ere is your tropical heat to supply the appreciative
palate? I remember, in a railway train in Guatemala, some women came
along with pineapples. I gave five cents, expecting one fruit; she,
unwilling to make change, forced upon me three. Small, yes; pygmies
doubtless to the hot-house aristocrats; but at a dinner-table with
artificial heat could one possibly want them as much, or enjoy them as
keenly, as under the burning southern sun, eaten like an apple, the
juice streaming to the ground? A camel sauntering down Broadway would
be odd only; a camel in an Eastern street has the additional setting
needed to fix him accurately in your gallery of mental pictures;
though, for the matter of that, I suppose a desert would be a still
more fitting surrounding. Aden has no natural water supply for daily
use; one of the sights are the great tanks for storing it, constructed
by some bygone dynasty. When we were there the place relied for
emergencies upon the more modern expedient of condensers, but for
ordinary consumption was mainly dependent upon that brought in skins
from the adjacent country on the backs of camels, which returned
charged with merchandise. I watched one of these ships of the desert
being laden for the homeward voyage. He was on his knees, placidly
chewing the cud of his last meal, but with a watchful eye behind him
upon his master's movements. Eternal vigilance the price of liberty,
or at least the safeguard against oppression, was clearly his
conviction; nor did he believe in that outworn proverb not to yell
before you are hurt. As each additional package, small or big, was
laid on the accumulating burden, he stretched out his long neck,
craned it round to the rear, opening his mouth as though to bite, to
which he seemed full fain, at the same time emitting a succession of
cries more wrathful even than dolorous, though this also they were.
But the wail of the sufferer went unheeded, and deservedly; for when
the load was complete to the last pound he rose, obedient to signal,
and stepped off quietly, evidently at ease. He had had his grumble,
and was satisfied.

An impression which accumulates upon the attentive traveller following
the main roads of maritime commerce is the continual outcropping of
the British soldier. It is not that there is so much of him, but that
he is so manywhere. In our single voyage, at places so apart as Cape
Town, Aden, Bombay, Singapore, Hong Kong. Although not on our route,
neverthe