and arrival,—is it not equally necessary that the party,
who undertakes this responsibility, should spare no
exertion, whether by day or by night, in fair or in
foul weather, to fulfil his obligations to the utmost?
Under such circumstances, no delays will occur, and
there will be a good prospect of meeting the wishes
and promoting the views of the mercantile community.

By this test of punctuality, the undersigned are
content to have their diligence and fidelity tried, and
known to all whom it concerns.

We, a company of twenty men, pledged to stand
security for each other, have set on foot a postal
establishment in the city of Súchau, and have agreed,
(each in his turn) to start from this, upon the third,
sixth, ninth, thirteenth, sixteenth, nineteenth, twenty-
third, twenty-sixth, and twenty-ninth of every month,
and visit all the places on our lines.

Should we be honoured with the patronage of the
mercantile community and entrusted with letters,
money enclosures, and other valuables, we earnestly
beg they will deliver said articles as early as possible
at this office for the sake of having them duly entered
upon the books, to render future reference both easy
and convenient. With the same object, every postman
is provided with the office-seal in order to give security
for all letters that may be received on the way.

Should any losses of these monies, occur through
negligence, this house undertakes to make due
compensation. But, in case any thing is lost or
miscarried that has not been in due form lodged at this
office and entered upon its journals, it must be
distinctly understood that this company will not
consider itself in any way responsible for such.

We also beg to give notice of the following
particulars:

First,—Should any merchant or merchants engage
an express for special despatches, and stipulate as to the
time of delivery and the charge for postage, let it be
understood that, in case of unavoidable delay, either
from the severe inclemency of the weather, or from
the failure of the postboy's health, there is to be no
reduction of the postage fees.

Second,—The mercantile community must forgive
us for suggesting, that we hope they will not enclose
too many letters belonging to other parties within the
envelopes presented by themselves; as the bulk of the
letter bag may thereby be increased beyond the
strength of the postman, and thus occasion delay and
irregularity in the delivery of letters, as well as in the
return of the post.

Third,—Should any of the postmen be found guilty
of diliatoriness or any violation of our engagements,
we will pay a fine of five shillings upon every such
instance, which penalty shall be appropriated to defray
the religious services of our establishment.

Fourth,—Should any empty letter be lost, we
engage to pay a fine of five shillings, to be laid up for
public use.

There are short postal districts, served by
men on foot; and the letters carried in
this way are called "foot-letters." These
posts are sometimes included within the
limits of one town with its environs;
sometimes they connect neighbouring places.
The letter bearers perform their journey at a
gentle trot; being lightly clad and burdened
only with a small umbrella, and a wallet
thrown across the shoulders.

Despatches sent often to great distances by
boat, when the line of water communication
is complete, are called "boat-letters." And
there occurs again another form of post
communication in the rural districts, as the
green tea country, where constant correspondence
has to be kept up with important
markets and ports. There they have the
"letter-merchant," who, as to his duties and
liabilities, corresponds to the country carrier
of former days in England.

There is also a notion afloat in China about
letters transmitted by fishes. A Chinaman
often calls a letter by a synonymous word
which means "a pair of carp fishes," and
upon its envelope he sometimes draws a
picture of two fishes. The origin of this
notion is traced to the following passage in
one of their classic works—"A stranger from
a distance presented me with a pair of carp
fishes: I ordered my boy to cook them;
when, lo and behold! he found a letter for
me in the stomach of each."

PASSING FACES.

WE have no need to go abroad to study
ethnology. A walk through the streets of London
will show us specimens of every human variety
known. Not pur sang, of course, but
transmitted (diluted too) through the Anglo-Saxon
medium,—special characteristics necessarily
not left very sharply defined. It takes a
tolerably quick eye, and the educated perceptions
of an artist, to trace the original lines
through the successive shadings made by
many generations of a different race. But
still those lines are to be seen by all who
know how to look for them, or who understand
them when they are before them.
The broad distinctions of Saxon, Celt, and
Norman, are easily recognised. And, of
course, we know negroes when we see them,
and can give a tolerably shrewd guess at a
Lascar or a Chinaman. But, few people dream
of tracing out the Jewish ancestor in that
Christianised descendant of three or four
generations, though the Hebrew sign is
distinctly marked in the very midst of blue
eyes, fair skin, and flaxen hair. People
seldom judge of races excepting by colour.
The form and the features go for nothing.
Who assigns the turned lip, the yellow-white
eye, the flat forehead, the spreading nostril,
the square chest, the tow-like hair, the long
heel, back to their respective races? Who
spys the Red Indian, or the Malay, or the
Nubian, or the Fin, hidden, like the yellow
dwarf, in the lower branches of a respectable
English gentleman's genealogical tree? Who
detects the Tartar in his West-End friend,—
unless it be that metaphorical Tartar which
a man sometimes catches in his wife? And
who can swear to the Slavonian, with an
English name, who speaks perfect Saxon,
and wears a Nicoll's paletot? Yet we
are always encountering diluted specimens
of these and other races, who perhaps don't
know as much of their own ancestry as we
can read to them from nature's evidence,