gs, struck
our attention; their music was wafted by the wind quite distinctly from
somewhere in the wood. They also startled a whole family of monkeys in
the branches of a tree over our heads. Two or three monkeys carefully
slipped down, and looked round as if waiting for something.

"What is this new Orpheus, to whose voice these monkeys answer?" asked I
laughingly.

"Some fakir probably. The alguja is generally used to invite the sacred
monkeys to their meals. The community of fakirs, who once inhabited
this island, have removed to an old pagoda in the forest. Their new
resting-place brings them more profit, because there are many passers
by, whereas the island is perfectly isolated."

"Probably they were compelled to desert this dreadful place because they
were threatened by chronic deafness," Miss X---- expressed her opinion.
She could not help being out of temper at being prevented from enjoying
her quiet slumber, our tents being right in the middle of the orchestra.

"A propos of Orpheus," asked the Takur, "do you know that the lyre of
this Greek demigod was not the first to cast spells over people, animals
and even rivers? Kui, a certain Chinese musical artist, as they are
called, expresses something to this effect: 'When I play my kyng the
wild animals hasten to me, and range themselves into rows, spellbound by
my melody.' This Kui lived one thousand years before the supposed era of
Orpheus."

"What a funny coincidence!" exclaimed I. "Kui is the name of one of our
best artists in St. Petersburg. Where did you read this?"

"Oh, this is not a very rare piece of information. Some of your Western
Orientalists have it in their books. But I personally found it in an
ancient Sanskrit book, translated from the Chinese in the second century
before your era. But the original is to be found in a very ancient work,
named The Preserver of the Five Chief Virtues. It is a kind of chronicle
or treatise on the development of music in China. It was written by the
order of Emperor Hoang-Tee many hundred years before your era."

"Do you think, then, that the Chinese ever understood anything about
music?" said the colonel, with an incredulous smile. "In California and
other places I heard some traveling artists of the celestial empire.
Well, I think, that kind of musical entertainment would drive any one
mad."

"That is exactly the opinion of many of your Western musicians on the
subject of our ancient Aryan, as well as of