f whirlpool and slime,
Where it thunders and rains like the devil
For weeks at a time.

They paddle their rafts through the jungle;
They swim through a network of leaves;
They clamber with never a bungle
To dive from the eaves.

'Tis an orgy of goblins, an image
Of nudity flouting the flood,
Of shorn-headed brownies who scrimmage
And splash in the mud.

As we row neath a tamarind, one'll
Roll off with a gesture of fright,
Bobbing up like a cork at our gunwale
And gurgling delight.

But never a stanza shall measure
The joy of that desperate crew
Of four-year-olds scouring for treasure
Astride a bamboo.

Their fathers smoke, huddled in sorrow,
Their mothers chew betel and fret,
And the pariahs howl for a morrow
Which shall not be wet;

The plovers wheel o'er them complaining,
And it's only the babies who pray
That the skies may be raining and raining
For ever and aye.

J.M.S.

* * * * *

ANOTHER MESOPOTAMIAN SCANDAL.

"The commodious and fast ss. 40 will leave Basrah for Baghdad and all
intermediate ports on Saturday morning at 9 A.M. Passengers will embark
at 10 A.M."--_Basrah Times._

* * * * *

"END OF COTTON SUIT.

DRAMATIC COLLAPSE."--_Daily Paper._

We are more than ever convinced of the superior wearing qualities of
woollen.

* * * * *

"The Government of the Commonwealth of Australia agrees to the
admission on passport of Indian merchants, students, tourests, with
there irrespective wives."--_Indian Paper._

But ought any Government to encourage this sort of thing?

* * * * *

[Illustration: _Dancing Man_ (_at Galleries of New Primitive Art Society_).
"ONE WOULD HAVE THOUGHT, WITH SUCH A GOOD FLOOR, THEY MIGHT HAVE PUT UP
SOME BETTER PICTURES."]

* * * * *

OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.

(_By Mr. Punch's Staff of Learned Clerks._)

Following the iconoclastic spirit of the age, Mr. BARRY PAIN has essayed in
_The Death of Maurice_ (SKEFFINGTON) the revolutionary experiment of a
murder mystery tale that does not contain (_a_) a love interest, (_b_) a
wrongly suspected hero, (_c_) a baffled inspector, (_d_) an amateur, but
inspired, detective. It would be a grateful task to add that