Of the Equator, and as he has lent me Newbold's Malacca
for the voyage, and has given me letters to the Governor and Colonial
Secretary of the Straits Settlements, you will next hear from me from
Singapore!
I. L. B.
LETTER VI
A Cochin China River - The Ambition of Saigon - A French Colonial
Metropolis - European Life in Saigon-A Cochin-Chinese
Village - "Afternoon Tea" in Choquan - Anamese Children - Anamite
Costume - Anamite River-Dwellings - An Amphibious Population - An
Unsuccessful Colony - "With the Big Toe" - Three Persecuting
Kings - Saigon
S.S. "SINDH," CHINA SEA, January.
This steamer, one of the finest of the Messageries Maritimes line, is
perfect in all respects, and has a deck like that of an old-fashioned
frigate. The weather has been perfect also, and the sea smooth enough
for a skiff. The heat increases hourly though, or rather has increased
hourly, for hotter it cannot be! Punkahs are going continually at meal
times, and if one sits down to write in the saloon, the "punkah-wallah"
spies one out and begins his refreshing labors at once. But we took on
board a host of mosquitoes at Saigon, and the nights are consequently
so intolerable that I weary for the day.
The twenty-four hours spent at Saigon broke the monotonous pleasantness
of our voyage very agreeably to me, but most of the passengers complain
of the wearisome detention in the heat.
