East, West And South.

thought of him . no more ; and attended the Governor ' s ball . which was resplendent with every variety of uniform and most elegant toilettes . The ladies get the latter direct from Paris by every mail , and a fashion may sometimes be

found at Manila almost before it is seen in England . Onr Duke danced and seemed to enjoy himself ; his sniff included both naval and military men , and the British scarlet shone conspicuous .

At six on Tuesday morning , as I was taking chocolate in deshabille after the " bath , an unusually early visitor appeared—the Captain of the Port . He apologised for intrusion , saying tho case was urgent . The violent conduct of the master of the " Idalia " had induced him to place a

further guard on board that vessel , which had come into the river . Captain Mahon had shut himself in his cuddy overnight , with a full supply of liquor , had passed the hours in making himself furiously drunk , and had then , using most outrageous threats , loaded tho ships' firearms ,

which he had ranged ready to his hand . His threats and imprecations were continuous , and the Spanish officers were in instant fear of a violent sortie . The man was mad with drink , and must be disarmed at all hazards ; a movement to that end by the guard might provoke bloodshed ,

and it was therefore thought best to claim my intervention to effect it by peaceable means . This was not a cheerful commencement of my day ' s work ; but the urgency of the case gave me no option , so donning the " brass-bound " cap of authority , I repaired on board .

There I found the guards stationed round the forecastle , an officer in the waist , and a sentry on either side of the cuddy , bayonets fixed . The growling and yelling from within proclaimed that exasperation was still at its height . After a whispered conference with the officer , I tried the

cuddy door ; an ominous clatter of steel with a torrent of oaths responded : thereupon I rapidly gave the mystic knocks , and cried " Good-day , Captain Mahon , this will always open the door to a true Mason . " The open sesame

was found , the right key struck : to my great joy , he opened the door , from whence a delightful whiff of stale whiskey swept across me . Haggard , his eyes bloodshot , with trembling grasp he shook hands , placed a chair , and burst into incoherent abuse of the Port and the authorities .

Bottles , tumbler , and revolver were on the table ; upon the floor and against the furniture were a dozen muskets , and some cutlasses . As though to make room to shift my chair , I huddled some of them together near the doorway , and chimed in with indications of sympathy for his grievances and hopes

of their redress . I soothed him , and tried to change the current of his ideas . I helped myself to some whiskey ( which I valiantly swallowed ) , and having thus started an amicable fellow-feeling , rallied him upon his small arsenal , and showed that I thought he had behaved like an uncivilised being .

On his seeming disconcerted , I said he had acted like a lunatic ; then feeling I was on the right track , I piled the remaining muskets with the others . As I resumed my chair and took possession of the revolver , the officer from the doorway handed out the muskets , the caps of which were immediately knocked off by the sentries .

The foregoing is an instance of the evils which result from that over-fussiness and display of authority which is met with in Spanish and other parts . By a display of force and parade of restrictions , excitable men like Mahon , who

are accustomed to the greater freedom and less offensive authority of British ports , are apt to be annoyed and exasperated , until , if at all giving to seek solace from the bottle , serious embroglios ensue .

All that transpired afterwards I don't remember . I believe the skipper became more subdued , got maudlin and wanted to embrace me ; but the strain of the situation over , the half hour of excitement past , his subsequent conduct did not claim the same attention , nor retain hold on the

memory . I know that within a few days he was discharged by his owner , against whom he then brought an action for breach of contract , which had to be given in his favour , and I met him two years afterwards at Hong Kong , still harping upon the condescension and the compliments which he had merited from Captain Roderick Dew .

I cannot hold up Mahon as a typical Freemason , though I believe he differed little from others of his class whose manners have been affected by years of a particularly hard life and trying career in troubled times and dangerous

waters , but I give the story as an instance of Masonry being successful in serving a purpose , which probably nothing else would have done with similar efficiency . Part of Tuesday was devoted , by our Duke , to witness-

East, West And South.

ing a diversion , cockfighting , which has become quite a passion with the natives . Most dwellings of the humbler classes have one or more cocks tied by the leg upon tho threshold whose perpetual crowing is one of the nuisances of the place . Indians , with a bird under each arm , are

continually met iu the streets . Sometimes two will halt , squat clown in the roadway , inflame the combntivoness of their proleyt ' s , and hold them opposite each other by tho tails , beaks an inch apart ; after a few minutes of this exercise , they will gravely catch up the animals ancl trot on

again . On fighting occasions , they arm them with terrible razor spurs , one stroke of which will generally decide the battle . So clear is a good game-cock to its Indian owner , that

a current jest with Europeans runs to the effect , that in a conflagration , the Indian will hurry with his bird to a place of safety , altogether oblivious of his wife and family ; this expresses a fact in many instances .

It is remarkable that a high standard of honour more generally governs participants in games of chance than in tho transactions of ordinary and commercial life . The lowest Indian or Chinaman , who will cheat unscrupulously in business , ancl rob mercilessly when in service , will

behave at a cockfight with strict integrity as regards his bets . Europeans often give great offence , when at these spectacles , by contemptuously refusing to take wagers offered by a wretched-looking native , clad only in a dirty shirt and drawers , on the supposition that means of

payment are lacking , and that it is simply an attempt to swindle a stranger . Hundreds of pounds change hands sometimes among these people upon a single main , frequently among the dirtiest and the poorest looking . The fights are only held in specially licensed places , ancl are a

large source of revenue to the State , which , moreover , encourages gambling in its most insidious form by holding a lottery every month . A servant is thus led to feel that he may become suddenly rich by these investments , ancl housecooks frequently spend the cash destined for the family

dinner upon them . Money is given to them overnight for the early morrow ' s marketing , and it is quite a toss-up , when the cook is bitten with the gambling propensity , whether the family of his employer get their regular meals or not . Sometimes , however , one is agreeably surprised

at finding a more choice ancl plentiful spread than usual , explanation being found in the circumstance that the cook ' s recent speculations have proved unusually successful , and that , as a man of honour , he feels bound to give his employers a share in the benefit .

Odds And Ends.

ODDS AND ENDS .

By Walter Spencer , F . R . O . 8 ., fyc . THAT the vicissitudes of life surpass the imagination of romance can , I think , only be fully realised by those who have seen for themselves . I have known a ship ' s steward become a general in China , a sailor-boy a

millionaire in Peru , one English baronet destitute among savages , another tending sheep , a Peer of England driving a bullock-dray , an Honourable working before tho mast , and a Scotch Lord earning a precarious livelihood as billiard-marker .

The last-named was deprived ( for intemperance ) of his situation at the Royal Hotel , Christchurch , Canterbury , N . Z ., and was fain to transfer his title and services to the reeking rooms of a sailors' inn at Port Lyttelton , where he

died of d . t . I could tell also a lamentable tale concerning one of the very bluest of blood , but reserve it for a special narrative on some future occasion . The Provincial Government ; of Canterburv , N . Z ., in

1859 used to pay 5 s per diem to all applicants for employment , at roadmaking ; these were the lowest current wages , and the last resource of the destitute . One road gang cornprised the son of an admiral , of an archdeacon , a former

cavalry officer , a solicitor , and a Church of England clergyman . On the diggings greater anomalies were common . One baronet , whose beautiful ancestral seat is a household

word in England , married a newly-arrived Government emigrant , so did the peer before mentioned , but he was not happy , for the lady eloped with the son of a well-known linen-draper of St . Paul ' s-churchyard .

Amongst farmers and graziers on the Wairau were- a son of Mr . Hudson , the Railway King , and Donald McDonnell of Glengarry , the last of his race : near Karapoi settled a