s and fruits inside it, until we came to a wealthy Chinaman's
house and garden. The house was full of quaint conceits, and in the
garden was a very pretty artificial pond surrounded by splendid ferns
and palms, looking something like a natural lake in the midst of a
tropic jungle. Then we drove on, through more valleys and past more
gardens, to the Government coal-stores, which Tom inspected with
interest, and which, he was told, contained at that moment 5,000 tons
of coal. Afterwards, some of the party went on board the Dutch gunboat
'Bromo,' which acts as guard-ship, and is now coaling alongside.

[Illustration: Dutch (Native) Soldiers]

The Netherlands Company's steamship the 'Bajara' sails to-morrow at 4
A.M., and the mail closes at six o'clock to-night; so it was necessary
to hurry back on board in order to get our letters and journals ready
in time, though we had luckily foreseen this emergency. The dinner
was very good, and was served in a nice cool airy room at the hotel,
landlady, waiters, and all being extremely civil, though we could
scarcely exchange a single word with any of them.

_Wednesday, April 20th._--Went ashore at 7.30 with Tom, Mabelle, Baby
and Mr. Pritchett. The latter goes home to-day in the 'Bajara.' The
morning was fairly cool. Mabelle and I went to one or two shops and
tried to make some purchases; but, between our ignorance of the
language and our poverty in the current coins of the country, we did
not meet with much success. While we were at one shop, a very smart
lady drove up in a neatly turned-out victoria and pair. She was
dressed exactly like all the natives, except that the materials of her
costume were better. A sarong, worked in a peculiar native way with
wax, was wound round her waist, and a snowy white close-fitting linen
jacket trimmed with lace and insertion formed the rest of her costume.
Her hair was neatly fastened up with a comb, but her feet were bare,
except for prettily embroidered slippers.

[Illustration: Macassar Policeman]

After breakfast most of the party went off on various shopping
expeditions, for it will be Muriel's birthday to-morrow, and we are
all providing suitable offerings for the occasion. Mabelle and Mr.
Pemberton also went to the police-officer's residence to try and
bargain for some of the arms which we had seen last night. There were
eight or ten weapons which I should dearly like to possess. However,
it proved to be hopeless to attempt to drive