Thomas Wallace Knox

“ The driver is on 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 aërial 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 in one a man is seated, who is evidently out for a day's sport. 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. ”

“ With a cigar, or a short pipe, a man may write or work; but when he takes the 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 the 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. ”

“ Frank thought it was time for him to say something specially intended for Mary and Effie; he remembered his letter from Japan about the women of that country, and concluded that 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. ”

“ In vain did I protest that I had been unjustly treated; the only answer 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. ”

“ The durian is like a small pumpkin, with a rough skin so hard and thick that the birds cannot make much impression on it. The seeds are nearly as large as chestnuts, and each seed is surrounded by a soft pulp, just as the stone of a peach is embedded in the body of the fruit. People who live here grow very fond of it, but travellers do not learn to like it until they have made a good many attempts. ”

“ 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 French 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. ”

“ When 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. ”

“ Fortunes were sometimes made by a single venture, and not unfrequently a merchant had exclusive information 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." ”

“ A foot or so in front of him was a squirrel, sitting 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 by the deadly fangs. Frank wished they had been able to save the squirrel by killing the snake, but his wishing was of no avail, as they were moving down the stream ”

“ If you wish to realize the importance of Singapore as a place of trade, you have only to look at a map of the Eastern hemisphere and observe the position of the city. It is a convenient commercial point for 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 complain that competition has ruined trade ”

“ There was a laugh all around at Fred's humorous description of the Chinese process of shipbuilding, and by the time the joke had ceased to amuse they were ready to go over the side. Captain Clanchy accompanied 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 lumbered 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." ”

“ 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 the 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 the result is that your nose will often inform you, before your eyes do, that you are approaching a village. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ What a lot of patent candles we should have if the same custom prevailed 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. ”

“ 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 judge by what we have seen on the road. The government has established inns every forty or fifty miles along its principal roads; they 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 every room, and is not at all unreasonable. Our waiter was a little Malay boy, who moved around as gracefully as a queen, and twice as dignified. ”

“ There is a fish in Siam, and other parts of the East, that has the remarkable peculiarity of going overland 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 himself with his feet. Their instinct is unerring, and they have never been known to make a mistake about heading for the water that is nearest. ”

“ All the merchants who can afford the expense of a bungalow, or private residence outside the city limits, are sure to indulge in it. The consequence 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ While the priests teach that there is no spot in the heavens above, nor in the earth below, or the waters under 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. ”

“ 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 difficulty, 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 allow a boat to lie along side for the purpose of assisting the diver, it is not wise to send him below. ”

“ 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 rise and fall with the tide. The raft is somewhat larger than the house, and forms a platform all around it; and when you want to go in at the front of a house, you have only to bring your boat along-side the raft and step off. ”

“ 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 expenses of the government. ”