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 CORNELL
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 The Boy Teavellees in the Fae East
PABT SECOND

ADVENTURE^ OF TWO YOUTHS IN A JOURNEY

TO

SIAM AND JAVA

WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF COCHIN- CHINA, CAMBODIA, SUMATRA
AND THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO

BY

THOMAS ^W. KISrOX

AUTHOR OF "CAMP FIRE AND COTTON FIKLD" "OVERLAND THROUGH ASIA"
•

"UNDERGROUND" "JOHN" ETC.

Illu0trat£b

NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880,
by

HAKPER & BROTHERS,

Washington.
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at

10'
{•

RLG R.W
 PREFACE.

'T^HE favorable reception accorded to " The Boy Travellers in Japan

and China" has led to the preparation of the present book.

Frank and Fred have continued their journey under the guidance of
Doctor Bronson, and the plan of their travels and observation is identical

with the one they followed through the Celestial Empire and the Land
of the Mikado. The incidents in the narrative were mainly the experi-

ences of the author at a recent date; and the descriptions of countries,

cities, temples, people, manners, and customs are nearly all from his per-

sonal observations and notes. He has endeavored to give a faithful ac-

count of Siam, Java, and the adjacent countries as they appear to-day,
and trusts that the only fiction of the book is in the names of the indi-

viduals who tell the stoiy.

In a few instances the narrative has been slightly interrupted, in
order to introduce matters of general interest to young readers. The
details of the progress of naval architecture and the accounts of sub-
marine operations, together with the wonderful adventures of Marco
Polo, may be classed as digressions. It is hoped they will meet the same
welcome that was accorded to the episode of a whaling voyage in the
first record of the travels of Frank and Fred.
The publishers have kindly allowed the use of some illustrations that

have already appeared in their publications relative to the Far East, in

addition to those specially prepared for this volume. The author has
consulted the works of previous travellers in the East to supplement his

own information, and to some of them he is under obligations. Espe-

ciallj' is he indebted to Mr. Frank Vincent, Jr., author of that excellent
4 PEEFACE.

and well-known book, " The Land of the White Elephant," not only for
details respecting Cambodia and adjacent regions, but for some of the ad-

mirable engravings that adorn his volume. Other authorities are cred-
ited with the text of their work or in foot-notes to the pages where quo-
tations are made.
The author is not aware that any book describing Siam, Java, Cochin
China, Cambodia, and the Malay Ai'chipelago, and especially addressed
to the young, has yet appeared. Consequently he hopes that this volume
will meet with as warm a welcome as was given to " The Boy Travellers
in Japan and China," by adult as well as juvenile members of many fam-
ilies throughout the United States.
T. W. K.
 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PA8E
Departurb from Hong-kono 13

CHAPTER n.
VoYAGB TO Saigon. — Aurival in Cochin China 23

CHAPTER III.

Historical and Dkscriptive. —First Sights and Scenes in Anam 34

CHAPTER IV.
A Wondkrful TicMPLE. Ruins of Nagkon Wat and Angkor 47

CHAPTER V.
Cambodia. —Its Capital and King 01

CHAPTER VI.
Departure from Saigon. —Visiting a Chinese Junk 73

CHAPTER VII.
The Wonderful Stort of Marco Polo 86

CHAPTER VIII.
Arrival in Siam. —First Day in Bangkok lOG

CHAPTER IX.
Temples at Bangkok. —The Founder op Buddhism 119

CHAPTER X.
Ascending the Menam, from Bangkok to Ayuthia 131

CHAPTER XI.
Visiting the Prince of the Elephants. —Ayuthia. — Something about Crocodiles. 143

CHAPTER XII.
Stories of Elephant-hunting.— Scenes op the Chase 161

CHAPTER XIII.
Bang-pa-in to Bangkok. — Studies in Natural History and Botany 177

CHAPTER XIV.
The King in his State Barge. —Betel- and Tobacco 190
6 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV. PAO"

Women, Hair-cutting, and Slavery 202

CHAPTER XVI.
Cremation in Siam. —Trade, Taxes, and Birds 21,5

CHAPTER XVII.
Peesentation to the King. —Dinner at the Palace 228

CHAPTER XVIII.
The White Elephant. — Visit to the Second King of Siam 237

CHAPTER XIX.
Leaving Siam. —Life under the Ocean Wave 249

CHAPTER XX.
Light under Water. — Pearl-fishing and Turtle-hunting 262

CHAPTER XXI.
Incidents of a Sea-voyage. — Singapore 280

CHAPTER XXir.
Sights and Scenes in Singapore 29+

CHAPTER XXIIL
Crossing the Equator. —Adventuke with Malay Pirates 311

CHAPTER XXIV.
Sumatra and its Peculiarities.— Snakes and Orang-outangs 326

CHAPTER XXV.
Arrival in Java. —Sights and Scenes in Batavia 1 343

CHAPTER XXVL
Batavia to Buitenzorg. —Tropical Scenes. —Birds of Paradise 358

CHAPTER XXVir.
A Chapter on Political Economy. —The Dutch Culture System in Java 374

CHAPTER XXVIII.
Rice Culture in Java. —Military and Social Matters 387

CHAPTER XXIX.
A Post Ride in Java. —From Buitenzorg to Bandong 400

CHAPTER XXX.
Visiting a Tea Plantation. —Preparation of Tea 411

CHAPTER XXXI.
Eastern Java, Lombock, Timor, and the Aru Islands 422

CHAPTER XXXir.
Wanderings in the Malay Archipelago. — Good-byk 435
 ILLUSTRATIONS.

.To face page 13

Hongkong, from Kellet's Island 13 Fishing-village on Lake Thaly sap 62

Alary and Effie reading Frank's Letter 15 Panompin, the Capital of Cambodia 64
Arrival of the French Mail Steamer 18 Specimen of Cambodian Gold-work 66
Private Parlor of the "Yuen Fat Hong ". ... 20 The King of Cambodia 67
A Chinese Boatwoman 21 Queen of Cambodia and Royal Children. ... 69
Frank's Dream 22 The Harbor of Oodong, Cambodia 70
Hurricane during the Change of the Monsoon 23 A Girl of Oodong 71
A favoring Monsoon 24 House in the Suburbs 72
Running befoi'e the Trade-wind 25 A Chinese Junk 74
Rice-fields on the Mekong 28 Outline of Modern Ship, showing Compart-
A Native Woman 30 ments 76
Street in the Chinese Quarter 31 A Junk Sailor at Breakfast 77
Plants in the Botanical Garden 32 Chinese River Boat 78
A New Acquaintance 33 Ship of the Fourteenth Century 79
A Mosquito of Saigon 33 "The Great Harry " 80
Native Gentleman at Saigon 35 The " Tennessee" 81
View of the French Quarter of Saigon 37 The Public Highway of the Future 82
Native Soldiers at Saigon 39 The Bomb Ferry 83
The King of the Beggars 41 Moonlight at Sea in the Tropics 84
View of Cholon 43 A Story of the Sea 85
A Chinese Family at Cholon 44 Marco Polo 87
A Cab for Two 45 The Great Khan delivering a Tablet to the
Cambodian Female Head - dress. Ancient Elder Polo Brothers. From a Miniature
Sculpture 47 of the Fourteenth Century 88
Plan of the Temple at Nagkon 49 Arms of the Polo Family 88
Unfinished Pillars 50 Nicolo Polo, Father of Marco 89
Columns in the Temple 51 Portrait of Kublai-Khan. From a Chinese
Sculptures on the Walls of Nagkon Wat 52 Engraving 91
View from the Central Tower of the Temple. 54 Marco Polo's Galley in Battle 93
Gallery of Sculptures 56 Alau shuts up the Caliph of Baudas in his

Ancient Tower overgrown with Poh-trees. ... 58 Treasure-tower 96

Huts of the Priests 59 Dog-headed Men of Angamanain 97
Stone with Ancient Sculptures 60 Mediaeval Tartar Huts and Wagons 99
A Cambodian Idol 61 The Roc, from aPersian Drawing 100
8 ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE PAGR
Roc's Egg, now in the British Museum 100 Securing the Captives 165
Chinese Banit-note of the Ming Dynasty... lOl Siribeddi's Prize 166
Chinese Conjuring Extraordinary 103 The Prisoners tied up 168
Captain Clanchy at Work 104 A Head Work
little 169
Come to Dinner 1 105 In a Heap of Trouble 170
A Natural Shower-bath lOG Refusing to Move on 171
riying-fish 107 Sliding down hill 173
View neiir Paknam 108 Elephant-hunting on Fjut 174
Native Hut on the Menam River 110 The Hunter Hunted 175
A Village Pathway in Siam Ill Taking a Nap 176
Chinese Field-laborers 112 Cocoa-nuts Full Grown and jiist Forming. , 178
General View of Bangkok U The Bread-fruit
1 179
House in the Foreign Part of Bangkcjk II.t Pineapple 180
A Siamese Priest 118 Star-apple 180
Bird's-eye ViewBangkok
of 120 A New Kind of Fruit 181
Temple of Wat Chang 121 Tailor-bird and Nest 182
Temple of the Sleeping Idol 123 A Climbing-fish 183
Brass Idol in a Temple 124 The Snake and the Sqairri-i 185
Priests Playing Chess 126 Monkeys at Home 187
Gate-way of a Temple at Bangkok 128 Monkeys 188
Temple of the Emerald Idol 129 Eagle capturing a Monkey 189
Private Garden near Bangkok 133 King of Siam
State Barge of the 191
A Siamese Forest Scene 135 A
Body of the Royal Guards 192
Parasite andPalm 138 The King visiting a Temple 194
The Bamboo-tree 139 The Front of the Temple 195
The Boat they narrowly Missed 140 The Tobacco-plant 197
Scene at Bang-pa-in 141 Sir Walter Raleigh and his Pipe 197
A River Scene 142 Pipes of all Nations 199
The Young Prince 144 Young America 200
Portrait of "Chang" 145 The East 201
Macedonian Coin, with Ancient Goad 146 The West 201
Modern Goad 146 Siamese Gentleman and Lady 203
A War Elephant 147 A Young Prince of the Royal House, with
Near the Palace 149 his Attendant 205
In the Ruined City 1.50 Female Head-dress and Costume 200
Crocodiles at Home 152 Minister of Foreign Affairs 207
Taking a Bite 153 Lakon Girls 209
The Doctor's Crack Shot 154 A Native Band of Mnsic 210
The Trochilus 155 A Siamese TheatricaliPerfonname 211
Alligator and Crane 165 Scene on a Small Caiii^|siiear Bangkok 216
Trochilus and Crocodile 156 Burial-mounds 217
The Alligator and the Bear 158 Urn containing Ashes 217
Just Hatched 159 Jessamine Flowers 218
Coming out Sun himself
to 160 A Buddhist Priest 219
An Elephant Fence 161 Characters in the Procession 220
Form of a Corral 161 Haunts of Sea-birds on the Coast 223
Beginning the Drive 162 Edible Swallows' Nests 224
Driving into the Corral 163 Siamese Water Birds 225
 ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE VKGF.

Pheasant and Young 227 Haunts of the Sea-birds 285

Court-yard of the Royal Palace at Bangkok 229 In the Harbor 280
Chulalonkorn I., Supreme King of Siam. ... 231 Boatmen at Singapore 287
Prime-minister of Siam 233 A Chinese Contractor 289
The King of Siam in his State Robes 234 Chinese Tailors at Singapore 290
A Younger Brother of the King 235 A Group of Jacoons 291
The Hour-glass 236 Garri with a Load of Sailors 292
A White Elephant worshipping the Sun and Full Dress at the Straits 293
Moon. From a Chinese Drawing 237 Chinese Garden at Singapore 296
White Monkey in Elephant Stables 240 Maternal Care 297
How an Elephant Feeds 241 Rural Scene in Singapore 298
Elephants' Trunks 242 Fruit-sellers at Singapore 299
Elephants Drinking 243 A Bungalow 300
Fred's Tormentor 244 Chinese Gentleman's Garden 301
The Second King of Siam, in State Robes. 247 The God of Gamblers
. 302
The Doctor getting Ready 249 Malay Boy in the Bird-market 303
Coast of Siam, near the Mouth of the River. 251 Head of Black Cockatoo 304
Water-fowl of Siam 252 Ejecting an Intruder 30G
A Wreck among the Breakers 253 A New Type of Mankind 308
'
Pearl Fisher attacked by a Shark 253 Klings and Chinese 312
Nests of the Water-spider 254 Native Nurses and Children 313
Divers Armor
in their 255 Coaling at the Dock 314
Divers at Work 256 Carrying Coal on Board 315
Diving over the Side of a Steamer 257 Servants on Duty 316
Coral-fishing in the Mediterranean 259 Scene on the Sumatra Coast 317
The Coral-worm 260 Crossing the Line on a Man-of-war 319
Cup-coral and Brain-coral 2C0 Chief's House in a Pirate Village 322
An Atoll in the Pacific Occiin 261 Harbor of Pirates 323
Submarine Observations 263 The Pirates' Victim 324
The Bellows-fish, or Angler 264 Sinews of War 325
A Curious Home 265 A Trading-station on the Coast 327
Crabs in a Quarrel 266 A Bayou on the Palembang River 328
Sea-anemones 267 Arab Houses at Palembang 329
The Sponge at Home 268 Lounging under a Mango-tree 330
How Sponges are Speared 269 Alligators taking Sun and Air 33L
Cleopatra dissolving the Pearl 270 View in a Sumatran Village 332
Pearl-bearing Shells 271 Chased by aTiger .333

Sizes of Pearls 272 Treed by a Bear 334

Pearl-fishery at Bahrein 273 Shooting a Boa-constrictor 335
Persian Gulf Diver 274 A Snaky Creek 33G
M. Jaquin's Experiment 275 Monkey Examining a Tortoise 337
The Bleak 276 Female Orang-outang. From a Photo-
The Doctor's Discovery 276 graph 338
The Turtle at Home 278 Natives of Borneo Fighting with an Orang-
Turtle-hunting 279 outang 339
On a Frail Raft 282 A Flying-frog 341
The Rescue 283 A Surnatran Butterfly 342
Gulf-weed 284 Arrival in Port 344
10 ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAOK PAGB
The Carriage at the Custom-house 345 Passport Office 396
The National Taste 346 Ordered Out of the Country 398
Their Servant 347 No Admittance 399
The Mango 348 Starting on the Journey 401
A Trifle too Peppery 349 By the Roadside 402
After Breakfast 349 Lodgings of the Stable-men 403
An Early Call 350 Just Imported 404
Native House on the liiver that Feeds the The Waiter at Sindinglaya 406
Canal 352 Sleeping-room in the Saniiariuni 407
Family Party in Batavia 354 A Mountain Cascade 409
Fan-palm in the Botanical Garden 355 Javanese Boys 410
Chinese Porters 356 Train of Coffee-carts 412
Goddess of Sailors and her Assistants 357 Seed-pods of the Tea-plant 413
Some of the Third-class Passengers 359 Gathering Tea-leaves 415
View in a Private Garden 360 Drying Tea in the Sun 416
Native Village near the Railway 361 Drying over Charcoal 416
Tropical Growths along the Line 362 Roasting Tea 417
"Mangosteens!" 363 Handy with his Feet 418
Veranda of the Hotel Bellevue 365 Roasting Green Tea 419
View from the Veranda atBuitenzorg 366 Tea Regions of the United States 420
A Bad Road 367 Roasting-basket 421
The Vanda Lowii 368 Volcano in Eastern Java 423
A Tree Growing in Mid-air 369 Ruins near Sourabaya 424
Group of Birds in the Malay Archipelago. . 371 An Island Port 425
Magnificent Bird of Paradise 372 Wild Fig-tree 425
Superb Bird of Paradise 372 A Lombock
Village in 426
Six-shafted Bird of Paradise 373 View near Mataram 427
Long-tailed Bird of Paradise 373 Where the Great Spirit and the Rajah met. 428
The Yankee Elephant 375 Gun-boring in Lombock 430
The Chinese Elephant 375 Natives of Timor 431
The Operatic Elephant 375 Delli, Portuguese Timor 432
The Elephant in Love 376 Natives of Aru Shooting the Great Bird of
Ancient Bas-relief —Java 376 Paradise 433
A Monster Volcano 377 A Native Anchor 434
Peasant Farm-houses 379 Great Street of Dobbo in the Trading-sea-
Home of a Prosperous Contractor 380 son 436
Coffee-plantation in the Mountains 381 Wearing the Cangue 437
"Old Government Java" 382 I
A Native of Aru 438
A Javanese Chief 383 Sea-cucumber
:
439
An Improved Sugar Estate 384 A Papuan Pipe
I
439
Retainers of a Javanese Regent 385 A Bird of Amboyna 440
"Good-night" 386 Sago Cluh 440
The House at the Spring 388 Preparing Sago 441
Pounding Coffee 389 Sago Oven 442
Dutch Overseers 390 Sugar-palm of Macassar 442
Foot-bridge over a Mountain Stream 392 Climbing the Mountain 443
Rewards for Good Conduct 394 Coming Down the Mountain 445
Pirate Prisoners on a Colonial Gun-boat.... 395 "Good-bye!" 446
V)
 THE BOY TRAVELLERS
IN

THE FAR EAST.

CflAPTEE I.

DEPARTURE FROM HONG-KONG.

" 'T^HEEE she comes !" shouted Frank Bassett, as he pointed away to
-- the eastward.
Doctor Bronson and his nephew Fred were standing close beside
Frank, and their eyes eagerly followed the direction of his hand.
!"
" Yes, there she is !" Fred responded " what a splendid sight
;

HONG-KONG, FROM KELLET S ISLAND.

They were on the lookout platform on Victoria Peak, 1800 feet above
the harbor of Hong-kong. The city, the island, the surrounding waters,
and the neighboring coast of China all lay before them like a map. They
had been studying the scene, and the Doctor had explained to the boys
its remarkable resemblance to the view from the
summit of the Eock of
Gibraltar.
14: THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Their geographical observations were interrupted by the announce-

ment of the sergeant in charge of the signal-station that the Pacific Mail
steamer City of Peking was just outside the harbor, and would shortly
enter through the Ly-ee-moon Pass. Hong-kong harbor has two en-
trances ; the one to the eastward is known as the Ly-ee-moon, while that
to the west is called the Lama Passage. Both are easy of navigation, and
admit ships of the largest class to one of the finest harbors in the world.
The great steamer ploughed steadily forward
and as she passed Rel- ;

iefs Island, which is a fortified rock near the Ly-ee-moon, she turned
gracefully, and headed straight for her anchorage. Our friends watched
her till she came to her resting-place, aiid her engines had ceased work-
ing ; tlien they said good-bye to the signal-station, and proceeded to the
sedan-chairs which were waiting for them. The chair-coolies had also
seen the steamer, and, as they were anxious to reach the city before the
passengers could come ashore, they made the best possible time on their
way down the mountain. They ran rather than walked, and two or
three times the boys narrowly escaped a fall in the sudden bends of the
zigzag road.
The adventures of Doctor Bronson, Frank Bassett, and Fred Bronson,
and their reasons for being in Hong-kong, have been narrated in a pre-
vious volume.*
They expected the City of Peking
to bring letters that would deter-
mine movements. Is it any wonder they were in a hurry
their future
to have her mails landed, and the precious letters delivered ?
Their letters were addressed in care of the banking-house on which
tlieir credits were drawn, and very naturally the boys were eager to go

at once to that establishment. The Doctor suggested that it would be

quite time enough to go there after lunch and, as the appetites of the ;

trio had been sharpened by the excursion up the mountain, the proposal

met no opposition whatever.

The meal was served in the dining-room of the hotel, and as soon as
it was ended the party walked leisurely to the banking-house. In a lit-
tle while their letters were handed to them, and greatly rejoiced were

the boys at the arrival of these precious missives from home. The
return to the hotel was a rapid one on the part of the youths, who left
the good Doctor far behind, in their eagerness to be once more in their
rooms, where they could be safe from interruption while they read the
messages from their friends.
* "The Boy Tiavellers in the Far East. Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Japan
and China." By Thomas W. Knox. Published by Harper & Brothers, Ne\V York, 1880.
 NEWS FROM HOME. 15

The letters were full of good news.

The parents of both the boys expressed their delight at the good
use which Frank and Fred had made of their time, and the interesting
accounts they had given of their experiences in Japan and China, and
their voyage over the Pacific Ocean. Mary and Miss Effie had received

«^>

MARY AND EFFIE HEADING FKANK S LETTKIl.

the presents which Frank bought for them in Japan, and Mary con-
fessed in her letter that since the arrival of the precious box they had
thought and talked of nothing else. They had dressed themselves in
Japanese garments, and Miss Effie was snre tliat, if their eyes were prop-
erly sloped at the corners, they could readily pass for residents of Tokio
or Kioto.
16 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

The Doctor reached the hotel while they were in the midst of their
reading. His package of letters was quite as large as that of either of
the boys, and among them there was a very portly letter, wliich had
required a liberal amount of stamps to pay for its transportation. This
he opened first, and, after perusing it carefully, he smiled, and laid it
aside. Evidently the contents were pleasing.
Frank and Fred were through with their letters about the same time,
and as soon as they were at liberty they began comparing notes. Both
were a good deal disappointed, as they had received no indication of
tlieir future course. Would they go directly back across the Pacific
Ocean, or would they proceed on a journey around the world ? Per-
haps the Doctor could tell them; but just then he was occupied, and
they did not wish to disturb him.
There was a rap at the door, followed by the entrance of a servant
bringing a letter, which had been overlooked at the banker's. It was
for Mr. Frank Bassett and that young gentleman was not long in break-
;

ing the seal and possessing himself of its contents.

His air of melancholy changed to one of delight. He threw his
arms around Fred, and made a start in the direction of the Doctor, as if

intending to favor him with an embrace, but speedily checked himself,

and confined his demonstrations to a quiet leap over a chair that stood
in the middle of the room then he held out the letter for Fred to read.
;

Fred's delight at the intelligence conveyed in the document was quite

equal to Frank's. The question was settled they were to continue on
;

their journey around the world. The necessary letters of credit would
be sent in care of Doctor Bronsou, and should be in the mail brought by
the City of Peking.
Frank saw the large letter on the table in front of the Doctor, and at
once divined that it was the important missive containing papers similar
to the one with which he was provided before he left home. There was
yet a goodly amount remaining on his letter of credit, but not enough
to carry him to America by way of Europe. Fred was in a similar pre-
dicament, and therefore a permission to go forward would be of no great
use if unaccompanied by the necessary cash or its equivalent.
Doctor Bronson relieved their doubt by handing them the letters of
credit which had come in the bulky parcel in question. They were con-
sidered too valuable to be intrusted to the ordinary mail, and therefore
tliey liad been " registered." And from their experience with the Post-
office in China and other Eastern countries, our three friends were unan-
imously of the opinion that all valuable letters going there should be
 MAIL ROUTES IN EASTERN ASIA. 17

sent by registered post. The Japanese

postal service was the most per-
fect one they found and the Doctor declared that some
in their travels,
of our officials at home might learn what would be to their advantage
if they would visit the post-office at Yokohama and see how admirably

it was conducted.
" Well, boys," said Dr. Bronson, " it's all settled."
The boys had a moment of standing on tiptoe in their exubei'ant
delight, and then Frank asked,
"Where are we to go, Doctor, and when are we to start ?"
"That is what we must determine now," was the reply. "We have
several routes open to us, and each has its advantages."
" I think," answered Frank, " that we could not do better than leave
the selection of the route to Doctor Bronson. He has proved such an
excellent guide and friend thus far, that we have the most implicit con-
fidence in his judgment, and are quite willing to adopt his suggestions
without question."
This was said as Frank had been addressing himself to his cousin
if

rather than the Doctor. Fred instantly accepted the proposal, and it was
promptly agreed that the whole matter should be left in Doctor Bron-
son's hands to arrange. The latter thanked the youths for the expres-
sion of their confidence in him, and then proceeded to designate on the
map the routes leading westward from Hong-kong.
" The regular mail steamers," said he, " go from here to Singapore,
which you see is down close to the equator, and at the entrance of the
Straits of Malacca. The English steamers go directly there without stop-
ping but the French ones touch at Saigon, in Cochin China, which is a
;

colony of the French Government."

" 1 have thought out a plan," he continued, " while we have been
waiting, and what I propose is this
"We will go from here to Saigon by one of the French ships, and
tlien make a stay in Cochin China long enough to see what we wish of

the country. Then we can find a trading-ship of some kind to take us

to Siam, and once there, we shall have no trouble in getting to Singa-
pore, as there is a regular line between that city and Bangkok, the cap-
ital of Siam. There is much to be seen in Siam, as well as in Cochin
China; and I think this route will be far preferable to the direct one by
the mail steamers, though it will not be so comfortable. We must be
prepared to "rough it" a little both on shore and at sea, but our pri-
vations will be more than compensated by tiie abundance of interesting
sights on the way.
18 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

The boys agreed at once to the proposal, and the conversation came
to an end. The Doctor went to arrange for the proposed journey,
and the youths brought out writing materials, and devoted the
their
rest of the afternoon to the preparation of letters in answer to those
they had just received.
The French steamer arrived from Shanghai in the evening, and her
great hull loomed majestically in the light of the full-moon as she came

1 Mi'.rv , ......i;

ARUIVAL OP THE FllKNCII 5IAIL STKAJIlill.

to anchor. It is a condition of the contracts for the transportation of

the mails, that a steamer is not to lie more than twenty-four hours at

any of the stopping -places along the route unless detained by iinf ore-
seen accidents. Consequently, when one of these ships . arrives, it is

pretty certain that her departure will occur within the time above speci-
fied ; and it was shortly announced that the ship in question would
leave at noon the next day. The mail service between Europe and tlie
 A CHINESE STEAMSHIP OFFICE. 19

Far East is performed almost as regularly as that across the Atlantic,

and the arrivals at the various points can be guessed with tolerable
accuracy. The English and French steamers perform each a fort-
nightly service both ways, and, as they run alternately, the residents
of China and Japan have weekly mail-daj'S for sending and receiving
their letters.
Doctor Bronson engaged passage for the party by the French steamer
as far as Saigon, and then went to the office of the "Yuen Fat Hong"
to ascertain if there was a vessel for Bangkok by way of Cochin China.
In the last few years the Chinese merchants have gone somewhat
extensively into tlie btisiness of running steamships. There is a com-
pany with two million dollars that owns several lines of
a capital of
steamers along the coast and on the great river of China, the Yang-tse-
kiang, and its officers and stockholders are all of them Chinese. There
are several smaller companies, and there are Chinese commission-houses
that act as agents for English and other steamers in the Eastern trade.
The Yuen Fat Hong was one of these commission-houses, and it man-
aged the business of a line of English ships running between Hong-
kong and Bangkok, with an occasional call at Saigon.
Doctor Bronson found the office without any difficulty, and was
shown into a neatly -arranged parlor, where four well-dressed Chinese
were sitting. Three of them were holding fans in their hands, while
the fourth was indulging in the luxury of a pipe. Plants in pots stood
near the walls, and there was a table in the centre of the room, where
the oldest and most serious of the Oriental gentlemen was seated. Evi-
dently it was a time of relief from labor, and so there was no delay in
attending to the inquiries of the Doctor.
The information he obtained was entirely satisfactory. The house
was to send a ship in a week or ten days to Bangkok by way of Sai-
gon it would stop two or three days in the latter port, and if the party
;

would be satisfied with the limited accommodations, they could secure

passage from there to Siam.
It was secured at once, and then the Doctor returned to the hotel.
The next morning the boys were up early and long before the ;

hour fixed for their departure from tiie hotel they had all their baggage
in readiness. The trunks and valises were delivered to the porters and
carried to the landing-place, whence they were to be transported in a
small boat to the great steamer that lay smoking in tlie harbor. The
boat that the party engaged was a reminder of Canton, as it was occu-
pied by an entire family two or three children were quietly seated in
;
20 THE BOY TRAVELLEKS IN THE EAR EAST.
 DEPARTURE FOR SAIGON. 21

tlie crew consisted of two women and a

a sort of box at the stern, and
man. One of the women was evidently captain at least Frank thought
;

so, when he observed her air of authority in giving directions for the

movement of the boat. The harbor service of Hong-kong is nearly all

performed by Chinese from the famous boat-population of Canton they ;

are not forbidden to live on shore as they are at Canton, but from long
habit, and also from motives of economy, they continue to make their
homes on the boats.
While on the way to the ship, Fred made a sketch of the younger
of the two women, and declared his intention of sending it home. She
was rather light in complexion for an inhabi- ^,,„„.„^
tant of Southern China her hair was covered
; "V
by a thick kerchief, tied in a knot under her
chin, and her jacket or blouse was buttoned
in front, and hung loosely down like a silk
wrapper. As soon as she discovered that she
was the subject of a sketch she put on her
sweetest smile, and was evidently proud of
the honor that Fred was showing her.
Less than an hour after they reached the
ship they were under way for Saigon.
Our friends spent the afternoon on deck,
where they had plenty of occupation watch-
,, .
IT il X' ill.
ing the irregular hne oi tlie coast, and observ-
A CHINESK BOATWOMAN.

ing the play of light and shade on the water. There were but few pas-
sengers, so that they had an abundance of room the weather was de-
;

lightful, and both Frank and Fred declared that none of their travel
by sea up to that time had been more agreeable. They abandoned all
ideas of being sea- sick; and when the bell called them to dinner they
were promptly in their places at table.
Suddenly Fred turned to his cousin and asked if he was aware that
China was the worst country in the world for wheeled vehicles.
Frank said he knew the Celestial Empire was very badly off for means
of locomotion, but he was not certain that it was the most unfortunate in
this respect.
"It is a great country," said Fred, "and has an enormous population :

we are going to Saigon, which is the capital of Cochin China."

" Well," replied Frank, " what has that to do with the matter of
wheeled vehicles?"
"Don't you see?" responded Fred, "there is only one coach in China!"
22 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" That is a very good connndruin," remarked the Doctor, who had
been listening to the dialogue between the boys; "but it is as old as
it isgood. I heard it when I first came to China, years ago."
Fred confessed that he found the conundrum in question in a book
on China which he had picked up in Hong-kong, and thereupon it was
agreed that no more jokes should be made until they were again on
shore.
At an early hour the boys retired to their rooms, and it did not re-
quire a long time for them to Fred made no report of any
fall asleep.

unusual occurrence during his sleeping hours, but it was otherwise with
Frank. In the morning he intimated that the letters from home had
set him to dreaming, and that all his relatives and friends had congrat-
ulated him on his pleasant and prosperous journe3^ Fred asked if any
one had been more profuse in congratulations than any one else, and
the young dreamer admitted that such was the case. He mentioned no
names, but the Doctor and Fred had no diflBeulty in determining who
that one was.

FRANKS DRE.VM.
 EFFECT OF A HURRICANE. 23

CHAPTER II.

VOYAGE TO SAIGON.—ARRIVAL IN COCHIN CHINA.

T^HE voyage from Hong-kong to Saigon was neither long nor un-
-^ pleasant. The weather was fine, and the wind favored the prog-
ress of the steamer. The Doctor explained tliat the north-east monsoon
was blowing at that season of the year, and it was to be relied on with
such certainty that tlie steamship companies arranged their time-tables
with reference to it. The boys had heard something about the mon-
soons before this, and Fred determined that he would study the subject
have a clear understanding of it. So he questioned the
suflBcieutly to
Doctor, and examined all the books he could find that had anything to
say about the monsoons, and when he thought his information was com-
plete he proceeded to put it on paper.

HUKUICANE DUKING Tllli CHANCK OF TIIK MONSOON.

Plere is Fred's essay on the winds of the Eastern seas

" The word monsoon comes from
' '
the Arabic inusim, which
means
'season,' and the winds are so called because they blow in alternate sea-
sons, first in one direction and then in the other. On the coast of China
24 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

the wind from the south-west from April to October, and is then called
is

the south-west monsoon for the other half of the year it blows from
;

A FAVORING MONSOO:*.

the north-east, and is There is gen-

then called the north-east monsoon.
erally a period of abouttwo weeks when the winds are irregular at each
change from one monsoon to the other, and at this time the ship-masters
are very fearful of severe storms, with heavy rain and much thunder
and lightning.
" The monsoon winds are known all over the Eastern seas, from the
coast of China to the shores of Arabia. Their periods of blowing are
so well understood that the steamship captains know exactly when they
may be expected, and their voyages are arranged accordingly. On the
printed time-tables of all the steamship companies you will find '
mon-
soon allowances and on the coast of India there are certain
;'
ports where
the ships cannot touch at all when the monsoon is unfavorable. The
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company allows four days
for its ships between Suez and Shanghai when the monsoon is against
them, and one day on the voyage between Hong-kong and Yokohama.
The French mail steamers have the same allowances. In August, when
 MONSOONS AND TRADE -WINDS. 25

the south-west wind is blowing, a steamer goes from Hong-kong to Yo-

kohama in seven days ; but in April, when the wind is the other way,
she is allowed eight days for the voyage.
" The monsoons are caused just like all other winds —by the lieatod
air rising and cold air rushing in to fill its place. In summer, when
the sun is over Asia and the ground becomes heated to a high degree,
the air rises, from the south comes to fill up the space.
and the cooler air
This makes the south-west monsoon and when the seasons change, and
;

it becomes summer in the southern hemisphere and winter in the nortli-

ern, then the air goes the other way, and the wind blows from the north-
east. This is the north-east monsoon.
" Tlie monsoons should not be mistaken for the trade-winds which
blow and Pacific 'oceans, and also in the southern part
in the Atlantic
of the Indian Ocean. The monsoons change every half year, as I have
explained, but the trade-winds blow regularly all the year round in the
same direction. They are caused by the warm air rising from the vicin-
owing to the great
ity of the equator, heat, and the cool air rushing in
from the south and from the north. The trade-winds have been so
named because they have been of great assistance to commerce; sailing-

RUNNING BKFOKE THE TUADE-WINU.

26 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

ships can calculate their voj'ages with great acouraey by means of these
winds, and I have read and heard of ships in the trade-winds that sailed
for twenty or thirty days without moving a rope or altering the position
of a sail. They went along ten or twelve miles an hour, and the sail-

ors had nothing to do but lie around the deck or in the forecastle, and
amuse themselves in any way they liked."
Fred read his production to the Doctor and Frank as they sat on
deck, the second day of the voyage from Hong-kong. Frank wanted a
copy, but took the precaution to ask the Doctor if it was all correct.
The was entirely, so far as he knew, but it did not tell
latter said it
the whole story. Thereupon Frank set at work to find something addi-
tional, and in the course of an hour or so he offered the following post-
script to the essay of his cousin
" In studying about the trade-winds and the monsoons, I find that
they do not blow directly north or directly south, as we might suppose
thej' would if they came in to
fill up the vacancy caused by the rising

of the heated North of the equator the trade-winds blow from the
air.

uorth-east, and south of it they are from the south-east. The inclina-
tion to the east is caused by the rotary motion of the earth from east to
west. The earth slips from under the wind while turning on its axis,
and it is really the earth that makes the slope of the wind, and not the
wind itself. Something like it may be seen when a boat crosses a river.
The boatman may try to pull straight across, but if he does so the cur-
rent carries him down, and he is unable to land opposite his starting-
point. The only way he can do so is by going obliquely against the
stream.
"The monsoons get their direction in the same way as the trade-
winds get theirs; with this difference, that the south-west monsoon starts
near the equator, and not in the southern hemisphere, like the south-east
trade-wind. The rotary motion of the earth is greater at the equator
than it is in the northern latitudes, and so the wind gets a westerly in-
clination instead of an easterly one, as in the case of the trade-wind.
Some of the scientific men say that the north-east monsoon is not a
monsoon at all, but only the north-east trade -wind taking its regular
course, which has been disturbed by the more powerful wind from the
south-west."
" Very good," remarked the Doctor, when Frank read what ho had
written. " I am a little fearful, however, that it will not be understood

by everybody, and so we will drop the dry subject and think of some-
thing easier."
 ASCENDING THE MEKONG. 27

The boys admitted that the topic was a dry one, but nevertheless it

was interesting ; and they thought they would not be doing their duty
in their journey if they failed to comprehend the great winds that so
materially help or hinder the movements of ships in Asiatic waters.
On day from Hong-kong the boys heard with delight
their third
that land was visible. At first it was like a dark cloud on the horizon
but, as they approached it, the scene changed, and the cloud was resolved
into a tropical shore, backed by a line of hills in the distance. The
steamer headed for a little promontory, and by-and-by a light-house was
revealed that marked the entrance of the river which they were to ascend.
A boat came out from the mouth of the river, and a pilot boarded
the steamer. He was a weather-beaten Frenchman, who had lived more
than twenty years in Cochin China, and was thoroughly familiar with
the channel of the river, or rather of its various channels. The Mekong
empties into the China Sea, very much as the Mississippi discharges into
the Gulf of Mexico; it has several mouths, and the whole lower part
of its course is divided into canals and bayous, that are very convenient
for the natives in the matter of local navigation.
Saigon, the destination of the steamer and of our friends, is on one

of these lower branches of the Mekong, about thirty miles from the
sea. The river is not more than five or six hundred feet wide, and
the channel is very crooked. The boys were reminded of their trip up
the Peiho, from Taku to Tien-Tsin, when they were on their way to
Peking, but they voted that the present voyage was the more agreeable
of the two, inasmuch as tiie steamer did not follow the example of their
ship on the Peiho, by occasionally running her nose into the bank. Their
progress was steady but slow, and they had plenty of time to study the
scenery of the new country they were entering.
On both banks of the river the land is quite flat, and they were told

that, in times of unusual freshets, it was overflowed for long distances.

For this reason, it is not very thickly populated, although the soil is rich,
and could be made to produce abundantly. All along the banks there
was a thick fringe of mangrove-trees, and sometimes they appeared to
extend over many square miles of land. Here and there were rice-fields
that appeared to have the most careful cultivation and sometimes a vil-
;

lage, with its temple rising above the modest dwellings of the inhabitants,
was revealed to the eyes of the young wanderers.
The number of the villages increased; and by-and-by a larger col-
lection of houses than they had yet seen was visible. This was the last
village before Saigon, and finally the city itself came into view. The
28 THE BOY TRAVELLKKS IN THE FAR EAST,

KICli-FIKLDS ON TUB MEKONG.

Steamer stopped in front of it, and hardly was her anchor down before
she was surrounded by a crowd of native boats. Some of
them were
exactly of the model of those at Hong-kong and Canton, and others
were new to the eyes of our friends. A great many Chinese have come
here from Canton, and brought their manners and customs with them
and they have also brought their boats, or caused the construction of
some exactly similar to those they left behind.
As soon as convenient the Doctor engaged a boat for the party, and
the three travellers went on shore. There are several hotels at Saigon

not far from the landing-place, and it was not long before the stran-
gers were comfortably quartered— at least comfortably for Cochin
China.

After their experiences at Peking and other places, they were not in-

clined to be fastidious about their lodgings.

As soon as they had arranged matters at the hotel, the party went
out for a stroll. They found Saigon was well laid out, with broad streets
that ran straight as sunbeams for long distances. Most of them were
macadamized, and shaded with donble-rows of trees, and they had deep
gutters to carry off the heavy rains that fall in this latitude. The boys
were greatly interested in observing the hats worn by the natives; those

of the men were conical in shape, and came down over the shoulders
like an extinguisher over a candle. The women wore hats that resem-
bled baskets, about six inches deep by not less than two feet across.
The
 POPULATION AND GROWTH OF SAIGON. 29

hats for both men and women are made of leaves, closely plaited to-
gether, and serve to keep off the rain as well as the sun. The hat of
the man is particularly useful as an umbrella, as the wearer need only
bring it down over head to make his shelter very nearly complete.
his
When walking on the road, he must keep it well tilted up in front in
order to enable hira to see his way.
As they walked along, the Doctor explained that the most of the
people tliey met were not the original inhabitants of the country. Sai-
gon was a small fishing-village in 1861, when it was captured by the
French and occupied as a military post. The captors determined to
make it a city of consequence, and the French government has expended
a great deal of money in this endeavor. They have constructed roads
and streets on the same scale that the English have adopted at Shang-
hai, and they have built dock-yards where ships can be repaired. They
have maintained a large garrison of soldiers, and several times have
been called on to suppress insurrections that cost a great deal of money
and blood.
"Now,"said the Doctor, "when the French established themselves
here, theyopened the port for anybody to come and live in Saigon, as
they wanted to build up its trade as fast as possible. great many A
Chinese came here from Canton and Singapore, and the result was that
the place grew very rapidly. The Chinese came much faster than the
emigrants from Franco and other European countries, and also faster
than the natives of Cochin China from other parts of the conquered
provinces. Consequently, here is a French city with a foreign popula-
tion greater than the native one, and greater than that from France
itself.

"Nearly all the business of Saigon is in the hands of the Chinese,"

the Doctor continued, " and they have managed to drive out most of
the foreigners who were established here. They can live so much more
cheaply, and transact business for a smaller profit, that the foreigner
cannot compete with them. The number of foreign houses in Saigon
is diminishing every year, and it looks as though the Chinese would
have it pretty nearly all to themselves by the end of another ten
years."
They found some parts of Saigon so much Chinese in character that
they seemed to be carried back to Canton or Shanghai. Chinese signs
abounded Chinese shops were open, and the men doing business both
;

behind and before the counters \vere Chinese. Chinese eyes were upon
them, and frequently Chinese peddlers approached them with articles for
30 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

A NATIVE WOMAN.
 A WALK IN SAIGON. 3]

STREET IN THE CHINESE QUARTER.

sale. Chinese were at worship in the temples, walking, talking, trad-

ing, and pursuing their ordinary avocations, and for every foreigner
the boys encountered they met a hundred inhabitants of the Flowery
'
Kingdom.
The roads were dry and dusty, and after a walk of a couple of hours
our friends returned to the hotel. Late in the afternoon they went out
again to hear one of the military bands play, and to see the people on
their daily promenade. Tlie band plays at a stand on the street parallel
32 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

to the river, and everybody who can come out to see and be seen is sure
to be there.
Frank found the crowd so variegated that he suggested to Fred that
it like looking through a kaleidoscope.
was There were Frenchmen,
Germans, Englishmen, Spaniards, and Portuguese among the foreigners;
while the Asiatics included Chinese, Anainese, Cambodians, Malays, Sia-
mese, and a variety of otiier nationalities the boys were unable to deter-
mine. In fact, they would not have been able to recognize all the peo-
ple mentioned above had not been for the assistance of the Doctor,
if it

M'ho was skilled in the study of faces and the sound of languages. Fred
thought that the confusion of tongues was enough to give one a faint
idea of what the Tower of Babel must have been at the time the build-
ers suspended work.

PLANTS IN THE BOTANICAL GARDKN.

They finished their explorations of the day with a visit to the botan-
ical garden, just as the sun was sinking in the west. The garden con-
tains agood variety of the tropical plants peculiar to the countr^^ and
also some that the French have imported, with a view to distributing
them through the province in case the cultivation should prove advan-
 NATUEAL HISTORY OF COCHIN CHINA. 33

tageous. There are also some wild animals carefully kept in cages, with
the exception of the elephants, which have no greater restriction than
being fastened with chains.
The most interesting of these
animals, in the eyes of the
boys, were some tigers which
came from the upper re-
gions of the Mekong River,
and were larger than any
they had ever seen in Amer-
ica.

The evening was devoted

to a study of the geography
and history of the country
they were in, and before the
boys went to bed they had
a pretty clear idea of Cochin
China and the regions that
A NEW ACQUAINTANCE.
surround it. In the morn-
ing they complained of numerous visits from the mosquitoes that abound
in Saigon the entire year, and are as attentive as the mosquitoes of the
United States or any other country.

A MOSQDITO OP SAIGON,
34 THE BOV TRAVELLEKS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTER III.

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.—FIRST SIGHTS AND SCENES IN ANAM.

'T'^HE boys made a division of labor in looking up information about

-'- the country. Frank was to find what he could concerning its natu-
ral features and extent, while Fred undertook to learn something about

the French occupation, and the reasons that led to it. When they were
ready, the essaj's were read to the Doctor for his approval or rejection
and there was a brief discussion to determine who should be first to
read, or rather last, as each preferred not to be the beginner. Tlie Doc-
tor settled the question by deciding that the natural features of the
country existed before the French came there, and, therefore, it was the
duty of Frank to open the subject.
Thus assured, Frank produced his note-book, and read
" The countries of Birmah, Siam, and Anam are known to geog-
raphers as '
Indo-China,' for the reason that tliey lie between India and
China, and have some of the characteristics of both. The empire of
Anam is the one we are now considering, and we will leave the others
until we get to them in the course of our travels. It is erroneously
called Cochin China, from a province of that name which is included in
the empire. The pi'oper divisions of Anam are Cambodia, Tonquin,
Tsiampa, and Cochin China, and more than three-fourths of its boun-

daries are washed by the sea. It is about nine hundred miles long, and
itswidth varies a great deal, owing to the indentations of the coast.
Cochin China proper is only some ninety miles long by twenty broad,
and it is really the smallest of the provinces. Cambodia is the largest
and most populous, and the soil is said to be more productive than
that of the other parts of the empire. The number of inhabitaTits is

not known, but it is generally thought to be from twelve to fifteen

millions.
" The people resemble the Malays and Chinese, and are sometimes
called the connecting link between the two. They are smaller than
the Chinese, but not so dark as the Malay's ; their dress resembles the
 INHABITANTS OF THE COUNTRY. 35

Chinese, bat they do not shave

their heads as the latter do. They
are not very ingenious, and have
comparatively few manufactures;
their employments are in
chief
agriculture, and they raise a great
deal of rice, which is exported to
China and other countries. They
also export sugar, raw silk, cinna-
mon, dye -stuff, elephants' hides
and bones, together with a good
many gums and spices. The dye
known as gamboge comes from
Cambodia, and the name of the
country is said to be derived from
this article. On the coast the
people engage in fishing, and all

through the country the food of

the people consists of fish and
rice. The natives will eat a great
deal when they have the oppor-
tunity, but they are able to live
on a very small allowance of
NATIVE GENTLEMAN AT SAIGON.
food when necessity compels them.
Buddhism is the prevailing religion, but they are not very earnest in it

they have great respect for the dead, and resemble the Chinese in their
veneration for their ancestors.
" The country near the coast is generally flat, but farther inland it

becomes mountainous. There are more

tribes in the interior that are
than half savage in their character they live mostly;on wild fruits, and

are widely scattered. Some sleep in the trees, and some build small
huts, but they rarel}' have permanent villages, and never get together
in great numbers. Sometimes the Cambodians make war on these hill-
tribes, and those that they capture are sold as slaves.
" The principal river is the Mekong, and it is one of the largest streams
in South-eastern Asia. and has a general course of
It rises in China,
about one thousand seven hundred miles to the south, and it falls into
the sea by several mouths between the ninth and tenth degrees of north
latitude. There are many villages and towns along its banks, and in its
lower course the river is navigable for the largest ships."
36 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IX THE FAR EAST.

Frank paused, and was all he had been able to obtain about
said that
Anam, but he hoped have more by-and-by. The Doctor pi-onounced
to
his essay an excellent one, as it gave a good general description of the
country, and contained the information that every traveller and reader
ought to have.
Now it was Fred's turn to read. He had been uneasily twisting his
note-book between his fingers, evidently dreading the ordeal of delivery
but as soon as he was through with the first line, his embarrassment van-
ished, and his voice was as firm as ever.
" Nearly a hundred years ago," said Fred, " France opened relations
with Anam, and arranged to give the latter country certain assistance
against enemies in return for commercial and missionary privileges.
its

It was about the time of the famous French Eevolution. Only a small
part of the promised assistance was given by France, and she was too
busy with affairs at home to demand all that had been agreed upon on
the part of Anam. The French missionaries were protected in the exer-
cise of their religious duties, and a small trade was carried on until about
the year 1831. The old king died, and a new one went on the throne
he was opposed to the French and Spanish missionaries, and endeavored
to drive them out of the country. Many of them were killed, and the
native Christians were persecuted, so that Christianity threatened to dis-
appear.
" Things went on in thisway for twenty years. In 1851 the French
determined to interfere, both for the protection of the missionaries and
to demand the concessions that were promised when relations were first
opened with Anam. Shortly before they came, an order had been issued
that all missionaries should be drowned in the river, and any native who
concealed, or in any way assisted a missionary, was to be cut in two.
The war was a slow one, and the invaders were several times held back
by fortifications that had been built by the French engineers who came
here in 1795. The persecutions were partially stopped, and in 1857 the
French went away.
"New orders against the missionaries were then issued, and more of
them were In August, 1858, there was a combined French and
killed.
Spanish expedition against Anam, which captured the chief seaport and
several important places. The war was kept up till 1862, when there
was a treaty of peace. This treaty compelled Anam to pay five million
dollars to France as compensation for the war, and to promise that every
native should be free to adopt any religion that he liked. The mission-
aries were not to be disturbed, and the principal cities were to be open
THE FRENCH IX THE EAST.
38 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

to French merchants to trade in whatever they chose to buy and sell.

A French Protectorate was established over the province of Cochin
China, and afterwards over other provinces, and
—
" Stop a moment," said the Doctor " you had better explain what a
;

protectorate is."

Fred was evidently prepared for the question, as he answered

promptly,
"A protector is one who defends or shields from injury. In gov-
ernment matters a protector is a person who has the care of a kingdom
during the minority or illness of the king; or it may mean a cardinal
or other high official who looks after the interests of a religious body.
A protectorate is by a protector, or it may be the author-
a government
ity assumed by a power over a weaker or a dependent one.
supei-ior
" The case of France and Anam is that the treaty provided that the

French should take the management of the affairs of the conquered

country, and that the governor-general they sent here should be really
the highest ofiieer in the land. The Anamese can do nothing in the
way of making and enforcing laws without the consent of the French
in fact, they are exactly in the condition of a colony, and the country
where we now are French Colony of Eastern Asia."
is called the
" Quite right," said the Doctor, when Fred had concluded. " Now
we will hear what the French have done in the way of colonization."
" They have followed their old policy of making no interference

with the local laws, except with such as had a character of oppression
or cruelty. They required the native authorities to swear to be loyal to
France, and when they did so they sustained them until there were com-
plaints that they did not manage affairs properly. In such cases they
have investigated the complaints, and done what they thought i-iglit in
the matter, either by removing or sustaining the official. They have
lowered the taxes and established regulations regarding civil marriages,

and, on the whole, their presence has been a benefit to the people of Anam.
In the matter of marriages they have followed the rule that they long
ago adopted in Algeria a native may be married under the native laws
;

if he likes, and can divorce liis wife at a moment's notice, and without

giving any reason but if he marries her in a French court, he is under

;

French laws, and must abide by them. A great many of the natives of
the better class insist upon having their daughters married in the French
courts, as they know they will be better treated than under the old
system.
"Several times there have been insurrections against the French,
 EXTENT OF THE FRENCH PROTECTOKATE. 39

and some of them have cost a great deal of money and fighting. But
they have always resulted in victories for the French, and in the addi-
tion of new provinces to the territory under their control. At present
they have a protectorate over more than half of the peninsula ; some of
the smaller provinces in the ^STorth are nominally independent, while in
some portions of the country held by the French the natives do very
more for the foreign government than pay a small tax to it every
little

year.
" The population of the country under the French protectorate is

said to be not far from four millions. There is an army of ten or twelve
thousand men, of whom nearly
if not quite half are natives.
The natives are said to make
good soldiers, particularly in
the artillery. A great part of
the garrison duty in the forts
on the coast and in the inte-
rior is performed by the na-
tive troops, and they are said
to get along very well with the
French. In Cambodia many
of the soldiers are from Manil-
la, as they are considered more
warlike, and besides the king
says it is cheaper to hire them
from other countries than to
use his own people. The army
of Cambodia is smaller in pro-
NATIVE SOLDIEKS AT SAIGON.
portion than that of the other
parts of the country, and tlie French allow the king to do pretty much
as he likes."
Fred had reached the end of his chapter, and consequently came to
a pause. The Doctor complimented him on his excellent account of
the invasion and occupation of Anam, and after a little general talk on
the subject, the party broke up.
As they were naturally interested in the subject of native troops in
the French service, Frank took the first opportunity to make a sketch
of a couple of them that he saw on duty.
found that they wore a He
blue blouse with white trousers —
or, rather, that the trousers had been

—
white at some former date and their heads were protected from the
40 THE BOY TEAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

heat of the sun by fiat liats made of jnth or cork, while their feet were
bare. The men that lie saw were armed with breech-loading rifles of

French manufacture, and they carried their cartridges at the waist-belt,

after the European fashion.
Strolling by the river-bank, the boys saw three or four light gun-boats
at anchor in the stream. They learned that the government had about
twenty of these boats, which were used for transporting troops wherever
they were needed, and also for the purpose of protecting the natives
against pirates, and to enforce the laws generally.
They observed that tlie police were not of the same nationality as
the and
soldiers, found, on inquiry, that the policemen were all Malays
from Singapore, under the supervision of French chiefs. They are said
to be very efficient, and one great advantage of employing them is that
they are not likely to be involved in any of the native conspiracies.
By the end of their second day in Saigon, it occurred to the boj's
tliat it was about time to begin a letter to friends at home.
" We will write it as we did the letters from Kioto and Hong-kong,"
said Frank " that is, provided you are willing."
;

Fred assented to the proposal, and so it was agreed that the^' would
make up a single letter, in which each should describe some of the things
they had seen, and they Avould so arrange it that nothing should be de-
scribed twice. They devoted all the time they could spare from sight-
seeing to the production of this letter, and here is the result
-"We have been walking and riding around Saigon, and have seen a
great many things that are new to us. This morning we started eai'ly
for a walk to Cholon, about three miles away, and had a very pleasant
time on the road. We met crowds of people coming to town with
basketsful of fresh vegetables for the market they were nearlj' all
;

women, and their dress Avas much like that of the women we saw in
Canton, except that tliey liad great hats like circular trays. Part of
the way the road follows the bank of a ditch, whicli the French call
'
The Grand Canal but there is not much grandeur about it, as it is
;'

half -choked with weeds, and when the tide is out tliere is not water
enough to float a boat of any size. Tliere has been no rain for weeks,
and the dust was so thick tliat sometimes we could hardly see across the
road, and were in danger of being run ovei\
" Near the door of a house, in tlie edge of the city, we saw three

beggars standing, while a man with liis finger raised was talking to tliera.
Doctor Bronson says the man M'ho talked was tiieir chief; and he was
telling them what to do and where to go for the day. Begging is a
 A WALK TO CHOLON. 41

regular business in China, and the beggars have their associations, like
other trades.

THE KING OF THE BEGGAKS.

" We met a long line of carts just after we got outside the city ; each
cart was drawn by a pair of bullocks, and they had ropes through their
noses, just as we put them through the noses of bulls at home. The
foremost pair was led by a boy, and all the other bullocks were fastened
to the carts immediately in front of them. How they get on without
pulling some of their noses out, when a cart in the middle of the line
breaks down, we cannot imagine. Perhaps the cord gives way before
the nose does.
" There were lots of half-wild dogs that seemed to belong to nobody
they barked at us, and some of them threatened to bite ; butwe showed
fight, and they concluded to leave us. These brutes are known as
'pariah' dogs all through the East: 'pariah,' as applied to a man, means
an outcast and a pariah dog is a dog that has no master and no home.
;

They are not so abundant here as at Constantinople or Damascus, but

Doctor Bronson says there are quite enough of them to go around, and
they go around all night and all day.
42 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

"Such a noise as the cart-wheels made you never heard in all your
lives. Grease must be scarce in Cochin China, or the people must be
fond of music ; at all events, they do not try to stop the squeaking, and
a native will go to sleep in one of these carts when it is moving along
the road, just as calmly as he would in a Pullman car. Doctor Bronson
says that these carts are loaded with gamboge and other dye-stuffs, and
also with hides and horns of cattle, and perhaps with the tusks of ele-
phants that have been killed for the sake of their ivory.
"About half-way along the road, we came to what the French call
' La Plaine des Tomheaux^ which is nothing more nor less than an enor-

mous cemetery. It is said to cover several square miles of ground

whether it does so or not we cannot say, but certainly it is very large,
and, as the Doctor remarked, very densely inhabited. There is nothing
very remarkable about the tombs, as the}' are nothing but square en-
closures, with little spires like those of the temples. In one part of the
cemetery some priests were at work laying out a place for a grave Doc- ;

tor Bronson says that they perform a lot of ceremonies to determine

where a grave shall be made, and are very particular to bring it under
good influences, and shield it from bad ones. The same superstitions
that prevail in China are to be found here and even the most intelligent
;

of the native or Chinese merchants in Saigon would not think of under-

taking any important enterprise without iirst consulting the gods, and
ascertaining that the Fung Shuey was in their favor.
'
'

" It was an odd sight to see the telegraph-poles along the road, and
skirting the edge of this ancient cemetery. It was bringing the past and
the present close together, and from all we can see the present is having
the best of it.

" Well, we reached Cholon after a leisurely walk, and went down to
the bank of the river, where great numbers of boats were moored.
There were hundreds, and perhaps thousands of these boats, and at the
place where they are moored they are tied very close together. They
are rather long and narrow, and the best of them have a roof over the
centre to protect the occupants from the sun and rain. Some of them
are hewn out of single logs, and others are built of planks, as in other
countries. Manyare permanently fastened to the bank and are occupied
as houses, like some of the boats in Canton and altogether there is a
;

pretty large water population. Near the water's edge there are huts
built on platforms, and so arranged that the refuse of the kitchen falls
into the river. The owner is under no expense for drainage, and the
wliole cost of his building does not exceed five dollars. Living is cheap
A EIVER VILLAGE IX COCHIN CHINA. 43

•'3 « IX^ **e<

u THE BOY TEAVELLEES IN THE FAE EAST.

in Cholon,if you are willing to occupy a grass-roofed hut, six feet square,
on the bank of the river, and eat nothing more costly than boiled rice and
lish. We
saw two or three huts of the kind we describe, occupied by
half a dozen persons each. They must have found the quarters rather
close at times, but probably did not mind a trifle like that. A single
plank served as the roadway and in some instances it was
to the shore,
so shaky that it required a steady head and careful stepping to avoid
being thrown into the water.

A CHINESE FAMILY AT CHOLON.

" More than half the people we saw were Chinese, and not the na-
tives of the country, and nearly all the business in the shops appeared
to be done by the former. We peeped into some of the houses where
the Chinese live, and they did not seem to care how much we looked

at them. We saw one group that was quite interesting, in spite of the
poverty of the habitation and the scarcity of furniture there were five
;

persons in all, or perhaps we should say eight, as there were three cats
 A PRIMITIVE CONVEYANCE. 45

under the table that acted as thongh they wei'e as good as anybody else.
Two men and two children were at a table, and a woman was standing
up behind them to see that everything was all right. On the table there
was a small tub that contained stewed iisli and some kind of vegetables,
and there was a bowl for each one to eat from. They were better off
than some other parties we saw at breakfast, who had only one bowl
for the whole and everybody helped himself with his chop-sticks.
lot,

"We saw something that reminded us of Shanghai; it was nothing

more nor less than a wheelbarrow, but, unlike the Shanghai one, it had
no passengers. Wouldn't it be funny to see a wheelbarrow in America
for carrj'ing passengers, just as we have cabs and coaches? You must
come to China for a sight like that, and also for a regular ride in a
wheelbarrow, and you can have the consolation of knowing that it is
very cheap and also very uncomfortable. The wheelbarrow has no
springs, and so you get the benefit of every jolt, however small ; and
as the vehicle is somewhat weak in the joints, and the man who pushes

A CAB FOB TWO.

it is from powerful, jon feel all the time as though you were liable
far
to be The wheel is large and clumsy, and the frame has
spilled out.
a sort of rest in the centre, where you can put your arms. Two men
can occupy one of these coaches, and they are very popular among the
natives, but less so among the foreigners.
46 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" On our way back we wandered off into the forest of tropical plants

that stood on each side of the road in many places, and suddenly came
on a little village which was entirely concealed until we were within
twenty yards of it. The natives like to hide their residences as much
as they can, on account of the shade they get from the surrounding
trees, and also to be undisturbed by too many visitors. The dogs
barked at us, and if it had not been for some of the natives that called
them ofE it is quite possible we should have been bitten. There were
half a dozen children lying around in the dust, and as the}' were en-
tirely naked, they did not seem to be afraid of soiling their clothes.
The men and women were not heavily clothed, as the weather is hot,
and they want to be as comfortable as possible. In one house a man
was lying on a bench just inside the wide door-way, and a little girl was
fanning him the Doctor says the girl was undoubtedly a slave, and
;

that she cost her owner not far from thirty dollars.
" Children are bought and sold here the same as in China, and a
good many of the foreigners are said to own slaves while they live in
the country, but they do not try to carry them away. Slaves prefer
foreign masters to native ones, as they are more likely to be kindly
treated, and to receive their freedom in a few years.
" Some of the houses in the village were well built, and raised a yard

or so from tlie ground upon pillars of brick. The interior consists of

three or four rooms, and the general appearance of the house is like a
Chinese one. There is an ornamental framework carved in wood to
support the roof, which is covered with thick tiles, and thei'e is gener-
ally a veranda on each side of the door, where the master sleeps in the
afternoon and lounges away a great deal of his time. We should call

the people lazy if they were in America; but it is the custom of the
country to be indolent, and perhaps they are not to blame. Very little
will support a man, as he can gather fruit from the trees, and an acre
of ground is all that he needs for maintaining a large family. The
heat that prevails all the year round does not encourage activity, and
a good many foreigners, who are very enterprising when they first come
here, become as idle as the natives by the end of their second year in

the country."
 THE RUINS OF NAGKON WAT. 47

CPIAPTER IV.

A WONDERFUL TEMPLE.—RUINS OF NAGKON WAT AND ANGKOR.

WHAT -with sight-seeing, writing letters to friends at

ing their note-books with information for future use, the boys had
home, and fill-

enough to occupy their time during their stay in Saigon. In the course
of their studies of the country and its characteristics, they became inter-
ested in its ancient history, and were desirous of seeing some of the ruins
that remain from the early days of Anam and Cambodia. But as the

CAMBODIAN FEMALE HEAD-DRESS. ANCIENT SCULPTURE.

time at. their disposal short, and the expense and difficulties of
was too
a journey to the interior would be very great, they were obliged to
forego the pleasure they would derive from an actual visit to some of
the most stupendous ruins in the world.
But the Doctor came to their relief in a great measure by giving
them a full account of the wonders they were unable to contemplate.
"It is not generally known," said he, "that Cambodia contains the
ruins of a temple that was greater in its time than the very famous one
of Thebes in Egypt."
Frank and Fred opened their eyes in astonishment, as they had always
believed there was nothing in the world that could surpass the Egyptian
temples of old.
48 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

"I will describe them to you," he continued, "and make comparison

between the work of the Egyptian builders and those of Cambodia.
When I have finished, you will be able to judge which is the more
magnificent.
" The great temple I refer to in Cambodia is known as the Xagkon
Wat. Wat, means temple, and the place in ques-
in the Mala}' language,
tion is designated by the name Nagkon.' The province where it is sit-
'

—
uated is really in the territory of Siam as it was taken from Cambodia
near the end of the last century and annexed to the rival kingdom. If
you want to find the ruins on the map, you must look in about latitude
13° 30' north, and longitude 10i° east. It is not known who built the
temple, as the inscriptions on the stones are in a language that is not
understood at the present day. The general belief is that it was erected
twelve or fifteen hundred years ago, but the estimates of its age vary all

the way from hundred to two thousand years.

five
" It is far more modern than the temples of ancient Egypt, and prob-
ably not nearly as ancient as some of the famous edifices of Syria. In
course of time some one will be able to read the inscriptions, and then we
will learn all about its age and the reasons for its erection."
" Here is a map of the ruins as they exist to-day," said the Doctor.
" You perceive that the general shape of the work is a square, and that
there are altogether three squares, the smaller inside the greater."
The boys looked at the map, and indicated that they observed the
outline of the temple.
"Well," continued Doctor Bronson, "the outer wall, which is not shown
in the plan,is more than half a mile square; if you should undertake to

walk around it you would have a promenade of nearl}' three miles.

" Outside the wall there is a wide ditch that was evidently of con-

siderable depth when first made, but it is filled in many places with
weeds and trees, and there is a forest of palm-trees between the outer
wall and the body of the temple.
" The main entrance is by a causeway, which you see extending up-

ward from the foot of the map. The whole length of this causewaj',
from its beginning beyond the outer wall to the entrance of the temple,
is nearly two thousand feet, and more than half this distance is within

the wall. The building itself, as you see it on the map, is oblong in shape,
being eight hundred feet long by five hundred and ninety wide ; it rises
in three terraces to a central tower two hundred and fifty feet high, and
there are four other towers at the corners of the inner temple that are
each one hundred and fifty feet from the ground.
 PLAN OF THE TEMPLE. 49

^J\>^TTTTTTTTnTm^J^^ll-:;^...-..^.^^
rr %r ir^=*n/*=

is

^p c
u^n r'^^^ c

CW>T-r

ao, If^
111,'Tar

^LpBiJIf j LmJ —
€^ Syr=^WP7^
x^li.

A Western Facade.
B First Terrace.

C Second Terrace.
D Third Terrace.
E Central Shrine and Tower.

no ISO 000 £30

Fig. I. Plnu of Iiniei' Temple at Nagkon.

Fiti- 2. Plan of area euclosud by outer wall of Nagkon Wat.
50 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.
" The causeway was paved with blocks of sandstone, and tlie edifice

throughout is of the same nnaterial. All the stone for the work was
brought from a quarry thirty miles away, and the transportation alone

UNFINISIIKD riLI.AllS.

was an enormous affair. The blocks were brought in a rough state, and
were not finished until they had been put in the positions where they
were to remain. The temple was never completely finished, as there are
several columns that remain just as they came fz-om the quarry, and a
careful observer can indicate the exact spot where the workman turned
away from his labor. It is supposed that the stone was brought on boats
in a canal, as there is no road that could have served for purposes of
transit.
" It is impossible to describe in detail the halls, and corridors, and
all

sculptured walls of this wonderful temple. There are several halls com-
posed of rows of solid columns, like the great hall of the temple at
 NAGKON WAT GREATER THAN THEBES. 61

Thebes. I remember standing astonished at Thebes as I looked at the

great hall, with one hundred and thirty- four columns, and learned
its

temple contained nearly three hundred columns of

that, originally, the
different sizes. In the Cambodian temple of Nagkon Wat, one thou-
sand five hundred and thirty-two solid columns have been counted and ;

COLCMNS IN THE TEMPLE.

it is estimated that there are not less than six thousand columns in the
entire mass of ruins in and around the temple. Most of these columns
are made from single blocks of stone, and all of them are beautifully
carved, just as the Egyptian ones are beautifully painted.
" It would not be at all difficult for a stranger to lose his way in
Nagkon Wat, and wander for hours, unable to find an exit. He might
62 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST.

-• 1- J-*L ^
-d ^ J-

> S «»•* lit \ .— . ^

 PICTURES ON THE TEMPLE WALLS. o6

spend days and days in tlie study of the beautiful sculptures that adorn
the place and when I tell you that the walls are covered with sculptures
;

from one end of tlie temple to the otlier, and you remember the enor-
mous size of the building, you can understand wliat a gigantic picture-
gallery it is. The scenes represented are mostly from the Hindoo my-
thology they illustrate battles and triumphal processions, sacrifices and
;

festivals, and also the contests of some of the Hindoo deities with each
other, and with mortals. There is one gallery alone that has half a mile
of pictures cut in stone, and it is estimated that at least one hundred thou-
sand human figures are engraved there. Here is a picture of some of them,
and you may judge by it of tlie general excellence of the work throughout."
The boj's devoted several minutes to the contemplation of the photo-
graph which the Doctor showed them. Frank remarked that the light-
ness of the wheels of the cliariot would seem to indicate that it was made
of metal, and consequently the ancient Cambodians must have been fa-
miliar with the use of iron or brass, perhaps both. The soldiers at the
bottom of the picture were marching in a manner that denoted military
discipline, but he could not make out the nature of their weapons. Cer-
tainly they were not rifles, as fire-arms were unknown in those days,
and they did not seem to be spears or bows and arrows. The men were
provided with shields, and in this respect their customs resembled those
of many people of the present day.
The Doctor explained that the ancient Cambodians made use of
spears; but the principal weapons they employed were clubs, not alto-
gether unlike those of the South Sea Islanders. Sometimes the club
was made straight, and at others it was curved at the end farthest from
the hand of its owner. It was wielded with the right hand, and the
shield was carried in the left.
Fred called attention to the fact that there was an elephant in the
picture, and the man on his back was in the act of discharging an arrow
from a bow. Therefore they must have employed bowmen, and evi-
dently they were an important part of the service, as they were moimted
on elephants.
" You are quite right in your conclusions," Doctor Bronson respond-

ed " the bowmen were considered of the highest importance, and their
;

arrows often did great execution. The elephant had a prominent place
in all the armies of the East, as you know from history, and the Cambodi-
ans were no exception to the rule. No Eastern king would consider his
retinue complete without a large number of war-elephants in liis stables."
" There is a tradition," he continued, " that the king of ancient Cam-
54 THE liOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.
 THOMSON'S DESCRIPTION. 55

bodia had an army of half a million of men, with a hundred thousand

elephants, which he could lead to war at a few days' notice. This is

undoubtedly an exaggeration ; but he probably had a good supply of

these very useful animals, and his army presented a Une appearance
when was called to the field."
it

Frank observed that the men did not wear armor, and, in fact, had
very little clothing anyway. He wondered that this M^as the case, as
the king was evidently very rich and powerful, and ought to have had
his army equipped and dressed in the best possible style.
Fred replied that armor, in a liot country like Cambodia, would be a
very inconvenient thing for a soldier, and render him practically useless.
Frank had not thougiit of that, and as soon as his attention was called to
it lie quite agreed with Fred.
" A gentleman wiio visited the temple of Nagkon Wat," the Doctor
remarked, "has given a very good account of the general character of the
sculptures on the walls. I refer to Mr. Thomson, and cannot do better
than quote a few lines from him.
" The bass-reliefs," says Mr. Tliomson, " which are sculptured on the
walls of the galleries of Nagkon Wat are extremely interesting. They
are contained in eight compartments, measuring each from two hundred
and fifty to three hundred feet in length, with a height of six and a half
feet, and in a square space of six and a half feet the average number of
men and animals depicted is sixty. The majority of these representa-
tions are executed with such care and skill, and are so well drawn, as to
indicate that art was fostered, and reached a high state of perfection
among the 'Khamen-te-Buran,' or ancient Cambodians.
" The chief subjects represented are battle scenes, taken from the
epic poems, Eamayana and Maliabarata —
which the Siamese are said to
have received from India about the fourth or fifth century. Disciplined
forces are depicted marching to the field, and possessing distinct charac-
teristics soon lost in the confusion of battle. In the eager faces and at-

titudes of the warriors, as they press forward past bands of musicians,

we see that music then, as now, had its spirit-stirring influence. We also
find humane actions represented —a group bending over a wounded com-
rade to extract an arrow, or remove him from the field. There are also
the most animated scenes of bravery — soldiers saving the lives of their
chiefs; chiefs bending over their plunging steeds, and measuring their
prowess in single combat ; and, finally, the victorious avmj quitting the
field laden with spoil, and guarding the numerous captives with cavalry
in front and rear.
oG THE HOY TKAVELLEK.S IN THE FAR EAST.

" Perhaps the most wonderful subject of all the bass reliefs is what
the Siamese call the battle of '
Rauiakean.' This is one of the leadin"-
incidents of the Eamayaina, of which Coleman says, The Grecians had '

their Homer, to render imperishable the fame acquired by tiieir glorious

combats in the Trojan war tiie Latins liad Virgil, to sing the prowess
;

of yEneas; and the Hindoos have their Valmac, to immortalize the deeds
of Rama and his army of monkeys.' The Eamayama one of the finest —
—
poems extant describes the scenes of Rama's life, and the exploits of the
contending foes.
" In the sculptures of ISTagkon Wat, many of the incidents of the life
of Rama are depicted ; such as his final triumph over the god Ravana,

GALLERY OF SCnLPTDRES.

and the recovery of his wife Sita. The chief illustration of the poem,
however, is the battle scene which ensues after the ape-god Hanumau
 MIRACLES IN HINDOO MYTHOLOGY. 57

liad performed several of tlie feats which formed the every-day incidents
of his life, such as the construction of what is now known as Adam's
Bridge, between Ceylon and India. This he accomplished by a judicious
selection of ten mountains, each measuring sixt3'-four miles in circum-
ference ; and being short of arms, but never of expedients, when convey-
ing them to Ceylon, ho poised one of them on the tip of his tail, another

on his head, and with these formed his celebrated bridge, over which his
army of apes passed to Lanka.
" In another compartment the subject appears to be the second Ava-

tar of Vishnu, where tliat god is represented as a tortoise supporting the

earth, which is submerged in the waters. The four- armed Brama is
seated above. A
seveu-headed snake is shown above the water, coiled
around the earth, and extending over the entii'e length of the bass-relief.
The gods on the right and the dinytas on the left are seen contending
for the serpent. Hanuman is pulling at the tail, while above a flight of
angels are bearing a cable to bind the reptile after the conflict is over.
"In another compartment we find various mechanical appliances that
are in use to-day. There are double-handled saws; and there are knives,
levers, wedges, pestles and mortars, and a number of other contrivances
that aremore or less familiar to us."
The boys listened with mucli interest to the reading of the preceding
account. When the Doctor concluded, Frank ventured to ask if the tem-
ple was in a good state of preservation, and whether it was in use at the
present time.
" It has greatly decayed," replied Doctor Bronson ;
" but there are so
many of its walls and galleries standing, that the most careless visitor
cannot fail to be impressed with its grandeur, and be able to trace out
every part of the original plan. In many places the weeds and grass
and other vegetation are so luxuriant that the work of the architects is
concealed, and can only be found by searching. There is one tree, called
the 'poll,' that is a great destroyer of walls and stone floorings. The
whole temple was constructed without the use of cement, and in many
instances the junction of the stones is so perfect that only a slender line
can be perceived. The roots of the poh-tree insinuate themselves into
the smallest crevice; then they grow and expand, and by so doing they
gradually force the stones apart. This tree has been of great injury to
the temple we have been considering, and to many other edifices in these
tropical countries of the East.
"In reply to your second question, I can say that the temple is still

used, though not to the extent it was in its early days. A few priests
58 THE KOY TRAVIiLLEKS IN THE FAR EAST.

ANCIKNT TOWKR OVERGROWN WITH POU-TREES.

live there,and perform services at regular periods they are supported

;

by the contributious of the followers of Buddha, who visit the place, aud
by donations from the inhabitants of the country round there. They
do not live in the temple itself, but in small huts erected inside the
enclosure that surrounds the great building. These huts are of thatched
grass, and stand on posts as a security against the snakes that abound
in the neighborhood. They are shaded by the palm-trees that have
grown up in what was once a clear space around the temple, and in hot
afternoons their protection is very grateful."
Fred inquired about the other ruins in Cambodia, and wished to know
how extensive they were.
"As Doctor explained,"! cannot speak positively, and
to that," the
I doubt if any one who can. About three miles from Nagkon
there is

Wat there are the ruins of a city wliich was known as Angkor, which
 RUINS OF ANGKOR.—MOUHOT'S EXPLORATIONS. 59

was evidently a very important city in its day. It was the capital of
Cambodia, and, according to the description of a Chinese official, who
visited it in the year 1295, it was something remarkable. It was then
in the height of its glory but three hundred years later, when it was
;

visited by a Portuguese missionary, it was almost in ruins, and had

ceased to be of any consequence. Then there was another period of
nearly three hundred years in which nothing was heard of or from
Angkor; it was not till the year 1855 that any writer seems to have
gone there, and as for the Cambodians themselves, they are sublimely
ignorant of the history of this once great city.
" In the year I last mentioned, M. Mouhot, a French explorer, passed
through Cambodia and made a careful survey and description of the
ruins. He subsequently died in the northern part of Siam, and it was
feared that the result of his labors would be lost, but fortunately his
journal was saved and has since been published. Since Mouhot's time
several persons have written about the ruins, so that a fair amount of
knowledge concerning them is accessible. Bat every year new remains
are discovered among the trees of the thick forest, and it is difficult to

HUTS OP THE PRIESTS.

CO THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

say when all of the ancient walls and statues and temples will be brought
to light."
At the conclusion of the Doctor's remarks, a servant entered with
the announcement that dinner was on the table. Thereupon the mental
feast on the antiquities of Eastern Asia was abandoned for the more prac-
tical feast on the edible productions of the country. Frank thought that
the dinner would receive a high compliment if it proved as enjoyable as
their talk about Nagkon Wat and the ruins of Angkor —
an opinion which
Fred lost no time in sharing.

STONE WITH ANCIENT SCULl'TURKS.

 THE OAPITOL OF CAMBODIA. 61

CHAPTER V.

CAMBODIA.— ITS CAPITAL AND KING.

XTAVING studied ancient Cambodia, Frank and Fred were desirous

-^-^ of learning something of the modern country of that name. At
the liotel where they were stopping they found a gentleman who had
recently been at Panompin, the Cambodian
capital, and had spent sufficient time there
to be able to give a good account of it. As
soon as he found that his young acquaint-
ances were anxious to hear about Cambodia,
he promptly consented to enlighten them.
lie was at leisure one evening after din-
ner, and, by mutual consent, the party gathered
on the veranda in front of the hotel, and an
hour was pleasantly passed in conversation re-
garding the little-known country.
" If you think," said the gentleman, " that
Panompin is a large city, as one naturally
thinks of the capital of a country, you would
be greatly disappointed if you went there.
Its population is not more than twenty or
twenty-five thousand, and is made up of sev-
eral nationalities. There are Siamese, Chinese,
Anamese, and Manilla men among the inhab-
itants, as well as the native Cambodians, and
there are no long streets of fine buildings, sucli
as you would expect a capital to contain. It
is situated on the banks of the Mesap, a small A CAMBODIAN IDOL.
river of Cambodia that empties into the Me-
kong : the greater part of Panompin is on the right bank of the stream,
but there is on the opposite shore, and another on
a small portion of it

an island near the junction of the Mesap with the Mekong. To locate
G2 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

it on the map, you must put your finger at about latitude 11° 30' north,

and longitude 105° east, and if your map is a good one, you will find a
large lake not far off.

" This is Lake Thalysap, and it is a body of water of no small impor-

tance. It is about ninety miles long, and varies from eight to twenty-
five miles in width. It is very shallow except in a and in the few places,
wet season the country around it is so flooded with water that the lake
is then a hundred miles and more in length. There are many villages

FISHING-VILLAGE ON LAK1-; THALYSAP.

along the shoi-es of the lake, and at all seasons of the year j'ou can see
whole going to and fro over the water. Great quantities
fleets of boats

of fish are caught in the lake, and those not intended to be eaten in the
vicinity are dried or salted for export to other parts of Asia. There are
also many caught for their oil; the villages along the lake make a
fish

considerable business by preparing this oil, and the stench is often so

great that your nose will tell you the location of a village befoi-e your
eyes do.
"In the lower forms a river,
part the lake narrows steadily until it

and this river is the Mesap, which I have mentioned to you conse- ;

quently you have only to follow the current to come to Panompin. It

 SIGHTS IN I'ANOMriN. 63

lias only been the capital witliin the last ton years ; until that time the
seat of government was at Oodong, and the change was made on account
of the supposed unhealthiness of the latter place. The real fact is tliat
Panompin is better situated for commercial and political purposes, as it

is at the end of the great lake, and close by the Eiver Mekong. If you
could see the two places you would understand it at once.
" You can have little idea of the quantity of fish caught in the lake
and river till you see them. Lots of towns and villages are entirely oc-
cupied with the fish business, and some of these towns contain as many
as four hundred houses, though the most of them are smaller. Some
of the fish are eight or ten feet long and three feet thick, and their
bodies are so full of oil that one of them is a good prize to his captor.
It is very funny to see a native struggling with one of these large fish
and sometimes it requires a hard fight to bring him in. I have seen a
man dragged into the water and nearly drowned and though I enjoyed ;

the performance, I presume it was no fun at all to the man.

" Panompin consists, for the most part, of bamboo huts, without much
pretence of architecture, and the streets are so bad that though the king
has several carriages he rarely' rides out. The- principal street is about
three miles in length, and somewhat irregular in its course, as though the
instruments of the surveyor who laid it out were not in the best order.
There are a few stores and shops of brick, and there are some temples
whose spires rise above the buildings that surround them. The palace
of the king is the finest edifice in the place it was designed by a Frencii
;

architect, and the construction was supervised by him, but all the actual
work was performed by natives. It is like a fine dwelling-house in the
neighborhood of New York or London, and the internal arrangement of
the rooms is entirely European in character. The palace has some large
halls for receptions, and it has dining-rooms, sleeping-rooms, and all the
usual apartments that a dwelling should contain. The king lives there
and, as he rarely goes out, he determined to have a residence as comfort-
able as could be made. He is very proud of it and if you should visit
;

him he would consider it a great politeness if you admired it all you pos-
sibly could —
and a little more.
"Not far from the king's palace is the barrack, where the French
troops are quartered for the preservation of order, and to see that the
king does nothing tliat would be against the interest of his protectors.
There is generally a French gun-boat or two Ij'ing in the river opposite
the barracks, and in the river farther down there are two or three small
gun-boats and steamers that belong to the king, and are kept near his palace.
64 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST.

I'^^'lif'l
 GAMBLING AS A NATIONAL REVENUE. 65

" As the city has so much dependence on the river for its support,
there is crowd near the stream
a tendency on the part of the inhabitants to
consequently Panompin stretches about three miles along the bank, and
less than half a mile away from it. This is wliere you find the street I
have mentioned it is not more than thirty feet wide, and paved with a
;

concrete mass of broken brick mixed with sand. You find a straggling
line of low huts of bamboo or other light material along the whole length
of this street, and in the busy hours of the day the assemblage of people
is pretty dense. The Chinese are great gamblers, and a goodly portion
of these huts are gambling-siiops, whose proprietors pay a license for the
privilege of running the business. In several of these Eastern countries
the money received from gambling forms an important item in the pub-
lic revenue ; and if it should be stopped, the treasury would suffer in con-
sequence."
" What an outrageous piece of business !" said Frank. " To think
that a government would derive any part of its revenue from gambling!"
" But remember we are in Asia," Fred remarked; "and we can't expect
these people to be civilized."
The Doctor smiled at this outburst of indignation, and when it was
ended he reminded the boys that several governments of Europe did ex-
actly what they thought so reprehensible when done by Asiatics.
" Not governments of any consequence," said Frank.
" Well," answered the Doctor, " I hardly think we could say that.
Italy, Spain, and Austria are certainly of some consequence, and in all
of them the lottery, which is a form of gambling, is a government in-
stitution. It is only a few years ago that the gambling-tables at Baden-
Baden, in Germany, were stopped, and there was serious talk, at the time,
of allowing the gamblers that were suppressed in Germany to open their
business at Geneva, in Switzerland.
"And furthermore," Doctor Bronson continued, "we cannot tlirow
many stones at the Chinese and other Eastern people for gambling when
we have so much of it in America. In all our large cities the vice exists
in defiance of the law and in some of the States, particularly in Kentucky
;

and Louisiana, the lottery is a recognized institution, and the drawings are
supervised by officers appointed by the governor."
Frank and Fred both declared that this information was new to them,
and hereafter they would not be too hasty to condemn other countries,
lest they might find that the thing they objected to prevailed in their
own.
The description of Panompin was resumed
5
66 THE BOY TEAVELLEHS IN THE FAR EAST.

" There are some manufactures in the Cambodian capital," their in-

formant continued, " but they are not numerous. The people are famous
for their manufactures of silk, which is an important article of export,
both in its raw and in its finished state. They are skilful workers of
gold and silver, and I could show j'ou some exquisite specimens of their
production. Wait a moment and I will bring one."
He went to his room, which was situated just off the veranda, and re-
turned in a few moments with a small box resembling a flattened orange,
or, more properly, a melon. The boys took it to the light, and examined
it with care.
The gold, as well as the workmanship, was Cambodian some of it ;

was the natural color of the metal, and other parts were stained to various
degrees of redness. On the top there was a cluster of leaves, and the end
of the stem contained a topaz, which had been purposely left unfinished.

SrIiCIMEN OF CAMUOUIAN GUH>-\Vt»UIv.

The leaves were in fine filigree, and some of the wires were so delicate
that they resembled golden hairs. The whole surface of the box was
covered with flowers and leaves in the most tasteful designs and both
;

the boys were of opinion that the jewellers of New York would not find
it easy to imitate this production of the Asiatic barbarians.
"
The king has a fine collection of these things," the gentleman con-
tinued, "and he generall}' gives one of them to any stranger of impor-
tance who visits him. It is lucky for his treasury that it is not easy to

go to Panompin, as otherwise he might find these presents a serious expense-

THE KING IN HIS MILITARY DRESS. C7

THK KING OF CAMIlOniV.

68 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

"And if jou wish to know about the king, liere is liis photograph.
You perceive that it is taken in European dress, which he wears on grand
occasions,and has adopted since the French Protectorate was established
in Cambodia. He is an amiable gentleman of pleasing manners, and
makes an agreeable impression on those who come in contact with him.
He has quite a collection of English and French books, maps, and albums,
and is fond of showing them ; and he has a fine lot of Japanese and Clii-

nese vases —enough to stock a fair-sized museum. Then he has European

clocks, music-boxes, and the like ; and he has a billiard-table, on which he
plays very well. He also has a piano, but those who have heard him per-
form on it say that he is better at billiards than at music.
"The and other adornments of his palace are mostly
carpets, furniture,
from Europe, but he has some fine specimens of native embroidery that
are fully equal to any of his foreign importations. He sleeps in a bed
of European manufacture, and the netting that protects him from mos-
quitoes is from an English or French loom. He has travelled to liong-
kong and Shanghai, where he spent much time in learning all he could
about the productions of the western part of the world, and, on his re-

turn, he endeavored to give his people the benefit of his knowledge. He

is much liked by his people ; and, on the whole, they could hardly hope
for a better ruler.
" The Queen of Cambodia, like most of the Asiatic queens, is rarely
seen in public. She has not adopted the foreign dress, but adheres to
the panoung, a sort of loose wrapper falling a little below the knees, and
gathered at the centre. Here is her portrait, with two of the royal chil-
dren and you will observe that she wears heavy anklets of gold, and does
;

not think it necessary to cover her feet with shoes. Her hair is cut in
the national way, and sticks up in the centre like a shoe-brush. Great
importance is attached to the ceremony of hair -cutting when a royal
child reaches the age of seven years, and it is generally performed by
the king himself in the presence of all the dignitaries of the land."
" What a funny idea !" said Fred, " that the king shall act as a barber,
and handle the shears over the head of one of his children. I wonder if
he is as skilful as a regular professional ?"
" As to that," was the reply, " I presume it does not make much dif-
ference. He only takes off a lock or two, and the hair-dresser of the pal-
ace does the rest. You will hear more of this curious ceremony when
you get to Siam, as the custom prevails there no less than in Cambodia.
"In Panompin there is an artificial mound, which is called for polite-
ness' sake a mountain, where the hair-cutting ceremony is performed. It
 ROYAL HAIR-CUTTING. 69

QUEBN OF CAMBODIA AND KOTAL CHILDREN.

stands near the palace, and is as high as the building itself. It is built
partly of earth and partly of bannboo, and the sides are colored so as to
represent stone, silver, and gold, the last color being near the top. A
winding path leads up to a platform on the summit, and here the king
stands while he goes through the solemnities of the occasion. The path
goes through tunnels and arches, and occasional grottoes and valleys, and
the whole structure is intended to represent a mountain in miniature.
The platform is a favorite resort of the king in the evening, as the air
is generally cooler there than on the ground below, and not infrequently
he meets his ministers on the top of the mountain to discuss matters of
public importance.
70 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" But it is getting late, and I think I have told you as much about
Panompin and the King of Cambodia as you will be likely to remember.

So I will say good-night."

The boys thanked the gentleman for his kindness, and the Doctor
added his acknowledgments to theirs. Then the party separated.

THK IIAllBOK OF OODONG, CAMBODIA.

Frank and Fred sat up till their eyelids were heavy to take down in
writing a summary of what they had heard. They realized the necessity
of making their notes at once, through fear that if they waited till the
next day something would be forgotten. Frank wrote the description of
Panompin and the country generally; and Fi-ed devoted himself to the
royal family, the scenes in the palace, and the curious story of cutting
the youthful hair. Thus the labor was divided to the satisfaction of both.
In the morning the Doctor informed them that they were to depart
that day for Siani. The steamer Danube had arrived, and her captain
had been earl}' on shore to arrange for the delivery of what cargo was
to be landed, and to receive what he siiould take awaj'. He did not
expect to be long in port, and they must be prepared to leave at a few
hours' notice.
Their baggage was put in readiness, and the rest of tlie time on shore
was devoted to the preparation of letters for America. The French mail
steamer from Singapore was duo that day on her way to Hong-kong and

Shanghai, and when slie left she carried a goodly budget from the boys.
 THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF CAMBODIA. 71

In due time the letters were safely delivered and for a fortnight there
;

was little else talked of in tlio Bassett and Bronson households than the
adventures of Frank and Fi'ed in Cochin China.
The boys made good use of their time up to the last moment. Fred
found a copy of the book of M. Mouhot, who has been mentioned hereto-
fore, and the last hour of his stay in Saigon was devoted to writing out
the description which that gentleman gives of Oodong, the former capi-
tal of Cambodia. The visit of M. Mouhot was made in 1860, and is thus
described
" On approaching the capital the prospect becomes more diversified
we passed fields of rice, cottages encircled by fruit-gardens, and country-
houses belonging to the Cambodian aristocracy, wlio come here in the
evening for the sake of breathing a purer air than they can find in the
city. As we drew closer to the
gates, I found the place to be pro-
tected by a palisade three metres
high — about ten feet. The houses
are built of bamboo or planks, and
the market-place occupied by the
Chinese is as dirty as all the oth-
ers of which I have made mention.
The largest street, or, rather, the
only one, is about a mile in length ;

and in the environs reside the agri-

culturists, as well as the mandarins
and other government officers. The
entire population numbers about
twelve thousand.
" The many Cambodians living
in the immediate vicinity, and still

more the number of chiefs who re-

sort to Oodong for business or

pleasure, or are passing tiirough it

on their way from one province to

another, conti-ibute to give anima-
tion to the capital. Every mo-
A GIKL OF OODONG.
ment I met mandarins, either borne
in litters or on foot, followed by a crowd of slaves carrying various arti-

cles ; some yellow or scarlet parasols, more or less according to the rank
of the person ; otliers, boxes with betel. I also encountered horsemen
72 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAK EAST.

mounted on pretty, spirited animals, richly caparisoned and covered with

bells, ambling along, while a troop of attendants, covered with dust and
sweltering with heat, ran after tliem. Light carts, drawn by a couple of
small oxen, trotting along rapidly and noiselessly, were here and there to
be seen. Occasionally a large elephant passed majestically by. On this
side were numerous processions to the pagoda, marching to the sound of

music there, again, was a band of ecclesiastics in single file, seeking

;
alms,

draped in their yellow cloaks, and with the holy vessels on their backs."

HOCSE IN THE SnBHRBS.

 LEAVING COCHIN CHINA. tS

CHAPTER VI.

DEPARTURE FROM SAIGON.—VISITING A CHINESE JUNK.

^XTHEN the party went on board the Danube, the boys found that
' " they were not to have the comforts of the great steamers that had
brought them from Shangliai and Hong-kong. The Danube was a small
ship, and her buildei's did not design her for carrying passengers she was ;

constructed in England, and, after she arrived in China, a little cabin was
built on her deck, so that a couple of passengers might have a room to
share between them. The dining-saloon was about six feet long, and as
many wide, and its cushioned sofas could be used as beds. Consequently,
she could carry four passengers with comparative comfort, and, in emer-
gencies, another could sleep on the table when the sea was smooth, or
under it in rough weathei*. The captain was a jolly Englishman, who
gave a hearty greeting to the American strangers, and before they had
been ten minutes on board they felt quite at home. Their heavy bag-
gage was sent below, and there was plenty of room under the bunks in
the cabin for stowing all the articles they needed on the voyage.
The Danube moved from her anchorage and turned her prow down
the river.
" Hurrah !" shouted Frank, " now we are off for Siam."
Fred joined his cousin in raising a cheer.
" Don't be in too great a hurry," said Captain Clanchy, " we are not
off yet. We are to go along-side that Chinese junk you see just at the

bend of the river, and will take some cargo from her. We shall proba-

bly be two or three hours about it, and then we will be off for Siam."
Frank's face fell at this intelligence, but only for a moment.
"We shall have an opportunity of seeing a junk and going on board
of it," he remarked, " and that will repay us a dozen times over for the
delay."
Fred was equally happy at the prospect, and both the boys were im-
patient to be on the deck of the strange craft.
In a little while their wishes were gratified, and they were able to
74 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAE EAST.
 CHINESE NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. lO

step from the Danube to the great junk. Before they did so Fred
suggested that lie had just thought why these Chinese ships were called
junks.
"Why is it?" Frank asked.
" Because," was the reply, " you can see from the shape of them how
they are built. The Chinese make a ship a mile or two long, and when
they want one they cut off a junk, or chunk, just as you like to spell
it. Then they stick masts into it, and it is ready to sail away. It i?

square at both ends, and resembles a chunk out of a log more than
anything else."
There was a laugh all around at Fred's humorous description of the
Chinese process of ship-building, and by the time the joke had ceased
to amuse they were ready to go over the side. Captain Clanchy accom-
panied them, and pointed out several objects of interest that otherwise
might have escaped their attention.
"You observe," said the captain, "that the deck of the junk is lum-

bered up with all sorts of stuff. How the men manage to get around is
a mystery, and it is a wonder that they can keep the craft on her course
with everything in such confusion."
The boys were equally puzzled, and thought there must be a good
many junks lost The captain said such was the case; but,
every year.
on the other hand, there was such a great number of these craft that a
few more or less made no perceptible difference.
"Except to the owners and the men that are lost with the junks,"
remarked the Doctor. "It must be a very serious affair to them."
"Sometimes these junks last to a great age," the captain continued.
" There are junks now navigating the China seas that are more than a
hundred years old at least so I am informed."
;

" How long have the Chinese had this model for their ships ?" Frank
asked of the captain.
"Nobody knows how long," was the reply. "We are ignorant of
the early history of China, and can only guess at many things. But we
have reason to believe that the Chinese were the first people that ever
built ships to be propelled by the force of the wind alone. They began
with the model they now have, and have stuck to it ever since."
" Where is the captain of this jnnk ?" Fred asked. " I would like to
see him."
" She has probably half a dozen captains," Clanchy replied ;
" per-
haps a dozen."
" A dozen captains ! how can that be ?"
76 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" They build these junks in compartments," said the Doctor, in re-
sponse to Fred's inquiry, " and each compartment has a captain."
"I thought the plan of building ships in compartments was of mod-
ern invention, and had only been applied to ocean steamers in the last
thirty years. Seems to me I heard so," Frank remarked.
"In one sense you are right," the Doctor answered; "it is only about
thirty years ago that the English and American ship-builders began the
adoption of this principle. Nearly all the great steamers now navigat-
ing the Atlantic Ocean are divided into compartments — generally five

OUTLINK OF MOUlillN SIIU', SHOWING COMFAIITMENTS.

or six; and even should two of these spaces become filled with water
from any accident, the ship will continue to float. Several steamers
have been saved after collision with icebergs, or with other ships, by
reason of being thus constructed. JIad they been of the old model, they
would have infallibly gone to the bottom.
" But the Chinese are ahead of us, as they have built their ships in
this way for centuries. Six hundred yeai-s ago Marco Polo visited the
East, and on his return wrote a book about the country and people. He
describes the compartment ships that the Chinese built at that time, and
explains their advantages. The wonder is that it took the European
builders so long to copy the idea. Not till well into this century was
it adopted."
"But how about the half-dozen captains?" Fred asked. "Why
should a ship like this have so many, when the Great Eastern or the
City of Chester can get along with one?"
"The way of it is," said Captain Clanchy, " that the junk has a lot
of compartments — anyway from six to a dozen —and each compartment
is let out to a merchant. H^ is captain of that compartment and all it
contains; and if there are ten compartments, he is one-tenth captain of
the whole. under a chief who gets his orders from the
The crew is

merchants, and they have a great deal to say as to how the junk shall
sail. Sometimes they want her to go to half a dozen places at once, and
 HOW A JUNK GETS UNDER WAY. 77

in as many directions, and not infrequently they get into frightful rows
about it. Don't understand me to say that this is always the case, or
anything good many of their junks are managed pretty much
like it, as a
as an English ship would be. "We will see how the matter stands on
this one."
A little inquiry revealed the fact that there were two men on board
equally interested in the cargo, and with equal autliority over the move-
ments of the junk. But they were evidently working in perfect har-
mony, and so there was no chance that the strangers would be compelled
to witness a row among the commanders.
The boys found the deck of the junk covered with a very complex ar-

rangement of ropes, windlasses,

tubs, and baskets. Some of the
crew were sitting around wait-
ing for orders, and others were
As soon
at breakfast. as the
Danube was made fast along-
side, they were set at work to re-

move the cargo from one of the

compartments and transfer it to
the steamer. The steamer's crew
assisted in the work, and in a
little while it was accomplished.
During this time the great sail

of matting was flapping against

the mast, and the ropes were
swinging as though they would
become hopelessly entangled.
But no accident happened and ;

when the Danube had moved

away, the sails were run up and A JDNK SAILOR AT BRLAKKAST.
the junk began to push slowly
through the water. This gave the boys an opportunity to see her gen-
eral shape and mode of construction.
They found that she was built of heavy planking, and that many of
the planks retained the shape of the tree from which they were taken.
These planks, as they were told, were fastened together by wooden tree-
nails in fact, there was very little metal about the fastenings
; and, as a ;

further security, there were a good many lashings of ropes to hold the
outside timbers to the frame. Tlie stern rose high out of water, and was
73 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

cut off square, and the same was the case with the bow. Tlie funniest
thing was a pair of great staring eyes, to enable the ship to see her way,
and to frighten off the demons that infest the waters and have a partic-
ular hostility to sailors. Every boat and ship of Chinese construction is
provided with eyes, and the larger the eye the better the craft can take
care of herself.

CHINESE ItlVKR BOAT.

The junk had three masts, and there was a gay assortment
in question
of flags and streamers flying from them. The mat sails were held up by
—
a great many ropes there being a rope to each section where the bam-
boo poles ran across. There was a great advantage in this arrangement,
an increasing wind by
as it enabled the sailors to shorten sail in case of
simply lowering one of the sections could be taken in. And when
it till

they wish to furl the sail altogether, they have only to let go and the
whole thing comes "down with a run." The construction of the sails
can be better understood by reference to the picture here presented of
a boat such as the Chinese use for river navigation.
 PROGRESS IN SHIP-BUILDING. 19

As
the Danube steamed on down the river and out to sea the conver-
sation between the boys and Doctor Bronson turned very naturally upon
ships and their peculiarities.
"The difference between us and the Chinese in the matter of ships
is that we have progressed, while they have remained stationary. Their
junks are of the same pattern as they were a thousand years ago, while
we are making changes every year. Look at a picture of a European
ship of the fourteen tli century, and see how closely it resembles a Chi-
nese junk. Both the bow and stern are very far out of water, and the
arrangement of the sails is quite Chinese in its character. About the

SHIP OF THK FOUKTliKNTH CEKTDKT.

year 1520 the English built a war ship which they called the The Great
Harry, and it was considered a wonderful specimen of naval architect-
ure. Who would venture to sail in her now, and how long would it take
a war steamer of 1880 to send her to the bottom? Compare The Great
Harry with the Tennessee, which is one of the recent American ships,
and observe the progress tliat lias been made in three centuries and a
half. The bow and stern have been brought to a level, and the shape
80 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

of the hull is such that the ship glides through the water instead of
ploughing over it. Navigators have found that the ship that makes the
least '
fuss ' while in motion is the best, and they have devoted a great
deal of study to finding the proper shape for the least resistance."

"Tllli; GREAT HARKV.

"Yes," remarked Captain Clanchy, who was standing near, "and it

took them a long time to find that the shape of the stern of a ship was
almost as important as that of her bow, in regulating her speed. A
square stern makes a great boiling and depression in the water, while a
long tapering stern allows the water to close silently and with the least
possible resistance. You can easily illustrate what I mean by taking a
stick of wood that is square at both ends, and tying a string to it so as
to drag it endwise in the water. You find that it moves easier when
the forward end is sharpened than when both ends are blunt, and then
if you sharpen both of them you find it moves still more easily. This
is what the naval architects were a long time discovering, and the most

of them are wondering why they did not think of it before."

"Then, too," said Doctor Bronson, "it was found that by lengthen-
 IMPROVEMENTS IN STEAM NAVIGATION. 81

insr aship of the old model a great deal was gained. This has been
done in the last ten or fifteen years, and many of tiie steamers now run-
ning between New York and England have been lengthened in this way.
They have not been built on at either end, but have been cut in two in
the centre, and had a new section built in. A ship to be lengthened
would be placed on the ways, and then cut open in the middle. If she
was to be extended a hundred feet, the two ends would be drawn apart
for that distance, and then the space would be filled up. She might be
two hundred feet long when taken on the ways, and without any change
of bow or stern her length would be increased to three hundred feet.
With this addition to her tonnage she is much more valuable than be-
fore, and her original speed can be maintained with only a small addi-
tion to her power. Then there have recently been great improvements
in the construction of engines ; and I think it safe to say that what with
changes in length, engines, and some other things, a ship of a given num-
ber of tons can be run for half the expense that was required twentj'
years ago. Steam navigation is now so economical that it is rapidly
driving sailing vessels from the ocean. The number of sailing ships
on long voyages is diminishing every year, and that of steamers is in-

creasing."
•'What is the greatest speed that steamers can make nowadays, with
all these improvements ?" Frank asked.

THE " TliNNESSEE.

"There is much dispute," Doctor Bronson replied, "over the per-

formances of ships at sea, and it is not at all easy to get at the actual
facts. Take the great steam lines between New York and Liverpool,
and there are two or three of them that claim to have done better than
82 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

any of their rivals. Tlie managers of the White Star Line can show that
their ships have made the voyage quicker than the Inman steamers, and
the Inman managers can as readily prove that their ships have surpassed
all others. There are several steamers afloat that have made more than
four hundred miles in tvpent^^-four hours, but they can only do it when
all the circumstances are favorable. There are manj' men who believe
that steamers will be built before the end of this century that will make

THU PUBLIC HIGHWAY OF THK FUTCRE.

five hundred miles in a daj', and if we judge of the future by the past,
I see no reason to doubt that the feat will be accomplished. We may
yet come to the speed of a railway train on the water, and more than
one inventor believes that he can do so. The prediction that we will
yet cross the Atlantic in three days is no wilder than would have been
the prediction, at the beginning of this centurj', that we could travel on
land or sea at our present rate, and that intelligence could be liashed
along a wire in a few seconds of time from one end of the world to the
other. The railway, the ocean steamer, the telegraph, tlie telephone, and
 TRAVELLING IN A.D. 3000. 83

many other things that seem almost commonplace to us, would have been
regarded as the emanations of a crazy brain a hundred years ago."
" Perhaps," said Fred, " the year 3000 may find us travelling in the
air as freely as we now travel on land."
" Not at all impossible," the Doctor answered. " We, or our de-
scendants, may be able to go through the air at and show the birds
will,

that we can do as much as they can. Not long ago I was reading a
sketch which was supposed to be written a thousand years hence. The
writer describes his and gives a picture of the public highway.
ti-avels,

An omnibus supported by balloons, and drawn by a pair of them har- —

—
nessed as we would harness horses is represented on its way through the
air. The driver is ou his box and the conductor at the door, while the
passengers are looking out of the windows. A bird, who has doubtless
become thoroughly familiar with the aerial craft, has seized the hat of a
passenger and flies away with it, and the victim of the theft is vainly

stretching his hands towards his property. Balloons are sailing through
the air, and one a man is seated, who is evidently out for a day's sport.
in
He has a rod and line, and is industriously occupied in birding, just as
one might engage in fishing from the side of a boat. A string of birds
hangs from the seat of his conveyance, and he is in the act of taking a
fresh prize at the end of his line.

THK BOMIi FKRRY.

84 THE BOY TEAVKLLEKS IN THE FAK EAST.

" There is another picture representing the ferry of the future. It

consists of an enormous mortar, from which a couple of bombs have
been fired ; they are connected by a chain, and each bomb is large enough
to contain several persons. The passengers are supposed to be quite com-
f oi"table, and to be whizzed through the air at the speed of a cannon-shot."

MOONLIGHT AT SBA IN TUB TllOl'lOS.

" But, of course, such a thing is impossible," said Fred ;

" nobody could
stand it to be shot through a tube at that rate."
"But something very much like it has been proposed in all serious-
ness a few years ago an inventor in New York had a scheme for a line
;

of tube four or five feet in diameter, and extending to the pi'incipal cities
of the land. His cars were to consist of hollow globes or spheres, and
they were to be propelled at a very rapid rate by exhausting the air in
front of them. His plan was regarded as quite visionary, but it is not
at all impossible that it may jet come into use. Small pneumatic tubes
are in successful operation for the transmission of letters and little par-
cels; and in London there is a tube four feet in diameter from the Gen-
eral Post-office to a railway station more than two miles away. The mail-
bags are transported through this tube, and on several occasions men have
taken their places in the carriages and enjoyed the sensation of this novel
mode of travel."
 CROSSING THE GULF OF SUM.
35
The Steamer held her tortuousway down the Mekong, and at length

tlZt '^1^
-t""
l.ghtf ul, though a trifle
,
"^' ^-^"^ °"* *« ^^^- ^^- -^*'^- -- ?e
warm, and the three passengers found
the cabin
oppressive at times on account of
tlie closeness of the
atmosphere. A
good deal of their time was
passed on deck both by day and
by nio-ht

e" ovl e
enjoyable. o"" ""n'"i
Occasionally
'' ''' '"''' '''' ''^'' «" ^^^ -^ ^^orougldy
they were joined by the captain,
and, as he pos

intorma ion of a varied character.

As they were bound for Siam, they
overhauled their trunks for all
the books they possessed on
that coun
try a,^ happily they
found several volumes in the captain's
library that
w re of use to them. Among them was
the account of Marco Poio
his travels in the East. and
What our friends found iu the work in question
we will reserve for the next chapter. question

A STORY OF THE SEA.

86 THE BOV TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST,

CHAPTEE VII.

THE WONDERFUL STORY OF MARCO POLO.

" TTTHAT do you make out of Marco Polo's book ?" said the Doctor
' ' to the bo}'s, after they had devoted a sufficient time to its perusal.
"We find it very interesting," Frank replied. "The style is quaint,
and the information it contains is curious. Evidently' it is a true story,
and the man must have actually gone over the ground he describes, or it
would never be so accui-ate."
"It is some time since I read it," responded Doctor Bronson, "and
perhaps you had best tell me about it. By so doing you will refresh
my memory, and at the same time fix the information in your own
minds."
Thus encouraged, the boys proceeded to tell the story of Marco Polo
to Doctor Bronson, just as though he had never heard it. The Doctor
was a patient listener, and both Frank and Fred showed, b}' the complete-
ness of their account, that they had thoroughly read the book.
"To begin with," said Frank, "Marco Polo was a Venetian advent-
urer. His father was named Nicolo Polo, and he Marco had an uncle — —
named Maffeo. Marco was born in the year 1354:, and six years later his
father and uncle started on a journey to Constantinople and the southern
part of Russia. They were merchants, and their business carried them
into Central Asia, and then to Cathay, where they spent some time with
the khan, or emperor, of that country."
"And what is Cathay?" said Dr. Bronson, with a smile.
" Cathay is the ancient name for China," Fred answered, " and even
to-day it is sometimes called so. Do you remember how Tennyson, in
one of his poems, says,

;'
" '
Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay

and I am sure you once told me that the Russian name of China is

'Kitie,' with the accent on the last syllable. That is pretty near the
sound of Cathay, and undoubtedly came from it."
 THE POLOS IN CATHAY. 87

"Quite correct," the Doctor responded; "you have a good memory

both for facts and poetry."
"Kublai-Khan, the Emperor of Cathay," Frank continued, " had never
before seen a gentleman from Europe. He was delighted with the Vene-
tians, and greatly interested in the stories they told liim about Europe

and its countries and customs. How long they remained there we do
not know, but it is certain that the emperor, Kublai-Khan, determined
to send them as ambassadors to the Pope, who was then the greatest
monarch of Europe. Accordingly, he wrote letters to the Pope asking
him to send a large number of educated missionaries to Cathay to con-
vert the people to Christianity. These he intrusted to the two Polos, and
sent with them an officer of his own court.

.- -K'f^r^.

.'\IAltCO roLO.

"Before they started on their mission he gave them a golden tablet,

upon which there was inscribed an order for them to receive everything
they might desire for their comfort and convenience in the countries
through which they might pass and his last order to tliem was to bring
; '
88 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IX THE FAR EAST.

back to him some oil of the lamp which burns ou the sepulchre of our
Lord at Jerusalem.' On the road the Tartar prince who accompanied
them fell sick, and they were obliged to leave him behind. If the truth
were known, it is quite probable he did not wish to make the journey,
and was glad of an excuse for avoiding it.

Tirn OliliAT KHAN DELIVERING A TABLKT TO Tllli KLUKU I'OLO BliOTHliKS.

(From a Minijitnre of the Fourteenth Century.)

" In 1269 the brothers arrived at Acre, in Palestine, and found that
the Pope, Clement IV., had died the year before, and no new one liad
been chosen. So they went to Venice to see how
matters stood in that city, and to get some news of
their families. Nicolo found that his wife had died
during his absence, and his son Marco was a fine
youth of fifteen years.
"They waited at Venice for two years; but the
College of Cardinals could not agree on anew Pope,
and consequently the Church was without any head
ARJIS OF THi; I'OLO to whom they could deliver their letters. Fearing
FA5IILV.
that the Great Khan would be displeased at their
long absence, and believe them faithless to their trust, they determined to
return to him and explain the state of affairs. Accordingly, they started
in 1271, taking J'oung Marco with them, and in due time were once more
at Acre. Before they left the coast for the interior, they learned that a
new Pope had been chosen. The man on whom the choice fell was then
in Syria, and so they were able to carry out the khan's commission, and
 DEl'Ain'L'RE OF MARCO POLO FOE THE EAST. 89

get a reply. But he -was only able to give them two priests to accom-
pany them to Cathay, and these soon found a reason for declining to go
to the strange land. So the three Polos set out alone for the dominions
of the Great Khan.

'^- iff

NICOLO POLO, FATHER OF MAllCO.

" With the letters, presents from the Pope to the khan, and the holy
oil from Jerusalem, they took the route by Sivas, Mosul, and Bagdad to
riormuz, where the}' turned north and went tlirough Bokhara, Persia, and
90 THE UOV TKAVELLEKS IN THE FAK EAST.

by way of Kasligar, Yaikand, and Klioten. Then they went to the des-
ert of Gobi, and, after crossing it, reached the territories of the khan near
the great wall of China. They had been three years and a half on the
journey, and the date of their arrival at the khan's court is supposed to
be 1275.
"
The khan was greatly pleased to see them, and he was especially
delighted with young Marco, to whom he seemed to take very kindly.
Marco, in his turn, sought to win the favor of the emperor by making
himself as useful as possible; he studied the Oriental languages, and in
a little while he could speakand write no less than four of them.
" The emperor soon began to employ him in tlie jpublic service, and
he acquitted himself so well that he was sent in charge of missions to
distant countries. His first mission was to the province of Yunnan, and
in going there he was obliged to pass through several other provinces.
He had noticed, during his stay at court, that the emperor was very fond
of hearing about strange countries and their manners and customs, and
sohe took good care to bring back as much information as possible. The
khan complimented him for his learning, and found him a great contrast
to the commissioners, who could never tell anything except the business
on which they had gone.
"We don't know much about the details of his employment while he
was at the court of the emperor," said Frank, " but we are told that he
was for three years governor of the great city of Yangtchoo and we also ;

learn that he was in Tangut for a year or more, and that he went on mis-
sions to Mongolia, to Cochin Cliina, and other regions, and commanded
expeditions to the Indian seas. What his father and uncle were doing
all this time we do not know, except that the evidence shows they were

making themselves rich. Perliaps they were able to obtain good con-
tracts through the influence of Marco and if they could get a monopoly
;

of government contracts for a few years, they would have no difficulty

in pilingup a large fortune.
Thus they remained at the court of the khan for eleven years, and
"

by-and-by they wanted to go home and enjoy their wealth. But the
khan would not listen to it, and perhaps they would never have been
heard of again had not been for an accident.
if it

"Arghun-Khan of Persia, a great-nephew of Kublai-Khan, had lost

his wife, and her dying injunction was that her place should be filled by
a lady of her own kin —
the Mongol tribe of Bayaut. An embassy came
to Kublai's court witli the request, and the choice fell on Lady Kukaehin,
who is described as a most beautiful woman. The overland road to Per-
 THE GREAT KHAN OF TAETARY. 91

siawas considered dangerous, and it was determined to send her by sea.

Accordingly, the khan fitted out an expedition in fine style, and, as the

Venetians were well acquainted with navigation, while the Tartars were
ignorant of it, the khan concluded to send the Polos with the fleet. He
was reluctant to let them go but having once determined to do so, he
;

gave thein a great many fine presents, and intrusted them with messages
to the various sovereigns of Europe, including the King of England.
They appear to have sailed from the Port of Zayton in the early part

POKTRAIT OF KUBLAI KHAN.

(Prom a Chiucse Engraving.)

of 1292. The voyage was long and unfortunate, and the greater part of
the embassy and suite perished on the way. The lady and the tin-ee Ve-
netians arrived safely in Persia, wherewas found that her intended hus-
it

band had died, and so she was compelled to marry his son.
" As soon as their mission had ended, the Polos proceeded to Venice,
92 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

which they reached in tiie year 1295. Their long absence had caused
them to be well-nigh forgotten, and very few people could be found who
remembered anything about the Polos. They had changed much in their
complexions, had almost forgotten their own language all their utter- ;

ances had a decidedly Tartar accent; and they were so travel-stained and
shabby that they had difficulty in being received in their own house,
which was now occupied by relatives.
" In order to establish their identity, the wanderers invited their rela-

tives to a grand banquet. When the time came for sitting down at table,
the three appeared in robes of crimson satin ; a little later they exchanged
these for robes of crimson damask, and these again for the richest velvet
of the same color. Afterwards they dressed in clothing like that of the
rest of the company', and each of the crimson robes, as soon as it was laid
aside,was cut up and given to tiie servants.
"Just as the dinner was breaking up, Marco rose from the table and
retired for a moment. When he returned, he brought the siiabby dresses
they had worn on their arrival, and the three Polos then went to work
with knives to rip open these apparently worthless garments. As they
cut away the seams, showers of great diamonds of the purest water, and
also emeralds, pearls, rubies, sapphires, and carbuncles, fell on the table.
" There could be no further doubt about the relationship ; e\erybody
at table was ready to swear that he was father, son, and brother all at

once to any of the trio. them in great numbers,

Relatives poured in on
and all Venice rushed to do them honor. They were appointed to offices
of high trust, and the young men of Venice came to hear Marco tell of the
wonders he had seen in his long absence. They were the most popular
men in the city, and received more invitations to dinner than they could
accept.
" There is a tradition that the wife of one of the Polos one day gave
a beggar an old coat belonging, to her husband, as she considered it too
shabby for himwear any longer. When he asked for it the next day,
to
in order to put away the jewels it contained, she told him she had given
it to a poor man whom she did not know. The tradition says, He went '

to the Bridge of Eialto, and stood there turning a wheel, to no apparent

purpose, but as if he were a madman and to all who ci-owded around
;

to see what prank was this, and asked him why he did it, he answered,
" He'll come, if God pleases." So, after two or three days, he recognized
his old coat on the back of one of those who came to stare at his mad
proceeding, and got it back again.'
" Soon after his return, an expedition was sent from Venice against
VENETIAN WAR-SHIP OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTUKVT. 93
94 THE BOY TEAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Genoa, and Marco was placed in command of one of the ships or galleys.
A great battle was fonglit the Venetians were defeated Marco was capt-
; ;

nred, placed in irons, and lodged in a prison at Genoa. While in captivi-

ty, he told the story of his travels to a fellow-prisoner named Rusticiano
or Riistichello, of Pisa, and the latter committed it to writing. It was
fortunate for us, though not so for him, that Marco Polo was in prison,

as otherwise we might never have had an account of his travels. After

his release, he led a quiet life at Venice, and seems to have died not far
from the year 1325. He
was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo;
but all trace of his tomb was lost when that edifice was rebuilt.
"Now it is Fred's turn," said Frank; "I have told the history of
Marco Polo, and shown why and how he went to the East Fred will ;

give you an account of what the great traveller saw in his absence from
Europe of nearly twenty years."
Fred drew his note-book from his pocket and proceeded to his share
of the entertainment.
Marco Polo's work," said Fred, " consists of four
" divisions or books
and a prologue. The prologue opens as follows:
" Great princes, emperors, and kings, dukes and marquises, counts,
'

knights, and burgesses, and people of all degrees, who desire to get
knowledge of the various races of mankind, and of the diversities of
the sundry regions of the world, take this book and cause it to be read
to you. For ye shall find therein all kinds of wonderful thiogs, and the
divers histories of the great Hermenia, and of Persia, and of the land of
the Tartars, and of India, and of many another country of which our
book doth speak particularly, and in regular succession, according to the
description of Messer Marco Polo, a wise and noble citizen of Venice, as
he saw them with his own eyes. Some things, indeed, there be therein
which he beheld not but these he heard from men of credit and veraci-
;

ty. And we shall set down things seen as seen, and things heard as
heard only, so that no jot of falsehood may mar the truth of our book
and that all who read it or hear it I'ead may put full faith in the truth
of all its contents.'
"It hardly worth while to read the whole prologue to you," Fred
is

remarked, " as it is long, and we can only give a general glance at the
contents of the whole work. A
great many editions of the travels of
Marco Polo have been published the most valuable of all is the latest,
;

which is by Colonel Yule, an English officer who spent a long time in

India. He has made a careful study of the subject, and his work, with
explanatory notes, is as complete as years of labor could make it. Indeed,
 PRINCE ALAU AND THE CALIPH. 1)5

there are more pages taken up with the explanatory notes than with the
original text of Marco Polo.
" The four divisions or books give an account of the various coun-
tries he visited in his years of wandering, and of the wonderful sights he
beheld. The route he followed can be traced by geograijhers without
difficulty,and the cities he visited have most of them been identified.
Many have had their names changed, and some have disappeared alto-
gether, so that in a few instances the localities are in dispute. But, taken
as a whole, the story is a truthful one, and shows Marco Polo to have been
the greatest traveller of his time.
"
Some of the stories that seem at first to be the wildest fiction are
known to be founded in fact, if not literally correct. In speaking of
Syria, he says :
'
There is a great lake at the foot of a mountain, and in
this lake are found no
great or small, throughout the whole year till
fish,

Lent comes. On the first day of Lent they find in it the finest fish in the
world, and great store, too, thereof and these continue to be found till
;

Easter-eve. After that they are found no more till Lent comes round
again and so 'tis every year.'
;

" Colonel Yule is unable to locate the particular lake mentioned, but
saj-s there are several lakes in different parts of the East that are de-
serted by the fish for certain periods of the year. It would not be at
all strange if such were the
and a very little exaggeration of the
case,
story would make the fish appear in Lent, and go away at other times.
"While describing Baudas the modern Bagdad — he tells how an —
army, under Prince Alau, captured the city, and found the greatest accu-
mulation of ti'easure that ever was known. The prince was enraged at
seeing so much wealth, and asked the caliph why he did not take the
money to hire soldiers to defend the city. '
The caliph,' saysMarco,
'
wist not what to answer, and said never a word. So the prince con-
tinued, " Now what a love thou hast borne thy
then, caliph, since I see
treasure, I will e'en give So he shut the caliph up in the
it thee to eat."
treasure-tower, and bade that neither meat nor drink should be given
liim, saying, " Now, caliph, eat of thy treasure as much as thou wilt, since
thou art so fond of it, for never shalt thou have aught else to eat !"
" So the caliph lingered four days in the tower, and then died. The
story has been used by several poets both in England and America, and
it has been made the basis of an Eastern romance.
" Some of the more fanciful stories he tells are about the men of
Lambri, and of Angamanain. Here is what he says of the former:
'"Now you must know that in this kingdom of Lambri there are
96 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

men with tails ; tliese tails are of a palm iu length,and have no hair on
them. These people live in the mountains, and are a kind of wild men.
Their tails are about the thickness of a dog's. There are also plenty of
unicorns in the country, and abundance of game and beasts.'
in birds

AI.AU SHUTS UP TlIK CALIPH OF BAUDAS IN IIIS TltlOASUIlK-TDWl-.K.

" The story is not very definite," Frank suggested, " as there is a great
difference in the size of dogs' tails. The range from a terrier or pug to
a mastiff or a Siberian blood-hound is pretty wide. It reminds me of the
stone thrown at a man, that was described by a witness as about the size
of a piece of chalk."
"By the island of Angamanain," Fred continued, "Polo probably
meant the Andaman Islands. Here is what he says of them
" The people are without a king, and are idolaters, and no better than
'

wild beasts. And you that all the men of this island of Ano-a-
I assure
manain have heads and teeth and eyes likewise! In fact, in
like dogs,
the face they are just like big mastiff dogs They have a quantity of !

spices; but they are a most cruel generation, and eat everybody they can
catch, if not of their own race. They live on flesh and rice and milk,
and have fruits different from ours.'
 MEN WITH DOGS' HEADS. 97

"Now, the fact is," Fred explained, " that tlie natives of tlie Andaman
Islands have a bad reputation. Down have to the present time tliey
been repeatedly charged with murdering the crews of ships that were
wrecked there; and it is only recently that their cannibalism has been
denied. They are very black, and not at all handsome in face or figure
and out of these facts I suppose the story came that they had heads
like dogs.
" He describes a fountain in the kingdom of Mosul, from which
' oil

springs in great abundance, insomuch that a hundred ship-loads might

be taken from it at one time. This oil is not good to use with food, but
'tis good to burn, and is also used to anoint camels that have the mange.'
Evidently they had petroleum in Asia six hundred years ago, as we have
it in America to-day, and thought we had made a new discovery.

DOG-IIUADKD MEN OF ANGAMANAIN.

" He speaks of oxen that are all over white as snow, and very large
'

and handsome. Whenthey are to be loaded they kneel like the camel
once the load is adjusted, tiiey rise. Then there are sheep as big as asses
and their tails are so large and fat that one tail shall weigh more than
thirty pounds. They are fine fat beasts, and afford capital mutton.'
7
98 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

These fat-tailed sheep are known in Asia and Africa, and the weight he
gives is said not to be excessive.
" In one place there is an account of the posting system of the Great
Khan of Tartary, which seems to have been more perfect than the post-
ing system of Europe at the same date. From Kambaluc, the capital
now known as Peking —the roads branched in all directions, and '
each
road,' says Marco, ' is known by the name of the province to which it

leads. And the messengers of the emperor, in travelling from Kamba-

luc, be the road whichsoever they will, find at every twenty-five miles of
the journey a station which they call Yarnb, or, as we would say, the Post-
horse -house. And at eacli of tliose stations used by the messengers
there is handsome building for them to put up at, in which
a large and
they find all the rooms furnished with fine beds, and all other necessary
articles in rich silk, and where they are pi'ovided with everj'thing they
can want. If even a king were to arrive at one of these, he would find
himself well lodged. At some of these stations there shall be posted
more than 400 horses, standing ready for the use of messengers and at ;

some 200, according to the requirements. * * * There are more than

300,000 kept at all these posts, and more than 10,000 great buildings
for the use of messengers.'
" How much China has declined since the days of Marco Polo," Frank
remarked. "The great buildings and the silk beds do not exist; and
as for the horses, we were unable to find them at the posting-stations, or
even to find any stations where they might be kept."
Fred took breath during this interruption, and then went on with the
story of what Marco Polo claimed to have seen.
" The houses of the Tartars,' says Marco, ' are
' made of wands cov-
ered with These are carried along with them whithersoever they go.
felt.

They also have wagons covered with black felt so efficaciously that no
rain can get in. These are drawn by oxen and camels, and the women
and children travel in them. They eat all kinds of flesh, including horses
and dogs and Pharaoh's Their drink
is mares' milk.'
rats. This account
is confirmed by other writers and the houses of the Tartars are made to-
;

day as Polo describes, though they are not drawn about on wheels. One
ancient writer says tliat lie measured one of the Tartar wagons, and found
that the wheels were twenty feet apart, and it was drawn by twenty -two
oxen, eleven abreast.
" He has a good deal to say," Fred continued, " about the famous bird
known as the roc, or rukh. He does not claim to have seen one of these
birds, but was informed by persons who had done so. According to his
A TARTAR TENT IN MOTION. 99
100 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

account, '
It was for all the world like an eagle, but one, indeed, of enor-
mous size ; so big, in fact, that its wings covered an extent of thirty paces,

THE KOO, FROM A PERSIAN DRAWING.

and its quillswere twelve paces long, and thick in proportion and it is ;

so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him up in

the air and drojj him, so that he is smashed to pieces having so killed ;

him, the bird swoops down on him

and eats him at leisure.'
" In a note explaining this story,

Colonel Yule says there was once

a bird in Madagascar, where Polo
places the roc, that was much larger
than any known bird of the present
day. Its eggs have been found in a
fossil state, and one of them is pre-
served in the British Museum. It
measures thirteen and a quarter by
six and a half inches (length and
KOCS EGG, NOW IN THE URITISK MUSEUM. width), and the capacity of the shell
is nearly three and a half gallons.
It was undoubtedly from this bird that the fable of the roe arose."
Frank ventured to ask Fred if he had found from Marco Polo's book
 PAPER MONEY FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 101

what kind of money was used in China at the time he visited that
country.
"I am just coming to that," Fred answered. "Polo says that the
great emperor, Kublai- Khan, was a wonderful man. 'lie transformed
the bark of the mulberry-tree into something resembling sheets of paper,
and these into money, which cost him nothing at all, so that you might

J^'iiik

CHINESE BANK-NOTE OF THE MING DTNASTl".

say he had the secret of alchemy to perfection. And these pieces of

paper he made to pass current universally, over all his kingdoms and
provinces and ten'itories, and whithersoever his sovereignty extended j

and nobody, however important he thought himself, dared to refuse

them on pain of death."
102 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" History repeats itself," said Doctor Broiison ;

" for many a modern
government has made the same laws in order to compel the circulation of
its promises to pay."
" And with the same result," Fred responded ;
" for we learn farther
on from Marco Polo that, in spite of the death penalty, the legal-tender
Khan was only worth half its nominal value in silver;
issue of the Great
and the more money he issued, the greater was the depreciation. But
the khan was not the inventor of paper-money, for it was known at least
four centuries before his time. Its origin is disputed, but the probabili-
ties are that it came from the East.
" Some of the stories that are told about supernatural appearances are
very interesting," continued Fred. " In the desert of Gobi, Polo says

that the traveller who lags behind his party at night will hear spirits
talking, and will suppose them to be his comrades. Sometimes the
spirits will callhim by name, and thus shall a traveller ofttimes be led
astray, so that he never finds his party and in this way many have per-
;

ished. And sometimes you shall hear the sound of a variety of musical
instruments, and still more commonly the sound of drums.
" He says, in another place, When the Great Khan, seated on a plat-
'

form some eight cubits above the pavement, desires to drink, cups filled
with wine are moved from a bujffet in the centre of the hall, a distance
of ten paces, and present themselves to the emperor without being touch-
ed by anybody.'
"Polo describes other magical performances, some of which are par-
tially explained by Colonel Yule. Another traveller relates that a jug-
gler performed some remarkable tricks in his presence and among them ;

is the following He took a wooden ball with several holes in it,

:
'

through which loose thongs were passed, and, laying hold of one of these,
slung it into the air. It went so high that we lost sight of it altogether.
There now remained only a little of the end of a thong in tlie conjui-er's
hand, and he desired one of the boys who assisted him to lay hold of it
and mount. He did so, climbing by the thong, and we lost sight of him
The conjurer then called to him three times but getting no answer, he
;

snatched up a knife as if in a great rage, laid hold of the thong, and dis-
appeared By-and-by he threw down one of the boy's hands; then
also.

a foot then the other hand, and then the other foot
; then the trunk ;

and, last of all, the head. Then he came down himself, all pufiing and
panting, and, with his clothes all bloody, kissed the ground, and said some-
thing in Chinese. Then he took the lad's limbs, laid them together, gave
a kick, when, presto ! there was the boy, who got up and stood before us.'"
 ANCIENT NECROMANCY. 103

CHINESE CONJUKrNG BXTKAOUDINARY.

" jugglers are said to do the same trick, or one very much
The Indian
Doctor Bronson. " I have read a description of one of their
like it," said
performances, in which they took a long chain and threw one end of it
in the air, where it remained as if fastened to something. A dog was
then brought forward, and I'an up the chain and disappeared in the air.

In the same way a hog, a panther, a lion, and a tiger were sent up the
chain one after the other, and all disappeared at its upper end. Finally
they took down the chain, rolled it up and put it in a bag, no one being
able to discover how the trick was performed."
" Wemust come to a stop now," said Fred,"though we haven't heard
a tenth part of the strange things inMarco Polo's story of his travels.
His account of the Court of Kublai-Khan would take a long time to tell,
and perhaps you would get tired of it before I came to the end. So, if
you want to know more, you must do as I have done read for yourself." —
The interesting session of the party over the travels of the famous
104 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IX THE FAR EAST.

Venetian were brought to a close. The Doctor complimented the boys

on the excellent work they had done in making a condensed account of
the book, and said he was so pleased with tliem that he would give them
a similar piece of employment whenever the opportunity occurred.
" It is a capital way," said Fred, " to fix in
mind what we have read.
when I know I must make a sum-
I find tliat I read with greater care
mary of a book than if I am to throw it down when through and think
no more of it. I'm very glad we had to go thi-ough Marco Polo's history
in this way."
"And I too," Frank added. "But it is what we used to dislike so
much at school."
"What was that ?" Fred asked.
"Why, writing compositions, to be sure," Frank responded. "Don't
you remember how we used to detest it ?"
"Of course I do," was the answer; "but we alwaj's did it without an
object. The teacher told us to write something about 'spring,' or 'the
beauties of nature,' or some other subject that was not at all definite.

Now if he had given us an interesting book to read, and said he M'anted

CAI'TAIN Cr.AXClIV AT WORK.

 THE CAPTAIN FINDING THE SHIP'S POSITION. 105

US to do with it as we have done with this, we should have '

written a
comi^osition ' with some relish."
" It will be eight bells soon," the captain interrupted, " and ifyon
want to see me take the sun you had better come forward."
The boys had familiarized themselves with the process of finding a
ship's position; but anything at sea that varies the monotony is always
welcome. So they went forward with Captain Clanchy, and stood by
the rail till that brief performance was ended. Then they retired to
the cabin, and watched the operation of working up the steamer's posi-
tion; and by the time this was over, the steward announced that dinner
was I'eady.

COME TO DIXXKR!
106 THE BOY TKAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTER VIII.

ARRIVAL IN SIAM.— FIRST DAY IN BANGKOK.

npHE boj's found a novel way of taking fresh-water baths during their
-- voyage from Saigon to Bangkok. Nearly every day there was a
heavy shower of rain, and sometimes two or three showers in the course

A NATCRAL SHOWEK-BATH.

of twenty-four hours. The rain came literally in torrents ; it poured as

though great gates had been suddenly opened in the sky, to allow the
passage of the water by dozens of barrels at a time. Neither Frank nor
 AN AWKWARD SITUATION. 107

Fred had ever seen the rain fall so fast ; the Doctor assured them that
showers of this kind were very common in the tropics, especially during
the change of the monsoons.
Whenever the clouds indicated a coming shower, the boys generally
went to the cabin and soon appeared in their bathing-suits. Covering
their heads with straw hats, to protect them from the pelting of the great
drops, they would sit in the rain and enjoy the luxury of the earliest
form of shower-bath ever known. One night, when they were sleeping
on deck, they were suddenly awakened by the pouring of the rain in their
faces, and, before they could gather their clothing and escape to shelter,
they were treated to a bath they had not bargained for. It is one of the
inconveniences of sleeping on deck in the tropics that you are liable to
have your slumbers disturbed in this way, just as you are dreaming of
pleasant things, and in no mood for waking.

FLYING-FISH.

Though they were not in sight of land, our friends realized that they
were in a comparatively smallbody of water, and not in the open ocean.
The and heaving of the Atlantic and Pacific waves were altogether
swell
absent; though the steamer was a diminutive one in comparison with
the great ships on which they had travelled hitherto, she rolled and
pitched very little, and sometimes her motion was as steady as though
she was navigating a river. The Gulf of Siara does not occupy a large
place on the map, and for a great part of the year it is as peaceful as a
lake. The captain told them that it was rarely disturbed by typhoons
or severe gales, and was about five hundred miles long by two hundred
and fifty in width.
108 THE UOV TKAVKLLEES IN THE FAR EAST.

Porpoises and fljing-iish appeared occasionally, and their lively leaps

from the water were a source of much amusement to the youths.
The first indication of their approach to the coast of Siam was the
appearance of a dark line on the northern horizon. As they steamed on,
this line developed into a fringe of tropical trees ; but before they could
make anything more of it than the merest fringe, the steamer came to
anchor. As they were still a long way from land, the boys could not
understand the reason for stopping, and Fred ventured to ask the cap-
tain why they did not go on.

VIKW NEAU PAKNAM.

"The principal reason," the captain answered, "is because we can't.

The approach to the river is very shallow, and our steamer cannot cross
the bar till high -tide. We must wait here till the tide serves, and we
have a pilot to take us in."
The pilot came to the ship soon after they anchored, and in a few
 ENTERING THE MENAM KIVER. 109

hours he announced that it was time to move on. The anchor was lifted,
and the Danube steamed slowly onward towards the shore.
Very soon it was apparent to the boys that the waters along this part
of the coast were very shallow, as the steamer stirred the mud from the
l)Ottom and left a dirty streak behind her. The bar at the mouth of the
Menam prevents the passage of large ships, and there was a fleet of half
a dozen or more lying outside and receiving their cargo from lighters.
Vessels drawing less than fifteen feet can go up without difficulty and ;

once they have passed the bar, there is no trouble in proceeding on to

Bangkok.
" I wonder if that is Bangkok ?" said Fred, as he pointed to a conical
tower that rose just ahead of them, and apparently a short distance above
the mouth of the river.
" Oh no," the captain replied, " that is not Bangkok at all. The city
is thirty miles up the river,and what you see now is Paknam. We shall
stop in front of it to get the permit from the custom-house to allow us
to proceed up the river.
" The tower that you see is a temple on a small island opposite Pak-
nam. It is used on festival days, and once in awhile the king comes
down here to worship. On such occasions they have boat-races, and a
good time generally ; some of the boats are rowed entirely by girls, and
the sport is very exciting."
A boat came from the custom-house, and an officer mounted to the
deck of the steamer. His visit was a brief one, as the Dawube was a reg-
ular visitor at the port, and did not require any unusual formalities. Af-
ter a short delay, the steamer moved on under charge of the pilot, though
the captain remained on the bridge and kept a sliarp watch over the
movements of his vessel. It is a curious feature of maritime law that
when a ship is in charge of a pilot her captain's authority ceases ; but in
case of accident he comes in for a liberal share of censure.
The boys found that the Menam was as crooked as the Mekong, and
not unlike the latter in its The channel appeared to
general features.
be free of sand-bars or other impediments to navigation, though some of
the bends of the stream were rather short for a large ship to turn in
with ease. At one place there was a channel or canal that saved a great
distance for small boats; but it was impracticable for the Dannie, which

was obliged to follow the winding of tlie river. A little tow-boat entered
this canal just as tliey passed the entrance; she steamed leisurely through,
and as the Danuhe rounded the bend Frank discovered that the tow-boat
was several miles ahead of them.
110 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

The river was full of native boats, some going in one direction and
some in another. Now and then a house was visible in the dense foliage,
and there was an occasional clus-
ter of dwellings large enough to
be called a village. Many of
the houses were built so that a
platform in front overhung the
water; and the whole structure
was on piles, in order to form a
refuge against snakes and wild
beasts, and also to secure the in-
habitants against being suddenly
driven out by an inundation.
But what impressed the young
travellers more than anything
else was the richness of the
tropical vegetation along the
banks of the river. Here were
palms in great variety, and many
huge
whose names were un-
trees
NATIVE HUT ON THE MEKAM RIVEK.
known
them and there was a
to ;

dense growth of underbrush, through which it would be very difficult for

a man to penetrate unless armed with a hatchet, and not at all easy even
then. Many of the trees were covered with creeping and climbing plants,
so that not a particle of the surface or foliage of the original tree could
be seen, and very often the burden of parasites was so great that the trees
had fallen beneath it.
" I have read," said Frank, " about the vines that destroyed a tree, but
have never fairly seen an instance of it till now."
" Nor I either," Fred responded. " Look at that fine tree that has
been quite broken down by the weight of the plants that cling to it.

And observe, too, the bright blossoms that the vine has spread out, as if
it was exulting over the destruction it had caused."
Some of the creeping vines had a scarlet flower of a very gaudy pat-
tern, and it seemed as if it was their season for blooming, as the vines in
several instances were completely covered with blossoms.
Now and then there were little openings in the forest that looked like
pathways. The Doctor told his young companions that these paths un-
doubtedly led to villages or single houses that were hid away in the dense
foliage. The Doctor's belief was confirmed by the glimpse of an occa-
 TROPICAL FOLIAGE. Ill

A VILLAGE PATHWAY IN SIAM.

112 THE BOY TRAVELLEKS IN THE EAR EAST.

sional figure among the trees, and by dusky faces that contemplated the
steadilymoving steamer.
But it was not all a tropical forest with occasional villages. There
were sugar plantations, some of them of considerable extent and there ;

were rice-fields where dozens and dozens of men were at work. Frank
contemplated a lot of these laborers with the captain's glass, and remarked
that the Siamese resembled the Chinese so much that it was impossible
to distinguish between them. The Doctor laughed, and tlien gave this
explanation
" The men that you see are Cliinese, and not the people of Siam.
Nearly all these rice and sugar plantations employ Chinese laborers and
;

CHINESE FIELD-LABORERS.

of the five millions of people in Siam not less than two millions are Chi-
nese. They come here, just as they go to America or to Australia, in
search of employment; and, though the wages are low, they are quite
content. If you could go to every part of Siam you would hardly ever
be out of sight of the Chinese, as they are scattered everywhere through
the kingdom. There, now, we will have a good view of some of these
laborers."
As he spoke, the steamer swung quite close to the bank, where there
was a group of laborers evidently just ready to depart for the rice-field.
 FIRST LETTER FROM SIAM. 113

Some were squatted, and some were standing; some were fuHj and some
only partially clothed ; and all appeared as though they had the good diges-

tion thatcomes from hard work. It did not need a long study of the as-
semblage to convince our friends that the men were exactly like those they
had seen in Canton and Hong-kong, and the captain told them that proba-
bly every one of the crowd was from the Quang-Tung Province of China.
They were still and other tropical trees, when
in the midst of cocoa
the captain told them they were at Bangkok. There was a saw-mill and
a dock-yard among the trees on one side of the river, and farther on was
a large house, with an open space of an acre or more between it and the
river. They had reached what may be called the foreign portion of the
city; the native part is nearly three miles farther on, and quite concealed
by a bend in the stream.
We will see what the boys had to say of Bangkok in their letters to
friends at home. Here is what Frank wrote

" My dear Mother, —

We had a charming voyage from Saigon to this
port. The weather was fine, and we amused ourselves in various ways
one thing we did was to read up the story of Marco Polo's travels six
hundred years ago, and then tell it over to the Doctor. Sometimes it
was so hot that we slept on deck, and when it was raining hard we used
to go out in our bathing-suits and have a shower-bath that was simply
perfect. We had a picturesque ride up the Menam to this city and we ;

have seen lots of curious things since we landed.

" We came ashore with the captain, and he took ns at once to the only
hotel in the place. It is a fuimy sort of a hotel, as you have to go out-of-
doors to pass from the dining-room to the sleeping-rooms and the parlor,
where we sit when we want to rest. The rooms are not more than ten
feet square, and I don't think Fred's will measure as much as that. I
made the remark that you couldn't swing a cat around there; and the
landlord said he liad no cat, and even if he had one he didn't want to
swing her anyway. You ought to see the landlord he is a German, ;

and as jolly as you could wish. He was formerly a sea-captain, and

everybody calls him Captain Salje.'
'
He must weigh pretty nearly
three hundred pounds, and when he laughs he shakes all over. He
speaks English as well as German, and he also speaks the language of
the country and that of Java, where he lived a long time. When things
don't get along well in the kitchen, he goes in among his servants, and
you hear his voice i-iiigiiig out all over the house. He is a capital land-
lord, and we like his table better tlian that of any hotel we have seen
since we left San Francisco.
114 THE BOY TEAVELLEUS IN THE FAR EAST.
 THE BROADWAY OF BANGKOK. 115

" The hotel stands on the bank of the river, and yon can step from a
boat directly to the veranda of the honse. The river is the Broadway of
Bangkok, and all the travelling to and fro, or the greater part of it, is
done on the water. In this part of Bangkok is where the foreigners live,
and their houses are scattered along the banks for at least a mile. No-

HOUSE IN THE FOREIGK rAKT OF BANGKOK.

body wants to live where he would be without a front on the river, as it

would be just like living off from the street in an American city. The
merchants have their warehouses so that goods can be rolled from boats
directly inside the doors; but the houses where people live are set back
a little, and have a good large yard in front and all around them. They
have plenty of trees in the yards, and the houses look very pretty and ;
116 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

as the verandas are wide, there is an abundance of shade. Most of the

houses are of two stories, and built of stuccoed brick ; and a good many of
the floors are of brick or stone. Wood is not very durable in this cli-

mate, as the air is moist and rots it; and, besides, they have certain
kinds of insects that eat it full of holes, and make it turn to powder.
Some woods decay much faster than others, and they have one kind
called teak, that the insects never attack.
"As from the veranda where I am writing I can see half a
I look
dozen ships anchored in the river below here, and as many more up
above. Most of them belong to Siam, as we can see by the flag; and
there are two or three German ships, one English, and one American.
The Siamese flag is red, and has a white elephant on it we are in the ;

country of the White Elephant, and don't intend leaving until we have
seen the sacred beast. I am told that the white elephants at the king's
palace have fine stables and lots of attendants, and that they are worship-
ped and petted till they are quite spoiled in their dispositions.
" We have hired a boat by the day, and it is to be kept for our use

as long as we stay here just as we might keep a carriage in another

;

country. There is a little cabin where you have to stoop as you go in

and there are cushioned seats for four persons, and windows with sliding
lattices all around. It takes four men to row it —
two on the bow, and
two on the stern —and they row with their faces the way the boat is
all

going. The boat is quite comfortable, and we enjoy it veiy much.

" The people make use of the river for all sorts of business. It is the
great highway for transporting merchandise, and for promenading on the
water ; and it is the place where people go on shopping excursions. A
great many of the houses are built on rafts of bamboo-poles, and they
riseand fall with the tide. The
is somewhat larger than the house,
raft
and forms a platform and when you want to go in at the
all around it ;

front of a house, you have only to bring your boat along-side the raft
and step off. The bamboo seems almost to have been designed by nature
for the purpose of making these rafts. You know it is hollow, and very
light, and that it has joints at regular intervals. Now each joint forms
a water-tight compartment, and the wood will resist the water for a very
long time, so that a bamboo raft has no chance of sinking. Perhaps it
was the bamboo that gave the Chinese the idea of building ships in wa-
ter-tight compartments, as Marco Polo says they did six hundred years
ago. Who knows ?
"As 3'ou go along the river you see the fronts of the houses open
towards the water, and if they have anything to sell it is put where it can
 THE VENICE OF THE EAST. 117

be seen, exactly as it would be in a shop on Broadway. The houses are

divided generally into only two rooms — the men occupying one, and the
women the other ; and the Siamese rarely make houses of more than one
story. The reason is that they wish to avoid having anybody walking
over their heads, which is considered an indignity. It is said that when
the city was first banks of the river there was a great
built along the
deal of cholera, on account of the bad drainage, and many people died.
The king then gave orders for the people to build on the river itself,
which would make the drainage perfect, and thus improve the public
health. The order was obeyed, and from it we find the floating houses
that seem so curious to us. There are not far from fifteen thousand of
these houses and shops, and they are strung along on botli sides of the
river for several miles, altogether. Then there are many houses built on
piles, to overhang the water, just like those we described at Saigon.
" One of the books we have with us tells us that Bangkok is called
'
The Venice of the East,' and I can easily understand why. Venice is
full of canals, as you know, and so is Bangkok. They run off from the
river in all directions, and j'ou can go almost anywhere by them when
the tide is up. This is why nearly everybody has a boat, as it would be
difficult to go about without one. You see boats of all sizes, from a little
dug-out, just large enough for one person and a small one at that — up —
to the great house-boat, or barge, that will hold twenty or more. The
people spend a good deal of their time on the water, and very often in
it; for they swim like otters, and are not at all disturbed when one of

their boats overturns with them. This afternoon, when we were out on
the river, a steamboat passed us. It did us no harm, though we tossed
around for a moment; but there was a small skiff close by that was filled
with water by the swell from the steamer. Two boj'S were in it, and as
the skiff went down under them, they took hold of it with their hands
and swam to the shore. They soon had the water out of it, and paddled
off as merrily as ever.
"Where the largest of the canals branches off there is a pretty dense
collection of houses, and this continues for quite a distance. The streets
are irregular, and not very wide or clean perhaps the most of the people
;

living in this quarter are Chinese, and they are not very particular about
dirt. Most of the shops are kept by Chinese, and they have a great num-
ber of gambling-houses, for which they pay a fixed sum to the govern-
ment. Gambling is a monopoly, and so is the sale of intoxicating spirits;
the licenses are sold by the government, American
just as an city gives
a man a license to sell liquor when he pays the sum agreed on. The
118 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Chinese that come here are just as great gamblers as they are at home,
and they are just as fond of smoking opium.
"
The city is said to contain half a million inliabitants, and it is lit-
tlemore than a hundred years old. It was founded in 1769, when the
Siamese capital (Ayuthia) was captured and plundered by the Burmese.
The king lives here, and the royal palace is well worth seeing. We are
going there to-morrow, or perhaps next day, and we are going to see
some curious temples. There are lots of temples in Bangkok, and the
city contains not less than twenty thousand priests of the Buddhist re-

ligion. We will tell you more about the priests and the temples in an-
other letter."

A SIAMESE PRtEST.
 A BUDDHIST TEMPLE. 119

CHAPTER IX.

TEMPLES AT BANGKOK.— THE FOUNDER OF BUDDHISM.

A LETTER
from Fred was in the same mail with Frank's. The duti-
-^-^ f ul boy remembered his mother, and wrote as follows

"Frank has told all about our arrival in Bangkok, and what we saw
on our first day in the city. I know you will hand our letters around
for both families to read, and so I will try to avoid repeating what he
has said.
" One of the first thingswe wanted to see was the temples, for which
Bangkok is famous. You must know that Siam is a country where the
Buddhist religion has a very strong hold ; and the king is supposed to
be the defender of the ancient faith. A large part of the annual revenue
of the country is expended in the repair of the temples now in existence,
or the construction of new ones; and also in processions and other relig-
ious ceremonies. We are fortunate in coming here at the season of the
year when the king goes to make his visits to all the temples; and, as
there are many of them in the citj^, he has enough to do for two or three
weeks. We have seen one of these processions, and expect to see more
as the one we have seen is not the grandest of them, I will keep the de-
scription of this part of our sights in Bangkok for another letter.
" The first temple we went to was the one known as Wat Seh Kate.
It has the general appearance of a pyramid, and is about two hundred
and fifty feet high, with a winding patliway that leads to the top. From
the platform, on the summit, there is a fine view of Bangkok, or rather
the form of the city can be seen, though the most of the houses are con-
cealed by the trees. It is a curious sight, as the trees are nearly all tropi-

cal ones,and wherever yon look you see palms in some form or other,
with their long leaves bending in the wind, and their stems rising, often
as straight as arrows, for fifty or a hundred feet. Off in the distance
there are rice-fields, some ofthem of great extent and close below you ;

is a bewildering mass of temples, and palaces, and pagodas, with the river

shining here and there, and forming a sharp contrast to the dark green
120 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

pi: I
„'-'ll|l|';l' JlBlll l^
 A NOVEL PROPOSAL. 121

of the foliage Some of the spires of the temples look as pointed as

needles ; and though you might think they would fall down with the
first high wind, I am told they have stood for a long time, and are ap-
parently as firm as ever.
" I enclose a picture representing a view from one of the temples, so
that you can see what Bangkok is like.

TKSirLK OF WAT CHANU.

" Some foreigners have been talking of proposing to the government

to convert thistemple into a reservoir for water, which would be brought
into the city by an aqueduct, just as water is supplied to New York and
other American cities. Wouldn't that be a novel idea ? The city has no
aqueduct whatever, but all the water tiiat the people use must be taken
from the river or caught in cisterns during the rainy season.
122 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" Tlie temple is not yet finished, and therefore the view from the top
is the most interesting thing about it. On the other side of the river is

another remarkable temple known as Wat Chang ; it stands in a large

enclosure, perhaps fifteen or twenty acres in extent, and this enclosure
contains small gardens, the houses of the priests, and a great quantity of
stone statues, some of them very grotesque in character. There are some
nice fish-ponds full of fish ; and in two or three places we saw grottoes of
stone and brick that were very pretty. I should think that the priests
had considerable and were not the lazy fellows one often finds
taste,

around these temples. Perhaps they did not do the work themselves,
but only laid it out for others even if that is the case, they deserve some
;

credit for their good taste.

" The Wat Chang is that of a bell and there is a
general shape of ;

spire at the top that would make a very good handle, if some one could be
found large and strong enough to take it up and ring it. Doctor Bron-
son guessed that the building was two hundred and fifty feet high, and
about the same in diameter it is built of brick, and the outside is cov-
;

ered with plaster, which was stuck full, while it was moist, with all sorts
of curious things. These include plates, and cups and saucers, and all
manner of dishes with as many colors as the rainbow, and arranged into
a mosaic that forms figures of animals, fruits, flowers, and other things,
some of them hideous and unnatural. As you might suppose would be
the case in the Land of the White Elephant, the largest animal that we
know of is frequently represented. Sometimes he has only one head,
as he has in actual life but occasionally they give him three heads, which
;

the Doctor says is to symbolize the Buddhistic Trinity. Besides these

mosaics, there are other elephants in the form of statues, which are set
in niches half-way to the summit. The sun was shining brightly when
we visited this temple, and at every step the rays were flashed into our
eyes till- they almost ached with pain.
"We went to the Temple of the Sleeping Idol,' which is one of the
'

wonders of Bangkok. It is not a great waj's from tlie royal palace, and
gets its name from the fact that there is a statue of Buddha in a hori-
zontal position that fills the most of the interior of the building. The
figure is one hundred and sixty feet long, and lies on its side the soles ;

of the feet are sixteen feet long, and each of them is inlaid with mother-
of-pearl as delicately as though it was a finger-ring. The figures repre-
sented by this inlaid work are entirely fruits and flowers; Doctor Bron-
son says the fable is that fruits and flowers sprung from the earth wher-
ever Buddha planted his footsteps. The figure of Buddha is built of
 A REMARKABLE EDIFICE. 123

TEJU'LK OP THE SLliKI'ING IDOL.

brick, and then heavily gilded, so that you might easily suppose it was of
gold. When I tell you that the arm at the elbow is six feet in diameter,
you will get an idea of the greatness of the work.
" The Sleeping Idol is not the only wonder of this temple. There are
nearly a thousand other idols there, most of them of life size, and they
are so thickly packed as to make you think thej would be liable to get
in each other's way. The temple itself is about two hundred feet long,
and has a high roof with sharp peaks at the ends, and three stages rising
one above another. The eaves are supported by tall columns, and thus
quite a veranda is formed between them and the doors of the building;
and there is a high wall around the temple, so that it would not be easy
to get in without permission. The enclosure contains the houses of the
and some small pagodas and temples and the priests evidently
priests, ;

have an eye to business, as they would not open the doors till we had
paid a tical for each person of our party. The tical is the Siamese
coin in which evei-ything is reckoned ; it is worth about sixty cents of
124 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EA.ST.

IIKASS IDOL IN A TEMPLE.

 HOW THE PRIESTS GO BEGGING. 125

our money, and consequently the price of admission to the tenriple seem-
ed rather dear to us.
" There is another temple that has a statue of brass nearly fifty feet

high, and, like most of the statues, it is intended to represent the divine
Buddha. It is in a sitting posture, with the legs crossed, and the pedestal
on which it sits is of the same material, and delicately ornamented. In
front of the altar there are cups and flower-vases in great variety — some
of brass, others of copper, and others again of bronze thickly covered with
gold. Offerings of fruit and flowers were lying on the altar, and on each
side of the figure of Buddha there was the statue of a priest, standing
erect, and with his hands folded in the attitude of prayer. We could not
help admiring the beauty of the work, and regretting that so much money
and labor had been devoted to the worship of a heathen god. The tem-
ple of the Sleeping Idol is said to have cost not less than a million of dol-
lars, and probably ten millions would not cover the expense of the tem-
ples within half a mile of the royal palace, to say nothing of the others
in the city.
" The Chinese that live in many temples of
Bangkok have a great
their own, but none of them are as fine as the Siamese ones. The tem-
ples that the Chinese build must be paid for out of their own contribu-
tions ; while those of the Siamese are erected by the government, and the
priests that take care of them have an official character. There were
formerly thirty or forty thousand priests in Bangkok : they were so nu-
merous that the father of the present king determined to compel them to
work for a living, and so he took away the government support and turn-
ed them out. For a few years after he did so they were not vei-y nu-
merous; but they have gradually increased, until their number is now reck-
oned at twenty thousand. They can be recognized by their yellow robes,
and they have their heads shaved as smooth as door-knobs. They live
about the temples, and every morning they go around begging.
"This morning we started out early, in order to see the priests on
their begging missions and it was a curious sight, you may believe.
;

"Each begging priest has a boat, and generally a boy to paddle it. In
front of the priest there is a basket with a cover, and as the boat is row-
ed up to a house the priest says not a word, but raises the cover of the
basket. On the platform in front of the door there is a kettle of freshly
boiled rice, and somebody, generally a woman, lifts out a quart or so of the
rice with a ladle and pours it into the basket. When , the operation is

completed, the priest moves on he never says Thank you,' and the giver
;
'

never speaks. If another priest comes a moment after, he gets the same
120 THE BOV TKAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

PRIliSTS PLAYING CHESS.

quantity, and the same silence is preserved. Charity is enjoined by the

Buddhist religion, and what is given from a sense of religious
given is

duty. Captain Salje says that nobody need starve in Bangkok, as it is

the privilege of every one to go to the temples and be fed. The priests
receive from the people, and are expected in turn to give to those that
need. But if you went to the temples you would get nothing more than
boiled rice, with an occasional fish ; and, as I should tire of those things
in a short time, I don't think either Frank or myself will become a men-
dicant in the capital of Siam.
" The priests have a very lazy life of it. They lie around the temples
and spend much of their time in sleep some of them study the sacred
;

books of their religion, and for those who are inclined to read there is
a library attached to each of the principal temples. They are fond of
games like chess,and several times we have found groups of them seated
around tables and completely absorbed in their sport. Their chessmen
are like buttons, and they hold them in little baskets, which are kept un-
der the hands of the playei's. Many of them are great smokers, and when
a party is at chess they usually have their pipes where they can be ready
for use at a moment's notice.
" Talking abo.ut the priests naturally leads up to the religion of the
country. Doctor Bronson says it is Buddhism of the pui'est character,
and was brought to Siam from Ceylon hundreds of years ago. There is
 I'RINCIPLES OF THE BUDDHIST RELIGION. 127

considerable difference in the authorities about the origin of the religion,

but the statement most generally received is that it began about two thou-
sand three hundred years ago in India. Prince Gautama, who afterward
became Buddha, was famous for the goodness of his disposition and his
care for the happiness of his fellow-men. The religion of his time was
mixed up with a great deal of cruelty, and he determined to reform it.

With he belonged to a very rich family near Benares,

his title of prince,
which was then considered one of the most sacred cities in India and it ;

remains so to this day in the eyes of the native people. He became a

wanderer, and for five years he travelled over the country, living on char-
ity, and doing all the good that he could.
"At the end of five years he came back to Benares to establish a
new religion, and dispute with the teachers of the old. The people
were ready to listen to him, and in a short time, under his new name of
Buddha, he had many converts. Among them were his father and broth-
ers, and other members of his family and in a few years he was able to
;

send out apostles to all parts of India and to Ceylon, and other countries.
Conversions were made very fast, and the histories say that in less than
two hundred years from the time Buddha began his work five hundred
millions of people in Asia had embraced the new doctrines. Temples
were erected everywhere, and priests became numerous but the new ;

religion led to a bitter war with the old, which lasted for centuries.
Buddhism was finally driven out of the most of India, and the only
places where it now exists are the countries to which it was carried by
the missionaries.
"An English author and journalist, Edwin Arnold, who lived some
time in India, has written a poem, entitled '
The Light of Asia,' in which
he endeavors to portray the life and cliaracter of Prince Gautama of
India, the founder of Buddhism. In the preface to his interesting and
highly instructive production, Mr. Arnold says:

" 'A generation ago little or nothing was known in Europe of this great faith of Asia, which
had nevertheless existed during twenty-four centuries, and at this day surpasses, in the number
of its followers and the area of its prevalence, any other form of creed. Four hundred and sev-
enty millions of our race live and die in the tenets of Gautama ; and the spiritual dominions of
this ancient teacher extend, at the present time, from Nepaul and Ceylon over the whole Eastern
Peninsula to China, Japan, Thibet, Central Asia, Siberia, and even Swedish Lapland. India
itself might fairly be included in this magnificent empire of belief; for, though the profession of
Buddhism has for the most part passed away from the land of its birth, the mark of Gautama's
sublime teaching is stamped ineff'aceably upon modern Brahminism, and the most characteristic
habits and convictions of the Hindoos are clearly due to the benign influence of Buddha's precepts.
More than a third of mankind, therefore, owe their moral and religions ideas to this illustrious
128 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

prince,whose personality, thougli imperfectly revealed in the existing sources of information, can-
not but appear the highest, gentlest, holiest, and most beneficent, with one exception, in the his-
tory of Thought.'

"Another authority says that the real name of Buddlia was Sakya
Muni, and he was the sou of the Eajali of Kapila, a small territory nortli
of Benares. According to some of the accounts, he acquired his divine
character by silent meditation and it is one of the principles of his creed
;

that any one can, by meditation and good works, become equal to divin-
ity. He was said to be thirty-five years old when he attained these pow-
ers, and it required seven years of meditation to reach this condition.
He lived to be nearly eighty years
old, and was actively engaged in
pusliing his new doctrines until the
time of his death.
" There are two reasons why I
shall not write much about the re-
ligion of this wonderful man. One
is that I am you would not
afraid
be greatly interested in what ^ve call
Paganism, and the other is that I
don't feel able to describe it so that
you would understand it. Peo^jle
who have lived here for years say
it is full of mysteries, and tliey are
not able to comprehend it. If that
is the case, you could hardly expect
a traveller who is only a few months
in the East to tell you all about
the beliefs of the natives, and their
modes of worship. I am told that
the creed of Buddha is a very sim-
ple one, and
founded on kindness
is

and benevolence. It is enjoined on

all believers to be charitable, and

never to inflict pain on anything

that lives. This part of the doc-
trine is not closely observed by the
GATli-WAY OF A TKMI'Lli AT BANGKOK. . . .

ordinary followers, and its strict ob-

servation is specially appropriate for the priests. They are not allowed
to kill any animal for the sake of food, but they may eat what others
 PRECIOUS STONES IN THE DECORATIONS OF A TEMPLE. 129

t3<^
.j.A'T inl^jL. c'-T, JJ ..: j^r:r

TEMPLE OF THE EMEUALD IDOL.

130 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

have though they are not expected to do so if vegetable food is

killed,

to be obtained. They are expected to remain poor, like the monks of

the Catholic Church, and whatever is given to tliem belongs to the tem-
ple they are attached to. The temples are sometimes very rich, but the
priests have nothing they can call their own property.
" Children are instructed in the temples, and one of the duties of the
priests is to give instruction when it is required. Some of the temples
have schools attached to them ; and there are Buddhist colleges that have
acquired considerable reputation for the learning of the men attached
to them.
"
Attempts have been made to convert the Siamese from their present
and a good many missions have been established
religion to Christianity,
here. The Roman Catholics came to Siam three hundred years ago, and
began to preach their religion ; and in tlie early part of this century the
Protestant missions were established. The government allows the mis-
sionaries full liberty to preach and teach among the people, and makes
them gifts of land when any is wanted for the erection of a chui-ch or
school-house. Some of the missionaries have exercised considerable in-
fluence over the high authorities, and it is largely due to their efforts that
many reforms have been adopted.
" I will close this letter by telling you something about the last of the
temples we visited. It is the Wat P^hza Keau, or the Temple of the
Emerald Idol, and is so called on account of an idol of emerald a foot
high and eight inches wide. It stands on an altar about fifty feet high,
and all over the surface of the altar there are images representing idols,
human figures, and animals, the latter including some forms that are veiy
grotesque. The emerald idol stands in a niche which is beautifully orna-
mented, and the altar terminates in a long spire above the idol's head.
There are paintings on the walls superior to anything we saw in the other
temples, and we found that the bricks on the floor were of polished brass
instead of baked clay. The hair and collar of the idol are of pure gold,
and from tlie way the light fell upon them it looked as though they were
thickly set with precious stones. Some one who has seen it more closely'
than we did, says that while the gold was in a melted state a handful of
diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and other precious stones were stirred into
it; perhaps this was so, but I should think it would be injurious to the

diamonds to be thrown into melted gold, which must be of a very great

heat.
" This is tlie temple where the king comes most frequently to say his
prayers. We had hoped to see him there, but were disappointed."
 VISITING THE AMERICAN CONSUL. 131

CHAPTER X.

ASCENDING THE MENAM, FROM BANGKOK TO AYUTHIA.

"pVOCTOR BRONSON had a letter of introduction to the American

-A-^ Consul at Bangkok, which a friend in New York had given him be-
fore his departure. A few mornings after his arrival in Siam, he called
at the consulate to deliver the letter and make the acquaintance of his
country's representative.
lie found the consul seated in a large arm-chair on the veranda of a
spacious building on the east bank of the I'iver, in the foreign portion of
the city. A
yard with shade-trees and gravelled walks surrounded the
building, and near the landing-place there was a tall staff from which the
flag of the United States waved in the breeze. The consul was a man of
pleasing manners, and he was heartily glad to meet a compatriot, as the
visits of Americans to Bangkok all numerous.
are not at "Until you
arrived," said he to the Doctor, " therehad not been an American tour-
ist here for nearly eight months. I wish more would come, as we lead
rather a lonely life in Siam, and are very glad of anything to break the
monotony."
In a frank, open-hearted way, the consul offei-ed his services to Doc-
tor Bronson and his young friends, in case there was anything he could
do for them.
The Doctor thanked him for the proffered courtesy, and said they
hoped to be able to see his majesty, the King of Siam, before their de-
parture.
"I think that can be arranged without much diificulty," the consul
answered. " The king likes to see strangers who are enough interested
in Siam to come here out of the beaten track. He is a polite, intelligent,
and most agreeable gentleman, and I feel confident that I can promise to
present you to him.
'•
Just now he is absent from the and will not be back here for
city,

three or four days. On his return, I will endeavor to arrange what you
wish. Meantime there is an excursion going up the river to Ayuthia,
132 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

the ancient capital of Siam, and I advise you to join it. A party is going
to see some elephants driven in from the forest, and the sight will be
interesting to you. It can easily be arranged for you to join the excur-
sion, which will start to-morrow morning."
Doctor Bronson assented at once to the proposal, and, after exchanging
a few general observations, he departed, promising to come again in the
afternoon to learn more fully about the excursion, and to bring the boys
with him to introduce to the consul. He had left them at the hotel, busy
with their first letters to friends at home.
Frank and Fred were delighted at the plan for going to Ayuthia,
especially as they would have an opportunity to see with their own
eyes the way the Siamese catch elephants. They were impatient to be
off, and could hardly keep their minds on their letters, as they were filled

with thoughts of the novelties in store for them.

When they called at the consulate in the afternoon, they found that
the whole business had been settled. They were to have a house-boat
or barge, large enough for half a dozen persons, and it was to be towed
by a steam-launch which had been procured from one of the foreign
merchants at Bangkok. To economize time, it had been determined to
start an hour or two before sunset, and travel during the night by this ;

means they would reach Ayuthia early the next forenoon, and thus have
the greater part of the day for sight-seeing. The consul decided to ac-
company them, as the cares of the consulate were not very heavy at that
particular time, and, besides, the vice-consul was there to see that nothing
went wrong.
A snffieient supply of cooked and canned provisions was procured,
and the necessary amount of blankets, overcoats, and other comforts was
made ready. The barge came to the front of the hotel at the appointed
time, and in a few moments they were steaming up the river.
Frank and Fred thought the sight was one of the strangest they had
ever seen. Here was a broad river, its surface covered with small boats
of a character new to them, and its banks lined with floating houses, such
as have been described. Junks, and ships, and sloops, and steamers were
anchored in the stream and occasionally a great barge, rowed by twenty
;

or thirty men, and belonging to some member of a noble family, shot past
them, or turned into some of the many canals that open out from the
Menam. Houses were just visible through the dense mass of palms and
other tropical trees that lined the banks, and the spires of the pagodas
rose above like great watch-towers, whose line of vision extended many
miles. At a bend in the river the white walls of tlie royal palace came
ORIENTAL GARDENING. 133

'..i^^k^^'^n
13-i THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

into view, and as they passed beyond the palace and proceeded up the
river their eyes rested upon extensive fields aud gardens, and on another
fringe of floating houses along the bank. Suddenly a practical question
occurred to Frank, and he asked the consul
"Does the river ever freeze over?"
" Not by any means," was the reply. " The average temperature hei-e

is about 82°. April is the hottest month, and the thermometer then goes
to 97°, and sometimes above 100°. It rarely falls below 65°, and the low-
est ever known is 54°. There are only two seasons the hot, or wet and — ;

the dry, or cool. The south-west monsoon blows from April till October,
and brings heat and rain with it; while from October till April we have
the north-east monsoon, which is cool and comfortable. Most of the time
during the north-east monsoon we have fine weather; there is now and

then a shower, but it rarely lasts long.

" There is a very good story abont the absence of cold in this part of
Siam. Forty or fifty years ago, when the Protestant missionaries first
came here, some of them were taken before the king, who wanted to se&
what manner of men they were. Up to that time Siam had had very
little intercourse with foreign countries, and the old king was not very
well versed in the geography of other lands, and their climate and pro-
ductions. So he asked the missionaries, who were from Boston, what
their country was, and what it prodaced.
" They him many things about America, described the Falls of
told
Niagara, the Rocky Mountains, the Mississippi, the fields of cotton and
wheat, and other things that the soil produced, the great steamboats on
the rivers, and talked of many
other matters that they thought would in-
terest him. them told him that where they came from
Finally, one of
the rivers were frozen over two or three months in the year.
" What do you mean by that V the king asked, through his inter-
'

preter.
"'Why, I mean,' said the missionaTy, 'that if this palace and the river
Menam were at Boston, your majesty could walk across the water during
three months of the year as he could walk on this floor. The water be-
comes solid, and men cut holes in it with axes and saws.'
" Now I know you are lying,' the king replied, as he rose from
' his
seat in great anger. I have thought so for some minutes, and now I am
'

certain of it.' And he ordered the reception to end at once, as he wished

no further communication with men who talked about a river getting
hard enough for a king to walk on."
The scenery along the river was ranch like that below the city. There
 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OF SUM. 135

A SIAMESE FOREST SCENE.

was the same luxuriance of vegetation that had astonished the boys when
they entered the Menam, the same trees, and the same creeping and
climbing plants. Here and there were great fields of rice; and our
friends were not surprised to learn that rice was the chief product of
the country, and its only export of consequence. There were also fields
of sugar, which was extensively cultivated and exported and the con-
;

sul told them that there were exports of hemp, pepper, and cotton that
sometimes reached a respectable figure. There was little manufacturing
industry in Siam, and what the people wanted in the way of manufact-
ured goods was brought from Europe or America.
The consul pointed out various objects of interest as the boat moved
136 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

along the river, and explained many things that otherwise might have

been misunderstood by the boys, or not comprehended at all. Frank had

a commercial turn of mind, and asked many questions about the trade of
Siam ; and he was much pleased to find that the consul had the whole
subject at his command, and was able to give all the desired informa-
tion. When tlieir dialogue ended, Frank had the following facts recorded
in his note-book
""
In 1876 the exports of Siam amounted to $8,350,000, and the im-
ports to $7,070,000 —an increase in the volume of trade over the jirevious
year of $686,000. The chief export is rice, and in the year mentioned

4,101,000 piculs of rice were exported. The picula Chinese weiglit of

is

133 pounds. The direct exportation to the United States was 8800 pi-
culs ; but there is a large amount that is reshipped from Hong-kong, and
does not appear on the records of the Siamese custom-house as going to
America.
" In 1857 six foreign ships visited Bangkok twenty years later, the ;

number of loreign ships coming there in a single twelvemonth was more

than two hundred. In 1840 there was only one trading-ship flying the
Siamese flag ; while in 1874 there were one hundred and twenty-nine na-
tive ships entered at the custom-house of Bangkok, and one hundred and
seventy-seven cleared from the port. These ships are nearly all native
built and manned, and they go to Singapore, Hong-kong, and the ports
of Java. They have not yet ventured on voyages to Europe and Ameri-
ca, and are not likely to do so for a long time to come."

Fred wished to know what American articles were used in Siam, and
Frank said he was coming to that as soon as he had written down the
notes about the shipping.
The consul told them it would take a long time to name over all the
foreign articles that could'be sold in the country ; but he would certainly
not advise anybody to bring a cargo of heavy woollen blankets and over-
coats, as they would not be in demand.
" I should say so," answered Fred. With the thermometer as we "
have seen it since we came
heavy blanket or anything of the kind
here, a
is quite superfluous. We rather want something for keeping cool, and if
somebody will invent an ice-machine that you can carry in your pocket or
even in your trunk he will make a fortune."
" Yes," the consul answered, " a thing much needed in tlie East is a
cheap, easily handled, and light ice-machine. Ice is worth from three to
six cents a pound here, and sometimes it can't be had at any price. There
is a machine made by a French company that is somewhat used here, but
 AMERICAN MACHINERY IN SIAM. 137

it gets out of order easily, and has to be sent to Paris to be repaired.

Where is the Yankee that will make something to go ahead of it?
"
But to return to the subject of the things that are made in America
and sent here to sell. We have cotton cloths of various kinds; canvas,
iron, steel, and lead; glassware in several varieties; lamps, kitchen ma-
chinery and utensils; canned fruits and vegetables, together with canned
fish and preserves. By-the-way," he continued, " we had a dinner at the
consulate last year at Christmas-time, when everything edible on the table
was of American origin, and brought to Siam in cans. The dinner-party
was also made up of Americans, and you may be sure we had a good
time, and could easily imagine we were at home.
" Some American machinery is used here, but not much, for the very
simple reason that there is very little machinery of any kind used in
Siam. All the weighing apparatus in the custom-house and other govern-
ment offices is from America, as you will find on going through them."
" We passed the custom-house the other day," said Frank, " and I re-

member seeing some scales there which seemed like American ones. I
looked for the maker's name, and saw the word which everybody knows
at home, Fairbanks.'' I was told that the king had some of these scales
in his royal museum, and the only weighing-machines used in Siam, at
least by the government, were made by Fairbanks."
" The native merchants are learning the advantages of the American
system of weighing, preference to their primitive one, as they can get
in

along so much faster with the new than with the old," the consul answer-
ed. " But the East is conservative, and cannot be expected to adopt any-
thing new very hastily.
" There is a good deal of American petroleum burnt here," he con-
tinued, " but it comes to Siam from Singapore, and not directly from
America. In
about seventy per cent, of all the import and export
fact,

trade of Siam through Singapore, and so the merchants of Siam pay

is

more for their goods than if they were brought here direct from the
countries where they are produced. The king is desirous of having
direct trade with the United States, and so are many private individuals,
and it is to be hoped that some of the merchants will yet bring it about.
It a pity that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, or the Occidental
is

and Oriental, does not see its way clear to a branch line between Hong-
kong and Bangkok, to connect with the regular steamers between Hong-
kong and San Francisco. Two small steamers would perform the service,
and I am confident it would pay."
There were occasional interruptions to this conversation. Now and
138 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

then the boys saw a curious tree or something else that they wished to
study, and they were never tired of looking at the native boats that pad-
dled, or sailed, or floated down the river.
One of the trees that attracted their attention as they went along near
the shore belonged to the family of parasites, and was not unlike some
they had seen as they ascended the river from Paknain to Bangkok.
The Doctor explained that in this case the parasite was not a vine, but a
grew from a seed deposited by the wind or by the birds
distinct tree that
on the trunk or among the leaves of a palm. It grows much faster than

PARASITE AND PALM.

the palm, and in a few years the palm dies and the parasite lives. It is
held in the air by the decaying stem of the parent tree until the latter
altogether rots away and falls. When once the parasite has obtained a
hold, the destruction of the palm is only a question of time. Frank made
 UTILITY OF THE BAMBOO. 139

a sketch of one of these trees wliile the boat was stopped a few moments
to enable the engineer of the steam-launch to arrange something that had
got out of order.
The bamboo-tree seemed to abound along the Menam, as it does everj-

THE BAMBOO-TREE.

where in the East. In some places the stalks stood singly, and shot np
straight as arrows; while in others they were in clusters so dense that
the stems could not be distinguished one from another. While Frank
was busy over his sketch of the parasite, Fred managed to secure a good
picture of one of the most useful trees in the world. It is said that there
are more than a hundred uses for the bamboo among the Chinese, and it

is few others might be added in Siam and Java.

possible that a
Several times they had narrow escapes from collisions with the native
boats, as the men who managed the latter were not verj^ skilful in hand-
ling the rudder. One that passed so close to them as almost to scrape
her sides against the boat of our friends, was a Chinese craft not unlike
what they had seen between Hong-kong and Canton. It was running
140 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

before the wind, and had a great sail of matting that was kept in place

by dozen or more cords gathered in a single line at the stern. She had
a
a high cabin, that seemed rather top-heavy with the wind on the beam,
but was all right before it and there was a little deck forward of the
;

mast, where a couple of men were seated. The narrowness of the escape
did not appear to disturb these natives in the least, and they kept their
places as though nothing had happened.
Night came upon them, but there was a good moon, and they kept
steadilyon their way. They were going against the current, and as the
boat was considerably larger than the steam-launch, the progress was not

THIC BOAT THICY NAKKOWLY MISSED.

rapid. At nine o'clock in the morning they passed Bang-pa-in, where the
king has a summer palace on a very pretty island in the most picturesque
part of the river. The palace European style, and was com-
is built in
pleted only a few years ago the grounds are handsomely laid out, and
;

there is an abundance of shade-trees, in irregular groves, from one end

of the island to the other.
Ayuthia is ten miles above Bang-pa-in ; and soon after passing the
picturesque island Frank discovered some ruins of a temple close to the
river's bank. The consul told him they would soon see an abundance
of ruins, and sure enough at the next turn of the river they came in
SUMMER TALACE OF THE KING. 141
142 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

sight of what seemed to be a deserted village. Then they saw a num-

ber of floating houses tied to the shore, and farther on the towers and
domes of Aynthia were visible. The boat was stopped in front of a
rude wharf, and the party stepped ashore in the ancient capital of Siaiu.

A lilVCK SCENE.
 PALACE OF THE ELEPHANT PRINCE. Ii3

CHAPTER XI.

VISITING THE PRINCE OF THE ELEPHANTS.— AYUTHIA.—SOMETHING

ABOUT CROCODILES.

^r^HE party went ashore as soon as the boat was made fast. Frank was
-'- first to scramble up the bank, closely followed by Fred ; then came
the Doctor and the consul together, and behind them the interpreter of
the consulate. At the consulates generally throughout the East it is the
custom to have an interpreter, to facilitate dealings with the native offi-

cials and others he is usually a native who has been taught English in
;

some of the mission-schools, or he may be of American or European par-

entage, and familiar from his youth with the language of the country
where he lives. In the present instance the interpreter was an intelli-
gent young Siamese, who was educated by the missionaries, and spoke
English with great fluency. He was of much service to the Doctor and
his young companions, as he could tell them many things of interest con-
cerning Siam and what it contained.
" "We will first go," said the consul, " to call on the Prince of the
Elephants. He lives in that house you see up there," he continued, as
he pointed to a light structure of poles and matting, a hundred yards
or so from the bank.
The interpreter was sent on ahead to herald the arrival of the stran-
gers, and returned in a few minutes with the announcement that the
prince was ready to receive them.
The consul and Doctor Bronson went forward, while Frank and Fred
brought up the rear. Frank thought the house was not a very sumptu-
ous palace for a prince, especially one who had the title of the Prince of
the Elephants. Fred was of the same opinion, but said they might as
well reserve their judgment until they had seen what was within. Ex-
ternally, the house was like a rough shed of poles for a framework, with
its sidescovered with matting, to allow a free circulation of air. Some
of the mats were rolled up, while others were closed ; and it was certainly
a very convenient house for a climate as hot as that of Siam. They were
144 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST.

received in the upper story, to which they ascended by a rough stair-way,

which could be removed as readily as a ladder. What the lower floor con-
tained they did not know, as all the mats around it were closed.
They found the prince just inside the door-way, and seated, or rather
squatted, on a bench about two feet high. Chairs had been placed for
the strangers, and they were invited to be seated. The interpreter re-
mained standing, and, after a moment's pause, tlie prince asked who the
visitors were. The interpreter explained and while he did so, Frank
;

made good use of his eyes to see what the prince was like and how he
lived.
His royal highness appeared to be about fifty years old, or perhaps
fifty-five. He was dressed in the native cos-
tume, without any gold-lace or other ornament
to designate his high rank ; the boys were some-
wliat disappointed at this, as they had expect-
ed to see a great personage covered with fine
and ornamented with an abundance of
clothes,
diamonds and other precious stones. A youth,
wliom they supposed to be his son, stood near
him, and occasionally leaned against the bench
in a familiar way. Servants were creeping
about the floor, and it made a strange impres-
sion on the youths to see the humble attitudes
of half a dozen or more of the attendants as
they waited for orders in a corner of the
room. This is the position of respect in Siam,
and, until the present king was crowned, it

would have been as muchwasas one's life

woi'tli to venture into the presence of any

member of the royal family in the European

manner.
THH YOUNG I'lllNCE.
When he ascended the throne, he com-
manded that the old custom of creeping, and
bowing the head to the floor in the presence of the king, should cease
itwas a great innovation, but, as it was by ro^'al command, it could not
be opposed. Tlie rule is enforced at the king's palace, but not at the
and thus it happened that Frank and
palaces of the subordinate princes ;

Fred were witnesses of what to them was a curious custom, and by no

means an agreeable one.
The prince in whose presence thej' were was the uncle of the king.
 VISITING THE ELEPHANT STABLES. 145

His name was Chow Plian Alah, and the boys learned from the consul
that he was a man of marked ability, who liad been prominent in public
affairs for a long time. Socially, he adhered to the old customs of the
country, as was evident in the creeping and crouching of those around
him but in politics he was progressive, and a good deal of the advance-
;

ment that Siam had made in the past twenty years was due to his energy
and shrewdness.
The interview lasted about a quarter of an hour. While the party
was in the reception - hall, the prince ordered cigars and fruit to be
served, and when they retired he sent a basket of fruit after them as
a present. The consul had suggested that Doctor Bronson and the
youths would like to see the stables of the elephants, and also wished
to attend the elephant-hunt that was to come off about that time. The
firstrequest was granted at once; and the prince sent one of his officers
to show the stables and their occupants, and also the corral close by,
where the wild elephants were caught. He regretted to say that the
hunt had been postponed a few da_ys on account of the swollen condi-
tion of some of the rivers, which made it difficult to drive the animals

rOUTUAIT OF CHANG.
146 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

through the forest. The boys were disappointed to hear this, but they
were consoled with the reflection that they could see tlie spot where the
hunt would take place, and the Doctor promised to explain to them how
it was conducted.

The elephant-stable was only a huge shed, with the earth for a floor.
It contained three or four elephants, all the others being out in the forest
with the hunting-part}'. Tiie largest of the elephants was brought out
for their inspection ; he was named " Chang," and was thought to be not
far from seventy years old. As the elephant lives to the age of one hun-
dred and fifty years and upwards, old Chang was just in the prime of
life when the boys saw him, and his step was as elastic as that of a

youth of twenty. He was not overjoyed to meet the strangers, and

flourished his trunk in a menacing way; but at a sign from his keeper
he ceased his demonstrations, and became thorouglily obedient.
Chang had been at work hauling timber during the cool hours of the
morning, and his harness was still on his back. It consisted of a stout
breastplate of ropes and leather, which was held in place by a pad on his
back. Just below his shoulder a stout ring was inserted in the breast-
and to this the ropes by which the timber was
plate,
drawn were attached. The driver sat on his neck, and
directed him by means of an iron goad that had a
liook near the end. Frank could not at first under-
stand the use of this iron, but he soon found out. The
officer asked the boys if they would like to take a ride

on the beast, and we may be sure they assented at

MACEDONIAN COIN, oncc. Cliaug was directed to a place at the side of
a high wall, to which a sloping path led. The boys
mounted to the top of the wall, and were thus enabled to take their
places on the elephant's back.
The driver said something in Siamese, and the elephant at once
moved off. He did not go fast enough to suit the driver, and then the
goad came into play. His neck was prodded
with it, and the hook was inserted into his ear ^
in a way
' that made him understand and obey.
_•'_ MODERN GOAD.
_

The goad has been in use without any modifi-

cation of shape for two thousand years or more, as is shown by ancient
coins of a date prior to the Christian era.
As soon as Chang found that the driver was determined to use the
goad he made no further opposition, and went along as peaceably as an
obedient horse. The elephant generally obeys througli affection for his
 INTELLIGENCE OF THE ELEPHANT. 147

driver; and instances have been known where one of these huge beasts
has shown great grief at the loss of his favorite keeper, and refused all

food until he Very often the driver talks to

literally starved to death.
the elephant, and the beast seems to understand perfectly what is said
to him. Chang's driver did so, and hardly had he begun speaking before
the elephant swung his trunk from side to side, and gave little grunts of

A WAR ELEPHAKT.

satisfaction. The boys could not understand the language; but the in-
terpreter told them that the driver was praising Chang for his good con-
duct, and asking him why he behaved so badly when the strangers came
so far to see him. And with an eye to his own pocket, he said, " They are
very nice gentlemen, and will certainly give some ticals to buy bananas
for good old Chang." Of course the interpreter told what had been
said, and the boys, when the ride was over, fulfilled the promise that had

been made on their behalf.

One of Chang's companions was led out from the stable, and assigned
to Doctor Bronson and the consul. The interpreter had mounted with
the boys, and so the officer who came by the command of the prince took
a place with the others. He told the consul that the animal they were
148 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

riding was trained for war purposes ; and tliough he was occasionally put
at work, like Chang, whenever timber was to be hauled, he ordinarily had
nothing to do. Each of his tusks had three rings of silver encircling it,
and he was evidently proud of his ornaments. The famous white ele-
phants in the royal stables at Bangkok have rings of pure gold on their
tusks; they are not always sensible of the honor that is shown them, and
when the rings are being put in place they manifest their displeasure in
the most emphatic ways. On one occasion two of the court jewellers
were killed by an elephant that objected to be ornamented after the cus-
tomary manner of the country, and it was only after a long time that he
submitted to the operation.
When used for war, these elephants are equipped with a howdah, or
basket, on their backs,and two or three soldiers are seated in it. They
have a plentiful supply of weapons, and frequently so many as encum-
to
ber them greatly when they come to close quarters with the enemy.
Elephants are not used in battle as much as in ancient times ; the great
body of the beast makes a magnificent mark for a rifle, and when wound-
ed an elephant is more dangerous to his friends than to the enemy.
Formei-ly a great number of elephants was kept for fighting purposes,
but since the introduction of fire-arms the value of this huge beast for
anj'thing in war beyond the transportation of supplies has ceased to be
apparent. Consequently, they are not at all numerous and probably, if ;

the Siamese were to indulge in war at the present time, they would not
bring a single elephant into the battle-field.

Thus mounted, our friends went through the ruins of the ancient
capital of Siam. It -was a novel promenade, and one that the boys were
not likely to forget in a hurry.
" The We went through Tokio
funniest thing yet," said Frank. "
and Kioto in jinrikishas we rode on a wheelbarrow in Shanghai we
; ;

were carried in sedan-chairs in Canton and Hong-kong; and here we

are seeing the ruins of Ayuthia from the back of an elephant. Wonder
what we shall do next in the way of novel travelling !"
But though greatly enjoying their ride, they did not foi-get that they
were out for an excursion through a city, or rather through what was
once a cit}'. And the magnitude and extent of the ruins impressed
them greatl}', and showed what a magnificent place Ayuthia must have
been in the days of its glory.
The and yards, and even the houses, were overgrown with trop-
streets
had been undisturbed for a hundred years and more that
ical trees that ;

they had made good use of their time, was everywhere apparent in the
 THE EUINS OF THE AYUTHIA. 149

crumbling walls and the fallen towers that rose before the eyes of the
visitors wherever they wei'e turned. In several instances the bushes and
climbing plants had completely covered the towers of the temples, and
made them appear more like a great mass of verdure than a structure of
brick and mortar.
At one went to
place the party descended from their elephants and
the top of a wing of the former palace of Ayuthia. summit From the
the view was extensive, and of a character not easy to describe. Frank
thought it was not greatly unlike the view from the tower of Wat Seh
Kate at Bangkok, as the abundance of trees made it difficult to see much
more than the spires of the pagodas
and this was the most that could be
seen in Ayuthia. But as he looked
directly below him, he saw that the
streets and court -yards were deso-
late, and he missed the throng of

people that made the streets of

Bangkok alive. Many parts of the
palace were in a good state of pres-
ervation, and it seemed a pity that
the city could not be repaired and
peopled as it was of old.

It is said that when the Burmese

overran Siam and captured her cap-
ital in 1769, the walls were so mas-
sive, and the buildings so excellent
in construction, that the destruction
of Ayuthia occupied nearly two
months. Many parts of the walls NEAR THE PALACB.
are still in existence, and it is not at
all difficult to trace the boundaries of the city. The distance it is neces-
sary to travel to pass around the city by following its walls, is variously
stated at from five to ten miles; and as our friends did not make the
journey, they have left the question undecided.
A
ruined city is a melancholy spectacle in any land and under any
sky, and the boys were not at all sorry when the excursion through
Ayuthia was over. They had more reasons than sentimental ones, as
they found the motion of the elephant was not particularly agreeable
when continued for a long time, and it required a good deal of attention
to keep from falling off the back of their new-fashioned steed. When
150 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

tliey dismounted at the stables, thej^ were obliged to stretch themselves

two or three times to make sure that their backbones were in the proper
place, and both were positive that they had all the elephant-riding they
—
cared for for that day at least.
" It is nothing when you get used to it," said the consul. " If you

had a journey of several days or weeks to make on an elephant, you

would become accustomed to the motion in a short time, and could then
endure it indefinitely."
The Doctor confirmed this view of the matter, and said the motion
of the elephant was not nearly as hard as that of the camel for a begin-
ner, and much easier to endure. "A camel," said he, "shakes jow vio-
lently forward and back without cessation, while the motion of the ele-

phant is not unlike that of a horse at a walk. you have not mounted
If
a horse for a long time, you will find yourself very sore and stiff after
your first da3''s travel on the gentlest steed that was ever used, and this
feeling will continue for two or three days. By degrees you get accus-
tomed to it, and then you pay no farther attention to aches or pains, for
the reason that you do not have them. It is just the same with an ele-
phant or a camel, only the camel is much the worse.

||i««'
,^

IN THE RUINED CITY.

 UPPER WATERS OF THE MENAM. 151

"In some respects the elephant is a most remarkable animal. He

possesses great intelligence, and can be taught to do many things that
border upon reason. Books of natural history are full of incidents of the
elephant's high order of intellect ; the stories may sometimes be exagger-
ated, but there is no question that the majority of them are correct. In
nothing is this more apparent than in the capture of his wild kindred
and it is a curious fact that the elephant, after being thoroughly domes-
ticated, manifests and seems to take
no desire to return to his forest-life,

pleasure in assisting at the capture of others. about this "We will talk
business by-and-by, and meantime will complete our study of Ayuthia."
So far as the actual inspection of the ruined city was concerned, the
study to which the Doctor referred was already completed, and the party
returned to the boat.
Frank asked was not possible to go farther up the ris'er, and
if it

make Fred seconded him in the question,

a general exploration of Siam.
which was anxiously propounded to the consul and Doctor Bronson.
" There are several reasons why we cannot do it," the former an-
swered. " In the first place, we are limited for time of using the steam-
launch and barge ; secondly, I cannot spare the time to go farther ; third-
ly, we have not the necessary provisions and equipments for a wild jour-
ney ; and, fourthly —
"Never mind the other reasons," said the Doctor; "those
you have
given are quite sufficient. We
go back, and be thankful that we
will
have seen so much. Only a few visitors to Siam ever have the oppor-
tunity of coming to Ayuthia and seeing its wonderful ruins."
As the boat moved off, on her return to Bangkok, the consul explained
to the boys that the Menani was about nine hundred miles in length, and
had a general course from north to south. It flows through an exceed-
ingly fertile country, and the Siamese are very proud of it. Its name in
Siamese means " Mother of Waters ;" and though it is not to the country
what the Nile is to Egypt, it is certainly of great importance. From the
source of the river to its mouth, the forest is dense and luxurious, except
where clearings have been made for purposes of agriculture. Teak, sapan,
and other tropical trees grow to a great size, and the underbrush is so
thick that it is next to impossible to walk about until a path has been
opened.
Fred thought it would be nice to have a bath in the Menam ; and pro-
posed that they should trj' a swim in its waters the first time they had an
opportunity.
"I would advise you not to try it," the consul answered. "It is safe
152 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

enough at Bangkok, where there is so much movement of boats, and you

might bathe there without danger. But in this part of the river there

CUOCODILES AT HOME.

are plenty of crocodiles, and the higher up you go the more of them do
you find. M. Monhot, who explored the Upper Menam in 1861, and died
at the village of Louang Prebang in that year, says that in some instances

he found the banks covered with crocodiles basking in the sun, and they
were so unused to attacks that they were not at all disturbed by the pres-
ence of his boat. They frequently swallow incautious swimmers who
venture into the parts of the river where they abound and sometimes
;

cattle going to the river to drink are seized by them. In sucli fights the
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ALLIGATORS AND CROCODILES. 153

crocodile is generally the victor, as he is thoroughly at home in the water,

and his jaws have an enormous amount of strength."

"What is the difference between the alligator and the crocodile?" one
of the boys asked.
"There no material difference," the Doctor answered, "between the
is

two. The American, and the crocodile Asiatic; and there is

alligator is
a slight difference in the formation of the head, and in the number and
arrangement of the scales. The habits of the two are similar they live ;

in the water for the greater part of the time, but do not suffer any incon-
venience when removed from it. They live mainly on fish, but have no
prejudice against swallowing other game. Hence their fondness for men,
and also for pigs, sheep, dogs, cattle, and anything else that comes in their

TAKING A BITE.

way. The tastes of both are identical ; and I presume that you brought
if

a crocodile and an alligator together, and put them to live in the same
tank, they would acknowledge their relationship, and dwell in peace and
quietness. On the other hand, they might indulge in a deadly combat;
and in this, again, their similarity would be shown, as they are not always
of an amiable disposition, and often indulge in fierce battles."
Fred asked if it was possible for them to stop on the wa^' down the
river and have a hunt for crocodiles.
Frank retorted that they had no fire-arms for shooting this kind of
game or any other; and it was his opinion that their captures would not
be numerous under the present circumstances.
154 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST,

1 -wsfgA;;."^. •'

^^ if^ra-jsg

THE DOCTOll's CBACK SHOT.

"To "yon must first have him

shoot a crocodile," said the Doctor,
where you can shoot, and then you must have the weapon ready. It

ball and there are very few

must be a powerful rifle, carrying a large ;

places on the reptile's body where your shot will

have any efEeet. If you
with the rifle, you may hit him in the eye wlien he is
swim-
are an expert
ming across a stream the bullet penetrates the brain, and causes speedy
;

but if you strike him an inch away from the eye, your
shot is
death ;

once killed a large alligator in this way it was the first I

had
wasted. I ;

ever shot, and I was very proud of my achievement. The next day and
I kept it up for a week
the next I tried to repeat the performance, and
get a similar chance, as not one of the
without result. I was unable to
bayou was full of them.
reptilesmade his appearance, though the
The alligator makes great use of his tail in fighting, and in sweep-
"

ing his gamelnto his mouth. A l^low of tlie tail from even a small alli-
off a tree two
gator will break a man's leg, and I have known it to cut
inches in diameter. When the fellow wishes to capture anytliing, he
 USES OF A CROCODILE'S TAIL. 155

tries to creep along-side, and when within reach he opens his mouth and
sweeps liis great tail around at the same instant, and the prize disappears
down his capacious Once
throat.
I saw an alligator lying on a bank
where some cranes were feeding
not far away. He was motionless
as a log —
which he much resem-
—
bled but I could see that he had
his eye open, and was on the look-
out for a breakfast. By-and-by one
of the cranes wandered near him,
and like a flash his tail swept the
TIIL TliOOllII.tlS.
bird into his mouth. Then he
stretched out and '
set himself again,' as my guide said, for another
crane.
" It is a curious circumstance, mentioned by flerodotus, and greatly
discussed since his time, that there is a small bird called the trochilus that
fearlessly enters the mouth of the
and relieves it of the leeches
crocodile,
and flies that disturb it. The bird and the crocodile seem to be on the
most friendly terms and it is thought by some writers that the bird per-
;

forms the additional service of sentinel to its huge friend, and warns him
of the approach of danger."

ALLIGATOR AND CIIANU.

156 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Fred suggested that it was just possible that the bird was only an
inquisitive fellow, and finding the crocodile's mouth open, he looked in
to see what sort of a house it would make. And the crocodile, on his
part, did not think the little bird was large enough to pay him for shut-

ting his jaws on it ; and so the intruder escaped solely on account of his
diminutive size.

TKOCHILUS AND CROCODILE.

When you see a crocodile or an alligator asleep on a bank," the

"

Doctor continued, " you can, perhaps, get a good shot by creeping near
enough to send a bullet under his fore-leg. The skin there is not pro-
tected by scales, and a bullet M-ill penetrate it. Especially if you have
explosive balls that burst on the moment of concussion, you can tear a
great hole inside your game, and seriously interfere with his digestion.
I shot one once in this way on a sand-bar in the Nile, a few miles above
the first cataract he was nearly twenty feet long, and it took my men
;

a whole day to remove his skin. I was within thirty paces of him when
I fired, and, as Ihad good aim, I sent the bullet exactly where I wished.
He gave a few convulsive movements with his tail, and then stretched
out stiff and dead."
The Doctor paused; and the consul took up the conversation with
an account a friend had given him of a fight between a bear and an al-
ligator inWestern Louisiana.
"My friend was out hunting one day," said the consul, "and was sud-
denly startled by a loud roaring in the bushes not far off. He cautiously
 FIGHT BETWEEN A BEAR AND AN ALIGATOR. 157

crept near, expecting to see a couple of bulls preparing for combat; what
was his astonishment to see a large bear and a full-grown alligator eying
each other, and poising themselves for an encounter.
" Bruin was on his hind legs, his mouth was covered with foam, and
there were several streams of blood on his black coat. The alligator Avas
on the tiptoes of all his legs, and he lashed his tail furiously, and kept his
great jaws moving as if trying their ability to close on the bear at the
proper moment.
" The bear growled, and the alligator roared like a bull ; and it was
his roaring that had attracted my friend's They had evidently
attention.
indulged in a clinch before he saw them, and were making ready for a
second round. For minute they remained in the attitudes in
fully a
which he first make up his mind how to
beheld them, and neither could
take the best hold. Finally Bruin dropped on all fours, and ran at the
alligator tlie latter met liirn by throwing his head and body to one side,
;

and delivering a blow with his tail that knocked the bear over on the
ground, and rolled him several yards away. The blow sounded as though
ithad been given with a club with the force of half a dozen men, and it
issafe to say that the strongest man would have been killed by it.
" The bear was not discouraged, for he picked himself up and ran
once more at the alligator. He did it three tiuies in succession, and with
the same result the alligator knocking him over each time.
;

" Bruin now saw that he must change his tactics. He made his next
run in such a way as to avoid the tail, and he was fairly on the alligator's
body before the blow could be given. The great tail was lashed furi-
ously from side to side, but to no purpose, as it could not hit the bear
either way. The force of the charge upset the alligator, and turned him
completely over ; the bear's jaws closed on one of his fore-legs, while the
shaggy paws were clasped around the scaly body. The reptile was in
a bad way, as his great weapon of warfare, the tail, was useless and his
;

neck was not flexible enough to enable him to bite. He roared in de-
spair, and then bethought himself of a new trick.
" His tail, as he lashed it around, happened to hit a small tree he ;

pushed against this tree as with a lever, and by using it as a fulcrum he

managed to wriggle along to the bank. Then another convulsive move-
ment threw liim and his antagonist into the water.
"
The bank from which they fell was about four feet high, and they
tumbled in with a loud splash. They disappeared below the surface,
and were out of sight for nearly two minutes. The bear came up, and,
after scrambling to the shore, he gave a brief glance at the stream, to
158 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

make sure that there was no chance of renewing the combat: then,
shaking the water from his skin, he hurried off into the forest. My
friend could have shot the bear with the utmost ease, but in considera-
tion for the courage and determination he had shown he did not do so."

/ ^ >\'. A
J

t>n

THli ALLIGATOR AND THE BEAR.

" He was right," said Frank " such bravery should command respect."
;

" But how about the alligator's part of the fight ?" the Doctor asked.
" As to that," responded the j'outh, " the alligator deserves no credit.

When he found he could not conquer the bear on equal terms, he sneaked
into the river. He could live in the air or in the water, while the bear
could not fight below tlie surface of the stream, and could not even live
there. All the alligator had to do was to sink in the water, and the bear
must drown or let go his hold. I like the bear's bravery, but don't think
much of the other fellow."
 THE NEST OF THE CROCODILE. 159

"No more do I," Fred chimed in ; "and it is a pity that the alligator
could not have been shot before he rolled from the bank. All the race
of crocodiles is a cruel one, and ought to be exterminated."
" They are fast being driven from existence," said the Doctor.
"Twenty-five years ago they were numerous in the Nile below Luxor;
while to-day they are rarely seen below the which is more
first cataract,

than a hundred miles above Luxor. They

becoming scarce in
are also
the I'ivers of India and the alligators in the southern parts of the United
;

States are not nearly as numerous as they were. Still, there are enough

for all the demand that is likely to be made for them, and anybody who
will invent a way of killing them rapidly will confer a benefit upon the
human race."
"In regions where these reptiles abound, the natives have adopted
the sensible plan of destroying the
eggs whenever they find a nest.

The nests are made in the sand or

on a bank of earth, and the female
alligator usually lays from twenty
to forty —rarely more than the lat-

ter number. They are hatched by

the heat of the sun : the mother does
not sit on the nest like a hen, but
she stays in the neighborhood and
fights for their protection. When
the chicks emerge from the shell JUST HATCHED.
they hurry off to the water, or to a
hiding-place in the mud and they seem
; to understand that they will be
subject to many dangers until they get large enough to defend them-
selves. Cranes and fish are fond of them in their tender youth, and even
the fathers of the alligator family seem to mistake them for frogs, and
eat them with apparent delight.
" In some parts of India the natives dig a circular pit, and cover it with
sticks and leaves. The pit surrounds a little island or mound of earth,
and is close to a stream where crocodiles abound. On the mound they
fasten a j'oung goat, and his bleatings during the night attract the croc-
odiles, who break the slight floor of sticks with their heavy bodies, and
fall into the pit prepared for them. Heavy stakes are set in the bottom
of the pit, and as the reptile falls he is generally impaled on one or more
of them.
" I have read of a famous old crocodile who defied all the ordinary
160 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST,

modes of capture, in one of the rivers of India. Finally an English offi-

cer hit upon a trick that was success-
ful. He put a pound of powder in
a can, and attached it to an electric
wire, so that he could explode it at
pleasure ; then he placed this can in-

side the carcass of a sheep, and by

means of a rope floated it over where
the crocodile lay. The crocodile
rose and swallowed the bait ; the
officer, who was standing ready with
his electric battery on the shore,
completed the connection of the
wires, and an instant afterwards the
reptile that had been a terror to the
neighborhood had ceased to exist.
The can powder exploded in his
of
stomach, and his body, when it came
to the surface, was so torn and dis-
torted that it could hardly be recog-
nized as the remains of a crocodile."

k$. ''Mi

.-?-•

COMING OCT TO SnN HIMSELF.

 HOW ELEPHANTS ARE HUNTED. 161

CHAPTER XII.

STORIES OF ELEPHANT-HUNTING.—SCENES OF THE CHASE.

WHENFred reminded
ed,
the topic of crocodiles and their relatives had been exhaust-
the Doctor of his promise to tell them some-
thing of the ways of hunting elephants.
"I was just coming to that," said Doctor Bronson, "and have been
trying to refresh my memory on
the subject. I do not know how
they hunt elephants in Siam, but
from tlie appearance of tlie cor-

I'al near the elephants' stables, I

infer that the process is pretty
nearly the same in all countries
where the elephant is found in
AN ELliPHAST FKNCE.
a M-ild state.
"You observed that the corral, or yard, at Ayuthia was constructed
of upright logs set into the earth in the form of a palisade. In Ceylon
it is made of heavy posts, with strong tim-

f""""'-"""-i ijgi-g placed horizontally, the whole interlaced

1
I
and bound with withes, and braced with slant-
i ! ing posts on the outside. The fence is gen-
I I
crally about fifteen feet high, and the open-
! I ings in it will easilj' allow a man to pass

I
I through. At Ayuthia you saw that the posts
y,....„o .......«„_^^
^j ^j^^ corral permit the same thing ; the
fence is like a sieve, that strains men through
without difficulty, but catches the elephants.
" Here is the general appearance of the
FORM OF A CORRAL. fcncc," sald tlic Doctor, as he took his pen-
cil and drew on a sheet of paper, " and here
is the sliape of the corral. The corral is a pen, and the word is de-
rived from the Spanish, and means a ring or enclosure. The space en-
11
162 THE BOVr TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

BEGINNING THE DRIVE.

closed is generally about five hundred feet long by half that width,

and at one end there is a gate that can be opened and shut very quickly,
and is large enough to permit the passage of but one elephant at a time.
There is an avenue, shaped like the letter V, wliich leads up to the cor-
ral, and converges on the side where the gate is placed. It is concealed
as much as possible by brushwood, and where it begins it is so slight as
to be hardly perceptible. It extends a long distance into the forest, and
a great deal of skill is required to construct it successfully.
"When the corral has been arranged, and is ready for occupation, the
herd is supposed to be in Eight or ten weeks have been
its vicinity.

spent in driving in the elephants; the forest where they roam has been
surrounded very cautiously, and several herds have been driven together
so slowly and quietly, that none of the sagacious beasts has any suspicion
that he is Sometimes hundreds of men are employed
being entrapped.
and an area is surrounded equal to several coun-
in driving in the herds,
ties of an American state. Day by day the circle grows narrower, and
finally the men composing it are able to build fires ten or twelve feet
from each other. Not till then do they consider the game fairly bag-
ged, and now they throw off a]l deception and adopt new tactics. "Where
before all was still, is now a scene of wild confusion ; the men make a
loud noise, with musical and unmusical instruments, and each of them
 BAGGING THE GAME. 1§3

carries a torch, which he waves wildly in the air. They do this on three
sides of the herd, while the fourth side, in the direction of the corral, is

left conveniently open.

" The elephants are frightened, and rush in the desired direction
they now begin to suspect a snare, and frequently try to break through
the line of men and rush back to their forest home. The men pelt them
with the torches, and strike them with the burning sticks, till they turn
around again and go where they are wanted gradually they near the ;

end of the corral, and finally a few of them make their way through the
gate and are securely trapped. The natives rusii forward and close the
bars of the gate, and the rest of the herd is permitted to stray a little

way back into the woods, but it is carefully kept from going too far.

"When they find they are caught, the elephants rush wildly round
the corral, trying first one part of the fence and then another, in the hope
of escaping. "Wherever they go, they are met at the fence by men with
flaming torches ; and they are further
by discharges of musketry,
terrified

and the sound of horns and trumpets. This performance is kept up for
several hours of the day, and generally through the night and at day- ;

break they make ready to secui-e the captives, and prepare the corral for
a second lot of elephants.
" It is in this work that the elephant shows the peculiarity of his
nature, in using all his sagacity to assist in the capture of his kindred.
He seems to know what is wanted of him, and invariably appears to take
great delight in doing it."

DRIVING INTO TIIK CORKAL.

1^4 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

"Elephant nature is human nature," remarked

not altogether unlike
the consul, with a smile. "Kot
few of our fellow-men, whenever they
a

fall upon misfortune, are desirous of having others to share it with them."

"It is an old adage that misery loves company," said Fred.

"But I hope it is not a true one," Frank responded. "Perhaps we
had better give the human race the benefit of any doubt on the subject,
and say that the quality we have been talking about is elephant nature,
and does not belong to us."
His proposal was accepted, and the account of elephant-hunting was
resumed.
" The removal of the captives requires a good deal of skill and cau-
tion, both on the part of the tame elephants and on that of the attendants.
Here is an excellent account of this operation :

" The
bars which secured the entrance to the corral were cautiousl}'
withdrawn, and two trained elephants passed stealthily in, each ridden by
his maJiout — —
or j)on.nekella, as he is called in Ceylon and one attendant,
and carrying a strong collar, formed by coils of rope made from cocoa-nut
fibre, from which hung on each side cords of elk's hide, prepared with a

ready noose. Along with them, and concealed behind them, the head-
men of the coorooive, or noosers, crept in, eager to secure the honor of
taking the first elephant —a distinction which this class jealously contests
with the mahouts of the chiefs and the temples. He was a wiry little
man, nearly seventy years old, who had served in the same capacity un-
der the Kandyan king, and wore t^^'o silver bangles, which had been con-
ferred on him in testimony of his prowess. He was accompanied by his
son, named Ranghanie, equally renowned for his courage and dexterity.
" On this occasion ten tame elephants were in attendance one of ;

which had been caught only the year before, but was now ready to as-
sist in capturing others. One was of prodigious age, having been in the
service of the Dutch and English governments in succession, for upwards
of a century. The other, called by her keeper '
Siribeddi,' was about fifty
years old, and distinguished for her gentleness and docility. She was a
most accomplished decoy, and evinced the utmost relish for the sport.
Having entered the corral noiselessly', she moved slowly along with a sly
composure and an assumed air of easy indifference; sauntering leisurely
in the direction of the captives, and halting now and then to pluck a
bunch of grass or a few leaves, as she passed. As she approached the
herd, they put themselves in motion to meet her, and the leader, having
advanced in front and passed his trunk gently over her head, turned and
paced slowly back to his dejected companions. Siribeddi followed with
 A CORKAL FULL OF ELEPHANTS. 165

i /* -'kT^ 5^^ S'fc. s

'

ji^i?^
-

ill
It
166 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

the same listless step, and drew herself up close behind him, thus afford-
ing the nooser an opjjortunitj to stoop under her and slip the noose over
the hind foot of the wild one. The elephant instantly perceived his dan-
ger, shook off the rope, and turned to attack the man. The latter would
have suffered for his had not Siribeddi protected him by raising
temei'ity,
her trunk and driving the assailant into the middle of the herd, when the
old man, being slightly wounded, was helped out of the corral, and his
son, Kanghanie, took his place.
" The herd again collected in a circle, with their heads towards the
centre. The largest male was singled out, and two tame ones pushed
boldly in, one on each side of him, till the tiiree stood nearly abreast.

SIRlBEDDl'S PRIZi;.

He made no resistance, but betrayed his uneasiness by shifting restlessly

from foot to foot. Ranghanie now crept up ; holding the rope open
with both hands, its other extremity being made fast to Siribeddi's col-

lar,and watching the instant when the wild elephant lifted its hind foot,
he succeeded in passing the noose over its leg, drew it close, and fled to
the rear. The two tame elephants now fell back Siribeddi stretched the ;

rope to its full length, and while she dragged out the captive, her com-
panion placed himself between her and the herd to prevent any inter-
ference.
" In order to secure him to a tree, he had to be dragged back some
 SUBDUING THE CAPTIVES. 167

twenty or thirty yards, making furious resistance, bellowing in terror,

plunging on all sides, and crushing the smaller timber, which bent like
reeds beneath his clumsy struggles. Siribeddi drew him steadily after her,
and wound the rope round tiie proper tree, holding it all the time at its
fullest tension, and stepping cautiously across it when, in order to give it
a second turn, it was necessary to pass between the tree and tlie elephant.
" One after the other the herd was secured, in spite of their resistance;
and the whole time consumed in disposing of an elephant, from the mo-
ment the decoys approached him till he was secured to a tree, was about
three-quarters of an hour. The captives tried all possible ways to escape,
but it was of no use tiiey were fastened to the trees, and the cords were
;

so strong and so well tied that tiie greatest exertions of the prisoners
were of no effect -whatever. Some of the tricks they practised in en-
deavoring to escape were very ingenious, and showed that the elephant
in his wild state has the full development of the sagacity which he dis-
plays in captivit}'. Their strength is enormous, and sometimes they pull
down trees in their struggles.
" It is a curious circumstance," the Doctor continued, " that the tame
elephant who is assisting at tlie capture of liis kindred never displays the
least sympathy for them ; while they, on the other hand, show a great
deal of it for each other. When a captive, who is being dragged to a
tree, passes one that is already tied np, he will stop and twine his trunk
around the other's legs and neck, and manifest in all the ways that he
can a deep sorrow for what has happened.
"Wlien the animals are secured the corral presents a curious spectacle.
The great beasts are stretched out in various attitudes, their feet fastened
to the trees, and sometimes spread far apart. They moan and bellow
for hours together ; they seize hold of the trees with their trunks, and
exhaust all their ingenuity in endeavoring to get free. When all other
means have failed, they will often try to escape by turning somersaults
and it is interesting to see an elephant balancing himself on his head,
and endeavoring to throw his heels in the air. For awhile they refuse
to eat or drink, and sometimes they literally starve tliemselves to death.
I have heard of several instances where they have refused to move or eat,
and remain motionless for days, till they die. It is generally the finest

elephant of a herd that kills himself in this way

the natives say he ;

dies of a broken heart, and I am quite inclined to believe that such is the
case. And it sometimes happens that after an elephant has been tamed,
and is thoroughly obedient to his keeper, he will lie down and die on the
very first attempt to harness him.
16S THE BOY TRAVELLERS L\ THE FAR EAST.
 MODE OF TAMING THE WILD ONES. 109

" There is a story of an elephant in Ceylon, wliich was one of the

finest that had been taken in a long while. He resisted a good deal when
first captured and when they were removing him from the corral to the
;

stables, a distance of about six miles, he was so obstinate that the journey
occupied several hours. He escaped once, but was afterwards recaptured
and became very docile but when he was taken to Colombo, he stopped
;

in front of the gate of the fort, and would not enter. While tliey were
trying to persuade him to go inside, he lay down on the ground and died,
without the least struggle."
Frank asked in what way the elephants are tamed, after they have
been captured and tied up as the Doctor described.

A LITTLE HEAD WORK.

" They are subdued," said the Doctor, " partly by starvation, and
partly by kind treatment. Hunger is the great force used, as the ele-
phant is not allowed to have any food until he shows signs of becoming
tractable. Sometimes he is starved for a week or more; but he is allow-
ed to satisfy his thirst to a limited extent. When he indicates that he
has become docile, and is accustomed to the presence of his keeper, he is

released and taken to the stables, where he is well fed. No attempt is

made him for some time, but he is exercised with the other
to harness
elephants, and gradually reconciles himself to a captive state. In nine
cases out of ten he never shows the least inclination to rebel, but accepts
his new condition of life with perfect resignation and, as 1 have before
;

told you, he is quite ready and willing to assist in the capture of his
former comrades.
170 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.
" In some parts of Asia the natives capture elephants by digging deep
pits, and covering them with buslies and leaves, so that the trap is quite

IN A HEAP OF TROUBLE.

concealed. The herd is then driven in the direction of the pit, and some
of the animals fall into it. A guard is placed over them, and the}' are
kept without food for seven or eight days, and even for a longer period
if they do not submit. When they are conquered, the sides of the pit
are dug down, and they are led out of the place of their imprisonment.
There is a very good story connected with this mode of capture; it is an
old one, and evidently the Eastern version of the fable of the mouse and
the lion, which is in all the story-books."
" Tell it, please," said Fred and the request was echoed by his cousin.
;

" I will tell it," said the Doctor, " though I fear you may consider it
too juvenile for you.
"Hundreds of years ago an elephant was taken in a pit in a forest in
India. He bemoaned his fate, and wept aloud. The guard that had been
left over him was asleep under a tree, and a priest who was passing heard

his lamentations and tried to console him.

"'Alas!' said the elephant, ' thei-e can be no consolation for me. I
 AN EAST INDIAN FABLE. 171

must stay in tins pit till I am subdued, and then I shall be the slave of
man. No one can save me.'
" If you have ever
Don't be so sure of that,' replied the priest.
'
'

done a good action to anybody, you can call him to your aid, and he will
assist you. Think of some service you have given, and perhaps it will
now be of use to j'ou.'
" '
I have done services on several occasions,' the elephant answered
'
but those who were favored were so small that they can now do nothing
for a great body like me.'
" Tell me one of them,' said the priest.
'

" Last year,' said the elephant, the prince of this

' province
' had capt-
ured the king of the rats, and a great many of his subjects. He had
them in earthen jars, and was about to drown them ; but I came along in
the night and broke all the jars, so that the rats ran away and wei'e free.
'"And another time a man had the queen of the tribe of the parrots
in a cage, and hung it on a tree where nobody could reach it. I pulled

y; — ^""^'i -' "'I^:'-'^^!?=^v^->;<r-^''''^k^-^'''yv'//S^- " ^<->^

RUFUSIXG TO MOVE ON.

the tree down and broke the cage, so that the queen flew away to her
companions.'
" Just then the scream of a parrot was heard from a ueighboring tree,

and the priest said to the elephant.

172 THE BOY TliAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.
" ' Call that parrot, and ask him to go and tell his queen to come and
see her benefactor, who is now in trouble.'
" The elephant protested that it would be of no use, as the parrot
could not help hiin in any way, no matter how willing she was to do so.

But the priest insisted, and the elephant obeyed.

" In a little while the queen came, and then the priest told the ele-

phant to send her with a message to the king of the rats. Away she
flew, and told the rat king how their old benefactor had fallen into a pit.
" The king sent out his messengers to all parts of his dominions, and
by the next morning they were assembled to the number of several mill-
ions. The king ordered them to follow him, and they went to where
the elephant was entrapped. The parrot queen was there ahead of them,
and she had brought millions of lier subjects. The guards were now
awake, but the parrot queen talked to them and amused them, and she
kept flying off a little way at a time, till she drew them out of sight of
the pit. Then the rats began scratching at the edge of the pit and ;

though each of them only threw down a very little earth at a time, there
was soon a large path sloping to wliere the elephant stood. At the same
time the millions of parrots began breaking little twigs from the trees,
and dropping them into the pit; the elephant piled these twigs and the
earth beneath him, and in a few hours he walked out of the pit, and
away into the forest, where he joined his companions and told them what
had happened.
" Who would have thought,' he said to his fellow-elephants, that
'
'

the largest animal in the world could be saved by such insignificant

creatures as the parrot and the rat. Hereafter I will never despise small
things, or despair of being brought out of trouble. Good actions will be
rewarded, no matter how insignificant may be their recipient.'
"A very pretty story 1" exclaimed both the boys in a breath.
" It is Bronson answered; "and I leave
a story with a moral," Doctor
you to apply it while we have
more talk about the elephant."
a little

"A baby elephant is about the most amusing beast in the world; he
is affectionate and playful to a high degree, and there is little difKculty

in taming him. Very often the young elephants are taken in the cor-
rals with their mothers, whom they follow to the tying-down place, and

thence to the stables when the captives are released from their bonds. A
gentleman at Colombo had one that was sent down to his house from the
corral where he was taken, and he very soon became a favorite with ev-
erybodj' about the place. He stayed genei'ally near the kitchen, where
he picked up a good many things of which he was fond; and sometimes,
 HOW ELEPHANTS AMUSE THEMSELVES. 173

when the gentleman was walking in the grounds, tlie young giant would
come to him and twine his trunk around his arm, to indicate that he
wanted to be taken to the fruit-trees. He used to be admitted to the
dining-room, and helped to fruit at dessert, and he finally got to coming
in atodd times when not invited. On two or three occasions he managed
to all the glasses on a sideboard, while reaching for some oranges
break
in a basket, and finally he became so mischievous that he had to be sent
away. "While he was at the house the grass-cutters occasionally placed
their loads of grass on his back, and whenever this was done he strutted
off with an air of the greatest pride at the confidence that was shown in

SLIDING DOWN HILL.

him. After he was sent to the government stables he became very doc-
ile ; and when his turn came for work, he performed it to the satisfaction
of everybody.
" It is said that elephants amuse themselves by sliding downhill ; but
they do not use sleds, like boys in America. Natives who claim to have
witnessed these performances say that the huge beasts enter into the
sport with great enthusiasm, and keep it up for hours.
" Elephants are hunted with the rifle by English and other sportsmen
;

and thousands of them have been killed in this way for the sake of their
tusks, or for mere amusement. Their number has been so much dimin-
ished by this means, that in India and Ceylon the government has taken
the elephant under its protection, and it can only be pursued and slaugh-
tered by the express permission of the officials. At present the paradise
174 THE BOY TKAVELLEES IX THE FAR EAST.

KLEPHANT-IICNTIXG OX FOOT.

of elephant-hunters is in Africa. The African elephant is mnch like his

Asiatic brother; but his ear is nearly tliree times as large as that of the
latter, and his skin has fewer hairs upon it.

" Ho is a vicious brute, and often turns on his hunter and puts him to
a rapid flight. I have read of an Englishman who was one day chasing
an African elephant, and, after a great deal of manoeuvring, got near
enough to give him a shot. It was fortunate for the hunter that he was
well-mounted and had a firm seat in his saddle, as tlie wounded elephant
turned after the shot was fired and crashed through the bushes in the di-

Horse and rider had a narrow escape, and the

rection of his assailant.
two dogs that accompanied the sportsman came in for a share of the
fright. The hunter concluded that he would let the elephant go his waj-
unmolested; and when the enraged animal turned back into the forest
he was not followed."
"It reminds me," said the consul, "of the story of the army oflScer
in India who was asked if he found tiger-hunting a pleasant amusement.
'Hunting the tiger,' said he, 'is very pleasant as long as the tiger is
hunted but when he turns and hunts you, the pleasure ceases alto-
;

"
gether.'
" It is about the same with the chase of the wild elephant," the Doc-
tor remarked. As he said it, the servant announced the readiness of
 ELEPHANT AND TIGER FIGHTING. 175

something to eat in the cabin, and the conversation was suspended until

the part)- was seated at table.

"In some parts of the East," Doctor Bronson continued, "it is the
custom for princes and kings to give grand entertainments in the shape
of elephant fights. Sometimes two elephants are matched together; but
quite as often they are pitted against some other beast. Formerly these
fights were carried on till one of the combatants was dead or severely
hurt but at present an effort is made to keep them from injuring each
;

other, and the fight is little more than a series of rather violent pushes
from one side of the ring to the other.
" Mr. Crawfurd, who was sent at the head of an embassy from the
Governor-general of India to Siani and Cochin China in 1821, was pres-
ent at a tiger and elephant fight in Saigon. His account is interesting
in two ways; shows the manner of conducting one of these fights, and
it

gives us a glimpse at the manners of the Far East sixty years ago. After
detailing his reception by the governor, he says

" 'We were invited to be present at an elephant and tiger fight, and for this purpose we
mounted our elephants and repaired to the glacis of the fort, where the combat was to take place.
A great concourse of pecijilo had assembled to witness the exhibition. The tiger was secured to

THE HUNTER HUNTED.

176 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

a stake by a rope tied round his loins, and about tliii'ty yards long. The moutl) of the unfortunate
animal was sewn up, and his nails drawn out ; he was of large size, and extremely active. No
less than forty-six elephants, all males and of great size, were seen drawn out in line. One at a
time was brought to attack the tiger.

'"The first elephant advanced, to all appearance, with a great show of courage, and we thought,
from his determined look, that he would certainly have despatched his antagonist in an instant.

At the first effort he raised the tiger on his tusks to a considerable height, and threw him to the
distance of at least twenty feet. Notwithstanding this, tlie tiger rallied and sprung upon the ele-

phant's trunk and head, up to the very keeper, who was upon his neck. The elephant took alarm,
wheeled about, and ran off, pursued by the tiger as far as the rope would allow him. The fugi-
tive, although not hurt, roared most piteously, and no effort could bring him back to the charge.
A little after this, we saw a man brought up to the governor, bound with cords, and dragged into
his presence by two officers.
" 'This was the conductor of the recreant elephant. A hundred strokes of the bamboo were
ordered to be inflicted upon him on the spot. For this purpose he was thrown on his face on the
ground, and secured by one man sitting astride upon his neck and shoulders, and by another sit-

ting upon his feet, a succession of executioners inflicting the punishment. When it was over, two
men carried off the sufferer by the head and heels, apparently quite insensible.
'"While this outrage was perpetrating, the governor coolly viewed the combat of the tiger and
elephant, as if nothing else particular had been going forward. Ten or twelve elephants were
brought up in succession to attack the tiger, which was killed at last, merely by the astonishing
falls he received when tossed off the tusks of the elephants. The prodigious strength of these
animals was far beyond anything I could have supposed. Some of them tossed the tiger to a
distance of at least thirty feet, after he was nearly lifeless, and could offer no resistance. We
could not reflect without horror that these very individual animals were the same that have for
years executed the sentence of the law upon the many malefactors condemned to death. Upon
these occasions, a single toss, such as I have described, is always, I am told, sufficient to destroy
life.'"

TAKING A NAP.
 USES OF GEEEN COCOA-NUTS. 177

CHAPTER XIII.

BANG-PA-IN TO BANGKOK.— STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY AND BOTANY.

A S they returned down the river the boat stopped at Bang-pa-in, to

-^-*- enable the young tourists to have a view of the place. The name
means, " City on an Island," and is a literal description of the situation.
The island is not very wide in proportion to its length, and the boys
found that the beauties of the spot were quite up to the expectation they
had formed during their journey up the river. They walked through
the gardens, which were laid out with exquisite taste, and sat beneath the
trees, whose dense foliage afforded a grateful shade ; they were shown
through the palace, found it furnished in European style, and their sharp
eyes caught sight of a piano, which gave a hint of the musical taste of the
king. The officer in charge of the place showed an album of mono-
grams which iiis majesty had arranged, and some pencil sketches that
were the work of the royal hands. The boys were consoled for the ab-
sence of the king by the reflection that if he had been present the palace
would not have been open to visitors, and some of the interesting sights
of Bang-pa-in would have escaped them.
When they reached the landing to continue their journey, they found
a native boat along-side their own with fruits and other things to sell.

By direction of Doctor Bronson, the interpreter bought a selection of

what was in the market; and, as soon as they were again in motion, the
boys employed their eyes and palates in a scientific investigation of the
good things before them.
The first article that they discussed was a green cocoa-nut. Frank
wondered what use they could make of it, and Fred suggested that they
might keep it till it was ripe.
One of the servants speedily put an end to their suspense. With a
dexterity that was evidently the result of long practice, he cut away the
husk, and then made a hole in the shell of the nut large enough for the
easy insertion of one's thumb. The opening revealed the interior of the
nut, with a slight accumulation of white pulp close to the shell, while all
178 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

the vest of enclosed space was filled with milk.

tlie When it was thus
prepared he handed the nut to Frank, and immediatel}' opened another,
which he gave to Fred.
Frank laughed, and said, "What shall we do with it?"
" Drink the milk, and throw away the shell," replied the Doctor, as

he took one from the hands of the servant, and suited his action to his
words.
The bo3's did as they were directed, and the drink was followed by
an exclamation of delight.
They found the milk of the cocoa-nut a cool and refreshing beverage;
and, on the assurance of the consul that they might take all they wished
without fear of injury to their digestion, they proceeded with the demo-

COCOA-NUTS FULL GROWN AND JUST FORMING.

more and more nuts, until the basket was emptied. The consul
lition of
toldthem that the juice of the green cocoa-nut was a favorite beverage
throughout Siam, and was considered by some people as far safer to drink
than the water of the river.
" There is a good deal of vegetable matter in the river water," said
he, "and it is undoubtedly the cause of derangements of the stomach
 THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE. 179

when freely used. But the juice of the nut is pure and healthy, and its
slightly acid taste makes it welcome to the palate. It is cool, as you have
seen, and the acidity doubtless causes it to seem to be of a lower temper-
ature than the surrounding atmosphei-e."
red asked if the famous bread-fruit was
l-i
in the lot thev had bought,
and was rather disappointed at its absence.
Eut a bread-fruit tree was pointed out to
him as they floated down the river, and
he made note of the fact that it was about
forty feet high, and had a leaf nearly two
feet long. The fruit resembled a large,
very large apple, or perhaps a small mel-
on ; and the Doctor told him that the
outer husk furnished a iibre like that of
the cocoa-nut, which could be made into
a sort of coarse cloth. thk unnAu-i-KuiT.
The Doctor further explained that the
bread-fruit was baked in the shell, the same as an oyster is roasted, and
that the inner pulp, when thus cooked, resembled a sweet-potato in taste,
and was very nutritious. To the touch it was not unlike the soft part of
a loaf of bread, and its name was due to this latter quality' rather than
to its taste. " It forms," said he, " the chief sustenance of the inhabi-

tants of many of the islands of the South Pacific Ocean, and is to be

found nearly everywhere in the tropics. It was introduced into the

West Indies about a century ago, and its cultivation has been very suc-
cessful in that region; later it was planted in Central America, and has
become known and used that the natives rely largely upon it
so well
for their food. The product of three trees in some of the Pacific Isl-
ands will support a man for a year; and it is no wonder that he be-
comes lazy when he has nothing to do but pluck his food from a tree."
When they had finished with the cocoa-nuts, they had a fine pineap-
ple; and they remarked that its freshness made it sweeter and better
than any pineapple they had ever eaten at home. Frank made a. sketch
of this fruit, with its long and sharp-pointed leaves, and then he drew the
inside of a fruit which, for want of a better name, he called a star-apple.
It had a purple skin, and resembled an orange in shape and size the ;

pulp was white, and, when it was cut across, the cells for the seeds show-
ed the exact form of a star. Fruit after fruit was cut, in the hope
that one would be found without the star but the effort was a complete
;

failure.
180 THE BOY TEAVELLEKS IN THE FAE EAST.

Of course they had oranges in abundance and they had half a dozen
;

fruits whose names were quite unknown to them, but which were all de-
licious. Fred lamented that the attempt to tell about the flavor of a

I'lNKAl'l'l.t;. STAU-ArPI.E.

strange fruit was like trying to describe the song of a bird, or the per-
fume of a flower. So they concluded that the best thing for tliem to do
was to eat the fruit and admire it and if anybody wanted to know what
;

it was like, he would refer him to the article itself, and let him judge of

the quality.
While seated on the deck of the boat, and engaged in testing tlie pe-
culiarities of an orange, Frank espied something on a tree that grew close
to the water. Thinking it might be a new kind of fruit, he called the
Doctor's attention to his discovery ; the latter said the strange thing was
nothing more nor less than the nest of a bird, and would hardly prove
edible. Frank's illusion was broken, as the Doctor spoke, by a small bird
that hopped on a limb in front of the supposed fruit, and at the same
instant the head of another bird appeared from a hole in the nest. Evi-
dently the nest was constructed of cotton, or something of the sort, as it

was nearly snow-white in color it hung from the limb, so that it swayed
;

in the wind, and it was not at all surprising that Frank had mistaken it
for a variety of fruit hitherto unknown to him.
" That nest is not so remarkable," said the Doctor, " as the one made
by the tailor-bird, an inhabitant of Siam and the tropical parts of India
and Malacca. It chooses a leaf on a small twig, and then proceeds to
puncture a row of holes along the edge with its beak, just as a shoemaker
uses an awl for making holes in a piece of leather. When it has thus
perforated the leaf, it takes a long fibre from
a plant, and passes it
through the holes. The operation of sewing is imitated with great ex-
actness, and the fibre is pulled, like a thread, until the edges of the leaf
are drawn towards each other and form a hollow cone. If the bird can-
 A CURIOUS NEST. 181

not find a single leaf large enough for its purpose, it sews two leaves to-

gether; and instances have been known where three leaves were used.
When the framework of the nest is completed, the bird fills the interior
with the softest down it can gather from plants, and it thus has a home
which it is next to impossible to discover among the leaves. There is

another bird that lives near watercourses and marshes, and constructs a
nest by sewing the reeds and rushes together but its work is not so per-
;

and does not entitle him to equal credit."

fect as that of the tailor-bird,
Frank was anxious to obtain one of these nests as a curiosity, and was
gratified, on his return to Bangkok, to find one for sale in the hands of
a native. He bought it, and had it carefully packed, so that he could

A NEW KIND OF FKUIT.

send it home without fear of injury in the next box of curiosities they
should despatch to America.
From birds the conversation wandered to fishes, and the boys learned
182 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST.

something that caused their eyes to open with astonisiiment. Lest it

should be forgotten, it was

entered in both tiieir note-
books, and read as follows
" There is a fish in Siam,
and other parts of the East,
that has the remarkable pe-
of going overland
culiarity
from one pond to another.
When the water where they
are dries up, the fishes start
for the nearest pond, though
it may be several miles away
and they propel themselves
by means of their fins, very
much as a turtle drags him-
self with his feet. Their in-
stinct is uneri-ing, and they
have never been known to
make a mistake about head-
TAILOR-BIIID AND -NKST. ing for the water that is

nearest. It is said that you

may take one of them up and turn him around half a dozen times, till

he is dizzy, but he will not lose his points of compass. When he is put
down again he takes the proper direction, and though you put him off
the track ever so many times, he always returns to it."

" We shall next hear, I suppose, that there are fishes that climb trees,"
Fred remarked, as he finished his note on the fishes that go overland.
'•
Quite possibly," Frank replied ;
" let us ask the Doctor."

They asked the question, and were taken somewhat aback when Doc-
tor Bronson answered in the aftirmative.

"I don't know," said he, "if there are any fish in Siam that climb
trees, but there is one in Brazil that can perform this feat. He does not
ascend a perpendicular tree, but when he finds one that slopes at an angle
of about forty-five degrees, and has itshe will venture
roots in the water,
on an excursion in the air. His scales are very large, and he works him-
self forward by a motion of the lower ones as they press against the bark

of the tree. He hugs the tree with his fins in order to maintain his bal-
ance his movements in climbing are very slow, and he certainly appears
;

to better advantage in the water, where he is a rapid and graceful swina-

 OYSTERS GROWING ON TREES. 183

iiier. You see that a fish out of water is not always the unhappy creat-
ure he lias been supposed to be by most persons."
" I heard souaebody say one day," said Fred, " that oysters grow on
trees insome parts of the world. Is that really so ?"
" Certainly," was the Doctor's answer " they do grow on ; trees, but
not in the way you are naturally led to suppose."
" How is it, then. Doctor?" queried Frank.
" It is quite simple when you understand it," was the response. " The
spawn of the oyster floats in the water, and attaches itself to the first
thing with which comes in contact.
it It frequently happens that, at
comes up a little way on the trunk of a tree, or it
high-tide, the water
may be that a limb of a tree hangs in the water. The oyster-spawn is
attached to the trunk or limb, as the case may be, and when the tide

A CLIJrtBING-FISIt.

goes away it remains there. It has enough vitality to live until the tide
comes again it retains its hold, and in course of time becomes an oyster
;

growing on a tree. He could not live altogether without water, but ne

184 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

can easily get along during the intervals of the tides. He does not grow
on a tree like an apple or an orange, but he certainly makes the tree his
home."
" Do they have 03'sters inSiam ?" one of the boys asked.
" Oysters grow in the Gulf of Siam," was the reply " but they are ;

not equal to those of the Atlantic coast of the United States. As for
that matter, no oysters in any part of the world can or do equal ours;
at least in the opinion of residents of the United States. Here in the
East Indies they have some very large oysters; there is one variety that
often attains a weight of three hundred pounds not good for any-
; it is

thing, however, and you never hear a man in a restaurant calling for a
dozen of this variety on the half -shell.
"Naturalists have described about sixty varieties of oysters in differ-
ent parts of the world, and it is said that more than two hundred species
of fossil oysters have been found by geologists. Most of these forms are
now extinct, and, therefore, we have no way of determining whether all
of them have been good to eat or otherwise. It is often remarked that
the first man who ate an oyster must have been very brave, and it is a
pity that his name has not come down to us. One version of the story
is that he thrust his fingers into an open shell which he saw lying on the
sea-shore; the oyster was angry at this intrusion, and immediately closed
on the fingers, very much to the man's astonishment. It required a great
deal of wrenching to liberate them from the shell, and they were some-
what injured in the operation ; the man naturally put his fingers in his
mouth and in so doing he learned the taste of the
to relieve the pain,
oyster. Having learned it, he immediately smashed the shell with a stone
and devoui-ed the contents, and he continued to eat oysters till he had
made a hearty meal. Always after that, when he was hungry, he went
to the oyster-bank and satisfied his appetite, and from being thin as a
skeleton he grew fat and I'osy. His neighbors noted the change, and
one day when he was proceeding stealthily to his favorite retreat they
watched him and found his secret. When it was once out, the news
spread with great rapidity, and thus was inaugurated the habit of eating
the oyster. When this occurred no one knows but the fact is that the
;

ancient Romans and Greeks were fond of the oyster, and esteemed it
greatly as an article of food.
"
Another remarkable fact is
—
Before the Doctor could finish the sentence, Frank sprung to his feet
in an excited manner, and pointed to a tree that stood not twenty feet
from the bank of the river.
 A SNAKE CHARMING A SQUIRREL. 185

"See that great snake!" he shouted ;" and see that squirrel in front
of him !"
A snake was coiled around the limb of the tree with his neck bent,
and his head slowly waving in the air. His body glistened in tlie sun-
light as it played on his scales, and Frank fancied he could see the fire
darting from his eyes. A foot or so in front of him was a squirrel, sit-
ting on his haunches, and with his tail erect; his eyes were fixed on the
serpent, and he was chattering wildly, and as if greatly alarmed.
While they looked at the strange spectacle, the head of the snake was
darted forward, and in an instant the poor little squirrel was transfixed

THE SNAKE AXD THE SQUIRREL.

by the deadly fangs. Frank wished they had been able to save the squir-
rel by killing the snake, but his wishing was of no avail, as they were

moving down the stream and, besides, they had no fire-arras with which
;

the serpent could have been disturbed in his retreat up the tree.
" I suppose the squirrel was charmed by the snake," said Fred, as soon

as they had passed out of siglit of tlie tree.

"As to that," replied Doctor Bronson, " there is much dispute. Many
persons who have studied th-e subject are positive that snakes have the
power of charming or fascinating small birds and animals; and others,
186 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

wlio have studied it quite as much, deny that any such power exists. I

have heard so much on both sides, that I am not able to form a positive
opinion. I am inclined, however, to believe that the power is possessed
by certain snakes, as I have seen manifestations of it, or something very
like it. was a boy in the country, I one day saw a large black
"When I
snake in an apple-tree on my uncle's farm. bird was hopping around A
on the limbs in great alarm, as I judged by his twitterings; he seemed
to be terribly afraid of the snake, and at the same time unable to get
away from him. I watched his movements for nearly half an hour, and
observed that each time the bird moved he came nearer to the snake
and the performance ended by his lighting on a branch within a foot of
where the latter was coiled. Then the snake darted his head forward
and seized the bird, precisely as you saw that scaly fellow, a few moments
ago, seize the squirrel.
"Exactly what the process of charming is, if it really exists, it is diffi-

cult to say. Probably the victim is paralyzed, to some extent, by the

horrible appearance of the serpent, and deprived of the use of his limbs.
If you suddenly come in contact with a ferocious wild beast, or some ter-

rible danger is presented to j^ou, it is not at all improbable that you will
be unable to move from sheer fright. I am inclined to believe that the
fascination of birds and small mammals by serpents is something of this
sort, but I confess my inability to explain why the victim, in moving
around, comes every moment nearer to his destroyer, as though he could
not remove his however much he might wish to do so."
ej^es,
" If you around much in Siain," the consul remarked, " you
travel
will find all the snakes you care to see. It is not unusual to see them
swimming in the river; and in the rainy season they frequently get into
the houses, particularly those that float on the water. Most of them are
harmless, but there are some jjoisonous ones, including the famous cobra
di capellaP
Frank thought he would prefer not to live in a floating house, for the
present at least and his opinion was shared by Fred. Tliey were not at
;

all enamored of the idea of having an intimate association with the wan-
dering snakes of Siau}.
" I think," said the Doctor, " that if you were compelled to select
some of the inhabitants of the Siamese forests as your companions, you
would prefer monkeys to snakes. In the region north of here you could
find an abundance of them, and of all sizes ; they run wild in the forests,
and sometimes are found in large droves. They are sociable beings, and
very fond of each other's society and if one of them gets into trouble,
;
 A MAN PURSUED BY MONKEYS. 187

his companions are quite likely to come to his relief. A friend of mine
was out hunting one day, and saw a monkey on a tree where a fair chance
for a shot was presented. He fired and wounded the monkey, who im-
mediately set up a piteous howl in a few minutes dozens of monkeys
;

were around him, and they seemed to understand that my friend was the
cause of the trouble. He fled, and they pursued him ; he fired his gnn
to frighten them, and, after knocking several of them over, he I'eached an

MONKEYS AT HOME.

open space of country, and was allowed to go on undisturbed. If he had

been without his gun he would not have escaped so easily.
"Monkej's have a good many enemies besides man. Wild beasts de-
188 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

YOur them, and occasionally snakes manage to take them in ; the fellows
are so active that they can only be captured by strategy, or their own
carelessness and curiosity; and
'.'2^^ (^^^ u,- cH^,. they often fall victims to the
last-named quality. A tiger
will liedown and pretend to
be dead; the monkeys see
him, and draw near to inves-
tigate. They approach cau-
tiously, stop frequently, and
do a deal of chattering. If
the tiger stirs a muscle, they
take the alarm at once and
are off ; but if he lies perfect-

ly still, they are sure, in a lit-

tle while, to come so close that one of the boldest will venture to pluck
at his hide. As he does so he jumps several feet to one side, and if the
tiger should rouse himself he would be baffled of his prey. He continues
to lie as if dead ; and monkeys, believing he is reallj- nothing
finally the
but a carcass, proceed to on him and hold a coroner's inquest. Now
sit

is the tiger's chance; and with a sudden spring he has one of the fattest

in his jaws, while the rest scamper away to the forest.

"Another enemy of the monkey is the eagle. When the monkeys
are playing in the branches of a tree the
eagle swoops down with great rapidity,
and carries one of the party off in his
powerful claws. Often there is a fearful
struggle in the air, as the monkey is not
inclined to die without a protest ; and as
he has a great deal of strength, and is full

of activity, he occasionally comes off vic-

torious and though he may be
escapes,
killed by the from the height where
fall

the eagle drops him. A gentleman of

my acquaintance once witnessed the capt-
ure of a monkey bj' an eagle ; the eagle
fastened his claws in the. back of the monkey, and, tliough the latter
struggled violently, his hold was not once broken.The eagle flew to the
top of a distant tree, where he undoubtedly devoured his victim at his
leisure.
 A BATTLE IN THE AIR. 189

" In seizing a monkey, the eagle always endeavors to grasp him by

the back and neck, one claw being in the neck, and the other farther

down. The reason of this is that, unless

the monkey is firmly held by the neck,

he will turn his head and inflict a terri-

ble bite on his assailant but as long as
;

the neck is thus held he is powerless.

It is said that the first thing the eagle
does, after taking a monke^', is to put
out his eyes with his powerful beak ; but in so doing he is in danger of
having his head seized by the monkey's paws."
" On the whole," said Frank, " I don't think I care about forming an
intimate acquaintance with the monkey."
Fred was of the same opinion, and the subject of conversation was
changed.
190 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE KING IN HIS STATE BARGE.— BETEL AND TOBACCO.

ON their arrival at Bangkok, our friends found that the king

turned, and was to begin on the following day his annual visits to
liad re-

the temples of the city. Once a year he goes in state to the temples,
and about two weeks are consumed in making the rounds of all of them.
The Siamese attach much importance to this ceremony, as their country
is considered the principal seat of the Buddhist religion, and the king is

its first defender. Therefore it is considered necessary that he should

worship oiRcially at the shrines of the leading temples of the capital, in
addition to his daily worship in the temples attached to the grand palace.
The consul arranged to accompany Doctor Bronson and the youths
to one of the temples the king was to visit, so that they might see the

procession, and have a glimpse of the ruler of Siam. About ten o'clock
in the forenoon they left the hotel in their boat, and a half-hour's pull up
and across the river brought them to the spot. They spent a little while
in the inspection of the temple and its surroundings: they had visited
the same temple in the first days of their stay in Bangkok, and there-
fore many things were familiar to their eyes. But where it had been
quiet before all was now activity, and there was a considerable assem-
blage of people, who had come, like themselves, to witness the ceremony.
After a time there was a stir, and the announcement was made that
the king was coming. The boys looked up the river in the direction of
the palace, and, sure enougli, there was the royal pi-ocession and it was ; £i

sight that almost took away the breath of both Frank and Fred.
There was a flotilla of a dozen or more boats and barges of the most
gorgeous description our friends had ever seen. The largest of them was
occupied by the king, and had a hundred and twenty men to row, or rath-
er to paddle it. TJie boat was said to be fifty yards in length, but no-
body was able to say positively what were its exact dimensions at uny ;

rate, it was long enough and handsome enough to satisfy tiie most fas

tidious spectator. The rowers were in a double line, and in scarlet uni
 SIAMESE BOAT-ROWERS. 191

forms; at each stroke they raised

their paddles high in air, and their
movements were timed that
so
the paddles on both sides were
dipped at exactly the same mo-
ment. The boat sat quite low
in the water, and its stern had a
sharp and high curve to it that
doubtless made the middle of the
craft appear lower than it really
was. The bow was bent upwards
as high as tlie stern, and Frank
thought it could not be less than
ten or twelve feet out of the wa-
ter. It appeared to be much heav-
ier than the stern, and was fantas-
tically carved ; the Doctor told the
boys that the carving was intend-
ed to represent the Nagha Mus-
tdkha Sapta, or seven -headed ser-

pent, whicli is one of the mytho-

logical deities of Siam.
Considerably nearer to the stern
than the bow there was a sort of
pillars, and
throne elevated on four
having a gorgeous canopy above
it. On this throne the king was
seated ; the canopy had a spire like
that of some of the temples, and
consequently the seat in the barge
possessed a certain religions char-
acter. Near him were attendants
holding canopies not altogether un-
like umbrellas, and at a distance
these canopies suggested the ap-
pearance of golden cones. The
boat was driven rapidly through
the water by the powerful arms of
itsrowers, and their movements
were timed by a man waving a
192 THE BOy TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Imge baton, after the manner of the drum-major of a brass band. The
other boats moved at the same speed they were smaller than that of the
;

king, some of them having no more than thirty or forty rowers; and they
belonged to the Siamese nobles and ministers of state, who were required
to accompany the king on his official visits to the temples.
The gilding and bright colors on the boats were fairly dazzling to the
eyes of the young travellers. In all their travels hitherto, they had seen
nothing half as gorgeous as this spectacle, and Frank was inclined to
pinch himself to make sure he was not dreaming. He was destined to
be still more astonished when told that the king's boat was inlaid with
mother-of-pearl and crystal, and with sparkling shells and bright stones, so
that it resembled a piece of jewellery for the use of a giant such as the
world never saw. He wondered what must have been the cost of such a
boat, but there was no one who could tell him.
Soon the boat was at the little platform which served as a lauding-

A BODY OF THE BOYAL GIJAKDS.

place in front of the temple. A file of soldiers, uniformed somewhat

after the European manner, and carrying rifles of foreign manufacture,
was drawn up near the path where his majesty would pass on his way to
the temple door; they were commanded by an officer whose complexion
was of the Siamese tint, and who spoke English so fluently that the
boys thought he must have had a most excellent teacher, and been a very
apt pupil. They were undeceived when they learned that he was a na-
tive of Philadelphia, and formerly served in the army of the United
States. Doctor Bronson observed that the soldiers were well drilled,
as they went through the manual of arms with the precision of a regi-
ment of English or American infantrj'.
The Siamese army is drilled after the European manner, and has had
drill-masters from the United States and half the countries of Europe in
the last thirty years. The navy is also under foreign management, and
 ORGANIZATION OF THE SIAMESE ARMY. 193

the harbor-master of the port of Bangkok is an Englishman, who has lived

there a long time. Several foreigners are in the custom-house and other
official service, and the steamers of the navy have European engineers.
The foreigners in the Siainese service are well paid, and generally get
along easily with the natives. Some of them are greatly trusted by the
king, and have shown themselves fully worthy of the ro^'al confidence.
In time of war the entire male population of the country cajjable of
bearing arms is liable to be called out, and every man is bound to serve as
a defender of his nation. Whenever soldiers are wanted, the king sends
a command and tells them
to the governors of the various provinces,
what their quota will be, and they are expected
comply immediately
to
with the demand. The troops thus levied are fed and clothed and armed
at the expense of the government, but they do not receive any pay in
money and when the emei'gency for which they were wanted is passed
;

they are dismissed and sent home. The standing army in time of peace
is quite small, and the soldiers are fed and clothed, and their pay in

money is about six dollars a month. The Siamese navy contained, at the
time our friends were at Bangkok, about a dozen steam gun-boats, carry-
ing from two to ten guns each, and several new vessels were on the stocks
in the royal dock-yards. A large naval force is not needed in Siam, and
the king wisely refrains from expending a great deal of money on useless
ships of war.
The king stepped ashore on the little platform previously mentioned,
and mounted a sedan-chair, on which he was to be carried to the temple.
His head was protected from the sun by a canopy like a large umbrella
and both the seat and canopy were gayly decorated, and shone with
gilding. As the bearers proceeded with their royal burden, the people
knelt in homage to their ruler, and the strictest silence was observed.
One after another the nobles and high officials landed from their boats,
and proceeded to the temple, surrounded or followed by their attendants.
It was a novel spectacle to the boys, this procession of dignitaries, and
they watched it with great interest. Each of the officials had a man to
carry his pipe and tobacco, another for his betel-box, another for his tray,
holding a teacup and a pot of tea and some of them had two or three
;

others for the transportation of various things. The betel-boxes were of

gold, and most exquisitely wrought, and they must have cost a great deal
of money to make. The prime-minister was the last to arrive, and the
boys were told that the ceremony would not begin till he had entered the
temple.
The strangers were not invited to see the services inside the building,
13
lOi THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

and therefore they remained where they were till the king came out and
returned to his boat. The ceremony lasted about half an hour, and con-
sisted of the repetition of prayers by the priests, and responses by the king;
it was said to be not unlike the celebration of mass in a Catholic church,

Tllli KING VISITING A TEMPLE.

and it has been remarked by many visitors to the Far East that the forms
of Buddhist worship have a considerable resemblance to those of Rome.
The king went to his boat, which was drawn up to the platform as
before and as soon as he was seated, the signal was given to the rowers
;

to move Away they paddled to another temple, situated up one of

on.
the canals and the other boats followed the royal one as rapidlj' as possi-
;

ble. By taking a path through some gardens near the temple, our friends
reached a point on the bank of the canal where they could see all the
boats as they went along.
After the procession had gone the bo3's wanted to ramble through
the tall grass, but changed their minds when told that possibly they might
 KDiriCE. 195
A CURIOUS

THE FRONT OF THK TKMrl.K.

19G THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

encounter a cobra or some other deadly snake. Cobras are not unfre-
quently found around tlie Siamese temples ; and thougli accidents are not
of common occurrence, there are enough of thetn to make a stranger care-
ful about his promenades.
Itwas past noon, and the heat of the sun was not of the lightest.
The Doctor suggested a return to the hotel, and the boys were quite will-
ing to accept it, as tiiey wanted to think over the strange spectacle they
had witnessed. They thought they had done quite enough for one day,
and considered that they iiad been very fortunate in seeing the king, and
witnessing one of the pageants for which Siam is celebrated.
On their way back in the boat, Frank asked the Doctor to tell him
something about the use of the betel-nut. They had observed that the
king was vigorously chewing the substance, which is to the Siamese wliat
tobacco is to many Americans, and the ministers of state were following
his example. All classes of people indulged in the amusement, and their
mouths had a reddish appearance in consequence.
" The leaf of the betel-pepper," said the Doctor, " and the nut of the
areca-palm are prepared as follows: the nut is sliced quite thin, and a lit-
tle quicklime is sprinkled on it, so as to give it a pungent ilavor, and

the two substances are then wrapped in the leaf. In this form it is
taken into the mouth and chewed, and the operation is generally per-
formed with a very vigorous action of the jaws. Tiie saliva has a red-
dish tint, and it is so bright that many strangers are deluded into the be-
lief that the natives are spitting blood. The practice of chewing this
substance began originally in the Malay peninsula, but it has gradually
spread all over India, the countries of Indo-China, and the Malay Archi-
pelago. Would yon like to try it ?"
Tiie boys had the curiosity to make an experiment with tlie betel-
nut and, as soon as they reached the hotel, the Doctor made their wants
;

known to the landlord. In a little while some of the substance was

brought, and the youths ventured to chew it.
A very short trial was quite sufficient. They found the taste any-
thing but agreeable and Frank thought the same sensation could be had
;

by dissolving in the mouth a piece of alum as large as a small pea, or a

more extensive piece of lime. The delusion might be kept up by add-
ing any common leaf and a few grains of pepper, and Fred was confident
that it would require a long time for him to be accustomed to it. " Of

course," said he, " one might learn in time to like betel, just as men in
America learn to like tobacco but, as far as I can judge, the taste of
;

tobacco is the less disagreeable of the two."

 TOBACCO AND BETEL. 197

The astringency was removed from the tongues of

of the betel-nut
the experimenters by a free use of the milk of green cocoa-nuts; and
each of the hoys made a quiet
promise to himself that he would
not learn to chew betel for any-
thing in the world.
"And we ma}' as well include
tobacco," said Frank, " and leave
it to rest at the side of betel. I

certainly don't like the process of

chewing betel, and it is no worse
than that of chewing the favorite
weed of America."
Fred agreed with his cousin,
and the two concluded that they
would not adopt the habit of many
of their countrymen. Just then
it occurred to them that they had
not seen any other people than
their own using tobacco in this
form, and so they asked the Doc-
tor if the iiabit was exclusively
TIIK TOltACCO-PLANT.
an American one.
" Practically so," was the Doctor's answer. " In no other country
than ours is the habit of chewing tobacco at all prevalent; a few sailors
and others who have lived or been in the United States have adopted
and carried ithome, and these are
virtually the only people not Ameri-
cans who indulge in it. Other na-
tions are far greater smokers than
ourselves, but we have very neai-ly a
monopoly of chewing the leaf of the
famous plant of Virginia."
One of the boys asked if tobacco
was not first found in America he ;

thought he had read that it was used

by the Indians at the time of the dis-
covery of the Western Continent by
Columbus, and was introduced to Eu-
siR wALTioit KALKicii ANu HIS PIPE. ropG by Sir Walter Raleigh.
198 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.
" I am unable to answer your question with exactness," said the Doc-
tor, "for the simple reason that the matter is involved in obscurity. It
is by some historians that the sailors accompanying Columbus were
said
one day greatly astonished at seeing smoke issuing from the mouths and
nostrils of some of the natives, and they found, on investigation, that it
was produced by the combustion of a fragrant herb or jjlant. On their
return they introduced it into Spain and Portugal. In loCO Jean Xieot
was ambassador of France at the Court of Lisbon, and learned the use of
tobacco from a merchant who had been in America. When he next went
to France, he presented the weed to the queen, and it soon became known
throughout Europe. From him it was called UKerbe Nicotlenne, or " tlie
Nicotian weed," and tlie name has come down to our times. Xear the
same period Sir Francis Drake introduced it into England, and Sir AValter
Ealeigh made it fashionable ; so rapidly did the use of it spread that in
less than twenty years nearly every class of society was addicted to it.

" Some some similar plant, was smoked

writers contend that tobacco, or
in Asia long before the discovery of America; in proof of this thej' assert
that the pipe in nearly its present form is to be seen on many ancient
sculptures; and it is certainly singular that a people so conservative as the
Chinese and other Asiatics should have made the use of tobacco universal
in tlie comparatively short period that has elapsed since its discovery in
America. On the other hand, we can infer that it was not known in
Asia as early as the eighth century, because the tales of tiie x\rabian
Nights, which are supposed to be a perfect picture of the customs of
that time,make no mention of smoking."
" Does
Marco Polo make any mention of it in his travels in Asia T'
Fred asked. " If it had been known in his time, I think he would have
been pretty certain to say something about it."

makes no allusion to it," the Doctor responded " and

" I believe he ;

this fact is quoted by those who contend that the practice was of Ameri-
can origin. But, whatever the origin of smoking tobacco, the custom has
spread over the whole globe, and prevails among savages no less tiian
among the most civilized and enlightened nations. All classes of people,
from highest to lowest, are smokers; and, though the practice lias been the
subject of severe penalties, it has continued to spread. Laws were passed
against it bj"^ several governments. In Russia, smokers were punished by
having a pipe-stem passed through the cartilage of the nose for their first
offence and for a second, they were ordered to be flogged to death.
; Sul-
tan Amurath IV. ordered that all smokers should be strangled and in ;

Switzerland it was oflicially announced that the use of tobacco was one
 DIFFERENT KINDS OF TOBACCO. Ii39

of the sins foi-bklden by Ten Commandments. The Popes of Rome

tlie

issued edicts against it; and one of them, Urban VII., decreed the excom-
munication of all who should use tobacco. King James wrote the famous
'
Counterblast against Tobacco,' and other publications were made con-
demning the importation of Sir Walter Raleigh but all to no purpose.
;

The practice could not be put down and to-day there is no article of
;

luxury or dissipation that is so universally known as tobacco.

PIPES OF ALL NATIONS.

" There are about forty difEerent varieties of tobacco described by

botanists which are smoked, or chewed, or snuffed, in various parts of the
world. By far the greater part of the tobacco used annually is smoked,
and in some countries snuff-taking, like chewing the weed, is practically
unknown. In nine cases out of ten in America the use of tobacco begins
by smoking, and in other countries the proportion is probably a hundred
times as great. The tobacco used in Asia and in some parts of Europe
is much milder than that of America. England is the largest consumer
of strong tobacco outside of the United States, and the revenue derived
from it by the British custom-house goes far towards paying the ex-
penses of the government.
200 THE BOY TKAVELLEES IN THE FAR EAST.

YOUNG AMEKICA.

"Tobacco was first smoked in pipes, and all the early representations
of smokers contain no picture of the cigar. Sir Walter Raleigh used a
pipe which was much like the one most popular inEngland at the pres-
ent day, and it was not till long after his time that the leaf, rolled into
a cigar, became fashionable. Different nations have adopted different
forms for the pipe; and it is noticeable that the more indolent the people
the longer is its pipe-stem. With tlie Englisli and American pipe the
smoker can enjoy himself while emplo_yed, but with tlie Eastern pipe he
can do nothing else while smoking. With a cigar, or a short pipe, a man
may write or work but when he takes tlie hookah of Turkey, or the
;

nargileh of Syria and Egypt, his occupation, other than smoking, must
be limited to conversation and reading. Each country has adopted tlie
form best suited to its tastes; and it would be the height of absurdity- to
give the ragged newsboys of New York an Oriental pipe-stem two yards
in length, and expect them to enjoy it as they do the short stumps of
cigars they gather in the street. On the other hand, the Turkish ladj' re-
clining on her divan would consider the short dliudeen of the Irish apple-
woman a wretched substitute for the hookah, with its flexible stem and its

bowl of water through wiiich the smoke bubbles on its way to her mouth.
"Whether tobacco is injurious or otherwise has been a subject of
much discussion, and the advocates on each side have said a great deal
that their opponents will not admit. It would require more time than I
 CONTRASTS OF THE ORIENT AND THE OCCIDENT. 201

have at my command to tell you even a tenth part of the arguments

for and against tobacco, and therefore I will not enter upon the discus-
sion of the subject. Volumes have been written upon it, and doubtless
other volumes will find theirway into print as the years roll on."
202 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTER XV.
WOMEN, HAIR-CUTTING, AND SLAVERY.

'"F^HE boys occupied themselves very industriously in writing for their

-L friends at home the accounts of what they had seen and heard in
Siam. They told of the trip to Ayuthia, and the visit to the elephant
corral ; of their stay at Bang-pa-in ; of the journey down the river ; and,
finally, of the flotilla of boats and barges, and the state procession of the
king to the temples. When they had brought the story down to the
hour of writing, there was a day to spare before the closing of the weekly
mail to Singapore, and thence to America.
Frank thought it was time for him to say sometiiing specially intend-
ed for Mary and Effie he remembered his letter from Japan about the
;

women of that country, and concluded tiiat a similar missive from Siam
would be quite in order. Then he recollected that he had seen fewer
women in his walks and rides about Bangkok than when he strolled
through the streets of Tokio and Kioto, and that in all probability he
could not tell as much of the Siamese as of the Japanese women, for
the simple reason that he had not learned so much about them. But he
was determined to make the effort, and, after talking witli the Doctor on
the subject, he wrote as follows
" TJie dress of the Siamese men is so nmch like that of the women
that a stranger cannot tell at first whether he is looking at the one or the
other. I will send you a picture, so that you may understand how they
look much easier than if I took half a dozen pages in writing to tell it.

You see that a gentleman and lady have the same garments, except that
the lady wears a scarf over her shoulders, or rather over her left shoulder,
and passing under her right arm. The gentleman has a tiny bit of a
linen collar on his jacket, while the lady has none, and he also has wrist-
bands, something after the European model. The ti-ousers are like a
piece of cloth four or five feet square, and one corner is tucked under a
belt in the centre of the waist ; tlie ladies generally wear brighter colors
than their liusbands, but the cut of the garment is practically the same.
HOW THE SIAMESE DRESS. 203

SIAMKSE GKNTLEMAN AND l.ADV.

204 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" Xearly evei'ybody goes barefoot ; and when they do put anything on
their feet, it is rarely more than a light sandal. The custom of wearing
shoes and boots snch as we have is never likely to become popular in a
country so hot as this is, and where there no snow or ice. Children,
is

up to five or six years of age, have no garments of any consequence; and

even when they are older, their clothing would not shield them from the
cold if they were compelled to face a New York winter. A tailor would
not make a fortune by coming to Siam and trying to get the people to
wear clothes like American ones and as for a corn doctor, he would have
;

no chance at all where tight boots, or boots of any kind, are practically
unknown.
" Then, too, they dress their hair in pretty much the same way, so that
you cannot tell a man from a woman by looking at their heads, as you can
in most other countries of the world. They shave all the lower part of
the head, and leave the crown covered with a tuft, or bunch, that reminds
you of a shoe-brnsh. The men have very light beards, like all Oriental
people; and whenever one of them finds that he can raise a mustache
or a beard, he is pretty sure to do so, as he wants to look unlike his neigh-
bors. But as a general thing beards do not become the Oriental features,
though mustaches do and when I see a Chinese or a Japanese or a Siam-
;

ese with a beard, which is not often, I feel like asking him to go home
aiid shave it off.

" The first hair-cutting, at the time a child is twelve or fourteen years
old, is a very important ceremony. No matter how poor the parents of
a child may
they manage to have some kind of an entertainment, be
be,
it ever so humble, while with the rich a great deal of money is spent on
the In the case of a royal child the festivities are on a grand
affair.

and the whole population is expected to rejoice. We heard some-

scale,

thing about the ceremony when we were in Cochin-China, and we have

heard a great deal more about it since we eaine here. We
wish one was
to come off now, but unfortunately there is nothing of the kind in pros-
pect.
"A few months ago the eldest of the king's children reached the
proper age for the So-Kan, as the hair-cutting ceremony is called, and for
weeks before the event the preparations for it were going on. I cannot
do better than copy the account that was published at the time in the
Siam Daily Advertiser, a newspaper that is printed here by some Ameri-
cans who have lived a long time in Bangkok. Here it is
" Princess Sri Wililaxan is the
' eldest daughter of his majesty the
King of Siam ; her mother is one of the daughters of his excellency Chow
 A SIAMESE INTERIOR. 205

A YOUKG PKINCE OF THE KOYAL HOUSE, WITH HIS ATTENDANT.

206 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

P'raya Kralalionie, the Prime-minister of Siam. This princess is conse-

quently the great-granddaughter of his grace the ex-rcgent, and the
granddaughter of the prime-minister.
"
It is said that his majesty has fifteen children.
' Four of these are
Somdetch Chowfas. Only one of these Somdetch Ciiowfas is a son.
" The Somdetch Chowfas are the children of the king, and their
'

mothers are princesses. The son, consequently, who is the eldest Chow-
fa of the present king is by law and the customs of the country the heir-
apparent to the throne.
'"When the So-Kan ceremonies take place they must be of the most
imposing kind. In the present instance they were continued six days,
and on each day there was an impos-
ing procession.
"'The sound of music announced
the approach of the procession.
" Soon a company of seeming-
'

ly masked men, representing Japanese

warriors, made their appearance. Then
came companies of Siamese military
and their band. Then followed com-
panies of Siamese women dressed after
the manner of the country, with the
right arm and the shoulder bare; and
then companies of men and boys and
women dressed to represent the con-
tiguous nationalities —Malays, Peguans,
Burnians, Laos, Karens, etc. The
groups as they passed were quite gro-
FEMALE IIK.4D-DRESS AND COSTUME. tesque.
" '
His majesty the king ascended
to a prominent hall near the Maha Prasaht,* which was handsomely
furnished. In front of him, to his right, were a group of pretty and
richly-di'essed ladies, holding in their hands a small silver tree. They
went through the slow motions of a Siamese dance. Groups of Siam-
ese ladies were seated in a line, with the new palace forming one side of
a parallelogram. These were spectators, and evidently persons of rank.
On the left of his majesty, forming the second long side of the paral-

* An immense temple or chapel in the palace enclosure, where the kings are crowned, and
where they lie in state for twelve months after their deatlis, awaiting the ceremony of cremation.
 AN IMPOSING CEREMONIAL. 20 r

lelogram, were crowds of Europeans and other foreigners who had been
invited to the performance.
" The Maha Prasaht, on an elevated part of
' side wall enclosing the
which was the hall in which his majesty sat, formed the west side of the
parallelogram. Directly in front of the king was the artilicial Trailaht,
seemingly a mountain of gold, and forming the east side of the parallel-
ogram.
" At the summit of the Trailaht was a beautiful gilt edifice dazzling
'

in the sunshine. As soon as his majesty was seated, a group of gayly-

dressed lakon girls descended from the gold mountain from the gilt
house, and at the base of the mountain, in full view of the king, per-
formed their dance to the sound of native music, of which there was an
abundance. On the lawn to the left of his majesty, and in a temporary
and beautiful hall, sat his grace the venerable Ex-Regent; his excellency
the Prime-minister; his excellency the Foreign Minister, and the principal
nobles of the country.
" On the lawn were men who danced and made amusement
' for the
masses.
" '
When the Princess Sri Wililaxan advanced, seated in a grand sedan,
heavily weighted with her crown and gold
chains of jewellery, followed by a group
of ladies bearing her gold salvers and in-
signia of rank, she was received by her
royal father and placed at his side.
" ' The mountain Trailaht cannot be

easily described. Here and there at its

base there were representations of the
popular plays and acts of the country.
The images were moved by machinery,
and went through their performances to
the merriment of the crowds, who clam-
ored for a repetition of them.
" ' One represented a court of justice,
where two persons were ordered to dive
the one who could remain longest under MINISTKR OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
water rendered his testimony valid. It

was amusing to see the artifice of the one who came up first and found
his antagonist still under water.
" '
There were artificial pools containing representations of fish, whose
movements amused the spectators.
208 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

"'There were artificial trees, witli representations of animals such as —

squirrels, monkeys, birds, and snakes and their movements were quite —
life-like.
"
Each day the princess receives presents from the noble families.
'

The ceremonies of each day were in some respects similar, but varied
enough to interest the vast crowds that visit the palace. Abundant re-
freshments were provided by the government for the active particijDants
and the leading spectators. The noble families from all parts of Siam
were represented in the assemblage, and the display was the finest that
the country has known for years.'
" This what I find in the newspaper, and it seems to be a very good
is

account. There are some things that it will be necessary for me to ex-
plain, so that you will get a good understanding of them. In the first
place, I am told that the royal top-knot is taken off in a temple close to
the artificial mountain on the first day of the ceremony. Doubtless they
would cut it every day but even in so fertile a country
; as Siam the hair
does not grow fast enough to make a daily cutting feasible.
" After this ceremony the hair is allowed to grow in the shoe-brush
style that I have described. Before that time it is in the shape of a
twisted knot, about as large as a silver dollar, but when it takes its new
form it covers the greater part of the top of the head.
" The Trailaht, or golden mountain, where the ceremony takes place,
is not really constructed of gold, though it appears to be. It is made
of wood and iron for a framework, and is then covered with sheets of
lead that have been gilded. The machinery that moves the figures is

concealed in the interior of the mountain, and the pathway that runs up
the outside is made to look as much like nature as possible. There are
valleys, and forests, and grottoes, and miniature rocks on the mountain,
and the path is usually arranged so that it goes tliree times around be-
tween the bottom and the top. The Siamese pay great attention to the
numbers 3 and 9 '
they have pagodas and canopies of three stories,
'
' ;'

and others of nine and in nearly all their religious ceremonies their
;

movements are in threes and nines. The same is true of all countries
wliere Buddhism is the religion and, if you go as far off as Peking, you
;

will find that the temples have triple terraces and triple roofs, M'hile
threes, or the multiples of three, may be found in tlie arrangement of the
stones of tlie steps and pavements, and in the walls of the buildings.
" Perhaps you did not understand what was meant by the lakon girls

that danced before the king as soon as he was seated. In this country
there are girls who are trained to dance, like geishas in Japan, and just
 ACTRESSES AND DANCING GIRLS. 209

Europe and America.

as the girls of the ballet are trained in a theatre in
Dancing is their profession, and tliey combine singing and acting with it;
and some of the princes and great men have troops of these lakon girls
to dance and sing for them. It is very common for them to invite their
friends to an entertainment, and it generally consists of singing and dan-
cing by these young ladies. Those around the palace are the prettiest that
can be found in the kingdom, and they have wardrobes that cost a great
deal of money, and are as grand as the wardrobes of any actress in Amer-

i0^\l

LAKON GIRLS.

ica. Very often in their acting they wear the most hideous masks that
can be imagined, and when they are dressed up to I'esemble men or de-
mons you can hai-dly believe that they are really pretty girls. I send you
a picture of two of them, so that you may know what they look like.
" The native band of music is a curiosity, as it is quite unlike any-
thing 3'ou ever saw. The king has a band after the European style, with
a French leader, and with instruments imported from London or Paris.
210 THE 130Y TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

It plays very well, and can render some of the popular pieces
that we are
familiar with just as well as any ordinary band in >v'ew
York or London.
AVlien we were passing the palace the other day we heard them playing a
selection from Faust, and another from the 'Grande Dnchesse;' and one
evening we heard the Siamese national hymn, which is a very pretty com-

position, and worthy of a place among the national airs of Europe. Eut
the native music is quite another thing.
" The performers sit down to their work instead of standing up, and
they do not sit on chairs, but on the floor. The only band of the kind I
—
have yet seen consisted of Ave performers, all women one of them having
a sort of guitar, another a violin, another a drum played with the fingers
of one hand, another with arow of bamboo sticks that were struck with
a smallhammer, and the last of the five had a row of metal cups that
were played like the bamboo sticks. There is a good deal of variety to
the music in some ways, and very little in others it seemed to be capa-
;

ble of considerable modulation in time and tune

and while at times it
;

was loud and harsh, at others it became low and plaintive. Whether they
have any regular tunes or not I am unable to say they seemed to start
;

off on a measure, and then repeat it over and over again for twenty or

thirty minutes. Perhaps they would keep it up for a week or two if the
weather was not too warm for continuing one's exertions for that leno:th
of time. They didn't seem to keep very closely together, and probably
there was no occasion for them to do so, as the tune is of such a nature
that each player can do prett}' much what he likes.

\ V''

w-^Mk.

X NATIVE BAND OF MUSIC.

 SIAMESE MUSIC. 211

" These lakon girls are the performers in the theatres of Bangkok, or
rather at the private tlieatricals that are given at the houses of the nobles

A SIAMESE THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE.

and high officials. These affairs are generally given in a garden or court-
yard, where carpets are spread under the trees that grow there. The dia-

logue accompanied by music of the kind I have described, and some-

is

times they have drums like small barrels suspended on triangles or prop-
ped up on little frames. The performances are usually historical, but not
always so, as the Siamese drama abounds in love-plays, which are taken
from their literature. In the historic plays the costumes are frequently
very hideous, though richly gilded and decorated ; they have very little

scenery or stage settings, and I think that a first-class theatre of New

York or Paris would astonish them greatly. "When not occupied on the
stage, the performers stand or sit around the wings, and the audience is

supposed not to see them.

" The voices of the singers are very sweet and Doctor Bronson says
;

that some of them only need careful training to make excellent perform-
ers. They are said to be much more musical than the Chinese or the Jap-
anese, and much quicker to catch foreign music when it is taught to them.
"If you expect that women occupy in Siam the same position that
212 THE BOY TRAVELLEKS IN THE FAR EAST.

they do in America, will be disappointed.

3-011 Their condition has been
greatly improved by king since he ascended the throne, and he is ev-
tlie

idently determined to overcome the prejudices of his people as rapidlj-

as lie can do so. He is Siam who has ever given liis
the first ruler of
arm to escort a lady to the dinner-table after theEuropean manner, and
the first lady to receive this honor was the wife of an American admiral.
" The country lias never been ruled by a woman, and women have

never held a high place in the royal councils. Polygamy is customary in

Siam and the king has a harem, just as the Sultan of Turkey has one.
;

He has one chief wife, or queen - consort, and is said to have about two
hundred other wives; but nobody knows exactly how many there are at —
least nobody outside the palace. Like all other raonarchs with a harem, he
has his favorites and when one of his wives manages to attract his atten-
;

tion and secure his preference, she is very speedily tlie envy of the others.
Probably human nature is the same the world over, and the history of
royal and imperial harems everywhere is not greatly varied.
"Among the common people a man may have several wives if he
chooses, and can afford tlie expense, but ordinarily he has only one.
Where he has more than one, the first wife is the head of the household,
and her authority is generally undisputed, though they sometimes have
domestic quarrels, like people in other countries. Marriages are common-
ly arranged between 3'outlis of eighteen and girls of fourteen, and not in-
frequently at earlier ages. The ceremony consists of a feast such as the
parties can afford ; and though priests are not considered necessary, they
are generally present to offer prayers. Among the poorer classes tliere
is more approach between husband and wife than with the
to equality
rich fashionable society does not permit the Avife to eat with the hus-
;

band, and she is regarded more as a servant than a companion but the ;

Siamese husbands are said to be much more kind to their wives than
the Chinese, and to treat them with more respect.
"A great manj'^ wives, both among the nobles and the common peo-
ple, are bought as slaves, and I am told that probably a quarter of the
population is held in slavery. Men sell their wives, children, sisters,
brothers, and even themselves; and in times past great numbers of slaves
were held that had been captured in wars with neighboring countries.
Slaves are not dear in Siam, compared with the prices that were paid in
America before the emancipation of the negroes; a child may be bought
for a small sum and when a man wants to purchase a wife, he expects
;

to get her for not more than eighty or a hundred dollars. Much of the
slavery in Siam is the result of gambling; and it is not unusual for a man
 LAWS IN REGARD TO SLAVERY. 213

to gamble away his family, his clothes, and then himself, in a single day
or evening.
"While we are considering this subject of slavery, I will make an ex-
tract or two from the laws of Siam concerning the treatment of persons
in bondage
"'If the inhabitants in embarrassed circumstances sell temporarily
their children, wives, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, relatives, and slaves,
males or females, to serve the purchaser, and the slaves be overtaken with
a calamity, let the money-master inform the seller that he may come and
take care of him at the money-master's house. If the money-master take
no care of him, and the slave dies, said money-master cannot claim any re-
fund from the seller, because he abandoned the sick slave. His death must
be the loss of the monej'-master, because he neglected a subject of the State.
"
' If persons pecuniarily or otherwise embarrassed sell temporarily
their children, nephews, nieces, or grandchildren to a purchaser, to be
used by hiin in lieu of interest, and the purchaser or master has business
or trouble, and takes his slave to accompany him, and thieves or murder-
ers cut, stab,and kill, or tigers, crocodiles, or other animals kill and devour
the slave, the law declares, being the slave of the purchaser who took him
with him, the purchaser is entitled to no refund from the seller, because
the slave accompanied his master.'
" I have copied this from an English translation of the Siamese laws,
and suppose it is correct. I am told that the slavery of Siam is not like
what we had in tiie United States, as the slaves are of the same class and
color as their owners, and there is not much difiEerence between a poor

free man and Both of them must work for their living; and I
a slave.
am told it sometimes happens that a man will deliberately sell himself, so
as to have a master who will give him steady emplo3'ment and feed him
properly. The king has done a good deal towards improving the condi-
tion of slaves, and on every festival occasion those who have been a cer-
tain number of years in bondage are declared free. It is a common
thing for men to pledge themselves and their families or relatives as secu-
rity for money loaned or to pay interest, and when tlie debt is discharged
they are free. The two sentences I have quoted from the Siamese laws
relate to this kind of temporary slavery. It very often happens, when a
man has thus pledged himself and family for a short time, and is con-
fident that he will soon be free, his hopes are not realized, and he remains
a slave for years and years —perhaps for his whole life. His relatives re-
main in bondage with him, and their happiness or misery depends very
much upon whether they have a kind master or a cruel one.
21-1 THE BOY TRA\'ELLERS IX THE FAR EAST.

" For persons who are not held as slaves, divorce is very eas}' in Siam.
The laws are not very strict and if they simply desert each other, there
;

is generally an end of their marriage. I have been told of a funny sort

of divorce among the lower classes, but cannot say if it be true. When
a couple have determined to separate, they sit down on the floor in the
middle of their house, and each lights a candle. They sit there in silence
while the candles burn slowly down, and the property that they owned in
common will all belong to the one whose candle lasts the longest. The
one whose light goes out first is only entitled to the clothes he or she may
—
have on at the time which is not much anyway.
" "What a lot of patent candles we should have if the same custom pre-
vailed in America Ingenious men would puzzle their brains to invent
!

candles that would burn longer than any others and we might expect to
;

see any morning the advertisement of The Patent Inexhaustible Candle

'

that will neither burn nor be blown out !'

And somebody would devise a
system of making a secret connection between the candle and a gas-pipe,
so that the supply of combustible material would never be exhausted.
The lawyers would not like this mode of settling matrimonial difficulties,
and there is no probability that such a law will ever be made.
"To go into mourning, the people shave their heads; and when the
king dies, the top-knots are removed from the heads of all his male sub-
jects from one end of Siam to the other. The only exception to the
rule is in the case of princes who are older than the king and sometimes ;

this exception gives rise to lively disputes concerning the princely age."
 RELIGIOUS SIGNIFICANCE OF CREMATION IN SIAM. 215

CHAPTER XYI.
CREMATION IN SIAM.—TRADE, TAXES, AND BIRDS.

ONE morning, while they were taking

pose one
of visiting
a row on tlie

of the canals, our friends observed a dense

river for the pur-

smoke from the vicinity of one of the temples. Fred was the first
rising
to see and wondered what it was for.
it, As they neared the temple,
they saw that tiie smoke proceeded from a burning pile, where several
persons were standing around.
"It is a cremation," said Doctor Bronson; "we will stop and see it."
He directed the boatmen to land in front of the temple, and the three
strangers walked to the spot where the tire was burning.
On a low mound of earth there was a fire of logs and smaller sticks
of wood, and in the midst of the fire lay a body half consumed. It was
evidently that of a small person, as the fire was not more than five feet
long, and the body was completely wrapped in the flames. A dozen or
more Buddhist priests were standing near the fire, and about as many
other persons who did not appear to belong to the holy order. No cer-
emony was observed and the Doctor remarked that they had probably
;

arrived too late to witness the funeral -service. Not far off were the
ashes that remained from similar cremations; and on one heap the fire
was still smouldering.
They returned to the boat, and continued their journey ; and as they
did so the Doctor explained to the boys the peculiarities of the spectacle
they had just witnessed.
" Cremation, or the destruction of a human body by fire," said he, " is

customary in several countries of the Eastern World, and there has re-
cently been an effort to make it popular in Europe and America. It pre-

vails in Siam, but not altogether to the exclusion of the ordinary mode

of burial in the earth. Cremation is considered the most honorable fu-

neral, and it has a religions significance ; it is a ceremony necessary to
assist the soul in its passage to a higher state of transmigration, and to its

final condition of perfect rest. Criminals who are executed by law are
216 TI-IK BOY TKAVELLEKS IN THE FAR EAST.

not allowed to be burnt ; and the same is the case with those dying of
small-pox and certain other diseases.
" The ceremony of cremation is considered so important that, where

itcannot be performed immediately after the death of the individual

—
from poverty or for other reasons the body is first buried, and subse-
quently e.xinimed and burnt. Wlieti the person has any prominence or

SCENE ON A S.MALL CANAL NEAK BANGKOK.

wealth, a few of the bones are preserved in the houses of the relatives, or
they may be buried in the grounds near the temples. You saw some lit-
tlemonuments, like miniature pyramids, near the temple we just visited r
did you not ?"
" Yes," said Fred, " we saw them, and wondered what tliey were."
 THE CEEMATORY PEOCESS. 217

liUUIAL-MOHNDS.

" Tliose were inonuments where the ashes of tlie dead are preserved,"
was the reply. " You will find them near many of the temples."
Soon they came in sight of another temple, where a ceremony of some
sort was just beginning. The Doctor told the boatmen to land there; and
as soon as tiiey were on shore they found
that they had come upon another funer-
al-party, and evidently that of a person
of distinction.
The body was in a coffin, which rest-

ed on a bier; and the coffin and bier to-

gether were not less than six feet high.

The bier was covered with white clotli
— white the symbol of mourning in
is

Siam — and the coffin itself was of a red

color, and with a great deal of gold tin-
sel laid over it. Above the coffin M-as a

canopy of white cloth, and it was thick-

ly ornamented witli bunches of jessa- URN CONTAINING ASHKS.
mine flowers, freshlj' gathered.
218 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Just as our friends approached the spot, a band, consisting of a gong,

two drums, and a sort of flageolet, played a very discordant air as a pre-
lude to the ceremony. Then
a young priest read a service
of prayers from slips of palm-
leaf, and, while reading, lie

occupied a pulpit under a

small shed in the court-yard of
the temple. In front of the
pulpit there was a platform
occupied by several persons
the majority of them women.
They were not at all atten-
tive ; and as the prayers were
read in the Bali language,
they were not likely to un-
derstand a word of them.
The prayers occupied about
thirty minutes.

JESSAJIIXK FI.OWliRS. Tiiere was quite a crowd

of priests in the yard of tlie

temple, but they paid no attention to the service until near its close.

When the reading ended, they came forward and took hold of a strip of
white cloth, six or seven yards long, that was attached to the head of the
coffin. In this position they repeated some short prayers; and as they
them the coffin was stripped of its coverings, and the
finished cloth that
came from it was distributed among the priests.
Tiie body was then taken from the coffin and washed ; then it was
replaced, and carried three times around the bier, which ])roved to be a
pile of fuel ready prepared for the burning. The sons and daughters,
and other relatives of the dead man, were standing near the bier and ;

though they were quiet and respectful, they did not display the least
emotion, with tiio exception of one young woman, who was said to be
a favorite daughter. She wept loudly, and resisted the efforts of the
others to comfort her.
When the third circuit around the pile was completed, the coffin was
placed upon it. The fire was liglited by one of the priests, who uttered
a short prayer as he touched the taper to the fuel. Meantime small wax-
tapers had been distributed to all present, including our friends and ;

after the priest had kindled the flame, these tapers were placed upon the
 CREMATION OF A KING. 219

pile by the persons -who held them. Doctor Bronson and the boys did
like the others and the Doctor told his young companions that they
;

would give offence if they refused to comply with the custom. The
body was speedily consumed, and the ceremony was over.
Our friends again returned to their boat, and the conversation about
cremation was resumed.
" The man whose funeral you have just attended," the Doctor con-
tinued, "was in good circumstances, and the ceremony was made to con-
form to his rank and importance. This is the rule in Siam, as it is with
funerals in pretty nearly all parts of the world ; and while the cremation
of a poor man will be over in a few hours after his death, that of a king
does not take place for a year.''

""Why do they wait so long?" Frank asked.

" The real reason is," was the reply, " to enable the surviving relatives
to make the proper preparations for the funeral, and it has been so long
the custom that it is now iixed as a social and religious observance.
" Immediately after the death of a king, his body is embalmed and

laid in state, with a great deal of

ceremony, in the Maha Prasaht. It
is the duty of his successor to ar-
range the funeral ceremonies and ;

he immediately notifies the gov-

ernors of four of the northern prov-
inces, where the finest timber of
Siam is found, that each of them
may send a stick to form one of
the four corners of the P'hra Mane,
or funeral pile. The sticks must
be perfectly straight, and not less
than two hundred feet long; at the
same time twelve smaller sticks are
called for from as many of the oth-
er provinces and there is also a
;

demand for timber for the con-

struction of halls and other build-
ings needed for the ceremony.
" All the timber must be new,

as it would not be proper for royalty

A BUDDHIST PRIEST.
to have any wood about its funeral
pile that had been used before in any way Several months are required
220 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

to procure the timber and erect the pile and its various annexes, as they
cover at least half an acre of ground. The whole of the work, outside
and in, is painted in green and yellow, and a good deal of gold and sil-

ver leaf is spread on in various places, so that it appears to be of great

CIIARACTliRS IN THE PROCliSSIOX.

I'ichness. A large open dome is in the centre of the edifice, and it eon-
tains a small temple, with a platform on which the body is to be placed.
Around the great building there are sheds and houses to accommodate
the priests, who come from all parts of the kingdom to particijjate in the
ceremonies; and outside of these sheds there are twelve small pagodas,
that are decorated to represent the large temple. The whole mass of
edifices for the funeral costs a great deal of money, and it is evidently
an expensive thing in Siam for a king to die.
"On the appointed daj' there is a grand procession of soldiers and

others dressed to represent various nationalities — not much unlike the

procession at the ceremony of the royal hair-cutting. The entire royal
family is out, and usually the procession takes not less than three hours
to pass a given point. The festivals last ten daj's ; various amusements
are provided during the day-time in the shape of theatricals and other
exhibitions,and in the evening they have fireworks, tumbling, rope-dan-
cing,and the like. At certain intervals handfuls of money are thrown
among the people, and a very livel}' scrambling is the result. Finally
the body is burnt with a great deal of ceremony, the king being the first
to apply the torch to the funeral pile of his predecessor.
" AVhen the burning is completed, the ashes are thrown into the river,
and the bones are placed in an urn and carried to one of the temples in
the palace enclosure. Tlien the princes and governors who have come
 HOW THE REVENUE IS RAISED. 221

from the various parts of the kingdom, are at liberty to return home; and
the same is the case with the priests who have visited the capital on the
same mission. There is probably no roj'al display in any part of Europe
that can surpass the cremation of a king in Siani."
"Do the widows of the king go on the funeral pile to be burnt?"
Frank asked. " Is the custom in Siam the same that it used to be in
India?"
"Not at all," was the reply. "Siam has never had that horrid custom
of the suttee, or widow-burning, that so long disgraced India. It is not
allowed there now, and probably there has not been a single case of it in
the last ten or twenty years. None of the religious rites of the Siamese
have ever been accompanied by physical torture."
" Who pays for all the expense of these ceremonies?" said Fred.
" Nominally the king pays for them," the Doctor responded " but in ;

reality the money comes, as all government expenses come in every part
of the world, from the people. The princes and governors, and other
high dignitaries who attend a funeral or a hair- cutting, make presents
that go in part for defraying the cost of the performances, and, of course,
the money comes from their subjects."
for these presents
" it is no more than right," Frank remarked, " that the people
Then
should be amused when they go to these affairs, whether they are funei-als
or anything else."
" But where does the king get all his money ?" queried Fred. " That
is, how does he raise his taxes, and how are they collected ?"
" Taxes in Siam," the Doctor explained, " are of various kinds. They
are direct and indirect, just as they are in other countries ; and the object
is the same — the production of a revenue.
"There is have already told yon, and
a tax on the sale of spirits, as I
there is on gambling. Both these taxes are farmed out, and the
a tax
purchaser generally makes a good thing out of his venture. The pur-
chasers are usually Chinese speculators, and they sub-let their privileges
to smaller contractors for a round profit on their investments.
"There is a tax on fisliing in the Menam Biver, and also in the other
streams in which fish abound ; the Buddhist religion forbids the destruc-
tion of animal life, but the requirement is rather considered as applying
only to the priesthood, and the common people give little attention to it.

But no one is allowed to fish within a certain distance of the palace, as

all fish in and under the protection of
that limit are held to be sacred,
the king. On
the canal that encloses the palace in the direction farthest
from the river there are marks to indicate the limits inside the line it ;
222 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

would be dangerous to the neck of a native to be caught fishing, while

outside of it he may do so with impunity.
" Then there are taxes on shops and on various branches of trade, just

as there are in the countries of Europe and there are taxes on fruit-trees
;

and land, and there are customs-duties, and other things. Tliere is a poll-
tax on the Chinese inhabitants of Siani, which is collected by the authori-
ties with the utmost care ; and any Chinese who neglects to paj' it is liable
to be compelled to work it out under the eye of a public overseer. Every
boat that is used as a shop pays a tax, and so do all the shops through the
country. Then there are certain articles of export that are considered
the monopoly of the king, and as he has no competition in buj'ing, and no
opposition in selling, he has a good thing of it. The rules about trade
are changing every year; you make a note of what I have told
and so, if

you, it is well to remember that what you have written for the day may
not be good for all time."
The consul told us about
" the imports of Siam," said one of the boys,
" when we were going up the river to Ayuthia. Please tell us about the
exports. He mentioned and sugar as articles that the Siamese send
rice

to other countries, but did not say what other things they had to sell."
"
The exports of Siam," said the Doctor, in answer to the above re-
mark, " comprise a good many things. Besides the articles mentioned, the
country produces and sends to foreign ports a considerable amount of
tin, which is dug from its mines and it also exports small quantities of
;

other metals. Then it produces pepper, tobacco, cardamons, ivor^', and

various dye-stuffs. It also exports the skins of the rhinoceros, buffalo, ox,
elephant, tiger, leopard, bear, snake, and deer; and some of these articles
go out in the form of leather. How great are the quantities of these
things I am unable to say, as I have not studied the tables of imports and
exports very closely."
Frank was curious to know how the people caught the snakes whose
skins they exported. He thought a snake was a disagreeable thing to
associate with, and not at all easy to capture.
The Doctor explained that the matter was by no means as difficult as
he imagined. The snakes are fond of chickens, and they come around
the houses of the people, particularly those that are built on rafts, in
search of their favorite prey. When a native discovers any indications
that a snake has been around his premises, he arranges a coop made of
strong sticks of bamboo, and, after putting a chicken inside, he leaves an
opening in one end large enough for the snake to enter. He goes into
the coop and kills the chicken, which he swallows whole, after the manner
 SIAMESE BIRDS. 223

of snakes in general. He is so gorged that he cannot escape, and is found

in his prison in the morning. Under these circumstances he is easily

killed, and his skin is an ample compensation for the slaughtered fowl.
Fred had observed little cages on poles rising from the roofs of many
of the houses, and naturally inquired their use.
" Those cages," said Doctor Bronson, "are intended as traps for birds.

If you examine them closely you will perceive tliat they are double one ;

half is intended as a trap, and is left open for the wild bird to enter, while
the other contains a captive bird who serves as a decoy."
Naturally the conversation turned upon the birds of Siam and their
peculiarities.
" I cannot give you a very good account of the birds of Siam," said

the genial Doctor, " for the reason that the ornithology of the country has
not, as far as I am aware, been carefully and exhaustively studied. The

HAUNTS OF SKA-BIRDS ON TIIK COAST.

birds of prey include the white eagle and also the common brown eagle
and they have, as you have observed, the vulture, which is the same spe-
cies that is found in India. The kite is very common and there are two ;

or three varieties of the hawk. As for crows, they have enough in Siam
224 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

to destroy all the corn in the States east of the Hudson River; and if the
Siamese attempted to raise that article, they would doubtless have a hard
time of it."

Frank thought they had seen crows enough around Bangkok to sup-
ply the wants of the whole of Massachusetts. Evidently the inhabitants
did not molest them, or
they would not be as bold
as he had found them.
" Tlien, too," the Doc-
tor continued, " they have
the sparrow, the same as in
Europe and America, and
the ornithologists say that
Siam is tlie most southerly
limit of this bird. As you
go south in Asia, you will
not find the sparrow any-
where else except where
he has been introduced by
the European inhabitants.
" Some of the trade of
Siam consists in shipping
to China the edible portion
of a bird's -nest, and this
is the material from which
EDIBLE swallows' NESTS.
the Chinese make their fa-
mous 'birds'- nest soup.' In Canton and Hong-kong it sells for its
weight and sometimes is even dearer than that. It is found
in silver,

on the western coast of the Gulf of Siam, and also on the east coast of
the Bay of Bengal; the bird makes his nest in caves among the rocks,
and the work of collecting the nests is both difficult and dangerous."
" What kind of a bird is it ?" Fred asked.
" It is a species of swallow," was the reply ;
" it is about as large as
the common swallow with which you are familial*, its movements
and
through the air ai'e much like those of the American bird and in the ;

same way that our swallows like to build in barns and chimneys, and
other dark places, the Siamese one constructs his dwelling among the
rocky caves along the coast."
" What is the peculiarity of tlie bird's-nest that the Chinese like so
much?" one of the boys inquired.
 THE EDIBLE SWALLOWS' NEST. 22o

" The peculiai'itj' is in the material of wliich it is constructed," the

Doctor answered. "The bird gathers a glutinous weed from tlie coral
rocks, and carries it in its mouth and stomach to tlie cave where it lives.

There the plastic substance is shaped into a nest about the size of a com-
mon teacup. There are three qualities, and they are prized accordingly
the first is when the nest is freshly made, and the material is snowy
white ; the second, when the bird has laid her eggs and the third, when;

SIAMESE WATKR BIRDS.

siie has hatched her brood and gone. The bird is known as the lawit in
Java, and the scdangane in the Philippine Islands, while its scientific name
is Hirundo esculenta.
•'Among the birds inhabiting the Siamese forests there is the com-
mon peacock, which is shot for the sake of its feathers ; and there are sev-
eral kinds of pigeons. Then they have the quail and the pheasant, the lat-

ter in several varieties; and they liave the common cock, or barn-yard fowl,
15
226 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

lunning wild in great numbers. The chickens that are sold in the miir-
kets of Siam are these same wild birds domesticated, and those that we
have in America are descended from Asiatic ancestors that went to Eu-
rope centuries and centuries ago. They have wild chickens in Siam, just
as we have wild turkeys in our own country.
" They have Siam a goodly number of wading birds, and not many
in
swimmers. Ducks
are bred by the Chinese residents, but not generally
by the Siamese, and I am told that they do not exist in a wild state. The
goose is rarely seen but there are plenty of pelicans and kingfishers, and
;

several birds of the crane and stork families."

" What was the bird we saw at the consul's house the day we called
there ?" queried Frank.
"You mean the one that kept up such an incessant talking?"
" Yes,"
Frank answered " he rattled away in Siamese, and he called
;

out Boy two or three times and it sounded so much like a human
' !'
;

voice that I thought, at first, it was some one calling a servant."

" That was a mineur, or minor," the Doctor explained " and it is said ;

to surpass the parrot in its ability to talk. He learns very easily, and is

as great an imitator as the American mocking-bird. The one at the con-

sulate can say a great many things in Siamese, but he does not yet know
much English. A mine had one of these birds that was the
friend of
source of great amusement; he would whistle in exact imitation of his
master, and he could sing certain bits of music without making a mistake.
When my friend first obtained him, the bird could only speak the native
language; but in a while he picked up several phrases in English,
little

and pronounced them perfectly.

" One thing he did was to call the servant, as he had heard his owner.

As you have seen, the way of summoning servants is by shouting Boy !' '

and on hearing this word the servant comes. My friend's bird had
caught up the word, and every little while he would shout it so as to de-
ceive the servant, and bring him to his master. Naturally the servant
was annoyed at being disturbed, and so my friend told him that when he
wanted him he would call Boy boy and he need not come when he
'
!
!'

heard the word only once. In three days the bird was doing the same
thing, and deceiving the servant. was arranged that my friend
Then it

would do in Turkey and

strike on the table or clap his hands, as they
Syria. This was too much for the mineur; he found that he could not
amuse himself as before. The one at the consulate is learning the same
trick, and amusing himself by iuiitating wliat he hears spoken around
him."
 A DELICATE BIRD. 227

Frank wished he could take one of tliese birds home with him ; but
the Doctor said it would be too ranch

trouble to do so. The mineur is of trop- fi^""^^-^

ical origin, and the climate of the North-

ern States of America is not suited to him.

" The chances are," said he,
" that if 3'ou took a dozen
mineurs to carry to Amer-
ica,you would lose three-

V ' , - - 'T%Sc
PHEASANT AND YOUNG.

fourths of them on the way, and the others would not live more than
a few months after getting there."
As the Doctor closed his remark about the mineur, the boat touched
the landing in front of the hotel, and their morning's excursion came to
an end.
228 THE I30Y TKAVELLERS IN THE FAU EAST.

CHAPTER XVII.

PRESENTATION TO THE KING.— DINNER AT THE PALACE.

WHILE tliey wei-e at lunch, and discussing the sights and scenes of
the morning, a messenger arrived with a note from tlie consul.
It was to the effect that the king would receive him, accompanied by Doc-
tor Bronson, at three o'clock that afternoon. The consul added that he
would call at the hotel with his boat about half-past two, and they would
proceed thence together. The Doctor had no time to lose in making his
toilet for the ceremony ; he finished it, and was seated on the veranda
of the hotel not more than two minutes before the consul arrived. At
the latter's suggestion, the boys joined the party ; and it was arranged
that, while the two gentlemen were having their audience witli the king,
the youths could amuse tliemselves in the palace-grounds under the guid-
ance of the consular secretary.
They liad a slow journey up the river to the palace, as the tide was
against them, and compelled the boat to hug close to the shore ; but they
were there a little before three o'clock, and had a short walk from the
landing-place to the front of the palace. They were shown to a platform
in the court-yard, and were received there by the interpreter and secre-
tary of the king, who announced that his majesty would be ready for the
audience in a few moments. The platform was under a wide-spreading
tree, that furnished a most grateful shade; and there were many small
trees and bushes growing in large pots that stood in irregular rows. Two
or three gi-oups of servants were crouched in the yard, which was paved
with large blocks of stone, and a little way off a royal elephant was un-
dergoing his daily exercise in charge of his keepers. Coffee was brought,
and with it cigars and cigarettes; and a quarter of an hour passed away
quite agreeably to concerned. At the end of that time, a messenger
all

came and said something to the secretary in Siamese the secretary then ;

turned to the gentlemen, and told them the king was waiting for tiiem.
lie led the way towards a low gate-way, and the boys remained with the
consular secretary.
 COURT- YARD OF THE ROYAL PALACK. 229

They had a pleasant ramble in the palace-grounds, and saw the stables
where the white elephants were kept, as well as the elephants themselves.
The secretary told them the audience would occupy about half an hour,
and they would liave that time at their disposal before returning to the
platform in the court-yard. In half an hour they came back, and waited
for the Doctor and the consul. They were not there three minutes be-
fore the gentlemen returned, and were ready to go back to the hotel.
On their way homeward, the Doctor told the boys what he had seen
and done, and the consul added here and there little bits of information

COUKT-YAKD OF THE ROYAL PALACE AT BANGKOK.

to the Doctor's story. The Doctor was so pleased with the visit, that he
spent the evening writing an account of the affair ; and it was not till a
late hour that he finished it. He readily consented to allow the boys to
copy it, so that it could form part of the narrative of their journey in
Siam. Here it is:

" After leaving the platform, where we had rested to await the pleas-
ure of the king, we soon came to a gate-way that was guarded by a double
file of soldiers, who presented arms as we approached. The gate-way led
us close to the apartments of the women, and I managed to have glimpses
230 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

of the dusky occupants of the place as we walked along. Some of them

were pretty ; but tlieir mouths were so disfigured by betel-chewing that
tlie effect was not agreeable. Our glance was only a hurried one, as we
w'ere speedily at the door of the palace.
" We mounted a stairway to the king's apartments ; then we passed
through a hall ornamented with busts and portraits of European sover-
eigns, living or dead, and then we entered a large saloon, where we found
ourselves in the presence of the king.
" His majesty approached as we entered exactly — as a private gentle-
man might do in his own house when a visitor calls — and, after shaking
hands with the consul, he paused for the latter to introduce me. As soon
as I was introduced, he shook hands with me after the Occidental fashion,
and invited us to seats near a table in the centre of the room. The sofa
where he sat was at right angles to the position of our chairs, so that, by
partiall}' turning, he faced us both. At his left stood the interpreter, who
translated the king's Siamese words into English, but rarely translated our
own words into Siamese, as the king understands our language perfectly,
and speaks it with very few mistakes. Ceremonious presentations are al-
ways conducted witli the aid of an interpreter, and the king appears to
understand only his own language but when he wislies to have a free
;

and confidential conversation with a foreign consul or other personage, he

dismisses his interpreter, and talks away in English with perfect ease.
" His majesty's voice is full, clear, and resonant, and he pronounces
ever}' word with the utmost care. As he talks, his face brightens; he
gesticulates gracefully, and to a sufficient extent to make his conversa-
tion quite un-Oriental in character. His complexion is the true Siamese
bronze his cheek-bones are
; high, and the outlines of his face are decid-
edly handsome. His thick black hair is parted gracefully in the mid-
dle, and not cropped after the Siamese style he has a slender mustache,
;

which evinces careful training, and gives promise of future greatness.

He wore at the ceremonial the Siamese trousers, with white stockings,
and he had on his feet shoes of patent-leather, if I observed them cor-
rectly. His iipper garment was a sack of military cut, and made of white
linen it terminated with a sort of upright collar, and was closely but-
;

toned. The only ornament I noticed upon it was a row of three stars on
each side of the throat.
" Like all other kings, his majesty is well provided with uniforms, and
every ceremonial has a dress peculiarly adapted to it. His military uni-
form, when he appears at the head of his troops, is quite European in
style, but his court -dress for state ceremonials adheres strictly to the
 CONVERSATION WITH THE KING. 231

Siamese model. It is richly embroidered and studded with jewels ;

the

crown rises in the form of an elongated pyramid, with an aigrette of jew-

els, and the sandals are so thickly set with precious stones that there
is

very little of the foundation-work to be seen.

" riis majesty asked how long I had been in Siam, and how I liked

the country wished to know if

; I had visited the temples of Bangkok,
and what I thought of them; and made other inquiries toucliing my
movements. "When these questions had been answered, he spoke of tlie

1. 11 u UA H)B KOKN 1., SUl'KKMK KINO 1)1' SIAM.

visit war several months before, and ex-

of the United States ships of
pressed the wish to see more of our ships and more of our countrymen
in Siam. He asked when we would have American steamers running
232 THE BOY TllAVKLLERS IN THE FAK EAST.

between Bangkok and Hong-kong to connect with the Pacific Mail and
Occidental and Oriental lines, and said he hoped for a rapid increase of
commerce between Siam and the United States. Evidently he is sin-
cerely desirous of intimate commercial relations with us, as he said there
were many articles of American manufacture which they wished to be
supplied with ; while we, on the other hand, would doubtless be willing
we were now paying.
to purchase rice at a lower price than
"
Tea and cigars were served while we were engaged on these topics,
which occupied a period of ten or fifteen minutes. Then the conversa-
tion took a miscellaneous turn and he dwelt upon the peculiarities of
;

the different languages that are spoken in his dominions : it seems that
his majesty is well versed in the various dialects and distinct languages,
and he is like the Emperor of Austria, as he can converse with all his
subjects in their own tongue. Then he talked with the consul about
some matter that the latter had brought before him at a previous inter-
view; and after that there was a convenient pause, in which we rose and
made our adieux. The king followed us to the door of the room, and,
before shaking hands in farewell, he invited the consul and myself to
dine with him the following evening. Of course we accepted without a
moment's hesitation, and then made our way out as we had entered. The
whole affair from beginning to end was quite free from stiffness or se-
verity, and proved the king to be, as he is represented, a most accom-
plished gentleman."
Sixty years ago a presentation to the King of Siam was a much more
ceremonious affair than the one here recorded, and it required a great
deal of study and rehearsal on the part of all concerned. Mr. Crawfurd,
who came to Siam in 1822 at the head of an embassy from the Governor-
general of India, gives the following account of his presentation

" We left our dwelling at lialf-past eight in the morning for the palace. A twelve-oared
barge, with the rowers dressed in scarlet uniforms, was furnished by the court for the conveyance
of the gentlemen of the mission ; another for our Indian attendants, about twenty in number ; while
the sepoys of the escort were conveyed in the ship's launch. It was made a particular request
that our servants, especially the sepoys of the escort, should form part of the procession. About
nine o'clock we landed inider the walls of the palace, where we found an immense concourse of
peo|ile waiting to view the spectacle. The accommodation for conveying us to the palace consisted
of net hammocks suspended from poles, furnished wiili an embroidered carpet, and, according to
the custom of the counti-y, borne by two men only. The management of these vehicles was a
matter of some and our awkwardness became a subject of some amusement to the
difficulty,

crowd. We passed through a street of Siamese military arranged in single file, and then came
to a gate-way where we wei'e compelled to leave our side-arms, as no person was permitted to
come into the palace enclosure witli arms about him. We were also compelled to dismount
from our litters and leave our escort behind us.
 A ROYAL AUDIENCE SIXTY YEARS AGO. 233

"We passed through another street of soldiers, and finally came to a large hall, eighty or
ninety feet long by forty broad. We were conducted inside, and caipets were spread for us to sit

on while waiting to be summoned to the royal

presence. We waited about twenty minutes,
and were then taken to the hall of audience,

where we were requested to take off our shoes

and leave behind us our Indian attendants. As

soon as we entered the gate we found a band of
music of about one hundred persons drawn up
to form a street for our reception. The instru-
ments consisted of drums, gongs, brass flutes,

and flageolets.

"Opposite the door of the hall there was

an immense screen, which concealed the interior

from view. We passed the screen to the right

side, and, as had been agreed upon, taking off
our hats, made a respectful bow in the European
manner. Every foot of the great hall was so
crowded with prostrate courtiers that it was dif-

ficult to move without treading upon some ofli-

cer of state. Precedence is

occasions by relative vicinity to the throne

decided upon such
; the
H
princes being near the foot of it, the principal
officers of government next to them, and thus in -
>-. ci^^^^r^-""^'
succession down to the lowest officer who is ad-
mitted. We seated ourselves a little in front
PRIME-MINISTER OP SIAM.
of the screen, and made three obeisances to the
throne in unison with the courtiers. This obeisance consisted in raising the joined hands three
times to the head, and each time touching the forehead. To have completed the Siamese obei-
sance it would have been necessary to bend the body to the ground, and touch the earth with the
forehead at each prostration.
"The hall of audience was a well proportioned and spacious saloon, about eighty feet long,
perhaps half this in breadth, and about thirty feet high. Two rows, eacii of ten handsome wood-
en pillars, formed an avenue from the door to the throne, which was situated at the upper end of
the hall. The walls and ceiling were painted a bright vermilion, the cornices of the former be-
ing gilded, and the latter thickly spangled with stars in rich gilding. The throne and its ap-
pendages occupied the whole of the upper end of the hall. The throne was gilded all over, and
about fifteen feet high, and it had much the appearance of a handsome pulpit. A pair of cur-
tains of gold tissue upon a yellow ground concealed the whole of the upper part of the room ex-
cept the throne, and they were intended to be drawn over this also except when used. The king,
when seated on his throne, had more the appearance of a statue than of a living being. The
general appearance of the hall of audience, the prostrate attitude of the comtiers, the situation of
the king, and the silence which prevailed, presented a very imposing spectacle, and reminded us
much more of a temple crowded with votaries engaged in the performance of some solemn rite

of religion than the audience-chamber of a temporal monarch.

"The words which his Siamese majesty condescended to address to us were delivered in a
grave, measured, and oratorical manner. One of the first officers of state delivered them to it

person of inferior rank, and this person to the interpreter who was behind us, and explained them
in the Malay language, which we imderstood. After a few questions and answers relative to our
mission, the king said.
234 THE 130Y TRAVELLERS IX THE FAR EAST.

THK KING OF SIAM IN HIS STATE R0BB8.

 A DISAGREEABLE PROMENADE. 235

" '
1 am glad to see an envoy here from the Governor-general of India. Whatever you have
to say, communicate with the minister of foreign affairs. What we chiefly want from you are
fire-arms.'
' His majesty had no sooner pronounced these words than we heard a loud stroke, as if given
by a wand against a piece of wainscoting, and then the curtains on each side of the throne, moved
by some invisible agency, closed upon It. Tliis was followed by the same flourish of wind instru-

ments as on our entrance, and the courtiers, falling on their faces to the ground, made six succes-
sive prostrations. We made three obeisances, sitting upright as agreed upon. The ceremony
was over.

"During the audience a heavy shower had fallen, and it was still raining. His majesty took
this opportunity of presenting each of us with a small umbrella, and sent a message to desire that
we would view the curiosities of the palace at our leisure. When we reached the threshold of the
audience-hall we perceived the court-yard and the roads extremely wet and dirty from the rain,
and naturally demanded our shoes, which we had left at the last gate. This was a favor which
could not be yielded; and we were told that the princes of the blood could not wear slioes within
the sacred enclosure where we now were. It would have been impolitic to evince ill-humor or

remonstrance, and therefore we feigned a cheerful compliance with this inconvenient usage, and
proceeded to gratify our curiosity."

Doctor Bronsoii had no such ceremony to pass throiigli as did Mr.

Crawfurd in 1822; he was not required to remove his shoes at the gate-
way, and he did not pass along a hall full of kneeling, courtiers. The

V YOUXCKU BKOTlIi:!! OV TtlH KING.

236 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

present king has ordained that persons of all ranks shall come before him

erect, just as they would enter the presence of a king in Europe, and as
far as possible he has made the usages of his court correspond to the Eu-
ropean model.
Of the dinner to which the consul and Doctor Bronson were invited,
the latter wrote as follows
" The dinner was quite in the European style, and was prepared by

a French cook who has been in his majesty's employ for several years.
The party consisted of his majesty, six of his younger brothers, the king's
private secretary, the consul, and myself. The conversation was general,
and touched many topics ; the king had many questions to ask about the
United States, and particularly wished to know the difference between
Siamese slavery of the present day and American slavery of the past.

After dinner we sat on the balcony, listening to the music of the band,
and breathing the soft evening air. During part of the dinner and all
the rest of the evening the king threw off his reserve, dismissed his inter-
preter, and conversed fi'eely in English, which he spoke easily, and with
great correctness. It was half-past nine o'clock when we left the palace,

and were escorted to our boat to return to the hotel."

 AMONG THE VVHlTli ELEPHANTS. 237

CHAPTEE XYIII.
THE WHITE ELEPHANT.— VISIT TO THE SECOND KING OF SIAM.

nnHE time that Doctor Bronson passed in the presence of the king
± was utilized by the boys in a visit to the stables of the famous white
elephants of the royal palace of Bangkok.
When the Doctor was busy in the evening with his account of the
presentation to the king, Frank occupied himself in putting on paper his
experiences among the animals that are held in such reverence by the
Siamese. Fred sat by his
side and gave occasional
hints about the story, and
made sure that nothing
ihey had seen was omit-
ted.
" Our friends," said
he, " will want to know
everything we can tell

them about the white ele-

phants." I WHITE ELKl'IIANT WOKSHIl'PING THE SUN AND MOON.

" Of course they will,"
(From a CUiuese Drawing.)
Frank replied " they don't
;

have white elephants in America — at any rate, our white elephants are
not of the Siamese kind."
" I don't think I ever heard of one in our country," said Fred ;
" and
if there ever was one there, news to me."it is

"Don't you remember," Frank responded, smiling, " that your uncle
Charles was said to have bought a white elephant a year or two ago ?"
" Yes, I remember it perfectly," was the reply. " It was not a white
elephant that he bought, but only a large house. It was three times as
big as he needed and after losing a great deal of money in repairing it,
;

and hiring a crowd of servants to keep it in order, he sold it for much

less than he gave. Of course, I understand that when a man has bought
238 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

something he does not need, and which involves him in a ruinous ex-
pense, he is said to have bought a white elephant. I wonder where the
expression came from."
Just then Doctor Bronson entered the room to look for something he
needed, and the boys appealed the question to hiin. Both of them had
heard the allusion to " buying a white elephant," and knew its meaning.
What they now wished to find was where it originated.
The Doctor explained that it was said to be the custom in certain
Eastern countries for the king to give a white elephant to any noble-
man whom he wished to ruin. As the present came from the king, it

could not be sold or given away : the expense of keeping the animal was
enormous, as he required a great number of attendants, and consumed
vast quantities of food. In a little while the nobleman would be a beg-
gar, as his estate would be entirely consumed in maintaining the ele-
phant and so it came to be understood that when a man received such a
;

present, it was a polite way of driving him into bankruptcy. "There is

also a story," said the Doctor, " of a man who drew a white elephant in
a lottery he could not give his prize away, as nobody would accept it,
;

and he could not kill him, as such an act was a crime of the highest char-
acter. It to turn him loose, as he would then be responsi-
would not do
ble for damage caused by the elephant and if he kept the beast
all the ;

it would soon eat him into poverty. Consequently, when a man has some-
thing in his possession difficult to get rid of and costly to keep, he is said
to have drawn a white elephant."
The Doctor found what he wanted and retired, and the boys proceed-
ed with their story. With Fred's assistance, Frank wrote as follows :

" The white elephant is not white by any means. He is only a sort
of creaui or flesh color ; and anybody who expects him to rival the snow
in the purity of his complexion will be disappointed. But, after all, lie

is not so dark as a good many men whom we call white, and so I suppose
his name is quite proper. He is very scarce, and this is one reason why
he is prized so highly.
" Siam is not the only country where the white elephant is regarded
with special honor; the animal receives great attention, and much is very
prized in Burmah and other Buddhist lauds; and it is said that some of
the M'ars between Burmah and Siam have arisen fi'om disputes about the
possession of white elephants. Money cannot buy them, and no king
who possessed one would dare to sell it for any price, as iiis people would
think he had defied the powers of Heaven, and would be sure to bring the
severest calamities upon them. Sir John Bowring says that when he
 SACRED CHARACTER OF WHITE ANIMALS. 239

came to Siam at the head of an embassy from the Queen of England in

1855, the king sent some presents for Her Majesty, and among them was
a golden box locked with a golden key. It was said to be more precious
than all the other presents; but it contained nothing beyond a few hairs
from the tail of the white elephant.
" The Buddhists liave great reverence for anything that is white; and
when whiteness is combined with great rarity, and also with magnificence,
it is easy to see why the white elephant is above all other animals. '
It is

believed,' SirJohn Bowringsays, 'that Buddha, tiie divine emanation from

the Deity, must necessarily, in his multitudinous metamorphoses or trans-
missions through all existences and through millions of seons, delight to
abide for some time in that grand incarnation of purity which is repre-
sented by the white elephant. While the priests teach that there is no
spot in the heavens above, nor in the earth below, or the waters imder
the earth, which is not visited in the peregrinations of the divinity, they
hold that his tarrying may be longer in the white elephant than in any
other abode, and that in the possession of the sacred creature they may
possess the presence of Buddha himself.'
" The white elephant is considered of equal rank with the king, and
is treated with all possible dignity; he has a stable to himself, and ten or
twelve keepers to look after his wants. The first one we saw was standing
on a platform which was being swept by and we were told that
a priest ;

none but priests were allowed to serve the sacred animal. He was chained
to a couple of posts, so that he could not step away from the platform ;

and the interpreter told us not to go near him, as he was not of a pleas-
ant temper, and might liurt us. The keeper gave him a few bananas,
which he appeared quite willing to take; the fact is, the elephant is very
fond of bananas, and the wild ones in the forest will often run consider-
able risk to get them. After he had swallowed the bananas he reached
for a truss of hay, but for some reason the keeper did not think proper
to let him have it. He showed some temper, and the keeper brought
him to a sense of his duty by pricking his foot with a sharp iron till
drops of blood came from it. This seemed to us a funn}' wa^' to treat
a king,and we wondered how his majesty liked it.
" We
saw two white elephants, and each had a stable to himself, or
rather a palace. Their tusks wei-e encircled with hoops or rings of pure
gold, and there were golden or gilded canopies above them, and orna-
ments of great value in other parts of the stable. In one of tlie stables
there was a white monkey, and the interpreter told us that the white
monkey is an object of great veneration among the Siamese, and is kept
2i0 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

in the elephant stables to prevent the presence of evilThe one spirits.

we saw was and dignified monkey of a perfectly pure white

a very quiet
he was above the ordinary size, and had a long tail, and they told us that
he was caught in the forests on the upper waters of the Mcnam River.
" When a white elephant is caught, there is great rejoicing through-
out Siam. The king and court go out to meet him as he is brought
towards the capital, and there is a grand procession with banners and

J|l|
 STRUCTURE OF THE ELEPHANT'S TRUNK. 241

and the funeral ceremonies are of an elaborate character. Fortunately

for the Siamese, the elephant is an animal of long life, and so they are
not often called upon to mourn the loss of one of these sacred beasts.

"After we had seen the white elephants, we went to the stables of the
common ones. There were a dozen or more of them in a shed that was
quite open to the weather on all its sides, and they had only the ground
to lie upon. They were chained up by the forefeet, and when we went
to the stable they Each of them had a bundle of
had just been fed.
freshly-cut grass; and we were consumes
told that a healthy elephant
every day not less than seven or eight hundred pounds of this food.
These elephants are kept for working about the palace-grounds and ;

their occupation at present is in hauling timber from the bank of the

river to the places where it is wanted in the construction of a new wing
to the king's residence.
"We
were much interested in seeing the way the elephant eats.
"
Everybody has seen the trunk of an elephant, either on the animal
himself or in pictures. Did you ever know that there are more than
forty thousand muscles in
this wonderful structure,
and that it is powerful
enough to pull down a
large tree, and at the same
time sufficiently delicate to
pick up a pin ? That is
what Cuvier says about it,
and he is the best authori-
ty that we know of. Ken-
nie, in his 'Natural liis-

tory of the Elephant,' says

the same thing ; and when
we consider the uses of
the animal's trunk, and the
many operations it will per-
form, the statement is not
at all surprising. And
when we saw the ele-

phants at the royal pal-

HOW AN liLlil'HANT FliEDS.
ace taking their food, we
could not help admiring the skill with which they twisted the wisps of
grass and thrust them into their capacious mouths.
242 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" One of tlie beasts was very good-natured, and allowed us to examine
the termination of his proboscis, as long as we did not touch it. As the
elephant's existence depends upon his trunk he is very sensitive about it,

and is constantly afraid of injuring it. They say that this is the reason
why he always elevates it in the air wlien there is any danger, and that
his great fear of the tiger arises from the fact that the tiger always at-
tempts to disable the elephant by springing on his trunk.
"The trunk that we looked at had a projection that might be called
a finger, and directly opposite there was a sort
of thumb. The finger was exceedingly flexible,
while the thumb was not; but they fitted to each
other so well that they could hold on to any thing
even if it was very small. Here is a i^icture of it.

"And here are some more pictures, showing how the elephant pulls
up the grass when he is feeding in the open air, and also how he grasps it
before he thrusts it into his month. Then you can see how he takes hold

TTsrsET^
WF~^

of a carrot, or any other root, and how he seizes a branch of a tree that
requires him to exercise a part of his great strength. In the latter case
he twines his trunk around the branch, and if he is pulling it down from
the tree he raises himself on his hind legs, and lets his weight hang by
his trunk. In this way he can bring down a good-sized branch without
much trouble; and as he feeds on the leaves and small limbs in the forest
where he lives, his power is very useful to him.
"When he has seized anything with his proboscis, his next efEort is to
carry it to his mouth. This he does by bending his trunk, just as a man
bends iiis finger ; and when he lias it properly bent he thrusts the article
 A SIAMESE SLEEPING ROOM. - 243

between his jaws, and has it all safe and secure. He drinks by drawing
the trunk full of water, and then thrusting it to his Tnonth; it is some-
times thouglit that he
draws water through the
trunk directly into his
stomach, but such is not
the case. lie breathes
through the trunk, but
he cannot take food or
drink through it, as it
only communicates with
his lungs. Here is tlie

way he supplies himself.

" There used to be a
question among the boys
at school, 'Why do white
sheep eat more hay than
black ones?' The an-
swer was, Becanse there
'

are more of them.' That KLEPIIANTS URINKISG.

may be all right for
sheep; but if you apply the question to elephants, you are obliged to re-
verse it, as there are very few white elephants, and any number of black
ones."
By the time the above account was finished it was after eleven o'clock.
Labor was suspended, and the boj's went to bed. In the morning they
had a short time to sj^are before breakfast, and Fred thought he would
write a description of his sleeping-rooin and its peculiarities, and send it
along with the story of the visit to the palace. So he took pen and pa-
per, and wrote as follows :

"The weather is so warm here that we don't need any bed-clothino-.

and consequently they don't give us any ;we have hard beds with harder
pillows,and they are much better than any soft beds and pillows could
possibly be. A sheet to lie on is spread over the bed, and all the cover-
ing we need is the pajamas, or sleeping suits that everybody wears here.
Mosquitoes are abundant, and of all sizes; and so they cover the beds with
a netting of very fine mesh to keep out the smallest of these troublesome
pests. The nets not only keep out the mosquitoes but they keep in the
heat, and for this reason we suffer a great deal from the high tempera-
ture. I get up several times in the night, and go and sit on the bal-
244 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST.

con^', just to get a little cool ; every time I wake I am in a profuse per-
spiration, and it is largely caused by the closeness of the air under the
mosquito netting.
"When we first came here we were disturbed frequently by the gecko,

a lizard that climbs around the walls and partitions of the houses, and
goes wherever he pleases. He is five or six inches long, and not pretty

FEED S TORMENTOR.

to look at, and he makes a noise like some one calling out Gecko It ' !'

is from his call that he gets his name, and until we got used to it we
were waked by it. It isn't pleasant to see these lizards climbing around
your room but everybody says they are perfectly harmless, and they eat
;

up a great many insects. There is a smaller lizard that eats mosquitoes,

or anything else he can manage, and it is very funny to see him at
work. Frank and I watched one the other evening for half an hour,
and saw him do a great deal of good. He is just the color of the
boards where he clings, or very nearly so, and therefore he is not easily
 THE SECOND KING OF SIAM. 245

seen. When a mosquito passed witliin half an inch of his nose he darted
out his long flexible tongue with the rapidity of lightning, and caught
his prize on the end of it. The mosquito disappeared like a flash, and
then the lizard watched for another, and took him in the same way.
" When a mosquito or a fly lighted two or three inches away, the liz-

ard would creep along like a cat, and hug close to the boards. He did it

very slowly till and then out came the tongue as be-
he got within i-each,

fore, and he rarely missed his aim. One large fly was too much for him,
and after getting him on the end of his tongue he had a sharp struggle
to swallow him. The fly escaped, and after tliat the lizard was more cau-
tious about the size of his game."
Breakfast was announced, and the story of the Siamese lizard was
dropped for the present.
While they were at breakfast a messenger came from the consul to
Doctor Bronson. He announced that the second king of Siam would
receive them that afternoon, as they had been received the day before bj'
the supreme king.
The boys liad heard that Siam was ruled by two kings, and the Doctor
took the opportunity to explain the relations between these rulers.
" The king at the grand palace, where we went yesterday," said Doc-
tor Bronson, " is the flrst or supreme king of the country. The second
king occupies a position that is difficult to understand clearly when we
compare it with our own form of government. He is not like our Vice-
president of the United States, as he does not inherit the throne on the
death of the supreme king ; nor does he resemble the ancient Mikado of
Japan in being a spiritual ruler, while the first king is a temporal one.
According to Sir Jolin Bowring, his opinion and sanction are sought by
the king in important matters, and his name is associated in treaties. He
is supposed to have control of one-third of the revenues, and has a portion

of the army under his command in time of war he is expected to have

;

direct control of the armies in the field, and to go with them in person,

but this is not always the case. Occasionally the office of second king is

abolished, and seems to be largely in the power of the first king to do

it

what he pleases concerning the rank and authority of his subordinate.

" The second king has a palace nearly as large as that of tlie first, and

he has ministers corresponding to those that form the highest cabinet.

The same respect is shown to him when he goes abroad as to the first
king, and the latter is the only personage in the country to whom the
second king must pay visits of ceremony. Siam is the only country in
the world that has this arrangement for dividing the royal power, and
246 THE BOY TKAVKLLEKS IN THE EAK EAST.

when we come to examine it closely it will be found that there is not a

very large division, after all. Not long ago, as I am told, there was a
quarrel between the first and second kings of Siam, which resulted in the
second king seeking the protection of the English consul. Since that
time the power of the second king has been was before, and less than it

the breach between the two great heads of the kingdom of Siam has not
been entirely Jiealed."
At the appointed time the consul called for the Doctor, aiid the two
gentlemen proceeded on their excursion, leaving the boys at the hotel.
The journey to the palace was not made in a boat, as on the day before,
but in a carriage, for the reason that going in a boat would necessitate a
long walk from the landing to the gates of tlie royal residence. On his
return the Doctor gave the following account of his visit
"We drove through a narrow gate- way where some soldiers were on
guard, and soon found ourselves in an open court-yard of the palace.
Here we left the carriage, and entered a large anteroom at the head of
a flight of stairs, where we waited while a messenger went to inform the
king of our arrival. He came back shortly, accompanied by a gentleman
who spoke English and Siamese with equal fluency, as he is the son of an
American missionary, and was born in Siam. Under his guidance we
went to the reception-hall, which was in a large building just off the
court-yard. It was entered directly from the open air, and not by passing
through a series of halls, as in the palace of the first king. His majesty
rose as we entered, and came forward a few steps to meet us; he first
shook hands with the consul, and then with me after the consul had in-
troduced me, and the interpreter had translated his remarks.
" The king asked us to be seated, and gave us the example by taking

a chair for himself, and indicating the ones we were to occupy. He is a

man of about fifty-five or sixty years old, and has a pleasant and intelli-
gent face ; he speaks English with considerable fluency, and has read a
great deal about England and America. He is a great admirer of Ameri-
ca, and is proud of the name of George Washington, which he bears."
Are we to understand," Frank asked, " that the second king of Siam
"
is named George Washington ?"

" Hardly as much as that," was the Doctor's re\)\y " he was known ;

among the foreign residents of Bangkok by the name of Prince George

before he was proclaimed second king. He has at least half a dozen
Siamese titles, and places the name of '
George Washington '
before them.
He assumed it himself, as I am informed, witli the consent of the old
King of Siam, because he admired the character of the man whom we
 A GLIMPSE AT ROYALTY. 247

THR S1'.C<>NI> KINO OF SIAM, IN STATE ROBES.

248 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

hold in such great reverence in America. He lias been, and continues to

be, a pretty close student of science, politics, and other matters, and is a
man of more than ordinary intelligence.
" Soon after we were seated, coffee and cigars were brought, and the
king offered us some of the latter from his own box of massive gold.
Conversation began immediately ; the questions and answers being rath-
er slow, as they were made through the interpreter. The king asked
when I left America, and what I thought of Siam'5 and when I spoke in
praise of his country he appeared greatly pleased. Then we talked about
the scenery of the tropics in comparison with that of the temperate zone
and the king said he was sorry America was so far off, as it would give
him great pleasure to visit it. Then we talked about the fruits and
flowers of Siam, the many varieties of the palm-tree, and the great uses
of the palm and bamboo to mankind. Then the king asked about some
America and after that
of the productions of ; there came a pause, which
gave us an opportunity to rise and make our adieux. Tiie king shook
hands with us at parting, would like my stay in Siam so
and hoped I
well that I would come here again. We found our carriage, and drove
home again but, before leaving the palace, we went to see an elephant
;

which belongs to the second king, and is said to be over a hundred years
old. It has been a long time in captivity, and is very large and powerful,
and its temper is anything but amiable."
Fred asked if the king wore his state-dress as it was represented in the
pictures he had seen of his majesty.
The Doctor answered that the king was plainly dressed, and the only
indications of rank about his garments were some stars embroidered on
the collar of his coat. The coat was short, and rather in form like a jack-
et; it hung loosely, and by no means concealed a vest of white linen that
joined with trousers of Siamese pattern, to complete the clothing of roy-
alty. On wore a pair of embroidered shoes that were cut
his feet he
low enough for and could be easily thrown off without the aid
slippers,
of a boot-jack. His attendants were in Siamese garb, and the general sur-
roundings of the place were more Oriental in their character than those
of the palace of the supreme king.
Frank and Fred listened with great interest to what the Doctor had
to say of his visit to the second king of Siam. Through fear of forget-
ting some portion of it, they proceeded to put it upon paper at once
and, as the afternoon was far gone when they began, they had sufiBcient

occupation for the rest of the day.

 FROM BANGKOK TO SINGAPORE. 249

CHAPTER XIX.
LEAVING SIAM.—LIFE UNDER THE OCEAN WAVE.

npHE time came for leaving Siam.Our friends had enjoyed their visit
-- to theLand of the White Elephant, and had seen many things that
were full of interest; they wished to remain longer, but they remembered
there were other countries to be seen, and other people whose manners
and customs the}' wished to learn from personal observation. So they
prepared to continue their journey.
Their next place of destination was Singapore. Between that city
and Bangkok there is a service of steam-
ers each way about once a week it is ;

somewhat irregular, as the movements

of the sliips depend more or less upon
the amount of freight offering and the
facility of obtaining cargoes. The
steamers are under the Siamese flag
some of them belong to the govern-
ment, while the others are the property
of Chinese or Siamese merchants estab-
lished at Bangkok. All of them are
small, to make sure of passing the bar
at the mouth of tiie Menam, and their
passenger accommodations are rather T111-: UOCTOll GBTTING UBADY.
limited.
The distance from Bangkok to Singapore is about eight hundred
miles ; and, as the ships are not built for speed, the voyage usually takes
from four to five daj's. Our friends engaged passage on the Bang Yong
Seng, and were told to be on board by seven o'clock in the morning of
the day fixed for departure. The steamer was at her dock about a mile
above the hotel, and consequently Doctor Bronson and the boys proposed
to leave the hotel soon after six o'clock, in order to be in season. When
they suggested their plan to Captain Salje, the proprietor of the establish-
250 THE BOY TRAVIiLLEKS IN TllK FAlt EAST.

ment, the latter laughed, and said lie would Iiave breakfast ready for them
at half-past six, and then they would have an abundance of time.
"How can that be?" the Doctor asked.
"Very easy to explain," the captain responded. "The river is so nar-
row that tiie steamer cannot turn around where siie is. Siie backs down
below here, and does it very slowly, and yon need not go to the dock at
all. You can have your baggage ready, and when we see her coming j'ou
can pull out with tlie boat and drop along-side. The gangway-ladder will
be down, and you can get on board and have j'onr baggage handed up
without the least trouble."
This plan was quite to the taste of the party of travellers, and they
adopted it at once. It was carried out to perfection ; and the boys pro-
nounced it much better tiian being obliged to breakfast at a disagreeably

early hour, and then pulling up the stream. The consul came to see
them off ; and as the steamer passed the consulate, the flag of their coun-
try was dipped in farewell honor to Doctor Bronson and his young com-
panions. The steamer turned a little below tlie consulate, and headed her
prow for the sea; and she steamed steadily onward, till at length she left
tiie Menam behind her and entered the waters of the Gulf of Siam.
The boys sat on the deck of the steamer, and watched the low coast
as it slowly receded from view. Flocks of bii'ds filled the air, or settled
on the marshy shores, where the scattered palm-trees waved their tufted
heads. There was a faint ripple of surf breaking on the beach, or form-
ing in long lines where the waters were shallow. The sky was clear, and
the sun filled the atmosphere with a flood of light ; while it made the
awning indispensable to the comfort of the young travellers.
shelter of the
Although the steamer was of light draught, she stirred the mud from
the bottom as she crossed the bar at the mouth of the Menam she left a ;

long trail of discolored water behind her, but it disappeared as she steam-
ed onward and left the shores of Siam fading in the distance. While the
boys were busy with their contemplation of the scene, the Chinese stew-
ard of the steamer came to tell them dinner was ready. They went be-
low, and were soon seated at the cabin table.
The passengers were not numerous.
Besides the Doctor and his
young were only two others in the cabin, and it did not
friends, there
take long for them to form an acquaintance. One of the twain was a
German merchant living at Bangkok, and the other was a personage who
reminded the boys a little of their old friend, " the Mystery." He was
and inclined
affable, to free conversation ; and though they could not
at first make him out, they found themselves attracted towards him.
 A NEW ACQUAINTANCE. 251

_**',_? 3jji__!r:*"
When tbey went on "' - '
,

deck after dinner, tlie

stranger followed and, by invita-

;

tion of Doctor Bronson, he drew

his chair near them.
In the course of the rambling
talk that ensued, Fred wondered
if there were any pearls in the COAST OF SIAM, NKAIl THE MOUTH OF THB
Gulf of Siam. Frank quickly re- RIVER.

sponded that it was Ceylon, and

not Siam, where the most of the pearls of commerce were to be found.
The remark about pearls led to a discussion of the mode of gathering
them. Very naturally something was said about the methods of going
beneath the waves of the sea.
The stranger joined in the conversation, and it was not long before
he developed much more than a casual knowledge of the business under
consideration.
"I may as well introduce myself," he remarked, "and then we will be
able to talk freely. I am known as Captain Johnson, and have been
252 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

around the Eastern seas for the past twentj' years. I am an Englishman
by birth, and have been captain of a ship trading between London and
Singapore; but at present I am a wrecker."
Doctor Bronson replied to this introduction by handing his own card
to Captain Johnson, and introducing the two
youtiis by name.
Tiie boys showed by the expression of
their faces that they were not altogether fa-

miliar with the peculiarities of the stranger's

occupation ; evidently he perceived it, for he
proceeded to explain what a wrecker was.
" Properly speaking," said he, " a wrecker

is man who lives on a dangerous coast, and

a
makes a living by assisting wrecked vessels,
and saving what can be saved from their car-
goes. My occupation is something like his,
but not exactly he works above the waters,
;

while I go below them."

" Go below the water to save a ship !"
said Fred, in astonishment. " How can you

save a ship in that way?"

The question led to an explanation that
lasted through the entire afternoon and even-
ing. We will endeavor to give the substance
of it, as nearly as possible, in tlie words of
Captain Johnson.
"Life beneath the ocean wave," said he,
after he was comfortably balanced in his chair,
" has many features of interest. In my pro-
fession of wrecking I have seen much that
does not ordinarily happen to a man ; I am
sorry I cannot remember all tiiat has come
under my observation, but perhaps it is just
as well, as I might remember too much, and
so wearj"^ ,yo"-"
Frank assured him it would take a longer
\S'ATKR-FOWL OF SIAM.
period than they were likely to pass together
on the ship for him to become weary of stories of the sea. Fred echoed
the remark, and thus the captain was encouraged to proceed.
" Thanks to men of science and ingenuity," the captain continued.
 METHODS OF PEARL -FISHING. 253

" we liave made great progress in

going beneath the water in the last

twenty-five years. Formerly a man

could only stay below as long as he
could hold his breath, and of course
this prevented his descending to any
great depth. With the diving ap-
paratus now in use he can go far be-
^afe>"
low the surface, and remain there for
hours." A TVKKCK AMONG THE BBKAKERS.
The boys opened their eyes very
wide at this assertion, but they did not interrupt the story by saying
what they thought.
" The fisher for pearls in the primitive way has no apparatus beyond

a stone attached to a cord, a basket slung around his neck to hold the
pearl-oysters, and a knife to detach them from the bottom, and also to
defend himself from sharks. At the moment of diving he fills his lungs
with air and grasps the cord, and as he does so the stone is thrown from
the side of the boat by his assistant. The weight of the stone carries him
down he gathers as many oysters as he can while the air in his lungs
;

holds out, and then he shakes the cord as a signal to be drawn up.
Sharks abound in the regions where the pearl is found, and not infre-
quently they seize the poor diver as he rises to the surface. His only
mode of escape is by rapid
movement and you can
;

readily see that he is at a

great disadvantage, as he
is out of his proper ele-

ment, and in that of the

shark.
" The diving-bell was
the first invention to im-
prove on the old process
it consisted of a wide-
mouthed enough
bell large

to contain one or two men,

who stood or were seated
inside. If you put a tum-
bler into the water with

I'EAKL FISHER ATTACKED BY A SHARK. the mouth downwards.

254 THE BOY TKAVELLEUS ]N THE FAR EAST.

you will perceive, as you press below the surface, that tlie air within
keeps the water from rising."
The boys nodded assent to the captain's remark.
" In this way the air remains in the bell, and until it becomes foul
the divers suffer no particular inconvenience. But as soon as it has been
breathed so as to cause a sense of suffocation they must be drawn up, or
they will die.

NESTS OP THE WATKK-SPIDER.

" Tlien somebody arranged an air-pump so as to connect with the bell,

and by constantly working this pump the foul air was expelled, and new
air came in to supply its place. By this process the men could remain
some time below but they could not leave the bell, and their operations
;

were confined to the space covered by its mouth. It is a curious fact

that the first diving-bell was invented by a spider, and not by a man."
" Invented by a spider !" the two boys exclaimed in a breath.
 HABITS OF THE WATER SPIDER. 255

" Yes, invented by a spider," the captain continued.

" Why, liow can that be ?" Frank asked.
" The water-spider builds a house of silk in the shape of a bell, and
anchors it to the roots of the grasses that grow several feet under the
water. Having finished his dwelling, he proceeds to stock it with air.

For this purpose he conies to the surface, takes a bubble of air under his
abdomen and carries it to the house, where he releases it, and allows it to
rise into the cavity where he wants
it. Pic repeats the operation till he
has filled itand then he has a satisfactory home for his family.
with air,

"Now the diving-bell is on this principle, with the advantage of not

being stationary, and also with the greater advantage that the air can be
renewed when it becomes foul. But the modern armor dispenses with
the bell ; the head of the diver is covered with an air-tight helmet with
a plate of glass in front, so that the man can see what is about him, and
the air kept fresh by means of an air-pump and a flexible tube of
is

india-rubber. There are several forms of this apparatus, some of them

having a metallic knapsack, where the air is received before it goes to the
helmet, while others dispense with the knapsack, and carry the air directly
to the head of the man who is to breathe it. Sometimes, where the depth
is slight, and he is not to remain long below, the diver does not use tlie

helmet at all, but simply holds a tube in liis mouth, through which a
stream of air is driven to him."

l)IVi;US IN TIIKIlt AllMOli.

 256 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

IJIVEUS AT \\01iK.

Frank asked liow tlie man wearing this armor managed to sink in the
water, and retain his perpendicular position. According to liis
experience,
there was a tendency of the feet to fly upwards as soon as the
body was
in the water, especially where it was salt instead of fresh.
" That is provided for," said Captain Johnson, " by giving the diver a
pair of shoes with soles of lead. They are so heavy that when he is out
of water he can lift his feet with difficulty ; but when lie goes below, the
specific gravity of the water makes them much lighter. He can then
step around, and at same time his equilibrium is maintained."
tlie
" How long can a man stay under water with the apparatus
you have
described ?" Fred asked.
"From one to two hours," was the reply; "according to the depth
and condition of tlie water. If it is very cold, he will be chilled in a
little while, and must come up to get Mann again ; and if he has to liold
 GNDEli WATEK FOR TWO HOURS. 257

himself against a strong current he will find his strength leaving him, and
must make a signal to be drawn to the surface. I liave heen two hours
under, at a depth of eighty feet, and felt no inconvenience ; but when i
came up I was not able to go down again for several hours."
" Can you go down in the open sea in this way," said Fred, " or must
you always be where the water is quiet ?"
"As to that," the captain responded, "it is impossible to answer in a
single word. The most of our operations are in rivers and harbors, or in
bays more or less shallow. Sometimes at sea it is necessary to examine
the bottom of a ship, in order to stop a leak or repair some other damage.
In such a case the ship is stopped, and a ladder is lowered near the place

to be examined a man goes down in his submarine armor without diffi-

;

culty, and, though the water must be reasonably smooth to allow him to
do so safely, I have known it to be done when there was quite a heavy
sea on. The general rule is, that, unless the sea is smooth enough to al-
low a boat to lie along-side for the purpose of assisting the diver, it is not

DIVING OVI.K THK SIDK OF A STKAMUIi.

wise to send him below. Divers are their own judges of such matters,
and will naturally refuse to descend if the risk is too great.
"
Once in awliile we have cases of diving in the open ocean. Do yon
remember the loss of the steamship Japan, on the coast of China, in De-
cember, 1874?"
17
258 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

The boys said they had heard about it while tliey were in China, but
could not remember anything particular about the affair.

"Well," continued the captain, " the Japan was burnt at sea, one hun-
dred and thirty-five miles north-east of Hong-kong, and fifty miles from
Swatow. The nearest land was Breaker Point, twenty miles away, and
the water where the wreck sunk was twenty-three fathoms, or one hun-
dred and thirty-eight feet deep. The Japan had about three hundred
and fifty thousand dollars in silver on board, and the underwriters at
Hong-kong who had insured it determined to make an effort for its re-

cover^^ For this purpose they engaged Captain Roberts, who was a well-
known wrecker on the coast of China, and set him at work.
" A schooner and a small steamer were bought, and in January, 1875,
Captain Roberts began looking for the wreck. He dragged the bed of
the ocean for four or five weeks before he found anything; but at last
he was successful, and discovered one of the paddle-wheels of the ship.
It was some time later before he found the wreck of the sliip, as it proved
to have drifted eleven miles south-west of the spot where the wheel had
dropped off."
" Howcould that be ?" Frank exclaimed.
" It was because the wind was blowing very strong at the time from
the north-east, and after the wheel fell off the ship was driven on before
the gale till it had burnt low enough to sink. It took from March to
July to find the wreck after the wheel was discovered, and then they im-
mediately began operations for getting at the sunken treasure.
"The south-west monsoon blows from March till September, and it
was only during this monsoon that the divers could work. On the 12th
of that month the monsoon ceased, and Captain Roberts had not been
able to get at the treasure, which was contained in an iron tank in the
hold of the ship. He thought the whole enterprise would end there, and
the Japan and lier three hundred and fifty thousand dollars would remain
undisturbed at the bottom of the sea. It was not likel}' that the under-
writers would incur the expense of another expedition the following year,
when the chances of recovering anything were so doubtful.
" diver went down for the last time and while he was below the
The ;

crew were making preparations to hoist anchor, and be off for Hong-kong
as soon as he rose.
" Suddenly he signalled to be pulled up, and they hoisted away. As
he rose he held a lump of something in his hand, and passed it to Captain
Roberts, who was standing on the deck of the schooner.
"It was a lump that looked like coal; but it was heavier than coal
 THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS SAVED. 259

by a great deal. Examination showed that it was a mass of twetity-foui-

silver dollars, all melted and charred togetlier, but still distinguishable as
dollars.
" The question was settled. The wreckers retired to Hong-kong dur-

ing the six months that the north-east monsoon blows, and in the follow-
ing March they returned to tlieir work. In 1876 they recovered about

COItAL-FISIIING IN Till: MKDlTKRliANKAX.

twenty-five thousand dollars and in the two following years the whole
;

of the treasure was secured. It was one of the finest wrecking opera-
tions ever known. And here is one of the dollars that lay for three
years at the bottomof the Pacific Ocean."
As he spoke, Captain Johnson drew from his pocket an American
trade-dollar bearing the date 1874. It was quite black from the effect
260 THE BOY TRA^'ELLERS IN THE FAR EASI'.

of its long immersion In the ocean,

but otherwise was as perfect as when
it came from the mint at San Fran-
cisco. The boys were greatly in-
terested in this curious coin, and so
was Doctor Bronson. It was passed
from one to the other of the trio,
and the boys were for some minutes
so thoroughly engrossed in examin-
ing it that thej' had no attention to
bestow on anything else.

Frank wished to know whether

there was any coral or other curious THE CORAL-WOIIM.
products of the sea where the wreck
of the Japan was lying at the bottom of the ocean.
Captain Johnson told him there was nothing of the kind in that par-
ticular spot, but that a great deal of coral was to be found in the tropical
waters of the Far East. " The best coral," said he, " comes from the Med-
iterranean ; other parts of the world produce it in much larger quantities,
but it is not generally fine enough
to be wrought into jewellery, like
that from the nortliern coast of
Africa. Can you tell me what cor-
al is?"

Frank answered that coral was a

substance produced by a small in-

COP-COUAL AND liRAIN-CORAL.

 CURIOUS FORMATION OF CORAL. 261

sect which works under the water, and produces a substance somewhat
resembling stone. There are many varieties of it, and the work of tlie
coral insect is usually in the form of branches — like a small tree without
leaves. There are also formations known as cup-coral and brain-coral,
on account of their siiape and general appearance.
Fred said he liad read somewhere that in the Pacific Ocean there were
islands of solid coral; and there were also reefs surrounding islands like
great walls. Some of these walls were hundreds of miles in extent, and
kept ships from approaching the land.
" Can you tell me what an atoll is ?" said the captain, with a smile.
The boys had both heard of an atoll, but at tlie moment they were
unable to describe it. So the captain came to their relief, and explained
it to tliem.
"An atoll," said he, "is a circular island or reef, with an opening on
one side, with water that is enough for the largest ships to
usually deep
enter. The few hundred yards wide, and often
strip of land or coral is a
covered with palm and other trees; and there are sometimes liundreds of
atolls in a single group. They vary in size from half a mile to forty or
fifty miles in diameter, and the lake or lagoon inside is from one to four

hundred feet in depth. Ships maj' sail around in these lagoons, and they
often abound in lish of many varieties. The contrast between the rough
ocean outside and the calm lake within is very impressive, and will never
be forgotten by one who has observed it."

AN ATOLL IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

2G2 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTER XX.
LIGHT UNDER WATER.—PEARL-FISHING AND TURTLE-HUNTING.

FRANK was curious to know how it was jjossible to see under water.
He thought it would be dark at great depths, and, if so, it would be
impossible to do anything there on account of the darkness. Lamps
could not be made to burn under water, and until this was done the ex-
plorers of the sea could not make much progress.
Captain Johnson replied that Frank's theory was correct. As the
diver goes down more and more dim, but the dimness
the light becomes
or the absence of it depends upon the clearness of the water where he is
at work. If the water is clear and the sunlight good, there is no trou-
ble about seeing at any depth to which a diver may safely descend. In
a stream like the Mississippi or the Missouri river it will be darker at
ten feet deep than in the Mediterranean at a hundred.
"But science has come to our aid," he continued, "by giving us the
electric light. There is one form of it that can burn in a vacuum— in
fact, it needs a vacuum for its proper working. Now all you have to do
is to insulate the wires leading to the glass globe that holds the light^
and you can carry it under the water without the least trouble.
"For ordinary purposes there is a very simple arrangement, which
consists of a box with a plate of glass in the bottom. You put this in
the water, so that the glass is a few inches below the surface, and then

you can see very clearly, where the depth is not too great. Fishermen
in some parts of the world have something of the same nature, which
they call a telescope; it is nothing but a tube of wood four or five feet
long, and six inches in diameter, and with the top so arranged that when
the eye is put against it there can be no entrance of light at that end of
the tube. When a man wishes to examine the bottom of the sea where
he is fishing, he sinks this tube and looks through it. He can make out
many objects that are altogether invisible under ordinary circumstances,
and can frequently discover the whereabouts of a school of fish that
might otherwise escape liim.
 A PERILOUS SITUATION. 2(J3

" Sometimes a man who is

using one of these aids to marine

observation finds himself the ob-
ject of attentions he would glad-
ly avoid. A friend of mine was
once looking through a box from
the side of a boat, when a large
sawfish came from below and
thrust his snout through the glass.
A shark followed the sawfish, and
was evidently anxious for a fight,
and the two swum off togetlier,
to the satisfaction of my friend.
What made the matter more ex-
citingwas that an expert swim-
mer had just dived from tlie boat,
and gone down to take a survey
of the coral - trees that grew on
the bottom. He came up safe

SUHMAUINli OlSSliRVATIONS.

and undisturbed, and the probabilities are that the sawfish and shark
had been too busy over each other and the glass-bottomed box to pay
264 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

any attention to such an insignificant object as a man swimming near

them.
" The bottom of the sea abounas in many curious things that we
never see at the surface, unless they are brought there. There is a fish
known as tlie Lophius, or bellows-
fish ; he is also called '
the angler,'
from his artistic way of supplying
himself with food. He seems to
be nearly all mouth, and reminds
you of the dog that could walk down
his own throat without touching the
sides. He has a long rod project-
ing from the middle of his forehead,
and at the end of it there is a lump
of flesh, like a morsel of beef. This
rod movable and, as he lies flat
is ;

on the mud, he spreads his great

mouth open like a trap. Then he
angles, or fishes, with his rod, mov-
ing it up and down and on both
sides, so as to attract fish or crabs,

or anything else that is edible.

When they come within reach of
his capacious jaws he closes on his

TIIK nULLOWS-l-ISII, OK ANGLLK.

 HOW THE HERMIT-CRAB LIVES. 265

prey, and goes on with his fishing as unconcerned as a man who has
caught a small trout, and stowed it away in his basket."
The boys laughed at the idea of an angling fish, and wondered how
he managed to get along when he had lost his bait by any accident. The
captain was unable to tell them, as he had never seen a bellows-fish that
had suffered such a misfortune.
" You see thousands of crabs and lobsters and other creeping things at
the bottom of the sea," the captain continued " there is one kind of crab
;

that loves to live in a shell which is

not his own, at any rate not the one
he was born to. They crawl around
with these shells, never daring to
leave them for fear some other crab
will happen along and take posses-
sion. Sometimes two of them will
fight for a shell, and tliey tear away
each other's claws and commit other
havoc before the battle is over. Gen-
erally the one in the shell has the
best of it, as he is on the defen-
sive, and the house in which he is A CCKIOUS HOME.
lodged is a good protection One
day I found one of these crabs in the bowl of a tobacco-pipe that had the
stem broken short off, and it was very funny to see him move around
with this awkward covering. It was not as convenient as the sea-shells
in which his brethren were quartered, and he seemed to understand it, as
he changed to an empty shell as soon as one was placed near him, and he
was left undisturbed.
" These crabs are amphibious, and seem equally at home above or un-
der the water. They are very quarrelsome, and when put together in a
box proceed to eat each other up without the least hesitation. I once put
a dozen of them together, and in two days there was only one left he ;

was large, and had a good appetite, as he left nothing but shells and
crushed claws to tell what had become of his comrades.
"But we liave been so long beneath the surface that we must go
above to breathe. As we come up we must be careful not to touch one
of those long filaments hanging down from the Physalia that has spread
its sail to the wind. If we do, we shall feel a sharp sting that will last us

for some time."

Frank inquired wliat the Physalia was.
266 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

"You have seen it very often at sea," said Captain Johnson, "and
probably you knew itPortuguese man-of-war."
as a
Oh, certainly," Frank answered. " We saw thousands and thousands
"

of them on the Pacific Ocean when we were coming from San Francisco,
and sometimes the water was covered with them for hours at a time.
And they looked very pretty, with their little sails spread to catch the
wind."
"What you saw above the surface was not really a sail," the captain
replied, " but a little sack containing air. The Physalia has the power of
contracting this sack, so that it can sink beneath the waves for protection
against a storm or to avoid other dangers. The use of the long filaments
is not well understood ; but they are evidently for purposes of defence, as
each of them contains a sting that has anything but an agreeable effect on
the swimmer who comes in contact with it."

Fred asked if the Physalia was

anything like the sea -anemone

"^ /
which he had seen in aquarias,
and had admired greatly on ac-
IX count of its beautiful colors.
"How many
V you think you have seen
colors of it

?"
do
the
captain asked, in reply.

CltAIiS IN A QUAUKEL.
 PROPERTIES OF MARINE PRODUCTIONS. 267

SEA-ANEMONKS.

Fred could not say positively, but he thought he had seen not less

than three or four.

" They are of every color imaginable," responded Captain Johnson
" we find them white, with a delicate shading of pearl, and we have them
in gray, pink, purple, yellow, orange, lilac, green, and blue. Sometimes a
single specimen will have half a dozen colors in his composition, and j'ou
could easily imagine he had borrowed all the hues of the rainbow in get-
ting himself up to a satisfactory complexion. They have the properties
of both animal and vegetable, and in this particular they resemble the
sponge and other marine productions. If a part of the sea-anemone is
destroyed, it is reproduced and if one of them is torn or cut into several
;

pieces, each piece converts itself into a perfect anemone."

"Is the sponge an animal?" Frank asked of the captain. "You said
268 THE BOY TEAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

something about tlie sea-anemone having animal and vegetable properties

like the sponge. I always supposed the sponge was a vegetable grow-
ing at the bottom of the sea, and had nothing of the animal about it."
" Scientific men have long been in dispute on this subject," was the
reply ;
" and while some assign the sponge to the vegetable kingdom,
others class it with the animal. The latest authorities favor the theory
that the sponge is an animal, and all agree tliat it occupies a middle
ground between the two forms of life.

" It is fastened to a rock, or to the hard bottom of the part

-^-^ of the sea where it grows, and it has no power of moving from
one place to another. Water is continually absorbed into the
sponge, just as we absorb air by breathing; and when the food
and air contained in the water have served their purpose, the
residue is thrown off.

"
The sponge has a skeleton that must be dissolved and
washed away before the article is of use. Various proc-
esses are used to remove the skeleton — accoixling to the
character of the sponge and the purposes for which it is

designed. The finest are washed repeatedly in water,

and in a weak solution of acid, and are then bleached
in a bath of diluted soda. These fine sponges come
from Syria, and from the Greek islands of the Medi-
terranean ; the coarse sponges, used for washing car-
and similar purposes, come from the West
^^-^ Indies, and also from the East ; and when first

taken from the sea they have a sicken-

ing odor, like flesh that is just
beginning to decay. This odor

THE SPONGE AT HOME.

 THE SPONGE-FISHERV. 269

:e.

becomes stronger and stronger, and finally

resembles exactly that which arises from

a putrefying body. During this process
of decomposition they are buried in the
sand, and are afterwards submitted to the
action of tlie waves to wash away the im-
purities that the decay has left."
One of the boys asked how sponges
were obtained, and at what depths of wa-
ter they were to be found.
The captain explained that tiiey were HOW SPONGKS AUE SPEAUED.
found at all depths, from a few feet to
two or three hundred. The most of them were taken from shoals and
reefs, where they were ten or twenty feet below the surface, as
they could

not get a good supply of light in deeper water. In the East they are
generally taken by diving, after the primitive fashion ; while in the West
Indies they are speared from boats.
" But we started out to talk about pearls," said Captain Johnson, " and

we have wandered off to several other things. Suppose we go back to

pearls, and see what we can ascertain about them."

The boys promptly agreed to this; and Frank was evidently deter-
mined to begin at the beginning, as he referred to the pearl which Cleo-
patra was said to have dissolved in vinegar, so that she might swallow a
more costly drink tlian had ever been known to anybody else.

"That was more than eighteen hundred years ago," said Fred, "and
perhaps the incident never happened."
270 THE BOY TKAVELLKRS IN THE FAR EAST.

Captain Johnson was uncertain about it, as lie said he had no docu-
mentary proof suificient to convince an ordinary court of law that dis-
solved pearls were a fashionable beverage in the days of Antony and
Cleopatra. " However," he said, " the pearl can be dissolved in strong
vinegar and this fact is sufficient to establish the possibility of the beau-
;

tiful Queen of Egypt indulging in the freak that is attributed to her.

" Pearls have been known and valued for a great many hundred years.
They are mentioned in the Bible, and in the time of Job they were of
great price. The Greeks and Romans had great numbers of pearls, and

some of the wealthy

citizenswere in the habit
CLEOPATRA DISSOLVING THE PEARL. of wearing them on their
shoes. In all ages they
have been associated with wealth, and probably they will continue to be
for ages to come.
" The oyster that produces them is not good to eat probably he
;

thinks he has quite enough to do to make pearls, without being devoured

 HOW PEARLS ARE FORMED. 271

after he hasperformed that noble duty. They are found in various parts
of the world but the best pearls have always come from the East they
; :

are valuable in proportion as they possess that peculiar lustre known as

'
water,' which it is impossible to describe in words. There are several
varieties of the pearl-oyster, but the best of them is of a nearly circular
form, and from four to eight inclies in diameter. Here is a picture of

l-KAltL-UliAKING SlIliLLS.

one of these shells, with a single pearl adhering to it. Tlie outside of
the shell is rough, and has a series of ridges that extend from the valve
to the edge. The young and the divers un-
oysters rarely contain pearls ;

derstand this so well that, when they find smooth-shelled and small oys-
ters in their baskets, they throw them back into the sea. In the haste
of gathering them from the rocky bottom, they have no time to select
with care.
" Tiie pearl is nothing more nor less than carbonate of lime, secreted by
the oyster, and hardened after a process which he carefully keeps to him-
self. was for a long time supposed that the pearl was formed by the
It
attempt of the oyster to cover a grain of sand with a smooth substance,
so that it would not be inconvenient to him. It was believed that the

sand was rolled in by the action of the waves while the oyster had his
mouth open and, as he could not expel it, he proceeded to cover it up.
;
272 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Many persons adhere to this theory still; but the fact that many pearls
have been sawed open and found not to contain the least particle of sand
or other impurity, is calculated to throw doubt upon it. The latter be-
lief is, that the pearl is the result of a disease in the oyster, just as a tumor
is the result of disease in man.
"In China and Japan the natives have long followed the practice of
putting small beads of porcelain inside the oyster, and then returning him
to the water, where he is left undisturbed for three or four years. At
the end of that time he is taken up and opened, and the beads are found
to be coated with the pearly substance. They also have the trick of put-
ting little images or idols into the oyster, and in course of time these
become coated over in the manner I have described. You can see some
of the results of these processes by looking at the two open shells on the
right of the picture."
Prank wished to know the different sizes of pearls and their values.
"'As to that," said the captain, " your question is not an easy one to
answer. Some pearls are so small as to be hardly visible to the eye ; and
of course they are of no value when you cannot see them. They are only
useful when large enough to be strung on a necklace, or otherwise set as

jewellery. The largest pearls are apocryphal; by this I mean that no

person of modern times has seen some that are famous in history, and
there are doubts that they ever existed. It is said that the pearl which
Cleopatra drank to the health of Mark Antony was worth $375,000 of

SIZKS OF I'UAKLS.
 VALUE OF PEARLS. 27?

PEARL-KISIIERT AT BAHREIN.

our money ; and, if so, it must have been of great size. Pearls have been
reported to exist that were nearly two inches long by one and a quarter
in diameter, and weighed fifty-five carats, or two hundred and twenty
grains.
" The largest that we know of at the present time do not exceed thirty
carats, or one hundred and twenty grains. There is one among the crown-
jewels of Portugal weighing twenty-five carats; and there is said to be

one of twenty-seven hands of a Russian merchant in Mos-

carats in the
cow. It is safe to say that there are not two dozen pearls known to exist
now that weigh over twenty carats, or eighty grains.
" The value of a pearl is generally estimated like that of a diamond
by the multiplication of the square of its weight. A pearl of one carat
is held to be worth about $16 and to get the value of a pearl of two
;

carats we multiply two by two, and the product by $16, and we get $64.
In the same way the value of a pearl of three carats would be $144, and
so on for any weight we happen to have.
" One of the favorite fishing-grounds for pearls is at Bahrein, on the
Persian Gulf. The divers bring in the oysters from the fishing-banks in
the gulf, and pile them on the shore in great heaps. Here they lie till

they are rotted ; and the stench that arises is enough to turn any inexpe-
rienced stomach. When the substance of the oyster is quite decomposed.
274 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IX THE FAR EAST.

the shells are opened, and the mass of matter they contain is thrown into
tubs and washed with water. It is necessary to pass tiie pulp very care-
fully through the fingers for fear that some of the and pearls will be lost,
consequently the washing is very slow. When
beyond a certain
a pearl
size is found, the washer receives a handsome present but below the reg- ;

ulation figure he gets nothing but his daily wages. Large pearls are very
rare, and consequently tlie chances that a pearl-washer will make a fortune
by a lucky find are exceedingly small.
" There is a belief quite current through the East that the pearl is

a drop of rain-water which has fallen into the

shell of the oyster when he was at the surface,

and been afterwards hardened. This is a pretty

bit of sentiment; but as tiie oyster never goes
to the surface unless he is carried there, the story
does not have much foundation to rest upon."
" If the pearl is so valuable, and so difficult

to get, I should think there would be men who

would try to imitate it," Frank remarked.
"You are quite right," was the reply; "and
men have tried a great many times to make false
pearls."
" Have they succeeded ?"

"Partially; but not altogether. No counter-

feit pearl has yet been made that could pass all
the tests of the genuine ; but their lustre is quite
equal, sometimes, to the best pearls of Ceylon,
and they can be made to deceive an^'body but an
expert."
" How do they make them ?"

" The best of the false pearls," said the cap-

PEllSIAN GOLF DIVER.

tain, " are made by what is known as Jaquin's
process.
" M. Jaquin was a manufacturer of beads in France, and he spent a
great deal of time and money in trying to make his beads better than any
other man's. One day he was walking in his garden, and observed a re-
markable silvery lustre on some water in a basin. It instantly occurred
to him that if he could put that lustre on his beads, he would have some-
thing decidedly new.
" So he called his old servant, and asked what had been in the water.
She answered that it was nothing but some little fish called ahlettes, tliat
 MANUFACTURE OF FALSE PEARLS. 275

.^, , had been crushed in the basin, and

*---*-
she had neglected to throw the wa-
—— ter out.
" M. Jaquin was very glad, for once,
that she had neglected her duty. He
began experimenting with the scales of
the ablette, or bleak, a little fish about the
size of a sardine, and very abundant in
certain parts of Europe. After several
trials he adopted the plan of washing the
scales several times in water, and saving
the sediment that gathered at the bottom
of the basin. This was about the consist-
ency of and had the lustre he desired.
oil,

M. JAQUINS EXPEBIMENT. Next, he blew some beads of very thin

glass, and after coating the inside of a bead
with this substance, he filled it up with wax, so as to give it solidity.
27G THE BOY TEAVELLEKS IX THE ]-'AK EAST.

Thus tlie lish-scales gave the histre, the glass gave tlie polish and brill-
iancy that wo find on the genuine pearl, and the wax furnished a solid

THE BLKAK.

backing to the thin glass. This is the process of making false pearls;
and it is fortunate that the bleak is very abundant, or he would run the
risk of extermination.
" Is the manufacture of false pearls so great as that ?" Fred inquired.
" It is pretty extensive," was the captain's response, " but not enor-
mously so. The fact is, it requires more than a thousand of these little

fish to make an ounce of the essence d'orient,' as the French call

'
it, or
essence of pearl. Other substances have been hope of ob-
tried, in the
taining the same result for a smaller outlay, but none of them have been
entirely successful. There is —
The conversation was interrupted at this moment by a call from the
Doctor, who was sitting
near the rail, and happen-
ed to be looking at the
sea. The rest of the par-

.\^ ty rushed to his side, and

their eyes followed the
direction indicated by his
finger.
The object that at-
TUU DOCTOR S DISCOVERY tracted his attention was
an enormous turtle not
more than ten yards away. He appeared to be asleep, as he was lying
 PECULIARITIES OF SEA-TURTLES. 277

perfectlystill, and did not seem aware that a ship was near him. Sud-
denly he roused himself, and raised his head an instant above the sur-
face to take a survey of the situation. Evidently he scented danger, as
he lost no time in diving below, where the ship was not likely to follow
him.
Pearls were dropped from the conversation, and turtles took their
place. As the turtle is a product of the sea, the subject was not likely
to be an unknown one to Captain Johnson.
" There are several varieties of the marine turtle," said the captain,
"and more of the land-turtle, or tortoise; as we are at sea, and engaged
on matters connected with salt-water, we will leave the occupant of the
land quite out of consideration. His marine brother has fins instead of
feet, and he rarely goes on shore except in the breeding-season Some .

of the sea-turtles live entirely on vegetable food, while others devour

shell-fish and other living things the flesh of the vegetable-feeders is
;

delicious, while that of the animal-feeders is not. They grow to a great

size when compared with the land-turtle: the green turtle that makes
such excellent soup is frequently five feet long, and weighs five or six
hundred pounds; and the loggerhead - turtle sometimes reaches a weight
of one thousand five hundred pounds and more."
" Enough to feed a great many people," Frank remarked.
" Unfortunately," the captain continued, " a great many people would
not eat his flesh. The green-turtle feeds on sea-weed, and is very choice
about what he eats, and therefore his flesh is highly esteemed. The log-
gerhead-turtle is much more common than the green one, but he eats
shell-fish of all the sorts he can crush in his powerful jaws. The flesh
of the young turtles of this variety is sometimes eaten, but the old ones
are so tough and musky that a man must needs be very hungry to be
able to eat them. Even their eggs are too strong of musk to be edible,
and the shell is of little value; about the only use that can be made of the
loggerhead-turtle is to try out the large quantities of oil that he contains.
"The flesh of the turtle you just saw is not of much consequence, for
the same reason. He is more valuable for his shell, which forms the tur-
tle, or tortoise, shell of commerce."
we saw a great deal of shell at Na-
" I remember," said Fred, " that

gasaki, in Japan, thathad been wrought into many beautiful forms. The
Japanese are very skilful in this kind of work, and so are the Chinese."
" You will see more tortoise-shell," was the reply, " when you get to

Singapore. A great deal of the shell comes there for a market from all
parts of the Eastern Archipelago."
 278 THE BOY TRAVJiLLKRS IN THE FAR EAST.

Frank asked how the turtle was caught, when he spent

so miicn time
in the water, and was so far awaj from land.
" He is caught," said the captain, " in two
or three ways. He sleeps
on the surface of the water, and, when thus oflf his guard,
he can be easily
approached. A boat steals quietly up to him, and,
before he is aware
what is happening, he is a prisoner.
" Turtles are captured at night, when they
go on shore to lay their
eggs. Tliey generally select a moonlight night for this
purpose, and a
smooth sandy beach they dig ;

holes in the sand, where they de-

posit their eggs, and leave them
to be hatched by the heat of the
s=%=^ aun "When they are on shore
jurpose, the hunters come

THE TURTLE AT HOME.

upon them ; the turtle cannot move rapidly on the sand, and is easily
overtaken. The hunters turn the poor turtles on their backs, and then
leave them till the next day, when they come and remove them."
" I have heard," said one of the boys, " that when a turtle is placed on
his back he cannot turn over and put himself right side up."
" That is quite correct, and a knowledge of this peculiarity is of o-reat
assistance to the turtle-hunters. But there is another way of catchino- the
turtle that will strike you as tJie most curious of all."
 FISHING WITH THE KEMORA. 2T9

"What is that?"
" It is by fishing with the RemoraP
" And what is the reinora ?"
" It is a fish found in tropical waters, both and West In-
in tlie East
dies. Its popular name is'
the sucking-fish,' and it is so called on ac-
count of a disk on its head, by which it can attach itself to a smooth
surface, like the side of a shark, a ship, or the shell of a turtle. The disk
is very much like the soft leather '
suckers ' made by school-boys, and
when the fish has attached himself, you can pull him to pieces rather than
induce him to release his hold.
"The turtle -hunters go out in a boat and carry several of these
fislies in a tab. When they see a turtle they get as near to him as
they can, and send a sucker after him. Tlie fish is held by a ring on
his tail, he swims towards the turtle and fastens
attaclied to a stout cord ;

on his shell, and then the fish and turtle are hauled in together. In the
air the remora loosens his hold, and is dropped back into tlie tub, to wait
till he is wanted again."

The boj'S laughed at this comical way of fishing. Fred wondered if

the remora was able to understand the joke, and comprehend the value
of his services to mankind. Frank said he would like to know what the
turtles thought of the business, and whether they had uny respect for a
parasite that came uninvited and caused them to be captured.

TURTr.K-IIUNTIN-^
280 THE BOY TRAVELLEUS IN THE FAU EAST.

CHAPTER XXI.
INCIDENTS OF A SEA-VOYAGE.—SINGAPORE.

''P^HE voyage from Bangkok to Singapore was without any features of

-'- special interest. The Gulf of Siarn presented its accustomed calm-
ness, and at times the air was so still that there was not wind enough for
proper ventilation of the ship. Our friends slept on deck, as the cabin
was altogether too hot for comfort they only went below to dress and
;

take their meals and baths, and to escape from the showers tliat were of
daily occurrence. In the daytime, when the heavy sprinklings came on,
the boys indulged in baths of the kind they enjoyed on the Danube,
and they were generally pleased at the announcement of an approaching
shower. But at niglit, when tiiey were comfortably sleeping, they did not
relish a rude awakening, accompanied with the suggestion that they liad
better go below till the rain was over. The change from the cool deck
to the stifling cabin was the reverse of enjoyable; Fred remarked that
the only good thing about it was that it made them appreciate the deck
all the more when the rain was over, and they could come again to the

open air.

About from Singapore they saw an overturned boat, and

thirty miles
as they neared two natives were perceived clinging to the wreck. A
it

boat was lowered and sent to rescue them, and in a short time the poor
fellows were safe on the steamer's deck. They said their craft was upset
by a squall on the previous evening, and for twenty hours they had been
holding on, with nothing to eat or drink, under the broiling heat of a
tropical sun. They were nearly exhausted with hunger and thirst, and
would have fallen ofE and died in a few hours if they had not been res-
cued. Frank was the first to discover the overturned boat, and was nat-
urally proud of having been in some way the means of saving these un-
happy Malays from death. He wanted to talk with the men, and hear
their story but as their knowledge of English was no better than his of
;

Malay, he was compelled to abandon the idea.

Tlie occurrence called to the Doctor's recollection an incident of his
 OVERTURNED IN A SQUALL. 281

first experience of the sea,when he was spending the summer at a

small seaport town. He was fond of fishing, and hardly a day passed
that he did not go out on the Atlantic in pursuit of his favorite sport.
" One afternoon," said he, " there were a dozen or more boats outside,
when a sudden squall came up that caused us to seek the harbor as fast
as possible. Every one steered for home, and most of us reached the
entrance of the port before the fury of the squall broke upon us. The
rain was so thick that we could not see a quarter of a mile off ; we could
not tell whether any of the boats were capsized or not and if it had not ;

been that a great rock just by the entrance loomed up, and made a fine
landmark, we could not have found our way inside. One after another
the boats came in, with the exception of one that had ventured farther
than the rest, and was a good distance off the coast when the squall
came up.
" It was no use going to look for her that afternoon, as the squall con-
tinued till after dark, and raised quite a sea outside. There were only
two persons on board the boat they were a gentleman and his wife, wlio
;

had come from the city to spend the summer, and had hired the boat for
their own use and pleasure. The gentleman understood the management
of his craft in fine weather, but nobody could say if he knew how to con-
trol it in a squall. So we passed the night very anxiously, and, as soon as
the morning light permitted, several of us went out to search for the miss-
ing ones.
"Nothing could be seen. We sailed up and down along the coast,
and out on the water for several miles, but all to no purpose. With
heavy hearts we returned to port, and concluded that it was idle to hope
that the missing persons whom we sought would ever be heard of again.
"In the afternoon I went with a young boatman in a skiff to try for
fish a little way outside the rock that formed the headland I mentioned.

Wliile I was fishing, the boatman was looking around, and suddenly dis-
covered a mass of something on the beach.
" Perhaps it may be the wreck of the missing boat,' I remarked.
'

'
Let us go and see.'
"We started on the instant. As we approached the beach I could
see something like a human form, and told the man to pull with all his
might. He and the instant the boat grounded on the sand, he
did so ;

sprung ashore and drew a flask from his pocket. In half a minute he
was supporting the lifeless form of a woman, and holding the flask to
her lips.
" We could hardly tell at first whether she was alive or not. In a
282 THE BOV TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

little while the draught from the flask revived her, but it was some time

before she was able to speak. Wewrapped her in our spare clothing,
and carried her to the boat ; and then we rowed home as fast as we could,
so as to call in the aid of the doctor.

^iii.

ON A FRAII. HAFT.

" Nothing could be seen to show what had become of the man. "When
when the squall struck the boat it was
the lady recovered, she told us that
instantly capsized they managed to make a sort of raft out of the sail
;

and mast, but it was only sufficient to support her alone. Her husband
 SAVED FROM A WRECK. 283

THE UKSCUE.

remained in the water, clinging to the raft and swimming, while she was
in a half-fainting condition all through the
night. She remembered how
the waves rolled around them, how the moon rose
up out of the waters,
and how the birds flew near them, as if wondering what they were.
Then
entrance of the harbor,
she thought she could see the great rock at the
and then — she remembered notliing more till we rescued her on the

beach where the waves had washed her.

"What became of her husband we never ascertained ;
but undoubtedly
281 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST.

lie was weak from exhaustion, and was unable to cling to the raft till it
reached the shore. He probably loosened his hold, and sunk in the sea
about the time his wife thought she discovered the rock.
"The lady remained in the villagetill she was able to return to her

friends in the city. She never came back to that place; and the accident
cast a gloom over the visitors, from which they did not recover for the
rest of the season."
As they neared the Straits of Malacca, the steamer passed great masses
of a yellowish plant floating on tiie water. It bore an abundance of ber-
ries of the same general color as the plant, and they glistened brightly in
sunshine as they lay close to the surface. The Doctor told tlie boys that
this plant was identical with one that grows in the Caribbean Sea, and is

borne northward in great quantities by the current of the Gulf Stream.

On the Atlantic it is known as "gulf-weed;" it grows only in tropical

GULF-WEED.
 THE STRAITS OF MALACCA. 285

regions, and the berries upon the plant are hollow, and serve as so many
air-bladders to keep the plant afloat.
As the}' neared Singapore, they came in sight of some rocky islands,
round which the sea-birds were flying in dense masses. Then other and
larger islands, covered with verdure, rose above the horizon to the south-
ward; and, finally, the coast of Malacca and the shores of the Island of
Singapore filled the background of the picture before them. Palm-trees

HAUNTS OF THE SEA-BIRDS.

waved in the breeze, and, if there had been nothing else to indicate it,

these trees alone would have told the travellers they were well down in
the tropics.
The activity of commerce through the Straits of Malacca, and thence
onwards to the Farther East, was indicated as our friends approached Sin-
gapore. Within a few miles of that port, they met a steamer bound for
China while ahead of them was the smoke of another that had just come
;

from that distant land. As they entered the harbor they met a steamer
heading southward for Java; and as they dropped anchor they saw an-
other coming in just behind them. It was the French Mail Packet from
Europe, which would halt a day at Singapore, and then continue her voy-
age to Hong-kong and Shanghai.
The Doctor had made a close calculation concerning their movements,
as the French steamer that arrived almost simultaneously with them was
the bearer of a dozen letters for the wandering trio. So regular is the
mail -service to the Far East, that a traveller who takes the trouble to
study the time-tables and arrange his route beforehand, can have his let-
ters reachhim at any designated point.
The harbor presented a picture of animation as they came to anchor.
Ships and boats w^ere sailing in and out; steam-tugs were puffing noisily
2SG THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

IX THE HARBOR.

around ; and, as they swung to their moorings, the official boat of tlie

quarantine-officer passed them on its way to the French packet. Very

soon the steamer was surrounded by a group of native boats, and a lively
In the
bargaining began for the ti-ansportation of the party to the shore.
Far East the steamers have no concern with the passenger beyond carry-
ing him from port to port he must land and embark at his own expense,
;

and very often the boatmen have things pretty much in their own waj-.
In Japan and China they are regulated and restrained b}' law but in ;

Singapore and some other Eastern ports they do pretty much as they
please.
Frank said that the rapacity of the boatmen of Singapore reminded
hi in of the hackmen of New York; and he began to feel that he was not
so farfrom home after all. It required half an hour of negotiation to
make an arrangement that was at all reasonable, as the boatmen had evi-
dently formed an association for mutual advantage ; and all efforts that
the Doctor made to rouse them were of no use. It was
to competition
finally settled that for a dollar each our friends were to be carried to
the shore, and their baggage taken to the hotel, which was not more than
a hundred yards from the landing-place.
 A QUESTION OF TIME. 287

The hotel was a large structure of one story in height, with broad
verandas, where one could sit and enjoy tlie breeze that generally blows
in the afternoon. Singapore is only one degree and twenty minutes

north of the equator —eighty miles—and consequently any one who goes
there must expect to find a climate of a most tropical character. Longi-
tudinally it is almost exactly on the opposite side of the earth from New
York ; and this fact gave rise to some interesting comments by Fred and
Frank.
" It is sunset now," said Frank, as they went on shore, " and it is sun-
rise in New York."
" Yes," answered Fred ;
" and about the time we are going to bed our
friends will be finishing breakfast."
" While we are taking our noonday rest to-morrow they will be sleep-
ing soundly, as it will be midnight with them."
" One question occurs to me," said Frank " ; it is sunset in Singapore,
and it is morning witli our friends at home. Now I want to know if it

is this morning, or to-morrow morning with them ?"

Fred could not tell, and so the matter was referred to the Doctor as
soon as he was at leisure.
"The scientific explanation of the subject," said Doctor Bronson as

BOATMEN XT SINGAPORE.

he dropped into a chair, " is too long for us to take up in detail. The
earth moves on its axis, so that the sun rises, or appears to rise, in the
288 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST.

east, and to set in the west. An easterly place gets the sun earlier than a
westerly one, and consequently its day begins earlier. For instance, the
sun rises in New York an hour and five minutes earlier than it rises in
St. Louis; and, tiierefore, when it is noon in New York, it is only five
minutes of eleven in the forenoon at St. Louis by New York time. For
nautical purposes most nations take the time of Greenwich, near London,
as the basis of calculation ; and consequently the time of anj' given place
is said to be earlier or later than that of Greenwich, according as the
place is east or west of that city. The hour of Singapore is seven hours
earlier than that of Greenwich, as it gets the sun in the east seven hours
before Greenwich ; New York gets it five hours later than Greenwich
four hours and fifty-six minutes is the exact difference ; and when it is

noon in New York, it is five o'clock in the afternoon at Greenwich.

"We had sunrise in Singapore twelve hours before our friends had
it home; so that, when our day is ending, theirs is jnst beginning. I
at
will show you, in a practical way, the difference in time between New
York and Singapore. I am about to send a cablegram announcing our
arrival, and it may possibly get to New York ahead of the time of its de-
parture from here."
The Doctor and the boys went to the telegraph-office, and sent a de-
spatch to let theirknow of their safe arrival from Siam. As the
friends
tollswere at the rate of two dollars and forty cents a word, they confined
the message to a single word in addition to the address. Previous to
leaving home the Doctor had arranged a code or cipher, by which one
word could convey a great deal of information. Persons who have occa-
sion to use the Atlantic or other telegraph cables to any extent make use
of private codes, and thereby save a great deal of expense. They subse-
quently learned that their message went from Singapore to New York
in nine hours, and therefore reached its destination three hours befoi-e
they sent it.

The wind, which had been blowing hard during the afternoon, fell off
soon after sunset, and the boys found that the nights of Singapore were
as warm as those of Bangkok. The arrangement of the rooms indicated
that Singapore was anything but a cool place ; but, on the whole, it was
not disagreeable, as the cool breeze in the afternoon was quite refreshing,
and made the atmosphere clear and pure.
Our friends slept well on their first night in Singapore, and were up
in good season in the morning to begin their round of sight-seeing. The
Doctor had some business to transact at a banking-liouse in the cit}', and

so it was arranged that they would devote the time between breakfast
 CHINESE IN SINGAPORE. 289

and business hours in a stroll along the esplanade and through the native
part of the place.
The boys were somewhat surprised at the many races and tribes of
men they encountered in their morning walk. They met scores on scores
of Chinese; and they were not ten yards from the door of the hotel be-
fore they were accosted by a Chinese contractor, who was ready to under-
take to show them the place, furnish them with a carriage, buy or sell

whatever they wanted, from a needle up to a steamship, or provide them

with servants, tailors, or any other kind of assistance they might need
during their stay. He was lightly clad, in consequence of the heat of
Singapore, and he carried a fan which
he kept in constant motion while pro-
posing his services. Singapore is said
to contain from eighty to one hundred
thousand Chinese, and they are found
in all classes of business. There are Chi-
nese tailors and shoemakers, Chinese ped-
dlersand merchants, Chinese book-keep-
ers and managers for the large estab-
lishments where trade is conducted by
wholesale, Chinese servants of both sex-
es and all ages, and Chinese of all kinds
in addition to the foregoing. The in-

dustry of the race is marked at Sin-

as
gapore as in Canton or San Francisco
and though always desirous of large prof-
its, if they can be obtained, they will put

u\) with very small compensation when CHINESE COXTRACTOR.

a large one is not to be had.
The door of a tailor's shop stood open, and our friends gave a glance
at its interior. The arrangements were very
simple. There was a long
table covered with a straw mat, on which the material was placed to be
cut, and behind this table several men were at work. Frank made a note
of the fact that a Chinese tailor makes his stitches by pushing the needle
from instead of towards him, and that in Singapore, at least, they do not
cover their own bodies to any extent while making clothing for other
people. The heads of these tailoring establishments are very industrious
in looking for customers, and there was hardly an hour in the day that
our friends were not accosted with proposals to make clothing for them
at astonishingly low rates. Singapore is a free port, and the great com-
19
290 THE BOY TRAVELLEKS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHINESIi TAILORS AT SINGAPORE.

petition in trade has brought the prices down to the lowest figure. For
eight dollars each they were accommodated with entire suits of blue
serge of good quality and when the Doctor expressed some hesitation at
;

giving the order, through fear that the cutting and fit might be at fault,

the tailor promptly said, " No fitee, no payee." The measures were taken,
and on the following morning the clothes were delivered, and found en-
tirely satisfactory.
The Chinese are more numerous at Singapore than any other race.
Next to them come the Malays, of whom there are several varieties
they are as devoid of clothing as the Chinese workmen, the entire gar-
ments of many of them consisting of a cloth around the loins. Some
of them wear turbans, and occasionally the turban seems larger than the
man, as it consists of several yards of muslin wound loosely around the
head, till it forms a great ball. The body of the wearer will be small,
and without an ounce of extra fiesh and Fred remarked that it seemed
;

as though the turban would tip the man over, and compel him to walk
on his head.
In their walk the boys saw a group of wild-looking men with woolly
hair, and with skins as dark as those of tlie African negroes, but without
 ABORIGINALS OF JOHORE. 291

the thick lips which are supposed to indicate the negro race. The Doc-
tor was unable to tell the name of this people, and the question was re-
ferred to an Englishman whom they happened to meet.
" You mean those people over there ?" said the Englishman, as he

pointed with his linger to the group our friends had been observing.
The Doctor assented.
" Oh ! they are Jacoons," was tlie reply. " They come from the prov-
ince of Johore."
Further questioning elicited the information that the Jacoons were a
primitive race of men who lived in the forests of Johore, and are popu-
larly supposed to dwell in and to subsist on fruits and nuts. Jo-
trees,

hore is a province on the main-land of the Malay peninsula, and separated

from the island of Singapore by a narrow strait of water. The chief of
this province is a man of superior intelligence, and lives on friendly terms
with his English neighbors. Since the English settled at Singapore, he
has established saw -mills, and made a handsome revenue from the sale
of lumber; and he has opened
up his territory to settlement
by Chinese and other agricultu-
rists. The Jacoons are supposed
to be the original inhabitants;
they have as little as possible to
do with the Malays, and are quite
distinct from them in language
and features. They are a peace-
ful people with few wants, and,
as the country produces abun-
dantly, they have little occasion
to wear themselves out with
hard work.
Walking about the streets, oi

sitting in the shade of the nu

merous trees, were a few Parsees
with their rimless hats, and weai
ing garments that were moie
than half European in pattern.
They are called sometimes the
Jews of the East, from their re-
markable shrewdness in business,
and their steadj' progress in the A GROtrp OF JACOONS.
292 THK BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

direction of wealth ; they are said to be able to accumulate money under

very discouraging circumstances, and it has been remarked that a Parsee
will grow rich where any other man in the world would starve. Some
branches of trade in the East are almost monopolized by the Parsees. A
single Parsee house has more than half of the Chinese opium trade in its

hands, and has grown enormously rich, while its competitors have lost
money. Like the Jews, to whom they are sometimes compared, the Par-
sees have no country they can call their own. They came originally from
Persia, and settled in the North of India, where the most of them are to
be found to-day.
There were Klings, or men from the South of India, waiting for work

ggiiisEI|feffl|
-J;.rii.,ftii.'nihfl,;ilimi]]~i!!?^
^J
-^^ "^i-. ^--M^ ^
^iJi:Iirt«if i*

'
^'~j^i'
'^^f*^

OARKI WITH A LOAD OF SAILORS.

on the corners, or offering their garris, or carriages, for the use of our
friends. Most of the carriages for hire in Singapore are driven
by these
Klings, who are a lithe race, with great powers of endurance, and equally
great powers of rascality. A garri is a four-wheeled vehicle drawn by a
single horse some of the garris have seats for the driver, while others
:

have no place for him, but leave him to walk or run hj the side of his beast.
The horse is as small in proportion as the man, and the boys were greatly
amused to see one of these vehicles with a party of sailors who had just
come on shore from an English ship. Tliree of them were inside, while
 A MIXED POPULATION IN SINGAPORE. 293

one was stretched along the roof of the garri, which he more tlian cov-
ered. They were evidently enjoying themselves, and the driver had his
nose in tlie air, and was doubtless counting up the profits of his day's
work, and feeling happy over the result.

The boys were surprised to learn that, while there was a population of
more than a hundred tiiousand Chinese, Malays, Klings, and otlier Ori-
entals at Singapore, there were not more than a thousand Europeans liv-
ing there, exclusive of the English garrison. Of these Europeans the
English were the most numerous ; the rest were Germans, French, Portu-
guese, Dutch, and Italians, in the order named, and it was said that the

Germans were increasing more rapidly than the English, and threatened
to have all the business of the place in their hands in course of time.
While our friends were discussing the peculiarities of the population
of Singapore, their walk brought them to " The Square," as the commer-
cial centre is called ; and, as the hours of business had arrived, the Doctor
proceeded to attend to his financial affairs, and learn, in a practical way,
the mysteries of banking at the capital city of the Straits of Malacca.

! UI.I, DRESS AT THE STRAITS.

294 THE BOY TRAVELLEKS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTER XXII.
SIGHTS AND SCENES IN SINGAPORE.

T^HE incidents of the first day in Singapore were well described by

-*- Frank and Fred in the letter they wrote in the evening, to make
sure that nothing would bo forgotten. The labor of writing was divided
between them Frank describing one part of what they saw, and leaving
;

the rest for Fred. As their time was pressing, the Doctor " gave them a
lift," as Fred expressed it, and added something relative to the commerce

of the straits, and the importance of Singapore as a place of trade.

Here is the joint letter. Frank said that if two heads were better
than one, three heads must be better than two. Fred added that when

lions;'
"
********
one of the three was the Doctor's head, he thought it would be difficult
for any letter to go ahead of theirs.

We have had a busy day

and probably it is
at Singapore. Singapore means ' place of
so called because there are no lions here. It
stands on an island about twenty miles long and six or eight wide, and
is separated from the main-land by a narrow strait. On the main-land
there are plenty of tigers, and they sometimes swim over to the island in
search of food. Formerly they killed an average of one man a day ; but
of late years they have not done so well. They are becoming more and
more scarce every year, as they have been hunted down till there are not
many them left.
of
" We
had a stroll through the town this morning, and then we went
to a banking-house to draw some money. The banker gave us a check on
one of the large establishments, and we went there expecting to find an
Englishman in charge. We looked around as we entered the door, and
not an Englishman or other European was to be seen !

—
"All the employes of the bank were Chinese at least as far as we
could ascertain. A Chinese paying-teller took the check, and passed it
to a Chinese book-keeper, who sat in a little box at the end of tlie coun-
ter. He examined the check, and stamped it after making an entry in a
 THE CHINESE AS MEN OF BUSINESS. 295

book and then he returned it to the teller, who counted out the money
;

and gave it to us without saying a word. There were piles of silver and
bank-notes in sight, and all in charge of Chinese. We looked into an-
other bank, where the same arrangement existed and we went into a
;

business-liouse where there were at least a dozen Chinese clerks to one

European.
" The business of Singapore is centred around what is called The
Square, and in a walk of ten minutes you can pass by the most of the
large houses for banking and commei-ce. Here they have also the con-
sulates and the telegraph and steamship offices and all these establish- ;

ments imitate the example of the banks in employing Chinese clerks and
compradors. On the whole, it seems to us that there is very little busi-
ness of any kind at Singapore that the Chinese have not something to do
with.
" The Chinese seemto be crowding the Europeans out of everything
and there no branch of business that they are not perfectly familiar
is

with. They might send all the English and other foreigners away some
pleasant morning, take Singapore into their own hands, and run it just
as well as it is run now.
" After we had finished our business with the bank, we took a garri
for a drive to the outside of the city.
" There is a famous garden here, belonging to a wealthy Chinese mer-
chant : it is said to be one of the finest gardens in the world, and must
have cost a great deal of money. No visitor to Singapore should omit
it, even if he has not moi-e than a few hours on land.
" In the first place, Singapore is so near the equator that every kind
of tropical tree and plant can grow here
in the open air. The mercury
shows an average, all the year round, of eighty-five to ninety-five degrees
in the shade and there is hardly any difference between summer and
;

winter. Consequently it is one of the best places, perhaps tlie best place,
for making a handsome garden, and the enterprising proprietor has kept
this fact in mind. Where he is sure the thermometer will never fall be-
low seventy-one degrees, he can grow anything he pleases.
" Such a lot of tropical things you never saw, and hardly ever dreamed

of. There were rows on rows of beautiful palms and bamboos, and other
things that only grow in the hot regions and there was a pond with an
;

—
enormous Victoria regia the great water-lily that makes ours seem al-
most like a microscopic object.
" There are said to be more than eighty varieties of the palm and if ;

there is not a sample of each of these varieties in this garden, I am greatly

296 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

j!!ii:ii!iiiliililiiiiiiiiiii:iii!iiiiN iiiiiiiiiiii:ii:::lr
 A TROPICAL GARDEN. 297

mistaken. The garden covers a great deal of ground, and has been made
with much care and taste. Tiie owner is and always
very proud of it,

pleased to have strangers go there and admire it. The keeper, and the
men nnder his orders, are very civil and evidently the owner has told
;

them that if they are not polite to strangers they will be sent away, and
people of better manners put in their places.
" The garden contains a collection of tropical animals, but it is not

MATERNAL CAKK

very large. There was an orang-outatig, or gorilla, there, and it was won-
derfully like a man in its shape and appearance. It was said to have
come from Borneo ;and, if so, it was not a gorilla, but an orang-outang, as
the gorilla is a native of Africa, and not of the Eastern Archipelago.
"We were much amused at the comical appearance of a couple of
298 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

chimpanzees. They were mother and child, and the mother was gravely
occupied in arranging the hair of the youngster. He stared at us with
his great round eyes; but she did not look up at all, as she was too much
engaged with making the young fellow look well. We had a fine oppor-

tunity to see the formation of the feet of this variety of monkey ; they
have thumbs on the hind feet as well as on the forward ones, and as j'ou

look at them you can easily understand the readiness with which these
animals can climb trees and swing from the limbs.
" The chimpanzees are said to show a great deal of fondness for each
other. There is a story that two of them were once kept in the same
cage, and one happened to take sick and die. The other was so affected
by grief at the loss of its companion, that it refused all food for more
than a week, and was finally forced to take something down its throat
when so weak that it could hardly stand. It recovered very slowly, and
never seemed to forget the absence of its old friend.
" There is another garden at Singapore which is the property of the
city ; it contains more animals than the private one, and fewer trees. We
went and had a pleasant half-hour among the curiosities it contains.
to it,

The garden is an excellent thing to show strangers what the tropics can
produce in the way and for this reason we were
of animals and birds,
much and sorry when the time came to leave.
interested in it,

" The drive that we took led us among the forests of cocoa and other
palm-trees that extend all over the island, except where clearings have
been made. A large part of the land has been put under cultivation by
the Chinese settlers, and they have some very pretty farms and gardens,
in which they produce all the vegetables that are consumed at Singapore.

UUKAI, SCliNK IN SINGAl'OKK.

 VAUIETIES OF TROPICAL FRUITS. 299

" Several kinds of spices grow on the island, and there are some plan-
tations where pepper is cultivated. They raise considerable sugar-cane,
but most of it is used for preserves, and is not converted into the sugar
of commerce. Then tliere are lots of cocoa-nuts grown on the island, and
there are many varieties of fruits.
"When we walked through the town in the morning we saw groups
of natives selling fruit, and we
afterwards saw some of these > AjajggiaBEll|[. i i
j ifci^M'lV*'
''

fruits growing on the trees.

They comprised duriaus, pome-
granates, pineapples, custard-ap-
ples, mangoes, bananas, and plan-
tains; and we were told that
there are more than twenty va-
rieties of the plantain alone.
" The pineapple needs no
description, as you have it at
home; the custard-apple is about
the size of an ordinary apple,
and has a soft pulp surrounding
the seeds. The best way to eat
it is to scoop out the contents
with a spoon, and it is this way
of eating more than the taste
that has given it its name. But
the durian is the largest and
funniest of all these tropical
fruits.
" The durian is like a small
pumpkin, with a rough skin so
hard and thick that the birds FRUIT-SELLEKS AT SINGArOKE.

cannot make much impression

on it. The seeds are nearly as large as chestnuts, and each seed is sur-

rounded by a soft pulp, just as the stone of a peach is embedded in the

body of the fruit. People who grow very fond of it, but trav-
live here

ellers do not learn to like it until they have made a good many attempts.
It is not the taste that repels them, but the smell, and this is something
atrocious.
"We have tried to eat it, but could not do so even by holding our
noses, for the disagreeable odor would rise in spite of all precautions we
300 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

could take. We are told that the best way is to have the servants cut it

up aTid put the pieces in milk, and by taking them out of the milk and
swallowing quickly the smell is avoided. Perhaps this might work; but
a better plan would be to have the servants eat the stuff up when it was
properly prepared, and let you hear nothing more about it.

" All the merchants who can afford the expense of a bungalow, or pri-
vate residence outside the city limits, are sure to indulge in it. The con-
sequence is that there are many of these residences; and as they always
have plenty of ground around them, and an abundance of shade trees, the
bungalows make a very pretty picture, or a succession of pictures. The
bungalow has wide verandas and overhanging eaves, and as nobody wants
to climb stairways where the heat is as great as in Singapore, you rarely
find a dwelling of more than one story. Then these merchants have car-
riages of their own, and do not depend on the garries and in the evening ;

A IICNGALOW.

their carriages driving along the esplanade road make a fine appearance.
The rich Chinese endeavor to live after the manner of the Europeans;
they have their bungalows and their carriages, and some of the finest of
the latter that we have seen were the property of Chinese merchants.
Their passion for fine gardens is greater than that of the Europeans, and
several of the bungalows have a very costly surrounding of grounds.
The fine garden we have described is not by any means the only one be-
longing to a Chinese resident of Singapore.
" The horses they use here are from Australia, and whenever a lot ar-
rives b}' a ship they have an auction in the square. They say that some
of the horses turn out well, and increase rapidly in value; while others
seem to be much affected by the climate, and do not last more than a
HORTICULTURE AT THE STRAITS. 301
302 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

year or two. The horses fetch good prices, and the trade of bringing
them from Australia is said to be quite profitable.
" Everywhere we go we see Chinese. They are of all classes, from
highest to lowest, and from honest to dishonest. They are in every kind
of business, and they have their guilds or trade associations just as they
have them in China. They occupy official positions under the govern-
ment, and on several occasions there have been Chinese members of the
Legislative Council of Singapore. Once in awhile there is trouble be-
tween them and the Europeans, arising out of questions of commerce;
but for the most part everything runs along smoothly, and the Chinese
show a perfect readiness to obey the laws, and live as they ought to live.
And speaking of their trades-unions calls to mind an amusing story.
" They carry the principle of trade association into everything and ;

the thieves and gamblers have their guilds and gods like the others.
The guilds have rules and regulations that are very strict and if a man ;

violates them he is liable to be expelled, and driven to seek a living by

honest means. When thieves wish to commit a robbery, they must con-
sult the officers of the guild and get their permission, and they must pay
a certain amount of the profits for the support of the association.
" Sometimes they go in parties of a hundred or more they surround ;

a house and plunder it by and they usually manage it so that the

force,
occupants cannot make any resistance. It is
said that when a house is to be robbed, the
thieves will scatter a narcotic drug about the
rooms that has no effect upon themselves,
but will put a European to sleep. He sleeps
till long after the robbery is finished, and does
not suffer the least injury by inhaling it.

"When a thief enters a house to practise

his profession, he removes his clothes and oils

his body all over. He winds his pig-tail around

his head — having previously stuck it full of
needles. If anybody attempts to grasp his
arm or leg, he slips off like an eel ; and, if he
is seized by the pig-tail, the person who takes
THE GOD OF GAJIIiLliRS.
hold of it is sure to let go in a hurry. Who
shall say that the Chinese thief is not a shrewd operator?
"One of the curious things that we saw was the poultry - market.
Poultry includes a great deal more here than at home: as -we found not
only chickens, ducks, geese, and other familiar things, but a great variety
 SCENES IN THE POULTRY MARKET. 303

of pigeons, quails, pheasants, and other edible birds from the forest. Then
there was an abundance of parrots, lories, cockatoos, and paroquets, besides
other birds whose names we did
not know. Such a screaming
and cackling you never heard in
your life. The heat is so great
at Singapore that everything to
be eaten must be sold alive, as it

would begin to decay in a very

short time after being slaugh-
tered. Most of the chickens
were in coops, or tied together
by the legs; and the same was
the case with the geese and
ducks.
" The parrots, and members
of their family, were generally
secured by strings to little perch-
es,and they kept up an incessant
chattering in the Malay and oth-
er Oriental tongues. One was
ofiEered to us that spoke English MALAY BOY IN THE BIRD-MARKET.
but, as his vocabulary consisted
only of a half-dozen words of profanity, that had been taught to him by
a sailor, we A crowd of men and boys surrounded
declined to purchase.
us with birds in their hands, and on their heads and shoulders all talked ;

at once, and offered their birds at very low prices. We could have bought
paroquets for twenty-iive cents ; large, and white
and a talking-parrot, very
as snow, was ofiEered for six dollars, and could have been had for three.
How they manage to find a market for all the birds they bring to Singa-
pore it is difficult to imagine.
" You may be interested to know how these birds are brought here,
and where they come from. They are from the many islands south of
Singapore that form the Malay Archipelago, and they are brought by the
natives on speculation. When the south-west monsoon begins, a family
starts in its little boat for a voyage of from one to three thousand miles
and the boat is one in which an American would be unwilling to risk a
voyage from New York to Boston. They run along from port to port,
trading a little wherever they can, and ultimately reach Singapore. The
boat has a deck, with a slight awning of woven grass, and is covered with
304 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST,

the family and birds —the latter being numbered sometimes by the hun-
dred. In the hold they have and other products,
shells, feathers, spices,

and they are constantly making exchanges at the places they visit. They
sell their cargoes at Singapore, and buy a lot of cotton-cloth, hardware,
and other things that are in demand where they live, and then go back

as they came. This accounts for the large number of birds exposed for
Bale in the poultry-market, and the low prices they are held at.

hi; AD OF BLACK COCKATOO.

"Among the birds offered to us there was a black cockatoo, with a

splendid head and crest. His bill had a point like a needle, and was
very large and strong. We M-ondered how he could eat, and what he
lived on, as the shape of his bill and his lower jaw seemed the most awk-
ward that one could imagine. We asked his owner to feed the bird, and
 A SNAKY EXPERIENCE. 305

gave hiiu a few cents to show ns liow tlie operation of eating was per-
formed.
"
The man brought a triangular nut which liad a smooth surface, and
was so hard that we could not crack it without a hammer. The bird took
the nut endwise in his bill ; lie held it in place b}' pressing his tongue
against it, and then began sawing across it with liis lower jaw.
" When he had cut a deep notch in this wa}^, he turned the nut a lit-

tle, and used the underjaw as a wedge to break oft the end. Then he
held the nut in one claw, and with the sharp point of his bill he picked
out the kernel and as fast as he brought a bit of it to the light, he seized
;

it with his long tongue. Whether the bird was created for the nnt, or
the nut for the bird, is a question for the naturalists at all events, each ;

seems to be perfectly adapted to the other. The fitness of tlie cockatoo's

beak to the process of opening this hard product of the forest is as exact
as it could be made.
"While we were in the market a man kept endeavoring to attract our
attention to something he had in a large basket we supposed it was a ;

new kind of bird, and went to see it. It proved to be a large snake, and
the man urged us to buy with all the eloquence of which he was capable.
We are not buying snakes just now, and so we left him to find another
customer.
" Snakes are abundant in this part of the world, and there are all the
varieties a man Over on the main -land of Malacca they
could want.
have some very large ones, and you are liable at any time, when walking
in the forest, to come across a huge python swinging across your path.
They cotne into the houses and make themselves at home, and they never
wait for an invitation.
"A gentleman who has spent a good deal of time in this region tells
an interesting story of a visit that a snake made to him.
"One evening, just as he was going to bed, he heard a noise on the
roof overhead, but thought nothing of it. The next day he was lying
down with abook in his hand, just after dinner, and, happening to cast
his eye upwards, he saw something on the thatcli that resembled a lai-ge
tortoise-shell. It was spotted with yellow and black marks; and while
he was wondering M'ho could have put the shell there to dry, he discov-
ered that it was a snake coiled up, and lying asleep.
" The gentleman got up very quickly, and called his servants. As
soon as they learned there was a snake on the roof they were greatly
frightened, and ran out of the house to call some laborers from the plan-
tation. Several men came, and one of them, who was familiar with tiie
306 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST,
 THE PROVINCE OF JOHORE. 307

habits of the snake, proceeded to make a noose of bamboo and slip it over
the reptile's head. He succeeded in this, and dragged the snake from the
roof ; then he took the creature by the tail, and tried to run out of the
house with him.
" The snake coiled around the chairs and posts, and gave the man con-
siderable trouble in ejecting him from the premises. As soon as he had
his prize outside he had a clear field, and soon made an end of the serpent
by dashing his head against a tree. The snake was more than twelve
feet long, and was capable of doing serious damage if he had given his
attention to it. The gentleman was not in a pleasant frame of mind
when he found that he had slept all night with the snake over his head,
and had taken his afternoon nap in the same position.
" We haven't seen any tigers for sale, but there is no doubt we could
find plenty if we wanted theni. What with tigers and snakes and other
things, not to mention the heat and the danger of fever, Singapore and
the surrounding country do not appear desirable as a permanent resi-
dence. Yet there are people who say they like it out here, and are quite
willing to stay. We are not of that mind and nobody who cares to live ;

near the Straits of Malacca need have any fear that we will ever try to
get his place away from him.
"We would like to go over to Johore and see what the main-land is

like, but we haven't time for the journey. There is a fine road across the
island, to where you can take a boat and cross the strait. It is a drive
of about fifteen miles, and is said to be very interesting, as it takes you
through forests of palms, and past plantations of pepper and gambler.
Perhaps you don't know what gambler is? We didn't till we came to
the East.
" It is the dried and refined juice of a plant that grows in Malacca,
and is much used in dyeing and tanning, and also for stiffening silks.

Great quantities of it are shipped from Singapore to Europe, and it forms

an important item in the commerce of the place.
" The Maharajah of Johore is the son of the one from whom, in 1819,
the English bought the island of Singapore. They gave sixty thousand
dollars cash,and pay an annual subsidy of twenty thousand dollars and ;

they have kept on paying it without complaint. As the place is an ex-

cellent market for everything that the region produces, the Maharajah
has become rich, and is on the best of terms with the English he fre- ;

quently visits the governor and is visited by him in return, and Avlien any
person of distinction comes here he is invited to stop as long as he likes
at Johore. The Maharajah is a strict Mohammedan, but he has adopted
308 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

many of the features of European life in his household. He has a French

cook, and iiis dinners are served d la European. When entertaining vis-

itorsfrom England or America, he generally wears a dress-suit after the

European manner; and he has so far overcome the prejudices of his re-
ligion as to invite ladies to his table.
"The currency of Singapore is the dollar, or, to be more explicit, the
Spanish dollar. It is divided into one hundred cents, like our dollar, and
all transactions are reckoned in this currency. But you find all kinds of
money in circulation — English, French, American, Dutch, and Spanish;
and if you want rupees, or any other Eastern currency, you will have no
difficulty in getting The cosmopolitan character of Singapore
it. is very
well illustrated in the many varieties of coin in circulation.
"We have found a new type of mankind here the Eurasian. —
" You will possibly ask, ' What is the Eurasian ?'

" The word is compounded of Europe and Asia,' as you can easily
'
'
'

perceive, and the man who bears that name is of mixed European and
Asiatic blood. The most of them
have adopted the European dress
and manners, and refuse to associate
with the natives, while, on the oth-
er hand, they are not admitted to
European society. Consequently
they are in an unhappy position, as
they are neither the one nor the
other, and there does not appear
to be any recognized place for
them. They have been said to
combine the vices of both their
parent races, with the good quali-
ties of neither ; there are some men
of ability among them, but, on the
whole, the remark has a great deal
of truth in it.
" In Singapore there are many
descendants of the early Portu-
guese settlers of the East ; they
still preserve the Portuguese lan-
guage, and adhere to their religion,
though sometimes they are rather
A NEW TYPE OF MANKIND. weak in both. It is a curious fact
 COMMERCE AT SINGAPORE. 309

that, though they preserve the features of Europe, their skins are fre-
quently darker than those of the natives and the spectacle is not an in-
;

frequent one of a man with Caucasian features, and a complexion black

as a piece of anthracite coal.
" If you wish to i-ealize the importance of Singapore as a place of
trade, you have only to look at a map of the Eastern hemisphere and ob-
It is a convenient commercial point for
serve the position of the city.
China and Japan, for Java and the Malay Archipelago, for Siam, and
even for Australia. Ships going between Europe and the far East rarely
pass Singapore without stopping, and the great lines of steamships have a
large business here. The commerce has steadily increased every year,
and there is no sign that it will decline. Some of the old merchants com-
plain that competition has ruined trade ; they sigh for the return of the
days when they had only one mail a month, and there was no telegraph
to give hourly quotations of the prices of goods in all parts of the world.
In those days business was confined to a few houses, and the chances of
an outsider were slight indeed. Fortunes were sometimes made by a
single venture, and not unfrequently a merchant had exclusive informa-
tion of advances or declines that he could have a whole month to operate
upon, without the least fear that anybody would be able to interfere with
him.
"Profits are smaller to-day, and capital must be turned very often;
the volume of business is far greater than it used to be, and the men who
regret the good old times are forced to accept things as they are."
310 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CROSSING THE EQUATOR.— ADVENTURE WITH MALAY PIRATES.

THERE were several things held in reserve to be seen on the second

day in Singapore. Our friends went to the museum and library,

which are in a large building near the esplanade or park where people
stroll in the afternoon, and not far from tlie road which forms the fash-
ionable drive. The library is an excellent one, and contains a great num-
ber of works on the East ; the Doctor spent an hour or more among the
books, and, while examining their and contents, he came upon a vol-
titles

ume which was written by one of his intimate friends in America. It

was entitled " Overland through Asia," and described a journey that the
author once made across the northern part of the Eastern hemisphere.
There was a fair collection of minerals and other things in the mu-
seum, and the boys were interested in a huge python that lay coiled
ai'ound some rocks in the centre of one of the rooms. The director of
the museum told them that the serpent was kept in a cage in the museum
for some time, but it was finally determined to kill and stuflE him, so that
his appearance could be more readily studied by visitors. The work of
killing was more serious than had been anticipated it was done by ;

means of chloroform, as they did not wish to injure the reptile's skin by
lacerating it.

A
sponge saturated with chloroform was introduced between the bars
of the cage, and held over the head of the python as he lay asleep. In-
stead of being stupefied, he was awakened by it and he indicated most ;

emphatically, by moving head away, that he did not like that kind
his
of treatment. He refused to breathe the narcotic, and it became appar-
ent that some means of compelling him to take it must be adopted.
A noose was passed over his head, and he was drawn forward so that
his nose was at the bars of tiie cage. Then the sponge was again applied,
and he was forced to inhale the chloroform, whether he wanted to or not.
He lashed about from side to side, and sometimes it seemed as though
he would tear the cage to pieces with the violence of his demonstrations.
 KLINGS AND CHINESE. 311

All this time he was breatliing tiie narcotic; but it was nearly an hour
before he was fairly under its influence, and another hour was required
to reduce him to a state of quiet. Even when he had ceased to lash
around so as to threaten injury to the cage, his body was constantly giv-
ing convulsive twitches, and these did not end for several hours. The
gentleman who superintended the operation said that the snake was the
worst patient he ever saw under the influence of chloroform, and the
hardest to manage.
They took another drive into the country, over a road that had been
newly opened. Their way led them near a native village, where the
houses were thickly thiatched with grass and strips of palm-leaf, so as to
keep out the heavy rains that frequently occur. It is said that at Singa-
pore more than half the days of the year are favored with showers, and
the records show that in some years they have had two hundred and odd
rainy days. The rain cools the air, and it is probably owing to the rain
and wind that there are so few cases of fever among the Europeans.
Sometimes the wind develops into a lively squall that sets all light
things in motion and fills the air with clouds of dust. It frequently
happens that the papers on the desk of a merchant will be sent flj'ing
about the room, and possibly out of the window and there are stories of;

valuable documents and notes of the Bank of England being whisked

away, so that their owners never saw them again.
They saw groups of Klings and Chinese along the road and in ;

one instance four of the former were holding a discussion over a basket
of fruit, and making things so lively that the boys thought there Avould
be a light. The Klings do not bear a good reputation among the Eu-
ropeans, and are not on friendly terms with the Chinese. They are
first-class rascals in all their dealings where they can take advantage;
and, if there is no danger of receiving punishment, they are almost cer-
tain to be insolent. On the other hand, they are cringing to their su-
and make the utmost professions of friendship, while ready at
periors,
any moment to indulge in the meanest treachery. The Chinese, with
whatever disagreeable qualities they possess, are much to be preferred to
the Klings.
Frank and Fred were amused at the costumes of the native nurses,
whom they occasionally saw in charge of European children. They were
more noticeable for their comfort in the hot climate of the tropics than
for elegance of design ; and it was evident that the expense of keeping
one of these nurses in clothing was not great. The native children go
quite naked until five or six years of age, and even later and it was ;
312 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

KLINGS AND CHINESB.

not an uncommon sight to see a woman bearing a water-jar, and followed

by a little urchin entirely destitute of clothing, in marked contrast to
the European children, who were dressed after the custom of the country
whence their parents came.
The native women are fond of ornaments in their ears, like the wom-
en of other countries, and a good many
them have their noses pierced
of
and decorated. Anklets and armlets of silver and gold are also worn,
and it is not imusual to see a woman, whose entire clothing has cost
less than a dollar, almost weighted down with jewellery worth a goodly
sum.
They visited the new harbor of Singapore to see the ship on which
they intended leaving the following morning for Java. The new harbor
is known as Tangong Pagar, and has the advantage over the old one of
allowing ships to lie dock instead of anchoring a considerable dis-
at a
tance from shore. The docks are well built, and there are mountains of
coal piled up there to meet the wants of ships. Singapore is an impor-
 STEAMSHIPS BETWEEN SINGAPORE AND JAVA. 313

tant coaling-station for ships in the Eastern trade, and sometimes a dozen
of them may be seen taking coal at Tangong Pagar at the same time.
Our friends were satisfied with tlie appearance of the steamer; and
when they liad completed their inspection they returned to the liotel, and
from there went to the office of the Dutch Steamship Company to en-
gage passage. Every week there is a steamer leaving Singapore for Ba-
tavia. One week it is a French ship, and the next a Dutch one the lat-
;

ter runs in connection with the Peninsular and Oriental line; while the
former belongs to the great company which carries the French mail from
Europe to the East. It happened to be the week of the Dutch ship when
Doctor Bronson and his young companions were at Singapore, and they

NATIVE NnRSES AND CHILDREN.

congratulated themselves that they would have the opportunity of going

on a vessel of a nationality new to them.
Frank and Fred opened their eyes in astonishment when they learned
the price they were to pay for passage to Java.
31i THE BOY TKAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

"Forty-six dollars!" exclaimed Frank; "and for a voyage of forty-

!"
eight hours
" And it is only five hundred miles from Singapore to Batavia," Fred
responded. "How muchdoes it cost to go from New York to England,
and what is the distance?"
The Doctor informed him that it was about three thousand miles
from New York to Liverpool, and the passage was usually a hundred dol-
lars for the best places on the best steamers.

"At the rate from here to Batavia," said Fred, "we should have to
pay two hundred and seventy-live dollars for the transatlantic voyage
where we now pay one hundred dollai's. Why does it cost so much more
here than on the Atlantic ?"
"In the first place," the Doctor explained, " there are comparatively

COALING AT THE DOCK.

few people and the companies are compelled to ask high

travelling liere,
prices in order to keep up their ships. Where a steamer between New
York and Liverpool would have a hundred passengers and more, and con-
sider it only an ordinary business, you will rarely find more than twenty
or thirty passengers on a steamer in the Far East. Coal is much more
expensive here than in the North Atlantic ports, and so is nearlj' everj'-
thing else that is used on a ship. In these hot regions the passengers
need more room than on a transatlantic steamer, and more personal com-
forts generally."
"But don't they ever crowd the passengers rather uncomfortably ?"
Frank asked. "It seems to me that I have heard j'ou speak of a very
 DEPARTURE FOR THE SOUTH. 315

disagreeable voyage you once had on account of the unusual number of

people on the steamer you travelled on."
" You are quite right," the Doctor replied ;
" and it was on this yery
route, from Singapore to Batavia. I
was on the French steamer and the sa^. ^^
;

agents told me there would be plenty

of room, as only a few passengers
were engaged. She had eight rooms,
with two berths to a room, so that her
complement of passengers was sixteen.
But when w^e came to start we found
that we numbered fifty-two; and you
can easily understand that we had a
hard time of it. We were packed
something like sardines in a can, and
all were heartily glad when the vo}'-

age was over. If we could have laid

hold of the Singapore agent of the
company we should have treated him
as I'oughly as the laws of the ocean
permit ; but he had the advantage of
being on shoi-e, and quite out of our
reach."
The trio of travellers rose early
the next morning, as the steamer was
advertised to leave at seven o'clock, CAKRYING COAL <.>N BOARD.
and the dock was a long distance from
the hotel. Their baggage was piled in a small cart drawn by a bul-
lock, and started off some time ahead of them, so as to be at the steamer
before they reached there in the more expeditious garri. When they
had swallowed their morning coffee and came out of the hotel, they
found a group of servants waiting near the door to ask for money, as a
reward for their services. Frank said the only energy the fellows dis-
played during his acquaintance with them was in this final act of beg-
ging it was far from an easy matter to get any service out of them, as
;

their chief occupation was gambling, and they were too much engrossed
in it to pay any attention to common things.
The steamer sailed promptly on her advertised time. During the last
half-hour of their stay at the dock, the passengers were amused by the
antics of a lot of men and boys who dived for money. They were in
31C THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

small boats close to the steamer, and whenever a coin, silver or copper,
was thrown into the water, a dozen of tiie fellows jDlunged over in search
of it. Genei-ally they caught had gone far below the surface,
it before it

and sometimes there would be a struggle between two of the divers for
the possession of a coin. The loser would appeal to the passengers to
throw over a piece whicii could be his special property, and he very often
succeeded in inducing them to do so.

The Doctor told tiie boys that the quarrel over the money was a
clever bit of acting, as the fellows were associated, and the result of the
day's work was divided equally among them. Sometimes they refuse to
dive for copper coins, and will only go over for silver. If any coppers
are thrown they decline to move, and
^^=^:5^^^^ai*«?r„-^ say it is impossible to see copper at
the bottom of the water. Conse-
quently their harvest is in silver;
and if any copper has been dropped,
they dive for it after the shiiD has
gone.
The route of the steamer proved
to be very picturesque. The numer-
ous islands that lie at this part of
the Straits of Malacca were visible
in whatever direction our friends
turned their eyes, and away to the
right was the coast of Sumatra,
thickly clothed in tropical verdure.
The islands were so many, and lay
so irregularly, that the steamer was
SERVANTS ON DUTV.
obliged to change her course every
few hours, and Fred thought before noon that they must have steered
to every point of the compass since they left Singapore.
The sky was clear, and the heat of the sun poured fiercely down on
the triple awning that covered the stern of the ship's deck. But
it was

less severe than the boys had expected to find it ; and they both agreed
that the Gulf of Siam was quite as uncomfortable as the Java Sea near
the equator.
Our young fi-iends w-ere full of excitement at the prospect of going
into southern latitude. They were frequently studying their maps and
looking at their watches, so as to be on the lookout for the equator at the
moment of crossing it.
 CROSSING THE EQUATOR. 317

" "We left Singapore at seven in the morning," said Frank, " and we

had eighty miles to go to reach the equator. The steamer is running ten
miles an hour, and according to my calculation we should be on the equa-
tor about three o'clock."
Fred was of the same opinion and it was determined that they would
;

watch closely from two till four o'clock, and see if the southern hemi-
sphere was in any way unlike the Northern one and so they watched
;

while the steamer moved on and on towards the south. little past A

SCKNE ON THE SUMATRA COAST.

three in the afternoon the Doctor told them they were probably in the
region of no latitude, and that the equator was under their feet.
"I tell you what, Frank," said Fred, "it may be all my imagination,
but it seems to me that the sea has a different appearance here from any-
thing I have yet seen."
318 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" What is that ?"

that everywhere else when we are at sea we appear
" Why, you know

to be in a hollow or basin, and the horizon line of the water is higher

than we are. Now, as I look off from the steamer, it seems to me that
the world rounds away from us, and if my eyesight was strong enough I
could see the North and the South Poles. Instead of being in a hollow,
as we liave always appeared to be heretofore, I seem to be on a great
globe, or the summit of a rounded hill."
Frank thought he had the same sensation, but not so strongly as Fred.
They appealed to the Doctor, who said that the feeling was mostly imagi-
nary, and grew out of the knowledge that they were crossing the equator.
" But there is sometimes a condition of the atmosphere," he added,
" which produces the appearance you describe. In all the time I have
passed at sea I have seen it only on a few occasions — perhaps three or four
in all. There is a suggestion of it at this moment, I observe, and your
imagination has done the rest.

"And you may consider yourself fortunate," he continued, "that

you are not making an old-fashioned voyage of twenty or thirty years
ago."
"Why so?" Frank asked.
" Because," was the reply, " you would run the risk of an introduction
to Father Neptune."
" I remember," said Fred, " that is the ceremony they talk about in
crossing the line for the first time."
" Yes," Frank responded, " they play all kinds of pranks on the green-
horns, or those who have never been beyond the equator."
" My first crossing of the line was on an English ship," said the Doc-
and the custom was allowed in its full force. They fastened below
tor,

all who were not old sailors, and also all of the passengers.
of the crew
The latter were let off by paying half a sovereign each, to be expended
in drink for the crew three-fourths of them complied at once, and were
;

letup to see the fun. But the greenhorns of the crew were not excused,
and we had a chance to see how the ceremony was performed."
"And how was it?"
" Just about daybreak the ship was hailed by a hoarse voice that
seemed to come from under the bows. The voice was followed by Nep-
tune in person, and he was accompanied by several attendants blowing
conch shells. Neptune was one of the old sailors in disguise; he had a
long beard made of rope-yarn, and a tin crown, and he carried a trident
in his rio;ht hand as he marched alono; the deck. His attendants were
 TREATMENT OF GREENHORNS. 319

equipped with beards almost as long as those of Neptune, and, like their

master, they were naked to the waist.

" He ordered the sailors to bring him a throne, and he was speedily
mounted on the top of a cask. Then, one after another, the greenhorns
were brought before him to be questioned and shaved.
'"Do you intend to serve me always, and be a good sailor?' was the
first question that Neptune addressed to the subject before him.

"As the man opened his mouth to answer, the shaving -brusli was
thrust into it. The brush was a swab made of yarn, and the lather con-
sisted of coarse soap mixed with water from the tub where the grindstone

^^^i¥.F,. .

"'
Ft f' 7 1\ '["SialK -^ i }

A
CROSSING TUB LIIfB ON A MAN-Ol-WAK.

stood. The shaving was performed with a rusty iron hoop, and witliout
any tenderness or delicacy. The victims were made to go through the
performance in spite of their struggles, and when it was over the major-
ity of them found their faces covered with scratches tliat lasted for sev-
eral days.
" The ceremony very rarely takes place nowadays on merchant-ships,
and only occasionally on men-of-war. No rudeness is now allowed on the
part of Neptune and his assistants, and the sport is confined to drenching
320 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

the greenhorns by getting them under a sail filled with water, or playing
some other harmless prank. Generally all the ofiicers come on deck to
meet Neptune on his arrival, and there is a partial relaxation of discipline
for half an hour or so."
The subject was dropped, and the boys devoted themselves to study-
ing the appearance of the water, and the varying light and shadow on the
Sumatran coast, which was constantly in sight. Suddenly Frank said he
had thought of something he wished to ask the Doctor.
His question had reference to the Malay pirates, of which he had
often read, and he wished to know if he was not in the vicinity of those
disagreeable men.
" We are in their neighborhood," said the Doctor ;
" but I don't think
we need fear anything from them."
" Of course not," cried Fred ;
" they would never disturb a steamer
like this."
"Not unless she was disabled, and in their powei'," responded Frank;
" and then, I suppose, they would not show much mercy."
"As to that," remarked the Doctor, "it is difficult to lay down an in-
variable rule. The pirates pursue their trade for love of gain, and are
not likely to rush to destruction. If they should get in the way of this
vessel she would be likely to run their boats down, and that would be an
end of them. They have a wholesome fear of a steamer, and are cai'eful
to keep out of her way.
" Twenty or thirty years ago there were a great many pirates all
through the Malay Archipelago. They carried on their business as an
American would deal in wheat or conduct a hotel, and there were whole
towns and villages entirely supported by piracy. They attacked Chinese
or other native boats, and they also overpowered European ships that
were becalmed in the straits between the numerous islands. The crews
were murdered, or sold into slavery in many instances, while in others
they were released after much suffering. The evil became so great that
some of the civilized nations sent ships of war to destroy the villages
where the pirates had their resorts, and also to capture the pirate craft.
"Against a sailing ship the pirates have a great advantage. Their
proas, or boats, have a large number of men to row them, and when a ship
is becalmed they can come out to her in strong force and rush upon her.

They board the ship on both bows simultaneously by dozens and dozens,
and in a few moments the crew is overpowered, and the vessel in their
hands.
" One of the war-ships that came here was disguised as a merchant
 Adventures with malay pirates. 321

vessel,and she made so many captures that for some time the pirates
were afraid to go near a vessel of her rig. An American ship was cap-
tured by some pirates from Qualla Battu, a town on the west coast of Su-
matra, and the government of the United States sent a ship to teach the
fellows a lesson. Qualla Battu was burnt, and the inhabitants that were
not killed by the shells from the ship were scattered in the forest. The
result was that for a long time afterwards no American ship was troubled
by them.
" Singapore was formerly a business centre for the pirates, even after

it went into the hands of the English. They swarmed among the chan-
nels of the islands in the vicinity, and they had spies in the fort to tell
them of the movements of every craft that sailed from it. Tlieir princi-
pal victims were the native traders, who could offer little resistance, and
they used to conduct the business in the most systematic manner."
" How was that ?"
"A chief of one of the small provinces or districts of the Malay States
would make up his mind to embark in piracy as a regular business. He
would gather as many men under his banner as he could get together, and
go to one of the islands near Singapore. There he built a village, which
could serve as a depot for slaves and merchandise, and a convenient rest-
ing-place for his men, when they had had a hard weeks' work. Then he
stationed himself in one of the channels, where native traders pass on
their way to and from Singapore; and very often he would know exact-
ly when one of them was expected. Where he was successful, the chief
would soon have a large fleet, sometimes hundreds of proas and he gath- ;

ered around him a great number of adventurers, who were proud to range
themselves under his banners. His forces would become so large that
he could divide them, and watch several channels and sometimes it ;

happened tliat serious troubles arose between rival pirates for the pos-
session of some place that was particularly valuable for purposes of
plunder.
" The ships they captured were taken to their settlements by the
pirates; and after all the goods in them had been removed, the craft
and its cordage would be burnt, to prevent identification. The plunder
would be sent to Singapore in the chief's trading-vessels, and sold in the
open market and it often happened that a merchant who had sold goods
;

to a native trader living far to the south was able to buy them back again,
in a week or two, at a greatly reduced rate.
" The native crews of the captured ships were taken to some of the
interior towns of Sumatra or Borneo, where they were sold as slaves to
21
322 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHIEFS HODSE IN A PIRATE VILLAGE.

work on the pepper plantations belonging to the Malays. The pirates

generally sailed in fleets of from four up to thirty proas, according to the
class of ships they were looking Each proa carried from twenty to
for.

forty men, and had one or more small guns, in addition to muskets and
pistols. Their favorite weapons were the Mala}' kriss or knife and they;

had a supply of darts and other missiles, to be thrown on board their in-
tended prizes.
" They always boarded over the bows, and they rushed on in such
numbers that the small crew of a merchant-ship could ofEer no resistance.
Once they met their match at the hands of a woman, and the fame of her
stratagem lasts to this day."
" Oh please tell us about it," said both the boys.
!

" She was a Quakeress," the Doctor replied " and

;you know the
Quakers do not believe in fighting.
" She and her husband were passengers on a brig that was becalmed
in one of the straits of the Malay Archipelago. A dozen proas came out
from a little harbor where there was a pirate settlement, and paddled
straight towards the brig. The crew began preparations for defence, and
 A WOMAN'S STEATAGEM. 323

the captain called on the husband of this woman to perform his share of
the work. He refused, on the ground that fighting was contrary to his
religious principles ; and his wife sustained the refusal.
"'But, if he cannot fight,' said she, 'he and I will do something for
the general good of all on the ship.'
" She told her husband to bring on deck some dozens of beer bottles
that had been emptied of their contents during the voyage. Then, with
a hammer, she set to work to break these bottles into small pieces,
which were scattered all over the deck. Her husband assisted her, and
so did the crew, and, before the proas were along -side, the whole deck,
from bow to stern, was covered with the bits of glass.
" The proas came up, and the pirates swarmed in over the bows, after
their usual custom. These fellows are half-naked, and always barefooted
—the rest of the story will almost tell itself."
" I think so," Frank responded. " The pirates trod on the fragments
of glass, and cut their feet so that they could not stand. The crew and
passengers were at the stern of the brig with their shoes on, and had
nothing to do, as the glass did all the fighting for them."

HARIIOR OF riliATIiS.
324 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAE EAST.
"
That was about the way of it," said the Doctor. " The pirates

nearlyall came on board, but not one of them was able to get aft to

where the crew stood. The deck was covered with Malays with lacer-

TUli riUATES VIOTI.M.

ated feet, and tliey were so helpless that the captain directed liis men to
pay no attention to them, but to shoot the men in the proas. They were
sliot down accordingly, and only a few of the rascals escaped. Those who
 PIRATES OF THE PRESENT DAY. 325

were left saw that something was wrong, and so they pulled away to the
shore for aid.
" They had not gone far before a breeze sprung up, the sails filled, and
the brig began to move through the water. The breeze increased; and,
before re-enforcements could come from the shore to aid the pirates, the
brig was out of all danger."
"And what became of the pirates that were left on the deck of the
brig ?" Fred inquired.
" The captain had no use for them," the Doctor answered, " and so he
dropped them overboard after sailing a few miles. The occurrence was
a discouraging one to the pirates in that region, and for a long time after-
wards they were very cautious about setting their bare feet on the deck
of a foreign ship.
" There is very little piracy nowadays," the Doctor continued, " com-
pared to what there was a quarter of a century ago. It is very rarely the
case that a foreign ship is captured by the freebooters, or even molested
by them. They confine their operations to native traders ; but they are
compelled to occupj' the most secluded and therefore have little
retreats,

chance to do anything. The construction of steam gun-boats was the

practical end of piracy, so far as its bearing upon foreign commerce was
concerned; the pirates were pursued to their haunts and destroyed, and
the native chiefs were made to understand that they would be held re-
sponsible for every unlawful act committed within their jurisdiction.
Since the business became not only unprofitable but hazardous to the
necks of those in authority, very little has been heard of it."

SINliUS OF IVAK.
320 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTER XXIV.
SUMATRA AND ITS PECULIARITIES.— SNAKES AND ORANG-OUTANGS-

T^HE boys had observed, as they journeyed to the southward, that the
-'- North Star declined lower and lower in the heavens in proportion
as they receded from the Pole. At Singapore it was only a little way
above the horizon, and after they passed the equator it disappeared alto-
gether. From Singapore they had seen the Southern Cross, which
. is to
the South what the Great Bear is to the Nortli.
Frank made a note of this fact, and the first night they were beyond
the equator they sat till a late hour on deck to study the appearance of
the heavens. When they iirst began their observations they could not
see Tlie Cross, and Fred went to ask theDoctor the reason of its disap-
pearance.
" It is not yet above the horizon," said the Doctor, " and will not be
there till after midniglit."
« How is that ?"
"The Southern Cross is not over the South Pole, but about ten de-
grees from it. Therefore, when we are so near the equator as we are
now, the Cross goes at times below the horizon. You must wait till late
at night before you can see it."
They concluded to go to bed, and let the new constellation remain
undisturbed where it was. As they were going still farther south, they
^would have abundant opportunity to see it before their return to Sin-
gapore.
The second day of their voyage they had the coast of Sumatra still in
sight for a lai-ge part of the time, and the boys wished they could make a
landing there and see something of the country. Among the passengers
there was a gentleman who had been in Sumatra, and he kindly under-
took to tell the boys something about the island and its people.
He began by asking if either of the youths could tell him what the
geographies said about the island, and its extent and characteristics.
" Certainly," Frank replied. " We know that it is about one thousand
 THli DUTCH IN SUMATEA. 327

miles long by two hundred and fift}' wide, and nas about five million in-
habitants. The Dntcli have a part of it in their possession, and the rest
is independent ; but perhaps the Dutch will have the whole of it one of

these daj-s."
"Why do you say that?"
" Because the
Dutch have been at war for some time with the native
government of the province called Acheen. At any rate I have read so
and I have also read that when they succeed in capturing it they will
have more than three-fourths of tlie island under their control."

A TllADING-STATION ON THE COAST.

" You are quite correct, I believe," said the gentleman ;

" but the
Acheen war may yet last a long time. The natives are brave, and the
country is very unhealthy for the Dutch. Fevers have killed more than
the enem3''s weapons since the Dutch went there, and tlie conquest will
be a very costly one. But wc will not trouble ourselves at present

about the Acheen war, as it is rarely heard of in America, or, for that
matter, in Europe.
" Tiie Dutch possessions includePadang and Bencoolen, on the west
coast of Sumatra Lampong,
; on the southern end of the island and Pa- ;

lembang, on the east coast. Banca and some other islands of lesser size
lie near the coast of Sumatra but they form separate governments, and
;

are not to be considered as belonging to the great island we are discuss-

328 THE BOY TRAViiLLEKS IN THE FAR EAST.

iug. Baiica is famous for its mines of tin, which have been worked for
a long time, and are the source of a large revenue. There ai-e many good

A BAYOU ON THB PALE5IEANG EIVER.

harbors on the coast, and there are two or three of them that can hardly
be surpassed anywhere. On most of these harbors there are cities, and a
considerable business done in products of the tropics, such as rice, pep-
is

per, ginger, turmeric, spices, and camphor and other gums.

" The only place in Sumatra I have visited," said the gentleman, " is
Palembang. The city is quite large, and is on a river of the same name
to go toyou must
it hundred miles, through a
ascend this river about a
country that is low and rather swampy. The foliage is luxuriant, and
there are numerous little bayous leading off from the river; so that you
must have a good guide, or run the risk at times of losing j'our way.
" I went there in the rainy season, when much of the country was
flooded. The city is built on the river, and extends three or four miles
along a bend in the stream so many of the houses are on floating rafts,
;

that rise and fall with the tide, that it makes little difference to the in-
habitants whether the river is high or low. If yon have been in Siam
you can form a very good picture of Palembang, as it is much like Bang-
 A VISIT TO SUMATRA. 329

kok in the number and arrangement of its floating houses. When you
go to market, you go in a small boat, just as you do in Bangkok, and near-
ly everything is transported by water.
"It is a peculiarity of the Malays never to build a house on solid
ground if they can find a place to stand it on piles in the water, and they
pi-efer a boat to an}' other kind of a conveyance. At Palembang the
most of the Malay inhabitants are thus located but there are many Arab
;

and Chinese residents who have their houses on the solid ground. Most
of the trading is in the hands of these foreigners, and there are very few

European inhabitants besides the officials who represent the Dutch gov-
ernment. They are very glad to have strangers come there, as it is a
change from the monotony of their every-day life and if you should
;

happen to visit Palembang you may be sure of a kindly reception.

" The country is quite low and swampy all around Palembang, though

the town itself is on a slight elevation that preserves it from overflowing.

You must go twenty or thirty miles farther up the river to the firm coun-

ARAB HOUSES AT PALEMBANG.

try,and there you find the commencement of the tropical forests for

which Sumatra is famous."

330 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Fred asked what kind of trees are to be found in these forests.

"As to that," was the reply, "the trees are not much unlike what
you have seen in Malacca and Siam. They have several varieties of the
palm, and they have rubber-trees from which they derive a good revenue.
The mango-tree, with its broad branches and dark foliage, is frequently

LOUNGING UNDKR A MANGO-TUEE.

and it is a favorite in the neighborhood of the villages. The natives

seen,
swing their hammocks beneath it; and, for my own part, I do not
like to
know a better place to lounge in, in a hot afternoon, than the shade of a
mango-tree.
" Being under the equator, Sumatra is a hot country, and one must be

cautious about exposure to the sun. During the middle of the day you
should remain at rest, and you will find great refreshment in bathing
frequently ; but take care how you plunge in the rivers, as many of
them are full of alligators, and sometimes these brutes are hungry. Oc-
casionally you may see dozens of them lying on the banks to enjoy the
sun, and they are hunted so little thatyou may come quite near without
disturbing them. At a little distance tliey look like logs, and you might
easily mistake their black bodies for sticks of timber that have been par-
 AN INLAND JOURNEY. 331

tially burnt. There one island just above Palembang where they
is

swarm in large numbers, and are of all sizes, from very small to very
large. The island also abounds in cranes and sometimes they approach
;

near enough to the alligators to come within reach of the powerful

tails

of those reptiles. In such a case there is a single sweep of the great

lever, and the whole business is over.

" Since the Dutch went Sumatra they have constructed roads, and
to

done a great deal for the improvement of the condition of the people.

The roads are divided into regular stages of ten or twelve miles, and if

you send on in advance you will find everything ready on your arrival, so
that you will not be delayed but if you do not give notice beforehand,
;

you can only go the distance of one stage in a day, which makes your
if you
progress very slow. At nearly every station there is a village and ;

ALLIGATOKS TAKING SUN AND AlB.

want to Study the habits of the people, you can do so very well by walk-
then strolling about
ing from one' station to the next in the morning, and
afternoon. There is always
the village and neighboring regions in the
to do but walk in and take
a house for strangers, and you have nothing
possession you pay for what you have at a fixed rate.
:
The Dutch have
332 THE BOY TEAVELLER.S IN THE FAR EAST.

been careful to adjust the prices of everything, so that theie can be no

dispute.
" Away from the rivers the houses of the natives are on poles or posts,
just as they are wlien built in the water. The best of them are of boards
or planks, and the more common ones of bamboo, and the floors are cov-
ered with mats, on whicli you ma}^ sit or lie. They have no beds, bench-
es, or chairs ; even in the houses of the chiefs you will see hardly a single
article of furniture.
" There is a great similarity among the Sumatran villages. A village

VIEW IN A SUMATRAN VILLAGE.

covers several acres, and is almost always surrounded by a high fence, to

keep out the wild animals that abound in the island. The houses are
dropped down higgledy-piggledy without the least attempt at regulai-it}',
and there is generally quite a grove of palm, banana, and other trees
around them. The best of the dwellings have their ends ornamented
with some elaborate carving in wood, and the ends of the roof rise in a
graceful curve that terminates in a point.
" There is a curious combination of neatness and the reverse in the
habits of the people of these interior villages. The ground is hard and
clean, and the houses are frequently swept with tlie greatest care; but
they have no system of drainage, and the only way of disposing of refuse
of any kind is to throw it into a sink-hole under the house. The people
seem to have adhered to the custom that prevails where their houses are
built over the water, and tl;.e result is that yoiir nose will often inforir.
yon, before your eyes do, tiiat you are approaching a village."
 TIGER-HUNTING THE WRONG WAY. 333

Frank asked what birds or beasts were to be found in Sumatra.

" You find pretty much the same as you do in Malacca or Siam," was
the reply. "
There are plenty of elephants of the same species as on
the main-land, and there is any number of tigers. Tliey are very large,
and proportionally fierce, and a great many of the natives are eaten by
them every year. They do not often attack white men, but I had a close
escape one evening from being eaten by one of them."
" How did that happen «"
" I had been visiting a planter of my acquaintance, and we did not
separate till about dark. I had a ride of six or eight miles before me to
reach the house where I was to stay for the night, but did not mind it in

the least, as I had been over the ground before, and had no fear of losing
my way. My friend cautioned me to look out for tigers, but I only
laughed when he said so, as I had no idea that a tiger would attack a
man on horseback.
" I was cantering gently along, when all at once my pony began to
prick his ears and sniff the air, as though all was not right. Every mo-
ment he was more and more uneasy, and he exerted himself to the utmost

CHASED BY A TIGliU.

to make good time over the road. Never in my life was I carried faster

by a horse than on that occasion.

" In a few minutes I heard the growl of a tiger, who was in full pur-

suit, and gaining at every stride. The road led to a creek, and it occurred
334 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

to me that my whole safety consisted in reaching that creek before the

tiger reached me. I threw my hat off to amuse the beast for a moment,
and it gave my horse just the time he needed witliout a second to spare.
The tiger did not try to follow through the water, and when I got to the
house where I was to stay, I resolved not to venture again on that road
after dark.
" Some of my friends were unkind enough to say that perhaps I was
mistaken in the whole matter, and that the horse took fright at a thorn
catching under the saddle-girth as we went through the jungle ; so the
next morning I invited one of them to go with me
and to to the creek,
the spot where I threw away my hat. The fragments of the hat were
there, where the tiger had torn it in his rage, and the tracks of the beast
were visible in the soft earth. From the extent of his foot-prints he was
evidently of tlie largest size, and would have made short work of a man
when once he had settled his teeth
into his throat. Itwas the narrow-
est escape I ever had in my life. I
have been treed by a bear, but the
sensation was nothing compared to
that of being chased by a tiger."
" Please tell us," said Fred, " how
you happened to be treed by a bear."
" Certainly," said the gentleman
;

" but the story has nothing to do

with Sumatra or any other island of
the Malay Archipelago. It was in
America that the incident happened.
"I was out liunting one after-
noon, and had only a small fowling-
^-ic piece loaded with bird - shot. Sud-
denly I came across a black bear,
and very foolishly fired at him. The
shot enraged him, and he ran for me.
"I ran a few yards, and knew
that every moment he was gaining
on me. I dropped my gun, and
sprung for the nearest tree I was
;

young and active, and went up sev-

eral feet at the first bound. It was

TKliKl) BY A liHAR. a smooth sapling, with the lower part

 ADVENTURE WITH A SNAKE. 335

quite free from limbs, and I soon found that was no easy matter to
it

climb after the first spurt was over. The bear followed me, and had

SHOOTING A BOA-CONSTKICTOR.

the advantage of claws; and he came on faster than was agreeable. I

knew that a friend of mine was not far off, and I shouted with all the
power of my lungs. He heard me, and came to my relief; and, just as
the bear had taken me by the coat-tail, I heard a shot, and the beast tum-
bled to the ground. I don't like bear-hunting in that shape."
Fred inquired if there were any snakes in Sumati-a.
"Yes, snakes in abundance," was the response; "and they sometimes
grow to an enormous size. In some respects, Sumatra is the paradise
of snakes, as they have a hot climate, and can always find plenty to eat."
" What kind of snakes do they have there ?" queried Fred.
" The largest is the boa-constrictor," said the gentleman ;
" and I do

not believe he grows to a greater size in any other part of the world."
" What is the greatest length you have ever known for one of these
snakes ?" Frank asked.
" Tiie longest I ever saw was one that I killed myself. I was out

hunting, and had three or four natives to carry my gun and other things,
when suddenly one of them shouted, and pointed to a tree.
336 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" I looked, and saw an enormous snake coiled up there, with his head

over a limb, and evidently watcliing us as we approached.

"Du Chaillu and other hunters of experience say that the best thing
for shooting a snake is not a bullet, but a charge of small shot, such as we
use in duck-hunting. So I gave my rifle to one of the natives, and called
for my fowling-piece.
"I managed to get around in order to have a good aim, and ventured
so close to the snake that the natives warned me to be careful. I watched
my chance, and just as the fellow darted his head forward I fired.
" My aim was accurate, and the snake's head was blown into a shape-

less mass. He threw himself from the tree, and writhed on the ground,
while I retired with my party to a safe distance. We watched him twist-
ing his body into many shapes, and tearing up the small trees and bushes
as he wound around them. In about an hour I continued my hunt, leav-
ing one of the natives to watch the snake, so that we could skin him when
he was done writhing.
" Wishing to explore a small creek, I sent another of the men to bring

A SNAKY CEIJEK.

a boat ; and he soon returned with it. It must have been a great da}' for
snakes, aswe had not gone far before the water seemed to be alive with
them. They were of all the colors of the rainbow and some of them ;

had shades that the rainbow never possessed. The largest I should judge
to have been eight or ten feet in length, but I had no opportunitj' to
measure him.
" One tried to get into the boat, and I shot him just as he raised his
 SNAKES AND MONKEYS. 337

Lead over the bow others swum close to the boat, and seemed in no
;

hurry to get out of our way. There was a large boa, or python, coiled
around a tree that overhung a bank he darted his head rather defiantly,
;

but made no other demonstration. I was quite willing to let him alone,
provided he would be equally polite to me ; and, as he manifested no in-
tention of attacking us, I did not fire on him.
" We went back late in the afternoon, and found that our great boa
had ceased his twistings, and was sufficiently quiet to be skinned. He
measured thirty feet and a few inches in length, and was certainly one
of the largest of his kind. He could kill and eat an ordinary-sized cow

MONKEY EXAMINING A TORTOISE.

or bullock ; and, as for a dog or monkey, he would dispose of one without

the slightest trouble. The favorite food of this snake is the monkey ;

and he captures him by lying concealed among the trees, and waiting pa-
tiently till the monkey comes within his reach."
" Then there are monkeys in Sumatra?" said one of the boys.
" Certainly," was the reply, " there are monkeys in abundance. The
naturalists have found no less than eleven distinct species of the monkey
family, and it is thought there are several yet undiscovered in the for-
ests. There is one monkej' called the simiang, that has tremendously
long arras; Mr. Wallace measured one that was only three feet high,
but his arms were five and a half feet when stretched out. This monkey
will swing himself from one tree to another with the utmost ease, over
distances that most of the other monkeys would hardly venture to go."
" Do they find the variety of monkey known as the orang-outang in
Sumatra?" one of the boys asked.
338 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" Yes," said their informer, " the animal is found only in Sumatra and

Borneo, but he is rarely seen on the first-named island. In parts of Bor-

neo he is quite abundant; and the most of the specimens in the museums
all over the world came from that wild region."
Frank asked liow large was the largest of these beasts that had been
captured and measured.
"As to that," said the gentleman, "there is a considerable conflict of
testimony. Mr. Wallace says that tlie largest killed by him during his
stay in Borneo was four feet two inches from head to heel and his out- ;

stretched arms were seven feet nine inches from tip to tip of his fingers.
The face was thirteen inches wide, and the body measured forty-three
inches around. Mr. Wallace further says that he measured seventeen
freshly-killed orangs, and the skeletons of two others sixteen were full- ;

grown adults— nine males and seven females. The males varied from
four feet one inch to four feet two inches in height and tlie outstretched
;

FKMALB ORANG-ODTANG.
(From a Photograph.)

arms from seven feet two inches to seven feet eight inches. The meas-
urements of other naturalists closely agree with his, and he therefore
concludes that the stories of orangs exceeding five feet in height are
extremely doubtful.
" The natives say the orang is king of the forest, and the only ani-
mals that venture to attack it are the crocodile and the python. They
 A FIGHT WITH AN ORANG. 339

NATIVJiS OP BORNEO FIGHTING WITH AN OKANG-OUTANG.

only do so on rare occasions, and are apt to get the worst of the battle
whenever they provoke it. One of the native chiefs says that when food
is scarce in the forest, the orang goes to the banks of the streams to feed
on the lilies, and in such cases he is sometimes attacked by the crocodile.
His arms are so strong that he has been known to pull the crocodile's
34:0 THE BOY TEAVELl.ERS IN THE FAR EAST.

jaws open, and rip up his throat ; the chief claims to have witnessed such
a fight, which occurred on the bank of a stream, and was won in a short
time by the orang.
" The same chief said that the python found his match in the orang
the latter biting tlie python's throat, and tearing him with his powerful
claws. The natives have a great dread of the orang, unless they have
the advantage of fire-arms; they sometimes attack him with their spears
and hatchets, but they do so with reluctance, as some of them are apt to
be severely wounded, if not killed outright, in the encounter."
Fred wanted to know if the animal they were discussing was in
the habit of walking erect like a man, as be had seen represented in
pictures.
" The best authorities say he does not," was the reply ;
" and I think
that such pictures as you mention ai"e far more imaginary than real. He
spends nearly all and when he goes through the
his time in the trees,
forest he moves from one tree to another by following the limbs that in-
terlace. He feeds in the trees in the daytime, and sleeps there at night
his bed is composed of leaves gathered together in the fork of a tree, and
he never remains long in one spot. The natives say he finds a new rest-
ing-place and makes a new bed every night but there is some doubt as ;

to the correctness of this theory. When he has been wounded, and feels
faint from loss of blood, he will gather a quantity of leaves and form a
bed, where he lies down and dies. In such a case the tree must be cut
down to get his bod^', as no amount of shaking will dislodge it or the ;

natives must be hired to climb up and remove it. This they will not
do readil}', as the animal has great vitality, and has been known to spring
up suddenly and do a great deal of damage after he was supposed to be
dead."
" There are some other curious products of this tropical region," said
the narrator, " which I will endeavor to describe briefly. There is a frog
that flies through the air, and —
"How funny!" Fred exclaimed. "A flying-frog! He ought to be
a relative of the fish that climbs a tree, and travels on dry land."
"Whether he is a relative or not of that fish, I am unable to say," was
the reply, " but that he exists there is no doubt. He comes down from
the top of a high tree to the ground in a slanting direction, just as you
have seen a flying-squirrel go from one tree to another. His toes are
very long, and webbed to their extremities. The body of the frog is

about four inches long, and when spread out the webs of his feet have a
square surface of at least twelve inches. This is much more than he
 A REMARKABLE BIRD. 341

A FLYING-FKOG.

needs for swimming, and we must, therefore, conclude that Nature lias

thus equipped him so that he can fly through the air.

" There are many varieties of butterflies in Sumatra, and some of them
are very beautiful. All the tropical islands abound in butterflies, that
arouse the enthusiasm of the naturalist by the brilliancy of their colors
and the great size they attain. There are numerous birds, especially of
the parrot family, and sometimes you will see hundreds of them in a walk
of an hour or more through the forests where they live. Tiie parrot is
inclined to be sociable, and likes his fellow-parrots ;
you will rarely see
one of these birds quite alone, and when you do, you may conclude that
the occurrence is an accidental one.

"Among the habits of birds there is none more singular than that of
the Sumatran hornbill."
"What is that?" Frank inquired.
" Tlie hornbill, whose scientific name is Buceros bicornis, makes its

nest in a hole in a tree. When the female has laid an egg, the male
plasters up the entrance of the hole with mud, and keeps his mate there
until the young bird has been reared to the proper age for coming out in
the world."
34:2 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

"How does she manage to live all tliat time?"' said one of the boys.
"The hole is not entirely closed," was the reply. "A small opening
is left, and through it the male bird feeds her, and he
constantly on is

duty around the outside of the nest to protect her from harm. When
the young bird begins to eat, the mother takes in her beak the food
which her mate has bi'ought, and gives the youth his proper allowance.
He is a funny-looking fellow when about half grown ; his body is plump
and soft, without a single feather, and his skin is half transparent, so that
you almost expect to see through it."
"A remarkable bird," said Fred.
"And a remarkable country he lives in," Frank replied.
And with this comment the conversation about Sumatra and its prod-
ucts came to an end, with a vote of thanks on the part of the boys to
their amiable informant.

A SUMATRAN BUTTERFLY.
 'J'HE HAKliOK OF JiATAVIA. 3i3

CHAPTER XXV.
ARRIVAL IN JAVA.— SIGHTS AND SCENES IN BATAVIA,

AT dayliglit the next

siglit of Java.
morning the boys were on deck for
They could
their first
see nothing but a low coast, like that of
Siam, with a fringe of tropical trees, and a backing of mountains in the
distance. They had expected to go into a snug harbor, but found that
the harbor of Batavia is more imaginary than real, as it is little better
tlian a shallow roadstead, where ships of deep draught must anchor far

from shore.
The steamer came to her resting-place, and the anchor went plunging
down to its muddy bed. A noisy little steam-launch came to carry the
mails ashore, but our friends were not allowed to take passage in her
they were told there would be a steamer for the passengers in an hour or
two, or, if they preferred, they could go ashore on a native boat.
They chose the latter conveyance, as the time of waiting for the
steamboat was a trifle uncertain ; and, besides, they desired to get to land
as speedily as possible. There were a dozen boats hovering around the
steamer, and it did not take long to make a bargain; for three florins —
Dutch florin is equal to forty cents of our money
were to be car- —they
ried to the " Boom," or custom-house, where their baggage would be ex-
amined, and they could find conveyance to the hotel. As soon as the bar-
gain was made their baggage was lowered into the boat, and they were off.
It was a long pull, and the sun was hot. Our friends reclined under
their umbrellas, and and the boys wondei'ed how
tried to be comfortable;
the boatmen could pull away so cheerily and not be fatigued. The Doc-
tor reminded tliem that the men had been accustomed all their lives to
the climate of Java and what seemed very severe to strangers from the
;

North was nothing to those who were used to it. The men evidently un-
derstood the subject of conversation, as they offered to pull twice as fast
for another florin ; their proposal was declined, as none of the new-com-
ers wished to be tlie cause, however indirectly, of a sunstroke among the
nativcp.
344 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

It was a joi^rney of three miles from the steamer to the cnstom-honse,

partly in the harbor and partly in a canal. The canal is pushed out a

AKKIVAL IN POET.

considerable distance into the harbor by means of stone dikes; and the
space between these dikes is dredged to a depth of twelve or fourteen
feet. Nothing but small craft can come np to the docks; heavy sea-
going ships, whether steam or sail, must anchor in the harbor, and their
cargoes are transferred by lighters.
As soon as they reached the end of the wall that forms the canal the
boatmen drew up against it, and for the rest of the way the boat was
towed, or " treeked." This mode of propulsion was easier and faster
than rowing, and partly accounted for the proposal of the boatmen to
double their speed, as they were near the end of their rowing when they
suggested it. At the custom-house the trunks and valises were subjected
to a slight examination there was a polite official who spoke English
;

and on learning that our friends had only come for a brief visit to Java,
and had no business to transact, he assured them that all was right. He
asked for their passports, and said it would be necessary to get a permit
 A KIDE IN THE CAPITAL OF JAVA. 345

to remain on tlie island, especially if they wished to travel in the interior.

This they could easily do, lie said, and then he in-
through their consul ;

formed them that the formalities of the custom-house were ended.

A runner was there from the liotel tliey intended to patronize, and so
the}' gave their property into his hands. It was piled on a cart and sent
off, and then the runner led the way to a carriage that was standing near.

It was a sort of Victoria, that could accommodate two persons comfortably;

and there was an extra seat just behind the driver, which could be turned
down and made to hold a third passenger in an emergency. The horses
were diminutive beasts, with harnesses in the European style; and the
driver was a withered specimen of a Javanese, wearing an ancient hat
decorated with a cockade, and having the brim turned so that it would
not impede the view in any direction. Fred thought the liat had come
from Holland about the middle of the century, after doing duty in a
respectable family of Amsterdam for at least a dozen years. Frank re-
marked that the hat was hardly less antique than the head it covered;
and the skin of the one seemed as much glazed as the other.
It was nearly, if not quite, three miles from the custom-house to the
hotel, and the little horses went over the ground at a surprising rate, when
their size and appearance were consid-
ered. For much of the way the drive
followed the bank of a canal, where thej'
saw groups of men and women engaged
in washing clothes or taking a morn-
ing bath. Batavia
is on level ground,
the same as Amster-
dam and ; the Dutch
have tried to make
it seem as much like

home as possible by
supplying it with ca-

nals. They have car-

ried many of their
customs with them
in emigrating to the
East, and sometimes TlIK CARKIAGU AT THU CUSTOM-HOUSK.
to their disadvan-
tage. For instance, they adhere with unflinching firmness to the old
practice of taking a glass of schnapps before every meal, forgetting that
346 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST

what may be allowable in a cold country is the reverse of beneficial in a

hot one. Our friends reached the hotel a while before the mid-day
little

meal was served, and tiiey were hardly inside the door of their rooms be-
fore a servant came with glasses of a fiery liquid to enable them to get up
an appetite. He was somewhat surprised when they declined what was
considered so necessary to the health.
The hotel covered an immense area, as it consisted of a series of bun-
galows of one story, with a central building, where the dining-room and
the offices of the manager were located. Between the rows of bungalows

THE NATIONAL TASTK.

there were shade-trees and paved walks, and along the front of each house
there was a wide veranda, where the occupants could sit or recline in the
open air whenever the^' chose to do so. The central building was two
stories high ; all the lower part was taken up for the dining-room and
parlors, while the upper floor was occupied by patrons. Our friends were
assigned to rooms in one of the bungalows, and a barefooted servant came
to assistthem in arranging their effects, and bring whatever they desired.
The servant was of a type new to our friends, and Frank proceeded
to make a sketch of him at the first opportunity. He was a Javanese
 HOTEL SERVANTS IN JAVA. 34:7

Malay, with features not unlike those of the Malays of Singapore, but his
dress was different. lie wore trousers of striped cotton, rather narrow
in the legs,and without any nicety of fit above the trousers he had a ;

gaudy shirt, with an embroidered front, and a short jacket of material

similar to that of the trousers. Wrapped around his waist, and falling to
the knee, he had a skirt that appeared to have been cut from the gayest
piece of calico that ever came from the looms of Manchester or Lowell
and it was held in place by a belt. This part of the Malay wardrobe is
called a sarong, and is worn by both sexes it is usually fastened by tying
;

a knot in one corner, and then drawing the sarong tightly around the
waist. The knot is passed under the straightened edge of the garment,
and is not likely to slip out of place.
Accompanying was a small boy whose business it
this servant there
was to bring cigars, and fire for lighting them. It seemed to Frank and
Fred that the Dutchmen of Batavia were smoking all the time; and Fred
suggested that, if the days wei'e twice
as long, there would be exactly twice
as much smoking.
Breakfast was served in the large
room we have mentioned, and Doctor
Bronson and the boys were shown to
the seats assigned Frank
to them.
made a discovery that amused him
greatly, and was equally entertaining
to his cousin when he learned of it.
It was so nnlike the custom of any
hotel he had ever seen, that he made a
note of it to include in his next letter.
Here it is

" The three of us have one servant

and, as far as I can see, he waits on no
one else. In each of our rooms there is

a little closet, and in this closet there

THEIR SKKVANT.
are knives, forks, spoons, plates, etc., for
one person. Before breakfast or dinner our servant takes these things to
the general table, and when the meal is over he brings them back again,
and returns them to their places in the closets, lie is responsible for
breakage, and is required to keep the articles clean. The only dishes
that go to the kitchen of the hotel are the platters, tureens, and similar
things, on which the food is brought from the place of cooking."
348 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Fred was busj with his eyes and ears during breakfast, and contrib-
uted to the general fund of information as follows
" The first solid meal of the day in Batavia is called the rys-taffel,
or rice-table. It is served about eleven o'clock ; and its name goes far
to describe its character, as it consists largely of rice.
This is the way they serve it

" The rice is boiled in such a way that each grain

is separate from every other. It is served hot in a
large dish, aud you help yourself into a soup-plate of
goodlj' size.
" One servant hands you the rice, and when you
have filled your plate with it another servant offers
you a round platter or tray, eighteen or twenty inches
across,and divided into a dozen compartments. These
compartments contain various seasonings, and you may
take any or all, or none of them, at your pleasure, and
in quantities to suit you. You have chutnej', which
is a sharp sauce from India you have red or green
;

peppers, cut into a fine hash, red pepper mixed with

water to form a paste, cocoa-nut grated fine, preserved
ginger-root, sliced mangoes, English pickles, salt fish
dried to a crisp, capers, and other hot and spicy things
^
peculiar to the East.
THE MANGO.
"When
you have taken what you want from the
tray, the servant movesand another takes his place. He offers j-ou
on,
soft eggs, either boiled or poached, and you are expected to take one or
two of the eggs to mix with your rice. Then comes a servant with a
plate of some kind of meat, cut into small pieces, and stewed with currj'-
powder; and behind him is another servant with a plate of some kind
of vegetable, which has been stewed in curry. Then they offer you cold
chicken or ham, or some other meat, to put on a small plate at your side,
and your supply of food is completed, with the addition of all the bread
you want. You mix all the things you have in your large soup-plate
into a thick mass, like yellow paste, and eat with a spoon.
" This is the famous Java curry and if you have taken plenty of the
;

pepper and chutney, and other hot things, your mouth will burn for half
an hour as though you had drunk from a kettle of boiling water. And
when you have eaten freely of cun-y, you don't want any other breakfast.
Everybody eats curry here daily, because it is said to be good for the
health by keeping the liver active, and preventing fevers.
 FASHIONAbLE HOURS IN BATAVIA. 3i9

After breakfast oiir friends went to tlieir rooms, and soon afterwards
mot on the veranda to arrange plans for seeing Batavia. Somewhat to

their surprise, they learned that it was

not fashionable to be seen out till three
o'clock in the afternoon, and they must
not call on any one during the middle
of the day. The Doctor said that the
Dutch and other foreign inhabitants of
the city were supposed to sleep two or
three hours while the sun was high in
the heavens; but as they were stran-
gers, and had littlo time at their dis-
posal, they would get a carriage and
take a drive.
Neither ladies nor gentlemen are
visible in Batavia between breakfast A TKIFLE TOO TEI-rEKY.
and three p.m. ; or if they show them-
selves they are not acting according to custom. They lounge in bed or
hammock, or in their bamboo arm-chairs, and try to get as much rest as
possible to fit them for the fatigues of the evening. It is this habit of
sleeping in the daytime that enables the fashionable Batavians to keep

r'.
-
'^ -it-afc - :yS:i88~. ^^
AFTER BREAKFAST.
350 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

very late hours. Tliey are accustomed to rise early ; and by five o'clock
in tlie morning half the people in the hotel were out of bed, and the rest
of them before six.
Frank and Fred were awakened on their first morning in Batavia be-
fore they thought the hour of rising had arrived. The Doctor told them
they had best conform to the custom, and so tiiey crept from their beds
and prepared to dress.
" That is unnecessary," said the Doctor " it is perfectly proper for
;

you to come out in your sleeping-suits, and sit in front of your rooms,
or go to your baths. You will find that is what everybody else is

Accordingly they made their appearance in their pajamas, and found

that the servant was ready to attend upon them. All around thej' could
hear men calling "a/?^/"
"apiP'' and they natu-
rally asked what "api"
meant.
" It is the Malay word
for ' light
' fire,'
' " said
or
the Doctor; " and the call
you hear is for a light for
a cigar or cigarette."
When they went to the
row of bath-rooms front-
ing their apartments, the
boys looked for bathing-
but found none.
tubs,
Each bath-room had a
AN EAKLY CALL.
faucet whence water could
be drawn, or it contained a barrel and a dipper, but no other furniture.
The bathing custom in Java is to pour water over the bodj', and not
to plunge into a tub. A tub can be had by any one who asks for it;
but he runs the risk of being considered a barbarian, who cannot be
weaned fi-om the absurd customs of his native land.
After the bath came the " little breakfast," as it is called by the resi-

dents, consisting of tea or coffee, with eggs or cold meat, and a few bis-
cuits. When was ended Doctor Eronson ordered a carriage, and the
this
morning hours were devoted to a drive.
"We have not quite time," said the Doctor, "to exhaust a single
course with the carriage between this and the hour for tlie rystaffel."
 CURIOUS RULES FOR HIRING CARRIAGES. 351

The boys could not understand his meaning, until he explained that
the rules governing the hire of carriages in Batavia are somewhat curious.
" The tari£E for a Victoria," said he, " is four florins or guilders about —
one dollar and sixty cents of our money, and if you only ride a few
blocks you must pay that price. But you can, if you choose, keep it for
six hours without any extra charge, except that the driver will expect an
allowance of an hour or so to rest his horses, and a little money for him-
self by way remembrance."
of
" What an odd arrangement !" said Frank.
Fred agreed with him fully, and probably every traveller who visits
Batavia will not be long in coming to the same conclusion.
" When
was here before," continued the Doctor, " I took a carriage
I
one morning for the customary six hours, and went out for a drive. At
the end of three hours I returned to the hotel for breakfast, and told the
driver he could have an hour to himself and then return. He did not
come again, and when I asked at the office of the hotel the manager said
he would investigate the affair. In the evening he told me he had seen
the driver, and paid him, and his reason for not returning was that his
horses were tired.
" I thought no more of the matter till I settled my bill the next day,
preparatory to going into the country, and found that the full tariff of
four guilders had been charged for the carriage. I protested that the
man was not entitled to that amount, because he had not given me the
stipulated service. The manager said he had paid the bill because that
was the law and he added that the driver would have served me the
;

full time if his horses had not been tired.

" In vain did I protest that I had been unjustly treated the only an- ;

swer I could get from the manager was, The driver's horses were tired
'

his horses were tired.' I vowed that the next time I employed a carriage
in Batavia I would adhere rigidly to the law, and keep it in my sight for
the full six hours, whether I wanted it or not. If the driver serves us
well to-day, perhaps he will get an allowance; but if he is obstinate, as
these Malay drivers sometimes are, I shall feel like enforcing the law to
the letter."
They were fortunate in finding a very amiable driver, who did his
best to make the strangers enjoy their ride. He spoke only the Mala}'
language; but, in spite of the absence of a common tongue, he managed
to make them understand his explanations, and to show them a good deal
of Batavia. The result was that they gave him an hour to spare, and an
extra florin for the trouble he had taken.
352 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Here is what Frank wrote in his note- book concerning their first
morning's ride in Batavia
" Batavia covers a great extent of ground, and is fairly entitled to be
called a city of magniiicent distances. The old city near the sea is rather

NATIVE HOUSE ON THE KIVEK THAT FEKDS THE CANAL.

it is not inhabited by Europeans to any extent.

closely built, but The
Dutch, English, and other foreign merchants transact business there dur-
ing the day ; but they live in the new part of Batavia, which sjjreads over
the flat ground for several square miles. The houses are rarely of more
than one story, as the country is subject to earthquakes, and nobody M'ants
 COSTUMES OF THE DUTCH RESIDENTS. 353

to have a flight of stau's between liira and the ground when these shak-
ings begin. Nearly every house has a campong, or yard, around it, and
this yard is filled with tropical trees in considerable variety. The great
streets and roads are liberally provided witli shade-trees, so that Batavia
•can hardly be seen, owing to the impossibility of peering through the
dense foliage that is before you at every step.
" A canal with several branches runs through all this level area that
they call Batavia, and for miles and miles it is built up with solid stone
walls. It is fed by a small river coming down from the mountains, and
serves a triple purpose : boats may navigate it ;
people may bathe there, or
wash clothes in it and the sewage of the city is said to be drained into it.
;

Whether the water for household use is taken from it or not, I am unable
to say but we repeatedly saw Malay servants filling buckets with it, and
;

then walking off in the direction of the houses. Circumstantial evidence

was against them but the clerk of the hotel says the water they were car-
;

rying was to be used for washing the floors of the houses and sprinkling
the gravel-walks in the court-yards. Pei'haps it is the suspicion that the
water may be used for drinking purposes that leads so many of the in-
habitants to shun it, and take seltzer, gin, claret, and other imported liq-

uids to quench their thirst.

" They have a street railway here, but it is patronized only by the
natives, the Chinese, and the low class of foreigners. The track is good
enough, but the cars are the wildest contrivances you ever saw ; they are
common freight-cars fitted with rush seats, and their great weight makes
them difficult to move along the way. Perhaps, if they had the proper
kind of cars, the Europeans would ride in them, but they could hardly
•expect to pati'onize those now in use.
" It was a funny sight, when we were driving along the streets, to see
the ladies out for their morning promenade, with their hair streaming
down their shoulders, their bodies enclosed only in light wrappers, with
loose sacks buttoned to the throat, and with slippers, but no stockings, on
their feet. Most of them wore the sarong, or native petticoat, and they
generall}' carried parasols to keep off the sun. Tiiis is the forenoon cos-
tume of the ladies befoi'e they go to breakfast, and it strikes a foreigner

as very odd.
" Sometimes we saw a whole family sitting on the veranda of a house,
in full view of everybody passing along the street, looking as if i\\Qj had
just got out of bed and were only half dressed. The men would be in
dressing-gowns or pajamas, and the ladies with their hair down, as I have
•described, or twisted up into tight little lumps, so that the owners miglit
ii3
354 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

appear in the afternoon with a fine stock of curls. Occasionally we saw

some women with their hair cut close to the head, in order
fat, jolly old

to keep off as much of the heat as possible.

"We visited the museum and the botanical garden, and found them
quite interesting. The museum contains the products of Java, arranged
so that you can readily see what the resources of the island are and there ;

are relics of ancient times that throw light upon the history of the coun-
try and its people. The botanical garden abounds in tropical plants, and
reminded us of the garden at Singapore but we had not time to make a
;

list of its contents. We saw some fine specimens of a tree that had al-
ready attracted our attention at Singapore — the 'fan-palm,' or traveller's
fountain, as it is called. It spreads out like a huge fan, with the lower
part of the stalks quite bare, while the ends are formed exactly like feath-

1 V
^^^

t, .^ -
l'
\i^ ^^' \m
FAMILY I'AKTY IN BATAVIA.

ers. A small tree of this species would make a very good fan for a giant,
such as we read of in Gulliver's travels.

"In the old part of Batavia we saw so many Chinese that it would
not have required a great stretch of the imagination to believe that we
 CHINESE IN JAVA. 355

were once more in the Flowery Kingdom. In one of the narrowest

streets we met a couple of Chinese porters carrying a burden suspended
from a pole, the same as we had seen them in Canton and Shanghai, and
if ithad not been that our driver was very careful we might have run
over them. The Chinese are very numerous in Batavia, and all through
Java, and a great deal of the commercial business of the country is in
their hands. They are engaged in all kinds of trade where money is to

FAN-PALM IN THl) BOTANICAL GARDEN.

be made, and they have the same guilds and commercial associations that
they have in Singapore, Hong-kong, and elsewhere. They have their
temples and idols just as at home; and though many of them were born
in Java, and will probably never see the soil of China, they are as thor-
oughly Chinese asthough they were reared within the walls of Canton.
" One of the most common of the Chinese temples is that of the god-
dess 'Ma-Chu,' who is worshipped by sailors and those having business
356 THE I30Y TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST.

CHINESE PORTERS.

on the water. She is represented with her two assistants; one of them
is called ' Favorable-Wind-Ear,' and the other '
Thousand-Mile-Eye.' The
first is supposed to have an ear that can catch tlie least indication of a
wind to favor the sailor and the latter possesses a clearness of vision that
;

enables him to see a rock or other danger thousand

at the distance of a

miles. One listens, and

while the other looks
between them
; they are
believed able to insure a safe and speedy voyage to all their worshippers."

As our friends were somewhat wearied with their morning's work,

they remained in -doors from the time of the " rys - taffel " till three
o'clock. Then they followed the custom of tlie country by taking a
bath, and dressing for dinner; and after dinner they continued to be
in fashion by taking another drive. We will let Fred tell the story of
what they saw in the afternoon and evening.
"The fashionable hour for a promenade is after dinner, and all the
ladies and gentlemen consider it their duty to come out and be seen.
There are plenty of carriages on the streets, and also a goodly number
of gentlemen on horseback and it is rather a pretty sight to see the
;

gentlemen riding along by the carriages and chatting with the ladies
inside. —
Then there are many pedestrians the ladies being in light walk-
ing-dresses, and the gentlemen in full evening costume. The odd thing
about the promenades is that both sexes are bareheaded. This is all well
enough for the ladies; but it is rather strange to see a gentleman in full
dress, and carrying a cane along the street, with his head as bare as though
he was in a parlor. I am told that the ladies never wear hats or bou-
 FASHIONABLE PROMENADE IN THE EVENING. 357

nets, and that the only thing of that sort ever seen in Batavia is whea
foreigners first arrive here from other parts of the world. A ladies' hat-

store in Batavia would not be a paying speculation.

" On certain evenings there is music on the King's Square ; and at such
times everybody goes there to hear it. The crowd is large but very fash-
ionable, as it is the proper thing to go there ; and no one who can get out
will venture to miss the performance. The band stops playing a little
after dark, and then the drive may be said to be at its prettiest. The
footman of each carriage carries a torch made of some resinous plant tied
into a bundle, like a wisp of straw, and, as the carriages move around and
pass and repass each other, the scene is a curious one. All tlie houses are
a blaze of light, as the wide verandas are hung with lamps, and the whole
family is gathered there when not out for the drive. The veranda is the
general sitting-room, as everybody prefers it to the parlor on account of
its being so much cooler.
Perhaps j'ou are wondering when the men find time for business.
"

Well, they transact most of it in the forenoon, but their offices are open
in the afternoon in charge of the clerks. For the clerks there is no such
resting-time as I have described, or at best, only a short one, in the mid-
dle of the day. When a young man comes out here to seek his fort-
une, he must do pretty much as he would at home for the first year or
two ; when he is fairly established, he can have his time in the middle
of the day, and live like otlier people."

GODDESS OF SAILORS AND IIEK ASSISTANTS.

358 THE liOY TKAVELLEKS IN THE EAR EAST.

CHAPTEE XXVI.
BATAVIA TO BUITENZORG.—TROPICAL SCENES.— BIRDS OF PARADISE.

AS their time in Java was limited, our friends determined to cut short
their stay in Batavia, and go at once to the interior. Accordingly,
the morning following the day whose history was narrated in the last
chapter saw them leaving the city by railway for Buitenzorg.
Bnitenzorg is about forty miles from Batavia, and the summer resi-
dence of the Governor -general of Java; as it is summer all the year
round in Java, he spends most of his time at this country-seat, and rarely
visits Batavia except when business calls him there. The name is of
Dutch origin, and signifies " without care," in imitation of the French
/SdJis Souci. It is about one thousand feet above the level of the sea,

and much cooler than Batavia; and the surrounding region is one of
great natural beauty.
Doctor Bronson and his young companions were early at the railway-
station, and purchased their tickets for the journey. They found three
classes of carriages on the road the first and second being patronized
;

by foreigners, and the third class exclusively by natives and Chinese.

For their first-class tickets they paid six florins and thirty cents equal —
to two dollars and a half of our money. The second-class ticket costs
half as much as the first, and the third half as much as the second, so
that the natives are able to ride for about a cent and a half per mile.
The third-class carriages were crowded to such an extent that Frank and
Fred both i-emarked that the Javanese were as prompt as the Japanese
to recognize the value of the raihva}'. Men and women were closely
packed on the rough seats of the carriages of the third class, while those
in the firstand second, especially the former, had plenty of room.
"I supposethis is so the world over," said Fred, as he contemplated
the difference between the accommodations of the various classes on the
train.
Everywhere we have been, at any rate,'" responded Frank.
''

"Whatever accommodations you wish and can pa^' for," said the Doc-
 RAILWAYS IN JAVA. 359

tor, "you can have. If you want a special train at the price they demand,
you can have by paying in advance."
it

" It is the same in Java as in Europe, and, to a certain extent, we have

similar arrangements in America.
We are more democratic in our
ways than any other country of
importance, and consequently have
been slower to make the distinctions
in railway travel that exist in other
parts of the world. But we are
steadily moving in that direction,
and in time we will have all the dis-
tinctions of classes —special trains and
all. In fact, we have them already."
?"
"Aren't you mistaken, Doctor
said Fred. " Surely we do not have
three classes on our railways at
home."
" Stop
and think a moment,"
answered the Doctor, while there
was a suggestion of a smile about
his face. " We have the ordinary
railway carriage and the Pullman
SOMK OF THIS THIRU-CLASS I'ASSENGERS.
car, have we not?"
" Certainly,"was the reply " and they are virtually two classes."
;

"Quite right. Then, on the principal lines of railway there are the
emigrant trains, are there not?"
Fred acknowledged that the Doctor had the best of the argument,
and the conversation came to an abrupt termination, as it was time for
them to take their places in the carriage.
Away they started for their first ride on a railway-train south of the
equator. The suburbs of the city were speedily passed, and then tlie

train plunged into a tropical forest. The grade became steep as the
hilly ground was reached, and two locomotives were necessary for a part
of the way to pull the train up the heavy incline. Frank observed that
the carriages were quite narrow, and he found by measuring, at the first

station where they stopped, that the rails were only three and a half feet
apart. The present terminus of the line is at Buitenzorg; but surveys

have been made, and it is the intention to push the line forward and form
a connection with the system of railway in the eastern part of the island.
360 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

When this is done, a stranger will be able to travel the wliole length of
Java by rail, as he can now travel by wagon road.
Since the railway from Batavia to Buitenzorg was opened several vil-

lages have sprung into existence along the and some of them are
line,

quite pretty. They contain the residences of gentlemen whose business

is at Batavia, and are generally ari-anged with excellent taste. The gar-
dens are luxuriant, like nearly all gardens in the tropics and some of the ;

owners delight in adding wild animals to their collections of trees and

plants.
Then there are native villages in considerable number, some of them

VlliW IX A I'KIVATH GAKl)i:S.

concealed in the forest, and others standing in little clearings, where the
trees form an agreeable background. The train stopped frequently, and
 A QUESTION IN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 361

did not seem to be in a huny, although it was called an express, and was
the fastest on the line. Frank said that probably the heat of the tropics
3iad the same influence on a locomotive as on a man, and prevented its

NATIVE VILLAGE NEAR TIIK EAILWAY.

going rapidly. Fred said that Frank's reasoning reminded him of the
l)Oy at school, who was asked to give an illustration of the expanding
power of heat, and the contracting power of cold.
" Whatdid he do ?" Frank inquired.
" Whj'," responded Fred, " he thought for some minutes over the mat-
ter, and finally answered that the days in winter were not nearly as long
as those in summer, and
must be the cold that contracted them."
it

The boys observed that the trees in some instances grew quite close
to the track. Doctor Bronson explained to them that in the tropics it
was no small matter to keep a railway-line clear of trees and vines, and
sometimes the vines would grow over the track in a single night. It was
necessary to keep men at work along the track, to cut away the vegeta-
tion where it threatened to interfere with the trains, and in the rainy
season the force of men was sometimes doubled. " There is one good

•effect," said he, "of this luxuriant growth. The roots of the vines and
trees become interlaced in the embankment on which the road is built,
and prevent its being washed away by heavy rains. So you see there is,
after all, a saving in keeping the railway in repair."
362 TlIK BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

ji^^..

TKOPrCAL GROWTHS ALONG T'lK LINH.

 THE PRINCE OF FRUITS. 3C3

Frank noticed that some of the telegraph-poles had little branches

growing from them and at one place he saw a man near the top of a
;

pole engaged in cutting the limbs away. He called the attention of his
companions to the novel sight.
" You will see more of those trees as you go into the interior," said
tlie Doctor. " They grow with great rapidity ;and unless the wood is
thoroughly seasoned before the poles are set in the ground, they speedily
take root and become trees again. They are more pertinacious than
our American water-willows, as they will grow in any soil, wet or dry.
Wherever a clearing is made in tlie forest these trees spring up as if by

* *
\
V

" MANGOSTEUNS 1"

magic; and they run up so tall and straight as to be just what is wanted
for telegraph uses."
At several of the stations the natives offered fruit of different kinds,
and nearly all new to our young friends. They had been told that they
would probably find the mangosteen for sale along the road they had ;

inquired for it in Singapore, but it was not in season there, and now their
thoughts were bent upon discovering it between Batavia and Bnitenzorg.
Two or three times they were disappointed when they asked for it but ;

finally, at one of the stations, when Fred pronounced the word " mango-
364 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

steen," a native l\eld up a bunch of fi'uit and nodded. The Doctor look-
ed at the bunch, and nodded likewise, and Fred speedily paid for the prize.
Perhaps we had best let Fred tell the story of the inangosteen, which
he did in his first letter from Biiitenzorg:
"We have found the prince of fruits, and its name is mangosteen. It
is about the size of a pippin apple, and of a purple color —a very dark
purple, too. The husk, or rind, is about half an inch thick, and contains a
bitter juice, which is used in the preparation of dye; it stains the fingers
like aniline ink, and is not easy to wash off. Nature has wisely pro-
vided this protection for the fruit; if it had no more covering than the
ordinary skin of an apple, the birds would eat it all up as soon as it was
ripe. If I were a bird, and had a bill that would open the mangosteen, I
would eat nothing else as long as I could get at it.

"You cut this husk with a sharp knife right across the centre, and
then you open it in two parts. Out comes a lump of pulp as white as
snow, and about the size of a small peach. It is divided into sections like
the interior of an orange, and there is a sort of star on the outside that
tells you, before you cut the husk, exactl}' how many of these sections
there are. Having got at the pulp, you proceed to take the lump into
your mouth and eat it; and you will be too busy for the next quarter
of a minute to say an^'thing.
"Hip! hip! hurrah! It melts away in your montii like an over-ripe
peach or strawberry ; it has a taste that is slightly acid — very slightly,
too —but you can no more describe all the flavor of it than you can de-
scribe how a canary sings, or a violet smells. There is no other fruit I
ever tasted that begins to compare with it, though I hesitate to admit that
there is anything to surpass uuv American strawberrj' in its perfection, or
the American peach. If you could get all the flavors of our best fruits
in one, and then give that one the meltingness' of the mangosteen, per-
'

haps you might equal it but till you can do so, there is no use denying
;

that the tropics have the prince of fruits.

" Everybody tells us we can eat all the mangosteens we wish to, with-
out the slightest fear of ill results. Perhaps one might get weary of
them in time, but at present we are unable to find enough of them. If
anything would reconcile me to a permanent i-esidence in the tropics, it
would be the hope of always having plenty of mangosteens at m}' com-
mand.
" You may think," Fred added, " that I have taken a good deal of

space for describing this fruit, but I assure you I have not occupied half
what it deserves. And if you were here you would agree with me, and be
 ARRIVAL AT BUITENZOEG. 365

willing to give it all the space at your command—in and beyond your
month. But be careful and have it fully ripe; green mangosteens are
apt to produce colic, as Frank can you of his
tell own knowledge."
The train reached Buitenzorg, and deposited our three travellers at
the station. They had been recommended to the Hotel Bellevue, and
were soon whirling along the road It proved a
to that establishment.
sort of pocket edition of the hotel at Batavia, aswas scattered over ait

considerable area; and they had to go out-of-doors to pass from their

rooms to the dining-hall, but they found it had a delightful situation,
as it was on the slope of a hill overlooking a thickly-wooded valley.
In describing the scene from the veranda in front of his rooms, Frank
wrote as follows
" Our vision sweeps an area of several miles, beginning with a valley.

VBKANDA OF THE HOTKL UEI,T,E

and ending with a high mountain that was once an active volcano.
There are all the tropical trees imaginable in the valley before me.
Without changing my position in my chair, I can see cocoa-palms with
their clusters of fruit, betel-palms with tufts of green at the ends of tall
trunks like flag-staffs, banana, bread-fruit, plantain, mangosteen, durian.
306 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

VIEW FROM THE VERANDA AT BCITENZORG.

and many other kinds of trees whose names I have not yet learned. It
is the richest tropical scene that has yet come iznder my eyes.
" And, as if they were not rich enough in leafy decorations, the trees
are adorned with numerous parasites, some in the form of creeping vines,
and others in clusters and tufts springing from the crevices in the bark,
where the winds and birds have deposited the seeds. Nourishment for
these parasites come from the air, or from the trees to which they cling
sometimes the vines send down long threads which reach the ground,
where they attach themselves and throw out roots. At a little distance
they look like ropes, and you gaze at them in wonder. I have seen some
of them more than fifty feet long, and about the size of my wrist some-
;

times they are very thick and closely interlaced, so that it is no easy mat-
ter to ride orwalk in a forest where they abound.
" As Siam and Cochin China, the parasites frequently cause the
in
death of the trees to which they cling but the growth of trees is so rapid,
;

and there is such an abundance of them, that nobody seems to have any
sympathy for the victims in this matter of vegetable murder.
" Orchids are in great variety', and some of them are e,\ceedingly beau-

tiful. There is one known as the Vanda Lowii, which is described by Mr.
Wallace in his account of the Malay Archipelago. It grows on the lower
branches of trees, and its threads are often six or eight feet long, and
 A TREE GROWING IN MID-AIR. 367

strung witli flowers that vary in color from orange to red. These flow-
ers are often three inches across, and their brilliancy is increased by the
gloominess of the forests where they are found. Sometimes twenty or
thirty flowers may be found on a single thread, and they form a regular
spiral, as though strung there by hand.
" In other places you will see orchids like bright tufts of green cling-

ing to the bark of the trees, and apparently forming a part of it. The
botanists have found more than twenty varieties of this strange produc-
tion of nature in Java alone, and
probably a more careful examina-
tion will reveal many more.
" Some of the trees throw out
shoots from their limbs, which ulti-

mately take root and form separate

trunks. The most notable example
of this is the verengen : there is one
of these trees in the governor's park,
which has thrown out so many roots
that forms of itself quite a grove.
it

It belongs, I presume, to the same

family of tree as the famous banian
of India, and to trees of other name
but similar characteristics in other
parts of the world.
" One most remarkable
of the
trees in the Malay Archipelago is
said to begin its growth in mid-air.
Can you guess how it does so ?

" Originally the birds carry the

A UAD KOAD.
:seed of a certain parasite and drop it

in the fork of a tall tree. The parasite throws out its branches into the
air like other trees, and sends downwards till they reach the
its roots
ground. They spread as they descend, and form a sort of pyramid flfty
or sixty feet high, and so shaped that you can often stand inside and have
the body of the tree directly over your head. As the parasite grows it
wraps itself around the parent tree, and ultimately kills it; and in this
TOoist climate the dead trunk decays so rapidly that in a few years there
is hardly a trace of it left. The branches of the new tree throw out
roots of their own that go down to the ground and fasten themselves,
and every year sees several new ones. We have no tree like this in tiie
368 THE BOY 'I'RAVELLEKS IN THE lAK EAST.

United States, at least none that 1

know of.
" There is a small river flowing

through the valley in front of where I

am comes from the moun-
writing ; it

tains and we can

several miles away,
trace its course by the little openings
it makes in the forest. For a few hun-
dred yards we have it in full view, and
then it makes a bend right at the foot
of the hill where the hotel stands, and
disappears among the tropical trees.
Where it first comes into our range of
vision tliei'e is a bridge thrown across

it, and every little while we cati see the

natives passing and repassing to and
from a village tiiat is concealed under
the trees. Very often we see tliem
bathing in the stream, or washing
clothes there; when the bathers are a
group of boj's there is a great deal of
fun and laughter, and the scene is quite
as jolly when there is a lot of girls in
the water. They can swim like ducks,
and are constantly playing harmless
little tricks on each other, and some-
times in the afternoon their laughter
is steadily ringing in our ears. The
Javanese Malays are a happ^' people,
THE VANDA LOWII.
if I may judge by the inhabitants of
this little village, and they are as fond of the water as so many beavers.
" Before we left Batavia we were told that we should have rain here
every afternoon at three o'clock. Fred and I laughed at the suggestion,
but the Doctor did not; and we found, on arriving, that we had laughed
too soon. Really it rains every afternoon, and it does not vary twenty
minutes either way from three o'clock. The clouds form over the moun-
tain in the distance, and then they come sweeping on and on till they
reach this spot. The rain comes down first in a sprinkle, then in a show-
er,and then in a pour, as though some great flood-gates in the sky had
been opened as wide as possible, to give the water a chance. The rain
 THE GOVERNOK'S GARDEN. 369

lastsfrom one to three hours, and then the clouds go away and the sky is
clear. Sometimes there is a chance for a promenade just about sunset,
and sometimes not in any event, the grass is so wet that we can only
;

follow the roads if we would avoid coming home with our feet soaked.
"We have arranged our plans in such a way as to do our sight-seeing
in the forenoon, and devote the afternoon to writing and sleeping.
"We have visited the remarkable garden attached to the governor's

A TREE GROWING IN MID-AIR.

and seen the rare collection of specimens of the animal and

residence,
vegetable of the Malay Archipelago and the more we see of it, the
life ;

more do we wish to see. There are tigers and other animals, tiiat it is
370 THE BOY TKAVKLLEKS IN THE FAR EAST.

bettor to see in cages than to meet at home in the forest ; there are snakes
in good variety ; there are tanks containing a great number of fresh-water
fislies ; and last, but not least, there is a splendid collection of birds. I

never knew what a variety of birds and what curious ones there are in

the islands of the Java Sea, till I saw this collection here.
" You have heard of the birds of paradise, haven't you ? They have
some of them here, but not all the different kinds, as they are difficult to
capture, and very difficult to keep alive after they have been taken.
"Tiiese birds are not natives of Java, but come from the Moluccas
and other islands farther to the east. They were first called paradise
birds by the writers of three hundred years ago, and some of the Portu-
guese and Dutch travellers told a good many fables about them. John
Van Linschoten, who wrote in 1698, says that 'no one has seen these birds
alive, for they live in the air, always turning towards the sun, and never

lighting on the earth till they die for they have neither feet nor wings,
;

as ma}' be seen by the birds carried to India, and sometimes to Holland.'

More than a hundred years later, an English writer, who saw some speci-
mens at Amboyna, was told that they came to Banda to eat nutmegs, by
which they became intoxicated and fell down senseless.
"We were disappointed in the size of the birds in the governor's gar-
den, as we had supposed that the bird of paradise was very large. But
we found they were only moderate- sized, and resembled crows and ra-
vens in their general appearance and habits, but not at all in their
plumage. Instead of being of a solemn black, like their cousins I have
mentioned, they have the most extraordinary arrangement of feathers that
any bird can boast. Mr. Wallace says that several species have large
tufts of delicate, bright-colored feathers springing from each side of the
body beneath the wings, forming trains, or fans, or shields and the mid- ;

dle feathers of the tail are often elongated into wires, twisted into fantas-
tic In another
shapes, or adorned with the most brilliant metallic tints.
plumes spring from the head, the back, or the shoul-
set of species these
ders; while the intensity of color and of metallic lustre displayed by
their plumage is not to be equalled by any other birds except, perhaps,
the humming-birds, and is not surpassed by these.
" The largest of these birds is known as the Great Bird of Paradise,
and is seventeen or eighteen inches from the point of the beak to the end
of histail. There is nothing remarkable about his body, wings, and tail,
which are of a deep brown color, varying somewhat in shade, while the
head and neck are of a pale yellow. The wonderful things are the
plumes that spring from each side beneath the wings; they are some-
OKXITHOLOGICAL PROUUCTIONS OF THE FAR EAST. 371

CROUP OF BIRDS IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.

372 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

times two feet long, and of a bright orange-color tinged with gold; and
the}' can be raised and spread out at the pleasure of the owner like the
tail of a peacock. When
.--=4^^j*Si91'ij4&^ t^sy ^^^ *'hus extended
you can hardly see the
body of the bird, as they
seem to envelop it com-
pletely; and if you are
hunting him, and ready
for a shot, you must guess
how much of what you
see is bird and how mucli
feathers. It is only the
male bird that gets him-
self up so gorgeously the ;

MAGNIFICKNT UIKD OF PARADISE. female is a plain -looking

creature, of a uniform
brown color, without a bit of ornament anywhere. She might be mis-
taken for a crow that had been left overnight in a coffee-pot.
" Then there is the Red Bird of Paradise, which is somewhat smaller
than the one I liave just described, and comes from a small island off the
coast of New Guinea. Tliere is the Magnificent Bird of Paradise, from
the main - laud of New
Guinea, which has a tuft
or fan of yellow feathers
springing from the back
of his neck, and shading
his shoulders and his tail
;

contains two long feath-

ers, each curving outwards,
so thatit forms a circle.

Fred said that these tail-

feathers looked like the
handles of a pair of scis-

sors, and he wondered if

the bird could be taken SDPEUB lilKD OF PARADISE.

up by them. The Superb
Bird of Paradise has a plumage of glossy black, and is not unlike a
crow, so far as his body is concerned but he has a remarkable shield
;

on his breast of stiff, narrow feathers, very glossy, and of a bright tinge
 BIRDS OF PARADISE. 373

of bluish green. On liis head he has another and larger shield, of a vel-

vety black color, and tinged with pur-

ple and bronze. This shield is lon-
ger than the wings, and gives the bird
a most extraordinary appearance.
"Mr. Wallace mentions no less

than eighteen varieties of the birds

of paradise. I have not time to de-
scribe all of them, and believe I have
told you of those that are the most
remarkable. All of them are very
pretty, and would be a fine addition
to a public or private museum. There
is one known as tlie Six-shafted Bird
of Paradise that has six little wires
springing from the forehead, and ex- Srx-SHAFTKD BIRD OF TARADISi:.
tending over the body to the tip of

the tail. These wires have little tufts at the ends, but for the rest of the
way they are as bare as knitting-needles. There is another, called the
Long-tailed Bird of Paradise, and it is partially described by its name,
as its tail is very long, and of the most
brilliant colors. Then it has a tuft of
blue and green plumes springing from
each side of the breast in such a way
that when the bird is standing on a
tree the position of the wings is en-
tirely concealed.
" Perhaps
you have heard enough
about the birds of the Malay Archi-
pelago for tlie present. The rain
promises to be over in a little while,
and we may be able to take a sunset
walk. Of one thing we are certain
LONG-TAILED BIRD OF PARADISE. there will be no dust on the road,
and the grass will be beautifully
green."
574 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IM THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTER XXVir.
A CHAPTER ON POLITICAL ECONOMY.—THE DUTCH CULT'URE SYSTEJI
IN JAVA.

TT^OR several days Frank and Fred, accompanied by the genial Doctor,
-- made excursions in the neighborhood of Buitenzorg in the forenoon,
and remained in -doors, during the rainy period, in the afternoon. A
good many things eatne under their observation they studied the agri-
;

culture in the region around the summer capital, and learned all they
could about the manners and customs of the people. They investigated
the peculiarities of the Dutch dominion over Java, and were much in-
terested in the problem of governing seventeen millions of Asiatics with
thirty thousand Europeans in such a way as to keep the millions per-
fectly content with the new rule, and enable a handsome amount of
money to go every year from Java to the treasury of Holland.
The rainy afternoons were spent in reading, drawing, writing, and
conversation and the boys soon learned that the time in-doors was by
;

no means without value. Tliey formed an acquaintance with several

gentlemen who were stopping at the hotel for the sake of the breezes,
that were cooler than those of the sea-coast. Many of the foreign resi-
dents of Batavia are in the habit of going frequently to Buitenzorg, as
a New Yorker goes and this recreation is so much the fash-
to Saratoga ;

ion that several hotels do a very good business in providing for their
wants. The Bellevue was one of the popular resorts, and it happened
that there was quite a party of Batavians there at the same time as our
friends.
While making notes of their visit to the governor's garden, the
boys
began drawing pictures of the elephant as he would appear when devel-
oped according to the theories of Doctor Darwin. Frank made the Yan-
kee elephant with the traditional garments and jack-knife, and Fred
followed it with a Chinese elephant peddling cigars from a small box.
Frank designed the operatic elepliant entertaining an audience with a
song, and was immediately followed by Fred with the elephant in love,
 A GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOURSE. 375

engaged in a serenade. Of course

there was no allusion to Frank's fre-
quent thoughts of somebody at home,
and if any one entertained the idea
he kept it to himself. The sei'ies
was brought to a close by a delinea-
tion of the original elephant in two
acts; but the designers neglected to
state where this particular perform-
ance of the animal could be wit-
nessed.
THE YANK-EE ELEPHANT.
One of the first practical results
of their afternoon work was the preparation of a brief description of
Java, which was duly forwarded by mail to their friends. Both the boys
contributed to its preparation, and each
made a copy for his own use. Here
is the story
" Java is not of great extent. It
is only six hundred miles long, and
varies from sixty to one hundred and
twenty in width its area added to
:

that of the island of Madura, which

lies near it, is estimated at thirty-eight
thousand geographical square miles.
Its population is not far from seven-
THE CHINESE ELEPHANT.
teen millions; and when this is con-
sidered with relation to its extent, it one of the
will be seen that Java is

most densely-peopled countries in the world. That the country has pros-
pered under the rule of the Dutch, is evident from the growth of the pop-
ulation, which was little more than iive
millions in 1826, nine millions in 1850,
and is now at the figure just mention-
ed. If it goes on at this rate, dou-
bling about every twenty -six years,
there will come a time when it will

be obliged to put out a placard an-

nouncing standing room only !'
'

"It is said that formerly the re-

ligion of the people of Java was
Brahminical, and when Buddhism be- THE OPEKATIC ELEPHANT.
376 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

came the fasliion of the East the new-

form was adopted. This continued
till about four hundred j'ears ago,
when Mohammedanism -was intro-
duced, and it has remained to this
day; so that the greater part of the
population at present are Moslems.
There are many traces of the former
character of the people in the shape
of monuments and ruins, some of them
of great extent. Iji the eastern part
THK ELlil'IlANT IN LOVE.
of the island these remains are very
abundant, and show that the ancient Javanese had great artistic skill.
" Few persons have any idea of the extent of these ruins, and their
corresponding splendor. They are far more extensive than those of Cen-
tral America, and some travellers think they surpass the temple ruins of
India. In the centre of Java there is a mass of ruins where there
were formerly twenty separate temples, and the largest of them is
thought to have been ninety feet
high. In another place there is

a collection of no less than two

hundred and ninety-six temples,
all greatly ruined, but bearing
evidence of a high class of art
in their construction. Sculptured
figures are abundant, and the walls
of forts, temples, houses, baths,
and aqueducts can be distinctly
traced. It is a pity that the gov-
ernment does not pay some atten-
tion to these ruins, and save them
from decay. At present they are
left to the action of the elements,
which is very rapid in this trop-
ical land.

"Java is by no means a level

island. There is a good deal of
country sufficiently level for agri-
cultural purposes, but the island
has its full share of mountains, ANCIKNT UAS-KELIEF— JAVA.
 VOLCANOES IN JAVA. 377
and no less than forty-six of them arc volcanic. Twenty of the volca-
noes are active, and one of them is the second largest in the world— that
of Kilauea, in tiie Sandwicli Islands, being the chief. It is known as
the Tenger Mountain, and its crater is three miles in diameter,
with a
level bottom of sand, containing a dozen or more cones that
are con-
stantly smoking. The whole island is supposed to be of volcanic ori-
gin, and is subject to frequent earthquakes ; so that the practice of build-
ing houses only one story high is a very sensible precaution. Tlie
island
has a backbone of mountains, as the principal chain extends from one
end

A MONSTKK VOLCANO.

of Java to the other. There is another small cJiain near the south coast
and all over the island there are hot springs maintained by the fires far
down in the ground.
"We have already told of the trees and animals of Java, as well as
some other things. We will come as soon as we can to tlie topic that in-
terests us more than any other —
the relations between tlie natives and the
Dutch rulers. To do this intelligently, we must go back and see what
the history of the island has been.
" Early in the seventeentli century the Dutch began to trade with tlie
378 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

native chiefs and people of Java, and obtained permission to build a iort
and trading post near the present site of Batavia. In a little while they
went to war with the natives and by the end of the century had ob-
;

tained considerable territory. From that time on they have had occa-
sional difficulties, and each time when the war was ended the result has
been that the position of the Dutch was strengthened.
"
They had possession of the island till 1811, when England took it
from them, and held it four years. Then it was given back to Holland
by treaty, and has remained her peaceful possession ever since.
" The principal exports are coffee, sugar, rice, indigo, spices, tin, pep-
per. India-rubber, cinnamon, tea, camphor, rattans, and various other
things; and the aggregate amount of the trade is very great. Down
to the time of the restorationby the English, the expense of maintaining
Java had been quite revenue from it and it was this fact
as great as the ;

that made the English willing to give it up. If they had known that
it would be made to yield a net revenue of five million dollars a year,

over and above the expense of maintaining the local government, they
would have thought twice before surrendering it.
" The genius of one man —
General Johannes Van den Bosch, Gov-
ernor-general and Commissary- general of tlie Dutch East Indies, from
—
1830 to 1834 brought about this result, and made Java the most profit-
able colony that any country has ever known.
" And he not only made it profitable to Holland, but prosperous for
its inhabitants ; while they enriched the rulers, they were themselves en-
riched. Anybody who has money may benefit the poor at his own ex-
pense, but it takes a man of genius to confer an equal benefit on the
poor, and make sometliing for himself or his employers out of the trans-
action. Such a man was General Van den Bosch.
"Down to 1830, the exjienditure to inaintain the Dutch government
in Java was a steady burden on the treasury of Holland, as it was greater
than the revenue from the island. General Van den Bosch was sent out
in that year with plans of his own for making Java profitable but there ;

were many who considered him a visionary schemer, whose experiments

were sure to result in disastrous failure. He proposed to offer liberal
terms to the respectable Europeans in Java for cultivating the soil, and
producing such things as were needed in Europe. He further proposed
to make the peasants who lived on the government lands plant a certain
portion of those lands with crops needed in Europe, and which the gov-
ernment would buy of them at a certain fixed rate. His scheme was
shaped to cover the following principles
 PLAKS OF GENERAL VAN DEN BOSCH. 379

" 1. Profit to tlic peasant, to make the new system acceptable.

" 2. Profit to the contractor, to induce its extension by private enter-
prise.
" 3. A percentage to the officials, to secure their active support.

PEASANT FAKM-HOUSKS.

"4. Personal interest of the village community in its success, so as to

secure careful cultivation.
"5. Improvement in the tax-payer's means, in order to increase the
revenue and facilitate its payment.*
" The plan for making advances to the contractors was carried out by
crediting each one with the money estimated necessary to start his manu-
factory ; and he was expected to apply it under government supervision
to the construction of his mill, and placing it in working order. It was

loaned to him for twelve years, without interest ; but he was expected to
repay a tenth of it the third year, and a similar amount in each succeed-
ing year till the whole amount was repaid. Many persons refused the
proposal, but there were others who gladly accepted it, and went to work
at once.
"It was further provided that the government would advance to the

* For much of the infoim.ition concerning the culture-system of General Van den Bosch
and its results, the author is indebted to the excellent and exhaustive work of Mr. J. W. B.
Money, entitled "Java; or, How to Manage a Colony."
3SU THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

contractor, at the beginning of every season, the money necessary to pro-

duce his crop ;
and this advance was to be repaid out of the crop when it

was gathered. There were many details of the plan which would require
too much space to describe, and they were varied from time to time in
order to make them as practicable as possible. Besides —
moment," said Frank, when they had reached this point.
" Stop a
" Don'tyou think we are making this part of our story a little too
heavy? I am afraid Mary and Miss Effie, and the rest of the young
folks in our families, may not enjoy it."
" Perhaps not," replied Fred " but then, you know, the whole family
;

is to read our letters, and I am sure the subject will be very interesting
to my father, and to yours too. And I think you will find the younger
folks will like it, because it will teach them something of what is called
political economy. Every intelligent boy and girl in America wants to

UOilK OF A PROSPEROUS CONTHACTOR.

know about the science of government; the history of the colonial gov-
ernment of Java is very interesting to both of us, and I believe we had
better assume that it will be equally so to persons of our age at home.
 CULTl\'A'riON UNDER GOVEKNMEXT PATRONAGE. 381

So go ahead, if you please, and if anybody doesn't want to read wliat we

have written, he may skip it."
Work was resumed without further discussion.
" Down to the time we are considering the chief product of the soil

COFFEE-PLANTATION IN THE MOUNTAINS.

tilled by the Javanese peasants was rice. General Van den Bosch pro-
posed to have tliem cultivate coffee, sugar, and other articles that com-
manded a ready sale in Europe; and, as the government would buy the
crop at a certain fixed price on the spot, the peasant would have a mar-
ket at his door, and feel certain that he would not be robbed by middle-
men and commission merchants, as is too often the case in other countries
besides Java. The government was sufficient to make a
price paid by
fair return for the labor employed in making the crop, and at the same
time low enough to allow a handsome profit when it was sold in Hol-
land."
" That explains something I have never before understood," said Fred,
as he laid aside his pen for a moment.
" What is that ?" Frank inquired.
" Why, we often read in the papers at home about the price of ' Old
382 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Government Java Coffee.' It is the coffee the government buys of the

producer, and then sells in the
market."
" Exactly so," Frank re-

sponded. " That bit of infor-

mation will interest a good
many boys in America."
"And men too,"- chimed
in the Doctor, who was sit-

ting in an arm-chair close at

hand, and watching the clouds
as they rolled over the moun-
tainill the background of the

&< view from the vei-anda.

" I want to know," said
Frank, " how the enterprising
general proposed to compel
the people to work in the
fields and cultivate the crops,
when they might spend their
time under the trees, and pluck
the fruit when they needed it

to supply their wants."

"Mr. Money says," an-
swered Fred, " that the gen-
eral made a careful study of
the relations between the peo-
ple and tlieir native rulers,
lie found a patriarchal form
of government, the villages
being ruled by their chosen
chiefs; several villages form-
ing a sort of district, and sev-
eral districts united into a
province or principality. It
'
OLD GOVKRNMENT JAVA.
was the policy of General Van
den Bosch to take this organization as he found it and, instead of over-
;

tiirowing the native rulers, he would strengthen them, and make it for
their interest,and that of their subjects, to be on friendly terms with the
Dutch. This policy was adopted, and it is carried out to this day.
 TREATMENT OF CONQUERED PROVINCES. 38S

"Now, under the old system of government, before the Dutch came
to Java, the peasant was required to give one-fifth of ]iis labor gratui-
tously ill return for the rent of the land, which was considered to be the
property of tlie prince. When the Dutch captured a region, they claimed
that they had captured the prince, and not the people, and that the reve-
nues belonged to them as the conquerors. In some of the provinces the
Dutch hold possession by treaty, and not by conquest; and the revenues
continue to go to the prince as before. To develop the producing ca-
pacities of the country, they made an estimate of the quantity of any
given article that each district ought to raise under proper management,
and then they required the native ruler of the district to see that there
was the proper production. Allowance was made for bad seasons, or
other calamities; and if the production fell short, without any assignable
cause, the ruler found his revenues
cut off. The government bought
the product, as we have already seen,
and made its profit. The prince had
his revenue and was happy, and the
same was the case with the subor-
dinate chiefs. The peasant was re-
warded for his labor and, as he had
;

no more tax to pay than under the

old system, he had nothing to com-
plain of.
" The crown-lands, or those ob-
tained by conquest, were the ones
let out to contractors. They were
generally on long leases, so that the
contractor was encouraged to make
improvements and the ; result is

that cultivation by private manage-

ment has been greatly increased,
and large fortunes liave been made
in many instances. The govern-
ment takes its rental by receiving a A JAVANESE CHIEF.

share of the crops; and it watches

over the relations between the lessee and his laborers, to see that neither
practicesany imposition on the other. Each must keep his agreement, un-
der severe penalties, and the whole system is said to work very smoothly.
"The Dutch ofiicials all over the island have no dealings with the
384 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

natives except tlirougli their own rulers. The native

princes have the
title of regents, and the authority of each supreme in his district as
is

long as he carries out the policy of the government. A Dutch resident

or assistant-resident lives near each regent, and is considered to be his
'
elder brother,' who advises the younger what to do. He frequently
makes recommendations to the regent, though he never gives orders but ;

it is pretty clearly understood that he expects tiie recommendation to be

adopted. The resident has a few subordinate Europeans, who go through

the district at regular intervals, and visit every village it contains. They
talk with the lower native rulers, examine the proceedings of the native
courts, investigate the condition of the government plantations, hear the

AN IMPROVED SUOAK ESTATE.

complaints of the people against their head men, or petty chiefs, and lis-

ten to any suggestions that are offered. Disputes are settled in the local
courts without the intervention of a Dutch official; but in case of dissat-
isfaction they may be appealed to the district court, and, if not settled
there, they may be carried to the highest courts of the island.
" There is through Java, and by
a very efficient police system all

means of it, added to the employment of the people in honest industry,

the amount of crime has been enormously reduced in the past fifty years.
Every man, woman, and child in Java is registered, and each village chief
is made responsible to a certain extent for the conduct of his subjects.

An offence against the law can be readily traced, and if the village or its
chief are at fault, a fine is assessed upon them. Consequently everybodv
 ADVANTAGES OF THE DUTCH POLICY. 385

in a village is directly interested in seeing that everybody else behaves

properly.
" Well, to sum up the results of the Dutch system of culture in Java,
we can say as follows
" From being an expense to Holland, the island now yields an annual
revenue of more than five millions of dollars to the royal treasury, after
paying all the costs of the colonial rule. The expenses of the latter
are by no means small, as
the salaries of the officials

are on a liberal scale. The

Governor - general receives
$100,000 a year, besides
$60,000 additional for en-
tertainments. It is said
that the latter figure pays
nearly all his expenses, so
that he can, if he chooses,
lay aside $100,000 a year for
a rainy day. A Resident in
a province receives $10,000,
in addition to free rent of
house and all surrounding
buildings, and an allowance
for extras. The subordinate
officials are paid in propor-
tion ; so that nobody is

obliged to rob the govern-

ment or the people in or-

der tomake an honest liv- RETAINERS OF A JAVANESE REGENT.

ing.
" Crime and litigation have been so reduced that the sittings of the

local courts do not average thirty days a year.

" Formerly there was much poverty and suffering in Java now
;

nearly every man, woman, and child appears to be well fed and clothed,
and a beggar is a very rare sight.
" The import and export trade have been increased fourfold, in spite

of the protective policy, which is the necessary attendant of the Java

culture system.
" The population has more than trebled in sixty years, and promises to
increase in the same ratio, unless interrupted by some great calamity.
25
386 THE BOY TRAVELLKKS IN THE FAR EAST.

Those who have travelled in both Java and India sa^' that the con-
"

trast in the conditions of thetwo countries is something enormous. In

Java there is hardly any indication of poverty, and the public works are
all in excellent shape ; while in India the reverse is the case. Want and
degradation are visible everywhere, and the traveller has daily and hourly
appeals for charity. Famines are frequent in India, and in the year 1877
more than a million people died of starvation in Bengal and Madras.
Famines are virtually unknown in Java, and in case of a general drought
to cut oif the crops, relief could be carried promptly to all parts of the
island by means of the excellent roads that the Dutch have constructed.
" There is a great deal more that we might say, but it is getting near

bed-time, and we will stop for the present. The wind sets our candle in
a flicker, and it is 'guttering' in a way that threatens to extinguish it
altogether. Good-night !"

r.OOD-NIGHT.
 THE JAVANESE RICE-FIELDS. 387

CHAPTER XXVIII.
RICE CULTURE IN JAVA.—MILITARY AND SOCIAL MATTERS.

BRIGHT and early the next morning the boj'S were out for a visit to

a place where there was a spring of remarkably cold watei*. It was

about two miles from Buitenzorg, and the road leading to it ran through
a palm forest and among They had an opportunity to see the
rice-fields.

care with which tlie Javanese till The hilly ground is laid out
their land.
in terraces, one above another, and when the water has performed its
work in one place, it goes to the terrace next below thus it is made to ;

do duty over and over again. There are large reservoirs where water can
be stored in the wet season, and kept for the period when the rain-fall
ceases. By close attention to the needs of the soil and the peculiarities
of the climate, the Javanese are able to make their land extremely pro-
ductive, and a failure of crops is a very rare occurrence. On much of the
rice-land they grow two crops a year.
The spring was of goodly size, and flowed into a pool fifty or sixty
feet across. A house had been erected at one side of this pool, and was
overshadowed by banana and cocoa trees; it had a lot of dressing-rooms,
where the boys were not long in donning the proper costume for a bath.
They sliivered somewiiat when they first entered the water; but the shock
did not last long, and then they found the sensation was most delicious.
The place was in charge of a Chinese, who demanded a most exorbitant
price for the use of the bath and a few bananas and mangosteens that
were ordered. When tiiey offered a low sum, he bowed, and seemed to
say that, if he could not have what lie wanted, he would take what they
offered, which was a good deal more than he deserved.
On had a different view of the rice-fields, and Fred
their return they
made note of the fact tliat wlien you look upwards on a lot of rice-fields
you see nothing but a series of terraces, while, looking downwards, you
seem to be gazing on a lake. While the water is on the fiats, the ground
is stirred with a harrow drawn by a pair of buffaloes; the rice is sown,

and as soon as the plants are of the requisite height the surplus ones are
388 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

THE HOUSE AT THE SI'Ul.SG.

taken out and transplanted. The crop is then started, and the farmer lias

little to do till the time of harvest, beyond taking care that his fields have
plenty of water. When the harvest is made, the paddy —as the uncleaned
rice is called — is cut and taken to the mill.
Kice- mills are abundant in Java; some are run by steam, manj' by
water, and many small ones by horses and buffaloes. The rice -mill is
quite simple, and consists of a shaft like a ship's capstan and four project-
ing arms. Each arm has a wheel at the end, and as the shaft goes i-ound
the wheels revolve in a circular groove containing the rice to be cleaned.
The wheel removes the husk, and when this is done a wiimowino--mill
separates the rice from the chaff or trash. This is the whole operation.

The rice-mill of to-day is practically what it was a hundred years ago.

 MODES OF CLEANING COFFEE. 389

The Dutch liave introduced farming implements of the European pat-

tern on some of the estates, but tiie natives do not generally take kindly
to the innovation. Tliey prefer the old form of ploughs which have been
in use from ancient days, and think that what was good for their fatliei's
is good for them. Frank made a sketch of a primitive plough it had a ;

single handle, and its point could only scratch a furrow in the soil with-
out turning it over.
At one place they saw a native engaged in pounding coffee in a large
mortar, to separate the berry from the hull. He had a heavy pestle which
he held in both hands, and the perspiration standing on his face showed
that the labor was not one of pure pleasure.
On all the large coffee estates improved machinery is in use for the
preparation of the product. Tlie berry as it comes from the tree is about

POUNDING COFFEE.
390 THE BOY travellers: IN THE FAR EAST.

the size of an Englisli walnut the bean

is enclosed in a thick husk, and
;

the great point in the preparation remove the husk without injuring
is to
the bean. Pounding by hand is likely to damage the bean by breaking
it, and when this is done the market value of the coffee is considerably

reduced. Inventors have studied the problem, and a good many ma-
chines have been devised to accomplish the desired separation. The
most successful one thus far is the invention of an Englishman in Ceylon,
and iiis machines are in use all over the coffee-producing world.
He has called the principle of specific gravity to his aid, and made it

,L.

DUTCH OVEUSliEUS.

very useful. Tiie eoffee-horry floats on water, as the husk is very light,

but the bean by itself sinks to the bottom. A stream of water floats the
berries along a narrow channel, and feeds them automatically into a
groove where two plates of copper revolve in opposite directions about
half an inch apart. These plates crush the berry, but do not injure the
bean ; the husk and bean together are carried to a trough, where the bean
sinks and is caught in a tub, while the useless husk floats away to what-
ever distance the water is made to carry it. The coffee is then spread out
on a platform and dried in the sun, and it is afterwards sorted, winnowed,
 DUTCH OFFICIALS MUST LEARN MALAY. 391

and made ready for market. The work is supervised by Dutch overseers,
but ail the manual labor is performed by natives.
On returning from their ride, and while at breakfast, the boys had a
conversation with one of the gentlemen whose acquaintance the}' had
made during the rainy afternoons on the veranda. Fred was curious to
know why he did not hear a single native speaking Dutch or English,
but confining himself strictly to Malay.
" That is easily explained," said the gentleman. " It is the polic}' of
the Dutch not to teach their language to the natives, but they require all

their own officials to learn Malay. They have a school or college in Hol-
land, at the old town of Delft, which was established in 1842, for the ex-
press purpose of fitting young men for the East Indian service. Before
they can graduate, the students must pass an examination in the usual
college studies, and also in the Malay language, Mohammedan justice and
laws, and in a knowledge of the country and nations of Netherlands In-
dia. Of course they are not expected to speak tlie Malay language fiu-
ently on leaving college, but they know a good deal of it when they land
here, and are expected to know more before they have been long in Java.
If they are not able to converse easily in Malay by tiie end of a couple of
years, they are liable to be sent home. This makes them study hard, and
renders them far more useful than if they could talk only in Dutch.
" You see how it works," he continued. " The Dutch officials can

talk and write in their own language with very little fear that tiie natives
can understand a word ; but no native can write or say anj'thing that
ever}' Dutch official cannot comprehend at once. On several occasions
they have been able to nip conspiracies in the bud by this advantage, par-
ticularly at the time of the great mutiny in India. Then they do not en-
courage missionaries to labor among the natives ; they argue that the na-
tives are quite content with the religion thej' have, and it would inter-
fere with their labor in the field to become interested in Christianity.
And if a missionary should open a school to teach any other language
than Malay, and endeavored to tell the principles of any European or
American religion to tiie natives, he would be very liable to receive a no-
tice to leave the island at an early date."
A company of soldiers marched past the hotel while the party was at
breakfast. After looking at them, Fred inquired, " How large an army do
they keep here, and how is it composed ?"

"The number of troops in the field, or on duty in garrisons, varies

from time to time," was the reply, " and therefore an account of the army
at one date is not altogether good for another. The army is composed.
392 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

like that of India, partly of native and partly of European soldiers. The
native force is Mohammedan, and is filled up by voluntary
exclusively
•enlistments, never by conscriptions. The European portion is also volun-
tary, and the conscript troops in the army in Holland are never sent to
Java. The infantry is divided into field battalions and garrison battal-
ions, and the soldiers in each battalion are one-tiiird European and two-
thirds native. Each battalion contains six companies, the two flank com-
panies consisting of European soldiers, and the four centre companies of
natives. The native companies are composed of the different Moham-
medan tribes and sects from all parts of Netherlands India, all mixed
together, so that there shall never be a large majority of one kind of
people in the same battalion."
" That is a ver^' shrewd arrangement," said Frank, " as it prevents a
mutiny by making it impossible for a whole battalion to have a common
grievance."
"Not only that," the gentleman replied, "but
it facilitates the move-

ment of the troops and the Dutch say that their principal object in mak-
;

ing the battalions in this way was in consequence of tlie character of the
service. The Dutch East Indies are of great extent, and it is often neces-
sary to make marches where there are no roads, and the few bridges that
exist are only intended for persons on foot. Consequently, they can never

FOOT-UUIDGli OVliU A MOUNTAIN STllEAM.

 HOW THE ARMY IS MAINTAINED. 393

move troops in large bodies, owing to tlie difficulty of carrying pro-

tlieir

visions. Each battalion under the present system has the means of trans-
porting its own provisions, ammunition, and ligiit mountain guns where
there are no roads, as the native soldiers can act as porters, while the Eu-
ropeans compose the fighting force in case an enemy is encountered.
" All the commissioned officers arc Europeans, and in each native
company two of the four sergeants and four of the eight corporals must
be Europeans; and some of them live in the barrack-rooms with the na-
tive soldiers. The European companies in each battalion have barracks
separate from the natives, but close at hand and whenever any of the
;

soldiers of the native companies are sent on duty, they are accompanied
by a proportionate number of Europeans. There is a difference in the
pay and food of the European and native soldiers; but in all other re-
spects they are treated as nearly alike as possible.
" There is a free school attached to each battalion for the education
of both adults and children ; and their
the soldiers are urged to attend it,

cliildren are required to do so. Every whether

officer of the battalion,

commissioned or non-commissioned, who has any peculiar knowledge, is

required to give it to the school; and any soldier of the battalion who
has a talent for instructing can be appointed an assistant-teacher in the
and be relieved from duties that are purely military except in
school, —
time of war. All soldiers, whether native or European, can have their
wives and children with them, except when on active service in the
field."

Fred thought the Java soldiei* had an easy time of it. Frank tliought
so too and asked if he had any more privileges than those that had been
;

named.
" Yes," was the reph"^ " there is the privilege of a house and garden."
;

" What !" said one of the boys, " a house and garden for soldiers in the
!"
army
"Certainly," responded their informant; "when a regiment is not
quartered in the city, the soldiers are rewarded for good conduct by re-
ceiving a plot of ground near the barracks, with the privilege of building
a hut. European and native are treated alike in this respect and it has ;

been found the greatest incentive to good conduct. The man spends his
time with his family in the cultivation of his garden when he is not on
—
duty which is by far the larger part of the day. He returns to the bar-
racks at night, and his family may remain in the hut or go with him to the
military quarters.
"But I haven't told you how large the army of Java is. Ordinarily,
394 THE BOV TKAVELLEUS IN THE FAR EAST.

there are about twenty-five thousand men of all arms; Ijut at present the
number is greater, owing to the war in Sumatra, which requires an extra

REWARDS FOU GOOD CONDUCT.

force. Tlie infantry is the most important branch of the service, and is
composed as I have told you. Tlie engineers consist of Europeans and
natives mixed together in the same conijianies; the artillery has Euro-
pean gunners and native riders, and the cavalry are nearly all Europeans.
There is a colonial navy with several gun-boats, which are generally oc-
cupied in seeing that the pirates throughout the Archipelago are kept in
proper subjection. And there is also a militia force, which is only to be
called on in emergencies: it consists of a cavalry and an infantr\- corps;
and every European living in Java, whetlier Dutchman or other foreign-
er, must belong to the militia or the fire-brigade."

The boys thought this was a severe regulation but the}' changed ;

their minds when told that the militia-service was very slight, and a
man might be a member of the fire-brigade for j'cars without any call
being made for his assistance. The Europeans in the interioi- are ex-
empt from service, except in cases of special emergency and those liv- ;

ing in the cities are not often called upon. Englishmen and others have
 PASSPORT AND RESIDENT RESTRICTIONS. 395

complained of the requirement to do militia and fire-brigade service, but

are met with the reply which cannot be easily answered: "If yon don't
like the laws and customs of Java, you had better emigrate."
" The Dutch rulers of Java do not pretend they are occupying the
country for any other purpose than to make money out of it. They
never talk about their great mission of civilizing and enlightening the
benighted people of the East, as the English do in India; and when-
ever anybody is disposed to find fault with them, they say to him with-
out hesitation, 'If you don't like things as you find them here, you would
do well to leave. The steamer will start for Singapore in a few days, and
you are at liberty to take passage at once.'
" You must have a passport on landing in Java, or, if you have none,
the consul of your country must vouch for you. You must get a per-
mission to travel in the interior; it is very rarely refused, and only when
the authorities are satisfied that you have the intention of doing harm."
Frank asked what it would be necessary to do in case he desired to
remain permanently, and become an inhabitant of Java.
" You can stay here six weeks," was the reply, " without any formali-

1.1/

PIllATB PRISONEKS ON A OOLONIAI, GUN-BOAT.

tiesbeyond the ordinary permission of the police, which costs nothing.

But if you want to live here you must apply for permission on a printed

form, and have two householders of the place where you are to endorse
396 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE EAR EAST.

your application. If tliere is no objection to your staying, the desired

document will be granted by the Governor-general, and the fees and
stamps connected with it will cost you about forty dollars of American
money."
"Does every foreigner who comes here to live have to pay forty
dollars?" Fred inquired.

PASSl'OKT OFFICK.

"That is the law," answered his informant; "but the permission is.

never refused, unless the authorities suspect that the applicant intends to
distui-b the public peace, or when he is unable to obtain the necessary
securities. The result is, that the foreign population of Java is of a bet-
ter class than yon find in most other parts of the East; the adventurers
who have not a dollar in their pockets, and expect to make a living by
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUBJECTS AND FOREIGNERS. 397

means more or less questionable, do not come lieie. The Chinese are very
numerous in Java; more than a quarter of a million are settled here; bat
they are of a better class than the majoi-ity of those who go to San Fran-
cisco, and they give very little trouble to tlie authorities. The security is
required to protect the government against the applicant becoming a pau-
per, and to vouch for his good behavior; but it has no reference to private

debts, which are treated just like private debts everywhere else.
" Tiie government also reserves the right to send anybody out of the
•country in case he becomes troublesome, even after he lias received per-
mission to reside here. The same
rule applies to a citizen of Holland the
as to any other foreigner, but it is very rarely exercised, and only when
all other means of adjusting the difficulty have failed. The local gov-
ernors have the power of ordering anybody to leave their districts, if he
lias been found guilty of treating the natives improperly, and the Gov-
•ernor-general may restrict the movements of any individual whenever he
thinks the good of the colony requires it."

Fred wished to know if a foreigner could hold land in Java like any
subject of the King of Holland, and was answered in the negative.
" What a monstrous injustice !" he replied.
Doctor Bronson laughed at his nephew's remark, and the latter turned
towards him with an inquiring look on his face.
" You may rot be aware," said the Doctor, " that an alien in the
United States is unable to hold real estate, and I believe that the same
Great Britain."
is the case in
" In that view of the matter," said Fred, " Java is not so bad as I
thought it was. But can a foreigner be naturalized here, as in England
and America, and then hold property ?"
" Certainly," responded the gentleman ;
" and the time of residence in

Java before naturalization is tlie same as in your own country six j-ears. —
When he becomes a citizen, he has the same rights as a Dutchman, but
until that time he labors under various disadvantages. The Dutcli theor}'
is that all the good things in Java belong to themselves, and if a for-

eigner chooses to live here and not become a citizen, he must be satisfied
with any crumbs that happen to be lying ai-ound."
"I have before told you," he continued, " that the Dutch discourage
all attempts of the natives to learn the languages of Holland and the rest
of Europe, and are not inclined to teach them anything that is distinc-
tively European. I know who went to Europe and
a native of high rank
spent several years there ; when he returned he could speak Dutch, Eng-
lish, and French quite fluently, and was proud of his accomplishments.
398 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

OUDEKKD OUT OF THE COUNTUY.

But he has told me whenever he spoke to a Dutch official or to a.

that
private citizen in any European language, he was always answered in,
Malay, and if he tried to continue the conversation in any other than the
latter tongue it was soon brought to an end. While the Dutch treat the
natives kindly, and will not allow any imposition upon them, they are
very particular about anything that would bring a European below a
native. For instance, they will not permit a native to have a Europeaa.
servant, no matter how high the rank of the former, and how low the
latter.
" No native would dare to drive out with a European coachman on
any of the public streets, nor with a European on the front seat of his
carriage, while he occupied the back one. If a European soldier or sailor
becomes drunk in public, he is instantly arrested by the police, in order
that his conduct may not degrade the white race in the e^'es of the na-
tives. Several 3'ears ago a native regent obtained the consent of a Dutch
girl to marry him ; her familj' was poor, and her social rank was low, but
when he asked the permission of government for his marriage it was-
promptly refused, and he was dismissed from his office.
 POWER OF THE COURTS IN JAVA. 399

" The Dutch idea in this wliole matter is that the Oriental never re-
spects liis equals, but only his superiors. Consequently they hold that in

all social relations they can best serve their own interests and those of
the natives by holding themselves to be the superiors, as they are by
right of conquest. At the same time, they endeavor to give the native no
cause of complaint against them. If a Dutch master maltreats a servant,
the latter can have his wrongs redressed in the nearest police court ; and
if the master is found guilty, he is subject to a heavy line. A
merchant
who endeavors to defraud a native is in hot water very speedily and if ;

he becomes notorious for attempts to enrich himself by this kind of dis-

honesty, his troubles will increase at a very rapid rate."

"But if one foreigner attempts to cheat another," said Frank, "does
the government feel called on to interfere ?"

"That is quite another affair," was the reply; "commercial matters

between foreigners are exactly like the same transactions in other coun-
tries, and the courts exist for the administration of justice, the enforce-

ment of contracts, and other contingencies of trade, in Java as in England

and America."

I— i' 1

"Ji. - ""<*-,
' '
/
'£

NO AD3I1TTANCE.
400 THE BOY TEAVELLEUS IN THE EAR EAST.

CHAPTER XXIX.
A POST RIDE IN JAVA.— FROM BUITENZORG TO BANDONG.

AS soon as they liad exhausted Buitenzorg and the sights of the neigh-
borhood, tlie Doctor suggested Frank and Fred that they should
to
make a journey into the interior. They had not time to undertake the
tour of the whole island, but they wished to go beyond the line of the
railway, and learn by practical experience about the system of posting for
which Java was famous.
Before the introduction of railways Java was supplied with excellent
roads from one end of the island to the other, which were begun by Mar-
shal Daendels in the early part of this century, and continued by the
Dutch rulers since 1816. Then there are numerous cross-roads, so that
nearly all parts of the country are accessible by wagon or carriage. On
the principal routes the lines are double, one being intended for carriages
and horses, and the other for cattle. The cattle roads are like the ordi-
nary country road in America but the carriage-way is macadamized, and
;

admits of rapid travelling. On the whole, the system is quite as good as

that which prevailed in Europe before the establishment of the railway
and when it is i-eraembered that the interior of Java is very hilly, and
cut up with numerous streams, the magnitude of the work which has
been accomplished under the equator will be more readily understood.
The arrangements for posting were made with the assistance of the
landlord of the hotel, who told them that it might take a day or two to
find a carriage that could be hired. The Dutch and other foreign inhab-
itants generally own the carriages in which they travel; and when a stran-
ger wishes to traverse the island, it is customary for him to buy a carriage,
and sell it on reaching the end of his journey. When you want to buy
a carriage, you find the vehicles are scarce and dear; and when you want
to sell, the market is glutted with them. A good carriage for posting will
cost between three and four hundred dollars; and if it can be sold at a
loss of one hundred dollars when the traveller is done with it, he may

consider himself lucky.

 STARTING ON A JOURNEY. 401

The journey that our friends intended to make was to last less than a
week, and they hired a can-iage for which they were to pay twenty-five
and be responsible for any damages that might hap-
dollars for that time,
pen to it. Frank thoxiglit the owner would make a good business if he
could find steady occupation for his vehicle at that rate ; but the landlord
informed him that the carriages were idle more than half the time, and
sometimes there were weeks together when no customer appeared.

STAKTING ON THE JOURNEY.

Early one morning the conveyance drew up in front of the hotel, and
the three travellers entered and took their seats. The carriage was a
very comfortable one, with seats for four persons inside, a dickey or ser-
vant's seat behind, and a box under the coachman where baggage could
be stowed. There were four horses, harnessed in European style, with a
coachman dressed in white, and wearing a hat that reminded the boys
of Japan and China. There were three footmen or grooms, who ran
along-side the carriage to whip the horses, and make themselves generally
iisef ul
; and when everything was going well they rode on a standing
place intended for them on the rear of the vehicle. Frank observed, as
the jo-urney continued, that these fellows were the most accomplished
402 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

wliip-crackei's in the world ; and Fi*ed remarked that the best ring-master
in an American circus would hide his head in shame, if he should listen

tothem for a few minutes. He understood the trick of the business

when told that the footmen practise whip-snapping from boyhood, and at
one station where they changed horses there was a man engaged in teach-
ing a group of boys the principles of the art. Pie had a practical way of
instructing them, as he followed each failure with a crack of the whip on
the boy's shoulders.
There was some trouble at starting, as the horses were fresh and in-

liV TIIK BOADSIDE.

clined to be "balky," and one ofthem indulged in a private kicking-

match that did not promise well for rapid progress on the journey.
 4:03

LODGINGS OF THE STABLE-MEN.

However, the performance did not last long ; and when they were under
way they rattled along in line style.
Posting in Java is expensive, as the hire of teams and drivers is nearly
a dollar a mile. Then the drivers and footmen expect gratuities at the
end of their journey, and there are other fees to be paid at several places.
In return for this high price, the service is excellent. Notice must be
given beforehand, and the time of starting must be fixed. A courier is

sent along to all the stations,and when the carriage arrives where the re-
lay is to be taken, the new horses are found ready harnessed and waiting,
so that the delay does not occupy more than two or three minutes. The
stations are from five to seven or eight miles apart, and the teams go at
the greatest speed. At each station there is a native oflicial, and some-
times a European one; and there are plenty of drivers, runners, and at-
tendants, who sleep and wait in open sheds in the rear of the stable.
At each station there is a large shed extending over the road, and con-
necting the stables on each side. The carriage halts under this shed, so
that the traveller is protected from the heat of the sun in dry weather,
or the moisture when it rains. There are the facilities for making a
lunch at nearly all the stations, as the keeper can supply hot water for
tea and
coffee, and a liberal quantity of milk and fresii eggs. With these
things, and some cold chicken or other meat from the stopping-place of
the previous night, a slice or two of bread, and the frnit that abounds
everj'where, the traveller must be very fastidious if he cannot satisfy the
hunger which the ride through the pure air of Java is sure to give him.
404 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

The journal of tlie expedition was kept by the boys, with occasional
suggestions from the Doctor. Every moment from
that they could spare
siglit-seeing was devoted to the history of their journey in
and Java ;

during their halts at the stations, some of the keepers thought the two
youths were inspectors sent out by tlie government to report on the con-
dition of the postal-service, as they made such vigorous use of their pens.
One station-keeper was extra polite, and brought out a bottle of schnapps
in their honor; their prompt refusal of tlie proffered courtesy confirmed
his belief in their inquisitorial character, though it raised doubts as to
their genuineness as Dutch ofHcials. "But they are yet very young,"
he remarked, with a shake of the head, as the carriage drove away
" they will not refuse schnapps when they grow older."
We will make a few extracts from the journal, which subsequently
gave much delight to the Bassett and Bronson families:
"We are having a joll}' ride through Java, and shall be very sorry
when it comes to an end. It is hot in the middle of the daj', but deli-
cious at other times; and anybody who could not enjoy this sort of
travel must be very hard to please. Some of the way we liave made
ten miles an hour, and the little horses come in smoking and panting
when we get to a station, and are
ready for a change. Tlie horses are
mostly Java ponies, but there are
many from the island of Celebes,
and other parts of the Dutch East
Indies. They are tough little ani-
mals, about twelve or thirteen hands
high, and capable of great endur-
ance ;and the consumption of horse-
flesh is so great, that enough of them
are not raised in Java to supply the
demand.
" Wlien we left the hotel at Bui-

tenzorg this morning, we took with

us the materials for our breakfast, so
ANNIN-LOOWSS as to save the delay of having it pre-

JUST IMl'OKTKD. pared at one of the inns. We stop-

ped at the second station on the
road, andwere as hungry as one could wish and when we pointed to our
;

basket and motioned that we wanted to eat, we were referred to a shop

kept by a Chinese, close by the post-station. We went there, as the shop
 AMERICAN PRODUCTS IN JAVA. 405

had better facilities for onr meal tlian the station ; John was all smiles,
and showed us to a table in the middle of his front room. He was mar-
ried and settled in the country, as he had a Javanese wife ; and there were
two or three children, with Javanese complexions and Chinese eyes, play-
ing around the door. And what do you think we found in his siiop to
remind us of home ?
" We wanted something to piece out the provisions we had brought
from Buitenzorg, and so we examined the shelves of the establisiiinent.
Tlie first thing we fell upon was a can of American 03'sters, with the fa-
miliar name of the firm that packed them. Then we found a can of
peaches and another of pigs' feet, and we kept on with our inventory of
things from our side of the world till we had a dozen or more of them
on our list. With the oysters and the peaches to add to the stock from
the hotel, we made a capital breakfast, and went away liappy. We had
some difliculty in paying our bill, as we could speak no common lan-
guage. John finally set the matter right by counting out fi'om his box
the money we should pay, and spreading it on the table before us we ;

put down a similar amount, and he was satisfied. He ought to have

been, as I am sure he cheated us; but then those who travel in a coun-
try where they do not speak the language must expect to pay for their
ranee.
We have met people on horseback and in common wagons; and in
several instances the men on horseback were followed by coolies carrj'-
ing baggage. We are told that is the way the young men who wish to
avoid expense travel in Java —as the cost of horse and coolies is less than
a twelfth of the expense of posting. They also have palanquins for the
cross-roads, though not on the great highways; but they are not suited to
people who wish to get over the ground rapidly. Posting is by all odds
the most rapid way of travelling, but at the same time it is terribly' dear.
" We find that many of the roadside shops, near the stopping-places,
are kept by Chinese and the Chinese really seem to have a great deal
;

to do with the business of Java. A gentleman at Buitenzorg said that

the Chinese had a large amount of property in Java, and they could hold
real estate like anybody else as soon as they became citizens. He said
there were half a million Cliinese in Java, and, as the government com-
pelled everybody to pay nearly forty dollars on coming here to live, they
had a better class of Chinese than we have in America. The Chinese
have established several branches of manufacture in Java like those they
have at home; and the gentleman showed us some enamel-work which
he said was made in Batavia by Chinese workmen. We have certainly
406 THE HOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

never seen anything finer than this, and I doubt if they produce any-
thing in Canton or Peking that can surpass it.

" In spite of the higii price of posting in Java, it is said that the busi-
ness does not pay. government is at a heavy expense to maintain
Tlie
tlie roads and stations, and to keep tiie service in proper order. Tlie ar-
gument of the govei'iiment is that it is of the greatest importance to keep
the means of transportation and travel in the best possible condition and ;

though it may not pa}' of itself, it is of great advantage indirectly. They

have certainly spent enormous amounts of money on their roads and post-
ing system and they are too shrewd to continue to tlirow away their cash
;

on an unprofitable enterprise.
" The road rises steadily from Buitenzorg, thougli there are several
places where we were able to gallop our horses, and go along at the best
possible pace. After the second sta-
tion we found ourselves in the moun-
tains; and the way was so steep that
we had seven horses instead of fonr
for some miles. Then we came to a
place where it was necessary to put
oxen ahead of the horses to help them
up the hills, which were so steep that
we could only go at a slow walk. We
perceived tliat the air was colder
and ;

on some of the mountains we thought

we could see snow, but were not sure.
In the higliest parts of the country

TIIE WAITER AT SINDINGLAYA. ice forms in the coldest nights, but

never to more than a slight thickness,
and only a few times in the course of the 3'ear.
" We reached a point which was said to be two thousand five hundred
feet above the sea, and then had a descent of a few miles to Sindinglaya,
where we found a very comfortable hotel. We had a good dinner here
at least good for Java. The cooks of Java are not the best in the world,
if we are to jndge by what we have seen on the road. The government
has established inns every forty or fifty miles along its principal roads ;

tiiey are in charge of Europeans, who receive a salary for keeping the
place in proper condition, at a scale of prices which is posted in ever}'
room, and is not at all unreasonable. Our waiter was a little Malay boj',

who moved around as gracefully as a queen, and twice as dignified.

" There is a sanitarium or health resort at Sindinglaya, where the gov-
 SANITARIUM AT SINDINGLAYA. 407

ernmerit sends its officers wlien they siifEei- from fever, and need to be

restored by the cool air of the mountains. In addition to tlie official

SLliEPlNG-UOOJI IN Tllli SANITAKI0M.

one, tliere are several unofficial hotels ; and a good many Europeans liv-

ing in Batavia endeavor to spend a few weeks there every year for the
sake of their healtii. The situation is charming, as it is quite surrounded
by mountains, and anybody who is fond of climbing can have abundant
enjoyment and exercise during his residence in this spot.
" We rattled on over tlie same excellent road, and passed a goodly

number of villages that presented a very pretty appearance. They are

laid out in regular streets in most cases, and the lioijses are generally sur-
rounded with trees that almost conceal them from view. Tlie dwellings
in these villages are always of a single story in heiglit, and their roofs
are covered with thatcli or red tiles. Each house stands in a yard, or
'campong,' by itself, and is enclosed by a hedge sufficiently thick and
high to keep out all intruding cows or otlier animals. The hedge is

neatly clipped, and frequently covered with bright flowers ; besides the
dwelling of tlie owner, the enclosure generally contains several store-
liouses for grain, and a stable with a brick floor. In some places these
40S THE BOY TRAVELLERS L\ THE FAR EAST.

villages seem to extend for miles, and tell more plainly than words that
the country is thickly peopled and prosperous. When the Dutch first

came here, the villages were dirty, and it was difficult to teach the natives

any habits of cleanliness. Finally, tlie new rulers made a law requiring
every native to keep his grounds clean, and his house properly swept and
in order, under penalty of a fine; and they
.also announced that the char-

acter of a chief or regent would be rated according to the condition of

his villages. It did not take long for the natives to learn the advantages
of cleanliness; and now it is said that there is no occasion for the law,
as they voluntarily give much time and attention to the improvement of
their houses and gardens.
"We reached Bandong, about a hundred miles from Buitenzorg, with-
out the slightest accident or delay. The
a good part of
i-oad is level for

the way as Bandong is wide plain here, about two-

approached ; there is a
thousand four hundred feet above the sea, and surrounded by high moun-
tains. Java contains three of these plains Bandong, Solo, and Kediri —
and they are wonderfully fertile. There is an immense quantity of rice
raised here, and some sa^' that Bandong is the best rice-growing district
in Java at all events, we have seen nothing like it.
;

"We were constantly attracted by the beauty of the scenery, which

cannot be described in words. At one place there was a cascade tumbling-
down from the mountains, and it was so pretty that we stopped the car-
riage to admire it, and make a sketch that would preserve its outlines.
The foot of it was lost in the spray that rose like a cloud, and at one
point where we stood the water seemed to be pouring from the sky. In
the dry season this fall disappears altogether, but when the rains are
abundant it has a full supply of water —a very necessary adjunct for a
cascade.
"As we passed through the villages, groups of children stared at us,
and occasionally an urchin turned a somersault, in the hope of securing
a few coppers in recognition of his activity. Sometimes these children
were very scantily clothed, and occasionally there was one carrying a
baby, nearly as large as himself, in the fold of a shawl wound round the
shoulders. Several times we threw them some money, and it was inter-
esting to see them scramble for it. The^^ are very active, sprightly little
fellows, and when they jumped into the dusty i-oad they made a cloud
that almost hid them from view.
"Bandong, the town, is wide streets finely grav-
a pretty place, with
elled, and kept in the best order. There are cocoa-palms and other trop-
ical trees along eacli side of nearly every'street, and they are so numerous,
 THE PROVINCK OF IJANDONG. 409

A MOUNTAIN CASCADK.

and their foliage is so thick, that when j'oii look down a street you can
hardly see a single house. Tlie houses are like those already described
and as they spread over a large area, they give you an impression that the
inhabitants of Java are unwilling to be restricted in elbow-room.
" The Regent of the district resides here, and so does the Resident, as

the principal Dutch official is called. As before explained, the Resident

holds a higher rank than the Regent; but he is the only person wlio
does, and all the orders for the government of the natives come from th.e

Regent and his officers. Tlie Regent is appointed by the Dntcli, but he
410 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

ahvays Lebngs to the most powerful noble family in the region where he
is to serve, and he holds office for life, unless removed for improper eon-

duct. Tiie Regent of Bandong is the son of the prince who ruled here
before the Dutch conquest, and who accepted the appointment of Regent,
which he held till his death. He is very rich, as he has a share of the
revenue from the rice grown in Bandong, and he lives in splendid stj'le.
He has a European house, where he entertains foreign guests; and close
by it is his Malay residence, intended only for himself and family, and
for Javanese visitors. Foreigners are admitted very rarely to the native
palace, but those who have been there say it is luxuriously furnished in
truly Javanese style. The Regent is on the best of terms with the Resi-
dent, and they often go out together to the races and on hunting excur-
sions ; the Regent frequently gives parties in his European house, and on
such occasions all the foreigners in the town and vicinity are invited, and
are treated with the greatest civility."

JAVANESK UOVS.
 VISITIMG A COFFEE ESTATE. 411

CHAPTER XXX.-
VISITING A TEA PLANTATION.— PREPARATION OF TEA.

WE will continue to make extracts from the journal kept by Frank

and Fred concerning their journey in Java.
" We have already told about the coffee that is grown in Java, and
how it is sold on government account. Some of the finest coffee estates
on the island are in the Bandong district, and nearly all of tliem are at an
elevation of two thousand feet and more above the sea. Coffee will not
grow to any advantage in the lowlands near the coast, and very little of
it is cultivated there. It needs a high altitude, and some of the planta-
tions are four tliousand feet up in the air. Above the last-named eleva-
tion tea takes the place of coffee; and it has been found in tlie last few
years that tea will grow in Java on the tops of the higliest mountains,
provided there is sufficient soil for the roots of the plant to find a hold-
ing-place.
" We have been to a coffee estate about ten miles from Bandong, and
spent a day there very pleasantly. As before stated, the coffee-trees are
cultivated, and the berries gatiiered, by native laborers under foreign su-
pervision ; the process of separating the bean from its husk has been de-
scribed, and so lias the sj'stem by which the government buj-s the coffee
from the native producer, and makes a handsome profit on the invest-
ment.
" Our was a slow one, as we liad an uphill road
ride to the plantation
most of the way, and our horses were assisted by oxen. We met several
trains of coffee-carts coming down to the plain on their way to the rail-
way terminus ; it is fortunate that the coffee is carried down rather than
up hill, would be enormously increased. A
as its cost in the latter case
cart carrying from one tliousand to one tliousand five hundred pounds of
coffee can be easily drawn by a pair of oxen coming down the road, while
the same beasts have all they can do to take the empty cart home again.
As the carts wound through the tropical forest, they presented a very
picturesque appearance witli their barefooted drivers, and occasionally we
412 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

could see tlie black eyes of a Java-

nese woman peering out from un-
der the matting that sheltered the
bags from sun and rain.
" The gentleman who had
charge of the plantation we vis-
THAIN OK CDIIKK-CARTS. ited wished us to sta}- a few daj's
 A TEA PLANTATION.— TEA CULTURE. 413

and indulge in a deer-hunt, but we could not spare the time. Deer are
numerous in this part of tlie island, and those who are fond of sport can
have an abundance of it if they are in Java in the right time of the year.
If you want larger game than deer, you can hunt the rhinoceros and wild
bull ;and if you want savage brutes, that die hard and fight to the last
breath, you can chase the wild-boar. They have tigers in Java, but not
so many as in Malacca, and they do not do so much damage to the peo-
ple, for the reason that they have plenty of game to live upon.
"We had an opportunity to visit a tea plantation, and gladly embraced
it, as we wished to see something of the process of raising tea and prepar-

ing it for market.

"Most of the tea plantations in Java are on government lands, which
are leased to contractors for terms of years —rarely less than ten, and not
over twenty. At the beginning of the enterprise the government made
cash advances to the contractors, so that they could have the necessary cap-
ital for clearing the land and startino;
their crops ; these advances were to
be repaid in tea .at prices tiiat would
give large profits to the contractors,
and on this plan a good many planta-
tions were started about forty years
ago.
"
The government imported skill-
ed workmen from tlie tea districts of
China to instruct the natives in the
SliliD-PODS OF THE TKA-l'LANT.
business, and it also imported a large
supply of tea-plants and tea-seed. For the first few years the enterprise
was a doubtful one, but after a time it began to pay handsomely. The
cost of making the tea was about fifty cents a pound and as the processes
;

improved, and the character of the tea grew better, the selling price rose
till it reached eighty or ninety cents. At these rates it does not take a
great deal of study to show that money can be made by raising tea in
Java, and the applications for leases of land have increased every year.
" The first thing the tea-planter has to do after getting possession of
his lease is and get ready for planting. This is no small
to clear the land
mattei-, as the forestmust be removed, and the soil thoroughly broken up.
The outlay for this is considerable, and not much unlike clearing up a
farm in New England, or in the backwoods of Canada. Then the young
plants are set out after this has been done, tiie ground must be kept
;

clear of weeds, just as in raising corn or potatoes. It must be frequently

414 THE BOY TKAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

stirred, so that the plant can get as mnch nourishment as possible from
the earth, and when this is done the planter has the satisfaction of seeing
the bushes grow with considerable rapidity.
"We walked through the fields where the plants were growing, and
found them of different ages and sizes. If we had not known where we
were, we might have thought we were in a field of English myrtle-bushes,
as the tea-plant is much like the myrtle in general appearance. It grows
from two to six feet high, and has white blossoms tliat resemble small
dog-roses.
"
One of us asked which were the plants that produced green tea, and
which the black. The owner of the plantation smiled, and said there was
no difference.
"We laughed at our ignorance, as he explained tliat the difference of
the teas was entirely owing to the manipulation. We asked why it was
that some districts in China produced only green teas, while others were
reputed to make none but black and he told us it was because the work-
;

men in those districts had been accustomed to follow only one form of
manipulation.
"It takes three years, he said, to get a plantation in condition to pro-

duce tea. The seeds are sown in a niirsery-bed, and the young plants
are not ready to be set out till they are a year old. They are then about
nine inches high, and covered with leaves ; and the first crop is taken
when they have been growing two years in the field. The leaves are
the lungs of the plant, and it would die if all them were stripped off.
of
Consequently only a part of them are removed at a picking; and if a
plant is sickly, it is not disturbed at all. The plants will last from ten to
twelve years, and are then renewed ; and on all the large plantations it is

the custom to make nursery-beds every year, so that there will be a con-
stant succession of new plants for setting out in place of the old ones.
" At the first gathering the half-opened buds are taken, and from them
the finest teas are made. Then they have another gathering when the
leaves are fully opened, and then another and another, till they have five
or six gatherings in the course of the year. Each time the leaves are
coarser than those of the previous gathering, and consequently the tea is
not of so fine a quality. A well-managed plantation produces all kinds
of tea; and it was a wise requirement of the Dutch government, when
they started the tea-culture in Java, that the planters should produce pro-
portionate quantities of both black and green, and not less than four qual-
ities of each.
" The gathering takes place only in clear weather ; and for the best
 GATHERING TEA FROM THE PLANTS. 415

teas the picking is confined to tlie afternoon, wlien the leaves are thor-
oughly dry, and have been warmed by the sun. Only tlie thumb and
forefinger are used in pluclcing the leaves from the busli ; the piclcers are

generally women and children, wlio

can gather on the average about forty
pounds of leaves in a day. It takes
nearly four pounds of leaves to make
one pound of dry tea and the usual
;

estimate is that a plantation of one

hundred thousand plants can send
ten thousand pounds of tea to market
GATHERING TEA-LEAVES. in tlie course of a year.
" Different kinds of tea require
different treatment, as we have For green tea the leaves
already seen.
are roasted as soon as they have been gathered, and are then rolled and
dried ; but the leaves intended for black teas are spread on bamboo trays
five or six inches deep, and placed on frames where they can have plenty
of sun and air. Tliey remain here from noon till sunset ;and if tlie
weather is damp they are further dried by artificial heat. For this pur-
pose they are placed on frames over shallow pans containing burning
charcoal, and are tossed and stirred with the hand until they emit a cer-
41G THE BOY TKA\'ELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

tain fragrance. The heat should be very slight ; and the frames are made
so high that it is necessary for a man to mount a small ladder in order to
reach the trays.
" The sense of smell in the skil-

ful worlcers of tea is very acute, and

they can tell, to almost a minute,
the exact time when tiie drying
should cease, and the next process
begin. The Ciiinese workmen are
better thanany others for this branch
of the business, and on many plan-
tations the most of the manipula-
tion is performed by Chinese, though
their labor is more expensive than
that of the Malays. Our host show-

UUYING TEA IN Tllli SUN. ed us through his factory, where the

men were busy in the various proc-
esses; and as he told us about each step of the business, he took us to
the department where that particular work was going on.
"After showing the leaves spread out on the frames, he led the way
to a sort of stove, where a man was manipulating some tea in a pan over
a charcoal fire.

" '
This is what we call roasting,' he said, ' and the great object of the
roaster is to dr}' the leaves without burning them. You see he does not
allow them to be quiet a single instant, but tosses and turns them in all
directions, so that none may stick to the bottom of the pan, which they
miglit easily do, owing to the
moisture they contain.'
"We watched the roast-

ing till we thought we under-

stood it well, and as the place

was hot we did not care to

stay there a great while. The

leaves lose their fragrance
when thrown into the
first

roasting-pan, and give out a

rank smell, but they gradually
recover their perfume, and
are ready for the next proc-
ess, whicli is called rolling. IIKVING OVlilt CIIAKCOAL.
 HOW TEA-LEAVES ARE ROLLED. 417

"The teafrom the roasting-pan was given to a couple of men, who

bamboo mats before them. One
stood in front of a table or bencli, with
had a large mustache, the largest we had ever seen on a Chinese face,
and the other consoled himself for the absence of that hairj ornament
by smoking a pipe.
" The roller takes as much tea as he can cover with both his hands,
and places it on the mat in a sort of ball. He keeps them closely to-
gether, and rolls them from right to left this motion gives each leaf a
;

twist on itself, and rolls it so firmly that it retains the shape when dry.
This part of the work requires peculiar dexterity, and can only be per-

ROASTINO TEA.

formed successfully after long practice. When a man becomes skilful in

it, he can roll the tea with wonderful rapidity ;and when his work is
done, every leaf will be found separate from all the others, and twisted
as though it had been passed through a machine.
" The work of rolling the tea is very tiresome, and so the men some-

times perform it with their feet when they wish to give their hands a
rest. We saw one man at his occupation in this way, and he certainly
seemed to enjoy it. His bamboo mat was on the floor, and he had his
trousers raised so that his legs were bare from the knee down. He rested
his arms on a pole, and kept his feet moving over the handful, or rather
27
418 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

footful, of leaves he was endeavoring to roll out. Our host picked up

some of the tea, and showed us that it was perfectl}' prepared, and quite
acceptable in every way. The
man's toes were much more
slender than toes usually are,
and it is doubtless due to the
fact that he has used them a
great deal, and never cramped
them into tight-fitting boots.
"After they have been
properly rolled, the leaves are
spread on trays, and exposed
to the sun and air for several
hours, and then they are once
more roasted. The second
roasting is milder than the
first, and is done over a slow-

er fire ; and afterwards the

leaves are rolled again, to make
sure that none of them have
become spread For theout.
black tea the roasting is done

in a shallow pan, the same as

HANDY WITH HIS FEET.
the first; but the green teas
are put in a deep pan, and subjected to a very high heat.
"While the green tea is being roasted, there must be a great deal of
care on the part of everybody concerned. The pan is nearly red-hot
when the tea is put into it, about a pound at a time, and the operator in
charge keeps it in rapid motion. One boy tends the fire, while another
stands by with a fan, to prevent the burning of the tea.
"After their final roasting, the teas are put in a long basket, shaped
likean hour-glass, and having a sieve in the centre. This basket is placed
over a charcoal fire and submitted to the heat for several minutes, when
the tea poured out and receives another rolling. This operation is re-
is

peated several times, till the tea is thoroughly tired of it, and also thor-

oughly dry. Then it is passed through sieves, to separate the different

qualities from each other; and finally it is winnowed, to remove all the
dust and dirt. Then it is tired,' or dried once more, to drive away the
'

last particle of moisture ; and in this condition it is ready to go into the

chests in which it is carried to the lands where it is to be used.
 PECULIARITIES OF JAVA TEAS. 419

" There, we havetold j'oii all about the preparation of tea, which we
could not do China
in for the reason that we did not go into the part of
the country where they produce the tea. China is not the only coun-
try where tea is made, though it once had the monopoly of the business.
A great deal is grown in Japan, as you know, and now you have learned
about the tea-growing in Java. They say that ten million pounds are
grown in Java every year, and the product will increase to double that
amount in less than twenty years. About the time the culture of tea was
introduced into Java, the East India Company tried it in India; and now
the production of tea in that country is so large that the English hope,

ROASTING GREEN TEA.

before the end of the century, to supply the whole of their home market
with Indian teas. We
shall see.
" The Java teas have a sharp, acrid taste, and are not suited at all to

the American palate. None of them go to America, or, at least, only a

few chests every year, and for some time Holland was the only market
for them. Gradually their sale extended to Germany, and now it is said

there is a demand for them in London.

" We tasted some of the tea, and found that it resembled what is
called English breakfast,' only it had a stronger flavor.
' It is said that

it is worth much more than Chinese tea, for the reason that a pound of it
420 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

will give nearly double the amount of the infusion ready for drinking.
Whether this is true or not we are unable to say, as we have seen no ex-
periments to prove or disprove it.

"We asked about the reputed

adulterations and dyeing of tea by
the Chinese and others. Our host
told us that Java were
no teas in
adulterated or dyed, but he said it
was quite possible they would be
as soon as there was a demand for
them. He said the Chinese did
not begin to color their tea till

they were urged to do so by Eng-

lish and American merchants, who
; told them the dyed teas sold bet-
i ter than others by reason of pre-
[
senting a finer appearance.
" The coloring - matter,' said
'
;

'
he, ' consists of gypsum and Prus-
;
sian blue or indigo, and is used in
; about equal proportions. This is

• for green tea, and the quantity to

> be used for a given amount varies
'
according to the market for which
J it is American mer-
intended.
chants wish their teas dyed more
heavily than do the English, and
there is usually about half a pound
of dye to every hundred pounds
of tea.'
" ' Can't we raise tea in Amer-
ica?' Fred asked.
" ' Certainly,' replied the plant-
er, who had beenin the United
States, and spent several years
there. There is a large area of
'

the United States where tea could

be raised, and the government some years ago spent considerable money
on an experiment in tea-culture. It was found that there was no diffi-
culty in raising the plants ; but when it came to manipulating the prod-
 A QUESTION FOR TEA GROWERS. 421

uct the high price of labor made it unprofitable. When we can fur-
nish labor for the same price that it can be had in China, Japan, Java,
and India, we can compete with those countries in growing tea, but until
that time we had better let the business alone.' "

ROASTING-BASKET.
42li THE liOY TKAVELLEES IN THE FAR EAST.

CHAPTEE XXXI.
EASTERN JAVA, LOMBOCK, TIMOR, AND THE ARU ISLANDS.

GEEATLY pleased with their visit to the tea and coffee plantations,
our friends returned to Bandong. On tiie way back they had an
accident that for a few moments was quite exciting, and threatened seri-
ous results. While descending a long hill the brake of the carriage gave
waj-,and the horses started on a full gallop they were quite out of the
;

control of the driver, and the two footmen were left a long way behind.
The managed to turn his team into a side road at the risk of an
driver
overturn, and gave them a little practice in running up hill instead of
down. Gradually they reduced their pace, and some workmen in a field
close at hand came to his assistance, and held the horses till the grooms
could come up. One of the springs of the carriage was broken, in the
severe shaking they had received, but otherwise the vehicle was not much
injured.
It was necessary to stop a day at Bandong to liave the carriage re-
paired, and the delay enabled the boys to learn something more about the
country.
They ascertained that, if they had the time to spare, they could go to
the eastern capitals of Java along good roads, and through a succession of
mountains and plains. They would see volcanoes, both active and silent,
and might possibly have a practical acquaintance with an earthquake, or
an eruption of one of the burning mountains. Frank was a little doubt-
ful of the safety of such a journey when he learned that one volcano
had thrown out, in a single night, ashes and scoriae to the depth of fift}-
feet over an area of several miles, destroying forty and three
villages
thousand people and another volcano had overwhelmed everything with-
;

in twenty miles of it, and caused the deaths of twenty' thousand persons.
But the Doctor assured him that the eruption of a \'olcano was not so
sudden that those who wished to get away could not do so, and the ma-
jority of the burning mountains of the world were accustomed to give
warnins; weeks and sometimes months ahead.
 EASTERN PROVINCES OF JAVA. 423

Samarang and Sourabaya, but they

Tlie eastern capitals of Java are
are capitals only of the provinces of thesame names. Both of them are
important commercial points and there
; is a railway from Samarang

which is intended in course of time to unite with the one from Batavia.

VOLCANO IN EASTEKN JAVA.

Samarang is about two hundred and fifty miles from Batavia, or nearly
half-way from one end of the island to the other; while Sourabaya is
close to the eastern extremity, and not far from the island of Madura.
The country around Sourabaya is quite flat, and very fertile;and the roads
sometimes run for miles in perfectly straight lines. Back towards the in-
terior, when the hilly region is reached, there is a magnificent forest, where
tigers abound and the hunter is rewarded by frequent shots at the beau-
;

tiful Java peacock. The country is full of ruins of temples and palaces
and there are many evidences that it was once occupied by a people
greatly advanced in architecture and the fine arts.
" But what should we find if we went beyond Java ?" Fred asked.

Just as he spoke the door opened, and a gentleman entered. He

proved to be their host of the coffee plantation, who had heard of their
accident, and called to congratulate them on their escape from injury.
After an exchange of civilities, he seated himself, and asked if he could
be of any service; and, turning to Fred, he said,
424 THE 130Y TRAVJiLLEKS IN THE FAR EAST.

"I heard your question as I entered the room, and think I can an-
swer it. I have made the journey around the Dutch possessions in the
East, and will try to tell you about them."
Both the boys expressed their delight at the chance of learning some-
thing of the islands of the Oriental Seas. The gentleman said he had an
hour to spare, and would endeavor to enable them to jjass it agreeably
and if they wanted to take any notes of what he said, they were welcome
to do so.
They were desirous and ready, and he began at once.
"I have twice made the journey," said he; "once by steamer, and
once by native boats."
" Do the steamers run there regularly ?" one of the boys inquired.
" Certainly," was the reply " the company whose ship brought you
;

from Singapore to Batavia sends a steamer every month to make the

tour of the Dutch East Indies. on the 15tli of the
It leaves Batavia
month, and Sourabaya on the 22d and goes to Macassar, Menado, Ter-
;

riate, Boeroe, Amboina, Banda, and Timor, and then returns to Sourabaya

and Batavia. The voyage takes about a month, and the steamer remains
in each port from twenty-four to forty-eight hours."

KUIN9 NliAR S0URA1J.4Y-V.

" What a delightful voyage it must be," said Frank ;

" and how much
does it cost ?"
 EXTENDED DUTCH POSSESSIONS. 425

AN ISLAND PORT.

"A round trip," the gentleman replied, "costs three

ticket for the
hundred and sometimes more.
dollars, You have already found that
steamship fares in the East are dear; and this line forms no exception
to the rule. In return for your money you have all the comforts the
ship can give and you may live on board all the time she remains in
;

port at the different stopping-places.

" If you go by a native boat yon will be much longer on the way
but you can visit more places than the steamer and can see more
stops at,
of the life of the East. We will drop that part of the subject, and con-
sider what you might
see in some of the isl-
ands of the Malay Archi-
pelago, supposing you
should go there we ;

haven't time for all of

them.
" The colonial pos-
sessions of the Dutch
in the Archipelago com-
prise about six hundred
thousand square miles,
with a population of
twenty - five millions.
WILD FIG-TKliU.
Tliey include the whole
of Java and Madura, the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, and large portions
of Borneo and Sumatra. Consequently, you can make a long journey
without once going out of the Dutch territory."
426 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

" The first place I visited, after leaving Sourabaya, was the island of
Lombock. There is not much of interest in the principal port, wiiich is
called Auipanam, as the place is small, and the inhabitants are not partic-
ularly enterprising. There are some groves of wild fig-trees close to the
town and one of my amusements was to shoot the green pigeons and
;

orioles that abounded there. Some of the trees are almost covered with
the hanging-nests of the orioles and, as they are rarely disturbed by the
;

natives, I found them so tame that it required no skill at all to get near
enough to shoot them.
" Several miles out in the country from Ampanam is the village where
the Eajah of the island lives it is called Mataram, and no native of
;

A VILLAGK IX LOMBOCK.

the lower classes is allowed to ride on horseback through it. If you

should happen to be travelling there, and had your Javanese servant
mounted on a horse, he would be obliged to walk from one end of the
town to the other, and lead his animal.
" There is a fine volcano in Lombock, about eight thousand feet high.

Mr. Wallace tells a good story in connection with this volcano, and the
plan by which the Rajah took the census of the population of the island.
" You must know that the principal product of Lombock is rice, and

the taxes are paid in this article. Each man, woman, and child contrib-
uted a small measure of rice once a j'ear; but it passed through many
hands before it reached the treasury, and a little of it clung to each hand
that it touched. The result was that the Rajah did not get half of what
was due him, and all his officers conspired to tell him that the crops were
short in some districts, and many people had died in others; and no mat-
ter what he did to find out the truth, they managed to prevent his learn-
ing it. He determined to take a census of his people, but did not know
 HOW THE RAJAH TOOK THE CENSUS. 42:

how to go at it, as his officers would suspect what it was for, and would
make out the population according to the rice that he received the previ-
ous year. He thought a long time over the matter, and finally hit on a
plan so shrewd that nobody suspected there was any census at all.
" For several days he appeared to be very sick at heart ; and finally
he called his and told them he had been summoned to
officers together,

go to the top of the great mountain to hear a revelation from the

fire-

spirit who ruled the island. The spirit had come to him in a vision, and
said he must go there at once, or the island would be destroyed.
" Of course they made arrangements immediately, and a grand proces-
sion accompanied the Kajah to the designated spot. From the foot of the
mountain to the summit he was escorted by a few priests and attendants
and as he neared the crater he ordered them to remain behind, under the
shadow of a great rock, while he went alone to meet the spirit. He re-
mained away for a long time the fact is, he lay down and took a com-
:

VlliW NEAR MATARAM.

fortable nap, and it was naturally thougiit that the spirit had a great deal
to say to him.
"When he returned he was silent and sorrowful, and did not speak a
word for three days. Then he summoned his officers, and told them what
4:28 THE BOY TRAVELLEKS IN THE EAR EAST.

the spirit had said. He described the spirit as having a face of burnished
gold, and a voice that sounded like distant thunder.
" Oh, Eajah !'
' the spirit said, ' much plague, and sickness, and fever
are coming on the earth —on men, and horses, and cattle ; but as you and

WHERli THE GUEAT SPIRIT AND THE RAJAH MET.

your people have obeyed me and come to the mountain, and have been
good and faithful, I will tell you how you can avoid the pestilence.
" You must make twelve sacred krisses and to make them, every
' ;

village and every district must send a bundle of needles —

a needle for
every head in the village. And when any disease appears in a village,
one of the krisses shall be sent there: if every house in that village has
sent the right number of needles, the disease shall cease immediately but ;

!'
if the number of needles has not been exact, then all shall die

" So the princes and chiefs made haste to collect the needles and ;

they were very exact about it, for they feared that, if a single needle
should be wanting in any case, the whole village would perish. When
the needles were collected, the Rajah received them then he had a work-
;

man come and make twelve krisses from those needles; but the papers
that were around the needles, and told the name of each village, and the
number of men, women, and children in it, lie carefully preserved, and
put awa}^ in his private chest.
 EUNNING AMUCK AMONG THE MALAYS. 429

" When tlie rice-tax came in that year, and the quantity fell short, the

Rajah said to the officers that there was some mistake about it. He then
told them the exact number of inhabitants in that village, according to
the packages of needles, and it did not take long to set the matter right.
Tiie result was that the Eajah grew very rich, and his fame went out
through all the islands and countries of the East."
"A capital story," said Frank; and the opinion was emphatically en-
dorsed by Fred.
" It is evident," the latter remarked, " that the kriss, or dagger, is held
in great respect in Lombock."
"Certainly," said the gentleman, in reply; "there is no part of the
Archipelago where more honored, and where the wealthy natives
it is

have so much money invested in this weapon. Very often they have
them with golden handles set with jewels; and I have seen some that
cost thousands of dollars. Every man carries one of these knives, and
frequently it is the only property he can boast of possessing. The blade
is twisted and when it is used it makes a frightful wound."
;

" Tliat is what the Malays run a-muck with, is it not ?" Frank asked.
'
'

" Yes and Lombock is one of the most famous places in the East for
;

that amusement. The island, though close to Java, is independent, and

the Kajali does pretty much what he pleases as long as he remains on
good terms with his Dutch neighbors. The taxes are not heavy, but the
laws are very severe. Small thefts are punished with death and it is a ;

rule of the country that a person found in a house after dark, without
the owner's consent, may be killed, and his bod}' thrown into the street,

without fear that anybody will ask a question about the matter.
"The word 'amok' means 'kill;' and the Malays kill others in the
expectation that others will kill them. Running amok is the fashion-
able way of committing suicide ; a man grows desperate from any cause,
and determines to put an end to his life, and to kill as many others as
lie can before he is killed himself. He grasps his kriss-handle, and stabs
somebody to the heart then he rushes down the street, shouting amok
;
'

amok and stabbing everybody he can reach. People rush on him with
!'

knives, spears, daggers, guns, or other weapons, and despatch him as soon
as possible —
as they would a mad dog. Sometimes five or ten persons
are killed by the man before he is brought down; and I know one in-
stance where sixteen were killed or wounded by a native running amok.
"The Malays are excellent workers of steel, and the weapons they
make are difficult to surpass in fineness and beauty. The marvellous
thing is that they will accomplish so much with the rudest implements:
430 THE BOY TRAVKLLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

a smith has a small forge, a hammer or two, and a few files, and with
these and one or two other things he will turn out work that astonishes
the skilled artificers of Sheffield. A Malay gunsmith produces weapons
that shoot with precision, and
are bored with perfect accuracy
but the boring is done with-
out any machinery whatever.
This is the apparatus
" There is an upright pole
which is thrust through a bam-
boo basket; its top is fastened
to a cross-bar, and the bottom
is equipped with an iron ring
in which boring -ii-ons can be
fitted. The barrel to be bored
is set in the ground, the basket
is filled with stones to give it

weight, and two boys turn the

cross-bar to make the boring-
iron revolve. The barrel is
bored in sections about eigh-
teen inches long and these are;

welded together, and afterwards

bored to the required size.
" Considerably to the east-
ward of Lombock is the island
GUN-BOKING IN LOMBOCK. of Timor, which is interesting
because it is one of the few
places where the Portuguese have a local habitation and a name in the
Malay Archipelago. Timor is about three hundred miles long by sixty
wide, and is partly occupied by the Dutch and partly by the Portuguese.
The Dutch settlements are at the western end, and their principal town
is Coupang it has a mixed population of Malays, Chinese, and Dutch, in
;

addition to the natives, who are closely allied to the natives of Papua,
or New Guinea, and have very little afiinity with the Malay race. They
are of a dirty brown color, and have large noses and frizzled hair, so that
they strongly resemble the negro.
"The seat of the Portuguese part of Timor is at Delli, a miserable
village of thatched huts, with a mud fort, and very little appearance of
civilization. The governor's house is a trifie better than the rest, but
 THE PORTUGUESE IN TIMOR. 431

not much ; and the place has a reputation for fever that is not at all
agreeable for a stranger. I don't think much of Delli, and never heard
of any one who did.
" The Portuguese government in Timor is a very shadowy afEair, and

NATIVES OF TIMOR.

the sooner it comes to an end the better. It has been there three hun-
dred years, and yet there is not a mile of road in the interior of the coun-
try,and the agricultural resources of the island have received no develop-
ment. The example of the Dutcli in Java seems to be quite lost on the
Portuguese, who oppress the inhabitants in every possible way, and plun-
der them without fear of punishment."
Frank asked if Timor was one of the islands where the bird of para-
dise is found.
" No," replied the gentleman ;
" but it is not far from there to the
Aru Islands, where the Great Bird of Paradise lives. I went from Timor
432 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

to Aril in a native boat, and narrowly escaped drowning on the way. "We
were caught in a storm, and anchored near a small island off the coast of
Aru : the Malay anchor is a stick of wood from the fork of a tree, with a
stone to give it weight, and, as it has only one fluke, you can never be sure
that it goes down Ours bothered us so that we
so as to seize the bottom.
had to throw it and when we finally got it to hold we were
several times,
not twenty yards from the rocks where the wind was driving us.
" But a miss is as good as a mile, and we were safe on shore the next
morning, very thankful at our escape.
" I had an opportunity to go to the forest to see the process of shoot-
ing the Great Bird of Paradise, and went at once. Quite a trade is car-
ried on in these birds, and the skill of the natives is devoted to captur-
ing them without staining their plumage with blood, or allowing the birds
to injure it during their struggles.
"
The birds have a curious habit of getting up dancing-pai-ties in the
month of May, when their plumage is finest. They assemble before sun-

DELLI, PORTUGUESE TIMOR.

rise in a tree that has plenty of room among its branches foi' them to
move about, and as soon as the sun is fairly up they begin their dancing.

They elevate their plumes as peacocks display' their tails, stretch their
necks, raise their wings, and hop from branch to branch in a state of
great excitement.
 BIKD-HUNTING 1\ THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 433

NATIVKS Ol' ARU SHOOTING Till-: GREAT BIRD OF I'AUADISl..

" Tiie natives limit through the forest till they find a tree where the
birds assemble. They go there in the evening and build a screen of
leaves over the fork of the tree, and just before daylight tliey climb np
there ready for business. They^ keep perfectly still till the birds are
busily engaged in their dance, and then they shoot with blunt-pointed
arrows. The bird is stunned and falls to the ground, and before he re-
434 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

covers he is seized by a boy who is waiting for him ; the bird's neck is

broken without injuring the skin, and thus the prize is secured without
staining the feathers with blood."
Fred asked if, when one bird was shot, the rest did not fly away.
" Not by any means," was the answer. " They are so busy with dis-

playing their feathers to each other, that they do not take notice of the
disappearance of one of their number until they are greatly reduced.
The morning I went out to see the business, I was stationed in a little
bower about a hundred yards from the tree where the birds w^ere, so that
I could see all that went on. There were twenty-one birds there, all beau-
tiful males, and they made the prettiest sight of the kind that ever came
before my eyes. The natives shot fifteen of them' and finally one of the
birds was not hit hard enough to prevent his screaming as he fell. The
others then took the alarm, and in two minutes they were all out of
sight."

A NATIVE ANCHOR.
 DEBT-SLAVES IN THE FAR-EAST. 435

CHAPTER XXXII.
WANDERINGS IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. -GOOD-BYE.
" ' "^HERE is an interesting point in the Aru Islands," the gentleman
I
-'- remarked, after a short pause, " known as Dobbo."
" It
is not regularly visited by steamers, as it is out of the routes of

travel, and for a part of the year it is almost deserted. In May and June
it is filled to overflowing with a mixed lot of people from all parts of the

East. There are Chinese in considerable number, who come to buy the
articles brought to market by the inhabitants of the islands for a long dis-
tance and there are men from Macassar, Timor, Ceram, and other parts of
;

the Archipelago, as well as the natives of Aru, who belong to the Papuans
I have already described. The town consists of a single street of mat-
covered lints and sheds, with a lot of straggling buildings in the rear that
are set down without any regard to order or regularity.
"I went to Dobbo in a native boat from Macassar. It was very much
like a Chinese junk in general appearance, and about seventy tons bur-
den, with a native crew of thirty men and a Javanese captain. Four or
five of the men were slave-debtors of the captain, and the rest were hired,
like the crew of a ship in Europe or America."
" Excuse me for interrupting," said Fred, " but let me ask what these

slave-debtors are."
" Slave indebtedness," replied the gentleman, " is a system introduced
by the Dutch, who borrowed from the Chinese, for the protection of
it

traders in these thinly - peopled regions. Goods must be intrusted to

agents and small dealers, who frequently gamble them away, and leave
the merchant unpaid. He trusts them again and again, with the same re-
sult and finally, when he can stand it no longer, he brings them before a
;

police court, where he establishes his claim. The magistrate then binds
the debtor over to the creditor, and requires him to work out the account.
The plan seems to answer very well, as the creditor is secure so long as
the debtor lives and has his health ; while the debtor does not consider
himself disgraced, but rather enjoys his relief from responsibility."
436 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.
 A WATKR-CLOCK. 437
" But it is a system of slavery," Fred answered " though, after
; all, it is

more sensible than the European practice of locking a debtor up in jail,

where he can earn nothing, but is a constant expense to himself and all
others concerned."
"A good deal depends on the character of the master," was the reply.
" Some masters get along very
pleasantly with their debtors
allow them to trade a little on
their own account — and associ-
ate with them on equal terms.
Others treat them harshly per- —
haps not without cause some- —
times,and punish them severe-
ly for disobedience. While I
was at Dobbo, a Chinese mer-
chant fastened one of his slave-
debtors in a cangue, and kept
]jim there an entire day, chain-
ed to the wall of his shop. The
man had been caught stealing
from his master, and the latter
made himself judge, jury, and WEAKING THE CANGUE.
police - officer without delay.
The cangue is a wooden collar around the neck ; it is about three feet
square, and made of planks from one to two inches thick. It is a heavy
article of wearing apparel, and not at all ornamental."
Frank asked if the native captains understood navigation after the
European form, and could take the positions of the sun and moon with
instruments like those used on American or European ships.
"They are not good navigators," responded their informant, "as we
understand navigation, but they manage to get along wonderfully well
with very rude appliances. They take the altitude of the sun with a
stick, to which is attached a string with a peculiar arrangement of knots
and they understand the use of the compass. They have a water-clock,
which is very simple, and much more accurate than you would suppose.
" It consists of a bucket of water, and the half of a cocoa-nut shell.

There is a tiny hole like the prick of a needle in the bottom of the shell,
and when you put it on the water you can just see a stream like a thread
spurting up. It takes an hour to fill the shell, and when it is full it goes
plump to the bottom of the bucket, making a bubbling noise that attracts
438 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

tlie attention of the man on duty, who immediately puts the shell in place
again. I used to try it with my watch, and found that it never varied
more than a minute from the hour, which is quite accurate enough for an
Oriental. The motion of the boat had no effect on it, as the water in the
bucket was always on a level.
" The voyages of these boats are made with the monsoons, so that the
course is largely guided by studying the direction of the wind. Only one
voyage can be made in a year from Macassar the boats starting in De- —
cember or Januai'y with the west monsoon, and returning in July or Au-
gust with the east monsoon. The distance is about a thousand miles, and
is made in from twenty to thirty days each way.
" Tiie trade at Dobbo amounts to something near a hundred thousand
dollars a year, and is carried on in the most primitive way. It is almost
entirely a barter trade there is no money in use except copper coins
;

from Java and China, and many of the natives do not even know their
value. It requires a great deal of talk to make a bargain, and sometimes
they will haggle for hours over a transaction that amounts to only a few
cents.
" The things brought from the islands, and bought by the tradei's, are
pearl-shells, tortoise-shell, edible
birds' - nests, pearls, timber, and
birds of paradise. There is also a
lai-ge supply of tripang, or beche- '

de-mer,'of which the Chinese make

many soups. It is known in Eng-
lish as the sea- cucumber, and is

taken on the reefs and among the

rocks all through the Eastern seas,
and in some parts of the Pacific
Ocean. After being boiled in its

own liquid, and dried on racks

over a fire, it is ready for market.
"The goods used in purchas-
ing these articles are as varied as
the purchasers. The most im-
portant item is that of arrack —
spirit distilled from
and re- rice,

A NATIVK OF AEU. sembling rum about twenty thou-

;

sand gallons of it are sold at Dob-

bo every year, and sometimes as many as twenty -five thousand. Eng-
 TRADING AT UOBBO AND AMUOVNA. 439

lisliand American cottons are

sold and also tobacco, crock-
;

ery, knives, muskets, gunpow-

der, Chinese gongs, small can-
nons, and elephants' tusks. The
last three articles are the luxuries
with which the natives of Aru
buy their wives, and display in
their houses or conceal as valuable prop-
erty. They use tobacco both for chew-
ing and smoking, and will not accept it

unless it is very strong. The native

pipe is similar to that used in Papua,
or New Guinea, and is made of wood,
with a long upright handle, which is set
in the ground while the owner is using
it. He squats before the pipe, and when
in this position his mouth is just on a
level with the end of the stem.
"I went from Dobbo to Amboyna
and Banda, which are small islands not
far from the much greater one of Ce- SEA-CDCUMUKR.

ram. They formerly belonged to the

Portuguese, but are now in possession of the Dutch, and known to the
commercial world for their products of cloves
and nutmegs."
"I have read somewhere," said Frank,
"that the Dutch destroyed the spice-trees on
all the other islands, so as to have a monopoly
in Banda and Amboyna. Was it not very un-
just to the natives to do that?"
"All the facts in the case are not gener-
ally known," was the reply. " The Portu-
guese traders maintained high prices for these
luxuries,and used to oppress the natives to
obtain them. Sometimes the competition led
to their paying such figures to the native
princes that the latter became very wealthy,

-I-.R-
but their subjects were not benefited by
I'Ai'UAN i-iPE. them. When the Dutch came into posses-
440 THE BOY TRAVELLEUS IN THE FAR EAST.

sion, tliey determined to concentrate

the culture in a few places, so that
they could control it, and to this end
they offered an annual subsidy to the native
princes to destroy the spice-trees in their
dominions. The latter were thus made sure
of their revenue, while the people were
able to devote more time to the cultivation
of articles of food, and were relieved from
taxes.
"The cultivation of the clove was re-
stricted to tlie Amboyna, while
island of
Banda was made the seat of the nutmeg
culture. There was so much complaint on
the part of the English that the monopo-
ly was finally removed in part; the trade
is still surrounded with restrictions, as the
Dutch are in possession of the islands where
the culture can be conducted to the best ad-
vantage. It is a curious circumstance that
the birds had much
do with the suppres-
to
sion of the monopoly."
"The birds?"
" Yes, a bird known
as the nutmeg-
pigeon. He on the mace which
lives
envelops the nutmeg; the latter is undi-
gested and uninjured in his stomach, and
he carries it to islands of whose existence
the Dutch were not aware. The nutmeg
is the seed of the tree, and as fast as the

Dutch suppressed the cultivation in an

island the birds restored it. Banda is still

the centre of the nutmeg trade, as the ar- BIUD OF AMUOVXA.

produced more cheaply there than
ticle is

in any other spot, and it sends about two million pounds of this spice to
market every year. The climate of Amboyna was found not altogether
suited to the production of tlie clove;
and as the clove-tree flourishes in otiier
parts of the world, the monopoly could
SAGO oLoi!. not bo kept up. The clove is not the
 HOW SAGO IS OBTAINED. 441

fruit of the tree, as many persons suppose, bnt the blossom ; it is gath-
ered before it is unfolded, and if you look at a clove you will see how
much it resembles bud just ready for opening.
a
" From Banda I went to Ceram, to see the process of obtaining sago.
Perhaps you are fond of sago-pudding, and may be interested to know
where sago comes from, and how it is prepared."
The boys nodded their assent, and Frank remarked that he had many
times wished he knew more about the delicious article.
" The sago-tree belongs to the palm family it is thicker and larger ;

than the cocoa-palin, but not so tall, and its leaves are very large and long.
The stem of the leaf is twelve or fifteen feet long,^nd six inches in di-

ameter at the butt, and is used for a great many purposes. Whole houses
are built of these stems, from the framework to the thatch-poles and

PREPARING SAGO.

flooring, and they never shrink or bend, or require any paint or varnish.
The leaf forms an admirable thatch, and the trunk of the tree is the food
of many thousands of people.
"When it is about fifteen years old the tree blossoms, and then dies.
Just as it is about to blossom, it is cut down close to the ground, and
stripped of its leaves. The upper part of the trunk is then taken off, so

as to expose the pith of the tree, which is broken into a coarse powder by
means of a club of heavy wood, having a piece of iron or sharp stone in
one end. The whole inside of the tree is broken up till the trunk forms
a trough not more than half an inch thick.
" The dry powder is then washed, and strained through a coarse sieve;
4:42 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

the water flows into a deep trough with a depression in the centre, where
the sago sinks to the bottom and is secured. It is then pressed into cyl-
inders weighing about thirty pounds each, or
it is baked into cakes in a clay oven, with a
series of compartments an inch wide, and six
inches long and deep. The cakes will keep a
long while if they are dried in the sun after
baking. have eaten sago that was said to be
I

SAGO OVEN. ten years old, and found it perfectly good."

Fred wished to know how much sago there

was in a tree, and how much it costs for a man to live in the sago
country.
"A single tree will produce from eight hundred to one thousand
pounds of sago," was the reply, " which will support a man for a year.
Two men can reduce a tree to dry powder in five days, and therefore we
may say that ten days' labor will support a man for a year. The result is

SUGAK-PALM l)r MACASSAU.

 A PLANTATION IN MACASSAR. 443

that in the sago country the people are indolent, and not at all prosper-
ous ; they have no incentive to work, and therefore make no efiEort to do
anything. They wear very little clothing ; and as for their houses, they
have no occasion for any-
thing more than rude huts,
which can be built by a
couple of men in a few
hours. It has been ob-
served by all who have vis-

ited Coram that the inhabi-

tants are not as well off as
the people of the islands
that produce rice, as the lat-

ter must work a great deal

harder to support them-
selves, and will lose their
whole crop unless they pay
attention to their fields.
" From Coram I went to
Macassar, where they have
a palm-tree producing a
sweet juice that may be
made into beer, or boiled
down into sugar, like the
sap of a maple-tree. It is

not unlike the sago-palm in

general appearance, and will
grow wherever it can find
sufficient soil for its roots.
The island is very rough
and mountainous, and the
variety of soil enables it

to produce a great many

things. I was invited to

stay on the plantation of a

friend who lived among the
hills, and promised me a CLIMBING THE MODNTAIN.

pleasant time.
" The road to the plantation was very steep in several places, and the
mules that we rode had all they could do to carry us. The path wound
4-ii THE BOY TUAVKLLERS IN THE FAR EA.ST,

in and out among tlie rocks, and under tlie trees peculiar to tlie tropics

and one of the trees came near being the cause of ni}' falling over a high
cliff."
" How was that ?"

" Fruit abundant that the natives did not gather all of it as
was so.

fast as it ripened little while I saw mangoes or bananas lying in

; every
tlie path, and the incident I mention was caused by my mule stepping on

a banana and slipping to the ground. He left me sprawling just on the

edge of the cliff if he had pitched me a foot farther, I should have gone
;

over and been dashed to death on the rocks below.

" I stayed with my friend a week, and found that he had a most de-

lightful residence. He was fond of hunting, and was able to supply his
table with meat by means of his gun and dogs. There were many wild
pigs in the neighborhood, and he shot two of them while I was there, so
that we had pork in abundance. Then there were several kinds of birds
that were excellent eating. He had all the milk he wanted from his buffa-
loes, and made his own butter, raised his own rice and coffee, and smoked

cigars from his own tobacco. He had ducks and chickens, and eggs in
any desired quantity his palm-trees supplied liini with palm-wine and
;

sugar, and he had nearly every tropical fruit that can be named. You
see, by this account of his plantation, how well a man may live in one of
the islands of the Archipelago, provided he can reconcile himself to the
absence of society, and be contented with the sport that the hilly country
affords.
" I came away my friend accompanied me down the mountain,
When
and found the journej' much easier than going up; in fact, it was too
I

easy, and the mules were inclined to go faster than we liked to have
them. A part of the way 1 hired a boy to hang on to the tail of my
beast, which he did, somewhat to the annoj'ance of the latter. This kind
of check M^as evidently n3W to him, and he tried to elevate his heels suf-
ficiently to shake off the encumbrance. But he could not do so without
danger of turning a somersault; and consequently his kicking was con-
fined to a few slight movements. When the path became less steep I dis-
missed the boy, and the animal went along as demurely as ever.
"But my time is up," said the gentleman, looking at his watch, "and
your note-books are full. I am sorry I have not another hour or two in
which to tell you of Celebes, where the Dutch have established the same
system of culture that has made Java so prosperous ; of Borneo, where
the people and the products form a study of unusual interest ; of New
Guinea, a country rarely visited hy Europeans ; and of many other parts
 LETTERS FROM HOME. 445

of the Eastern Archipelago. Perhaps we will meet again one of these

days, and then I will try to give you more information similar to what
I have been narrating, and
trust yon will not find it

without interest."
Frank and Fred were
earnest in their thanks to
their kind informant; and
the Doctor added his
words of indebtedness to
theirs. Expressions of re-

gret at their separation

were made on both sides,
and the final hand -shak-
ing was the cause of little
lumps in youthful and
manly throats that choked
the voices, and made the
" good-byes " a trifle husky
in their utterance.
At the stipulated time
the repairs to the car-

riage were completed,

and our friends made all
haste back to Buitenzorg,
and thence to Batavia.
At their banker's they
found a large parcel of
letters, which had just ar-

rived by the last mail

from Singapore ; and the
evening of their return
from the interior was de-
voted to the perusal of
the precious missives from
home. The next day COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN.
found them busy with
plans for their future movements, and you may be sure that the map of
the eastern hemisphere was thoroughly studied, and the routes of travel
and commerce carefully examined. In this occupation we will leave the
446 THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE FAR EAST.

Doctor and his young companions, with the assurance that in due time
the Bassett and Bronson families, and all their friends. Miss EfEe in-
cluded, will be fully informed of the adventures tliat befell

THE BOY TKAVELLEES IN THE FAR EAST.

fS^^
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—
New Robinson Crusoe. By W. L. Alden. Toby Tyler; or, Ten Weeks with a Circus.
Mr. Stubbs's Brother; A Sequel to "Toby Tyler." Tim and Tip; or, The Adventures of
a Boy and a Dog. Left Behind or, Ten Days a Newsboy. Raising the " Pearl." Silent
;

Pete. —
By James Otis. The Story of Music and Musicians. Jo's Opportunity. Rolf
House. Mildred's Bargain, and Other Stories. Nan. The Colonel's Monet. The
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—
Black. The Lost City or. The Boy Explorers in Central Asia. Into Unknown Skas.
;

—
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and Wliite. The Red Mustang. By W. 0. Stoddard. Who Was Paul Gray.=on ? By —
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AND Delta Bixby. Dorymates. By Kirk Munroe. Strange Stories from History. Bv —
—
George Gary Eggleston. Uncle Peter's Trust. By George B. Perry. Captain Polly. —
By Sophie Swett.
HOWARD PYLE'S WORKS:
Twilight Land. Illustrated by the Author. 8vo, Half Leather, Ornamental, $2 60.
Men op Iron. Illustrated by the Author. 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, ^2 00.

A Modern Aladdin. An Extravaganza. Illustrated by the Author. Post 8vo, Cloth, Orna-
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The Wonder Clock; Four-and-Twenty Marvellous Tilts; being One for Each Hour of tlie
or,

Day. 160 Drawings by the Author. Embellished with Verses by Katharine Pyle. Large
8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, |3 00.
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4to, Clotli, Illuminated, |2 00.

The Rose of Paradise ; A Story of Adventure. Illustrated by the Author. Post 8vo, Cloth,
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SAMUEL SMILES'S WORKS :

Self-Help. — — — —
Character. Thrift. Duty. Men of Invention and Industry. Life and —
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each. Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthkopist. 12nio, Clotli, fl 25.
Round the World. Including a Residenee and a Journey by Rail Across North
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America. By a Boy. Edited by Samuel Smiles. — Life

of a Scotch Naturalist; Thcmas
Edward, Associate of the Linnajan Society. Robert Dick, Baker of Thurso; Geologist and
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The Lives op the Stephensons. Comprising, also, a History of the Invention and Introduc-
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