ut without bonnets to enjoy the cool of the
evening.

Then came a scene of another kind. They re-entered the town by the
Chinese quarter. There they found grotesque-looking houses, lit up
with large paper lanterns of gaudy colours, with Chinese inscriptions
or monsters on them, and long rows of Chinese characters up and down
the door-posts or over the windows. Crowds of people swarmed along the
streets, and strange cries, in a Babel of languages, resounded in
their ears, and every variety of Eastern figure flitted about them,
from the half-naked Couli to the well-clothed Chinese in a loose white
jacket like a dressing-gown, the Arab merchant in his flowing robes,
and the Javanese gentleman in smart jacket and trousers, sash
petticoat, curious pent-house-like hat, and strange-handled creese or
dagger stuck in his girdle. The view of the country in the morning
was, however, much less captivating; it was flat and marshy, and
intersected by large ditches. The roads are on dykes four or five feet
above the level of the fields, and lined with rosewood trees, an
Eastern Holland.

The Dutch have introduced a club, which they call _Concordia_, with
billiard-tables, magazines, a reading-room, and a department for
eating and drinking. Of this the voyagers were invited to be ordinary
members. There was a book club among the English residents, where they
enjoyed the sight of several new publications and periodicals. All
this was a pleasant interchange for cruising among coral reefs, and
being tossed about or starved in Torres Strait; and they seem to have
enjoyed it completely. Besides the Dutch civilities, they had a
general invitation from an English merchant, Mr Frazer, to his house a
few miles in the country.

In those climates fresh air and cool rooms are the chief points. Mr
Frazer's house was on the Indian model. It had but one story and one
principal room, in the centre of the house, opening both before and
behind, by two large doorways, into spacious porticoes, as large as
the room itself, and supported by pillars. Each of the wings was
occupied by three good bed-rooms. It stood in an enclosure of about an
acre, with lawn, stables, and servants' offices. The floors were
tiles, covered with cane matting in the principal room. As soon as it
grows dusk, the central saloon is lighted up with many lamps, the
doors and windows still remaining open; and every now and then a
carriage drives up, some acquaintance drops in for an