re, and exports more tin
than any other place on earth. The metal is shipped in molten bars
like lead or pig iron, and to one who has associated tin only with
light buckets, cups, and dippers, it is surprising how much strength
it takes to move a bar of the solid metal the size of a small
watermelon.

The imports of Penang are also not inconsiderable, and in walking
through the warehouses along the wharves I was {190} struck by the
number of boxes, crates, bales, and bundles bearing the legend, "Made
in Germany." The Germans are today the most aggressive commercial
nation on earth, and I find that their government and their business
houses are searching every nook and corner of the globe for trade
openings. Unlike our American manufacturers, it may be observed just
here, they are quick to change the style of their goods to meet even
what they may regard as the whims of their customers, and this is an
advantage of no small importance. If a manufacturer wishes to sell
plows in the Philippines, for example, it would not be worth while for
him to try to sell the thoroughly modern two-handled American kind to
begin with. He should manufacture an improved one-handled sort at
first and try gradually to make the natives see the advantages of
using two handles. At present, as an American said to me in Manila, if
you should seek to sell a Filipino a two-handled plow he would
probably say that two handles may be all right for Americans who are
not expert at plowing, but that the Filipino has passed that stage!

I mention this only by way of illustrating the necessity of respecting
the _custombre_, or custom, of the country. The Germans realize this,
and we do not.

One day by steamer from Penang brought us to Rangoon, the capital and
most important city in Burma, and (next to Bombay and Calcutta) the
most important in British India. We had heard much of the place,
situated thirty miles up the river "on the road to Mandalay," but
found that even then the half had not been told. If there were nothing
else to see but the people on the streets, a visit to Rangoon would be
memorable, for nowhere else on earth perhaps is there such
butterfly-like gorgeousness and gaudiness of raiment. At a little
distance you might mistake a crowd for an enormous flower-bed. All
around you are men and women wearing robes that rival in brilliancy
Joseph's coat of many colors.

The varieties in form of clothing are as great as the varieties {191}
in