125
But there is another sids of the picture. The woods swarm with venomous reptiles and poisonous plants. In the jungles the tiger lies In walt for his prey, end the na- tive inhsbitants, not unlike him in dispesi- tion, have uot advanced s step in civilizs- tion, nor changed the face of nature by eul- tivating the soil. The waters around abound in fish, the wooda with frait. The bsrabaa abd the palm furnish them with shelter and the little clothing they care to wear. The Europern degenerates, morally and phys’< Galiy, by residence in this too fayared'clime. Hecomes here to make mousey, snd this he is bonnd to do, regardiass of the rights of the miserable and degraded native populs- tion. But ha pays the penalty in the loss of heslth and stamina, in « diseased liver, and bloed thinned by « tropical sun. Ten years’ residencs here counts for fifteen or twenty in the length of a man’s life in the Temperate Zone. Such is the inexerable law of compensation.
Inthe streets and shops we see every whade of color and every caste of race. Searcely five per cent of the inhabitants are European. But Jaya and Ceylon, Hindos- tan and Burmah, and every island of ths Hast Indian Achipelago has here its tepra- wentatives. Turbans of every color, and gostames a3 varied and bright as the flow- ers that every where blossom in the gardens Bhd woods, With red and scarlet intermin- gied with white, and set cif by the foil ct their dark skins give a picturesquenesa to the looka of the people quite in contrast with the sombre hua of the costumes uni- Yeraally worn in Japan and China.
In this climate, to Europeans as well a3 batives, a bath is the first duty of the morn Ing, and every hotel and stesmer has bath rooms free to the guests. Before the eun is up we take g gharry to ride out to the gar- dens of the Asiatic Society, abyut bree miles from the city. Our gharry is so pecu- Nar a vehicle that it deserves a description. Et is a square, bleck van mounted on four wheels, with two seate, and moveable ¢lata for windowe—a rattling, j.lting concern in which every bolé and nut seems loose, and ready, on the slightest provocation to col- Japae inte “everlasting emagh.” Ttis drawn by a single horse, small as « Shetland pony, with harness enough for a load in itacif. The driver is a dark skinned Malay, with glittering black eyes, wearing « bright red turban, which is hie principal article of attire, for besides that be wears only a nar-
