The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-30 00:00:00

CHINESE LABOURERS.

A ship arrived, and landed on the Isthmus some eight
hundred, after a fair voyage from Hong Kong where
these poor devils of the Flowery Kingdom had unwittingly
sold themselves to the service of the railroad, perfectly
ignorant of the country whither they were going, and of
the trials which awaited them. The voyage was tolerably
prosperous, and the Chinese bore its fatigues and sufferings
with great patience, cheered by the prospects of reaching
the foreign land, whither they had been tempted by the
glowing descriptions of those traffickers in human life, who
had so liberally promised them wealth and happiness.
Sixteen died on the passage, and were thrown into the
sea. No sooner had the eight hundred survivors landed,
than thirty-two of the number were struck down prostrate
by sickness; and in less than a week afterwards, eighty
more laid by their side. The interpreters who accom-
panied them attributed this rapid prostration to the want
of their habitual opium. This drug was then distributed
among them, and with the good effect of so far stimulating
their energies, that two-thirds of the sick arose again from
their beds, and began to labour. A Maine opium law,
however, was soon promulgated on the score of the immo-
rali
tyof
itie administeringhopedto
thet e
xpn
osopernicious
ach, habit, and
however,without.
was
regard,
no inconsiderable item, since the daily quota of each
Chinese amounted to fifteen grains, at the cost of at least
fifteen cents. Whether it was owing to the deprivation of
their habitual stimulus, or the malignant effects of the
climate, or home-sickness, or disappointment, in a few
'weeks there was hardly one out of the eight handred
Chinese who was not prostrate and unfit to labour. The
poor sufferers let the pick and the shovel fall from their
hands, and yielded themselves up to the agony of despair.
They now gladly welcomed death, and impatiently awaited
their turn in the ranks which were falling before the pesti-
lence. The havoc of disease went on, and would have
done its work in time ; but as it was sometimes merciful,
and spared a life, and was deliberate, though deadly, the
despairing Chinese could wait no longer : he hastily
seized the hands of death, and voluntarily sought destruc-
tion in its grasp. Hundreds destroyed themselves, and
showed, in their various modes of suicide, the characteristic
Chinese ingenuity. Some deliberately lighted their pipes,
and sat themselves down upon the shore of the sea, and
awaited the rising of the tide—grimly resolved to die--
and sat and sat, silent and unmoved as a storm-beaten
rock, as wave arose above wave, until they sank into the
depths of eternity. Some bargained with their companions
for death—giving their all to the friendly hand which,
with a kindly touch of the trigger, would scatter their
brains, and hasten their doom. Some hung themselves to
the tall trees by their hair, and some twisted their queues
about their necks, with a deliberate coil after coil, until
their faces blackened, their eye-balls started out, their ,
tongues protruded, and death relieved their agony. Some
cut ugly, crutch-shaped sticks, sharpened the ends to a
point, and thrust their necks upon them until they were
pierced through and through, and thus mangled, yielded
up life in a torrent of blood. Some took great stones into
their hands, and leaped into the depths of the nearest
river, and clung, with resolute hold, to the weight which sunk
them, gurgling in the agonies of drowning, to the bottom,
until death loosened their grasp, and floated them to the
surface, lifeless bodies. Some starved themselves to death
—refusing either to eat or drink. Some impaled them-
selves upon their instruments of labour —and thus, in a
few weeks after their arrival, there were but scarce two
hundred Chinese left of the whole number. This miser-
able remnant of poor, heart-sick exiles, prostrate from the
effects of the climate, and bent on death, being useless for
labour, were sent to Jamaica, where they have ever since
lingered out a miserable beggar's life.