the last of the fish in the ice, so
that it had kept well, and it had been served for breakfast that
morning. Everybody had praised it. The surgeon called it the gourami,
and said that some successful attempts had been made to introduce the
fish in American waters.

The audience laughed heartily when Louis related in what manner they had
killed and sold one hundred and eight feet of crocodile for about forty
dollars. He told what he had learned about the Dyaks, and described the
long-house they had visited, and the head-house, and gave the story in
full of Rajah Brooke, and their visits to his nephew and successor, the
present rajah. He might have gone on with his narrative till lunch-time
if he had not known that General Noury was waiting for him to finish his
account.

"Did you see the Dyak women, Louis?" asked his mother.

"Plenty of them. The older ones reminded me of the French women; for
when they begin to grow old, they wrinkle and dry up. The morality of
the Dyaks is much higher in tone, even among the laboring-classes, men
and women, than in civilized countries. They are all honest; and they
steal nothing, even in Kuching, though the Malays and Chinamen do it for
them."

"Were the young women pretty, Mr. Belgrave?" inquired Mrs. Woolridge.

"To a Dyak gentleman I suppose they are; but I was not fascinated with
them, though I saw some on the Simujan who were not bad looking. The
prettiest one I saw was at a village near the mountains. But the general
is waiting for me to finish, and I must answer no more questions at
present," replied the speaker, as he bowed, and hastened from the
rostrum.

Then it was found that Mr. Gaskette had not hung up the map of Cochin
China, for Achang and the carpenter had taken up the space before
appropriated to it. Mr. Stevens, the carpenter, suggested a way to get
over the difficulty; but it would take him half an hour to put up a
frame in front of the orang.

"I shall not be able to get half through Cochin China before
lunch-time," said General Noury, consulting his watch.

"I am afraid your audience will be scatterbrained, General, there is so
much going on about the decks. Perhaps we had better postpone the
lecture till after we have sailed to-morrow morning, especially as the
Nimrods will be on shore this afternoon," suggested the commander.

"I approve the suggestion; let it be adopted."

The Blanche party lunched on board, and spent the afternoon there.

C