Untitled

HABITS AND CUSTOMS. 153
the nation poisoning them with its drugs is likely to improve them with its teach-
ings. But Protestant and Catholic missions alike suffer from contact with the
European element in the seaports. The Catholic priests
teach the faithful Latin
only to prevent them from being perverted by the " pernicious literature " of the
West, while the Protestants take care not to teach their converts English to pre-
vent them from going to seek a living as interpreters in the treaty ports.
HABITS AND CUSTOMS.
It is difficult to pronounce a general judgment on the Chinese moral standard,
and assign their true place amongst civilised peoples to the " Sons of Han." Most
Fig. 64. A CHINESE SAVAXT.
.
travellers have a tendency to treat them with ridicule, and some seem incapable
of speaking in a serious tone of the " Celestials," as they ignorantly call them.
With the missionaries the case is different ; but they, on the other hand, see in
everything the consequences of original sin, and usually describe the "Heathen
Chinese " as a degraded being, a prey to every vice. Others again, and these would
seem to be the most numerous, grow accustomed to the new surroundings and
become naturalised Chinese. Some of the missionaries, while preserving their
Western culture, become prejudiced in favour of the natives, and feel inclined to
43