Luckily the Governor thought it advisable to explain to them what the obnoxious ordinances really meant before proceeding to exterminate them, and a few hours of explanation had the effect of inducing them to re-open their shops, and go on quietly with their usual avocations. Just the same thing happened at Penang. There too, because the Chinamen showed some disinclination to obey regulations of police which interfered with their amusements and habits, a plot against the Europeans was immediately suspected, and great indignation expressed because it was not put down with _vigour_! [Sidenote: The Sultan of Johore.] [Sidenote: _Frères Chrétiens_.] [Sidenote: _Soeurs_.] _June 13th_.--I have just been interrupted to go and see the Sultan of Johore. These princes in this country, and indeed all over the East, are spoilt from their childhood, all their passions indulged and fostered by their parents, who say, 'What is the use of being a prince, if he may not have more _ghee_, etc. etc. than his neighbours?' I do not see what can be done for them. At the school I visited this morning are two sultan's sons (of Queddah), but they were at home for some holidays, when they will probably be ruined. During my morning's walk I heard something like the sound of a school in a house adjoining, and I proposed to enter and inspect. I found an establishment of _Frères chrétiens_, and one of them (an Irishman) claimed acquaintance, as having been with Bishop Phelan when he visited me in Canada. We struck up a friendship accordingly, and I told him that if there were any _Soeurs_ I should like to see them. He introduced me to the Vicar Apostolic, a Frenchman, and we went to the establishment of the _Soeurs_. I found the _Supérieure_ a very superior person, evidently with her heart in the work, and ready for any fate to which it might expose her, but quiet and cheerful. I told her that a devout lady in Paris had expressed a fear that my mission to China would put an end to martyrdom in that country. She smiled, and said that she thought there would always be on this earth martyrdom in abundance. The Sisters educate a number of orphan girls as well as others. All the missionary zeal in these quarters seems to be among the French priests. Some one once said that it was not wonderful that young men took away so much learning from Oxford as they left so little behind them. The same may, I think, be said of the French religion. It seems all intended for exportation. [Sidenote: View from Singapore.]