oil, whale oil, whalebones, paiai, shark's fins, betel leaves, tamarinds, sweet potatoes, ba- nanas, pineapples, pulu cocoanuts, oranges, limes, and sandal- 372 THE NEW PACIFIC wood are exported to the value of some $2,000,000 annually. Coffee grows wild in almost all the valleys of the group, but some localities are better adapted to its culture than others. One of these is the Puna district, where its cultivation at Oloa has transformed a tropical forest into broad plantations, from 600 to 2,300 feet above the sea. Hilo, not far distant has rich soil, an ample rainfall, and good protection from the wind. Figs melons and potatoes, sugar-cane bananas and taro, bread-fruit and the vine, are all of prolific growth. These and other products are sent forth, and lumber from Puget sound brought in, with all the requirements of civilization from California. The pineapple though prolific is not indig- enous to these isles, being brought hither by early navigators. Wilkes saw pineapples under cultivation near Kealakekua bay, on Hawaii, in 1840. Maui shipped abroad 12,000 in 1850, and the export from all the islands in 1851 was 21,000. After this the industry languished for want of a market, but re- vived and was rapidly developed since 1883, when new varie- ties were introduced, and canneries later established. Sugar-raising as an industry has been carried on in the isl- ands for about sixty years. The beginning was small and the methods crude, but advance was rapid, so that for the last three decades sugar has been the mainstay of the islands. The product of 1897 is estimated at 250,000 tons. The increase of production is not due altogether to larger acreage, but to some extent to improved methods in both growing and manu- facture. More sugar is obtained from an acre of ground now than formerly. And as the land on the islands adapted to sugar-raising is limited, and the most of it appropriated, the increase of production hereafter will not be great. Most of the cane-cultivation is on the lower levels of the four larger islands, Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, and Kauai. The sugar industry has grown of late years, the plantations of Oahu, Hawaii, and Kauai producing largely. Good coffee is grown on the slopes of the Koua and Olea districts. Of bananas and pineapples, the production can be made to supply almost any demand. Cotton is grown to some extent, and it is thought the production can be increased and made profitable. By turning the mountain streams into flumes, on the Hilo plantations, cane and wood may be floated down to the mills with comparatively little ex- pense. From 25 to 300 mules are here employed in plough- HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC 373 ing and other farm work, and hauling the sugar to the ship- ping station. A plantation making 750 tons of sugar a year employs 200 Chinamen and Kanakas, and 150 work animals. The Mexican system of peonage obtains to some extent, the wages, $8 a month, being often advanced, and the laborer held for the debt, which is never paid. We have now of banana lands all we shall ever require, in the West Indies and in the isles of the Pacific. Trees attain a height of 35 feet in places, and they love best the lowlands near the sea. The best banana farms are held and worked by Americans and Germans. The ground may be ploughed or not as the planter pleases, but in any event the undergrowth must be kept cut out. The grower receives from fifteen to thirty cents a bunch, at which price the industry is profitable. Yet the northern consumer will pay fifteen to thirty cents a dozen for what the planter gets one or two cents a dozen; indeed, a thirty cent bunch in San Francisco has often been retailed for ten dollars. With the various new industries and methods which will be introduced, the islands will increase in productiveness, their demand meanwhile increasing for products of the United States. American capital is there largely employed in the production of sugar, of which estates there are over sixty. Grain is also cultivated to some extent, and wool-growing is quite an industry. A limited cooperation experiment is being tried in sugar- raising at the islands. Twenty-one white families cultivate 140 acres each, the men receiving $18 a month wages and one- sixth of the profits on what they raise. This will help to prove whether or not white labor can be made profitable in this latitude. If in the mean time statistics are accurately kept, the results will be ready to be given to the scientific world in one or two hundred years. One firm has at its com- mand $25,000,000 of capital for the promotion of the sugar and coffee industries. This firm not only owns and operates large plantations on its own account, but loans money to smaller growers whose pledged product the capitalist secures at his own price. The erection of a central sugar factory in Antigua under government guarantee, for the relief of the West Indian sugar industry, is an indication on the part of England that serious disturbance of the market is expected by reason of important changes in the ownership of sugar 374 THE NEW PACIFIC lands. Increase of Hawaiian products annually exported from 1887 to 1897: sugar, from 212,763,647 to 520,158,232 pounds; wool, from 75,911 to 249,200 pounds; coffee, from 5,300 to 337,158 pounds; rice, decrease, from 13,684,200 to 5,499,499 pounds. Wages of experienced hands and skilled laborers, $15 to $20 a month; plantation labor $8 to $12; domestic servants, $16 to $25; mechanics $2.50 to $4 a day. . Scattered over the eight islands comprising the former Hawaiian republic were in 1896, when the census was taken, 108,366 people; of whom 31,000 were natives; 8,500 half breeds; 24,000 Japanese, whose numbers since then have in- creased; 15,000 Portuguese; 21,600 Chinese; 2,250 English; 1,430 Germans; 3,086 Americans; and of other nations 1,500. The Asiatics work in the sugar-cane; the Portuguese have little farms of no great value in the high lands, and supply Honolulu with flowers and vegetables. Among all these strata of Hawaiian humanity there are not more than 7,000 or 8,000 possible voters, and not more than half of those who can vote care to vote, and but a small proportion of those who would care to exercise the right of suffrage can only vote for one branch of the legislature, a property qualification being re- quired of voters for members of the senate. By annexation, 31,000 native Hawaiians became citizens of the United States. The constitution provides that white persons and those of African descent may become citizens, and no others, and two courts in the United States have decided that an Hawaiian islander is neither white nor black, and therefore cannot be- come a citizen of the American republic. White people re- siding in the islands did not renounce their original national- ity and become Hawaiian citizens, but lived there under a system of denizenship, said denizens having a right to vote and take part in the government. Whatever the cause, the native race is disappearing, nor can its decadence be arrested. When under the reciprocity treaty industrial development increased, it was evident that population must be increased, particularly in the direction of plantation laborers. The matter was taken up by the govern- ment, and 11,000 Portuguese from the Azores were imported. Industrious and thrifty, they rose in time to be teamsters, mechanics, traders, and fruit-growers. In 1896 they numbered 15,191. The Chinese who have come to the islands are of HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC 375 a better class than the Japanese, who still swarm into the country in great numbers. Of the 7,000 Americans, English, Germans, and Norwegians, 2,200 were born at the islands. Cook estimated the population at 300,000, and though guesswork he was not far from right. Both men and women are strong and well built, with features coarse yet pleasing. The Chinese came since then; they now cultivate rice, the grain here being larger and more translucent than in their own country. The natives wear but little, and sometimes no clothing, and the taro root is their staple food. A little grass hut with one room is the typical native home, with dogs, pigs, and lizards scattered about. The family feed with their fingers from a calabash of poi placed on a mat in the middle of the floor. The taboo system was equivalent to a safe-deposit com- pany with two sets of officers, one to watch the other. For it was death to break the taboo of whatever kind, to enter the house or grounds tabooed, to eat tabooed food or wear tabooed clothes, or steal tabooed property. The story of Hawaii, like any tale of barbaric decadence, is soon told. The Hawaiian islanders are of the Malayo-Poly- nesian race, reddish brown skin, raven black hair, broad face, lustrous brown eyes, thin beard, flat nose, and thick lips, the chiefs alone, and their families being tall. When discovered by Captain Cook in 1778 each island had its separate chief. He who ruled Hawaii at that time was succeeded at his death by Kamehameha, who induced Vancouver in 1792 to instruct him in the art of building ships, with which he increased his commerce, and went to war with the chiefs of the other isl- ands, finally conquering them all. The Kamehamehan dynasty, begun by the first of that name, the Casar of Hawaii, the lion-hearted warrior and wise lawgiver, and ended in the degeneration of the race and final union with the United States of America. It was Kamehame- ha II who fought and conquered the other chiefs, and brought the petty principalities of all the islands under his sway. Little is known of this able and arbitrary ruler, who died while on a visit to England in 1819; the remains were brought home in the ship Blonde, Lord Byron, cousin of the poet, commander. Kamehameha III, was a mild and lovable prince, from a Poly- nesian point of view, though somewhat addicted to rum and religion. This good man, as the missionaries called him, died 13 376 THE NEW PACIFIC in 1854, and was succeeded by an adopted son, Prince Alex- ander Liholiho, as Kamehameha IV. He also was renowned for piety and love of rapid living; he was pronounced by the missionaries the prince of good fellows, a nobleman of nature and elect of heaven; he did not live long. This fourth Kam- ehameha was a son of Kekuanoa and the high priestess of the Kamehamehas, and by reason of his superb physique and kingly bearing he was chosen by Kinau, daughter of the first sister of the third Kamehameha, for her husband. And now came a king who knew not the missionaries, and his name was Lot, that is to say Kamehameha V. He was the elder and only surviving brother of his predecessor, and being a stern man with an iron will, on whom the mantle of the first Kamehameha had fallen, he determined to rule for himself, without the aid of the white man, be he missionary or Lawyer Lee, who had framed the liberal constitution of 1852. The new Kamehameha said he would make a constitution for him- self. So he called a convention for that purpose; and when the convention declared that only a legislature could change the constitution, he swore he would be both convention and constitution, and went to ruling accordingly. This man also died and was buried; and here endeth the legitimate line of the Kamehamehas. The next king, the sixth in order of succession, was Lunalilo, son of a high priestess. He made his way by the force of in- difference and love of liquor, had himself promptly proclaimed and his election consummated and confirmed by the legislature then in session, all within the period of ten days. This was in 1873; and it was a work well and quickly done when we con- sider the country and the climate. In or out of his cups, he was a man of wit and probity; he was a bright and shining meteor, going out in darkness and death after a reign of thirteen months. David Kalakaua, as seventh king of all the Hawaiians, comes next; in 1874 he made a tour round the world, reaping a harvest of information and ideas. Meanwhile, during David's reign the foreigners, mostly Americans, already con- trolled the commercial interests of the country, and believing that something better might be had for the government than a native figure-head, they quietly deposed the queen and set up a republic with Sanford B. Doje as president, who applied HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC 377 for the annexation of the islands to the United States, which was consummated in the early part of 1898. Under the native regime the government was an hereditary and constitutional monarchy. A house of nobles, twenty in number, was appointed by the crown, and a house of repre- sentatives, of from 24 to 40 members, was elected biennially. Then came the usual ministers, justices, and petty officials, and a standing army of 60 men. Mixed up between the missionaries and sailors, English, Yankees and the rest, the depopulation of the islands set in and went with a rush. This began about 1820, the English giving their isles of Sandwich a rest of half a century after their loss of Captain Cook. It was about this time that dis- sensions among the natives themselves arose, and in 1826 came the American Captain Jones, who negotiated the first commercial treaty with the Hawaiian king, which though in the main observed was never ratified by the United States. French priests made some trouble there in 1827, as they are doing now in China, but the captain of the United States ship Potomac, who was there in 1827, put things to rights. Under the guns of his ship, the Acteon, Lord Russell negotiated a so- called treaty in 1836. Other visitors were Laplace, in the French ship L'Artimise, in 1839, who forced a treaty of com- merce and religion on the natives, threatening to fire on them in case of refusal; and Lord George Paulet, in the British ship Carysfort, in 1843, who took possession of the islands for his queen, and forced a deed of cession from Kamehameha III. But the matter was not allowed to rest there. The island king appealed to the United States; but long "before the message could reach President Tyler, to whom it was addressed at Washington, Commodore Kearney was there in the United States ship Constellation, protesting against the cession to England, Admiral Thomas, who arrived shortly after in the British ship Dublin, sustaining him; so that the act of Paulet was annulled, and under a signed agreement the Hawaiian flag was restored to its former place. By Webster in 1842, and by Calhoun in 1844, the independence of the islands was recognized, England and France in 1843 agreeing reciprocally "to consider the Sandwich islands as an independent state and never to take possession, either directly or under title of protectorate, or under any form of any part of the territory 378 THE NEW PACIFIC of which they are composed." Notwithstanding which, after certain unreasonable and extortionate demands, the French in 1849 seized the islands; and again in 1851 threatened bom- bardment, but were finally driven away by England and the United States. When King Lunalilo, the last of his race, died in 1874 with- out issue or successor, the legislative assembly, of which ere this the natives had been taught the use, proceeded to elect a sovereign. Two factions, the one of Queen Emma and the other of Kalakaua, appeared as claimants, with threats of vio- lence. Appeal was made to the American minister, who called on two United States warships then in port to preserve order. Marines were also landed from British ships, and peace was preserved. Says Minister Comly: " In the legislative assembly of 1878 a large party of British sympathizers attacked the government severely, and threatened the reciprocity treaty so seriously that I wrote another note of warning and protest to the min- ister of foreign affairs." Secretary Evarts, in August, 1878, writes to Mr Comly: " You will endeavor to disabuse the minds of those who impute to the United States any idea of further projects beyond the present treaty." An insurrection which broke out in July, 1889, by 100 Ha- waiians under two half breeds, Wilcox and Boyd, was sup- pressed by marines from the United States ship Adams. King Kalakaua died in January 1890, and was succeeded by his sister Lilio Liliuokalani, who, owing to her reactionary policy, was deposed in January 1893, and five commissioners were sent to the United States asking annexation. The Washington gov- ernment rejected the proposal, Secretary Blaine writing in December, 1881, " This government firmly believes that the position of the Hawaiian islands as the key to the dominion of the American Pacific demands their benevolent neutrality, to which end it will earnestly cooperate with the native gov- ernment." In December 1887, the British minister at Wash- ington handed the following to the United States secretary of state: " England and France, by the convention of November 28, 1843, are bound to consider the Sandwich islands as an independent state, <>nd never take possession, either directly, or under the title of a protectorate, or any other form, of any part of the territory of which they are composed. The best HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC 379 way to secure this object would, in the opinion of her majesty's government, be that the powers chiefly interested in the trade of the Pacific should join in making a formal declaration simi- lar to that of 1843, above alluded to, and that the United States government should, with England and Germany, guar- antee the neutrality and equal accessibility of the islands, and their harbors to the ships of all nations without preference." Thus the acquisition of Hawaii had been discussed by Ameri- can statesmen for half a century, and the desirability of the measure practically determined. It was understood for the most part in Europe, no less than in Hawaii, that annexation to the United States would be a fate most fortunate for the islands, and certainly of no disadvantage to the American re- public. The United States had no apology to offer the world for the act of annexation. It was a connection unsought for, and not wholly to be desired. Many good men in the United States were opposed to stepping out into the ocean for island domain. On the other hand, as at Cuba, we could not stand by and see a foreign power take possession of the islands. They belong naturally to us, as a strategic outpost if for noth- ing else. They came of their own accord and begged us to take them, and it was not until after due deliberation that we accepted the gift. After the death of Lunalilo, the cry was raised, " Hawaii for the Hawaiians," but there were not enough Hawaiians of the right kind to hold Hawaii. Two candidates appeared at an election called to choose a sovereign, at which Kalakaua received thirty-nine votes and Emma six votes. Emma's re- tainers did not like this, and a riot ensued in which Emma had the worst of it, leaving King Kalakaua to reign in peace, but without much money. One of the arguments used for annexation was that if it was not done there would be a re- volt against the Dole government and an attempt to place Princess Kailulani on the throne. Even after she had lost her kingdom, Princess Kailulani had many suitors for her hand, not all of whom she promised to marry. Princess Kailulani, heir to the throne lost to the Kalakaua dynasty by her aunt Liliuokalani, died on the 6th of March, 1899. Her mother was the princess Miriam, and her father A. S. Gleg- horn, a Scotch merchant. Sanford B. Dole, president of the Hawaiian republic at the 380 THE NEW PACIFIC time of the annexation, and a strong promoter of that measure, was born in the islands of missionary parentage in 1844. He graduated at Williams college, Massachusetts, read law in Bos- ton, and practised his profession at Honolulu, ever sustaining a high reputation for ability and integrity. As each person living his life on this planet has his days of youth and romance, so the people of every land have their Golden Age, at which time life is loveliest and best. Now the Golden Age. of this pearly archipelago was prior to the advent of Kamehameha the Conqueror, when each island had its own king, and there was just fighting enough among them to keep all healthy and happy. Could we go back far enough into the prehistoric ages, we should find that several chieftains once ruled on each island, which made it hot for them at times. Like Peter the Great of Eussia, this first Kamehameha lived for his people, and for people not his as well, that is for the inhabitants of the other isles, whom he made his people, and their lands his country; after which he loved them all as his own; and were they not his own, since he had fairly and honorably appropriated them, and was strong enough to hold them? Few of the natives care who is king or president so long as they have enough to eat; they care not for citizenship, nor do they desire participation in public affairs; if they are left alone and have no taxes to pay they are content. They care little for clothing, and use but little of it. They make huts of grass to live in, or they will dwell in content on the grass without any hut. As a rule taro root and cocoanuts are not difficult to obtain, and with these in plenty they are well off, though mango and bread-fruit are good for a change. On the 2nd of August 1898 Queen Liliuokalani returned to Honolulu, and was received by her people midst chaunts and croonings, and witch-dancing, mingled with tears and low cries of aloha! aloha! Though alas! but an uncrowned woman, she was still queen to the poor and ignorant king- worshippers of her native isle, Hawaii nei! Queen Liliuokalani felt that she should receive remuneration for the loss of her throne and the revenue from the crown lands; but while congress delayed, the members being absorbed as to their reelection, the queen was met with what the gods give their best beloved, death. Much is said, more perhaps than the matter justifies, of the wisdom of taking these islands, and holding them as a territory HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC 381 of the United States. It is not a question of such paramount importance, one way or the other, as certain politicians would have us believe, though it seems clearly to me better for us to have them. The native population need not give us much concern, not more surely than our own savage wards, whom we have caged for the most part in reservations, all there are left of them. Native nations when not wanted have an amiable way of disappearing before a superior race, and the better the treatment, the more they are fed by civilized condiments, the quicker they pass away. Our savages are all gentlemen; like the great lords of Europe, the noble red man of the forest will not work. Kanakas are lazy enough, and will be so as long as obesity is a standard of beauty, but they are not quite so bad as our aboriginals. Hence let us hope they may live longer, and perhaps even yet breed for us policemen and presidents. Senator Hoar of Massachusetts favored annexation perfunc- torily, not because it was of so much importance, as he said but because it was of so little importance. He did not regard it as the initial step toward imperialism, and the annexation of more territory; which position, taken by one of our most able statesmen, was regarded by many as a negative condemnation of the measure. Yet while protesting against what might fol- low annexation, he acquiesced in it, if for no other reason than that our assuming the responsibility of sovereignty over a peo- ple less in number than one of our fourth rate cities was not a question worth so much discussion. If his party, or any party, wanted the islands, they could have them so far as he was concerned. The annexation of Hawaii was an advance in the interests of commerce and of national development. In the message of the executive to congress in December 1897, the policy of the government was clearly defined. The president said: " While consistently disavowing from a very early period any aggressive absorption in regard to the Hawaiian group, a long series of declarations through three-quarters of a century has proclaimed the vital interest of the United States in the inde- pendent life of the islands and their intimate commercial de- pendence upon this country. At the same time it has been repeatedly asserted that in no event could the entity of Ha- waiian statehood cease by the passage of the islands under the domination or influence of another power than the United 383 THE NEW PACIFIC States. Under these circumstances the logic of events required that annexation, heretofore offered, but declined, should in the ripeness of time come about as the natural result of the strengthening ties that bind us to those islands, and be recog- nized by the free will of the Hawaiian state." Annexation being accomplished, certain improvements were deemed desirable; as, for example, the construction of barracks, the laying of a system of telegraphic cables connecting the islands, railways, and other public works. The laws in force in the islands at the time of annexation were to remain valid until superseded by new laws. Five commissioners were ap- pointed by the president to visit the islands and lay before congress a plan for their government. The commissioners were S. M. Cullom and R. K. Hitt of Illinois, John T. Morgan of Alabama, and S. B. Dole and W. F. Frear of the .Hawaiian islands, it having been stipulated in the annexation act that three of the commissioners should belong to the United States and two to the islands. Among other schemes it was suggested that the government of Hawaii should be similar to that of the District of Columbia, a ward of the United States, as it was thought that this system would escape the complications of a territorial government with modified suffrage. A simple territorial form, like Alaska and the others, was finally deemed best. In a preamble to the resolutions of congress providing for annexation is given the offer of the Hawaiian republic to cede all of its sovereignty and absolute title to the government and crown lands. The cession was then accepted by resolution, and the islands declared annexed. The public debt of Hawaii, not to exceed $4,000,000 was assumed; Chinese immigration prohibited; and all treaties with other powers were declared null. At the time of annexation the currency unit of value was the same as in the United States. The islanders made silver and paper money; their gold was all of American mintage. The Hawaiian silver money amounted to $1,000,000; total money in circulation $3,500,000; total revenue, 1896, $2,283,- 070; public debt, $4,101,174. The labor market was reported overstocked; wages about the same as in the United States, except for farm hands, which were lower. The islands import all the necessities of life which they use, except sugar, fruit, HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC 383 and vegetables which they export. Imports $9,000,000; ex- ports $16,000,000, nearly all of which business was done with the United States. Upon the annexation fifty-five vessels, most of them engaged in the interisland trade changed registry. Twenty-four were steamers, four full-rigged ships, ten barks, and seventeen schooners. Most of the interisland transportation was per- formed by two companies with fifteen steamers. There were three railways, the Oahu; the Kahului railway on Maui island; and the Hawaiian, on the island of Hawaii. In 1876 when the reciprocal treaty was made there were twenty-six planters producing annually 20,000,000 pounds of sugar; in 1896 the islands sent to the United States 350,000,- 000 pounds of sugar. The price in the United States was based on the cost of the product from Cuba, Brazil, and the Philip- pine islands, which paid a duty of two cents a pound. Upon the importation of 1896 this would be $7,000,000, which amount was saved to the planters of the Hawaiian islands by reason of the treaty. Hence we were open to grave doubts as to their sincerity when they professed opposition to annexation. So long as the wealthy sugar planters by spending their money could dominate a weak government, indicate the laws they would like made, and have things pretty much their own way they were content, well knowing that under United States government they would have fewer special advantages over others. The effect of annexation on sugar was to increase the pro- duction of cane and limit the cultivation of the sugar beet; but some time would elapse before the new cane-fields attained a high state of cultivation. The economic oppression to which the newly acquired lands have so long been subject, gives as- surance that with the removal of impediments industries of all kinds will greatly expand. As Hawaiian sugar was admitted free into the United States under a reciprocity treaty, the sugar interest opposed annexation, as the cane-fields of Hawaii would then remain permanently within the tariff regulations of the United States. The beet-sugar men desired both to defeat annexation and repeal the reciprocity treaty, that thus no more cane-sugar land might be brought into the union, and no more sugar be admitted free of duty, a policy so selfish as to react on its advocates. 384 THE NEW PACIFIC There were other issues however which might affect unfa- vorably the monopolists who were making rapid fortunes prior to annexation. If there were no duties on sugar, a tax might be imposed, and monopoly rendered less oppressive. Contract labor, such as rules in the islands, is contrary to the labor policy in the United States, and the sugar-growers affirmed that they could make no money without contract labor. Chinese and Japanese labor has been in good supply at $15 a month, the laborer to furnish his own food. These wages were sure to advance under the exclusion laws of the United States. The application of the coasting laws to the trade between Hawaiian and United States ports it was claimed by those interested would prove detrimental to shipping. There was danger that the islands would be flooded with Japanese shortly after annexation, and measures were discussed to stop the influx. Anticipating annexation and labor compli- cations, the planters obtained permits from the Hawaiian gov- ernment to import 6,000 contract Japanese, but the enlarge- ment of the sugar industry was so great that more laborers were required from some quarter. Complaints were made to the Chinese and Japanese consuls that their people were im- posed upon and badly treated by the overseers, and a guarantee was required from the planter's association that these impo- sitions should not continue. Japan, following the lead of civilized nations usual in such cases, made a formal protest against the annexation of Hawaii by the United States, on the ground that the equilibrium of the Pacific powers would be disturbed, the rights of Japanese subjects in the islands imperilled, and payment of the Japanese det>t delayed. Reply was made that the United States would assume no treaty obligations of the Hawaiian government, but had no intention of disturbing friendly relations, and did not believe that there was any thing in the treaty prejudicial to the rights of Japan. There were 25,000 Japanese in Hawaii having property rights and the privilege of citizenship; in case of annexation the former would be respected, but they could not become citizens of the United States, neither directly nor by way of Hawaiian annexation, being Asiatics and neither white nor black. Said the London Graphic, " Japan is likely to defeat her own ends by addressing a bellicose remonstrance to the United States on the subject of Hawaii. The policy HAWAII, THE PEARL OF THE PACIFIC 385 of annexation is not very popular in America, but any attempt at dictation will only be resented, and will strengthen the case for the annexationists by the suggestion of an eventual Japa- nese annexation." The principal journal of Russia, the Novoe Vremya, also entered a non-official protest against annexation, upon the gen- eral principle that the power of the United States must be restricted; more likely, however, because by annexation Russia would lose the opportunity to secure Korea in exchange for assisting Japan to Hawaii. Great Britain however was be- nignant. When Mr Becket in the house of commons asked if this most important coaling station was to be allowed to pass to the United States without protest, Mr Curzon, parliamen- tary secretary for the foreign office replied that England's rights according to international law would be fully maintained, with which retort cavillers were obliged to be content. Until recently Japan allowed none of her subjects to go to the Hawaiian islands except under labor contracts. Then was made a treaty with the Hawaiian government which gave unlimited admission to Japanese, and five lines of steamers were put on between Japan and Honolulu, each making monthly trips, and each steamer bringing to the islands from 200 to 800 Japanese. To check this avalanche, the Hawaiian government passed a law that no person might land without having fifty dollars in his possession. During the insurrection of 1895 arrests of some 200 persons were made by the Hawaiian government, among them being Japanese, some of whom were kept in jail one or two months. For this the Japanese government wanted $200,000, but would take $75,000. Without admitting the justice of the claim, President McTCinley preferred all such matters settled before annexation, and the Hawaiian cabinet ordered the money paid accordingly. When on the 13th of July the steamer Coptic arrived at Honolulu with information that the islands were indeed part of the United States, the inhabitants broke forth in wild ex- citement. Men shouted until they were hoarse; steam whistles were turned on; bands played, guns boomed, fire works were set off, and flags and gay decorations covered the buildings. A silver cup was presented to the captain of the steamer for bringing the news. CHAPTER XVI PHILIPPINE AECHIPELAGO AND ASIATIC ISLES IN 1559 the viceroy of New Spain was ordered by King Philip to send forth an expedition for the temporal and spirit- ual conquest of the Philippines, which was done. With Legaspi and his soldiers were sent " holy guides to unfurl and wave the banners of Christ in the remotest parts of those isl- ands, and drive the devil from the tyrannical possession which he has held for so many ages, usurping to himself the adora- tion of those people". And Christianity after the Spanish fashion has reigned there ever since. The conquest of Malacca, in the Golden Chersonese, by the Portuguese in 1511, gave knowledge of islands of spices which Antonio de Abreo sailed to see. After finding the Moluccas he returned and told Captain Fernan Andrada, who told Francisco Serrano, who visited the Spice islands and fought the pirates. All which coming to the ears of Magellan led to his discovery. After that King Philip, being advised by the viceroy of New Spain and the friar Andres de Urdaneta that the voyage to the Spice islands and Magellan's important dis- covery might be more easily than elsewhere made from the west side of New Spain, ordered equipped, as before mentioned, a fleet for the South sea, in the port of Navidad, the command of which was given to Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, a resident of New Spain, and native of Quipuzcoa. Sailing in 1564 with five ships and 500 men, Legazpi crossed the ocean and anch- ored at Cebu. After subduing this island for Spain, the Spaniards turned to Luzon, and entering Manila bay saw a town on the shore by a river, which was fortified and defended by a chief named Mora. Across the river was another town, whose chief was Matanda, also fortified by stockades and de- fended with bronze cannon. Taking possession May 9, 1571, Legazpi founded the town of Manila. The chiefs found there 386 PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO 387 were called rajas; and prior to the Indian invasion of which they were a mark, the Chinese were masters, and they still sent every year their ships to Manila bay with iron copper and gunpowder, sulphur quicksilver and flour, besides cotton silk and porcelain. The Japanese came also from Nagasaki to trade; and being then more arrogant and less enlightened than now, they haughtily demanded for their emperor suze- rainty over those isles; but the governor, Perez Gomez, hav- ing in 1590 fortified the town, casting cannon and erecting a battery on the point, building also a cathedral and other stone edifices, paid no attention to the high-flying demands of the Japanese. During the seventeenth century war between the Dutch and Spanish raged fiercely even at this distance from home, the Hollanders attacking the Manila fleets to the great damage of the latter. Once a Dutch fleet arrived off Manila bay which might easily have captured the city had the Hollanders known that the governor was ill and unprepared for them. There was a Spanish colony at Formosa which suffered at the hands of the Dutch. In 1662 the Chinese living in Manila were goaded into revolt by the impositions of the Spaniards, who thereupon rose up and slew them to the number of 24,000. In 1762 the British admiral, Cornish, having received instructions to take the city, landed troops and held the place for $4,000,- 000 indemnity, which was but partly paid. Very long ago Antonio de Morga, he who fought the Dutch- man Van Noort off Manila, wrote a history of the Philippine islands, at the end of which he gave some interesting facts regarding the early navigation between New Spain and the Philippines. He says that immediately after the conquest of the islands by Legaspi, Navidad was the port of outfit for westward bound ships from New Spain, and afterward Aca- pulco. The time of departure was usually in February, but not later than the 20th of March, so that the ships would not arrive at the Philippines during the westerly monsoon, which begins there in June. The coast of Mexico being subject to calms, the course pursued by the galleons on leaving Acapulco was southward to latitude 11 or 10 north, where the trade wind is steady and reliable, thence veering back to latitude 13, and then straight to the Ladrones. Along this line the ships would 388 THE NEW PACIFIC sail for seventy days, often times without shifting sail or seeing land. Returning, all was not quite so serene. Leaving Manila with the beginning of the westerly monsoon, they sailed northeast, and even north on meeting the easterly winds, continuing this course until beyond the limits of the trade wind, when they made their way eastward to the American coast as best they could, the time occupied in the east-bound passage being usually five or six months. At the start, as Ad- miral de Morga says, " having gone about 600 leagues from the Philippines, they pass between islands which are seldom seen, and meet with tempests and cold weather in the neigh- borhood of the islands Rica de Oro and Rica de Plata." Says a Spanish pilot at Manila a century or so later: " The navigation from the Philippine island to New Spain not be- ing performed by the general trade wind, but with all winds, there can be no fixed route. But it is always the practice to sail to the north, leaving now as formerly the islands on the right hand. An intermediate port between the Philippines and New Spain would at all times be convenient." It is some- what singular that the Spaniards could sail back and forth every year for 200 years, passing so near the Hawaiian islands both in going and returning, passing them on either side in every voyage, without once seeing this intermediate port which would prove so convenient. It is interesting to read now what was written of the Philip- pines by an Englishman a century and a half ago. " The isl- and of Luconia ", as the author of Anson's Voyage calls Luzon, "though situated in the latitude of 15 north, is esteemed to be in general extremely healthy, and the water that is found upon it is said to be the best in the world. It produces all the fruits of the warm climates, and abounds in a most excellent breed of horses, supposed to be carried thither from Spain. It is well seated for the Indian and Chinese trade, and the bay and port of Manila, which lies on its western side, is perhaps the most remarkable on the whole globe, the bay being a large circular basin, near ten leagues in diameter, great part of it entirely land-locked. On the east side of this bay stands the city of Manila, which is large and populous. The port peculiar to the city is called Cabite, and lies near two leagues to the southward; and in this port all the ships employed for the Acapulco trade are usually stationed." PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO 389 The cargo of the galleons, intended to supply the wants of Mexico and Peru as well as those of Spain, consisted, as an eighteenth century writer declares, of " Spices, all sorts of Chinese silks and manufactures, particularly silk stockings, of which I have heard that no less than 50,000 pair were the usual number shipped in each cargo; vast quantities of Ind- ian stuffs, as callicoes and chints, which are much worn in America, together with other minuter articles, as goldsmith's work, which is principally wrought at the city of Manila it- self by the Chinese; for it is said that there are at least 20,000 Chinese who constantly reside there, either as servants, manu- facturers, or brokers." Although Spain, by the discovery of the Philippine islands, acquired no property in the Spice islands, no sooner was Manila founded than it became the most important city, not only of the Spanish possessions in that quarter, but of all the southeastern isles of Asia, as well as of the coast of China. Communication was soon established with the coast of America, first with Callao, on the coast of Peru, then with Panama, and finally with Mexico, which last was guarded with every aid and restriction, and continued for over a century. Thus for this trade were gathered at Manila from far and near silks and spices, and all the Indian commodities, of which it was soon the chief mart, for the galleons brought back silver for the goods sold at Acapulco, so that Manila and her merchants grew to be exceedingly opulent, greatly to the satisfaction of the court of Spain, under whose special care and consideration was this commerce, which came to be regulated by royal edict. Why in its incipiency the Manila trade took its course to Callao, instead of to some more northern port, was on account of the trade wind which favored that navigation, the voyage of three or four thousand leagues to the coast of Peru being often made in two months, though the return was exceedingly troublesome, and frequently occupied twelve months, particu- larly if the ships attempted, as they did at first, to beat back against the wind that brought them over. Later, shipmasters learned to follow the coast northward to California, before striking out westward across the ocean, and they finally found that the voyage could be made better both ways to and from Acapulco, than to and from either Callao or Panama. Thus from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries this traffic con- 390 .THE NEW PACIFIC 11 tinned, to the great enrichment of Manila, Mexico, and Spain. About the time of Magellan's voyage the southern Philip- pines were visited by the Moros, or Malay pirates from Borneo. Taking possession of Sulu and Basilan, they rapidly spread over the adjacent isles, and finally occupied Mindanao, Balabac, and the southern part of Palawan. They had many sanguinary encounters with the Spaniards, but were never entirely over- come. They were Mohammedans, fierce and bloody-minded, and hated the Spaniards, and above all the Spanish priests, with an intense hatred. Their weapon was the barong, some- what like a butcher's cleaver, more effective in battle than the sixteenth century weapons of the Spaniards. The Moros worked in steel, and their barong was well tempered and highly finished. Until the coming of the second viceroy, Ruis de Velasco, the administration of the Philippines was under the imme- diate direction of the viceroy of Mexico; Velasco, however, found it necessary to appoint a visitador who would reside at the islands for the superintendence of their affairs. The gov- ernor of Manila was president of the audiencia and disposed of all offices, except such as belonged specially to the king's monopolies. Some believed these islands to be the Baruffae of Ptolemy. Magellan called the Philippines the archipelago of San Lazaro. The Portuguese called them Manilhas, being the native name of the principal island, the natives being known as Luzonas. The Carolines were first called the New Philippines. " Ships go to Manila," says Torquemada, "both Spanish and Portu- guese, from all parts of the world, from Macao, Moluccas, Malacca, China, Japan, Borneo, Siam, Patan, Kamchatka, Europe, India, and South America." Commerce with Europe was given, for a consideration, as a monopoly to a company in Spain, while for yet more princely pay the sovereigns gave all the commerce of Manila with Mexico into the hands of the Manila friars as a monopoly. The Ma- lays manufactured earthenware, which went to China, cotton stuff to Mexico; they plaited straw and strips of wood; they made hats, some of them selling as high as $20 each. Finally the Portuguese were driven away, and then no vessels besides Spanish were allowed at Manila except those of the Chinese. PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO 391 One seeing the Philippines a hundred years ago, says that the 1,100 islands were divided into thirty provinces with 627 towns, an aggregate half-civilized population of 3,315,790, and an unknown number of native savages. There were pres- ent 30,000 Chinese. Manila had a population of 150,000, one- tenth of whom were Spaniards and Creoles, and the rest a mongrel intermixture of Mongolians and other Asiatics and Europeans. The city was divided into two sections, the military and the mercantile, the latter a suburb. Lofty walls surround the former, with the sea on one side and on the other a broad plain where the troops were exercised, and where every even- ing the wealthy and indolent Creoles, lazily extended in their carriages, displayed their foreign gowns and breathed the sea air. This was the Champs Elysees of the Indian archipelago. Luzon is broken by volcanic mountains, and is covered by a rich, deep soil, supporting great forests and fine pastures. Here grow to fullest perfection, cotton, coffee, sugar-cane, cacao, indigo, rice, tobacco, abaca or vegetable silk, all kinds of timber, dye-woods, pepper, gums, cocoanuts, rattans, and other products. On the shores are shells, pearls, and nacre, or mother-of-pearl; the sea swarms with excellent fish; in the interior are all kinds of wild beasts and reptiles, from buffalo and deer to crocodiles and snakes. For manufactures there are the metals of the mountains, gold silver and copper, and the products of the valleys, with no lack of skilled and cheap labor, mostly Asiatic artisans, who make cigars, baskets, straw hats, pottery, matting, cloth, silk, rope, and many other articles, besides ship-building, carriage- making, and tanning leather. More than thirty kinds of rice are here cultivated, each having its individual process. Indigo and tobacco are largely raised and manufactured, as well as the other articles named. Wheat is grown, and sugar-making is extensive. It was just fifty years after the death of Magellan that the city of Manila was founded by Legaspi as the capital of Luzon and the Philippine isles, the latter so named from King Philip II. The bay on the shore of which the city stands is 120 miles in circumference, and in monsoons is so unsafe that the larger vessels seek shelter in the port of Cavite. Prior to its capture by the United States, the city, partly walled, had 392 THE NEW PACIFIC its fashionable quarter with two palaces, one for the governor and captain-general, and one for the admiral of the fleet. There were large mercantile houses, a Chinese bazaar, bar- racks, churches, cigar factory covering six acres and employ- ing 10,000 women, stone bridge, suspension bridge, old fort of Santiago, mint, museum, arsenal, university, academy of arts, hospital, public gardens, cafes, convents, monasteries, theatres, and other objects and places of interest. The interiors of several of the 1,400 Philippine isles have never been explored nor their inhabitants subdued. Most of the larger islands are mountainous, and covered with a re- dundant vegetation. Geology points to the whole archipelago as a late upheaval of coral reefs. The minerals present are not everywhere in very great quantities. The flora is Malayan, and there are but few mammals. The buffalo is used for field work; cattle and goats are common. Butterflies are a feature, and alligators and turtles abound. There are three seasons, cold, hot, and wet, the first extending from November to March, the second, continuing on to June, and the third to October. The hot season is very hot, but the cold season is not very cold. Thunder storms command attention, and the typhoon plays periodically among the northern isles. The soil of the Philippines is in places exceedingly rich, and all the Malayan fruits and vegetables are grown in pro- fusion, mangoes, plantains, medlars, sweet-potatoes, ground- nuts, and in the higher altitudes wheat. Rice is extensively cultivated, being the staple food of the natives. The chief commercial products are sugar, coffee, and cocoa, tobacco, and Manila hemp. The negritos, or aboriginal inhabitants, now reduced in numbers, were dark and dwarfish, nearly naked and without fixed habitations, the dog their only domesticated animal; and they lived on fish fruits honey roots and game. Infused with this low humanity at various eras and from various quarters were the Malayan tribes, which brought about the present intermixture. Trade between the Philippines and China and Japan has been extensively carried on from the earliest times of which we have record. But with Spanish American occupation, a break occurred which has never been repaired, owing to the narrow commercial policy of Spain, which diverted nearly all PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO 393 commercial products to Navidad and Acapulco. And even this despotic commerce was strangely restricted, as but a single annual galleon was for a century or more allowed to pass either way between Manila and Acapulco, and that under government supervision, which limited the value of the cargo to a fixed sum. And if this were not enough, further re- strictions were imposed, a monopoly within a monopoly, in the creation of the Royal Company of the Philippines in 1785, the privileges expiring in 1834. Eastern goods for Spain con- tinued in this way to be sent to Acapulco, to be packed on mules through Mexico and reshipped at Vera Cruz until 1764, when the galleons were sent round Cape Horn. Merchandise from Manila and the Spice islands sometimes found its way across the Isthmus from Panama to Portobello, but these ports were reserved for the use principally of Peru, and the other provinces of South America. Permission was in 1809 granted to a company of English merchants to establish a house at Manila, and the same privilege was later given to other nationalities. Prior to 1842 Manila was the only port in the Philippines open to foreign trade, when Cebu was granted the same privilege, other ports being placed in the same category later. Textile fabrics are here manufactured, pina silk, and cotton; also pottery, furniture, musical instru- ments, carriages, ropes, baskets, mats, and hats. On some of the islands horse-raising is a leading pursuit. Besides Malays and Negritos, the Philippines have a mixed population of Paquan negroes, Chinese, and Japanese, with their endless intermixtures. The 250,000 inhabitants of the capital, Manila, on Luzon island, divide themselves into two sections, the official and the commercial, the part of the city occupied by the former being surrounded by a wall, while the latter is a suburb. Along the river are situated the best houses, of plain exterior but within of oriental furnishing, with a profusion of costly Chinese and Japanese ware, and gold silver and silk ornamentations. These homes are of one story, built to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes, with a gallery round them which may be closed with shutters having panels with mother-of-pearl panes, which admit the light but exclude the heat. There are good macadamized roads, with granite sidewalks, and on the riverbank boat-landings and bamboo bath houses. 394 THE NEW PACIFIC In their native state the inhabitants are low in the scale of humanity. Intermixture with foreigners raised them a little in some respects and lowered them in others. The friars found them ignorant and degraded. Schools were established and the rudiments of education given to some of them. A little learning is a dangerous thing. In this instance it bred ambition, a desire in the governed to take part in the govern- ment. The members of the monastic fraternities, some of them their teachers, these Filipinos came to regard as agents of the Spanish government, and many began to hate, and some to persecute them. The church was accused of acquir- ing great wealth, of grinding the people, and avoiding taxa- tion. By absorbing the functions of government and con- trolling commerce, the clergy secured enormous revenues, and became the richest religious fraternity in the world. The rebellion of the natives was directed primarily against the church. From the time that Magellan set out on the religious crusade that cost him his life, religious zeal, diluted largely with avarice, has eaten the people up, Spaniards as well as natives, to a certain extent. The four orders had full swing there, the Augustines coming with Legaspi, and the Domini- cans, Franciscans, and Jesuits following. The archbishop with three suffragans and 400 secular clergy lived in Manila; the regular clergy number 1,200 including missionaries. The priest imposes his tax and rules the village; he is hated by some and feared by others. Serious charges have been brought against the religious orders in the Philippines, both Filipinos and Spaniards de- claring against them. Says Ramon R. Lala, the native Filipino author: " The monks have opposed every attempt at reform. Their policy has ever been the policy of ignorance, knowing that their livelihood depended upon its perpetuation. It has been their aim chiefly to limit public instruction to the mere rudiments of knowledge, giving to every subject a religious bias. Even the colleges and the university of Manila are not free from their narrow supervision, while they have ever main- tained a rigid censorship over the press. None but the most enlightened natives, of course, recognize as yet their spiritual wants or desire a higher moral state, but many of them pri- vately attest their waning belief in the church monopoly of all things temporal in their lives. Still, those that impugn PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO 395 and combat ecclesiastical preponderance are obliged to do so by secret word or in a limited conclave. But the enlighten- ing and invigorating effects incidental to American occupa- tion will inevitably loose their tongues, and rally recruits to their new standard of thought. Of this I hope and expect great results. The present hierarchy costs the government about $800,000 a year. The salaries of the priests range from $500 to $2,500 per annum; but in addition they derive a large income from the sale of masses, indulgences, marriage burial and baptismal fees. The several orders have immense reve- nues from investments in the islands, and in Hongkong. They possess magnificent estates; but notwithstanding their enor- mous wealth they are hard taskmasters, grinding the poor to the paying of the last penny. Their injustice and tyranny have of late aroused bitter complaints, and are a chief cause of the late insurrection; and yet the picture has its lights as well as its shadows. The friars have in many places the con- fidence of the natives, and on the whole surely influence them for the repression of their vicious and brutal instincts. A half-barbarous people can be led only by superstition, and a semi-sacerdotal government is most effective among an ig- norant people. The friar is usually from a lowly family, and is therefore able at once to enter into sympathy with the humble life of the people. He is doctor, architect, engineer, and adviser; in all things truly the father of the community, the representative of the white race and of social order. Such good men and true are to be found. There are, however, many black sheep among them, and the gross immorality of those that should be examples of virtue has been a great im- pediment to the work of the church among thinking natives. There are some Chinese and native friars. The Chinese often adopt Christianity for social or business reasons, or that they may marry the daughter of a native. Contests between the church and state make up a large part of the recent history of the islands. The archbishops, with an exaggerated idea of their own importance, became exceedingly troublesome to the civil power by reason of their excessive claims. This was never more manifest than in the pretended immunity from all state control. Upon one occasion the governor demanded of the archbishop to produce several persons charged with capital and other crimes who had found asylum in a convent- 396 THE NEW PACIFIC The archbishop promptly refused, claiming the prerogatives of sanctuary. The accused not only openly defied the gov- ernor, but armed themselves, intending to resist should he endeavor to apprehend them. The governor, learning this, arrested the archbishop, and confined him and the priests that had been his abettors in prison, charging them with con- spiracy against the government. A horde of Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian friars, forgetting the fierce rival- ries among themselves, joined with a mob of natives, stormed the governors palace. The governor and his son were killed and their bodies horribly mutilated. The archbishop was pro- claimed governor of the colony. On four different occasions the governorship of the colony had been vested in the arch- bishop. Every governor-general who has attempted to intro- duce a liberal policy has been recalled; for the friars' com- bined influence is all powerful. Not even the archbishop has been able to prevail over the corporation of the friars; and if he would retain his seat he must not oppose their traditional prerogatives, nor work for the reform that would mean the decline of the orders. Indeed, only a few years ago, one arch- bishop who had made several ineffectual attempts to correct the abuses in the orders was one morning found dead in his bed. His successors have taken good care to profit by his example." Nokaleda, archbishop of Manila, denied as false the charges made on all sides against the church. The priests had never wronged the people, he said, and as for the large amount of church property held, and its exemption from taxation, the property was the fruits of charity, and as the community were catholics, exemption from taxation wrought no injustice, and was but another form of further giving. Said Archbishop Dosal, of the Philippines, "I earnestly hope the islands will not remain Spanish, because the rebels are now so strong that such a course would inevitably cause appalling bloodshed. The reconquest of the natives is im- possible until after years of the most cruel warfare." He did not wish the islands to become absolutely independent, because it was certain that dissensions would occur which would result in incessant strife, and a lapse into barbarism under the natural indolence of the tropical race. The only hope was that a strong western power would intervene. Delay was dangerous, PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO 397 because the people are intoxicated, vainglorious, and restless. He said it was undeniable that the religious orders must go, because the whole people had determined to abolish them, now that they were able to render their retention impossible. He laid the chief blame upon the Dominicans, Augustines, and Franciscans, the richest orders, and next upon the Benedictines and Capuchins, which are of less importance. The Jesuits the archbishop held comparatively blameless; but the rival orders, he said, quarrel among themselves, intrigue, act unworthily, and slander their opponents, thus increasing their general dis- favor. The provincials, who are approximately equivalent to archdeacons, are mainly responsible. They are utterly beyond the control of the archbishop, who denies possessing power. Archbishop Ireland declared that the church in the islands would conform to the new conditions, coming under the laws which govern the country elsewhere. The personnel of the clergy would remain undisturbed. " The Spanish priests will not be required to retire, for the reason that they, better than any one else, know what is needed under the new conditions, and can bring about a change much more easily than any commission that might be appointed. The clergy in the islands is made up of intelligence and tact. They will attend to their own work and do it well. None of our priests or bishops could speak the language of the people, and would be at a loss to do so as much as the men now at the head of the church. You may be sure that the priests of Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines will be in accord with American ideas and progres- sion, and they will be left to bring about the necessary change in their own way, and it will be the best way." Before the war there were a thousand Spanish priests in the islands, but after the fall of Manila nearly all of them took their departure. They declared they never would return if Spain retained the islands, as the natives were incensed against them, and the Spanish government could not protect them. The Jesuits were expelled some time in the eighteenth century, but were allowed to return, to Manila only, in 1852. There are some rather sensible Filipinos, though few like Ramon Reyes Lala, who thus spoke before the Wellesley club in January, 1899. " The Filipinos are not of a race of irre- pressible savages, a noisy horde of Asiatic cut-throats, unversed in the ways of the Occident, demanding the boon of American 398 THE NEW PACIFIC citizenship. They are rather in many respects a gentle, ductile race, gifted, yet possessed of well-defined limitations. They are Christians, and as such ask for Christian forbearance. They are men, and as such ask for humane treatment. I have seen it stated that in the interior of some of the Philippine provinces are many tribes of irresponsible savage pagans, and cannibals, all whom if the islands were annexed would be a perpetual menace to the integrity of the republic, a persistent problem in the body politic. There are a few such tribes; but they are not the Filipinos; they are the degenerate remnants of the negro aborigines, and are fast dying out. It is not with these you have to deal. Although I believe we have a great future, I cannot disguise to myself the conviction that we are not yet ready for independence. More especially because the Filipinos have not had the preparation for self-government, possessed by the founders of the American republic. And I apprehend that, intoxicated with their new-found liberty, the Filipinos might perpetrate excesses that would prove fatal to the race. I feel this all the more when I consider that the revolutionary leaders, Aguinaldo and his companions, though fervent patriots, do not represent the best classes of my coun- trymen, who almost without exception are for a protectorate, or for annexation. " And it is this, that I too, a Filipino, desire most ardently. Give us an American protectorate, a territorial government; the judiciary, the customs, and the executive in the hands of federal officials; the interior and domestic administration in the hands of the Filipinos themselves. And their self-selected officials will rule understandingly and well, without friction; which would be wholly impossible for alien functionaries, be- gotten of a western civilization." The archbishop of Manila estimates the population of the archipelago at 7,500,000, of which 2,500,000 are christianized natives and Chinese. Four provinces have each a population of over 300,000, namely, Manila 324,367, Batangas 308,110, Cebu 518,032, and Iloilo 500,000. Nine provinces have a pop- ulation of 100,000 or more. Luzon is in area 42,000 square miles, and has a population estimated by some at 5,000,000, among which are several tribes, the Tagals and Ilocanos being conspicuous. Manila is situated on a pear-shaped bay, thirty by twenty-five PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO 399 miles in extent, lying in the foliage of the steep volcanic moun- tains of the coast range. Around it is a low plain, the upper border traversed by streams, one of which, the Pasig river, runs through the city, and serves the purpose of a grand canal, other streams emptying into it. The Pasig river divides the city into old and new Manila, the latter called by the inhabitants Binondo. Old Manila is a fair type of a Spanish colonial walled town. It has the usual picturesque moss-covered fortifications, draw- bridge and porticullis at the gates, a fashionable promenade, the Luneta, along the city wall, and a broad avenue named after Magellan's lieutenant, Legazbi. The low, damp, plaster- less houses with sheet-iron roofs, and for windows translucent sea-shells set in a shutter sliding over a hole in the wall, tend often to emphasize rather than to alleviate the intensity of the hot moist air. On the ground floor of the Filipino's city house is his store or his stable; on the floor above he lives with his pet snakes, which destroy the rats, which would otherwise destroy the house. Binondo, the new city, across the Pasig river from the old city, is the business quarter. Along the river bank are Chinese bazaars, commercial warehouses, and hotels, while scattered up and down the river are the dwellings of the natives. The city stands on ground but one foot above high water. Of the 250,000 inhabitants 50,000 are Chinese and 5,000 Europeans. The old walled town, or city proper, is about one mile square, with narrow streets and low-built heavily buttressed houses, with cloth-covered walls. The earthquakes and typhoons are very destructive. Like the Chinese, the Filipinos become reckless when death is certain; it is not the recklessness of courage so much as the recklessness of despair. Throughout the Spanish war the property of the Manila and Dogipan railway company, owned and operated by Englishmen, was not molested either by natives or Spaniards. Manila is connected with Hongkong by cable and four lines of steamers, and by rail with Pangasinam, the port of entry for the rice-growing district 123 miles distant. The natives have many of the characteristics of the Mexicans, being natural musicians, and skilful artisans, particularly in the manufacture of coarse pottery, musical instruments, furniture and carriages, hats mats and baskets; they are expert at cotton and silk weaving, leather tanning and boat-building. North of Manila 400 THE NEW PACIFIC bay, in Bulaean and Panipanga, are some princely sugar haci- endas, and here and all about the city land is held at a high price. Iloilo, on the island of Panay, with a population of 10,000, ranks next to Manila among the cities of the Philippines. Here under the Spaniards resided a governor, a captain of the port, and other officials. The town takes pride in a cathedral, casa real, seminary, courthouse, and mercantile and manufact- uring establishments. Only one-fifteenth of the archipelago is under cultivation, the system of agriculture being that of small holdings. Eice is still the staple food, though the growth of maize is increasing. The abaca, or Manila hemp, which remains the chief export, is the fibre of a fruitless banana, or a species of the banana pro- ducing small worthless fruit, and requiring for its growth peculiar conditions of soil and climate. During the decade from 1880 to 1890, the export of hemp increased $5,000,000, while the export of sugar decreased $2,000,000, the latter due to injury to crop by locusts, which damaged also indigo and coffee. Capital and principal town in Mindanao, second island in size, is Samboanga, with a good harbor, fort cathedral and hospital, and 7,000 not too intelligent people. Before the war the town had fortnightly steamboat service with Manila. There is another town on the island, which has also two rivers and some lakes, and whose agricultural specialties are cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and timber. On Basilian island is the town of Isabel, 6,000 inhabitants, and a good harbor, with Spanish fort, naval station, and arsenal. Large sums of money have been spent in these islands for defences which are now useless. Panay is a fertile island, well watered by mountain streams, growing rice, sugar, coffee, cotton, tobacco, pepper, and cacao, and supporting a Bisayan population of 900,000, a few Ne- gritos inhabiting the mountains. It has 74 villages and three large towns, Iloilo, Buenavista, and Kapis, the first a free port under the Spanish. Among the richest of the archipelago are the Visayas islands, whence a large part of the business ema- nates. The best coal yet found is in Batan, a small island east of Luzon. In Mindoro are coal deposits, and in the small adja- cent isle of Semarara. Like Mexico, the entire surface of the PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO 401 archipelago seeins impregnated with gold to a greater or less extent. It is for the most part detrital, and is found in paying quantities in and along water courses, as in placer deposits elsewhere. The natives work in the placers with cocoanut pans. Mindanao has some elevated auriferous gravel-beds, well situated for hydraulic mining. Quartz gold is found in abun- dance in the provinces of Camarines and on the island of Panaon. Quartz veins in granite are found at Paracale. North- ern Luzon and Mindanao have extensive copper beds; also the provinces of Lepanto; and Cebu has extensive lead deposits. There is an abundance of iron ore on half a dozen islands. The Sulu archipelago has pearls. Leyte has coal and oil; Biliram, sulphur; Samar, coal and gold; Eomblon, marble; Masbete, coal and copper; Marindugue, lead and silver; and Cataanduanes, Sibuyan, Bohol, and Panaoan, gold. Volcanoes play havoc hereabout, the people working contentedly under the shadow of a smoking cone with as little concern as China- men work in a powder mill. Mayon is as tricky as dynamite, and while it slays its thousands, familiarity with its precincts breeds indifference. Though 208 miles distant from Manila, this mighty belcher has covered the streets of the capital two feet deep with ashes, and buried towns to the depth of 100 feet in lava. The eruption of 1814 caused the loss of 12,000 lives. In the north is the Taal crater, which darkened the sky for eight days in 1754, and cost the lives of 40,000 persons. Sulu island has 100,000 people in 44 villages, among which are four races, if local intermixture can form a race. The Suhis are a fierce piratical people, followers of Mohammed, and not always easy to manage, even by their sultan. Before we could reach the Caroline islands in our work of relieving Spain of her colonies, a revolt occurred, two native kings uniting against the Spaniards. The Spaniards concen- trated their forces at Ponape; they had but 200 poorly armed men, who were unable to withstand a severe attack. Possession was taken of the Ladrone islands for the United States by the steamer Charleston, Captain Glass, on the 21st of June, 1898, no resistance being offered by the Spaniards. The governor-general, his staff, and the entire military force were taken prisoners, and the American flag raised over the ruins of the Spanish fort of Santa Cruz, in the harbor of San Luis d'Apra. The surprise of the Spaniards may be imagined 402 THE NEW PACIFIC in finding themselves so suddenly subjugated, as they had heard nothing of the fall of Manila or of war with the United States. In taking for a coaling-station the only good harbor on the island of Guam, which was also the capital of the group, the harbor facilities for the other islands would be so small that they would scarcely be worth having. So it was argued at the time of this brilliant conquest. The Ladrones, the Carolines, and the Gilbert and Marshall groups comprise Micronesia. The Ladrones, where the natives are nearly extinct, was formerly a penal settlement of Spain. The Caroline group of five high islands, of basaltic formation, are of rare beauty. The natives as first seen were naked, fierce, and elaborately tattooed. The Marshall and Gilbert groups are coral islands, six or eight feet above the sea, growing bread- fruit, the cocoa palm, and pandananas, or screw pine. The question of territory rights, long disputed between European powers, was settled in 1885 by the pope, who gave the Caro- lines to Spain, the Marshall islands to Germany, leaving for England the Gilbert group. CHAPTER XVII RACE PROBLEMS As to the origin of humanity, in its various phases, we know as much as did the babel-builders, and no more. All mankind are so nearly alike anatomically as to suggest a sin- gle first pair for the race, while from such differences as form, features, color of skin, and mode of speech, some have argued autochthonic origin. But while the wisest are still in the dark as to some things, regarding other points affecting the human race the most ordinary observer may speak with con- fidence. Thus we see in hot lands people dark of skin, with never a tropical white man, and never a black man indigenous to high latitudes. Native to the temperate zone is the dusky skin, at least we find it there, as the coppery hued Ameri- can and the yellow Asiatic. On islands and mainland are many apparent intermixtures of black white and yellow. As to the white man proper, Mount Caucasus is not between cancer and Capricorn, and is well removed from both the arc- tic and antarctic. Other things we may know, namely, that while for a time and with care the several races may live anywhere on the globe, unless it be at or near the poles, the white man cannot live and labor permanently in the tropics, though the black man seems to adapt himself well enough to temperate climes. Indeed, of all the tropical races the African negro is the best all-round working man for hot and temperate climates, in so far as of his own accord he will work at all, while of the in- digenes of the temperate zone the Chinaman is the best worker for both hot and cold climates. It is a fact learned by observation, rather than a question for discussion, that the Caucasian cannot live and labor and healthily and properly develop in tropical countries. True, he may dilute his blood 403 404 THE NEW PACIFIC with that of a tropical native, become acclimated, and so get along in a mongrel fashion, but in that case he is no longer a Caucasian. Among the non-workers of the world are the American Indians and the tropical islanders. Anglo-saxons came over and worked the lands now covered by the United States: Spaniards and Portuguese intermixed and bred hybrids to fill the place of working-men in Latin America; while the Scotch fur-traders kept the woods of Canada a game preserve as long as possible, with the lords aboriginal as hunters, protecting them from the influences of civilization for that purpose. When colonization came, the half-breed offspring of the fur- traders made tolerably good agriculturalists. Negro, Indian, and Spaniard perform some tropical labor, as in Cuba and other isles of the Antilles; negro, Malay, and Spanish mixed may be called Filipino, while for the Hawaiian islander, and others of that caste, the Chinese and Japanese together do their work. Another self-evident fact is that certain races under cer- tain conditions tend to disappear, while other races which have thus far come to the knowledge of history, have elected to remain. Thus the American Indian and the tropical isl- ander, the Australian bushman and the South African sav- age, the non-workers of the world, inevitably fade away in the presence of European civilization. Inoculate these savages with foreign blood, and some of the progeny may be pre- served, as in Mexico and Canada, but most of it were better not preserved, as in Hawaii for example. The African seems suited with American life, but by himself in his tropi- cal island republic he is a failure; where lie fattens in the house of the southern planter, an Apache would die of heart or lung disease. It is equally plain to be seen that some races tend to im- prove in culture and refinement while others deteriorate; some are becoming more and more civilized, while others are either yet savages or are stricken in their development by dry-rot. Implanted in the Nahuas and Mayas of Mexico and Central America, and in the Peruvians of South America, was the well-defined germ of an indigenous civilization, which if it had not been crushed by the conquerors would have developed into a culture no less original than wonder- RACE PROBLEMS 405 ful. No where else in America, and in few other places in the world, was there any such manifestation. Some of the questions which may be asked, and not all of them difficult to answer, are: Is there any one race, or stock, of humanity of proved and pronounced superiority to all others? If so is it well, or otherwise, to cultivate and breed from that stock for the world's coming humanity, so far as practicable, in preference to the propagation of poorer stock? The fittest survive, we are told; if this be true, to what extent, if any, is it right and proper for us to aid in the carrying out of this law of God and Nature? In how far is it wise and legitimate to encourage the fittest and discourage the unfittest to survive? Cannot enough of the best humanity be bred to allow us to dispense altogether with the inferior article? Is it not cheaper to grow all good men than to try to make over the bad? Our pilgrim fathers acted upon this principle, they and their successors; the Ind- ian is all bad, they said, except when he is dead; and so they killed him. We of to-day have undertaken a more difficult task, which is to whitewash Africans, Asiatics, and mongrel breeds with European civilization. Some of the white may adhere, but the duskiness is always sure to show through. " It is the duty of civilized nations to take charge of the bar- barians and give them a white man's government ", said Cecil Rhodes. " The United States is one of the great powers, and cannot escape this duty." Why is it our duty, can Mr Rhodes tell, when we can be better employed in making bet- ter men? We cannot convey our higher ideals of life to people of lower development, without having with us the power to en- force; for it is the nature alike of all, whether of high or low degree, without the influence of environment to sink to lower levels, and with or without the aid of environment, it is better always to grow plants and animals -from the best stock. There are few who question the innate superiority of white men over those of the various shades which distinguish all others from the Aryan race. History clearly shows that from the first the white man has dominated the world, and at no period more completely than now. It makes no difference liberating the enslaved or educating the ignorant; it makes no difference the examples of men or nations that have, risen 406 THE NEW PACIFIC and displayed marked abilities; the one fact proves all, that there is not now and never has been on the earth a people civ- ilized, or half or quarter civilized, with a very dark skin that has risen to strength or prominence in the direction of mili- tary prestige or good government. Though the earlier civ- ilizations sprang up where the conditions of life were most favorable, that is to say in tropical regions, whose inhabi- tants are usually but not always dark of skin, they were in the old world of Aryan stock, and white. The others, like the Arabians, Egyptians, and Carthaginians, did not remain. The Aztecs and Peruvians of the American aboriginal civili- zations, and occupying the tropical table lands of North and South America, were for the most part white, or nearly so, white, while the savage inhabitants of the surrounding low- lands, their subjects and slaves, were dark, some of them quite black. Not that the quality of mind and morals is necessarily governed by the color of the skin; but the fact re- mains that the white peoples always have been and are now the rulers and regulators of the world. In every aboriginal nation there is present either native endurance, or the elements of decay in the presence of supe- rior civilization. The Aztecs and Peruvians, themselves civ- ilized, many of them as much so as their conquerors, declined to disappear before the Spaniards, and the greatest modern as well as ancient statesmen and poets of Mexico and South America have been native Indians. In the north, being of a hardy race, and held aloof from contact with civilization that they might the better hunt, many of the natives remain as Indians or half breeds. The aborigines of the United States had the grace to die; those of them who were not killed by emigrants and gold-hunters, and so saved themselves ex- termination in other forms. The 300,000 estimated Ha- waiian islanders seen by Cook diminished under kind treat- ment to 30,000, and their final extinction is only a question of time. On the other hand, European civilization trans- planted to America in the form of Anglo-saxon stock, not only lives and thrives, but exercises a retroactive influence on the mother country. The seeds of intellectual and political liberty from the New World, scattered abroad about Europe, are beginning to take root in places and bear fruit. And finally, in literature, art, manufactures, and commerce the RACE PROBLEMS 407 United States is fast outstripping the foremost nations of Europe. For a people of low social development to occupy places favored by situation soil and climate is obviously a disadvan- tage to neighboring nations. On all the shores of the Pacific are conditions favorable to development equal or superior to the lands surrounding the Atlantic. Now, if in the place of a long line of Asiatics on one side, and a long line of Spanish Americans on the other, we had all around the Pacific Euro- pean and American Anglo-saxons, what would not the differ- ence be worth to the Anglo-saxons at present in North Amer- ica and Australia? In Portuguese and Spanish America the races of low degree left to self-government present a dismal spectacle. Take for example Brazil, larger in area than the United States, and on the whole with richer lands. Occupied by Europeans a cen- tury before Massachusetts was settled, it has now a mixed population of Indians and negroes, with a sprinkling of Eu- ropeans, in all some fifteen millions. And this after an abor- tive effort to colonize this part of the tropics with some of the fairly good material of Europe, Swiss German Austrian and Italian immigrants. The spirit of industrialism is overspreading the world to such an extent that nations of the higher development will not acknowledge the rights of any people to possess desirable regions of the earth without making a proper use of them. Whenever general development comes, in the various coun- tries round the waters of the Pacific, it will not be by the energy or intelligence or organizing ability of Asiatics or Spanish Americans. The Malay and Latin races have been on the ground long enough already to have accomplished something if they had any such intentions. Neither will it be by the Russians, though the Muscovite is making rapid railway strides through Siberia to the Pacific, and is getting a good hold for the strangulation of China. Germany may accomplish something, but Germany will lack unity of pur- pose, and never acquire a dominating influence on these shores. It is by the Anglo-saxons, men originally from Eng- land but now residents of the United States, of Canada and Australia, who are destined to dominate in these waters, po- litically and industrially. In many of their war practices 14 408 THE NEW PACIFIC the Spaniards still retain barbarous ideas. Given to lying and trickery as a profession, their lack of honor is all the more conspicuous by reason of their protestations of honor. No faith is to be put in any promise; prisoners of war may be shot or hanged or tortured according to the pleasure of the commanding officer. Honor is satisfied by fighting and be- ing beaten, and suicide is the remedy for sorrow. Juan Lazaga, captain of the Almirante Oquendo, killed himself after the battle of Santiago. How did that help matters? And should we regard it as a brave or a cowardly act? The Anglo-saxon race dominates the Pacific as it domi- nates the world. A decade ago Dilke remarked, in his Prob- lems of Greater Britain, " I desire to call attention to the im- perial position of our race as compared with the situation of the other peoples, and, although the official positions of the British empire and of the United States may be so distinct as to be sometimes antagonistic, the peoples themselves are, not only in race and language but in laws and religion and in many matters of feeling, essentially one." If this was the case then, how much more so is it now. The political mind of Europe seeks occupation for itself, and exercise for that vast body of civil and military men who keep in motion the machinery necessary to the existence of the several governments. The eighteenth century saw much fighting with meagre results, so far as western Europe was concerned. The nineteenth century saw a large part of the world partitioned among these powers. Most important of all to the governed are the elementary functions of govern- ment, the protection of life and property, in the accomplish- ment of which England with all her colonial and imperial enterprises has been more successful than any other nation. It is an instinct in the Anglo-saxon race, in which the people of the United States participate, the maintenance of order and law, and the administering of fair play and justice to the governed. If properly administered by a wise and powerful home government, colonies are no more a source of weakness than any other form of wealth or extension. If England can manage an empire of 400,000,000 people, scattered the world over, with 200,000 men, surely the United States should find no difficulty in governing 100,000,000 with 100,000 men. Conspicuous in the Anglo-saxon race are individual truth- RACE PKOBLEMS 409 fulness and nonesty; energy, good sense, courage, and national integrity, with an impatience for insincerity and trickery in diplomacy, particularly that kind of jockeying which conti- nental statesmanship has so long considered essential. As a race study, let a fair comparison be made with other nations. Take for example the French. No better illustration can be found of the quality of manhood of the Latin race acting under pressure of danger, than in the destruction of the French steam- ship La Bourgogne on the morning of the 4th of July, 1898, en route from New York for Havre. In a dense fog, she was struck by the British steamer Cromartyshire, and sank in half an hour. If the officers and crew had done their duty, most of the passengers would have been saved. The steerage was filled with Italians, who with the French seamen fought for places in the boats, and on rafts, with knives and pistols, kill- ing or clubbing off all who opposed them, or were in their way, men women and children alike. That only one woman was saved is but another exemplification of the despicable man- hood of the Latin race similar to that displayed at the con- flagration at the city bazaar in Paris. Will any one for a moment maintain that it would be possible for an American or British crew, or band of emigrants, to have so behaved under like circumstances? Compare this conduct with that of the passengers and crew of the California steamer Central America, which foundered on the way from Aspinwall to New York in 1853. There were 1,500 passengers on board, and the ship was one of those old worn out vessels condemned as unseaworthy, but set up under another name by those merchant princes of New York, along in the fifties, to lure Californians to their death. As usual on those steamers, there were not boats enough to carry one-fifth of the passengers. These passengers as I have said were all home-returning Californians, a name synonymous in those days with everything noble and chivalrous. These men thus doomed to a watery grave stood quietly by while the boats were being made ready; then they fell back to form a passage-way for women and children, who were carefully helped into the boats, the men standing silently on the deck, and going down to their death without a murmur. In justice to the officers of the Bourgogne let it be said that they went down with their ship, but whether from choice or necessity has never been told. 410 THE NEW PACIFIC Their men however, and the Italian emigrants behaved like demons. The 20,000,000 population of Mexico is made up of mixed Indian European and African races, the differences between the wild tribes of the borders and the civilized nations of the table-land being as marked as that between the Aztecs and Mayas and the Europeans. As a rule the natives, though treated with severity by the Spaniards whenever disobedience to church or state was manifest, were not swept from the land by slaughter and disease as in the United States, but were saved to serve as laborers, as Spaniards do not like labor, while Americans prefer to do their own work rather than try to get it out of an Indian. As many of these Mexican aborigines were in no wise inferior, either in physical or mental characteristics, to the Spaniards, intermarriage was common, and endless race intermixtures followed, chief among which is that of the Indian and white man, called mestizo, and comprising one-fourth of the population. There are yet remaining many natives of pure blood, particularly in the back districts, but not so many ne- groes or Spaniards. The latter became acclimated in Mexico, because the capital of the republic, and the best cities, and the best people are on the high healthy table-land, which in cli- mate is indeed not tropical. In the Philippines, where the in- terior is yet wild forest, and the cities are on the shore, Euro- peans, Spaniards even, do not as a rule reside there for more than five years. More than sixty years ago, while yet the dreamy slumber of primeval ages rested on the waters and shores of the Pacific, Richard H. Dana writes, " Nothing but the character of the people prevents Monterey from becoming a great town. The soil is as rich as man could wish; climate as good as any in the world; water abundant, and situation extremely beautiful." So might we say of the whole region round the Pacific, nothing but the character of the people prevents it from being the world's centre of industry and empire. California, during the last half century, has given employ- ment to from 50,000 to 150,000 Chinese, in cigar and other manufactures, and as household servants, launderers, vegetable vendors, miners, fruit-pickers, and shop-keepers, at from $18 to $30 a month wages. As a rule they earned the money, some of which went to China, but always an equivalent for it was left in this country. In San Francisco's Chinatown may be RACE PROBLEMS 411 seen along wide and well paved streets, mercantile houses, shops, manufactories, restaurants, theatres, joss-houses, all for the most part clean and respectable. Again, and elsewhere, in bad-smelling alleys may be seen opium and gambling dens, places of prostitution, meat and other shops, all as vile and filthy as can be found in Paris, London, or New York. It is customary for Chinese emigrating in any numbers to form themselves into one or more associations for mutual help com- fort and protection. Membership is voluntary, subscriptions to benevolent objects optional, and officers elective. They have a hall for meetings, and a temple for worship. They usually settle their own differences and take care of their own sick. Since early times there have been in San Francisco six of such associations, known as the Six Companies, and often uniting their strength and influence in some common cause. As a rule the Chinese men in California are free and independent, while the Chinese women are mainly prostitutes and slaves. There must be some strong incentive for the Chinese people to leave their homes to dwell in distant lands, when they have to encounter so many obstacles, and their dead body to be returned to rest in peace and be received into the eternity of the just. Why? For centuries they have been on the move, crowding the islands around them, then the neighboring con- tinents, and finally all the world within their reach, and almost everywhere unwelcome. Is it altogether to get money, that they brave the dangers of the deep, suffer hardships and un- dergo insults? No, it is partly because of dissatisfaction at home. They have no great love of country while living; it is only when dead that the soil becomes precious, and because their ancestors lie buried there. That the coolies are for the most part ill-treated, cheated, and in every way imposed upon, has little to do with it. Thou- sands die unpaid, the contractors pocketing the 'proceeds of their labor. The better class become independent as cooks and artisans, and do not care for their native land except to lay their bones in it for the more complete mollification of the malicious gods. Like most of those who leave their homes, in the main they would be better off in their own country if they knew how properly to live and behave. Why do the Irish leave the emerald isle they love so well? Not for gain entirely, but partly because of innate restlessness, 412 THE NEW PACIFIC a dissatisfaction with present conditions, and chronic pugna- ciousness; they delight in fighting fate and ruling a republic. The Irishman feels that he is the equal of any man and the superior of most men, as good as the best, or a little better; the Chinaman is thankful to find a place on earth where he may be considered a man at all. Whatever may be said of China and the Chinese government, it must be admitted that more people inhabiting a large area have been there held together for a longer time than any where else. And never was colonization carried so far as by the Chi- nese of the present day. They have a colony in nearly every city in Christendom and heathendom. In every commonwealth they set up their imperium in imperio, with all their idolatries and immoralities, slavery, polygamy, joss-houses, and theatres; opium, gambling, and prostitution dens. True, all nations have the same or parallel vices in equal degree, but they are different; we love our own abominations, and have no respect for those of others. Their laws are perfect, fit for the regulation of heaven, they say; and their government patriarchal, but they have no re- spect for woman; their gods are not lovable beings, but rather demons to be feared. Their politics, religion, and rules of life are all too abstract to be worshipful. They are deceitful and cunning, nowhere more so than in cheating their gods and the government, by spending their lives abroad for their temporal welfare, and burying their bodies at home for the better repose of their souls. Human nature nowhere is made up of more opposite charac- teristics than among these Asiatics. Though by instinct and rearing they are timid, and up to a certain point cowardly, pressed beyond that point they are reckless of danger and indifferent to life. So with regard to money; naturally avari- cious and penurious, certain barriers broken and no people are more venturesome or lavish of expenditure. Hence we must conclude that they are really no more avaricious or cowardly than others. If history may be believed, and I know not why Chinese history should not be accredited as fully as that of Homer, or of the Egyptians, or of the Jews the colonies were estab- lished at Borneo and elsewhere under the Chow dynasty in 1100 B C, and subsequently. The Portuguese, and indeed the RACE PROBLEMS 413 first Europeans at Malacca, Penang, Singapore, and all the important islands of eastern Asia and Oceanica, found there before them Chinese colonies. The modern coolie traffic in origin and operation is not un- like the old African slave trade, beginning in lies and deceit, followed by kidnapping, man-stealing, and man-buying, and ending in enforced labor, abject misery, degradation, and death. Often they are driven from their country by the impositions of rulers, the tyranny of the police, low wages, excessive taxes, poor returns of land, or by such poverty that they have to sell a wife or child for the means with which to leave the country. Ill treated and imposed upon as they are abroad, it is often worse for them at home, so that those who return from Cali- fornia to China to look after their wives children and parents, always come back to California if they can. After all Cali- fornia is the Chinaman's paradise. He is not. badly treated there now; he gets good wages, and through his lawyer can have his rights respected. For seven dollars the emigrating Chinaman can obtain in- surance of return of body and burial in China. The first band of Chinese that entered the California gold-diggings created a sensation. With hoots and wild halloo, half in fun and half in earnest, the miners formed a ring around them, and exe- cuted a war-dance, at once declamatory and admonitory. There- after they were kicked, cuffed, or let alone by legislature and people according to time and temper. Droves of Chinamen were brought over to work on the Central Pacific railroad, and did well. When contract laborers are wanted, circulars are issued in certain districts of China, the following specimens being among the least untruthful, the first issued in 1862, the second in 1868, and the third in 1870. !< To the countrymen of Ah Lung. Laborers are wanted in the land of California. Great works to be done there, good houses, plenty of food. You will get $20 a month and good treatment. Passage money required $45. I will lend the money on good security, but I cannot take your wife or child in pay. Come to Hongkong, and I will care for you until the ship sails. The ship is good. Ah Lung." " Great pay; such as would be rich and favored by Shan; come to me for ticket to America. Shoo Ming." 414 THE NEW PACIFIC " China colony for Mexico. All get rich there, have land. Make first year $400; next year $1,000. Have quick more money than mandarins. Plenty good rice and vegetables cheap. Nice ship, no sickness, plenty of room. Clang Wo." Seeing which alluring offers, the staid celestial straightway consults his gods, mortgages his wife, and sets out to seek his fortune, with little money but with half a dozen protecting deities in his pockets. The word coolie is properly applied to an Asiatic laborer not of the artisan class, but restricted in its use more particu- larly to the field hands of India and China. The system which collects these laborers, conveys them to distant lands, and sells their services, is too often but slavery under another name. At the same time, fairly administered it may be of great benefit to all concerned. Tropical plantations cannot be worked by white men, and free negroes will not work there; hence the coolie system, which supplies laborers to industries that other- wise could not be carried on. Cruelties have been practised in this traffic, resulting in the death of many, whether or not in the interests of mankind let the world judge. Yet there is such a thing as honest dealing in contract labor. The Chinese coolie at the same wage is cheaper and better than natives of India. The people of north China are stronger and more en- during than those of the south. Bice and vegetables are the ordinary food of the laborer at home, with sometimes a little fish and meat. Wages are from ten cents a day up, nine hours being regulation time. They are good workers, and display much native aptness and skill. They are best regulated in guilds; they understand the theory and practice of strikes to perfection. At home, two-thirds of the people are engaged in agriculture and fisheries; the remainder of the industrial class are manufacturers, merchants, and artisans. So over- populated are certain sections that some of the inhabitants must move away or live in boats. They go to the outlying re- gions, to Mongolia and Manchuria, as well as to distant parts, America and Australia, also to the islands of the tropics, as the Philippines and Hawaii. Illogical as the attitude may be, we keep on battering at the Chinese walls of exclusiveness while closing our gates to the admission of the subjects of China. The tyranny of labor, or rather of laziness, is nowhere more manifest than in the RACE PROBLEMS 415 expulsion of the Chinese, who will do more and better work at the wages they receive than any other people in the world. China is derided because her laborers work so well and so cheaply, and because of the exclusiveness of which America is beginning to pride herself. The Chinese were driven from the United States at the instigation of Irish voters, who claimed the right to all the dirty work in America, and which they were anxious to do only at exorbitant wages. The Americans by the introduction of machinery into China are doing the Chinese laborers ten times the injury that the Chinese ever did the American laborers, and scarcely a word of complaint. The placing of American steamers on the Yangtse river threw out of employment 100,000 junk men, while the introduction of several hundred foreigners into civil service wrought in- finitely greater hardship to the employes of government there, than ever could possibly come from Chinese interference in American politics. "It was not the act of exclusion" said Li Hung Chang, " so much as the manner of it, that we object to. Its passage, in violation of previous stipulations was bad faith, and none the less exasperating because of the new treaty then under con- sideration, in which China took the initiative by agreeing to stop emigration. The oppressions to which our laborers are subjected come from the government, and a government which enacts iniquity is no government." It was a somewhat pathetic plea Admiral Dewey was forced to make for his good Chinamen, when he asked the United States to reward them with citizenship for fighting our battles. The nation needed their services when he filled vacancies in his crews with them in Chinese waters. They served faithfully, were efficient and obedient in service, active and brave in battle, and freely risked their lives in our cause. To turn them from our shores to suffer decapitation at home for enlisting in for- eign service, seemed to the hero of Manila unjust. " They will hardly obtain citizenship on the Pacific coast," said a Boston journalist. " They can have it, however, if they will come to Massachusetts; we have had Chinese voting here for many years, and have never been at all disturbed at its exercise." It is better in every way to be on friendly terms with the Chinese, as well as with all other peoples; .it is difficult to seek their alliance or enjoy liberal or profitable industrial rela- 416 THE HEW PACIFIC tions with* them with free access to their country while ex- cluding them from ours. Or, if it be best to exclude labor, why discriminate against the Chinese? The question of Chinese expulsion in the British colonies becomes somewhat involved in consideration of the fact that certain Chinese are British subjects, as in Hongkong colony, and those settled in the Straits, who for several generations have been British subjects by descent. In the Malay peninsula, in the Dutch Indies, and in Borneo, the Chinese are among the most intelligent and public-spirited citizens. Whatever the teachings of economics, it does not appear the best way to employ inferior labor at a higher wage in order to produce the best article to be sold for the least money. " I see no reason/' says Dilke, " to protest against the desire of the Americans and of the Australian and Canadian colonists to exclude the poorest form of foreign labour, provided that it be done by general laws." In other words, the absurdity of Chinese expulsion presents itself in full force only when less desirable people are admitted to the highest privileges. Following the examples of California and Australia, the legislature of British Columbia passed resolutions asking the Canadian parliament to prohibit the immigration of Chinese, as was the law in the United States. This Canada refused to do, but established a license fee upon payment of which the Chinese might enter the dominion. " Impartial testimony from Canada " says Dilke, " shows that the Chinese are not only a hard-working, but a quiet and an honest people." From the white laborer's point of view the presence of the Asiatic laborer is altogether undesirable. The Chinaman is a good workman, persevering, uncomplaining, quick to learn, skilful as an artisan, and with few requirements. Hence he sadly interferes with those who want higher pay for less work. His standard of comfort is low. The white workman wants a home, family, high wages and short hours, that time may be had for enjoyment. The Chinese are in many respects a supe- rior people, but they harbor old and deep rooted traditions not beneficial to European progress. Manufactures must suffer, consumers must pay, but the white laborer and artisan are undoubtedly benefited. Indeed, the same line of argument would have held good a hundred years ago in regard to the expulsion of those who RACE PROBLEMS 417 would now expel others. And in truth the proper time for expulsion in the United States would have been when the rabble from Europe first began to come in. Had this been done, and with low Africans and Asiatics low Europeans had been denied admittance, the great American republic would now be composed of quite a different class of people. In British tropical colonies the Chinese are highly esteemed. The British North Borneo company assure us that " the Chinese make excellent citizens, always at work." They work on the pepper plantations of Singapore, notwithstanding that the tigers man- age to catch and eat them at the rate of one a day. The mer- chants in the city dress like the coolies, in loose white smock and colored trousers, but the cloth is of finer quality. The soil of Borneo and adjacent isles is very rich, producing a redundant vegetation, conspicuous among which and most highly prized is the sago tree. Here live the elephant and the orang-outang, with all their usual tropical associates. The royal tiger and panther terrorize Java, and the one-horned rhinoceros is occasionally seen. Australia officially declares the Chinese " an alien race, in- capable of assimilation in the body politic, strangers to our civilization, out of sympathy with our aspirations, and unfitted for our free institutions." Would it not be better for us if all this were true in regard to the refuse population of Europe, and the African slaves, which we have absorbed into the life blood of our nation? Says Dilke in Problems of Greater Britain, " In most of the colonies the anti-Chinese* legislation applies only to the Chinese race, and cases have occurred where steam- ers have reached colonial ports with Japanese crews and Chinese cooks and stewards, and sometimes Chinese quarter-masters, and the Japanese have been able to take their run ashore while the Chinese were penned up on board. Some years ago there was a seaman's strike in the Australian colonies, directed against the employment of Chinese by the steamship lines. The Australian Steam Navigation company argued with the representatives of white labor that, as the company was extend- ing its trade into tropical climates, it must at least have Asiatic labor in the engine-rooms; and the men ultimately accepted an agreement that the Chinese should only be employed in subordinate and accessory positions, such as those of stokers, while the total number employed in the company's fleet was 418 THE NEW PACIFIC to be reduced from 180 to 130 in three months. The Austral- ian Navigation company has recently sold the boats with regard to which the strike occurred to a new firm, the Australasia United Steam Navigation company, which undertakes still more tropical trade, and which seems likely also to have diffi- culties at the port of Sydney. The seamen's unions of Victoria and New South Wales have compelled the ships trading to China and back to forego trade between intercolonial ports when they are manned by Chinese crews, and they have at- tacked the Peninsular and Oriental company for the employ- ment of lascars; and the employment of lascars by the British India company has been partly stopped by the boycotting of their ships. Australians are tempted by the difficulties of their local labour problem to forget the need in which the empire may one day stand of the Chinese alliance in eastern Asia, and we in the old country, who see, perhaps more clearly than they can be expected to perceive, that the future mastery of the world lies between the British, the Eussian, and the Chinese races, may be pardoned for attaching more importance than do colonists to good relations between Great Britain and the Chi- nese empire. China, which fought France not long ago upon a point of honour, and which obtained in our time from Russia, without fighting, a province which Russia had long adminis- tered, is a power well able to hold her own; and if we bear in mind the incredible numbers of her population, and the ability of her rulers, we can feel little doubt that the value of her alliance with* ourselves in the future must increase each day. An alliance in Asia between China and Great Britain would form a true league of peace." The laws or treaties of England regarding Chinese immi- gration, or any other unpopular issue have no more weight in the colonies than federal regulations in the states. Said the colonial prime minister, Sir Henry Parkes, in the assembly of New South Wales, when accused of disobeying the law, " I care nothing about your cobweb of technical law; I am obeying a law far superior to any law which issued these per- mits, namely the law of the preservation of society of New South Wales." Mr Gillies, prime minister of Victoria, in- formed Lord Salisbury that the colonies would not be bound by treaties made by the home government respecting Chinese immigration to the colonies in which the colonies had no voice. RACE PROBLEMS 419 For all that, too many foreigners of any kind are no longer specially desired in the United States, whether as scavengers, policemen, or titled heiress-hunters. As for the Chinese, they are as good as any, and better than most. They have, like the Irish, strong staying qualities. Were they permit- ted to fasten themselves on us in unlimited numbers, the character of the community would become changed, just as it has been and is being changed by the Europeans. In British Columbia, white miners and artisans utilize the labor of the Asiatic to a greater extent than in the United States, where they are driven from mines and workshops. That the Chinese if freely admitted will possess and denat- uralize America, we need no more fear than that the African, or Irish, or Italians, or Mexican, if freely admitted will pos- sess and denaturalize America. We are a hundred millions, almost, of good strong Americans; if all China should come here, leaving not a man at home, they would be only four to our one, and we could take care of ourselves. There are several places round the Pacific where the Mon- golian may yet find refuge, to his own advantage and to the advantage of the land he inhabits, or such of them as he may be able to inhabit. Besides the Asiatic and South sea shores and isles, in which no white man can live and labor, there are the malarious coasts of equatorial America, and even the in- terior lands, of which the Spanish-Americans have made so poor a use, would be none the worse by having some thor- ough work done on them. Enterprising Koreans have a fancy for Siberia, quite large settlements having been made in Russian Manchuria, where they excel both the Chinese and Russians in business and in- dustrial pursuits. Those who lived there before 1884 have rights as Russian subjects. But now the Russians require all the good land near the railway for their own people, and the Koreans are denied further ingress. The Korean colonists are lightly taxed, and have the regulation of their own affairs to a great extent. Formosa was peopled aboriginally by Malays and Mongoli- ans, Chinese from the adjacent continent, and Malays from southern parts. The Chinese are dominant, and the popula- tion is of all ethnological grades, from half to wholly savage. The continental Chinese call all the islanders barbarians, 420 THE NEW PACIFIC whether savage or civilized. The Japanese, who are now masters, are filling the island with their own prolific hordes, to the evident discomfort of the aboriginal Chinese. In the mountainous regions of Formosa are aboriginal tribes that have never been subdued by the Chinese from the mainland, and who are as wild now as they were a thousand years ago. Chihoans, raw barbarians, the Chinese call them, while of the conquered tribes the most important are the Pepohoans, who cultivate rice extensively on the Kaptsulan plains which lie along the eastern seaboard. Here were once thirty-six vil- lages of simple thriftless folk, until the aggressive Chinese forced them to reclaim new rice fields from the more distant jungles of the foothills. Siberia in time will receive large accessions to her popula- tion from China, particularly when systems of railways are more fully developed in both countries. The result of thus transferring to virgin regions the hardy toilers from well- worn lands would be difficult to foresee. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, writing for France, remarks, " At the beginning of the twentieth century Russia will have 120,000,000 of prolific inhabitants occupying enormous spaces; 60,000,000 of Germans, supported by 30,000,000 of Austrians, will dominate central Europe; 120,000,000 of Anglo-saxons will occupy the finest countries in the world, and will all but impose on civilized man their tongue, which is already dominant at this day in territories inhabited by more than 300,000,000 of men. Place by these great peoples the Chinese empire, which by that time without doubt will recover a new life. By the side of these giants what will be France? " Says Charles Carleton Coffin in Our New Way round the World, " The Celt just over from Ireland, with the ink scarcely dry upon his naturalization papers, proposes to shut out the more industrious Asiatic from all chance of employ- ment in this country; and partisan politicians, devoid of all sense of honor and justice, and comprehending nothing of the true principles of democratic economy, pass laws which are a disgrace to our country. The people of California and Oregon may hang their heads in shame when they contrast their treatment of the Chinese with that which Americans receive in China. Their persecution of the Asiatics demands RACE PROBLEMS 421 the reprobation of the nation. That the government and the people of China are moving slowly along the path of prog- ress cannot be doubted, yet it will take a long while to over- come the inertia of the mighty mass. It would not be strange if the reactionary party should yet succeed in ob- structing the onward movement. There are men in China, as there are in California, who would like to see all foreigners swept into the sea. People who have been thrown out of em- ployment by the introduction of steamboats are restless; man- darins who see their power departing are ready to stir up discontent. There cannot be a social revolution without a dis- turbance of elements, and it will be contrary to the experi- ence of all history if China is an exception." Yet California is not the only place in the United States where the Chinese are badly treated. They are nowhere specially desired. As for race specialties, New York nourishes the Irish, while Boston is too much in love with the black man to have much consideration for the yellow one just at present. The Russians in Siberia at first employed convict labor from the penal settlement of Saghalien, but this being unsat- isfactory, from 8,000 to 10,000 Chinese were brought in the spring from the province of Shantung to carry out the sum- mer labor contracts, returning to China in the winter, each with thirty or forty dollars in his pocket. As an economic factor, the Chinaman is an ideal human machine, the best intelligent and industrial animal that can be produced at the price. There are men physically stronger, there are men intellectually superior, there are men morally purer, but there are no men with body mind and morals, united with aptness, patience, and application, who are worth, or can be made worth as much to civilization accord- ing to the cost. Call him animal, vegetable, or mineral, he comes all the same, and proves indeed a worthy implement. What is his cost? To his country, very little; to the for- eigner, nothing. He comes ready taught, or will teach him- self what you will, and work for the common laborer's wage, or less. What does the negro cost? He formerly cost his master $500 or $1,000. Four million of them cost the nation two millions of lives, three thousand millions of money, and in their enfranchisement deep humiliation to every true lover of his country. What the fifty or a hundred millions, 422 THE NEW PACIFIC the natural increase of these now six or seven millions in a century or two, will cost, it is difficult to imagine. A race war has already set in, which will deluge the land in blood, and may in time destroy the nation. It is all very well, this imperialism and expansion, becom- ing a great nation and taking part in the affairs of the world, elevating humanity and refining culture, but would it not be well in the mean time to have a regard for the quality of stock from which we are looking for such high and pure republican- ism? Have we not already absorbed enough of the base blood of Europe and the black blood of Africa? Now we are bringing upon ourselves a horde of that hybrid population found in all the old Spanish colonies, made up of endless in- termixtures of Indians negroes and Spaniards, together with the Kanakas of Hawaii, and the Mongolians of the Asiatic isles, with all their still lower and more degrading race inter- mixtures. The natives of the tropical islands were in their aboriginal state savages of the lowest species. .They went naked, or wore next to nothing, lived in huts or made their lair like wild beasts in the jungle, ate berries and other spontaneous fruits, with raw fish on the coast and small game and vermin in the interior. Where they came from, or how they came to be, no one knows, and probably no one ever will know, though many can tell what they think about it. The Hawaiians hold traditions that they came up from the south; the south people wandered over from the continent; the autochthon theory of origin is not current among them. Then, into this original mass, whatever may have been original, were thrown other original masses, Malays from Malaya, or Malacca; Mon- gols from Mongolia; Chinese, Japanese, Australians, and Africans, resulting in endless conglomeration. Last of all came the Europeans, only to make matters worse, the foreign blood thus injected producing a yet more demoralized hu- manity. It is a significant fact, and one well worth the considera- tion of those who think it better to lift into life the baser ma- terial of the human race than to cultivate and bring yet fur- ther forward the more advanced of mankind, that not only savagism and all inferior races fade away and become oblit- erated in the presence of superior civilization, but the inferior RACE PROBLEMS 423 races cannot even put on the garments of civilization without becoming infected by them; that is to say, give the Asiatic, the African, the native American, European forms of govern- ment, of industry, education, and ethics, and he will decline rather than advance under the infliction. During the three centuries following the discovery of the tropics, Spain and Portugal, and later Holland France and England, entered the field of competitive colonization upon a scale which, if not so broad as that of a later day in India and Africa, was fully as intense. In the West Indies and South America, as the aboriginal laborers disappeared under the heavy blows of the European task-master, their place was supplied by the more hardy African, carried thither as slaves, 600,000 being landed by the English in Jamaica alone. Upon the application of African slave labor, the rich soil of the islands under a hot sun, with an abundance of moisture, yielded such wealth as to enrich all Europe. Enormous plan- tations conducted upon imperial plans attended with lordly sway and luxurious living sprang up on every side, with fine cities at the principal ports and appropriate government everywhere. Though attended by barbarism and cruelty, the application of African slave labor to the cultivation of tropical islands and seaboards was unquestionably successful in a pecuniary point of view. All this while it was clearly evident that Europeans could not live and labor here in any considerable numbers. Some of the descendants of the early overseers and artisans became so acclimated that malaria seemed to have little effect upon them, and the half-breed population which sprang up took the place to some extent of the former native inhabitants. With the abolition of slavery and the rise of black repub- lics, however, all this was changed. The Africans increased in numbers faster than ever, but they would not work. Their poor imitation of the national ideals of the more advanced governments failed to help them, and they fell into a state of inanity worse than any barbarism, without aspirations or in- telligence, without moral force or energy. These efforts to advance races of low development by surrounding them with the paraphernalia of a higher culture have in every instance proved unavailing, and shows the utter uselessness of this form of altruism. 424 THE NEW PACIFIC It is a full century since the colored races of Hayti threw off the rule of France, and from that time to this the country has been deteriorating. Prosperity went out with foreign rule, the ethics and institutions of advanced civilization not being applicable to inferior races, when the administration of affairs is left to a people ignorant and naturally lazy and in- competent. Left to himself the tropical black man will not work so long as food can be obtained and the swarming in- crease fed without work. As compared with former times the island appears to be in ruins; where once was busy indus- try and extensive commerce, are now dilapidated plantations, abandoned mines, and rotting wharves and warehouses. The chronic condition of politics and society is revolution and re- volting crime, with rank corruption in every branch of the government. Commerce is not encouraged, industry is de- clining, and intercourse with white men and foreigners is not desired. A century of trial is here sufficient to show that the tropical negro, under European forms of government, grad- ually declines, until a state of things is reached far worse than his original condition in Africa. Those who pretend to place the negro on an equality with the white man are not consistent. The egregious blunder of giving the African the ballot has been committed, and to cover this crime of the commonwealth, having made him politically their equal, they would pretend him to be their equal intel- lectually and socially as well. But like all fraud and hypoc- risy, good people cut a poor figure trying to practise them. They say thus and so, but do they receive the black man as their equal, associating and intermarrying with him as with the white man? If so their taste and judgment are to be de- plored; if not, their profession is a false one. Whatever the few may do, carried away by the feeling of wrong done to the liberated slave, or by some other equally illogical sentiment, the facts remain, (1) that the black and white men in this re- public are in name politically equal; (2) that intellectually and socially they are not and never can become so; (3) being ethnologically and fundamentally different in race they never can amalgamate; (4) as they can never unite there will be eter- nal antagonisms and race wars; and, finally, (5) the increase of the negro being twice as fast as that of the white man, it is only a question of time, if present politics continue, when the RACE PROBLEMS 425 black man will overwhelm the white man by reason of num- bers alone. This is the possible physical outcome of our present negro worship; the mental and moral degeneration which may fol- low can only be surmised from the fact that the constant tendency of Indians and negroes is to revert to their original condition. That the non-advancing Chinese have not during these several thousand years retrograded, shows their civili- zation, such as it is, to have been genuine. The education of the Indian is not civilization but whitewash. The emanci- pated slaves of the United States have not and never can have the indigenous development essential to inherent culture. In the West Indies, away alike from the savagisms of Africa and the bolstering institutions and ballot of America, the negro does not advance, but retrogrades. Hence I say that the greatest danger to the republic is not from without but from within. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, first the sin of slavery, and then the sin of enfran- chisement. If seven millions of emancipated slaves are ready to rise against seventy millions of white men, how will it be when there are seventy millions of black men whom the smell of blood makes brutal. There is a colored laborer in Washington who is the father of sixteen girls. As he is but forty-four years old, the chances are that sixteen will soon be twenty. If each of these girls should have twenty children within thirty years, and the rest of the negro race in the United States should increase ac- cordingly, the sons of the carpet-baggers will regret that ever an African left his native jungle. A far more serious question than, What shall be done with the Philippines? is, What shall we do with our colored popu- lation in the United States? that is to say if we do not indeed desire to see another black republic with ourselves as a sprink- ling of white trash. The black population is increasing rapid- ly, much more rapidly than the white population. In some of the southern states the negroes outnumber the whites two to one, in certain sections twenty to one, and throughout the entire south the increase is at the rate of three black to one white. The negroes of the United States are for the most part occupants of warm rural districts, well fed and not over- 426 THE NEW PACIFIC worked, enjoying all the blessings of civilization and good government, with little or no trouble or cost to themselves, their environment thus being in the highest degree conducive to rapid increase in numbers. But there is little denoting progress or thrift in their surroundings. One may travel for days through the south, and encounter nothing in the shape of habitations except unpainted huts and dilapidated hamlets, round which swarm pickaninnies like black ants, the women sitting on the doorstep and the men stretched on the ground. Since California first raised the cry, The Chinese must go! the government finally endorsing it, the people's politicians have given the ballot to four millions of low, ignorant, eman- cipated slaves. What material for citizenship for the world's foremost republic! How proud we should be of our birth- right; how admirable to be the peer of this brutal and bare- footed black man, to walk beside him to the polls, there to discharge the most solemn obligation imposed upon an intelli- gent freeman! I may be pardoned if I place myself right with the reader on this question. While deploring sensational fads and emo- tional philanthropy, I do not oppose reform. All my life I have been a friend of the slave. For three generations before me, my ancestors, the Bancrofts of Massachusetts and the Howes of Vermont, were uncompromising abolitionists; and while the men of Boston were mobbing Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison for uttering abolition sentiments, I, at the age of twelve years, was assisting negroes, at night, on their way through Ohio, from Kentucky and slavery to Canada and freedom. But for all that I think too much of my coun- try, I prize too highly her honored institutions to wish to see them administered by any but the ablest and best men. I have recently returned from a visit to the southern states, and my sympathy with the Africans there was never so great as now. They are an alien race, with no hope of home or country in the land of their birth. The citizenship which was given them by northern politicians for purposes of their own, is proving a curse. With the ballot was bequeathed to them eternal discontent. With the change came first egoism, then envy, and therefore hatred, an endless longing for impossi- ble escape from a black skin, emblem of inferiority and servi- tude. And the more refined they become in manners and RACE PROBLEMS 427 education, the more they will feel the stigma of race color which they must forever wear. Will this state of things never improve? No. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? It was right to deliver them from bondage; it was not right, it was not conducive to their happiness, to exalt them above their natural sphere. To be kind to them, to give them the pro- tection of our laws, to educate and elevate them if you will, was our duty, but to make them our law-makers, our masters, was our disgrace. We have seen that the earliest civilizations ripened in semi- tropical lands, those actually within the tropics, like the Mexi- can and the Peruvian, occupying high interior plateaus, which lifted them out of the influence of the hot, moist, malarious lowlands into the dry, pure air of moderate temperature. Upon no tropical island has ever appeared an indigenous civili- zation; all are and have been occupied by the lowest races, savages of dusky skin and beastly aspect, mostly man-eaters, naked and houseless. Even where Europeans have come in and mixed their blood with that of the natives in greater or less degree, the product has still been half-savage, with never any thing better than a half -savage government. Even China, whose aborigines many centuries ago were either obliterated or absorbed by the slightly civilized horde which swept down upon them from central Asia, left to herself makes little if any advance. All men are created free and equal, said the sages of the past, while sages of the present affirm, either directly or by implication, that it is in a restricted sense only that the rights of the weaker races, where they stand in the way of progress, can be admitted. All men are created free and equal, says Mr Jefferson. Nature says No. They are not equal, morally or intellectually. You may make them so politically if you like, but you cannot make them so potentially. The time has passed for the question to be asked, Shall white men take the tropics? No region of the earth will hereafter long remain under the control of people of low ethnic development, and without the development of indus- trialism. Not only is civilization becoming more and more dependent upon the tropics for an important part of its food supply, but less dependent on the inhabitants of the tropics even for labor supply. The aboriginal inhabitants of the 428 THE NEW PACIFIC islands have never been found fit for labor; Spaniards and Spanish intermixtures are still worse; the early planters went to Africa and the later ones are drawing on China and Japan for a supply of tropical working men. If therefore the pres- ent occupants are capable neither of ruling properly nor of working, they must give place to those who are, for the world will have returns from these lands by some means. Militarism, if the chronic fighting which is waged generation after gen- eration by the half-savage peoples can be properly so called, cannot always prevail or take the place of ethical and indus- trial development, now so conspicuous in the onward march of civilization. Says a good missionary who crossed the Pacific and wrote a book, " It is our duty to take China into tutelage to strengthen her by insisting upon reforms." A truly Christian sentiment!- But why is it; what makes it our duty, and by what right may we insist upon our ideas of reform ? And suppose China in- sists upon the same right to reform us? Our talk is largely a system of logic to be finally decided by gunboats. Each nation judges the others from its own point of view, and makes deductions favorable to its own ways and its own people. It is as if the whale said to the kangaroo, " Why are you a kangaroo? It is better to be a whale." Hence many infelicities. Give the yellow man his fling at the white, and what would he say? " Oh! you queer lot; where is your loyalty that you have no queue; where is your religion that you have no idols? Blind and stupid, you know nothing; you know not what you are, whence you came or whither you go. You stand agape at yourselves, a strange creation strangely environed. You know not even your gods, but worship in the dark; it is better to be a pagan, with worshipful dead ancestors, who were once here in the flesh and can protect you now if they will. You seem burdened with a self-consciousness which you cannot escape, and so fill the skies with images, and popu- late the earth with beings who ripen for purposes of destruction. To accomplish the aims of a higher humanity you employ the attributes of the brute which you profess to abhor. Your altruism is but refined animalism, selfishness underlying all your civilization, with unseemly greed as the keynote of your patriotism and your progress. While making for liberty you enslave yourselves by conventualisms. Half your life is spent RACE PROBLEMS 429 to save, half to destroy. You preach peace and practise war. You profess love and distribute hate. You pretend to bene- factions, and draw the recipients of your bounty into a bot- tomless pit. You come to us with your missionaries and your opium, and your great warships, and enforce on us your unwel- come dogmas and drugs, all this in the name of Christ and humanity, while really you are serving Satan. If this be so, and who shall gainsay it, what right have you to go prowling up and down the earth to make room for the white race, and rid the world of the black and the yellow? " It has come to be a doctrine of orthodox civilization that it is right, humane, and just for a people of culture and nom- inally good morals to take in hand the affairs of any weaker people of low intelligence occupying lands which the stronger nation would like to possess; that in law and equity it is not proper for savage or half savage races to take up the room on this earth which can better be filled by better people, and that therefore any nation strong enough at once to conquer the weaker nation, and at the same time hold at bay or mollify its covetous compeers, may honorably seize upon and oversee, manage, manipulate, and govern the persons property and country of another whenever a plausible pretext can be found for so doing. As it is the destiny of all savage peoples to give place to civilization, so these half or wholly savage islanders must be content to have their affairs managed by those stronger and more intelligent than they. Thus we see the importance to us and to civilization of the tropical islands which have re- cently fallen to us, and which with wise management and proper care will become useful and profitable. We can learn both from England's successes and Spain's failures, and by emulating the one and avoiding the other, administer the af- fairs of the islands so as to bring blessings to them and to us. Statesmen in Europe and America may be very sure that the tropics never will be permanently peopled by white men, and legislate accordingly. The experiment has been tried, under conditions more favorable than are likely to be repeated. It is contrary to the law of natural distribution. Fishes do not inhabit the mountains, nor do birds live in the sea. The Eskimo wraps himself in furs, and with a supply of whale's blubber stows himself away in his underground hut, there to lie practically dormant through the long dark winter. The 430 THE NEW PACIFIC tropical man eats bananas and basks naked under an equatorial sun until his skin turns black or yellow. The midway white man does neither; he may go to Alaska for sealskins and gold, and to Hawaii and the Philippines for coffee and sugar; but he returns and dwells forever midway. Enterprise has become amphibious, its emblem a beaver, with its underground city on shore and a dam to husband its commerce, which at the same time obstructs the incoming of the unwelcome. As to the perils of expansion, what would America be could it not expand? The wind blowing in from the open west has been the vital air of the nation, without which we should ere this have stifled, or burst our restraint and throttled Canada, perhaps, or Mexico. Henceforth we need not take into our land the scum of Europe, but may send it all on to wash itself in the waters of the great ocean, and sun itself dry in our tropical isles. With a broad sea on either side, it may be that the American people will find breathing space for a few more centuries, but no pent up Utica would answer the purpose throughout all time. In- stead of eighty days in which to encompass the world, we take half of it in four steps without soiling our seven-league boots with alien earth. The actual occupation by white settlers of the lands which fall to us as the result of the war, or the col- onization of any tropical lands as our own land was colonized, was never seriously contemplated. Any such acquisitions must be managed on a different plan, by American capital and Asiatic labor. We may give the ownership but not the occupation of the tropics to the white race. The interchange of products be- tween one part and another part of the temperate zone has hitherto occupied its undue share of attention as compared with trade between temperate and tropical lands. For the most part the products of the land to which one is native, whether temperate or tropical, are classed among necessities, while those which come from abroad are called luxuries. Civ- ilization, inhabiting exclusively temperate climes, is drawing constantly more and more on tropical products. Good government, after the best forms in Europe and Amer- ica, need never be expected by natives of dark complexion liv- ing in communities apart from the dominating influence of people of higher development. The Hawaiian islanders did RACE PROBLEMS 431 well when governing themselves according to their own cus- toms; but when the missionaries induced them to adopt part of the paraphernalia of civilization without any hand stronger than their own to guide them, they found themselves sadly astray. Dom Pedro's fatherly despotism was better for the Brazilians than their own subsequent independence. Why Mexico prospers is because Diaz is more autocrat than presi- dent; the people have very little to say about the government. Why the Spanish American governments in Central and South America are so like the governments of Liberia, Hayti, and Jamaica is because they are so much nearer akin to the savage tribes of America than to the civilized nations of Europe. The two distinct races of the Philippines, the negrito and the Malay, both show traces of relationship, one with Africans and the other with Asiatics. Short, dark, with woolly hair and a negroid type of face, the negritos display characteristics of a distinct race, and one which has long occupied these isl- ands. To this region nature has given a fertile soil, broad pasture lands, rich mines of gold and silver, and vast forests of precious woods, all interspersed with the finest of fruits as food for man. But here, as in other tropical regions where nature is at her best, man is at his worst; nor are base inter- mixtures likely to improve the aboriginal stock of the 7,500,- 000 people who inhabit the islands, less than half of whom are the short, copper-colored, industrious Tagals of Luzon. In the Philippines under the Spaniards the government put to forced labor all who failed to pay their taxes. As the work of the government was performed by contract, the claim of the government on the delinquent tax-payer was sold to a contractor, who was obliged to furnish food which cost four cents a day, and shelter at night, which cost nothing. Wages were ten cents a day, and the original tax of perhaps $5 could with costs be raised to $20, to which might easily be added throughout the year such small sums as would render the slavery perpetual. The priests saw the profit in the system, and made applications for forced labor, which they applied to their own work, or to contracts which they obtained. It was this infamous system of enslavement in condemnation of which Jose Rizal wrote a pamphlet, and for which he was shot in the public square, the part against the government being pro- nounced treason and that against the church blasphemy. 432 THE NEW PACIFIC The laborers on the sugar plantations of Cuba are much in the position of tropical laborers elsewhere; where they are kept systematically and perpetually in debt, their condition is but little better than absolute slavery, the old system of repartimientos, or the serfdom of feudalism. In the central provinces there are two white Cubans to one black one; toward the east the races are nearly equal. The lighter-colored Cubans are largely of Spanish blood; the forebears of the blacks were from Africa; the present generation are like the blacks of Hayti and Jamaica. The Spaniards of Cuba are not like the Spaniards of the Peninsula, neither are the Africans of Cuba like the Africans of Africa. They are not only Americanized, but made tropical as well. They are largely animal here, and with but little energy. The native population of Porto Rico is quite different from that of the Philippines, being more docile, and less disorderly; some of them are property holders; all of them are somewhat timid, and hence require a rule less arbitrary than fiercer natures demand. So long as a people are unfit for self-government, like the Filipinos for example, it is no kindness to give it to them. What they want is protection and guidance while being taught how to live, and work, and deal one with another. If it be not right for them to pay for this guardianship and education in the form of taxation, then let them go for the present un- taxed. In common with the Spaniard, the American Indian, and the native African, both the Hawaiian and Filipino abhor labor; hence Chinese and Japanese have been permitted to come in and do their work for them. The native Australasian is more like the African negro than the Polynesian Malay, though not quite so black as the for- mer, nor with his tightly curled hair. Though all are ap- parently one people, those of the tropical northeast are su- perior to those of other parts. Yet all are savages, pure and simple, but little above the brute, and without one custom or characteristic pointing toward progress. They do not even know the bow and arrow, yet they handle the spear and stone hatchet with skill, and make bark canoes; but the triumph of their genius is the boomerang. Cannibalism is with them a religious rite rather than a food feast. In the south-western isles are two quite distinctly marked races the black Papuan, skin sooty, not polished like that of the African, lips promi- RACE PROBLEMS 433 ment; the brown Malayan, short in stature, nose and eyes small, mouth large, hair lank. The mestizoes of Peru are a mixture of aboriginal Peruvians and Spaniards; the mestizoes of the Philippine islands are a combination of Tagalese and Chinese, for among aliens the Chinese are in the ascendency. Tocupia contains 800 aboriginal persons, resembling the in- habitants of Samoa and Tahiti, but of finer physique, and more paradisiacal, because more primitive. When first visited they manifested no fear of the white man; being guileless themselves they supposed that all others were guileless. They have no weapons of war because they do not fight; are men no better than wild beasts, they might ask, that their chief occupation should be to slay each other? They are tall and graceful, with skin of bronze, and the men dye yellow their long straight hair, parting it in the middle, thus with all their purity, displaying a little vanity. They are unlike any of their neighbors in Polynesia. British Guiana, with 300,000 inhabi- tants in an area of 100,000 square miles, and an annual for- eign trade of $20,000,000 is administered by England on the plan of benevolent despotism, East India coolies performing the labor, which is servile, and without which the colony would be as demoralized and as worthless as Jamaica. It is not easy for the aged to change, and Chinese civiliza- tion is very old; it was old when western Europe contained only savages, and the Japanese were yet apes. It is perhaps because the Japanese a hundred years ago were so far behind what China was a thousand years ago that in the present trans- formation Japan makes more advance in ten years than China makes in fifty years. Japan obtained so recently from China her poor culture that she can all the more easily pass it back and take on a better one. Now China must come forward and listen to the words of the schoolmaster, and take heed to the teachings of the new dispensation, or receive the punishment due to disobedience, or more likely be punished in any event. The teachings of the strong are sometimes hard to bear. All along down these forty centuries the Chinese have been making a wonderful museum; some hundreds of millions of human beings multiplied by say three lifetimes to the century make 48,000,000,000 souls that have contributed to this mot- ley accumulation of customs and traditions which fill the super- structure of which the whole empire is the foundation. In 434 THE NEW PACIFIC this strange museum how much there is of which the barbarian world knows nothing. What institutions and ceremonials are there whose nature and origin were embalmed in the books destroyed by Chin the wall-builder, wherein were doubtless written the lives of their ten thousand devils, for they know no other gods, a theogony that dwarfs the conceptions of Assyrians, Egyptians, and Grecians combined. Then the mill- ions of idiosyncrasies and superstitions, old rubbish accumu- lations of four thousand years, born in millions of minds and evolved in the silence of isolation, crystallizing age after age so that the hot fires and heavy hammerings of the nations can with difficulty melt or break them. And the strangest of all in this museum is the man himself. There is nothing else on earth like a Chinaman; he has lived so long that in his at- tributes he should be either more or less than man. Mild as he is in his smiling exterior he is essentially a thing of passion. If a laborer, then labor is his passion; if it be gambling, or money-making, or opium-smoking, each occupa- tion becomes a business in which he is wholly absorbed. While cast away a waif among foreign devils, patience is his pas- sion, and when once angered to kill, he is all passion. In for- eign parts, more particularly among Christian nations, it is for his virtues and not for his vices that he is hated; it is be- cause he is apt skilful and industrious, does not interfere in politics or religion, is saving of his earnings, docile and tem- perate, little given to extravagance, and is of quiet demeanor, that he is insulted and driven forth. Though a servant, he is not a slave. If he works the tailings of civilized industry, he works for gold. He indulges in no sentiment and asks no sympathy. Night or day are alike to him; on ship and shore he is equally at home, and in a fight he will handle the weapons he has so lately polished with the greatest glee. Not that he is altogether perfect; some faults may be found even in a Chinaman, fewer though than in most people, as he is less human than some others. First, his skin; it is off color; for so says the constitution of the United States, the black and the white shall inherit but not the yellow. Then he is a great liar, wasteful even with his lies, not having with all his centuries of thought and storehouses of learning reached the true economics of mendacity. He has no soul, at least none as yet discovered; and hence no conscience, nor any moral at- RACE PROBLEMS 435 tributes. He sometimes steals, but rarely, and if not cornered he seldom kills. He is a machine, good only for work, but very good for that; for American society and citizenship bet- ter material can be found. There are no such things as public life and politics in China, and he wants none when he goes abroad. Mandarins are paid to do the ruling, just as girls are paid to do the dancing; why then trouble? For certain indus- tries he is the best implement, and manufacturers who have to compete with all the world should have good tools. If a mer- chant, he is fairly honorable; if an official in China, he is honest according to his lights, and if honest true, for all true officialism there is bribery and corruption. He is just to whatever degree desired, for whenever he wants justice he buys it. CHAPTER XVIII NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC THE world's great voyages have been for the most part into the Pacific. Jason in search of the Golden Fleece, and Co- lumbus in search of the other side of India, made famous voy- ages but not great ones. Vasco da Gama and his successors, following the lead of Prince Henry of Portugal, and before any of them the Northmen in their navigations to New Eng- land, made most important voyages and discoveries, coasting Iceland and Greenland, coasting Africa and rounding the cape of Good Hope into the Indian ocean; and there have been some serious doings by ships and sailors at the Arctic and Antarctic ends, of the earth; but neither the adventures of the Argonauts, nor the sailings of the Scandinavian Sea- Kings, nor the efforts in the Atlantic to find India, nor the searches in the ice for the north pole can compare in thrilling interest and romance with the voyages for discovery and piracy, for circumnavigation and possession, of the world's most famous navigators into and upon the broad Pacific. The first of these, not counting the feeble attempts of Vasco Nunez at the Pearl islands, or of Pedrarias Davila at Panama, or of Gil Gonzalez at Nicaragua, was that begun in 1519 by Fernando de Magalhaens, called Magellan by English writers, and completed in 1522 by Sebastian del Cano. Magellan was a Portuguese sailing for Spain; it was the first voyage of circumnavigation, and as one of the world's great adventures it has never been surpassed. The expedition sailed westward round Cape Horn to the Philippine islands, where Magellan lost his life, and returned via the cape of Good Hope, all that was left of it. The story is thrilling, and not without its lessons, made up as it is of glorious successes and sad failures. I will give it as briefly as possible. 436 NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 437 Born of noble parentage, about 1480, Magellan while yet a boy lost his father and took service with his native sover- eign the king of Portugal. It was at a time when all the world was astir with new thought and adventure. The noble work of Prince Henry of Portugal was bearing its fruits, and the Portuguese were at that time first among maritime na- tions. Imagine the effect upon a young and ardent nature of the voyages of Vasco da Gama, the discoveries of Columbus, the writings of Amerigo Vespucci, and the adventures of Vasco Nunez de Balboa! Little wonder then that when in 1504 Francisco d' Almeida fitted out a fleet for the East Indies, where the Portuguese then held sway, Magellan went with him. Seven years the young man spent in India, while his phys- ical and moral sinews were knitting into strength to meet the emergencies of the future. During this time an expedition was sent from India to the Moluccas for a cargo of spices, in which Magellan joined, touching at Sumatra, and coming to anchor in the port of Malacca, which was crowded with ship- ping; for this was the eastern gate of the Pacific, and a great mart for the merchandise of that region, where were found gathered Arabs, Persians, Javanese, Chinese, and natives of the Philippine islands. A plot was laid by the king of this country to capture and kill the Portuguese, and so frustrate their further attempts at trade in this direction; but the deed was prevented, partly by the watchfulness of Magellan, who distinguished himself in various ways during the voyage. This visit to the eastern border of the Pacific led in time to the grandest results; for when the report of Balboa's dis- covery of an ocean on the other side of America reached Eu- rope, Magellan bethought him if peradventure those great waters did not reach even to the Moluccas, where he had been gathering spices, and he resolved then that some day he would adventure a voyage westward and prove if his imagin- ings were true. It was at the busy city of Seville, the headquarters in Spain of New World adventure and discovery, that preparations for the voyage were made. Other disaffected Portuguese, like Magellan, had come thither to take service with the king of Spain, then the grand monarch of the world. His friend Faleiro was there, and Juan de Serrano, Sebastian del Cano, 438 THE NEW PACIFIC Juan de Cartagena, and others, and with the assistance of Cristobal de Haro, of the great Antwerp firm of India traders, the Rothschilds of that epoch, five ships were obtained and equipped under the usual regulations. It was stipulated by Charles V that discoveries made for Spain should not en- croach on Portuguese rights, as determined by Pope Alexan- der's bull dividing the undiscovered world between the two powers. The fleet comprised the San Antonio, 120 tons, Juan de Cartagena, commander; the Trinidad, 110 tons, in command of Magellan, captain-general and admiral; Concep- tion, 90 tons, Captain Gaspard Quesada; Vitoria, 85 tons, Luis de Mendoza captain; and the Santiago, 75 tons, Juan de Serrano, commander. The officers and crews were a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese, suspicious, jealous, and constitu- tionally treacherous. With them went Antonia Pigafetta, an Italian, who wrote an account of the expedition. Magellan was in the prime of manhood, educated in all the geographical science of the day, a skilful navigator, and thoroughly seasoned by experience. He was ambitious, of iron will, and fearless of danger. Next to Prince Henry the Navigator, and Vasco da Gama, the discoverer of a new route to India, he was the most illustrious Portuguese of the Renais- sance. Though by no means faultless, his nature was chival- rous; like Prince Henry, he preferred active usefulness to ig- noble ease. The vessels were all well armed, and carried a quantity of trading goods, knives, fish-hooks, woollen cloth, velvet, ivory, quicksilver, combs, mirrors, brass bracelets, and 20,000 bells. Setting sail on the 20th of September, the fleet touched at Teneriffe, then crossed to America and coasted Brazil to Santa Lucia, where it remained a fortnight to take in fresh provisions, and for purposes of trade. As the navi- gators continued their way southward, they entered and ex- amined every estuary, seeking a passage through the land to the sea of Vasco Nunez, and to the Moluccas. And thus they sailed along, suffering now from short rations and now from disaffection, until they came to Port San Julian near the long sought strait. Here in all its rank deformity broke forth mutiny, which indeed had long been brewing. It is worthy of remark, as characteristic of the age and race, that scarcely a voyage of any considerable importance was made without treachery and mutiny. It seemed to be almost universal with the Latin nations, from monarch to sailor. Call to mind the experiences of Columbus, of Cortes, Pizarro, and Vasco Nunez, and a host of others. Nor was the voyage of Magellan an exception. Treachery had been present from the beginning. It came out afterward that there was a pre- arranged conspiracy on the part of certain officers not to obey the captain-general. But that human nature may not be allowed to sink too low in our estimation, we may truthfully say that in every episode displaying the baseness of some, the nobleness of others shines forth with added lustre. Magellan himself knew not the ex- tent of his own courage and genius before the test of his re- sources in time of danger which was here made. Storms were frequent, the cold became severe, and more restricted rations became necessary, so that matters grew worse and worse. The demand was openly made that the expedition should turn back. " There is no strait," they said. " We are entering a region of eternal cold; or even if we find a passage through, what will it advantage us without food?" Slights and insults were placed upon the captain-general, small at first, so small as rather to be felt than seen, gradu- ally becoming so pronounced that Magellan could no longer ignore them. Among those who from the first had mani- fested evil designs was Juan de Cartagena; and when one day some time previous he had been summoned to the flag-ship with the other captains to attend the court-martial of an in- subordinate sailor presuming on the long-continued patience of his superior officers, he broke forth in open abuse of the captain-general as to the course he was pursuing. But the captain of the San Antonio little suspected the presence of the lion he was rousing. " Traitor and villain," cried Magel- lan as he sprang upon him and seized him single-handed by the throat, " You are my prisoner." In vain Cartagena ap- pealed to those present; he was ironed, and passed to the cus- tody of Mendosa of the Vitoria for safe keeping. The time was not then ripe for general insurrection; but now at Port San Julian, cold and hunger impelling them, half the fleet or more were determined to abandon the enter- prise and return home. It was an unhappy moment for Ma- 15 440 THE NEW PACIFIC gellan; almost all his officers against him, and the men would only too gladly follow them. What cared they? Upon the captain-general would fall the loss and ignominy of failure. And the commander was alone. He soon became aware that he could trust no one, and that his life was in danger. If he would not turn back they would kill him; so they said; and he would not turn back. Easter-day was approaching, and it was ordered that all should then go ashore and attend mass, after which service the captains would dine at the admiral's table. Since the degradation of Cartagena, Alvaro de Mesquita, a cousin of Magellan, had been appointed to the command of the San Antonio. Quesada and Mendoza both declined to attend mass, and Mesquita was the only captain present at his kinsman's feast. Magellan slept that night on board the Trinidad, retiring to rest in an uneasy frame of mind. There was likewise little rest on board the ships of the conspirators. Yet all was still until the middle watch, when Cartagena, who had been re- leased by Mendoza of the Vitoria, with Quesada, Sebastian del Cano, and thirty armed men, silently boarded the San An- tonio, and bursting into the captain's cabin seized Mesquita and put him in irons. Roused by the noise, Juan de Lorri- aga, the maestre, a faithful Basque and no mutineer, at- tempted to stir up the seamen to resistance, but was fatally stabbed by Quesada's dagger. Such others as offered opposi- tion were ironed, and command of the ship given to del Cano, who mounted the artillery and cleared the deck for action. All unconscious of what had been done during the night, Magellan awoke next morning. Requiring water, he sent a boat to the San Antonio for men; but the crew was told to keep away, for Quesada, not Magellan, gave orders there. Well knowing what that meant, and determined to ascertain the worst at once, Magellan ordered the boat to go the rounds and demand of every captain for whom he declared. " For the king and myself," Quesada said. And so said they all, except the captain of the Santiago. Here, then, was a situation which might cause the stoutest heart to quail. Three large ships, their captains and crews, arrayed against the admiral; only one, the smallest, besides his own remaining faithful. They were Spaniards all, these NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 441 captains, and they hated him; they hated him for a Portu- guese, for their superior officer, and for his superiority as a man. But the rare and subtle qualities of the man Magellan now came to the front to serve him at this crisis of his life. To attack by force the three ships would be madness; by strategy alone could the purpose be accomplished, and that to be em- ployed against a foe as cunning as himself. A proposal was made by the mutineers to meet the admiral on board the San Antonio and talk over their differences; the admiral proposed that they should come on board the flag-ship, the Trinidad, as was usual and proper in such cases; but neither party would trust themselves in the hands of the other. Then came a let- ter from Quesada. Magellan seized and detained the boat which brought it. Where now should he strike? For strike he must, and quickly. Running his mind over the situation, the position and personnel, officers and men, of the three hostile ships, he bethought him of the crew of the Vitoria, many of whom were foreigners and friendly to himself, though Mendoza the cap- tain was now his enemy. All things considered he would test fortune at this point. Into a boat, therefore, he de- spatched the alguacil, Espinosa, with five men having con- cealed arms. Another boat put out from the Trinidad im- mediately after with fifteen picked men under Barbosa, Magellan's brother-in-law. These men had their instructions and could be relied upon. Espinosa made straight for the Vitoria, and with his five men was permitted to board and pre- sent a letter, summoning Mendoza instantly to the flag-ship. With a supercilious smile Mendoza replied, " I am not the kind of bird to be caught with chaff," and turned upon his heel. At that instant Espinosa's dagger was buried in his neck, and the captain of the Vitoria fell dead. Almost at the same instant Barbosa with his fifteen men appeared upon the deck, hoisted the admiral's ensign, and the capture of the Vitoria was complete. It was now three to two on the side of the admiral. In- stantly, and before the rebel captains could realize what had happened, Magellan had placed his three ships on guard at the entrance of the harbor, so that none could escape. The Trinidad was cleared for action. During the following 442 THE NEW PACIFIC night the San Antonio bore down upon the flag-ship, drag- ging her anchor. On the quarter-deck, armed with lance and shield, was Quesada, calling on his men to fight, but they would not. As they neared the flag-ship, Magellan's men grappled and boarded her, and seizing Quesada, and other leading rebels, put them in irons. The other vessel was sur- rendered by Cartagena, and the mutiny was at an end. Que- sada was beheaded; his body, and also Mendoza's, were drawn and quartered. Cartagena was marooned, being driven ashore before the departure of the vessels. Preparations were now made to continue the voyage. The vessels were repaired and new officers appointed. The San- tiago, sent coasting in search of a strait, was wrecked, with- out loss of life however. Serrano was made captain of the Conception, Mesquita of the San Antonio, and Barbosa of the Vitoria. Leaving Port San Julian, the expedition after sev- eral stops saw at length " an opening like unto a bay ", which they entered on the 21st of October, 1520, and the long- sought strait was found. After some further exploration of the coast southward, the navigators proceeded to the examination of the strait, which lasted thirty-eight days. As it was St Ursula day, the land on the starboard as they entered was called the cape of the Eleven Thousand Virgins. The fires seen burning on the southern side led to the name of Tierra del Fuego. The water was at first called the strait of Patagonia, later the strait of Magellan; the land was first called Magellan's Land, later Patagonia. Meanwhile the crew of the San Antonio, which became separated from the fleet, mutinied; the captain, Mes- quita, was overpowered and put in irons, and the ship re- turned to Spain, where the ring leaders were rewarded, and those whose loyalty had brought upon them wounds and calumny were cast into prison. The storms of the Atlantic had attended the navigators as they entered the strait, emerging from which Magellan found himself wafted by moderate winds, over placid waters, which he called Mar Pacifico. And cycles later sang the poet: The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free, We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 44U Is the Pacific as a rule more pacific than the Atlantic? No. Waters will rage wherever winds blow; and although the Pa- cific is broadest under the equator where the Atlantic is nar- rowest, and tropical Pacific is to tropical Atlantic as three to one, yet the storms in the north and the hurricanes and ty- phoons of the south and west, give the sea of Vasco Nunez and Magellan a claim to surliness and treachery equal to any other. But we thank the Portuguese for giving our sea so fair a name, which it will do well to remember, if seas remem- ber names, and be merciful to those who trust their lives upon it. Northward along Patagonia was now the course of the cir- cumnavigator, then northwest, then due west, and finally west- by-north as straight for the Ladrones and the Philippines, close by the Spice islands he had seen and was now seeking, as if he had made the voyage round the world twenty times. " It is a sea so vast that the human mind can scarcely grasp it ", writes one of them. Scurvy attended, and famine, with a hunger so horrible that rats were a luxury, eagerly purchased at half a ducat each. Time across the Pacific 98 days. At the Ladrones, or islands of Thieves, they found " a people of little truth, poor but in- genious, and above all thieves ", a people quite different from the giant Patagonians, of whom they had kidnapped two, who died on the way. The ships had scarcely come to anchor at Thieves island when the admiral's boat was stolen by cutting the rope which held it. The little fellows swarmed up over the sides of the vessels, and snatching up whatever they could lay hands on, vanished into the sea. The Spaniards could neither catch them nor drive them off; so they fired into their midst the artillery and arquebuses, killing many. The little fellows ran away; they saw their hurt, but did not know how it had been done. They thought it all right to steal from strangers; why not? Strangers stole from them. They knew not the use of the bow and arrow; and when the Spaniards shot darts into their flesh, they would pull them out and look at them in wonder, like monkeys, in a manner pitiful to see. Then came the navigators next to the Philippine islands, which they called the islands of St Lazarus, because on the day sacred to that saint they first sighted them; but in 1542 the archipelago was called by its present name in honor of Philip II of Spain. 444 THE NEW PACIFIC Here the natives brought them cocoanuts and bananas, which latter Pigafetta calls " figs a foot long "; likewise or- anges and other fruits; also fish and fowls. In return they were given bells, little mirrors, and other like trinkets. Then came the king with gold and rice, and was given a red and yellow Turkish robe, and a red cap. Other royal courtesies were exchanged, with feasting and demonstrations of friend- ship. The gum of a tree wrapped in palm-leaves was used as a candle. Magellan soon brought forward the matter of religion, and assured the king that it would be greatly to his advantage to espouse the Christian faith, particularly if he was engaged in war. No objections being interposed, the cross was planted there. Cruising among the islands in search of advantageous places to exchange European goods for gold and spices, Magellan came to Cebu, where all around showed signs of opulence. The king of Cebu likewise accepted Christianity; and Magel- lan, desirous of making subject to Christ and the king of Spain the entire archipelago, set out with sixty Spaniards and 1,000 native allies to subdue the island of Mactan, where he found twice that number to oppose him. But were the enemy twice or thrice as many, to defeat them with six armed and armored Spaniards were but pastime. So thought the admiral, who dearly loved fight. Arrived at the island, a demand to surrender was made on the rajah of Mac- tan, who haughtily refused. " Rest you here in the boats," said the king of Cebu to Ma- gellan, " while I with my warriors conquer him ". " Nay " replied the Portuguese, " Rather do you remain here while I show you how Christians fight ". Night came and went. At break of day the invaders landed, and met with brave resistance. Showers of stones came down upon them, and a galling fire of spears soon made it apparent that here was no mimic war. The native* houses built close to- gether among the trees afforded protection to the islanders, while impeding the efforts of the Europeans. Fire was set to the town. The infuriated islanders rushed with renewed rage upon the invaders, who gave way and fled for their boats, leaving Magellan, wounded, with only six men to support him. Slowly retreating toward the boats while fighting for their lives, the Spaniards were finally overcome, and Magellan fell, NOTABLE V 7 OYAGE8 INTO THE PACIFIC iio thrust through with a dozen bamboo spears. Thus died this great man, a victim to his religion and his vanity. For the rest, the natives seeing that the Spaniards were vulnerable, fought them at every turn, until their number was greatly reduced. The Conception, having become unfit for service was burned. The Trinidad, springing a leak, was dis- mantled and repaired, when she set sail for Panama, but was obliged to return, three-fourths of the crew having perished through scurvy and starvation, the survivors with the vessel falling into the hands of the Portuguese. The Vitoria, tak- ing on board a valuable cargo of spices at the Moluccas, sailed via the cape of Good Hope in command of Sebastian del Cano, for Spain, where she arrived September G, 1522, with only eighteen survivors of the 265 who had sailed with Magellan. Thus was completed the first circumnavigation of the globe. The surviving captain of the Vitoria properly, del Cano, but sometimes called Elcano obtained as his armorial bear- ings a globe, with the inscription " Primus circumdedisti me," which insignia might better have belonged to a better man, were not folly sometimes so near akin to bravery. A similarity in the fate of two great discoverers here presents itself, both events as sad as they were uncalled for. Fernando Magellan discovered the Philippine islands, and was killed there by the natives; James Cook, two and a half centuries later, discovered the Hawaiian islands and was killed there by the natives. Having thus found our way to the Far East by sailing west, thereby learning and accomplishing several things, first that the world of a truth is round; that it is larger than Ptolemy or any one had supposed; that the sea of Vasco Nunez is a very great sea, making the India that Columbus sought a long way from Cuba, being now upon the ground, we are re- minded how from eastern Europe and western Asia Christian anchorites and Buddhist monks made their way eastward over- land, even to the shores of the Pacific, opening to the world new and vast areas for conversions and commerce. From the cradle of the race came the Asiatic to the coasts of China and Japan. Humanity in some way got itself planted on the isl- ands of the Pacific, and on the continent of America; many can tell you how, though no one knows. To find these islands and continents, and this scattered humanity, known only to 446 THE NEW PACIFIC itself, Europeans called discovery, and declared such findings to be their own property, the people, their lands, their bodies and souls, and all their belongings, enforcing such pretensions solely by virtue of superior strength. In the year 1541 started from Milan, in the name of God, for the New World, Girolamo Benzoni, and proceeded to the Canaries, there to take ship, as there were constantly leaving those islands for the Indies vessels laden with wine, flour, ap- ples, and cheese. Thence to the coast of South America was but a short run, and a well-beaten track ere this; then along shore to the Isthmus, where the traveller and author pauses to tell the story of Columbus and the egg, and how badly Vasco Nunez was treated by Pedrarias, and how badly the natives were treated by the Spaniards, on whom they retaliated as opportunity offered, pouring molten gold down their throats, and saying, "Eat, Christians, eat gold! Take your fill of gold!" Because some one had said that Panama was as fine a city as Venice, the Italian waxed wroth, and declares that this person never could have seen " the more than magnificent and most illustrious Venice; a city so exalted both as regards its power, its imperial majesty, its commerce and riches, and also its distinguished virtue and justice, as not to be inferior to any that the sun shines upon. And undoubtedly ten Venetian merchants would suffice to buy up all the merchandise that once a year is brought here, as well as the town also. And in order that it should not be supposed that I say this to deteri- orate from the glory and ambition of the Spanish nation, I will also give a complete account of El Nombre de Dios. This town is situated in the Northern sea. Therefore fourteen or fifteen Spanish vessels, large and small, usually go there, and the greatest may carry 1,800 salms, or 360 tons. The cargoes con- sist of various articles, but principally of wine, flour, biscuit, and the rest of oil, some cloth and silk, besides various other merchandise made in Spain for household use, as well as for supporting human life. And sometimes it has happened that the market has been so overstocked that the articles did not fetch the price which they originally cost in Spain. But to return to the city of Panama. It is situated on a small plain near the margin of the Southern sea, and at full moon the waves frequently reach the houses and enter those built on NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 447 that side of the town. They are encircled partly by reeds and partly by wood, and nearly all roofed with shingles, nor in my time did they exceed 120. As to the staple articles brought to Panama, they consist of maize, a little flour from Peru, poultry, and honey. There are in abundance cows, pigs, or- anges, lemons, all sorts of cabbages, onions, lettuces, melons, and other produce of the kitchen-garden. Nombre de Dios is built on the seashore, extending from east to west, in the midst of a wood. The locality is unhealthy, especially in winter, from the great heat, and the humidity of the ground, for a marsh surrounds it on the western side. Consequently a great many people die there; and as to the houses, they are like those in Panama. When I resided in that province there were fifteen or twenty merchants, wholesale dealers; all the other houses and shops being occupied by small tradesmen, apothecaries, sailors, innkeepers, and other useful people. All the merchants who have a home at Nombre de Dios, have one also at Panama, and live there till they become rich. On the northern side is the port, which is capable of containing many ships. As to Spanish articles produced by this pestiferous land, there are oranges, lemons, radishes the size of a mouse's tail, some vegetables, and a few small lettuces, not very good. All the rest is like the produce of Espanola, Cuba, and Nica- ragua; that is maize, cazibi, salt, meat, pigs, and battatas; and from Panama they bring cows, if they wish to eat fresh meat; and every thing else is brought from Spain." After telling of Pizarro and Peru, Benzoni says: "I will now relate how and in what manner the navigation from Pan- ama to that kingdom is effected. Ships generally leave in the month of January and up to the end of April, which last is the best of all the year, it being the summer when the winds generally blow from the north-east and east; and those ships that sail at any other season undergo severe trials. When loaded they leave PanamA and go to Taboga, or some other island near it, to fill up their water. Those islands are called the Pearls, because the Spaniards have found quantities there. They then navigate to the westward 100 or 150 miles, adopting that route on account of the strong current constantly running to the eastward, after which they cross over to Peru. Gen- erally along this coast, the Indians living near the sea procure good water by digging large wells for the purpose; and when 448 THE NEW PACIFIC they go from one place to another each man carries a calabash full of water. But when the natives of Manta go to Puerto Vie jo, fearing lest they might meet some Spaniards who would drink it for them, they prefer going two miles inland, to get a stinking, black, dirty water that rises out of a rock, knowing that the Christians will not drink that water. In Puna, and in the territories of Guayaquil and Puerto Vie jo, a certain root is found having many branches like the oak, called zarza- parilia, which cures the French disease and many others. When it is to be administered to a patient, it is well pounded between two stones to obtain the juice, which is mixed with some warm water and drained. The sick drink very abundant- ly of it, and remaining in a warm place perspire as much as they can bear. They continue this for three or four days, some more some less, eating only biscuit and a little roast fowl. On the other hand, some boil the twigs in water merely for their daily beverage; but these patients continue to drink it constantly for two or three months." His remarks about the Pacific coast of Central America are interesting when we bear in mind that his visit was made only about twenty years after it was first seen by Europeans. " Ships going to Nicaragua by the Southern sea enter a canal on the shore, and ascend it for about twenty-five miles to a village called Eealegio, consisting of a dozen houses made with reeds, inhabited by Spaniards who build ships, it being a con- venient place and abounding in timber. A day's journey east- ward of this spot lies the town of Leone, Cape Vescovado, built on the shores of a lake, founded by one Francesco Ernan- dez, as likewise was Granata, fifty miles further on, also on the shores of the said lake, near the canal that opens into the Northern sea. Thirty-five miles from Leone there is a moun- tain with a very large mouth whence there often issues so much flame and fire that it is seen at a distance of upwards of a hundred miles. Some people thinking that there was molten gold within, a Dominican friar determined to make the experiment. He therefore had a chain made with an iron bucket, and together with four other Spaniards went to the spot. Having thrown it in, the bucket with part of the chain was consumed by the fire. The monk was very angry, and re- turned to Leone complaining greatly of the smith, saying he had made the chain much lighter than he had ordered it. He NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 449 therefore made another much thicker; but returning to the mountain and throwing it in the same result ensued, and at the same instant a flame rushing out had nearly killed the monk and his companion; whereupon they all ran off so frightened that they never repeated the enterprise. I knew a priest in that town, who by favor of the treasurer addressed a letter to the king of Spain, entreating to be furnished with two hundred slaves to open that mountain, promising to draw very great treasure from it. But his majesty told him to open it at his own expense, for he had no slaves to send him; and so the affair rested. The country of Nicaragua is not very large, but fertile and delightful, though so hot in summer that people cannot walk except at night; and the soil is sandy. It rains during six months of the year, beginning in May; but in the other six months it does not rain at all, and the night is equally hot with the day. It produces a great deal of honey and wax, balsam, cotton, and many fruits of the country; among which is a sort not found in the island of La Espanola, or in any other parts of India. They are in shape like our pears, and have a round stone within about half as large again as a walnut; their flavor is excellent. The tree that produces this fruit is very large but bears a small leaf. They have few cows, but a great many pigs of the Spanish breed. The tribes are numerous, though the Indians are small; their houses are built of reeds, roofed with straw, and not very large. They have no metallic mines of any sort, al- though when the Spaniards first went there the natives pos- sessed a great quantity of gold, much alloyed, brought from other provinces." And now we come to the adventures of Francis Drake, ad- venturer, pirate, privateer, circumnavigator, knight, or what you will, a man of many parts, as free in tongue and manner as with sword and other people's heads. With two vessels, one of 70 tons and one of 25 tons burden, three pinnaces and 73 men and boys, this gentleman in 1572 crossed the Atlantic in search of doughty deeds, a force which would be regarded wholly inadequate for the accomplishment of high endeavor at the present day. First they came to Nombre de Dios and captured the town. And this is what is said of it. " Our captain, finding those of our company proposing difficulties, resolved to take the opportunity that night, and so we ar- 450 THE NEW PACIFIC rived there at three of the clock after midnight. About the same time a ship of Spain had arrived there, who, suspecting us, sent her gundeloe to alarm the town, which our captain perceiving prevented, so that we landed without any difficulty, and seized upon six pieces of ordnance, the gunner having fled, whereby the town was alarm'd. Our captain left twelve men to keep the pinnaces, that we might safely retreat in case of danger; and securing the platform he thought it best to view the mount on east side the town, fearing lest there might be ordnance planted there; whence we might be annoyed; but seeing no fear of danger thence, we returned to the city, where we parted. John Oxnam,and 16 of his men, going about back of the king's treasure house, entered the east end of the market, and our captain by the broad street passed to the market place with sound of drum and trumpet. The fire-pikes were equally divided betwixt them, and proved no less ad- vantageous to our men than frightful to the enemy." After some fighting the Spaniards capitulated, and the Eng- lishmen were shown, in the government warehouses, where the treasure-trains were unladen, " a huge heap of silver, be- ing a pile of bars about 70 foot in length, 10 in breadth, and 12 in heighth," but owing to loss of blood from a wound re- ceived, Drake was obliged to forego the plunder and return to his ship, leaving besides the silver, " in the king's treasure near the water more gold and jewels than all our four pin- naces could carry ". After robbing and burning many ships, Drake joined the Cimarones, or escaped negro slaves, and with their aid enjoyed a period of depredations toward Cartagena, and on the Isthmus between Nombre de Dios and Panama. Once more sailing the high seas from England, this time in 1577 with five ships, and a chaplain named John Fletcher, who wrote a narrative of the expedition, portions of which were true, Francis Drake passed into the Pacific through Ma- gellan strait after undergoing like Magellan his little mutiny at Port San Julian, for Drake was not the man, nor even yet Fletcher the scribe, to permit a Portuguese to get the better of him in telling a tale. Then, too, Magellan makes the Pata- gonians tall, but Fletcher, having doubtless a bad eye for measurements, adds some score of inches and writes them down seven and a half feet in height. The Patagonians dried os- triches, of which Drake took fifty, forgetting to pay for them. NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 451 England and Spain were now nominally at peace, though that made little difference with Drake, with whom piracy was all one with privateering in these far away waters of the Pa- cific, though when a few years later he was with John Haw- kins in the West Indies the two nations were at war. Continuing along Chili and Peru, Drake coasted the two continents as far north as latitude 48. Among the incidents of the voyage we read from the divine Fletcher: " As we were searching for water we lighted on a Spaniard sleeping, who had by him thirteen bars of silver, weighing 4,000 Spanish ducats, which we took. Not far from hence we met another Spaniard with an Indian boy, driving eight Peruvian sheep, each sheep bearing two leathern bags, in each of which was fifty pounds weight of fine silver, which we likewise took. Here, and towards the province of Cusko, 100 pounds of com- mon earth yieldeth 25 shillings of pure silver, after the rate of a crown an ounce. We arrived at Lima, and though the Spaniards had thirty ships in the harbor, we anchored among the midst of them. Here we heard of a ship that had 1,500 bars of silver in her, besides other things; we boarded her and took what we had a mind to. We had notice of a rich ship laden with gold and silver for Panama, that had set sail from this haven. We went in pursuit, and found in her some fruits, conserves, sugars, and a great quantity of jewels and precious stones, 13 chests of ryals of plate, 80 pounds weight of gold, 26 tons of uncoined silver valued at about 360,000 pesos. We gave the master a little linen for these commodities, and after six days departed." After further similar experiences in the south, the Eng- lishmen proceeded north in search of a strait through or pas- sage round the northern end of the continent. Mr Fletcher, in relating their midsummer encounters on the California coast, doubtless found some who believed what he said to be true. " We sailed until June 23rd " he writes, " 1,500 leagues in all, till we came to 42 of north latitude, where in the night time we were opprest with extreme nipping cold, where- by several of our men's health was impaired; and the day following, notwithstanding the heat of the sun, the cold was nothing abated, so that the ropes of our ships were frozen, and the rain which fell was a kind of icy substance. And when we came two leagues further, it was in that extremity that our 452 THE NEW PACIFIC men could not make use of their hands, not to feed themselves; and our meat as it was removed from the fire was in a manner immediately frozen." Queer weather for the California coast in June! Just north of San Francisco, in what was later known as Drake bay, " We found a fit harbor, and anchored therein, continuing till July 23rd, and still were molested with cold. The country people sent out a man in a canow to us, who di- rected his discourse to us all the way as he came; and being come near us, he had a tedious oration, using many motions; which, ended with great show of reverence, he returned. He came also the second time, and the third, after the same man- ner, and brought with him as a present a bunch of feathers artificially gathered on a string, made for those who guard the king's person to wear on their heads; he brought also a basket made of rushes, filled with an herb called tabak. Our general proffered him several things, but he would receive nothing save a hat." Evidently the writer had been reading from the works of Columbus and Cortes. Landing to repair his leaky ship, and throwing up a stone wall for protection while ashore, " a great multitude of them came to us bringing presents with them as before, or rather sacrifices, they deeming us to be gods. Which our general seeing fell a praying with hands lifted up to heaven, showing that God whom we served and they ought to worship was above, and sung psalms, and read in the bible; to all which they were very attentive, and took such delight in our singing of psalms that every time they came to us they desired us to sing." It was truly an affecting sight bringing tears to the eyes even of savages, to hear these pirates singing praises, and protest- ing they were not gods, while the reading to them of the bible must have been indeed edifying, especially when we consider how much English the Eeverend Fletcher could teach these earthworms in a week. The gems and feather-work, with state ceremonies and fur-robed royalty, would have better be- fitted the Aztecs of Anahuac than the Diggers of California; while the parson lets out the secret of his story about the intense cold, and the desire to abandon a tedious voyage of profitless discovery for the rich pickings of the East Indies, in the words following. " Our general now considering that the NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 453 cold increased, the sun being now nearer the south, left off his design of finding passage through the northern parts, and therefore with consent of the rest bent his course for the Moluccas ". Yet it was still July, and the latitude as they gave it 38 30'. Finally " it pleased God we safely arrived at Plymouth, after we had spent two years, ten months, and odd days in seeing the wonders of the Lord in the deeps, in dis- covering so admirable things, and escaping so many dangers and difficulties in our encompassing the world." Once more in 1585 Drake visited the West Indies with 2,300 men, capturing, besides such ships as came in his way which he deemed worth taking, the towns of Santiago, Santo Do- mingo, Cartagena, and San Augustin. Cartagena proved the richest prize, and its capture is thus described. " The troops being now in their march half a mile this side the town, the ground grew straight, having the main sea on one side, and the harbor on the other. This straight was fortified with a stone wall and ditch. There was only so much unwalled as might serve for passage, and that was well barricad'd. This wall had six great pieces planted on it, which shot directly on our front. On the inner side of the straight they had brought two gallies to the shore, wherein they placed eleven pieces of ordnance and 400 small shot, which flanked our coming on, and on the land side in the guard only of this place 300 shot and pikes. They discharged many shot, both great and small, but our lieutenant-general approached by the lowest ground, so that most of their shot was in vain; he also forbid us to shoot till we were come to the wall side. The first place we came to was the barricades, where we discharged our shot just on our enemies faces, and joyned with them, and made them quickly retire; our lieutenant-general slew the chief ensign bearer of the Spaniards. We followed them into the town, and won the mercate place. At every street's end they had made barricados, but we quickly took them with small loss. They had set Indians in several corners with poysoned arrows; they had also stuck small sticks sharply pointed, and poysoned, in the ground in our way, but we coming close by the shore shunned most of them." After a stay of six weeks, the place was ransomed for 110,000 ducats. The second Englishman to circumnavigate the globe was Thomas Cavendish, who sailed from Plymouth in 1586 with 454 THE NEW PACIFIC three vessels of 40, 60, and 120 tons respectively; he passed through Magellan strait, and followed the track of his prede- cessors along the coast of South America. While ashore fill- ing the water-cask near Valparaiso, nine sailors were capt- ured by the Spaniards, six of whom were hanged as pirates at Santiago, notwithstanding the expedition carried the queen's commission. The capture of Spanish ships then set in, and Cavendish did not hesitate at torture to force his prisoners to reveal secrets. Wanton destruction marked his course, towns and ships being usually robbed and then burned. Arrived off Cape San Lucas, Cavendish laid in wait for the famous Manila galleon Santa Anna, 700 tons, with a cargo of silks, wine, fruits, musk, and 122,000 pesos in gold, which he captured, rifled, and set on fire, after landing the passen- gers, to the number of 190 men women and children; for " our general, out of his great mercy and humanity, had graciously promised their lives and good usage, in return for true dealing with him and his company concerning such riches as were in the ship." And thus is described the manner of fight which accom- plished the capture. " Chase was given and continued for some hours, when the English came up with the Santa Anna, gave her a broadside, poured in a volley of musketry, and prepared to board." The attempt was bravely repelled by the Spaniards, who repulsed the assailants by the use of stones hurled from behind protecting barricades, with two killed and five wounded. " But we new-trimmed our sails," continued the narrative, " and fitted every man his furniture, and gave them a fresh encounter with our great ordnance, and also with our small shot, raking them through and through to the killing and wounding of many of their men. Their captain still, like a valiant man, with his com- pany, stood very stoutly into his close fights, not yielding as yet. Our general encouraging his men afresh with the whole voice of trumpets, gave them the other encounter with our great ordnance and all our small shot, to the great discourage- ment of our enemies, raking them through in divers places, killing and wounding many of their men. They being thus discouraged and spoiled, and their being in hazard of sinking by reason of the great shot which were made, whereof some NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 455 were under water, within five or six hour's fight sent out a flag of truce and parleyed for mercy, desiring our general to save their lives and take their goods." The people thus so graciously left to perish on a savage coast by our noble general, were saved by a Spanish miracle. As the ship burned down to the water, she was released from her anchor and drifted ashore, and with abundant supplies on board, served as an ark to save their lives and convey them to their destination. All that the Englishmen did here on this California coast was accomplished in one vessel of 120 tons, the Desire, to which the miniature squadron was ere this reduced, and which now struck bravely out across the Pacific to the La- drones, and thence over the now familiar track via the Phil- ippines, the Moluccas, and the cape of Good Hope, back to England. So successful had been this adventure, that Cav- endish in 1591 again tempted fortune, this time losing not only his property but his life. Adverse winds, intense cold, sickness, and treachery united to bring destruction upon the expedition, until the pirates heard the pirate's prayer: " Oh most glorious God, with whose power the mightiest things among men are matters of no moment, I most humbly be- seech thee that the intolerable burden of my sins may through the blood of Jesus Christ be taken from me, and end our days with speed or show us some merciful sign of thy love and our preservation." Another knight sent into the South sea by Elizabeth of England was Kichard Hawkins, who set sail in 1593 with three vessels provided at his own cost, a method sovereigns always like subjects to adopt in making discoveries for them. Hawkins, however, more pirate than discoverer, could well afford to pay his own way, as will be seen by perusal of the chapter especially devoted to piratical adventures. Five ships of Rotterdam sailed into the South sea in the year 1598. For some time past the Dutch had been promi- nent in the East Indies, voyaging thither via Good Hope, but now they were ambitious to adventure west, and enter the great Pacific through the strait of Magellan. So some merchants of Rotterdam fitted out these five vessels, and the expedition was called the Company of Pieter Verhagen. Most of these early Rotterdam ships came to grief, two of 456 THE NEW PACIFIC them, the Hope and the Charity the Faith and Fidelity bely- ing their names and turning back struck bravely out for Japan, one of which reached those isles. Of this vessel Will- iam Adams was pilot. The Dutch found before them there the Portuguese, who had come from their possessions in India, and who informed the Japanese that the Dutchmen were pirates; whereupon the Asiatics plundered the ship of the Hollanders, though afterward restoring to them some of their effects. Adams was seized and sent to the emperor, and this is what the pilot says about it. " Coming before the king, he viewed me well, and seemed to be wonderful favorable. Then came there one who spoke Portuguese, and through him the king demanded of what land I was, and what moved us to come to this land, being so far away. I showed him a chart of the world, and the Magel- lan strait through which we had come, and he wondered, and thought me to lie. From one thing to another he passed in his talk until soon it was midnight. Two days after he again sent for me and wished to know more of my country, of its kind and condition, of its wars and its peace, of its fruits, and its cattle, and I made him to think well of my country. " In process of four or five years the king called me to him many times. One day he would have me to make him a small ship, but I answered him that I was not a carpenter and had no knowledge thereof. ' Well, do as well as you can ' saith he, * if it be not good it is no matter '. Wherefore at his com- mand I built him a ship of the burthen of eighty tons or there- about; which ship being made in all proportions as our man- ner is, he coming on board to see it liked it well, by which means I came into greater favor with him, and visited him often, and received from him presents, and seventy ducats by the year, and two pounds of rice a day to live upon. Now being in such grace and favor by reason of the ship I had built, and also of some points of geometry and the mathe- matics which I taught him, after five years I made supplica- tion to the king to permit me to return to my own land, that I might see my wife and children according to conscience and nature; but the king was not well pleased and he would not let me go." And truth to tell, the poor pilot was held an in- dustrial and educational prisoner by the wily Japs to the end of his days, though some of the less useful members of his NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 457 ship's company were permitted to return to their own coun- try. Another Dutch expedition was fitted out this same year by Olivier Van Noort, who with four ships undertook a voyage of circumnavigation. Mr Van Noort's greatest achieve- ments were shooting natives for amusement along the shore of the strait, and capturing Spanish vessels off Chili and Peru. In these craft were nothing but provisions; though a story was once told him of precious metals which excited his imag- ination not a little. " They were in the parallel of Lima " says the narrative, " and they conjectured their distance from the coast to be about twenty leagues. This morning a negro named Eman- uel, one of those kept of their first prize, declared that there had been three boat loads of gold in that ship, and that it was thrown- overboard by order of her captain whilst she was chased by the Hollanders. Upon this information the pilot, Juan de San Aval, and the other negroes were examined. At first they denied Emanuel's statement to be true, but after being put to the torture they confessed every thing that had been alleged, and that the gold which had been cast into the sea amounted in all to 10,200 pounds weight, and that it had all been brought from Santa Maria island." There is no doubt that among the pirates of those days there were both Spaniards and Dutchmen who would have confessed to the truth of twice as much gold as this having been obtained on an island where none existed rather than submit to further torture. It was just three hundred years prior to Admiral Dewey's capture of Manila that Van Noort was there thinking of capt- uring the place with two of the four vessels with which he had left Holland. But after taking one Spanish galleon, one of his ships was destroyed by the Spaniards, and he was glad to escape in the other, leaving a large number of his men dead. A Spanish ship, the Santa Margarita, whose captain with many of the crew had died from sickness, was captured by the natives of the Ladrones. Another ship about this time had the misfortune to fall among these thieves. It was in the year 1600. The vessel was the San Geronimo, in which Al- vara de Mendana had sailed on his last voyage, and was 458 THE NEW PACIFIC wrecked at the Ladrones. The passengers and crew were some of them saved and some killed; with the gold in the ship the natives decorated themselves and their trees, hanging some of it around their necks, and some among the branches that sheltered them. Hernan Cortes, conqueror of Mexico, entertained the idea that by following northward the coast of California, one would in due time come to India. The peninsula of Cali- fornia was discovered in 1533 by Jimenez, who supposed it to be an island. Since the conquest, Alvarado had been sent to Guatemala, Cabeza de Vaca had come over from the Mexican gulf, his route presently to be traversed by Marcos de Niza and Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. In 1535 Cortes crossed the gulf of California, then called the sea of Cortes, intending to make discoveries and settlements along the coast, but was soon obliged to return, owing to pressing mat- ters at home. In 1542 Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo sailed north- ward from Mexico along the California coast as far as Mon- terey bay, where he died. Quite early in the voyages between Acapulco and Manila the Spaniards caught the drift of ocean winds, bending south to catch them going west, and more to the north in sailing east, though the instructions were to keep as near the line of 30 as possible both ways. In 1565 the Philippine ships were sometimes as far north as latitude 37, though from bending southward before reaching the California coast, San Fran- cisco bay had not yet been seen. But in 1584 a ship com- manded by Francisco Gali, from Macao via Japan, was car- ried northward 300 leagues, coming in sight of the coast near Cape Mendocino, and in coasting thence southward the bay of San Francisco was passed if not seen. Torquemada tells how the king of Spain, desirous " of forming an establishment on the American coast to the north of California for the convenience of the navigation from the Philippine islands," ordered the viceroy Velasco of New Spain to attend to it. Whereupon the ship San Agustin, in returning from the Philippine islands in 1595, " undertook the examination of the northern coast in search of a harbor. She discovered the port which has since been named de San Francisco, and being already within this port, a squall of wind drove her on shore, and she was there wrecked." The NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 459 following year, by order of the conde de Monterey, viceroy of Mexico, Sebastian Vizcaino surveyed the gulf of California, and attempted colonization at La Paz. It was in 1599 that the third king Philip of Spain ordered the coast of California surveyed, and in 1602, the order was obeyed, Sebastian Vizcaino sailing northward with four ves- sels, the capitana, or flag ship, being the San Diego, which name he gave to the beautiful port he found just above the peninsula. The other vessels were the Santo Tomds, the Tres Reyes, and a barco longo as they called a smaller craft; and they sailed from Acapulco on the 5th of May. Many whales were found at a bay called Ballenas, and so kind to each other were the pelicans of Asuncion island, that if one were tied up the others would bring it fish to eat. Torquemada tells all this, and being a great inquisitor, what he says must be true. The shores of the peninsula were resplendent with pearl oyster and abalone shells. Proceed- ing northward, as the Monarquia Indiana relates, " being six leagues from the main land they fell in with four islands, which were named los Coronados, two of them small and ap- pearing like sugar loaves, the other two something larger. To the north of these islands in the main land is a famous port which was named de San Diego. November the 10th in the evening the ships of Vizcaino anchored in port San Diego. This was the most secure harbour the Spaniards had discovered since leaving port de la Magdalena. Here they found woods, fresh water, a fruitful country which abounded with game, as the port itself did with fish. In short this seemed to be the object of their pursuit. The inhabitants likewise appeared friendly in their disposition towards the Spaniards; and it was remarked that they had pieces of me- tallic ore, and that the paint which they used looked like a mixture of blue and silver ". Then they went on and found and named the Santa Catalina islands, which were inhabited by a superior people having good boats, traffic with the main- land, and a rude temple consecrated to idols. Thus the voy- age was continued as far as latitude 42, or a little beyond, when the expedition returned. By this time, through the natural love of the marvellous, and the stories told by mariners who drew largely upon their imagination, and a strong desire to find a water way through 460 THE HEW PACIFIC or round the continent, the idea of the existence of a strait in the north assumed the form of mystery. This imaginary strait, first placed in South America, was gradually moved northward as discoveries dispelled the illusion, and finally, though wholly imaginary, found recognition among cosmog- raphers and navigators as the strait of Anian. By that name it was mapped and described by geographers, and many were the mariners one not to be outdone by another so long as speech should stand for deeds who said they had seen or sailed through it. Besides the apocryphal voyages and the attendant imaginary geography, the maps of the period were filled with all forms of bodies of water, bays, straits, channels, rivers, and lakes, the land being labelled Anian regnum, Qui- vira regnum, and the like, with California regio up near the north pole. Those who feel called upon to determine the authenticity of the alleged voyage of Bartolome de Fonte into the in- terior of the Northwest coast, should consider first of all whether it is easier to accept a true voyage with false state- ment of facts or a false voyage with true statement of facts; or if, indeed, the expedition and incidents stated concerning it are not in the main impossible. The admiral de Fonte states that in 1640 the viceroys of Mexico and Peru received orders from the king of Spain to place at his disposal four ships, with which he sailed north-westward, sending one of his vessels as far as latitude 77, that is to say into the Arctic ocean, where he sailed up a beautiful river, but found no strait. " When I was at Venice in 1596 " says Michael Lok the elder, in Purchas, His Filgrimes, " happily arrived there an old man, about 60 years of age, commonly called Juan de Fuca, who said that he was pilot of three small ships which the viceroy of Mexico sent to discover the straits of Anian, along the coast of the South sea, and to fortify in that strait, to resist the passage and proceedings of the English nation, which were feared to pass through those straits, into the South sea. And that by reason of a mutiny which happened among the soldiers for the misconduct of their captain, that voyage was overthrown, and the ship returned from Califor- nia to Nova Spania without any thing done in that voyage. " Also he said that shortly after the voyage so ill ended, NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 461 the said viceroy of Mexico sent him out again in 1592 with a small caravel and a pinnace armed with mariners only, to follow said voyage for the discovery of the straits of Anian, and the passage thereof into the sea which they call the North sea, which is our North-west sea. And that he followed his course in that voyage west and northwest in the South sea, all alongst the coast of Nova Spania and California, and the Indies now called North America, until he came to the lati- tude of 47, and that there finding that the land trended north and northeast, with a broad inlet of sea, between lati- tudes 47 and 48, he entered thereinto, sailing therein more than twenty days. And that at the entrance of this said strait, there is on the northwest coast thereof a great headland or island, with an exceeding high pinnacle, or spired rock, like a pillar thereupon ". By order of Philip III of Spain, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros with three ships and six Franciscan friars sailed from Callao, Peru, in 1605 for the island of Santa Cruz, there to establish a settlement, and thence to make search for Tierra Austral, or the southern continent. His course for 800 leagues was west-south-west until latitude 26 was reached, when fear- ing to lose the trade wind he edged west-north-west back again, and so failed to find Australia, but came upon New Zealand instead. Many new islands were discovered, among them Otaheite, which Quiros called La Sagittaria, and many new nations were converted to Christ, the sword and match- lock playing their part. Joris Spilbergen, a Dutch admiral, sailed round the world with six vessels via Magellan strait and Good Hope in 1614. The Hollanders had ere this secured the supremacy at the Spice islands, the Dutch East India company had been estab- lished, and fortresses and factories erected at Terenate and elsewhere. Like all similar expeditions of that day, Spil- bergen's ships were fitted out for trade as well as for fighting. They were merchants, pirates, propagandists, thieves, and murderers, all in one. Dutch English French, Portuguese Spaniards and Italians, all were as sharks in the great waters of the world, roaming around seeking what to devour, only the sharks appear more sensible than the men, inasmuch as they do not tear in pieces their own species. It becomes monotonous to follow these early voyages, with 462 THE NEW PACIFIC their repetition of mutinies and starvations, their wars ship- wrecks and destructions, yet they were terrible realities to those destined to undergo them. Spilbergen's voyage was no exception to the others. Yet he was more fortunate than most in this respect, that he brought five of his six ships safely to the Moluccas, even after a brush with the Spaniards off Acapulco. Up to this time all voyages into the Pacific from east to west had been made through Magellan strait, as it was not yet known whether Tierra del Fuego was an island or a continent, and if the latter how far south it extended. A company of Dutch merchants determined to ascertain the truth of the matter, and in 1615 sent thither the ships Endracht and Home in charge of Jacob le Maire, merchant and president of the ships, and Wilhelm Schouten as master mariner. The vessels were of 360 and 110 tons respectively, one carrying 19 guns and 65 men, and the other eight guns and 22 men. The larger vessel returned in safety via Good Hope; the smaller one was wrecked, and her name given to the sharp point round which a ship now first sailed. It is generally sur- mised that the name Cape Horn was given to this point of land on account of its shape, but such was not the case. Here as often elsewhere, for example San Diego bay, the Columbia river, and following the tracks of Cook, Vancouver, and other great navigators a score of cases, the name of the discovery ship was given to the land or water discovered. The merchant mariner Le Maire died from ill-treatment before reaching home. The western coast of Terra Australis, or the Great South Land, was discovered by Theodoric Hertoge in 1616, after which the Dutch endeavored to obtain further knowledge of that region, but learned nothing until 1642, when Tasman set sail from Batavia on the most important voyage of circum- navigation since Magellan's. Knowledge of this expedition was given to the world by the captain's own hand under the following caption. Journal or Description by me, Abel Jansz Tasman, of a Voyage from Batavia for making Discoveries of the Unknown South Land in the year 161$. May God Almighty be pleased to give his blesseng to this voyage. Amen. They came in two ships to the island Mauritius, and thence passed on to a land which they called Van Diemen's, NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO. THE PACIFIC 163 sailing afterward to Staten island, then to Amsterdam island, then Rotterdam island, and finally to New Guinea or Tasman land. Tasmania, once Van Diemen's Land, is now a British colony, with cities and broad settlements, commerce agri- culture and manufactures, and education and religion, all of which and much more the country lacked when Tasman first saw it. Knowledge of Alaska and the north Pacific begins with the voyage of Vitus Bering in 1741, sent by Catherine of Russia in conformity with the desire expressed by Peter the Great to know if the lands of Asia and America joined, though others than Peter and Catherine knew ere this that they did not. Deshnef's ascent of the Anadir in 1648 was not followed by the Kamchatka expeditions until nearly a century later. All this time speculation was rife as to the great land opposite, of which the Russians had heard so much from the natives. Bering's first expedition was to the Anadir; in his second he steered straight across for Mount St Elias. The St Peter and the St Paul, the former commanded by Bering and the latter by Chirikof, set sail from Avatcha bay on the 4th of June 1741, and continued together for ten days, when the vessels parted company in the night. Chirikof sighted the Ameri- can continent at latitude 55 21' on the night of the 15th of July, and Bering the next day at noon. While on his return the commander died at Bering island, on the 8th of Decem- ber. The ships of war Dolphin and Tamar, Byron, commander, were sent by the British government in 1764 to make discov- eries in the South seas, as this was an easy way to get posses- sion of some of the world, Spain and Portugal having so much of it, namely, to find and take possession of any lands unclaimed by any other European power. Byron took pos- session of the Falkland and other islands. Again in 1767 the Dolphin, Captain Wallis, crossed the Pacific, and anchored for a short time in Matavi bay, Tahiti islands, giving to the harbor the name Port Royal, and to the land that of King George the Third island. James Cook, son of a farm laborer apprenticed to a haber- dasher, ran away, became sailor, then mate, joined the navy in 1755, attained distinction, was again given the control of ships, and in 1769, with a commission as lieutenant, was ap- THE NEW PACIFIC pointed to the command of the ship Endeavor, with a corps of scientists to make observations on the transit of Venus at Tahiti, where they arrived on the 13th of April, and erected an observatory. The work there accomplished, Cook set out in search of a continent in the south Pacific, and so came first to New Zealand, and then to New Holland, or Australia, and on return to England was made captain. In a second voyage he searched still further for continents, large or small; and in a third voyage he came upon Hawaii, and death. To a rich Englishman, Banks, the world owes the Cook voyages. With a Swedish friend, Solander, Banks accompanied the expedi- tions. From the Society islands, in his third voyage, Captain Cook sailed northerly for six weeks without encountering any land other than an uninhabited coral island until he came to the group, then unknown, and supposed by him to be now for the first time discovered, and which he named the Sandwich isl- ands. The people manifested but little fear, and spoke a lan- guage similar to those of the Society islands and New Zealand. On board ship they displayed wonder and curiosity, examin- ing every thing about them, even the hands and faces of the sailors. They asked the strangers if they used food, and on seeing them eat dry biscuit, brought jams, plantains, sweet potatoes, and pigs. After ten days Cook sailed to Nootka sound, where he found quite a different people, the copper- colored Americans, with speech guttural, high cheek bones, long coarse hair, painted faces, and clothed in skins. They also had fringed mantles made of the inner bark of trees, and others of dog's hair. The finest skins, selected for the gar- ments of the wealthy, were fringed with wampum, used as currency as well as ornament, similar to that found elsewhere in North America, and on the opposite coasts of northern Asia. This fact points to a widely extended commerce carried on at that time among the native nations on both sides of the north Pacific, and of which there can be no doubt, across Ber- ing strait, and far southward on either seaboard. At Nootka trade was established, the natives bringing deer, bear, wolf, fox, raccoon, polecat, martin, and sea-otter skins, besides fur and bark garments, and various other articles, and receiving in exchange pieces of iron and tin, knives, nails, chisels, look- ing-glasses, buttons, and like trinkets. In the north the Eng- NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 405 lish found and named several places, as Prince William sound, Cook river, Prince of Wales cape, St Lawrence bay, anchoring at length at Unalaska. They crossed to the Asiatic coast, passed through Bering strait and gazed on the icy ocean, and then returned to the islands called Sandwich. Captain Cook was of that pronounced type of British naval commanders whose stern sense of right could find no place for compromise with evil. He made no distinction as to class or condition in regard to offenders. A man-eating South sea islander, in whose ethics theft from a stranger was no wrong, must all the same be judged by European standard, and pun- ished by European law. The savages of the Pacific for once should feel the presence of the English schoolmaster. This doctrine, or rather instinct, cost him his life. At the Society islands, a native stole his peacocks, of which he was making a collection. The chief was seized and held until the thief brought back the birds. At the Hawaiian islands a boat was stolen, and in the attempt to bring the chief on board his ship, Cook was killed. It happened in this way. Cook had chosen for his port, after several days' search, a commodious harbor on the south side of Hawaii, where he was met by 15,000 wondering natives in 3,000 canoes, besides the swarm of swimmers that filled the water like porpoises, men Women and children, paddling and shouting excitedly to each other in a carnival of happiness and hilarity. Proceeding to land, two chiefs with long white poles opened a passage for the captain's pinnace through the throng of canoes, who on reaching the shore fell prostrate before the visitors, while other officers appeared and per- formed the same service for them on land. And all the peo- ple, whether on the water or on the land, on house-top or hill- top, for the dusky natives filled all space, covered their faces with their hands to shut from sight the all too radiant spectacle. Though the aged king of the Hawaiians was absent on one of the other islands, a spot of ground was set aside for the use of the strangers, and placed under taboo, that they might rest there unmolested. Harmony prevailed, and on the return of the king courtesies were exchanged, royalty dining on ship board, while Cook and his officers were feasted ashore, baked pig and sweet potatoes being served on plantain leaves, with cocoa-milk to drink. .66 THE NEW PACIFIC But in time came that familiarity which breeds contempt, and the celestial visitants became in the eyes of the natives worse than things terrestrial. The demands for food and as- sistance which were quickly granted at first, were now met with sullen indifference or refusal. Then knives and guns were brought out by the English, while the islanders began to throw stones. Thus matters stood until one day Captain Cook, requiring wood for use on shipboard, offered two hatch- ets for the fence which enclosed their sacred burial place, which were indignantly refused. Throwing in another hatch- et, the three being in like manner refused, Cook tore down the fence, and with it some images regarded with veneration by the natives, and conveyed the plunder to his ships amid the clamor of the priests and the fury of the people. Then he hastened out to sea, but was driven back by a storm. Those who insist on squaring the conduct of the savages by civilized measurements, should at least be willing to recip- rocate in kind, and grant to savages the rights of civilization. Fancy a body of Polynesians ascending the Thames in boats to the houses of Parliament, of landing there and demanding the doors and pulpits of Westminster Abbey in return for three muskrat skins, and on being refused, seizing the sacred portals and carrying them away by force, on the plea that the wood was needed for their camp-fires. , Compelled again to go ashore for ship supplies and repairs, hostilities were resumed, and after that increased, until upon the disappearance one night of a cutter, Cook determined on more stringent measures. He would entice the king on board his ship, and hold him captive until the boat should be re- turned. To this end the English commander next day sta- tioned guards at various points in the bay, and landing with the marines in a pinnace, proceeded to the king's house and induced him to come out and walk with him to the beach. Meanwhile the cry was raised among the natives that their king was captured, and they rushed to his rescue. Stones were thrown, and the marines opened fire. A stone struck Cook, who seeing the man who threw it shot him dead. But just as the Englishmen reached their boats to embark, a na- tive stabbed Cook in the back, who fell with his face in the water, and immediately expired. The command of the expedition, upon the death of Cook, fell on Captain Clerke, and after another short visit to Kamchatka and Bering strait, he too died, and was buried near Petropaul- ovski, having been ill with consumption before leaving Eng- land. Captain Gore then took the lead, sailing in the Resolu- tion, with King in command of the Discovery. And so they dropped down the Asiatic coast, calling at Canton, then across the Indian ocean, and finally back to England. Among the many voyages of circumnavigation and discovery was one about this time made purely in the interests of com- merce, that is to say, the fur-trade of the Northwest coast. Two vessels were fitted out by an association of English merchants, the King George, Nathaniel Portlock commander, and the Queen Charlotte, Captain George Dixon, and sent round Cape Horn into the Pacific. At the Hawaiian islands they found the natives troublesome, being at once too familiar and suspicious, fearing that these Englishmen had come as the avengers of the death of Captain Cook. Portlock, indeed, had sailed with Cook. Crossing to the American coast, they reconnoitred in the vicinity of Cook river and Prince William sound, and returned to the Hawaiian islands to winter. Here they found every thing tabooed, so that it became necessary to sue for the king's favor and to satisfy the priests. Presents were made and the taboo removed; when gifts ceased the taboo again appeared. This was the kind of commerce the Englishmen found here at this time, easy and profitable enough for the winning side. A shark story comes in at this juncture; the monster, caught by the King George men, was " 13 feet long, 8 broad, and six feet in the liver; 48 young ones were in her, about eight inches each in length; two whole turtles of 60 pounds each; several small pigs, and a quantity of bones," altogether a fishy story. In the spring they were again on the American coast, seek- ing to buy furs. At Prince William sound they fell in with the ship NootJca, captain Mears, late from Bengal. The scurvy had been making fearful havoc on board the NootTca, all the crew being dead or disabled, the captain alone being in con- dition to walk the deck. Believed from his sore distress, Mears informed his friends that few furs could be obtained there, as vessels from India had already secured them, and other traders from that quarter were expected immediately. There- 468 THE NEW PACIFIC upon it was decided that the Queen Charlotte should proceed to King George sound, and the King George life boat to Cook river, and so anticipate and cut off the traffic from their rivals. The fur traders were quite successful, and tell another fish story, how they hauled the seine frequently, never getting less than 2,000 salmon at a haul. They could have soon filled fifty ships with their fine fish. For the sick they made spruce beer, and administered it with good results. The savages were expert thieves. Trade being over, they went again to the Hawaiian islands, and from there to Canton, where a selection of their best skins was sold to the East India company for $50,000, and the inferior ones sold to the Chinese. Both ves- sels returned to England with cargoes of tea. Jealous of the antipodal acquisitions of the other great powers of Europe, particularly of the results of the recent cir- cumnavigations of England, the French government in 1785 sent out the Boussole and Astrolabe, with every scientific equipment, in command of La Perouse, a naval officer. At the Hawaiian islands the Frenchmen were met by 150 canoes laden with fruit and hogs, for which the natives wanted pieces of iron. On the American coast, near Mount St Elias, where were pine trees six feet in diameter, twenty seamen were lost in the surf. Thence to Monterey and Loretto, and across to Manila, where all the necessaries of life except Eu- ropean cloth could be cheaply procured. " A great nation " says La Perouse, " without any other colony than the Philip- pines, which would establish a proper government there, might view, all the European settlements in Africa and America with- out envy or regret." Past Formosa and through the strait of Korea, La Perouse came to Japan; but the inhabitants of these shores seemed not given to hospitality, and the Frenchmen continued their way to Kamchatka, where they hobnobbed with the natives, and then turning southward, and touching at the Hawaiian islands, finally reached Australia, and came to anchor in Bot- any bay. From this place were received by the world the last report and the last tidings of the expedition, which then in- tended to return to the isle of France in 1788, for when it sailed hence it dropped from sight forever. It was thought that the vessels were wrecked on or near the shore of New NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 469 Caledonia, and that the ill-fated mariners, officers and crews, were either drowned or killed by the savages. As in New World conquest, so in circumnavigation, it is remarkable how many commanders of early expeditions lost their lives in the Pacific, more particularly on the Asiatic side. Captain D'Entrecasteaux, with the sloops UEsperance and La Recherche went into the South sea in 1791 in search of La Perouse, who was lost there, and to survey the island of New Holland. Touching at the Friendly islands and at New Zea- land, the expedition arrived at Java, where dissension broke out among the crews, the captain having died a short time be- fore. The voyage of discovery to the north Pacific ocean and round the world by George Vancouver in 1790-5, was made primarily for the purpose of ascertaining if any navigable pas- sage existed between the two oceans. Two ships, the Discovery and the Chatham, entered the Pacific from the west, coming by way of Good Hope to New Zealand and Tahiti, and thence north to the Hawaiian islands and the Northwest coast. Remembering Cook, the Hawaiians did not seem to over- flow with joy on seeing Vancouver; nevertheless, in return for presents, two houses were tabooed for the use of the strang- ers. Many American trading-vessels put in at these islands at this time, and the north Pacific whaling fleets wintered there. With regard to trade between the Northwest coast and China, Vancouver says, " Previously to the departure of Rowbottom and Williams, they informed me that their captain had con- ceived that a valuable branch of commerce might be created by the importing of the sandal-wood of this country into India, where it sells at an exorbitant price; that, in the fur trade, immense profits had been gained, insomuch that it was expected not less than twenty vessels would, on these pursuits, sail with their captain, Kendrick, from New England, and that they were desired to engage the natives to provide several cargoes of this wood, which is easily procured, as the moun- tains of Attowai as well as those of Awhyhee, abound with the trees from which it is produced; though we were not able to procure any of their leaves, to determine its particular class or species. The wood seemed slightly to answer the descrip- tion given of the yellow sandal-wood of India, which is there a very valuable commodity, and is sold by weight. The pearls 470 THE NEW PACIFIC I saw were but few, and consisted of three sorts, the white, yellow, and lead color. The white were very indifferent, be- ing small, irregular in shape, and possessing very little beauty; the yellow and those of the lead color were better formed, and in point of appearance of superior quality." The navigator never failed to indulge a fad for giving names to the things and places which he passed. Never did he forget the object of his voyage, which was to discover and to name. He even surpassed his predecessor, Cook, in this respect; that is to say, though he discovered less he named more, and so accomplished his part. Scarcely had he entered the Pacific before he began to give names to every thing in sight, islands, straits, seas, rocks, rivers, and bays, mountains peninsulas and promontories. The largest unnamed island he called after himself; a large sound he named after his first officer, Peter Puget; an island in Puget sound he called Whidbey, from his ship-master. To one of his ships he gave immortality as Port Discovery, and to the other as Chatham sound. It was an amiable trait, after all, and as innocent as it was inexpensive in the gratification. As in his 20,000 miles of Pacific ocean navigation he encountered many of those things, there were plenty to go round among himself, his family, his friends, his admirers, those favorable to him and those to whom he was favorably inclined; and when all these and the rest had their names thus perpetuated, he let fly his fancy, and see the genius of the navigator displayed in the inventing of new and unique names, as Eclipse island, Point Possession, Doubtful island, Break-sea island, the summit of wit and fitness being attained in Some-body-knows-what strait. And every thing so fitting, the commander being a great man has a great isl- and, the cook being a small man has a small island. Crossing to Fuca strait, the Sound was entered and named, and every rock and coast-crook was examined, baptized, and recorded. Some of the names thus given remain to this day, but most of them have been obliterated or overlooked by the profane and barbarous Yankees. Some of the landmarks to which the Englishman gave names the Spaniards had named before, and it ofttimes became a question which should give way to the other. The coast as a whole Vancouver called New Albion. Mount Baker was named after Joe Baker, one of Vancouver's lieutenants. Mount Kainier takes its name from NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 471 an English admiral, Port Townshend from a noble marquis, and Hood canal and a dozen other places from right honorable lords of England. Thus they came, and saw, and named, and then they went away. At Admiralty inlet, so called in honor of the men who had sent him there, thinking perhaps that the voice of Vasco Nunez de Balboa, heard at Panama 279 years before, had not penetrated thus far northward, and it being the king's birth- day, and a good king too, the king of England not as on the previous similar occasion the king of Spain George Vancou- ver took formal possession of all that region, after serving the men " as good a dinner as we were able to provide them, with a double allowance of grog." But neither the dinner nor the grog established a title which held good for any con- siderable length of time. After further exploration of the coast, attending meanwhile the convention at Nootka sound, Vancouver dropped down to San Francisco bay, and took observations of California and the missions. One of his ships entered the Columbia river. After another visit to the Hawaiian islands, and more observa- tions on the American coast, the great navigator returned to England. The more immediate object of Vancouver's voyage was to receive from Spanish officials at Nootka formal restitu- tion of lands they had seized. Next in importance were the fisheries and fur trade of China, and a survey of the Northwest coast; any islands or other territories any where which could be picked up for England would come in handy. One of the most able men to visit the Pacific in the interests of science was Alexander von Humboldt. Obtaining permis- sion in 1799 from the court of Madrid to visit the Spanish American colonies, and to sail by the Acapulco galleon to the Philippine islands, Humboldt spent in South America and Mexico about five years, sending back great quantities of specimens of nature in these parts, animal vegetable and min- eral, hundreds of boxes of samples of soils salts and metals, dried plants, skins of animals, stuffed beasts and birds, and fishes and reptiles in alcohol, all of which were subsequently minutely described in manuscript, and elaborately pictured and published in many bulky tomes. Never before was a country and its people so analyzed and described by so able a philosopher and writer. 16 472 THE NEW PACIFIC The first voyage of Eussians round the world was made under the auspices of Alexander I in 1803-7 by Von Krusen- stern and Lisiansky, an account of which is given by G. H. Von Langsdorf. Sailing from Copenhagen, and touching at Teneriffe and Brazil, the ship rounded Cape Horn, and came to the Marquesas and Hawaiian islands, proceeding thence to Japan and Kamchatka, then over to Kodiak and down to San Francisco, again visiting Alaska and Asia before return- ing home. At Petropaulovski was the garrison of 150 soldiers, artillery- men, cossacks, and commissary of the Eussian-American trad- ing company. The Eussian settlement at Unalaska rested si- lently beside the water and amidst the high, sharp, snow-clad peaks around. Of the factory at Kodiak, Bander, a Dane, was now superintendent. Here the expedition was welcomed by three Eussian priests and thirty native boys ringing bells. The settlement at Kodiak consisted of thirty buildings, in- cluding church, barracks, school, shops, and warehouses; for this was now the entrepot for collecting and storing the peltries brought from a wide distance round. During the five years preceding 1802, more than 18,000 sea-otter skins were brought to this factory. Over the Aleutian isles and all the possessions of the Eus- sians in America ruled for forty years M Von Baranof, with his headquarters at Sitka. Justice here was arbitrary, even factors of subordinate posts ruling as rigidly as they were governed, so that the poor native, if he were permitted to live and labor for his masters might deem himself indeed fortunate. Baranof was not a bad man for a Eussian, though he loved his drink and hated the English. The arrival of the Krusenstern expedition raised the population of Sitka to 200, with six ships in the harbor. The hospitality of the town was so taxed that natives were sent out for dried fish, berries, train- oil, whale-fat, and saranna-roots to supplement the food sup- piy- Every effort having failed to penetrate through the con- tinent by water, in 1819, with the ship Hecla and Griper, Cap- tain Parry was sent by the British government to find a north- west route round it; that is, to pass if possible through Lancaster sound to Bering strait. This expedition was fol- lowed by many others into the Arctic ocean, of which I have not space to speak. NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 473 A Voyage of Discovery, Otto Von Kotzebue, a lieutenant in the Russian navy, calls his expedition into the South sea and Bering strait, in 1815-18, in search of a northwest passage. The voyage was made in the ship Rurick, and the expenses were borne by Count Romanzof, chancellor of the empire. From Cronstadt to Copenhagen, then to Plymouth, this for the start; for the journey, Teneriffe, Brazil, Chili, Kam- chatka, Kotzebue sound, California, Hawaiian isles, Radack, St Helena, and home. At Concepcion the excursionists saw whales spout in the bay, and drank with Chilian dames in Paris gowns and diamonds the tea or herb of Paraguay, of which Chili used $1,000,000 worth annually. This port is recommended to navigators as a place of refreshment, pro- visions and fruits being abundant. After a short cruise among the South sea isles, the expedi- tion proceeded north, touched at Petropaulovski, entered and explored Kotzebue sound, and returning south, called at Una- laska, where Kriukof, agent of the Russian-American com- pany, with five 24-oared bidares, came out and towed the vessel into the harbor, and then served up for dinner, in honor of his guest, one of the only twelve oxen at that post. At San Francisco the Russians found an abundance of fresh food, and the people very ready to supply them, as they had pre- viously received government orders to that effect. At the Hawaiian islands, the next place to visit, the king met them in a free and friendly manner, and regaled them with baked pig and wine, and then harangued the captain thus: " I learn that you are the commander of a ship of war, and are engaged in a voyage similar to those of Cook and Van- couver, and consequently do not engage in trade; it is there- fore my intention not to carry on any trade with you, but to provide you gratis with every thing that my islands produce." The costumes of the more aristocratic islanders at this time were a mixture of native nakedness and European full dress, with manners corresponding. At the palace door were naked sentinels with cartridge-box and pistols strapped to their waist, and at the landing and elsewhere were native guards with muskets. Gentlemen in swallow tail coats squatted in the sand, and ladies in silk skirts and waists, extremely decollete", waddled about in broad bare feet. Another fashion was to make one suit serve several persons, one wearing the trousers, 474: THE NEW PACIFIC another the coat, and another the vest. At a state dinner where hog was tabooed, the supply for that day being devoted to the gods, the king unfastened an ornamental collar from, his neck and handed it to the Eussian commander. " They tell me ", he said, " that your monarch is a great hero. I am a great hero myself, and I send him this collar in token of my regard ". Prior to their departure, the Russians received a full supply of provisions, " taro, jams, cocoanuts, bananas, and watermelons in abundance. The hogs are so large that the whole crew could not eat one in two days." Kotzebue's vessel was a good-sized frigate, with a cargo for Kamchatka, the commander having orders to proceed to Fort Ross, a Russian post on the coast of California, there to re- main a year and then return to Cronstadt: But on arrival at Ross, finding his presence not needed, he bore away to the Hawaiian islands. In 1825 Captain Beechey, of the royal English navy, sailed for the Pacific and Arctic oceans, to cooperate with polar ex- peditions in search of a northwest passage. His course was round Cape Horn to Valparaiso, thence across via Tahiti and the Hawaiian islands to Kamchatka, through Bering strait nearly to Point Barrow, and back by way of California, Mexico, and Chili, home. The expedition was barren of results, save as a view of the great ocean at that time. The published nar- rative is filled chiefly with accounts of intercourse with the natives, of no special interest to us at this point of time. Comparing the Society and Hawaiian islands, on reaching the latter, Captain Beechey says: " Our passage from Otaheite to this place had been so rapid that the contrast between the two countries was particularly striking. At Woahoo the eye searches in vain for the green and shady forests skirting the shore, which enliven the scene at Otaheite. The whole coun- try has a parched and comparatively barren aspect; and it is not until the heights are gained, and the extensive ranges of taro plantations are seen filling every valley, that strangers learn why this island was distinguished by the name of the garden of the Sandwich islands. The difference between the natives of Woahoo and Otaheite is not less conspicuous than that of the scenery. Constant exposure to the sun has given them a dark complexion and coarseness of feature which do not exist in the Society islands, and their countenances more- NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 473 over have a wildness of expression which at first misleads the eye; hut this very soon wears off, and I am not sure whether this manliness of character does not create a respect which the effeminacy of the Otaheitans never inspires. As we rowed up the harbour, the forts, the cannon, and the ensign of the Tamahamaha, displayed upon the ramparts of a fort mount- ing forty guns, and at the gaff of a man-of-war brig and of some other vessels, rendered the distinction between the two countries still more evident." The interior of California was to the outside world still an unknown wilderness, as the following remarks made at San Francisco will show. " When Langsdorff was at this port, an expedition was undertaken by Don Louis Argiiello and Padre Uria to make converts, and to inquire into the nature of the country in the vicinity of the Sierra Nevada; and I learned from Don Louis, I believe a son of the commander, that they traced the Sacramento seventy or eighty leagues up, and that it was there very wide and deep." Acting governor at this time was Lieutenant Ignacio Martinez, of whom the English captain says: "Nothing seemed to give him greater pleasure than our partaking of his family dinner, the greater part of which was dressed by his wife and daughters, who prided themselves on their proficiency in the art of cooking. It was not, however, entirely for the satisfaction of presenting us with a well-prepared repast that they were induced to indulge in this humble occupation. Poor Martinez, besides his legiti- mate offspring, had eighteen others to provide for out of his salary, which was then eleven years in arrears. He had a sorry prospect before him, as a short time previous to our visit, the government, by way of paying up these arrears, sent a brig with a cargo of paper cigars to be issued to the troops in lieu of dollars. But as Martinez justly observed, cigars would not satisfy the families of the soldiers, and the compromise was refused. The cargo was, however, landed at Monterey and placed under the charge of the governor, where all other tobacco is contraband; and as the Spaniards are fond of smoking, it stands a fair chance in the course of time of answering the intention of the government." The trade of California at this time was in sending hides, tallow, and horses to the Hawaiian islands, grain to Sitka, and a few furs to China, receiving in return, as opportunity 476 THE NEW PACIFIC offered, dry-goods, furniture, wearing apparel, agricultural implements, deal boards, and salt, and from China silks for the decoration of the churches and fire-works for the celebration of saints'-days. The Hawaiian islands now held commercial intercourse with the outside world, having established a market for the sale of native products, receiving Mexican dollars and European cloth in exchange. The sandal-wood in the mountains was found to be a profitable article of commerce, a ready market for it being found in China. From San Francisco Beechey made an excursion to the Philippine and Lew Chew islands, the latter situated north- east of Formosa, and the trade of which was mainly with China, Japan, and Formosa. " Commerce between Loo Choo and China," says Beechey, " is conducted entirely in Japanese vessels, which bring hemp, iron, copper, pewter, cotton, culi- nary utensils, lacquered furniture, excellent hones, and occa- sionally rice, though this article when wanted is generally supplied from an island to the northward belonging to Loo Choo, called Ooshima; but this is only required in dry seasons. The exports of Loo Choo are salt, grain, tobacco, samshew, spirits, rice when sufficiently plentiful, grass hemp of which their clothes are made, hemp, and cotton. In return for these they bring from China different kinds of porcelain, glass, furniture, medicines, silver, iron, silks, nails, tiles, tools, and tea, as that grown upon Loo Choo is of an inferior quality." Formosa exported, among other things, gold and silver, mother of pearl and tortoise-shells. " Loo Choo had, besides a tribute vessel, two junks making annual trips to China. These isl- anders had hand-looms and spinning-wheels, mills worked by cattle, and manufactured paper, spirits, cloth of cotton and grass, pottery, baskets, salt, and made a large flat shell so transparent that the Japanese used it as window glass." A notable journey into the Pacific was that of Charles Darwin, in the ship Beagle, in 1832, sent by the British gov- ernment to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, begun by Captain King in 1826; also to survey the coasts of Chili and Peru, to visit some of the islands of the Pacific, and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round the world. For five years the great naturalist thus pur- sued his studies, in the companionship of Captain Fitz Roy NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 477 and his officers, the government contributing 1,000 toward the printing of his report on his return. At Port Desire Mr Darwin discourses on the wild llama, the characteristic quadruped of the plains of Patagonia. At Port San Julian, geology claims his attention; at Santa Cruz, the natives, basaltic lava, and the habits of the condor; at the Falkland islands, wild cattle, wild horses, rabbits, fire-making as an art, streams of stones, and the habits of birds; at Tierra del Fuego, the savages, the scenery and the strait; Port Famine, the forests of Cape Horn, edible fungus, bartering tobacco for skins and ostrich-feathers, the equable humid and windy climate, the height of the snow line and the descent of glaciers, erratic bowlders, climate and productions of the ant- arctic islands; Valparaiso, the clear dry delicious atmosphere, the rounded hills, with scanty vegetation and high cordillera beyond, the bed of shells at the hacienda of Quintero, and the reddish-black vegetable mould which proved to be marine mud. The narrow seaboard strip comprising Chili is traversed by several sierra .lines parallel to the cordillera, between which are basins opening into each other, and supporting towns, as San Felipe, Santiago, and San Fernando. These basins are easily irrigated and fertile; and every landholder in the valley has part of the hill country for his cattle, which at the annual rodeo are driven down, counted, and marked. Wheat, corn, and beans are easily grown; yet for all this, these people are not as prosperous as they should be. Mining-shafts puncture the hills and mountains every where. Copper ore is sent to Swansea to be smelted. All is singularly quiet about the mines; no smoke, and no rattle of machinery. The government encourages prospecting, and per- mits mining on any one's ground on payment of a small sum. The topper-mining process of Chili is cheaper than that of Cornwall. The miners are hard-worked and poorly paid, five or six dollars a month being the usual wage, with poor food, figs, bread, beans, and roasted cracked wheat with seldom any meat. On these meagre earnings they have to clothe and feed their families. The naturalist gives the habits of the puma, or South Amer- ican lion, and describes the various species of humming-birds. Nothing in nature is too large or too small for his keen vision 478 THE NEW PACIFIC and intelligent observation. In crossing the cordillera he gives its geology, and description of its torrents, with remarks on the sagacity of mules; the discovery of mines and the effect of snow on rocks; and the zoology of the Andes, with what he saw of locusts, and silicified trees buried as they grew. On the island of Chiloe was found peat, a wild potato, and many strange birds. One great forest covers these islands, which have strong winds and a heavy rainfall. The inhabitants were short and of dark complexion, and lived on shell-fish and po- tatoes. From Valparaiso to Coquimbo and Copiapo, Darwin trav- elled by land, and this part of the coast is minutely described. He bought for 25 six animals before starting, and sold them at the end of the journey for 23. The occupants of hundreds of hovels along the cordillera foothills are supported from the surface gold-washings. From the deep mines the Chilian brings up on his back, up a narrow shaft on a notched pole, 200 or 300 pounds of ore at a load; yet they seldom eat meat and are not muscular. The rainfall is growing less; a little moisture goes far here in agriculture. The shingle-terraces of Coquimbo he thinks were formed by the sea. The hills are sterile but the valleys are fertile. At intervals are large haci- endas where rich stock-raisers and corn-growers feed and lodge travellers for a consideration. Earthquakes come now and then to break the monotony of things, while the dead dogs which strewed the road-side, killed for fear of hydro- phobia, excite the comments of the naturalist. Entering Peru, the ancient aboriginal ruins attract atten- tion, also an elevated water course, the Iquique saltpetre works, the salt supposed to percolate under ground from the cor- dillera, many leagues distant. The chief cost of the nitrate of soda is in carrying it to the ship's side, where it sells at three to four dollars per hundred pounds. The hills %-ound Lima are carpeted with moss. Callao is a small, filthy seaport. There are hereabout many decomposing shells, and fossil hu- man relics. At the volcanic Galapago archipelago are many craters, in one of which is a salt lake; many curious fishes and reptiles, great tortoises, and marine lizards feeding on sea- weeds. The fear of man in animals is not an instinct but an acquisition. The cultivable land in Tahiti is restricted to fringes of low NOTABLE VOYAGES INTO THE PACIFIC 479 alluvial soil round the base of mountains, and protected from the sea by coral reefs. For tracts for the cultivation of yams, sugarcane, and pineapples, often orange, banana, cocoanut and bread-fruit trees have to be cleared away; the guava, im- ported as the choicest of fruit, has now become from its re- dundant growth like a noxious weed. Since giving up the meat of man as food, a mild benignant expression character- izes the features of the gentle savage, pleasant indeed to see. Whence comes the ceremony of rubbing noses, found alike in New Zealand and Alaska? Some people think hand-shak- ing better; and some prefer rings in their ears to quills in their cheeks or rings in their noses. It is pleasant to find here and in Australia an antipodal England where the weary world-encompasser may find rest and refreshment as in Lon- don. The green forests, the black aborigines, the blue moun- tains, and the white cliffs, all add their enchantments to the scene. In the coral isles the tiny insect is king and creator. In the Keeling archipelago are ring-formed reefs round some of the islands, open on one side. The three classes of reefs are atolls, barrier, and fringing-reefs. Atolls are lagoon-islands. Barrier-reefs are in diameter from three miles to forty-four miles; that which partially encircles New Caledonia is 400 miles long. The Malays are now free, and so will not take the trouble to work or run away. To catch a turtle, a man jumps from his boat upon its back, and there rides until the beast is exhausted, when it is hauled in, and in due time eaten. On the cocoanut, pigs and the land-crab alike feed. CHAPTER XIX CRUSOE ISLAND FOLLOWING the progress of investigation and discovery, we find in circumnavigations and adventures, and the publi- cation of books and reports attendant thereunto, a natural sequence of causes and effects as elsewhere in human affairs. Thus the piracies of Francis Drake led to the adventures of Thomas Cavendish, and these to the voyages of Shelvocke and Woodes Rogers, the former suggesting to Coleridge the Lay of the Ancient Mariner, and the latter to Defoe The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner. The merchants of Bristol sent into the South sea in 1708 the ships Duke and Duchess. Woodes Rogers commander, and William Dampier first pilot. A mutiny being quelled and shipwreck narrowly averted, they came to Juan Fernandez island, and there found and rescued Alexander Selkirk, for seven score years held to be the only true and genuine Robin- son Crusoe. Off the coast of Chili are situated these islands of Juan Fer- nandez, so called from a Spanish navigator of that name who in 1574 discovered them; and who discovered further that the south winds along shore did not prevail very far out at sea. This enabled him to make voyages between Chili and Peru so much quicker than others, that he was seized and imprisoned for sorcery, but was released on making explanation. So charmed by the beauty of these isles was the discoverer, that he asked and obtained a grant of them from the Spanish gov- ernment, and proceeded to stock them with pigs and goats, whose progeny were found there by Alexander Selkirk and others, and played conspicuous parts in the tales of the buc- caneers, and in the true story of Robinson Crusoe. The larger of these isles is fourteen miles long and four miles wide. 480 CRUSOE ISLAND 481 It is rocky, with shrubby vegetation, and has one principal valley into which flow several small streams. There were once here larger trees, and merchantable sandal-wood, and about the borders sea-elephants and seals. Pirates and navi- gators called at this island occasionally, and found swine, as many as they could use. The buccaneer Sharp was here in 1668, and Dampier in 1700. Alexander Selkirk, a somewhat disreputable son of a Scotch shoemaker, went to sea in his youth, joined a piratical expedi- tion to the Pacific, and became sailing master in the galley Cinque Porte. Quarrelling with the captain, at his own re- quest he was in 1704 left on the Juan Fernandez island, where he remained in solitude for four years and four months, when he was rescued by Captain Woodes Rogers, and made first mate of the Duke, and afterward master of a prize ship. Rogers published an account of his voyage, in which he speaks of Selkirk and his rescue. Steele saw Selkirk and published an account of his adventure in 1713. It is possi- ble that Defoe saw him. In any event, Selkirk returned home in 1712, and in 1719 Defoe published his Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, written. by himself, which became imme- diately popular, and has so remained to this day. Some said that it had been written by Lord Oxford in the Tower, others pronounced it a piracy from Selkirk's papers. Yet it was far enough from fact to be good fiction, and far enough from or- dinary fiction to live forever. In a gap among the rocks, where may be had commanding views at once of the island and of the surrounding sea, a tablet was erected in 1868 by the officers of the British ship Topaze, on which was inscribed the words * Selkirk's Lookout/ the supposition being that as the weary days and months and years rolled round the sailor had here watched for a coming vessel; for although he had been put ashore at his own re- quest, he repented before the ship sailed, and begged to be taken back, but his request was refused. Crusoe, it will be remembered, was wrecked from a vessel on its way from Brazil to the coast of Africa for slaves, and his island was near the mouth of the river Orinoco, very far from Selkirk's island on the other side of the continent. But it was Crusoe's story Defoe was telling, and not Selkirk's, and 48-2 THE NEW PACIFIC it suited his purpose equally well, whether the island was in the Atlantic or in the Pacific ocean. And he " lived eight and twenty years all alone " in this uninhabited island, did Crusoe, and " he was at last as strangely delivered by pyrates". Crusoe was not long in finding the goats, and in killing and skinning some of them. He found also turtles, fowls, and other animals good for food; likewise oranges, lemons, and grapes, cocoa and citron, besides other plants and trees not usually found on a desert island. It is only when we consider the vast distance between the real and the hypothetical Cru- soe island, that we are able to understand why Defoe neg- lected to feed his hero on pig as well as goat, for from all ac- counts of the buccaneers and navigators since the days of Juan Fernandez, the island has swarmed with swine. But then this was Crusoe's island and not Selkirk's; and who knows if Crusoe was Selkirk at all, but simply Eobinson Cru- soe, his book written by himself. Several, indeed, have been the occupants of this romantic solitude at various times, any one of whom might serve as a model for Defoe's adventurer. Among others was a native of the Mosquito coast, called William, left there by Watling in 1680, and rescued by Dampier three years afterward. " At the time William was abandoned " it is said, " he had with him in the woods his gun and knife, and a small quantity of powder and shot. As soon as his ammunition was expended, by notching his knife into a saw he cut up the barrel of his gun into pieces, which he converted into harpoons, lances, and a long knife. To accomplish this he struck fire with his gun-flint and a piece of the barrel of his gun, which he hard- ened for this purpose in a way which he had seen practised by the buccaneers. In this fire he heated his pieces of iron, hammered them out with stones, sawed them with his jagged knife, or ground them to an edge, and tempered them, which was no more than these Mosquito-men were accustomed to do in their own country, where they made their own fishing and striking instruments without either forge or anvil, though they spend a great deal of time about it. Thus furnished, William supplied himself with goat-flesh and fish, for till his instruments were formed he had been compelled to eat seal. He built his house about half a mile from the shore, and lined it snugly with goat-skins, with which he also spread his CRUSOE ISLAND 483 couch, or barbecue, which was raised two feet from the floor. As his clothes were out he supplied this want also with goat- skins, and when first seen he wore nothing but a. goat- skin about his waist. Though the Spaniards, who had learned that a Mosquito-man was left here, had looked for William several times, he had always by retiring to a secret place contrived to elude their search/' William had not been intentionally abandoned. While Captain Watling was supplying his ship with necessary arti- cles from the shore, he was surprised by the Spaniards and obliged to set sail immediately, unable to recall William, who was absent at the time hunting. On board Dampier's ship at the time of the rescue was another Mosquito-man, named Robin, an old friend of William, and their meeting under the peculiar circumstances was a sight to behold. When Robin leaped from his boat to the shore there stood William trem- bling between fear and joy, fear lest this should be a repeti- tion of his so frequent dreams, and joy that deliverance had indeed come. Three goats William had killed and cooked with leaves from the cabbage-tree, so that a feast for his deliv- erers might be ready, for while yet a long way off he knew the ship to be English, and that the day of his deliverance was at hand. Le Maire and Schouten were at the Juan Fernandez isl- ands in their voyage round the world in 1616. "A boat was sent ashore," the logbook says. " Some fresh water was taken off, and two tons of fish were caught with hooks and lines, the bait being taken as fast as it could be thrown into the water; so that the fishermen continually without ceasing did nothing but draw up fish, mostly bream, and corcobados, which are fish with crooked backs. Hogs, goats, and other animals were seen in the woods, but none were taken." The Nassau fleet, fitted out in 1624, in Holland, for an ex- pedition against Peru, and commanded by Jacob 1'Heremite, had also its experience at the Juan Fernandez islands, which seem to occupy so large a space in the romantic and tragic which fill the narratives of adventurers in these parts for sev- eral centuries. " Thousands of sea lions and seals," the journal states, " lay in the daytime on the shore to enjoy bask- ing in the sun. The seamen killed great numbers of them, some to eat and some by way of diversion, which was attended 484 THE NEW PACIFIC by merited inconvenience; for in a short time those which lay on the shore became putrid, and infected the air to such a de- gree that the people of the ships scarcely dared venture to land. The flesh of the sea-lion when cooked was compared to meat twice roasted. Some of the men thought that when the fat was cut off it was not inferior to mutton; others would not eat it. There were goats on the island, but difficult to approach, and thought not to be so well tasted as those on the island St Vincent. Among the trees' were some like the elm, very good for making sheaves to blocks; there were other trees fit for carpenter's work; but none were seen tall enough for ship's topmast. Sandal-wood was growing in great quantity, of an inferior quality to the sandal-wood of Timor, and near the bay were some wild quince trees. Three soldiers and three gunners of the vice-admiral's ship remained on the isl- and by their own will, refusing to serve longer in the fleet." A Dutch expedition against Peru in those days did not im- ply attempted conquest of the country, but simply capture of treasure. Coming in sight of the Peruvian coast, the narra- tive of the Nassau fleet goes on to state: " They were nearly abreast of Callao, at which time they took a small bark with a crew of eleven men, four of whom were Spaniards, the rest Indians and negroes. From these people the admiral re- ceived the unwelcome intelligence that on the preceding Fri- day the treasure fleet, consisting of five ships richly laden, had sailed from the road of Callao for Panama. The Spanish ad- miral in a ship of 800 tons burthen, mounting 40 guns, did not sail with the treasure fleet, but with two smaller ships of war, and was still in Callao road, where also a number of mer- chant vessels were lying. It was likewise learnt that the mil- itary force of the Spaniards at Callao was not more than 300 soldiers, for that two companies of their best troops had been sent with the treasure." The question now was, Should they pursue the galleons to Panama, or land and attack Callao? They determined on the latter course. The attempt was made, and the Spaniards drove them back. The Dutchmen were stupid. There were fifty merchant vessels in the har- bor, and to these they set fire, instead of cutting them adrift and securing the plunder they seemed so eager for. Soon afterward the admiral died from illness; the expedition on the whole proved a failure, save for the discovery of Nassau bay, and the knowledge obtained of Cape Horn. CRUSOE ISLAND 485 In 1725 was published in London A Neic Voyage round the World, by a Course never sailed before, by Daniel Defoe. In this ideal tour of circumnavigation, trade, and adventure, the alleged route was east round the cape of Good Hope to India and China, thence across the Pacific to America, and round Cape Horn to Brazil and England. The opposite was the usual course, English goods being more suitable for the South American market, and American products for China, and Chinese products for India and Europe, than vice versa. But the author of this work attempts to show the reverse to be true, which indeed is the raison d'etre of his book. The " New Voyage " purports to have been made from PJngland in 1714-17, by merchants, for purposes of trade and discovery. As England was then at war with France and Spain, or supposed to be, and France then had free trade in the South sea which was very profitable, they took with them a French captain, and some French and Dutch sailors, so that they might be friends or enemies at pleasure with any whom they might meet. If they wished to trade in a Spanish for- eign port, which was a thing forbidden to foreigners, they were French, and employed French savoir-faire to accomplish their purpose; in the East Indies, and at the English or Dutch settlements, they were Flemish; when they seized a Spanish ship, they showed letters of marque from England, and if peace had been declared they knew or cared nothing about it. They had on board a rich cargo of British manufactured goods suitable for the Spanish trade at the Philippine islands and in America, and which they proposed to keep for those countries. At this time it was imposed that all European goods for the Philippine islands should be conveyed in Span- ish vessels from Acapulco, brought thither, English goods from England to Cadiz, from Cadiz by the Spanish galleons to Portobello, across the Isthmus from Portobello to Panama on pack-mules, and from Panama to Acapulco in Spanish ships again, and thence in the regular running galleons to Manila; so that by the time the goods had paid these sev- eral freight charges, and customs dues, and commissions to forwarders, and profits to merchants to the several ports, the consumer at the Spice islands had several hundred per cent advance on the original cost to pay. I have no intention of going- into details over this imagi- 486 THE NEW PACIFIC nary voyage, suffice it to say that the managing merchant on board transacted no business to speak of at Madagascar, Cey- lon, or Borneo, where he touched for water and food-supplies, and so arrived with cargo unbroken at Manila, where he was received as French with every civility. By means of judi- cious gifts to the governor and chief officers, Spanish honor was reconciled to the illicit traffic. A tempting display on ship board of European stuffs, bales of scarlet woollen cloth, French druggets, baize, and linen, besides French wines and brandy, so excited the cupidity of all visitors, among whom were officers and merchants, that the whole cargo was soon disposed of, at six times the cost, for gold coin and silver pieces of eight. For return cargo the Englishman bought at very low prices tons of cloves and nutmegs, bales of China silks, diamonds, and pearls, rice, lacquered cabinets, and other like oriental wares, most of which were suitable for the mar- ket in Peru, whither the merchant was next bound. Touch- ing at the Ladrones for fresh water, hogs, fowls, roots, and anti-scurvy greens, the navigators thought to sail north far enough to pass in between the island of California and the main land of New Spain, if peradventure they might meet with new discoveries. The Hawaiian islands lay directly in their path, and had Cook been a half century earlier in find- ing them, Defoe would surely have rested and refreshed hia pilgrims at this point; but fearing lest California should not prove to be an island, and that when they reached Hudson bay they should find no passage into the North sea, and so spoil the voyage and perish with hunger and cold, they con- cluded to resign themselves to the softer regions of the south, and so found their way to the American coast, and thence home to England, after refitting at the alleged Crusoe island of Juan Fernandez. George Shelvocke made a voyage round the world by way of the great South sea during the years 1719 to 1722, in the ship Speedwell, of London, of 24 guns and 100 men, " under his majesty's commission to cruise on the Spaniards in the late war with the Spanish crown, till she was cast away on the island of Juan Fernandez; afterwards continued in the Recovery, Jesus Maria, and Sacra Familia." This from the title-page of his published account, the track in the Pacific on his map being along the coast to California, which he rep- CRUSOE ISLAND 487 resents as an island, with nothing beyond, and thence across the ocean to the Philippines, and home by way of Good Hope. Passing through the strait of Magellan, Shelvocke took in fresh supplies at Chiloe and proceeded to Concepcion, capt- uring and burning ships, and spreading terror along the shore. Then he made for Juan Fernandez, there to watch the Concepcion, Valparaiso, and Coquimbo traders; but he wrecked his vessel instead, and so supplied fresh material for a version of Robinson Crusoe. The wreck of the Speedwell occurred on the 25th of May 1720, and Shelvocke's narrative was published in London, in 1726. Regarding the shipwreck Shelvocke relates: " A hard gale of wind came out of the sea upon us a thing very uncom- mon as has been reported and brought in a great tumbling swell, so that in a few hours our cable which was never wet before parted, a dismal accident this, there being no means to be used, or the least prospect of avoiding immediate de- struction. But providence interposed in our behalf so far, that if we had struck but a cables length farther to the East- ward, or Westward of the place where we did, we must inevi- tably have perish'd. As soon as she touch'd the rocks we were obliged to hold fast by some part, or other, of the ship, otherwise the violence of the shocks she had in striking, might have been sufficient to have thrown us all out of her, into the sea. Our main-mast, fore-mast, and mizen-top-mast went altogether. In short words can't express the wretched condition we were in, or the surprise we were under of being so unfortunately shipwreck'd, or the dread we had upon us of starving on the uninhabited Isle we were thrown upon, in case we should escape the sea. We had reflections enough to depress our spirits; but the work we had in hand, which was no less than to endeavor the saving of our lives, which were as yet in great suspense, made every body active. " It was happy for us that our masts fell all over the off side, which gave us room to make a raft; by which means and having hands ashore who had been there before the wind came on, and who came down to the beach to assist us we were all saved except one man; I myself made a very narrow escape. In this surprise the first thing I took care of was my Commis- sion, and remembering the powder to be uppermost in the bread-room, I got most of it up, with about 7 or 8 bags of 488 THE NEW PACIFIC bread; these we secured to windward and saved; the ship not coming to pieces immediately, in a few minutes after she first struck she was full of water, so that the Surgeon's chest being stow'd below, there was little or nothing preserved out of that, we saved 2 or 3 compasses, and some of our mathemati- cal Instruments and Books. Before it was quite dark we were all ashore, in a very wet uncomfortable condition, no place to have recourse to for shelter from the boisterous wind and rain except the trees; nothing to cheer up our spirits. after the fatigue and hazard in getting from the wreck to the rocks, and no other prospect, but that, after having suffer'd much in this uninhabited place, we might in process of time, be taken away by some ship or other. Our ears were now saluted by the melancholy bowlings of inumerable Seals on the beach, who lay so thick that we were obliged to clear our way of them as we went along, and nothing presented itself to our sight but rocky precipices, inhospitable woods, dropping with the rain, lofty mountains whose tops were hid by thick clouds, and a tempestuous sea, which had reduced us to the low state we were now in. Thus were we without any one thing neces- sary in life, not so much as a seat to sit upon to rest our limbs, except the cold wet ground, which as far as we could see, was also to be our bed and pillow, and proved to be so. "That evening all the officers came to bear me company and to consult how we should contrive to get some necessaries out of the wreck, if she was not quite in pieces by the next morning, and came to a resolution of losing no time in en- deavoring to recover what we could out of the wreck; and having, by this time, lighted a fire, wrapt themselves up in what they could get, laid round it, and notwithstanding the badness of the weather, slept very soundly, and, the next morning, getting up with the first glimpse of day-light, look'd at each other like men awaken'd out of a dream; so great, and so sudden was the melancholy change of our con- dition, that we could scarcely believe our senses. " I went immediately among the people, to set them to work in doing what we proposed the night before; but they were so scatter'd, that there was no such thing as getting them all to-gether; so that, in short, all opportunities were lost of regaining any thing but some of our small arms which were fish'd up; not only which, but also our beef and pork might CRUSOE ISLAND 489 have been retrieved could I have prevail'd on them to set about their work in earnest; but instead of that they were em- ploy'd in building tents, and making other preparation to settle themselves here; and, in the mean time, the wreck was entirely destroy'd, and every thing that was in her lost, except one cask of beef and one of Farina de Pao, which were wash'd whole on the strand. Thus were our provisions of all kinds irrecoverably gone, and whatever else might have been of use to us, except what I have already mention'd. I should have observed, that I saved 1100 dollars belonging to the Gentle- men Owners, which were kept in my chest in the great cabin; the rest being in the bottom of the bread-room for security could not possibly be come at. I need not say how disconso- late my reflections were on this sad accident, which had as it were thrown us out from the rest of the world, without any thing to support us but the uncertain products of a desolate uncultivated Island, situated I must justly say in the re- motest part of the earth; and, at least, 90 leagues distant from the continent of Chili, which was in the possession of the Creolian Spaniards, who have always been remarkable for their ungenerous treatment of their enemies, and we could have no better views at present than of falling into their hands sooner or later. But since we must now be obliged to suffer all such hardships, as would be consequent to our shipwreck, it behoved me, in the first place, since it was inevitably cer- tain that our stay here would be very long to use such means as offer'd towards the preservation of our healths, and to think of some economy to be observ'd amongst the people in rela- tion to the distribution of such quantities of provisions as should, from time to time be got. " I took some pains in finding out a convenient place to set up my tent; in this I not only regarded the situation, in respect to the weather, but also the security of it being easily surprised by the enemy, and, at length, found comodious spot of ground, not half a mile from the sea, and a fine run of water within a stones cast on each side of it, with firing near at hand and trees proper for building our dwellings; the peo- ple settled within call about me in as good a manner as they could, and having a cold season coming on, some of them thatch'd their dwellings, and others cover'd them with skins of Seals and Sea-lions, whilst others got up water-huts, and 490 THE NEW PACIFIC slept in them under the cover of a tree. Having thus secur'd ourselves as well as possible against the inclemency of the ap- proaching winter, we used to pass our evenings in making a great fire before my tent, round which my Officers, in general, assembled employing themselves quietly in roasting crawfish in the embers; some times bewailing our unhappy fates, and sinking into despair; at other times feeding themselves up with hopes that something might yet be done to set us afloat again. But as words alone were not sufficient, I began to think it full time to look about me, to see if it was really prac- ticable for us to build such a vessel as would carry us from the Islands." Building a bark, which he called the Recovery, Shelvocke proceeded on his voyage, now in a crippled condition, his men reduced in number to forty, almost without arms or ammuni- tion, and in a poorly constructed boat which was little better than a raft; yet in this plight they could not pass a Spanish galleon without attempting her capture, fighting with bravery but unsuccessfully one of 400 tons, and one of 700 tons, both well armed and manned, and deeply laden with valuable car- goes. The next ship they saw was the Jesus Maria, 200 tons, which they attacked with the courage of despair, and were surprised and delighted to see her surrender without striking a blow. Shelvocke would have stood westward from Panama for the Asiatic coast, but for the contrary winds he found there; so he coasted Central America and Mexico to La Paz, capturing more Spanish ships, among others the Sacra Familia at Sonsonate, and then leaving the coast of America forever. George Anson, later Lord Anson, made a voyage round the world in the years 1740 to 1744, what he saw in the Pacific being told in a portly quarto by Eichard Walter, who puts down California in his chart as an island. Passing round Cape Horn, Anson coasted America to Acapulco, and beyond, then struck out across the ocean to the Ladrones, and back to England via Good Hope. His lordship was not above a stroke of business here and there, or taking a purse if found upon a Spanish vessel. Sailing from St Helens in the Cen- turion with 400 men, so wasted were they by disease and death during the voyage that at the isles of Juan Fernandez there were but about 200 left, and these were reduced to the CRUSOE ISLAND 491 last extremity. This is their account of it. " Being now nearer in with the shore, we could discover that the broken craggy precipices, which had appeared so unpromising at a distance, were far from barren, being in most places covered with woods; and that between them there were everywhere interspersed the finest valleys, clothed with a most beautiful verdure, and watered with numerous streams and cascades, no valley of any extent being unprovided of its proper rill. The water too, as we afterward found, was not inferior to any we had ever tasted, and was constantly clear. The aspect of this country thus diversified would at all times have been extremely delightful; but in our distressed situation, lan- guishing as we were for the land and its vegetable produc- tions an inclination constantly attending every stage of the sea-scurvy, it is scarcely credible with what eagerness and transport we viewed the shore, and with how much impa- tience we longed for the greens and other refreshments which were then in sight, and particularly the water; for of this we had been confined to a very sparing allowance a considerable time, and had then but five ton remaining on board. Those only who have endured a long series of thirst, and who can readily recall the desire and agitation which the ideas alone of springs and brooks have at that time raised in them, can judge of the emotion with which we eyed a large cascade of the most transparent water, which poured itself from a rock near a hundred feet high into the sea, at a small distance from the ship. Even those amongst the diseased, who were not in the very last stages of the distemper, though they had been long confined to their hammocks, exerted the small remains of strength that were left them, and crawled up to the deck to feast themselves with this reviving prospect." Capturing several vessels on the way, and taking the town of Paita, thus securing much booty, the loss of the Spaniards at this one town alone being in property carried off or burned by the Englishmen a million and a half of dollars, Anson crossed the bay of Panama and came to Tuibo, among the Pearl islands, where he took in wood and water, killed a multi- tude of monkeys for food, and secured a two months' supply of most delicious turtles, a food which the Spaniards never- theless used to reject as poisonous. Thence he hastened on to Mexico to intercept the Manila galleon, but failing to find 493 THE NEW PACIFIC her, after waiting some time he sent a boat by night into Acapulco harbor to see if she had arrived. This boat capt- ured and brought back three negroes, who informed the Eng- lish commander that the galleon had arrived long before, had sold her cargo, and was about returning with the money. This report was hailed with joy by the English, whose minds and hearts had dwelt long and fondly on the capture of one or more of these richly laden ships. But catching a glimpse of the enemy, the Spaniard remained in port. Anson then thought to take the town by stratagem, it being too well armed and fortified to storm, but plans for this failing him, he sailed away for Asia. The voyage was disastrous, half the crew of the Centurion being prostrated by scurvy on reaching the Ladrones. Unable to abandon the hope of taking an- other prize, Anson refitted his ship on the China coast and sailed again for Acapulco, meeting and capturing the desired galleon, which yielded in treasure alone nearly $1,500,000. On reaching London the silver captured from the Spaniards during this expedition amounted to $2,000,000, which was conveyed from the ship to the Tower in thirty wagons. Says the author of Anson's Voyage regarding Juan Fernan- dez island, " Former writers have related that this island abounded in vast numbers of goats; and their accounts are not to be questioned, this place being the usual haunt of the buccaneers and privateers who formerly frequented those seas. And there are two instances, one of a Mosquito Indian, and the other of Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, who were left here by their respective ships, and lived alone upon this island for some years, and consequently were no strangers to its produce. Selkirk, who was the last, after a stay of be-> tween four and five years, was taken off the place by the Duke and Duchess, privateers of Bristol, as may be seen at large in the journal of their voyage. His manner of life during his solitude was in most particulars very remarkable; but there is one circumstance he relates which was so strangely verified by our own observation that I cannot help reciting it. He tells us, amongst other things, that as he often caught more goats than he wanted, he sometimes marked their ears and let them go. This was about thirty-two years before our arrival at that island. Now it happened that the first goat that was killed by our people had his ears slit, whence we concluded CRUSOE ISLAND 493 that he had doubtless been formerly under the power of Sel- kirk. This was, indeed, an animal of most venerable aspect, dignified with an exceeding majestic beard, and with many other symptoms of antiquity. During our stay on the island we met with others marked in the same manner, all the males being distinguished by an exuberance of beard, and every other characteristic of extreme age." And from this so little soap, we are said to have the brilliant bubble Robinson Crusoe. The last of the Crusoes to visit Juan Fernandez island and write a book was J. Eoss Browne, conspicuous in early Cali- fornia gold-digging times as literary man and politician. It happened in this way, as the story-tellers of late remark: Of the many " old tubs " which drifted toward the Golden Fleece in 1849 was one, the Anteus, sailing from New York for San Francisco in the early spring of this memorable year. Upon this craft was Browne, and perhaps a hundred other pas- sengers, who, falling under the tyrannies of a brutal captain, rose and removed him, with, the help of the United States consul at Eio de Janeiro, who gave them a new captain, with whom they were allowed to do much as they pleased, which is a feeling grateful to the independence of Americans. Con- tinuing their way with happy hearts, being now masters of the master, they found themselves one morning in May be- calmed, with the classic isle some seventy miles distant. Turn- ing their gaze in that direction they let fly their imagination, those of them who had one, and beheld under the charm of romance the beauty of the place, likewise the stranded ship, and Robinson, and Friday, the dog and goat and all the rest, and the pirate bands who came after, and they longed for a revel and a run ashore. The desire becoming irrepressible, ten of them took a boat and rowed away, not in the least fatigued at the start by the thought of a seventy-miles pull, and as for danger, Robinson's story was enough of that. Their intention was to reach the island by sunset, make a tent of the boat sail, and in the morning gather fruit and re- turn, a pretty plan but for the unexpected, coming in the form of head winds and hurricane, and a black tempestuous night in an open boat, which came near giving to the island ten dead Crusoes " for keeps." But having reached an offing, and coming suddenly in the darkness upon a great ship, which 494 THE NEW PACIFIC proved to be the Brooklyn, of New York, bound for California, they emerged from the horrors of the night, and after a brief enjoyment of the hospitality of their fellow Argonauts, they went ashore to finish their play of Crusoe. And here I give the author of Crusoe's Island an opportu- nity to unburden himself, which I regard his fair and rightful due. " Never shall I forget the strange delight," he says, " with which I gazed upon that isle of romance, the unfeigned rapture I felt in exploring that miniature world in the desert of waters, so fraught with the associations of youth, so remote from the ordinary realities of life, the actual embodiment of the most absorbing, most fascinating of all my dreams of fancy. Many lands have I seen, many glens of utopian loveli- ness, but none like this in variety of outline and undefinable richness of coloring; nothing so dream-like, so wrapped in illusion. Great peaks of reddish rock seemed to pierce the sky wherever I looked; a thousand rugged ridges awept up- ward toward the centre in a perfect maze of enchantment. It was all wild, fascinating, and unreal. The sides of the moun- tains were covered with patches of rich grass, natural fields of oats, and groves of myrtle and pimento. Fields of verdure covered the ravines; ruined and moss-covered walls were scattered over each eminence; and the straw huts of the in- habitants were almost inbosomed in trees in the midst of the valley, and jets of smoke arose out of the groves and floated off gently in the calm air of the morning. In all the shore but one spot, a single opening among the rocks, seemed ac- cessible to man. The rest of the coast within view consists of fearful cliffs overhanging the water, the ridges from which slope upward as they recede inland, forming a variety of smaller valleys above, which are strangely diversified with wood and grass, and golden fields of wild oats. The waters of the bay are of crystal clearness, and alive with fish and vari- ous kinds of marine animals. Then think without a smile of disdain what a thrill of delight ran through my blood as I pressed my feet for the first time upon the fresh sod of Juan Fernandez! Yes, here was verily the land of Robinson Crusoe; here in one of these secluded glens stood his rustic castle; here he fed his goats and held converse with his faithful pets; here he found consolation in the devotion of a new friend, his true and honest man Friday. Pardon the fondness with CEUSOE ISLAND 495 which I linger upon these recollections, for I, who had always regarded Robinson Crusoe as the most truthful and the very sublimest of adventurers, was now the entranced beholder of his abiding place, walking, breathing, thinking, and seeing on the very spot! There was no fancy about it, not the least; it was a palpable reality. Talk of gold; why I tell you, my friends, all the gold of California was not worth the ecstatic bliss of that moment! " All which is eloquent and fine; we must remember, how- ever, that this was the first of these far southern isles Mr Browne had ever seen; and also how fortunate he was to have obtained so much at so little cost, only the perils of a night and no money payment at all; nor was the extent of gold in California then known; neither the extent of it, nor the amount of ecstatic bliss it would buy. Returning to prose and reality, we find, by Mr Browne's true and faithful narrative, on the island at this time, the re- mains of fortifications and convict prison built by the Chilians in 1767, the walls of which had been thrown down by an earthquake in 1835. Previous to this calamity the convicts had broken prison, killed their keepers and fled. A penal colony was established here by the Chilian government in 1819. Inhabiting the island at this time were one American and five Chilian families, living in huts made of the straw of wild oats, and embedded in foliage, while to each was attached a small piece of land fenced with stone and brushwood. Here fruits, vines, and vegetables were grown, while native grass and grain were abundant everywhere. Whalers still touched at these islands, and California vessels, their purchase of sup- plies giving good profits to the occupants of the land. The good people will also show you, for a consideration, the veri- table cave of the renowned Robinson, in a bluff of volcanic rock, with cupboards cut into the sides, and spikes for gun- rests; likewise a stone oven, some broken pottery, and frag- ments of rusty iron, all relics of Robinson. Here cliffs and springs, there goat-paths and goats, buzzards and song birds, all Robinson's, all save a stalactite grotto opening to the ocean, which was called the cave of the buccaneers. " I could never think of Juan Fernandez " said Browne, as he concluded his narrative, " without a strong desire to be 496 THE NEW PACIFIC shipwrecked there, and spend the remainder of my days dressed in goatskins, rambling about the cliffs and hunting wild goats." Which harmless ambition could not have been so very dif- ficult of attainment; but it appears the versatile Browne pre- ferred after all to go as United States minister to China. In conclusion I may say that all this about a Crusoe Island in the Pacific, regarded as a myth of some two hundred years standing, is very interesting, but like many other myths, if scrutinized too closely, it vanishes. Says William Lee in his biography of Defoe, " It is evident he acquired some inci- dents from Selkirk, who lived four years on Juan Fernandez, but the ever-varying events, the useful and improving morali- ties, and the fascinating style are all his own; " while the author of Robinson Crusoe himself says, " In the gulf or mouth of the mighty river Oroonooko our island lay, which I per- ceived to the west and northwest was the great Island Trini- dad, on the north point of the mouth of that river. I asked Friday a thousand questions about the country, its inhabitants, the sea, the coast, and what nations were there, but could get no other name but Caribs, from whence I easily under- stood that these were the Caribbees." Thus is clearly shown that the true island of Crusoe is Tobago, information concern- ing which Defoe easily obtained from pirates and others, and on which were likewise goats, which indeed were common to most of the islands on either side of South America. CHAPTEK XX LEAVES FROM THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIRATES THERE are various kinds of pirates, sea pirates and land pirates, sea robbers or rovers, buccaneers, privateers, fili- busters, and freebooters. Those of whom I speak had their happy hunting-ground in the West Indies during parts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with occasional expe- ditions into the South sea, both by way of the Panama isthmus and around Cape Horn. There were the Dutch English Portuguese Italians and French, preying on each other, and all preying on the Spaniards, because the possessions of the Spaniards in those days were the broadest and richest of them all, and because the Spaniards were always at war with some one or more of the other nations, which served as an excuse for buccaneering, though all were quite as ready for highway robbery without an excuse. The cruelties of the Spaniards in forcing beyond their strength and habits the natives of Espanola and Cuba to labor in the mines and on the plantations led to their extermina- tion, and by the beginning of the sixteenth century these isl- ands were well nigh depopulated, and the cattle, introduced from Europe, increased until immense herds covered the val- leys, so that hunting them for the hides and tallow became a profitable occupation. Settlements and plantations of a new and peculiar kind followed, to which English and French sailors, with their contraband goods, were always welcome. Among the other industries here fostered was that of pre- serving the flesh of the wild cattle by smoking and drying it; the places where this was done were called boucans, the opera- tion boucanning, and the operatives boucanneers; so that when all these people in a greater or less degree took to sea- roving, smuggling, and pirating, they were thrown into the one category of buccaneers. Thus there arose a fraternity of freebooters, or filibusters as they were also called, with 497 498 THE NEW PACIFIC Spain as their common enemy, though, as I said before, they had small scruples to take a prize of any nationality, or even to fight each other. A colony of buccaneers on the island of St Christopher, to which the governments of France and England had both contributed, was in 1629 surprised and scattered by a Spanish fleet of thirty-nine sail, but quickly regained its position upon the departure of the enemy. The buccaneers then estab- lished a store-house on the island of Tortuga, more secure from attack than St Christopher, with business headquarters at Santo Domingo. In 1638, while most of the occupants of the island were absent, the Spaniards attacked Tortuga, and killed every man there, but their places were quickly filled by others. At intervals the crown of France claimed possession of the piratical islands, and control of the fraternity, and drove out the English, only to be driven out themselves alter- nately by the English and Spaniards. The buccaneers had their common law and code of ethics. Women were seldom a part of the fraternity, household duties being performed by men. Courage and fidelity were the car- dinal virtues, and as death was the penalty if captured, quar- ter was seldom asked or given. Association was voluntary; engagement was only for the cruise, and any member might quit the brotherhood at pleasure. All fighting men might attend councils; commanders were chosen for their ability and bravery, and those who made the leaders could unmake them. Duels were frequently resorted to for the settlement of individual quarrels; an offence against the society was pun- ished by death, abandonment on a deserted island, or it might be simply expulsion. The rules applied in privateering generally governed in the division of spoils. The captain carpenter sail-maker and sur- geon were first considered, the captain receiving five shares and his mate two shares, fighting men one share, boys half a share. Then wounds were examined and paid for, a right arm being valued at 600 pieces of eight, or six slaves; an eye or a finger 100 pieces of eight, or one slave. Food was held in common, and on a cruise consisted largely of pork, with dried beef and salted turtle, cassada maize and potatoes, but no bread. There were two regular meals each day, but any member might help himself to food at pleasure. 499 Piety was part of the freebooters stock in trade, though not quite in the same degree as was the case with the conquerors. The former desired God's blessing on his enterprise, and prayed for it, saying mass now and then, even carrying a priest sometimes for that purpose, as Francis Drake carried a chap- lain; but they did not trouble themselves about saving souls, other than their own, and they never allowed religion to inter- fere with business, robbing churches being all the same to them as robbing ships. It is not my purpose to give here a history of the buc- caneers, but only to give them brief mention in connection with their doings in the Pacific. The West Indies was their home, where they lived and labored for a good round century, doing other things than acts of pure piracy. The English buccaneers assisted the English in the conquest of Jamaica in 1655. The French buccaneers, under Pierre Legrand, rose at one stroke to fame and fortune by the capture of a richly laden galleon of the annual Spanish fleet, in command of the vice-admiral, the pirates climbing on board from a small boat at night, and surprising the officers at cards in the admiral's cabin. This achievement made wild with envy the planters of Tortuga and other isles, who with one accord rushed to sea in small boats in search of Spaniards, and soon equipped them- selves in better form from their captured prizes. Another Frenchman, Pierre Frangois, captured the vice-admiral of the pearl fleet, while Bartholomew Portugues, with a boat carry- ing but four guns and thirty men, successfully fought a Spanish war vessel of twenty large guns and seventy men. Land-piracy came on apace; Lewis Scot stormed and car- ried Compeache, securing large ransom; Mansvelt and John Davies followed the bright examples of their predecessors on sea and land. Lolonnois and Montbar, Frenchmen and monsters of cruelty and crime, were long a terror to the Span- ish main. Lolonnois began his career with the capture with twenty-two men in two canoes on the coast of Cuba of a Span- ish frigate. His prisoners he would throw overboard or burn in their ship; it is said that he once struck off the heads of eighty captives with his own sword by way of amusement. With Michael de Basco and 650 men in eight ships he stormed 500 THE NEW PACIFIC Gibraltar and Maracaibo, plundering and burning other towns, killing seamen, sinking ships, and strewing the ocean with horror. It is unnecessary to speak of the treatment of women by fiends like these, or of the freebooter's universal love of drink and gambling. Lolonnois finally met a fate in keeping with his life; he was torn limb from limb by the na- tives of Darien, the body burned, and the ashes scattered to the wind. Another of those human hyenas, the French buccaneer, was Montbar, the Exterminator as his comrades called him, native of Languedoc, who from his youth up studied brutality as a fine art, to be practised on the Spaniards as opportunity should offer. He learned lessons in treachery and ferocity from the Spaniards themselves, in their treatment of the na- tives, islanders Mexicans and Peruvians, which he put into practice with delight. Blood thirstiness was a passion with him, the gratification of which was more to him than gold. The cries of agony arising from his divers tortures and butcheries were as sweetest music to his ear; he revelled in the sanguinary for its own sake. Not far behind this French fiend was the Welchman, Sir Henry Morgan, whose sordid and brutal nature was fed by cunning and cruelty. With twelve sail and 700 fighting men he swept the seas and terrorized the islands and mainland, plundering the cities of Cuba, and carrying even Portobello, on the Isthmus, with a handful of determined men, afterward huddling his prisoners into the castle and blowing it up with powder, darkening the sky with the mangled bodies of his vic- tims. Fifteen days of fiendish revels followed, among the pastimes being the violation of women, and the torture of prisoners for the disclosure of treasure which they did not possess. News thereof crossing the Isthmus, the governor of Panama sent Sir Morgan 100,000 pieces of eight to be ex- empt from destruction for this one time. When the messen- ger who brought Morgan the money returned to Panama and told the governor with how small a force the Welchman had taken the Spanish stronghold of Portobello, he was amazed, and bade the messenger return and ask the pirate by what means he was able to accomplish such great results with so small a force. Whereupon Morgan sent the governor a pistol with bullets, saying, "Keep this a twelvemonth and I will THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIRATES 501 call for it." But the governor returned the weapon, and with it a gold ring, and the reply, " I would not have you travel so far for so slight an object." But the good governor was not destined to escape so easily. Perhaps the most brilliant achievement of the buccaneers was the capture of Panama by Morgan in 1671. The Welchman had now at his command 39 ships and 2000 men. With the island of Providence as a rendezvous, Morgan as a preliminary step sent 400 men to take possession of the castle of Chagre, which was accomplished with no great difficulty. Then land- ing his entire force he crossed the Isthmus, escaping the sev- eral ambuscades laid for him by the governor, and camped near the city. The crossing of this narrow neck of land by a body of men, as had often been shown before, was not easy of accomplish- ment. In this instance the governor of Panama had depopu- lated the country and stripped it of food, so that before reach- ing their destination the pirates were reduced to the last extremity of hunger, when leather became a luxury. They had large guns to haul and heavy burdens to carry beneath the burning sun. So that when after ten days of toil and suffer- ing the towers of Panama came into view, the buccaneers gave themselves up to clamorous exultation over relief from past miseries and the joys of coming conquest and plunder. After filling themselves with the raw flesh of cattle they found there, being too hungry and impatient to stop to cook it, they threw themselves on the ground and slept until morning. About ten o'clock the gates of the city were opened, and forth came the Spaniards to battle, 200 horse, and four regi- ments of foot soldiers, all led by the governor in person. Closing in upon the encampment, with the cry Viva el Key! they rushed upon the foe. But the ground was marshy, so that the cavalry was almost ineffectual, and even the infantry were at a disadvantage. Meanwhile from their secure posi- tion the pirates poured in upon them so deadly a fire that in two hours they gave way, and those who were so unfortunate as not to find protection within the walls were ruthlessly butchered. Six hundred Spaniards thus fell on that day, and many of Morgan's men, quarter being neither asked nor given on either side. Gaining an entrance, the guns of the in- vaders were planted within the walls, and soon the city was in 502 THE NEW PACIFIC flames, being fired probably by the Spaniards, as the buc- caneers would scarcely destroy their captured property. Old Panama, the place thus destroyed by Morgan, con- sisted at this time of 12,000 houses, besides eight monasteries and two richly furnished churches. Many of the dwellings were elegant structures with spacious grounds, altogether a rich and beautiful city, being the entrepot of the Pacific for eastern-bound gold and merchandise, the wealth of the trans- pacific as well as of the American coasts pouring itself for a time into this isthmus funnel. The fire continued for three weeks; and to prevent the usual debauchery, Morgan gave out that the wine was poisoned, which statement however did not prevent the men from drinking it. The Genoese had there a slave-factory, where Africans destined for Peru were brought to be sold; these miserable beings all perished in the flames. The Spaniards had hidden away much of their portable wealth in wells and cellars, and were tortured to force dis- closure, the clergy suffering most of all, as they were supposed to be the recipients of many secrets. No sooner had Morgan secured the city, than steps were taken to seize the shipping, which resulted in securing several large and valuable prizes, besides many smaller ones. All the land and the sea around were scoured for plunder. Thus was old Panama erased from the earth, the site on which the new Panama was built being some six miles away. Malignant alike in love as in hate, Morgan subjected a beautiful Spanish woman, who had rejected his addresses with scorn, to such outrages as to disgust even his brother pirates. Meanwhile a party was formed to take possession of a captured ship, with a share of the booty, to cruise in the South sea, and establish there an empire of infamy as in the West Indies; hearing of which, the astute leader ordered cut down and burned the mainmast of every ship in port, thus effectually preventing desertion on the Pacific side of the con- tinent at the present time. The spoils taken in this magnifi- cent raid were very great, all the country round being laid under contribution for beasts of burden to carry the plunder to the North sea. Finally the cannons were spiked; on 175 mules the booty was placed, and driving along with them 600 men women and children, Morgan and his men returned to Chagre, the prisoners being sent to Portobello for ransom. THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIRATES 503 And after all the suffering and success, whatever the leaders may have secured from this rich plunder, the men received only about $200 each, whereat they grumbled greatly, but to little purpose. For his many exploits, Charles II conferred on Morgan the honor of knighthood. Again in 1680 a body of 300 marauders under John Coxon crossed the Isthmus to Panama bay, and embarked on the waters of the Pacific in a fleet of canoes; they soon secured four Spanish ships, with which they took many merchant vessels. Coxon returned to the north with seventy men and good plun- der, but the main body elected to remain and ravage the Pe- ruvian coast under the leadership of Sawkins, Sharp, and Watling, returning to the West Indies round Cape Horn. John Cook, entering the Pacific via Cape Horn in 1683 for piratical purposes, found there a Thames-built ship, Eaton commander, who informed Cook that besides himself there were in those waters one Captain Swan, and others with ships fitted out in England for purposes of privateering. Upon the death of Cook, Edward Davis took command of his ship. Two years later the bay of Panama swarmed with pirates and privateers of all nations, preying on the commerce of Spain and fighting one another. The city of Vera Cruz was taken by stratagem in 1683 by the three famous buccaneers, Van Horn, Grammont, and Laurent de Graff. One dark night a force was landed three leagues from the city, and the inhabitants taken by surprise. They were locked up in the churches, with barrels of gun- powder placed at the doors, and sentinels with lighted match ready to blow them up instantly upon the slightest indication of disturbance. After quietly pillaging the city, the pris- oners were informed that they could have their liberty on pay- ment of ten millions of livres. When half of the amount had been collected and handed over to the miscreants, a Spanish fleet of seventeen sail came in sight, which with the appear- ance of a body of troops on shore caused a retreat, which was well-ordered, however, the buccaneers retaining all their booty, including 1500 slaves. A brilliant exploit was the sack of Leon and Realejo by Edward Davis in 1687. The longest naval engagement on record in these waters was the one in which Davis fought two large Spanish vessels for seven days. 17 504 THE NEW PACIFIC The decline of buccaneering began with the war between France and England arising from the accession of William of Orange in 1689 to the English throne. This was the proxi- mate cause, the influence of European hostilities being quickly felt in the Caribbean sea by the separation into bands hostile to each other of the English and French freebooters. But aside from this the elements of decay were in the system itself. No community can exist permanently on the fruits of wrong and injustice. But sea-robbery, like other rob- beries, has not wholly died out yet; even the capture and con- fiscation of private goods upon the ocean, by warships, might be considered as sailing rather close to the wind in a war for humanity's sake. From Drake to Morgan, a round hundred years and more, were the palmy days of piracy and buccaneering in Pacific waters. As Spain was chief owner of the western world, its islands continents and seas, she had the most from which to steal, and so it became the special pleasure of the other Euro- pean nations to prey upon Spain. When they were at war, it was called privateering; when not at war, piracy or buc- caneering; in any event the lootings by sea and land contin- ued, so that people were somewhat uncertain, upon the return of ships with gold and glory, whether to call them privateers or pirates. Spanish treachery had much to do with prolonging and in- tensifying troubles. While even in his infamies the word of an Englishman was usually good, no reliance whatever could be placed upon the promise of a Spaniard. For example, Hawkins and Drake were at Vera Cruz in 1567 with a cargo of slaves to sell, when a Spanish fleet came in sight having a cargo worth some $6,000,000, which the Englishmen might have captured if attacked before entering the harbor. But upon the solemn assurance of the Spaniards that they should be allowed to depart in peace, a promise never intended to be kept, the fleet was permitted to enter and anchor under the guns of San Juan de Ulua, whereupon the English were fired on from all sides and cut to pieces, two small vessels alone escaping. This outrage w-as long remembered, and it cost the Spaniards dearly. The first attempt at reprisal was an attack on Nombre de Dios in 1572 by Drake, followed by other depredations on the Isthmus. THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIRATES 505 Another merry English blade was John Oxenham, who with Drake enjoyed sportive times on the Darien isthmus in 1573, and lost his life there. Mooring his ship on the north side, Drake marched inland to intercept the treasure mule- train from Panama to Nombre de Dios; but one of his seamen, taking this occasion to get drunk and break the stillness of the night by his bacchanalian songs, defeated the purpose. Upon another occasion, however, Drake here captured a treas- ure train and several towns. Oxenham, two years afterward, having then a ship of his own, landed his men at the same place, beached his vessel and covered it with the branches of trees; then marched twelve leagues to a river which flowed into the South sea, where he built a boat, sailed to the Pearl islands, and captured two Peruvian barks with 160,000 pesos in silver, but was himself captured before reaching his hidden vessel, and carried prisoner to Panama. Questioned if he carried the queen's commission, or a license from any prince or state, Oxenham replied that he held no commission, but acted solely for himself. It may be that this man could not tell a lie; he was not a Spaniard; or it may be that he saw that a lie would not serve him; at all events, as the record has it, " Upon this answer Oxenham and his men were all con- demned to death, and the whole, except five boys, were ex- ecuted." While Drake was on the Isthmus searching for the treas- ure train, he came to a hill whereon stood a high tree, from the top of which the North sea and the South sea could plainly be seen. Sitting in the branches of this tree, "and having as it pleased God at this time by reason of the breeze a very fair day, seeing that sea of which he had heard such golden reports, he besought Almighty God of his goodness to give him life and leave to sail once in an English ship in that sea." " Aye, noble captain " broke in John Oxenham, " And un- less you did beat me from your company, I would follow you by God's grace". John Hawkins was of the same fraternity, and a kinsman of Drake. These gentlemen were both early in the slave trade, loading negroes on the Guinea coast and carrying them to the Indies, islands and main land. This slave-catching on land and taking Spanish treasure ships at sea, made a fine business, but none of these slave ships ever found their way into the Pacific ocean. 506 THE NEW PACIFIC As mentioned elsewhere, with five vessels fitted out osten- sibly for trading to Alexandria, Francis Drake in 1577 sailed from England on his voyage of circumnavigation. He began at once to capture ships, Spanish and Portuguese, keeping whatever he desired and destroying the remainder. Arrived at Port San Julian, where Magellan's trouble with his cap- tains occurred, mutiny was also discovered among Drake's men, and checked in time to save the fleet and the comman- der. It is said that the plot originated in England, and that it developed as the voyage continued. However that was, it was here discovered and exposed. The leader, Thomas Doughty, an officer of ability in the fleet, was accused, and so overwhelming was the evidence that he confessed. Drake took the matter coolly, and told the man he might choose one of three ways for his final disposition, to be executed at once, or return to England and stand trial there, or to be left alone among the savages. He chose the first, because, he said, he would not endanger his soul among savage infidels, nor undergo a disgraceful trial in England. He only asked that he might receive communion with the generals, and that his death might not be other than that of a gentleman. " No reasons," the narrative goes on to say, " could per- suade Mr Doughty to alter his choice; seeing he remained in his determination his last requests were granted; and the next convenient day a communion was celebrated by Mr Francis Fletcher, pastor of the fleet. The general himself commu- nicated in the sacred ordinance with Mr Doughty, after which they dined at the same table together, as cheerfully in sobri- ety as ever in their lives they had done; and taking their leave, by drinking to each other, as if some short journey only had been in hand." Thereupon he was beheaded. At Valparaiso a large ship was taken with " 1770 botijas, or jars full of Chili wine; 60,000 pesos of gold; with some jewels and other merchandise." The town was given up to plunder, the church robbed and the proceeds given to the Reverend Fletcher. Proceeding northward they took every- thing useful they could lay their hands on. Dozens of ves- sels Drake took on this coast, little opposition being offered, and few atrocities were committed. The captured vessels were not even burned, many of them being turned adrift with sails set. One large ship, from which they took gold, silver, THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIRATES 507 and jewels to the value of $360,000, was permitted to proceed on her way to Panama unharmed. Drake thought he would now like to find a strait which would give him a short cut back to England. Passing Pan- ama he repaired his ships at Nicaragua, rifling such vessels as fell in his way, and sacking a town here and there. Being beyond the region of the Spaniards, and finding no strait, nor any thing he deemed worth stealing, Drake turned from the American coast and sailed for the Philippine islands, and thence by the way of Good Hope cape home. The queen knighted Drake, and dined on board his ship, but she seques- tered his treasure, pending Spanish claims, and then between them all were fought off claimants, so that small restitution was made. Francisco de Gualle in 1582 sailed from Acapulco for the Philippines, returning to New Spain in two years. The voy- age caused much talk but really amounted to little. The ac- count, written originally by Gualle, was translated from the Spanish into low Dutch by J. Huighen Van Linschoten, and from this into other languages. Should they be called pi- rates or patriots, those worshipful knights who fought the Spanish armada, and sailed into the South sea to rob and murder, and were praised and petted and beheaded by good Queen Bess? There were Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Richard Hawkins, Sir Francis Drake, and many another Sir made or unmade by this madam. All good pirates in the reign of Elizabeth were knighted, just as the good generals of our day are given degrees by uni- versities, not by reason of any special merit or scholarship on the part of the recipient, but simply and in a general way to encourage the art of killing. One steals well, another kills well, and those who have read to them in the churches at a price per annum, " Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not kill ", thus exalt the thief and murderer. It is a question of quan- tity; the wife of the wholesale dealer is superior to the wife of the retail dealer; so it is with regard to thieves and mur- derers. We do not hear of Sir Shakespeare or Sir Milton, though there are some Sirs among modern men of letters, which let us hope, being harmless, may ever prove a source of pride and satisfaction to their possessors. War with Spain being at length formally declared, Sir 508 THE NEW PACIFIC Drake sailed forth in 1585 with 25 ships and 2300 seamen to capture the West Indies. It was no more than play for the brave Englishmen to land a force for a night attack and pil- lage and burn such places as Santiago at Cape Verde islands, and Santo Domingo in the West Indies. But bad as were the English and Dutch of those days the Spaniards were worse. For example, at Santo Domingo Drake's negro boy with a flag of truce was pierced with a Spanish spear so that he died. Next day two monks were taken to the spot where the vile deed was perpetrated and executed, notification being sent to the Spaniards that every day on that spot at that hour two of their number should so suffer until the murderers of his boy should be given up, which was shortly done. Many are the brave deeds chronicled of Drake and Sir Hawkins before they met their death, the latter at Porto Rico and the former at Portobello. The next Englishman to enter the Pacific was Thomas Cav- endish, also elsewhere mentioned, who sailed in 1586, at his own charge, with three vessels, of 120, 60, and 40 tons re- spectively, touched at the Canaries, ran along the coast of Africa to Sierra Leone, and there, after winning the confi- dence of the negroes,, plundered and burned their town, like the villain he was, and no one knows why to this day. There are good Englishmen and there are bad Englishmen. This Cavendish was a bad man upon instinct, beside whom the noble pirates Sir Drake and Sir Hawkins were gentlemen. All the same he sailed round the world, and upon his return wrote his own epitaph in the following words addressed to the lord chamberlain: " I navigated along the coast of Chili, Peru, and Neuva Espanna where I made great spoils. I burnt and sunk 19 sails of ships, small and great. All the vil- lages and towns that ever I landed at I burnt and spoiled." The wretched remains of the Spanish colony in Magellan strait, Cavendish at first promised to carry to Peru, and then sailed away leaving them there to horrible death from starva- tion. One Spaniard, indeed, he brought with him from the strait to serve as interpreter on the coasts of Chili and Peru, named Hernandez, who proved faithless, whereat the Eng- lishmen complained that " notwithstanding all his deep and damnable oaths that he would never forsake them, but would die on their side before he would be false, had finally deceived THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIRATES 509 them." A pretty pastime with Sir Cavendish was to catch a bunch of villagers, and releasing the wives hold the hus- bands for tribute, to be paid in the fruits of the country. William Dampier, whether navigator, circumnavigator, pi- rate, privateer, buccaneer, Jamaica planter, or Campeache log-wood cutter, was a seventeenth century adventurer of no common order. His father was an English farmer, and the son went early to sea. After living all sorts of lives, and undergoing innumerable experiences by sea and land, we find him in the Pacific, in 1683, as captain of a large ship which he had taken from the Danes by stratagem, and renamed the Bachelor's Delight. The stratagem was not unlike that some- times employed by the footpad ashore, who pretending to be drunk stumbles against his victim to throw him off his guard. It was Captain Cook, then on board, who played the game, and their vessel was the little Revenge. Arriving at the river Sherborough, he prepared to anchor near the Dane, who felt no fear of so small a boat as the Revenge, and one apparently so weakly manned, most of the pirates having been sent below. As the Revenge crept meekly along, if any thing a little too close to the great Dane, Cook called out in 'a loud voice to put the helm down and keep away. But previous orders had been issued to do the very reverse, so that when the little craft bumped against the big ship in this careless manner, and the cut-throats swarmed up so unexpectedly like demons from hell, the Dane was theirs with the loss of but five men. After passing through Magellan strait, and refreshing his crew at Juan Fernandez islands, Dampier followed the main land of America northward, taking whatever he desired that came in his way, whether ships, people, or treasure, until he came to Trujillo, narrowly missing a Spanish galleon contain- ing 800,000 pieces of eight. Trujillo had been recently forti- fied, and so strongly that Dampier declined an attack, and so sailed for the Galapagos, which he plundered, together with the neighboring isles, and then proceeded to Guayaquil, which Dampier pronounced one of the chief ports of the South sea, exporting woollen cloth, besides hides tallow cocoa and sarsaparilla. Here also the Spaniards were too well pre- pared for an attack for it to be safe to make one; so the Eng- lishmen sailed on to the Pearl islands, in the bay of Panama, where they rested and refitted. 510 THE NEW PACIFIC On the way, they captured, among other ships, the packet- boat from Lima, whose captain had thrown overboard the let- ters, attached to a line and buoy. Recovering which, Dampier learned that the governor of Panama was actively em- ployed hurrying forward the triennial fleet from Callao to Panama, that the treasure for Portobello and Spain might es- cape the clutches of the pirates. Dampier had ere this been joined by Davis, and the fleet of the buccaneers now consisted of ten sail, reinforcements arriving across the Isthmus rais- ing their number to 1000 men. As the Lima treasure-ships were late in making their appearance, they would probably have escaped capture but for the intercepted letters. As it was, the pirates laid patiently in wait for six months, watch- ing for their prey. When the Lima fleet appeared, it was found to consist of fourteen sail, and by no means so con- temptible an enemy as was at first supposed. Two of the ships were of forty guns each, two of thirty-eight guns, and two of them were fire ships. It soon became apparent as the Spaniards came down upon them, that for once they were prepared and intended to meet the enemy. The pirates, be- ing to the windward, might fight or fly, as they chose. In the darkness of the night which now came on, the Spaniards shifted their position so as to give them the advantage. See- ing which the pirates turned and fled, keeping up a running fire all day. In the end they were glad to make their escape, leaving the Lima fleet in possession of its treasure. While the Lima fleet came to anchor at Panama, the buc- caneers sailed away to the assault of Leon, in Nicaragua, which they carried with 640 men. The payment of a prom- ised ransom of $300,000 was so delayed as to excite suspicion, and the buccaneers withdrew after burning the city. The squadron, composed of companies under the three chiefs Dampier, Swan, and Harris, now broke up, Dampier and Swan continuing northward along the coast to Acapulco, Colima, and Cape San Lucas, whence they crossed the ocean to Manila, and proceeded via the cape of Good Hope to Eng- land. While in midpacific, the provisions became exhausted, and the men threatened to kill and eat, first Captain Swan, and then every one who had promoted the voyage. But com- ing to an island, which was a garden, and seemingly to them the most beautiful and fruitful in the world, they found bet- ter food than those tough mariners. THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIRATES 511 Hawkins tells us how the swearing malady was treated on his ship. Escaping from great danger on one occasion he says : " We had no small cause to give God thanks and prayse for our deliverance; and so, all our ships come together, wee magnified His glorious Name for his mercie towards us, and tooke an occasion hereby to banish swearing out of our shippes, which amongst the common sort of mariners and sea- faring men is too ordinarily abused. So with a generall con- sent of all our companie, it was ordayned that in every ship there should be a palmer or ferula, which should be in the keeping of him who was taken with an oath; and that he who had the palmer should give to every other that he tooke swear- ing, in the palme of the hand, a palmada with it, and the ferula. And whosoever at the time of evening or morning prayers was found to have the palmer, should have three blowes given him by the captaine or master; and that he should be still bound to free himself by taking another, or else to runne in daunger of continuing the penaltie; which exe- cuted, few days reformed the vice; so that in three dayes to- gether was not one oath heard to be sworne." With the ships Daintie, Fancie, and Hawke, Richard Haw- kins sailed from England in 1593 through the strait of Ma- gellan into the South sea, intending to visit Japan, the Phil- ippines, and the Moluccas, and capture booty from the Spaniards and others. Writing up his log for December on the coast of Brazil he says: " The twenty two of this moneth, at the going too of the sunne, we descryed a Portingall ship, and gave her chase, and comming within hayling of her, shee rendred her selfe without any resistance; shee was of an hun- dred tuns, bound for Angola, to load negroes, to be carried and sold in the river of Plate. It is a trade of great profit and much used, for that the negroes are carried from the head of the river Plate to Potosi to labour in the mynes. It is a bad negro who is not worth there five or six hundredth peeces, every peece of tenne ryals, which they receive in ryals of plate, for there is no other merchandize in those partes. We took out of this prize for our provision, and praised God for his bountie, providence, and grace extended towards us." Entering the strait, " in the middle of the reach we saw certaine hogges, but they were so faire from us that wee could not discerne if they were of those of the countrie, or brought 512 THE NEW PACIFIC by the Spaniards." One day they " discovered a great com- pany of scales, or sea-wolves, sleeping, with their bellies tost- ing against the sunne. Wee provided our selves with staves, and other weapons, and sought to steale upon them at una- wares, to surprise some of them; and coming down the side of a hill, wee were not discovered till wee were close upon them. Notwithstanding, their sentinell, before wee could ap- proach, with a great howle waked them, We got betwixt the sea and some of them, but they shunned us not, for they came directly upon us, and though we dealt here and there a blow, yet not a man that wothstood them escaped the overthrow. They reckon not of a muskett shott, a sword peirceth not their skinne, and to give a blow with a staffe is as to smite upon a stone; onely in giving the blow upon his snout, presently he falleth downe dead." Capturing some vessels on the coast of Chili, Hawkins was himself captured on the coast of Peru, toward the Pearl isl- ands and Panama, which places he encountered as a prisoner, suffering likewise incarceration in Peru and Spain. Sir Haw- kins was quite the British tar and gentleman in his free rov- ings, and the Spaniards treated him with distinguished kind- ness, for them, granting him in his surrender en buena guerra, as they called it, that is a few years imprisonment only, without the faggots or the Inquisition; but all the same Sir Hawkins liked it better taking than being taken. His praise to heaven is likewise less profuse when the enemy suc- ceeds, but in that event the enemy's praises ascend and so the proper equilibrium is preserved in heaven. The English have ever an eye to decorum, even in their obliquities. Among all nations, piety has even been the handmaid of piracy, but Queen Elizabeth seemed specially so- licitous as to the morals of her freebooters, if we may judge by the regulations. " (1) All the company shall repaire every day twice to heare publike prayers, all praising God together with psalme and prayer. (2) No man shall swear. (3) No man shall speak evil of our dread soveraigne or the established religion. (4) No man shall speake against the goode successe of the voyage. (5) Attend to it that no man doe grumble at his allowance of vituall." Walter Raleigh, like others whose appetites for adventure was whetted by his skirmish with the Spanish armada, in THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIRATES 513 1595 sailed with five ships for Trinidad, in search of El Do- rado of the Orinoco. He ascended the river some distance, and bringing away some stones containing gold, returned to England. El Dorado was the latest dream of the spoiler. Somewhere under the equator, back of Guiana, and up the river Orinoco, rumor placed a land gilded with gold; a land whose situation shifted with the times, but whose existence was always in the air. In the days of old Darien it was up the Atrato, or per- adventure the Magdalena, that the gilded city of Dabaiba must be sought, where Vasco Nunez looked for it in 1512, and Colmenares, and Bartolome Hurtado, but who found in place of the expected golden temple, and a city whose streets were paved with precious stones, only an Indian town whose houses were built in the branches of palm trees, ascent to which was made by ladders drawn up at night. It may have been the treasure tombs and temple on the Cenu river, or in the Guaca valley, which were rifled by Fran- cisco Cesar with 100 men in 1536 of 30,000 castellanos; for it is well known that on and all around the Darien isthmus the sepulchres of the savages contain golden implements and or- naments of no small value. And now half a century later comes this gay courtier from his virgin queen to achieve what these Spanish adventurers had all failed to do, namely, to find and rifle El Dorado. Was it folly for this astute Englishman to put such faith in these wild Indian tales as to lead him to the fitting out of three expeditions in all, involving the men and money for six or eight ships and their equipment? Perhaps. Yet what else had Vasco Nunez to go upon when he crossed the Isthmus to the South sea; or Cortes when he burned his ships and sallied forth for Mexico; or Pizarro when he sought and found the golden Sun-temple of Cuzco and the treasure-houses of Ata- hualpa? Had they believed less they would have achieved less. But there were other things than El Dorados to tax Ral- eigh's credulity. There were present Amazons to guard the riches; which might be true enough, as on the isle of Cali- fornia Cortes had his Amazons, not to go back to Greek legend and the Black sea. Some had even said that both Montezuma and Atahualpa had transferred part of their 514 THE NEW PACIFIC treasures to Guiana in order to secure it from the rapacity of the Spaniards, and there it had been kept for good Elizabeth, whose portrait Raleigh failed not to display, or her virtues to extol, to the man-eating savages of the Orinoco. But El Do- rado Raleigh found not, and so returned to his London queen, to be housed in the London tower. With the failure of Sir Hawkins, the English were content for a time to remain at home, but the Spaniards were all the more ready to continue discoveries and settlement in the Pa- cific. By order of Philip of Spain, the viceroy of Peru sent Alvaro de Mendana, in 1595, with four ships and 378 men, to plant a colony at the Solomon islands. At Madalena and the Marquesas, discovered on this voyage, the Spaniards perpe- trated the most wanton and unprovoked brutalities upon the natives, whom they pronounced a superior people. " These islanders were in colour almost white," they said; " they had long hair, which some of them suffered to hang loose, and others gathered in a knot on the top of the head. " The natives of the Marquesas had large sailing canoes, neatly constructed with tools made of shells and the bones of fishes. Their town was built so as to form two sides of a quadrangle, one standing north and south and the other east and west. The ground near the houses was neatly paved, and planted round thick with trees. The houses seemed to be held in common. Some of them had low doors, and others were open the whole length of the front. They were built with timber and bamboo canes intermixed, and the floor was raised above the level of the ground without. The articles of food were hogs, fowls, and fish; cocoanuts, sugar-canes, and plantains of an excellent kind." And thus they speak of the bread-fruit, this being the earli- est description of it. " But the fruit most highly commended in the original accounts is one which was produced by the trees which the natives cultivated near their houses; it grows to the size of a boy's head; when ripe it is of a green colour, but of a strong green before it is ripe; the outside or rind is streaked crossways like a pineapple; the form is not entirely round but becomes narrow towards the end; the stalk runs to the middle of the fruit, where there is a kind of web; it has neither stone nor kernel, nor is any part unprofitable except the rind, which is thin; it has but little moisture; it is eaten THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIKATES 515 many ways, and by natives is called white food; it is well tasted, wholesome and nutritious; the leaves are large, and indented in the manner of those of the West India papaw tree." At what they called the Santa Cruz islands death overtook the commander, then in his 54th year. Mendana ranks high among discoverers, being the first to visit many of the islands of the South Pacific. The wife of the commander, Dona Isa- bel, who accompanied him in this voyage, duly mourned his death, carried the body for burial to Manila, married there, and sailing for Mexico lived there happily ever after. Such was the alarm caused by the presence of Drake in the Pacific, that the viceroy of Peru sent against him Pedro Sar- miento, who in the pursuit entered and examined the strait of Magellan, and on his return recommended that it be fortified by Spain so as to prevent the passage of strangers. An expe- dition was accordingly sent thither by Philip II, and in 1582 the settlements of Jesus and San Felipe were .founded; but most of the colonists perished from famine, and the eminently Spanish idea of thus placing a guard at the eastern gate to keep all the world out of the Pacific ocean was abandoned. Many are the romantic sea-adventures related in waters north and south, how Captain Kidd was sent by good Scotch- men to catch pirates, and himself turned pirate and was caught instead; how William Phips sought and found a wrecked Spanish treasure-ship, and took from it 32 tons of silver, and other things worth in all a million and a half of dollars. All round the world, in all ages and nations, pirates were the pioneers of progress. The tales of buccaneers might be retold on the eastern coast of Asia with no loss of horrors. All the islands along shore were infested by pirates. Among others a favorite rendezvous was the Chusan archipelago, where upon the capture of a rice-junk or sugar fleet the captors gave the gods an entertainment as a thank-offering. The pirates plied their craft in fleets of swift boats, and snapped fingers of de- fiance at the war-junks, whose pilots would thereupon make a pretence of pursuit. Brigandage on land and piracy and smuggling on the sea still obtain in eastern Asia. Even at the British commercial metropolis of Hongkong a police force is quite necessary in the harbor, where the thieves move hither and thither in 516 THE NEW PACIFIC swift pinnaces, as in the streets of the city. Since the earliest times pirates have been protected by the mandarins of China, who shared in their plunder, and when foreigners appeared and refused to be robbed and murdered in this manner, gov- ernment officials were by no means active in suppressing pira- cy. As late as 1885 the British steamer Greyhound was capt- ured within sixty miles of Hongkong by pirates who had shipped as passengers. In 1887 there were three piratical at- tacks within a week, and in 1890 the steamer Namoa was captured by pirates. Piracy, once so common in the world was later confined for the most part to the waters of southeastern Asia. Con- spicuous here were the Sulus, daring and skilful and as merci- less as other Mohammedans, or even as Spanish Christians. Their proas, of from ten to thirty tons in size, were rigged with both oars and sails, so that they might be propelled for- ward or backward with equal facility. They would not attack a protected cruiser, but to unarmed small craft laden with merchandise they showed no mercy. Of the booty, one-quarter went by law to the sultan and council of nobles, the latter furnishing the arms and ammunition, and receiving pay in captives, of whom they made slaves. Piracy was the chief occupation of the nation not long since, but the business has fallen off of late years. As an occupation it suits the genius of Asiatic peoples, and beside the horrible deeds in the China sea, those of the Medi- terranean were tame indeed. The true state of things here was not suspected until after the first opening of treaty ports in 1842, when merchant ships sailing from Singapore for Hongkong disappeared, not from storm or earthquake, and were never heard of again. It was useless to appeal to the Chinese authorities, as their pirates were as hard on them as on others. Indeed, there is little patriotism in piracy. It was not altogether an unpleasant pastime for Englishmen, pirate hunting in Asia, and should be as good sport as tiger hunting in Africa, Their swarming ground in those days was 150 miles of coast north of Hongkong, between Swatau and Hainan, where they had fortified stations, and whence they could send out 50 or 100 junks under an admiral at a mo- ment's notice. The junks were from 50 to 400 tons burden, and mounted from six to twenty guns, with six men to a gun. THE LOG BOOKS OF THE PIKATES 517 The English government for a time paid a reward of 10 for a dead pirate and 1 for a live one, which proves that some men are more valuable dead than alive. When, however, in 1849 Admiral Hay with the Columbine, and assisted by some other ships, destroyed with great slaughter two pirate fleets, of 20 and 64 junks respectively, the head-money threatened to bankrupt the British nation; the regulation was discon- tinued, and after that pirates must be killed purely for pleas- ure. Li Ma Hong was a famous Chinese pirate in the days of the second governor of the Philippines. Descending on the islands in 1594 with 70 large ships, he entered Manila bay, and seizing the city, incarcerated the leading men in the cita- del. But rallying, the Spaniards bravely attacked and de- feated the pirates, burning their fleet at the Pangasinam river. Li Ma Hong escaped in an open boat to a desert island, where he died. Another Chinese pirate chief was Koxinga, previ- ously mentioned in this volume, who in 1662 threatened Ma- nila with a large fleet. Fearing lest the invaders should find aid and sympathy among their countrymen on the islands, the Spaniards seized and slaughtered 1 40,000 Chinese, to prevent their doing wrong in case they should wish to do so. But it was their own subjects of Sulu, whose sultans were pirates by profession, that caused the Spaniards the greatest annoyance, and that their power was broken about the middle of the nineteenth century was owing to the English. Dur- ing the height of their maritime supremacy, it is said that the sultans of Sulu collected tribute from 1,000 boats, large and small, aside from the vessels of their own 200,000 subjects. Their sway extended over nearly the whole of Borneo and Mindanao, besides the islands of Palavan, Panguitarang, Tawi Tawi and the Basilans. Fast-sailing Sulu ships swarmed about the islands of the archipelago, entering their straits and rivers, making easy prey of the natives and their effects, but rejoicing specially over the advent of a rich foreign merchant- man, particularly if somewhat disabled after a long voyage, which was not unfrequently the case. Those, however, who sailed in Sulu ships were not all Sulus. Among the Balabac pirates who were beaten back from the walls of Manila in 1851 were some Spaniards and Portuguese. These renegades not only fought well but taught the Sulus 518 THE NEW PACIFIC how to fight. They went forth in battle array, the sultan in his flagship carrying six-pounder guns, guns and ships for their navy being taken from the enemy as required. The Mindanao pirates controlled the gold mines of that island, which enabled them to bring from Canton all the munitions and material they required for their business. CHAPTER XXI THE TERRESTRIAL PARADISE IN the southern centre of this ocean sea, at a point antipo- dal to Mount Sion in Jerusalem, is the Terrestrial Paradise of Dante, with its high conical mountain of Purgatory, round which run seven terraces whereon are expiated the seven deadly sins, stairways being cut in the rugged mountain side which lead upward from terrace to terrace until the summit is reached, whereon stands the New Jerusalem, the celestial city, though still of earth. By this half heathen though wholly Dantean cosmogony, the Terrestrial Paradise finds place southwest from Pitcairn island, rising steep from the obtuse waters just south of Tahiti. And not poets alone, whether poets of hell or heaven, seek to mingle with South sea breezes a breath of the celestial. Even the prosy German Hitter must bring down from above a name for this broad belt of sparkling isles which constitutes the Polynesian archipel- ago, and which he calls the milky way of ocean. On many of these islands, which are now known so well, we should be able to find a terrestrial paradise, when Dante found his in the dark, on the other side of the world, not even know- ing that the world had another side. The island of Pitcairn, which seems to be the nearest land to this enchanted spot, and is as near to heaven as any other island of the South sea, even this sea of paradise, is mostly rock and mountain, with but little soil suitable for cultivation. The size of Eden in the Euphrates country is not known, never having been sur- veyed; but it is difficult to understand when so little land will make a paradise why it is that France and Germany want so much. It may be that the two nations have more than two hundred who expect heaven; and Pitcairn island has a capac- ity for only two hundred. What kept the natural increase of population down all these ages, unless it was the alligators, is 519 520 THE NEW PACIFIC as difficult to tell as who inhabited Eden after the occupancy of Adam; the fact remains, however, that in 1856 the island was regarded small for the 200 inhabitants by certain good Englishmen, who carried them all to Norfolk island, which though seven times larger than Pitcairn island is itself only fourteen square miles in area. For their trouble the good Englishmen naturally took Pit- cairn island for themselves, thus securing something of heaven, besides Australia, in these South seas; but unfortu- nately the Pitcairn islanders were not satisfied with Norfolk island, and gradually found their way back home as best they were able. In Norfolk island the people were too wicked; they were wicked with the wickedness of Europe, which was worse than any South sea wickedness these innocents had ever met. At Norfolk island people got drunk, blasphemed, gath- ered diseases, and would even sometimes kill, abominations all unknown at Pitcairn island. A few years later an attempt was made to deport them to Tahiti, but they liked this no bet- ter, and returned to Pitcairn island, where they dwell to this day. Slow sailing vessels on their way between Australia and South America sometimes stop at Pitcairn island, it being one of the few places in this quarter where fresh water may be obtained. Small as is the island of Pitcairn, it has a history, great per- haps as that of Greenland, and this aside from what Dante did for it. This history begins in detail with the appearance there in 1787 of William Bligh, commissioned by England to sail into the South sea, and procure if possible from some of its islands plants which might prove useful to the colonists of the West Indies, who were just then suffering for want of something to grow on their rich lands which the world wanted more than sugar and tobacco, of which they had enough. Bligh was told to bring back bread-fruit, and the plants thereof, and any other strange plants which were suita- ble to the climate, and might prove sources of wealth to the West Indies. Bligh's voyage is called by the good Englishmen aforesaid as one of the most memorable ever made. Let us see. He sailed in the ship Bounty from Spithead December 23, 1787, and reached Tahiti October 26, 1788, ten months, memora- 521 ble for time of sailing at all events. Not being an island agri- culturist Bligh did not know, and his government did not know, that bread-fruit trees cannot be transplanted at that season of the year. Now Bligh was not a man to worry over the decrees of providence, and wonder why bread-fruit trees should not get themselves ready for transplantation to the West Indies in October as well as at any other time. He sim- ply sat himself down to wait, for Bligh was a good waiter. He knew that if he sat long enough six months would come round, when the plants with safety might be removed. But six months is a long time for idle hands in an island next door to paradise. And the hands of Bligh's Jack tars were not idle; the women were too fresh and pretty for the sailors to keep their hands off from them; and when the time for sailing came the crew found itself greatly married, after the custom of the country, each with half a dozen wives, which was only one new one a month. Now those were the days of cat-o'-nine tails on ship-board, and as a cure for love Captain Bligh deemed the implement effective. So when he had driven his much-married men all on board, and had put to sea with 1015 bread-fruit trees, besides other plants, and complaints grew loud and threatening, the knotted cord was plied bravely, which only made matters worse. Six wives each! And within one door to Dante's terrestrial paradise; though they did not know this; but rather thought thus leav- ing their loves to be that other place of Dante's. At all events, within twenty-four days after sailing, mutiny broke forth. Arming themselves from the ship's weapons, the sail- ors stormed the cabin, and made the captain and officers pris- oners. These, with eighteen men who refused to join the mutineers, were sent adrift in the ship's launch, provisioned with bread, water, pork, and a little spirits. With all this they suffered severely, for though they had a compass, and one would think should easily find land, they were in the open sea 46 days, and rowed or sailed 3618 miles before they came in a starving condition to land, which proved to be the island of Timor, whence they made their way to England. Naught of England wanted the mutineers, however, for naught but probable hanging awaited them there. Bligh and his party they supposed would perish upon the ocean, in which event nothing of the mutiny would be known in Eng- 522 THE NEW PACIFIC land, and there would be no immediate fear from that quarter. Their plan now was to make for Tahiti, gather up some of the pieces of their broken families, and seek and take possession of some unknown island. Arrived again at Tahiti, while more than half the crew were ashore completing arrange- ments for their final departure, the Bounty sailed away and left them there, having besides eight of the crew eighteeen natives on board. As nothing could be heard of them, the ship was supposed to have foundered. Three years after- ward, a British man-of-war in search of them found that por- tion of the crew which had been left on Tahiti, and started back with them in irons. Four were drowned during a wreck; of the ten remaining, when brought to trial three were hanged, and seven acquitted, being able to prove that they were forced to join the mutiny on peril of their lives. Time passed by until in 1809, Folger, an American ship captain, returned from a cruise in the South sea, and told a story for the truth of which it was difficult to find believers. He said that the year previous he had landed on an islet, the eastern dot of the Tahitian archipelago, Pitcairn island, out of the line of travel, and there had found a strange commu- nity. There was one man, a sailor, called Alexander Smith, and the sole survivor of the crew of the Bounty. With him were some of the women brought from Tahiti. Fearful of discovery, the mutineers had run the ship into a little bay, and after taking from her all they desired they burned her. Quarrels arose from time to time, with occasional killings, until finally only Smith remained, which fact of survival might raise suspicions against him were it not that he had ere this become religious, turned minister, preached and taught the catechism to the children of the mutineers; and so let us hope that his sins which were many were forgiven him. " Something yet to be understood," said Sancho of chiv- alry. So say I with regard to these vast Pacific waters, whose isles and edges are rimmed with romance, and gold, and pearls, and precious stones. Spanish cavaliers have sailed these seas, and English knights have pirated thereon, and Dutchmen prowled, and Portuguese fought, all the while the simple savages suffering death and the hell-tortures of en- croaching civilization, because like children they failed to understand the application of Christian ethics to native THE TERRESTRIAL PARADISE 523 creeds. That however is but one of the ornaments of the car of progress; it is ordained that all the trophies of savagism shall be transferred to it. If Dante is right in placing Purga- tory in the middle of the Pacific, with heaven above and hell beneath, then it seems fitting that the border of this vast ocean should be compounded of volcanoes and minerals. Spain's conquest of America was not a proceeding to be proud of, and yet the conquerors were proud of it. To them it was gold and glory and godliness, the best of this world and of the next; though in reality it was but theft and murder, theft of lands with whatever they contained and murder of the inhabitants, men women and children, and proselyting at the point of the sword, with treachery and much cruelty. So God was served and Christ's teachings disseminated. And it was a new world, even as the Pacific was and is now a new ocean. Yet America was not the first country to be called the New World, nor were the Spaniards the first to use those words. Long before this country was discovered, the Venetians ap- plied the term to the old world of Asia. For, under the pas- sage to the church of San Lorenzo, on one of the islets of Gemelle, are inscribed these words. " Sotto 1'angiporto e sepolto quel Marco Polo, cognominato Milionone, il quale scrisse i viaggi del mondo nuovo, e che fu il primo avanti Cristoforo Colombo che ritrovasse nuovi paesi." The Japanese will tell you that the paradise of the world envelopes their islands, that there one may have one's heart's desire. If one likes cold, there is Hokaido; if the heated air is grateful, go to Liukin. Rain is everywhere abundant; tropical plants grow luxuriantly, and those which like best the frigid zones find them, while there is not a tree or shrub in the flora of the world which cannot find congenial habita- tion in Japan. In the evolutions of the ages it has come to pass that the world's two great civilizations, the newest and the oldest, the European and the Asiatic, are brought face to face on either side of a great sea. Starting from the same hypothetical cradle of the race, and taking opposite direc- tions, one going east and the other west, both have reached their limit, so far as the journey can be made by land, and have now to reconcile old difficulties and meet new issues. From famed Cathay, whence the brothers Polo in the thir- teenth century brought back to their opulent Venice that en- 524: THE NEW PACIFIC trancing vision of the Orient, with its vitalized charms and vivid colorings, far away toward the east and south stretched this earthly paradise, embracing islands and main land, coral reefs and languid sunny seas. In these isles were gold and gems, which for the most part were left unheeded by the naked humanity who dwelt there, like the first pair in Eden caring only for the fruit, always ripe and luscious, and partic- ularly for such as was forbidden; and none being forbidden, they ate what they liked, and without special cursing, yet they had their serpent. All along their route, from the city of the sea north and eastward, they journeyed as on a high- way toward heaven, these Polos, the broad sandy plains of Persia, the sun-lit plateaus and dark gorges of Badakhshan, the bejeweled waters of Khotan, and the flowering Mongolian steppes, all meeting their dazzled vision in glorious succes- sion. They were the first of Europe to see and tell of China, with its swarming people and many industries, its wealth and wide area, its great cities and rivers and the ships that filled its waters. There were Tibet and Burmah with their golden pagodas, and Laos and Siam and Cochin China, cities of pal- aces golden-roofed and sparkling with gems. There was the Indian archipelago, aromatic with spices, the fragrant Java, and much-governed Sumatra, Nicobar, and Andaman, with their unclothed natives, and the island pearl Ceylon, with the only Adam's tomb and the holy mountain. Then came Sir John Mandeville, who in 1356 returned to England after an absence of thirty-four years in the Far East, confirming alike the truth and falsehoods of the Venetians, and indeed adding somewhat thereto, for he would not be out- done in story-telling by any other traveller of any nation whatsoever. In Latin, in French, and in the purest English of the day, .he wrote: "I, John Maundevylle, knight, alle be it I be not worthi, that was born in England, in the Town of Seynt Albones, passed the See, in the zeer of our Lord Jesu Crist MCCCXXII, in the Day of Seynt Michelle; and hidre to have ben long tyme over the See, and have seyn and gon thorghe manye dyverse Londes, and many Provynces and Kingdomes and lies, and have passed thorghe Tartarye, Per- cye, Ermonye, the litylle and the grete; thorghe Lybye, Cal- dee, and a gret partie Ethiope, thorghe Amazoyne, Inde the and the more, a gret partie, and thoroghe out many THE TERRESTRIAL PARADISE 525 othere lies that ben abouten Inde." Writing five hundred years later, M. Elisee Reclus remarks: " The countries of the old world which show the richest luxuriance and the most exuberant vitality, lie between the straits of Gibraltar and the archipelago of Japan." When we consider that the civilizations of Egypt, the Eu- phrates, and the Mediterranean knew neither the polar nor the equatorial world, knew no great ocean other than the bor- der of the Atlantic, and no land area greater than the African desert, imagining the earth to be no more than half or two thirds of its actual size, it is impossible to conceive of the en- largement of mind which followed this enlargement of vision. No wonder that Persia, and Araby the Blessed, and India, and the Spice islands, filled with visions of poetic fancy, and which were all that the world knew of any thing truly tropi- cal, were regarded as nearest akin to heaven of any thing earthly, as also the American and South sea tropics, with all their variety and luxuriance of vegetation, men and animals, mountains and plains. Cradled in the east, civilization has ever been tending west. In an ocean, the last the sun looks upon, was Elysium and the islands of the Blessed. All that was best, all that was fullest of life and brightness was ever toward the west. And ever as culture moved westward it increased in volume and inten- sity, and the new civilizations toward the west were ever springing up and taking the place of those which were dying out at the east, until finally chase was made to the westward for the Ophir of Hiram, the El Dorado of Solomon, and the Chersonesus Aurea of Ptolemy. The Roman empire did not extend eastward beyond the Persian gulf, and little was known of lands or waters toward the Pacific until after the decline of the great powers of southern and eastern Europe,- and the incursion of the Moguls into China. Prior to the discoveries of new lands and seas by the Europeans was a period of spontaneous intellectual development in the direc- tion of great inventions, as gunpowder, printing, and the mariner's compass. And now, reserved for this occasion, comes to the aid of man the all-encircling ocean, forceful in its nobility and wonderful in its potentialities. Micronesia, between latitudes 10 south and 11 north, has 642 islands, and of these the Carolines comprise 36 groups, 526 THE NEW PACIFIC one of which is the Pelew, with 200 isles and islets. The speech of the Pelew people is a bizarre Malayan, and their food is turtle and cocoanut. They are as warm for civil war as the Central Americans, who delight in revolutions. North- east of the Pelews some 300 miles distant is Yap, the coral- reef surrounding which is 35 by five miles in dimensions, within which are swamps filled with taro and surrounded by relics of a departed civilization. There are plainly to be seen old embankments, artificial terraces, and stone-paved roads, council lodges with carved stone pillars, and the like. Yaps to the number of 8,000 live here happily, on the usual tropical food, fighting the Ruks for pastime. The Chinese could easily have set up for them their monumental remains, being themselves of antiquity, and industrious, and nothing very wonderful about it. Now, there are ruins of an extinct civilization in Guate- mala, which may have been the work of the Chinese, so far as the possibility of their working their way across or around the Pacific is concerned; but they were probably not done by Asi- atics, as there appears to be little that is Asiatic about them. There are theories afloat that America was peopled from Asia, and other theories that Asia was peopled from America, one being as valuable as the other because both are worthless, neither being susceptible of proof. Usually new and strange peoples are referred by so-called savants to ancient civiliza- tions having some literature, as in that case endless analogies may be brought forward with but little trouble. But too often sages forget that analogies work two ways, if they prove that one people is like to another, how can they tell which was the father and which the son? America is called the New World; but it would be difficult to prove that Africa was not peopled from South America, or that the Babel-builders had not their origin in Greenland. Where people thus live without coercion and without re- straint, crimes might be expected to be more frequent and of fiercer nature than are found among the cultured nations of Christendom. But such is not the case. Whether it is owing to the soft air of environment, and the mild nature of the in- habitants, too lazy as a rule to be roused into anger, there are not enough of men and women with natures of such moral obliquity as to constitute a criminal class. The very bad ones THE TERRESTRIAL PARADISE 527 in due time get themselves killed off, which way has its ad- vantages over long trials in criminal courts, whose primary purpose, it is the fashion to say, is too often to defeat the ends of justice. If analogies are of value as proof of race relationship, it should be so regarding the fruits of the earth, whose bloom is of earth, and the fruit of paradise, which blossoms only in paradise. Now from earliest times it has been held in East India legends that the banana, which grows in all these isl- ands, is the fruit of paradise. Some hold it is one with the fig, as in the Hebal of Gerarde we find written: " The Gre- cians and Christians which inhabit Syria, and the Jews also, suppose it to be that tree of whose fruit Adam did taste." The Mohammedans believe also that " this is the fruit which Allah the Father forbade Adam and Eve to eat, for imme- diately they ate they perceived their nakedness, and to cover themselves employed the leaves of this tree, which are more suitable for the purpose than any other." No one island of the South sea can be taken as typical of the whole, nor can any one climate; though all are tropical, environments are different. On every side are evidences of the wonderful prodigality of nature, but nature's ways are not always the same. There are forests of precious woods, fields of useful plants, mountains seamed with metals, and bays lined with coral and gems. This isle-dotted ocean is a sphere of beauty, captivating the senses and absorbing the soul. And the glory of its waters is equalled only by the vegetal sensuality of the land. The natives, lightly clothed and light of heart, know not sorrow or suffering in the civilized sense, happy in wanting so little. A native habitation in the inte- rior of Luzon is made of bamboo, thatched with palm-leaves, and set on posts five feet from the ground, thus securing free- dom from vermin and free circulation of air. In the rice fields are the busy laborers in their scanty garb, and every where is the uncouth water buffalo, some laboring at heavy loads, and others wallowing to their huge satisfaction in their muddy pools. Even though they show Chinese blood, the native women are not without claims to beauty, while the men are bold and intelligent in appearance. The people and their surroundings are cleanly. Charming indeed is nature here, though cruel and treach- 5: