our expedition to the mountain is spoilt by
torrents of rain which stream down unceasingly, and time hangs heavy on
our hands.

"It always rains here, all the year round, more or less," says a
friendly Englishman in the hotel. "If you like I'll take you to see a
well-to-do Chinaman who is a friend of mine. The Chinamen are all rich
here, lots of them keep motors." We gladly accept and go off under
borrowed umbrellas to the outskirts of the town. The house stands by
itself in a clump of trees and is very imposing with its great white
marble pillars; as we get near we see huge gold letters in weird
characters all across the front. Then before we have time to notice any
more we are in the hall looking at a great bowl of gold-fish, and in
another minute our host is bowing before us. He is wearing a very
magnificent embroidered coat of red silk with great wing-like sleeves;
the embroidery is a marvel, dragons in blue and gold, and fishes of
rainbow hues disport themselves all over it. Under it is a short black
satin petticoat, rather like a kilt, and black boots with thick white
felt soles. The gentleman is tall and well made, a fine figure of a man,
and on his head is a little round black cap, from which escapes his
pigtail. He stands bowing before us and shaking hands with himself,
which, as a method of greeting, is perhaps better than our own way. He
takes us into a dark gloomy room full of cabinets of black lacquer
richly decorated with gold and mother-of-pearl. There are sombre carved
wood chairs set back against the wall. It is all very costly, but to us
it seems uncomfortable and funereal. The chief things that attract us
are rows of little red pieces of paper of odd lengths hanging over
strings from the ceiling, as if they were drying after a washing-day.
The Englishman explains that the Chinaman is very proud of these, for
they are all New Year's greetings from his friends, and the number of
them shows what a popular man he must be. As the Chinese New Year's Day
is on April the first, and that was only a week ago, these are all new;
but if we had arrived at any time of the year we should have seen them
just the same, for they are left hanging all the year round till the
next lot arrives.

[Illustration: A CHINESE GENTLEMAN.]

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF CHINESE HOUSE AT SINGAPORE.]

On the whole we are not sorry to leave Penang; we have felt limp all the
time, worse even than we did in the Red Sea. The steamer w