The times., 1898-09-05
QUEERLY MIXED.
The Malay ArchipeIaso's Curious
tumble of Races

va OsCtS
(Hong Kong letter in London Tei-graph
| To the anthropologist the Malay archi-
! pelago offers fine field. Besides the ma
tive races there are a considerable num-
Der of half-breeds. the Spanish govern
ment having deliberately favored misceg-
nation as matter of policy In the ar
my regulations special advantages are Of
fered to military men VINO marry Philip
pine-born women. The authorities appear
to have believed that the mixture of Eu-
ropean and native elements would raise
| the general character. II was possibly
this belief that induced church and state
to regard so leniently the common occur
renee OF celibate priests having large fam
lilies Whatever the motive the experi-
ment OF mixed marriages in the opinion
of most observers has not been success.
| The traces of European parentage do not
persist beyond the second generation. and
| increased mental energy and power are
soon lost. On the other hand, the progeny
of Chinese fathers and Philippine moth
ers form distinct element OF the popuIa-
ton decidedly superior to the indigenous
race In the oitie5 the Spanish ha f-breed
are numerous, and intellectually much
above the natives, but their social posi-
! ton is anomalous, and as class. they
are discontented. Speaking generally.
European energy of either muscle or
| brain cannot be kept up In these tropical
| latitudes.
The Western mind must come here as a
| d drectlng and controlling agency and
| there must be continual repIenishment
| from home. Ii does infinite credit to AL
fred RusSei Wallace that-Simultaneous
ly with Darw,n-he thought OUT the
theory of natural selection while going
through a succession of experiences IN
the Malay Archipelago. To most men in
~ 70
with the thermometer at 81 degrees and
the air laden with humidity, thinking
at all is too much of an effort. to say
nothing about the elaboration of a scien-
titic theory. The Spanish consul at
Shanghai was very severe on the Ameri-
cans for making war In Cuba and the
Philippines during the hot and rainy sea-
| son. All correspondents viii agree with
him. and will feel disposed TO memorial
ize the Washington Government when
| they are going TO commence war to have
more regard to yellow fever in the West
Indies and malaria in the East. Here
| our kinsmen have distinctly chosen a bad
! time. The archipelago has three sea-
| sons-cold from Noyensber TO March; hot
| from April to the end of June. and wet
from now until November. They must
| in future be more considerate for their
men and the correspondents.
Yesterday, for a change, we were visit
| ed with a typhoon. AT home it would
! have been called a stiff gale, but was
mild as typhoons go. Except American
| tornadoes, the typhoon of the China seas
produces probably more disastrous and
! surprising effects than any other form of
| atmospheric disturbance. The tornado,
| however, devastates on land and over an
extremely limited area; the typhoon is
worst at sea, and when ii reaches the
| mainland of Asia always moderates; but
| its sweep is much more circumscribed
! than the Atlantic cyclone. Fortunately
! the weather bureaus are able to give long
warnings of most of these visitations. Mr..
! Figg, of the Hong Kong observatory, no
| titled on Tuesday evening unat typhoon
was to the south, and within 300 miles of
us. The signal gun denoting that the
storm had actually reached us was not
| fired until $3.50 p. Thursday. Thirty
| thousand Chinese live on the waters here
abcuts, and they have a firm belief in the
| typhoon warnings. No sooner was the
! black cone hoisted than they got their
| sam-pans away TO places of shelter. We'd
nesday passed harmlessly, but they re-
| mained in safe quarters. Well for them,
for otherwise hundreds of them would
have been lost. So much for European
science. Confucius never heard of bar
ometric depressions and storm warnings
| two days in advance.