The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-09-17
THE COMING.
Mongo:Ians Abandoning Australia and
Seeking Wealth in Cal1fornia-John
Ch1naman in Australia Described.

AAS5 " Ian AAA~
The su Yaps, Sam Yaps, Heang-san and
Amoys have been busy packing up the bones
Of their dead and shipping them off for the
"Flowery Land" to be reinterred In some
lucky spot in their native country, where the
sssacrifces" to the remains Will be performed
at the proper seasons. No race of men car
have a %profoundcr love of country than the
| Chinese. Every spot outside the ''walls" ls tt
them but a Temporary resort 10 accumulate
wealth. Not only the homes of the Chinese
but the tombs of their ancestors and their an
cestral halls act as powerful magnets to lure
Them back 10 the land OF their birth.
Europeans do not yet understand the Chin.
| csc character. We call mem "heathene;'
| they return the compliment by al once calling
US tbarbarlans." In the hrst place they art
industrious; they are laugh 70 be 30 IRON
| and thrifty, and in the Australian colonies
| thew have been found obedlent to the laws
The paImy DAYS of the gold fields having
nassed away. many have betaken themselves
10 olher pursuits, but o very large number,
| excited by favorable reports from California,
| have, as we already slated; made up theil
| minds 10 swell the population OF the United
| States. Such being the case, the following
| facts relating to the "Heafhen Chinee" IN
Australia may be Interesting:
AUSTRALIAN STATISTICS.
The total number of Chinese In The colonies
| of Victoria and New South wales, In the year
| ending 1871, was estimated a. 10000. Gener'
ally they are called Amoys, nom The province
of Canton. Between various ribes the dialects
differ. but thew manage to understand each
other with loierable ease. NO matter where
the Chinaman settles he LOOKS forward to the
time of his return 10 the falherlaud. Should q
relative. parent or friend dte, the last injunc-
lion Ia that ''hls bones may abe sent hone," 0
request In most cases religionaly observed.
No doubt the decline OF the Australian gold
fislds year after wear has az last drlven-them
to seek o fresh field for their exertlons.
THE COURSE OF EXPIRE.
Seven or eight years ago, over twenty ships
left Melbourne annually fUr China With thelT
large ireights OF Chinese, who bore away With
them their larger or smaller piles OF GOLD.
Last wear but one returned. Their new year
| holidays. that used to be BIZ celebrated with
much iubilant and noisy demonstrations, pass
off now In q very tame and quiet manner.
The circus, too, at which Chinese plays used
TO be enacted, and which attracted crowds oil
| Chinese, has Disappeared; aud the 1alls are
tenanted by Chinese criminals much longer
and more numerously now tnan In days OF
yore. With increasing poverty, there has
followed as a natural consequence increase OF
crime among the Chinese. This poverty
arises less from want of employment Than
from opium smoking and gambllng-two
gigantic evils which have contributed toward
fhs ImDoyerlshment and Decentralization oil
the people to an extent which 10 truly lament
able and appalling. According to statistics
furnished by Chinese Interpreters on The dif-
ferent gold fields and districts, there ara
seventy gambling shops In Melbourne, and
one hundred for the sale Of opium,
THE CURSE OF OPIUM.
Should the Mongollans visit these shores 10
very large numbers, vigorous measures should
be adopted for the circumscriblng OF the evils
connected with opium-smoking within the
narrowesL limits. the sum q wealthy Chinese
spends In opium Is on an &VeraSe from elgh'
teen shillings TO Two pounds a week: those In
middllng circumstances, from seven shilliugs
TO one pound weekly; the poorer class, from
half q crown to three ~shillings weekly The
estimated number of 0pium-smokers, accord
ing to my returns, Is: The lowest, fly out OF
every hundred; the highest, ninety out oil
every hundred. Of these one-third are get
down AZ confirmed smokers. The period when
the habit of smoking opium becomes confirm
ed varies; 1t may be ct the end OF the hrst year,
or The second, or the third and the rapidly
and force with which the appetite is gratifed
also differs very considerably. There are
numbers who are satisfied with what may be
called a very moderate allowance. and as long
We that is The case it appears 10 be smoked
with comparative impunity; ont, III moGe.
rate spirit drinking, II may predlspose 10, IL IL
does not directly excite, disease. The larger
proportion, however, of those who are ad-
dlcted to this practice are not content with a
liked ratio, bnt desire aud require accumIia.
tive dosep. The period, likewise, when NE
constitution begins TO suffer 10 Varlaolsi @icn
some il Ia as soon as three or four years; With
others. not for ten or more years. The opium
shops which STUD the Chinese camp 80 thickly
are also dens OF lnlamy and immortality. In
these are found abandoned European women,
some of whom nave also got into the habit OF
smoking the drug; and there Is reason to lear
that in The course OF time Inc pracece VIII eS-
lend to our European popnlanon.
"