th their beautiful voices. A Japanese
colonel, who had by his feats of bravery made himself famous, sat at my
right at the table, and it was with great interest I listened to him
telling of his trip on horseback from Russia on the Trans-Siberian line
to China, which took seventeen months to accomplish, with the use of
three horses. The extreme cold of Siberia, 45 degrees below zero, with
those sluggish people, made the days he spent with them most memorable.
He averaged twenty-five miles a day, traveling through grand forests,
and, as daylight continued till midnight, he was enabled to travel much
at night during the summer months. He was in the employ of the Japanese
government. We afterward met him at Cairo. Two days out from Hongkong
(Oct. 19, 1895) we skirted the Island of Hainan, which is separated from
the mainland of China by the Gulf of Tonquin, and passing the Empire of
Anan we enter the St. James River, eight degrees north of the
equator--Far. 83. The river in width is about forty rods, the banks of
which on either side are covered with dense jungles. The mango and
banana tree were strangely intermingled with vines covered with flowers,
while groups of monkeys keep up a perpetual chatter and bright plumed
parrots were seen at every turn, to say nothing of the wild boar that
were hid among the jungles. The low thatched huts along the shore,
surrounded by the waving palm tree, looked rather attractive at a
distance. The dress of the Coachin-Chinamen consists of long, loose
flowing trousers, with a black or white robe falling from the shoulders,
and a red or white turban on their heads. The heat at Saigon in October
was oppressive, and we were advised to keep aboard the vessel till late
in the evening. Our ride to the botanical gardens over smooth roads of
red clay in the jinrikisha, with a bright turbaned coolie, was most
picturesque amid the perfection of tropical growth of plants and trees.
Convoys of storks, plumed golden pheasants, the Coachin China chickens,
cages of monkeys, leopards and bears all amuse and entertain the
traveler. Saigon is a French concession and has at least 100,000
inhabitants. Late in the afternoon the Governor General of Coachin China
boarded the vessel with his son. Citizens in their white duck suits and
pith helmets and soldiers escorted him to the steamer in their bright
uniforms with great ceremony to bid him bon voyage to France to
negotiate a loan in behalf of a projected railroad