chews betel; and his mouth was as black as though he had just eaten a
piece of huckleberry-pie, and it looked horrid. That is all the fault I
have to find with him."

"It is a bad habit the people here have; but it is not so bad as
drinking whiskey, and we must be charitable while our country has its
faults; and theirs only spoils their looks, though I have been told
there is a 'kick,' or exhilaration, in the use of betel. I don't think I
should ever fall in love with a girl who chewed betel-nut. Some Dyak
maidens would have been passably good-looking if their teeth and lips
had not been blackened with this drug."

"The missionaries took some of us into the private chapel of a nobleman.
There were about a hundred priests, all clothed in yellow robes, with
their heads shaven; the service consisted of the constant repetition of
a sentence, which a missionary told me meant 'So be it.' It reminded me
of the howling dervishes we visited at their monastery, whose service
was a monotonous repetition of 'Allah il Allah,' You went to some of
the temples, Mr. Belgrave, and they seem to me to be all alike. Now can
you tell me how far it is to the place where we are going next?"

"It is about six hundred miles to Saigon, the chief town of French
Cochin China, and we shall get there to-morrow," replied Louis. "You
must brush up your French, Miss Blanche, for we have not used it
lately."

"We are off Cape Liant now, and I must give out a new course," said the
commander, rising from his chair by the side of Mrs. Belgrave.

"South-east half-south!" called the captain at the side window of the
pilot-house.

"South-east half-south," repeated the quartermaster at the wheel.

"We are going to Saigon, you said, Mr. Belgrave; but I cannot pronounce
the name," added the young lady.

"As to that, you pays your money, and takes your choice," laughed Louis.
"The French call it Sah-gong, shutting out the full sound of the last
_g_," added the speaker, pronouncing it several times with the proper
_accent_. "The English call it Sy-go['n], I believe; but I have heard it
called variously at Sarawak."

"But we want to know something about it before we go there," said the
young lady. "We had to ask no end of questions about Siam because the
lecture was postponed for the absentees."

"After lunch to-day a short talk will be given in relation to Saigon,"
replied Louis, as the bell rang for that meal.

When the company gathered in Conference