pleasure to sit out in the corridor-like veranda and listen to the
music. It was all so contrary to our expectations, for we had been told
fearful tales about heat, insects, and general discomfort on the Malay
Peninsula, or on what they term the "Straits Settlements."

* * * * *

JOHORE: To commence with, we devoted the first afternoon to an excursion
to Johore, the capital of an independent Malay province, whose Sultan
reigns with pomp and ceremony. After a railway ride, we took the ferry
across the river, where a scene of loveliness awaited us. The city is
unpretentious in appearance, but our afternoon excursion revealed to us
a varied landscape with a tropical growth. We visited a plantation
where india rubber, one of the chief articles of export, is cultivated;
then a large Mohammedan mosque, finely located on an eminence. The tiger
house on this particular day held but one inmate, who showed no desire
to devour us.

The grounds surrounding the palace are as spacious and as well cared for
as a botanical garden, with the brilliant flowers, blossoming trees, and
a great number of red sealing-wax palms. The palace is luxuriantly
embowered in vines and trees. Johore is a famous gambling-place, but the
"parlors" were deserted on this afternoon, and we could see only the
fine furnishings in carved teakwood.

The stay in Johore ended with tea at a hotel. Here we saw the real
Sultan entertaining a party of Europeans. He looked young and was
dressed in an immaculate English style, quite unlike the striped calico
suits displayed by royalty at Jeypore, India. He came in a French
automobile, and is said to pass half his time in Singapore, being fond
of society. We arrived in Singapore for dinner, and during the evening a
delightful surprise awaited me in the appearance of two Milwaukee
friends.

[Illustration: _The Sultan's Palace at Johore_]

The following day much ground was covered, for, by invitation of
Cincinnati friends, I took a motor ride of about forty miles amidst
undreamed-of beauty, both near the city and in the surrounding
country. There were streets lined with villas whose gardens were full of
a luxuriant growth of shrubs and flowers; some of them had the quaintest
high-arched gateways, with coats of arms and animals carved in stone on
each side of the entrance. The Botanical Gardens were very interesting,
as was also the park, miles from the city, and laid out around the
rese