LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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250 TO EUROPE AND AMERICA AGAIN. hotel for me and took me all over the city. So far as I can judge of the Chinese they seem to strive merely for money. For this they rise up early and sit up late; for this they would go without food and endure all manner of hardships. While here I think con­stantly of a nation for whose sake I am what I am. I called yesterday on the Bishop. He is somewhat dis­couraged and hopeless about the Chinese. But sooner or later China will move, though it may be slowly. I feel we ought to strike out from Christians' conversa­tion and writing the terms "hopeless " and "discour­aged." But hereby I do not intend to criticise the Bishop. I have full sympathy with him, and doubt­less if I were in his place I might have become dis­couraged long ago. I find great comfort in that our God is not simply the only God, but our Father also. It is a great trial to me to leave Japan, but . . . I cannot write on this subject. I am glad to say that I can sleep much better and have experienced no sharp headaches; but I find it a hard thing to write much. CEYLON, April27, 1884. We reached Singapore after a hot voyage of five days. I did not go ashore because it was the Lord's day, and passed a very uncomfortable night, as the steamer was taking on coal. Those who went ashore were equally miserable on account of the heat. Mon­day I visited the city, which is inhabited by mixed races, most of the shopkeepers being Chinese. About the wharf are small houses in which poor natives and Chinese live. They are one story high and supported on posts. The vegetation is splendid. We found a carriage and drove to the city. The driver was a great cheat. Groves of cocoanut-trees growing to

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