the steamer was obliged to descend the menam at less than half speed, to avoid running down any of the multitude of boats and vessels that thronged the river, and because the stream was so crooked.
"how far do you think bangkok is from the gulf, captain ringgold?" asked the general, at the close of the session.
"about twenty miles," replied the commander.
"one description of the city that i have read makes it forty miles, another twenty-six, and three others make it twenty miles," added the pacha; "and i suppose the last is the right distance."
"i have come to that conclusion after consulting all the books we have on the subject. you have said the second king of burma had been abolished, general; are you confident that such is the case? we certainly did not see him, and i did not hear anything about him," added the captain.
"in the first place, i consider chambers excellent authority, and you have the latest edition in the library, and the date is last year; and it says in so many words that the second has been done away with. the king who was the father of chulalong[192]korn died in 1868. his prime minister was a progressive man, who introduced many reforms in siam; and i am sure that he could not have helped seeing the absurdity of the second king. the present king is well educated, and also a progressive man, as his father was not. i am sorry we did not look the matter up, which we might easily have done with the assistance of the missionaries. but i am satisfied that i was correct in regard to the statement."
in the course of another hour the ship came to the mouth of the river. crocodiles appear to prefer the mouth of a stream, and a considerable number were seen at the entrance to a canal or cut-off. the pilot stopped the screw, and backed it, in order to avoid a collision with a couple of vessels in the channel. as the two vessels were under sail, it looked as though it would be some time before the channel was clear; and the "big four" hastened to their staterooms for their repeating-rifles.
their appearance thus armed created a sensation on the upper deck, and all the party secured positions where they could see the sport. mrs. belgrave manifested some anxiety when she saw the arms, for she was somewhat afraid of such weapons.
"what are you going to do, louis?" she asked as her son passed her.
"don't you see that there are a dozen crocodiles at the mouth of that cut-off, mother?" replied louis. "we are going to shoot some of them."
"but you can't get them if you do kill them."[193]
"we don't want to get them. they are not good for anything to us."
"then, why do you want to kill them? they do you no harm," protested the lady.
"but they would if they got the chance. suppose by any accident some one should fall overboard; those brutes would snap the person up as a fish snaps the bait," answered louis. "in borneo they are regular man-eaters, more dangerous than sharks; and i have no doubt they are the same here. as i told you, they pay so much a foot for killing them in that island. ask the pilot how it is here, mother."
achang was called, and was asked to inquire of the siamese if the crocodiles were dangerous. he promptly replied that they were not only dangerous, but a nuisance; for they went ashore and swallowed all small animals, and even attacked a cow. the lady offered no further objection. she only hoped the nimrods would not shoot each other; and they descended to the platform of the gangway, which had not yet been hoisted up, and the crack of their rifles was soon heard.
each of the rifles could send out nine bullets, fixed ammunition, contained in cartridges, nine of which was the capacity of the magazine. those on deck watched the group of saurians; but louis fired the first shot, and immediately there was a sensation among the reptiles. one of them made a spring, and came over on his back.
"mr. belgrave fired that shot," said achang to[194] the hunter's mother. "he is dead shot, and he never miss his aim."
"there is another turning over on his back," added the lady.
"i think mr. mcgavonty fired that one; for he is a dead shot too, but not quite so sure as mr. belgrave," said achang; and he was correct in his supposition. both of them hit the crocodile in the eye.
the next report that reached the ears of the party was followed by five more in quick succession; and the bornean explained that the hunter had missed his aim five times out of six, but his victim turned over after the last one.
"mr. scott is better with lasso than with rifle," criticised achang, with a smile.
the next shot caused the fourth of the reptiles to upset himself on the water, and then the screw of the ship began to turn again. the crocodile's reasoning powers did not seem to be well developed, as mrs. belgrave suggested when she saw one of their number killed; for they might have known there was mischief in the air. the nimrods came on deck, and then carried their rifles to their staterooms, where the commander required them to lock up the weapons in their closets.
the third officer was ordered to have the gangway hoisted up when he returned to the deck, and the ship proceeded to sea. the weather was pleasant, and not very warm for the tropics; in fact, they[195] had suffered more from the heat in new york and in von blonk park than in bangkok, though it is sometimes extremely hot there. the south-west monsoon cooled the air where they were, though the sun poured down its blistering rays.
there was an awning over the platform where the conferences were held, and another over the after part of the promenade deck. but the former, with its arm-chairs, was the most desirable location to be had; and in a short time the company had seated themselves there without any call to attend a lecture. as soon as deep water was indicated by the soundings, the pilot was discharged, and the captain then gave out the course south by east. everything was in working order on board; and the commander joined the party on the promenade, as it had always been called before conference hall was located there. it commanded the best view on both sides, though not forward, where it was obstructed by the pilot-house.
"what have you seen in bangkok, miss blanche, that the absentees have not seen?" asked louis, who had seated himself at her side, after patting miss mingo, whom she was holding in her lap.
"a great many things," she replied. "one was the royal barge, which they said was rowed or paddled by one hundred and fifty men; but a good many of us did not believe it contained so many."
"i have read about it, though i did not see it. it is said to be one hundred and fifty feet long, and[196] the book i read said it was paddled by one hundred and twenty men," added louis. "but it does not make much difference, and the books do not agree in regard to a great many things in this part of the world. what did you think of the people you saw, miss blanche?"
"a lady and gentleman were pointed out to us by one of the kind missionaries who guided us, and i could hardly tell which was the lady and which the gentleman till i had studied them a while," returned the fair maiden. "both of them wore what appeared to be trousers; but it proved to be a cloth as big as a sheet wound around the waist, and so disposed about the legs as to look like trousers; but the garment was the same on both of them. the lady had something like a shawl, which was passed over the left shoulder, and under the right arm, with some kind of a jacket under it. the gentleman wore a sort of tunic, which was regularly buttoned up in front like a coat. the hair of each was shaved off close to the head, except a tuft on the crown, which was bunched up. they wore no ornaments of any kind, perhaps because it was not a dress occasion. i saw one woman who had a kind of necklace on the top of the shawl."
"i saw a woman's band of five pieces, and the music they made was not bad," added louis.
"i heard a band like that; but i could not tell whether they played a tune or improvised their music. the missionaries took us into the garden of[197] a nobleman, where we saw what was called a theatrical exhibition; but it was no more like a theatre than it was like a cattle-show. we saw the king too, and he was a nice-looking man forty years old. he had what looked like a tunnel on his head. he was sitting in a kind of big arm-chair on poles, and eight men were bearing him to a temple. all the natives in the street dropped on their knees as he passed, and some lay flat on their stomachs. that is the way they always do before him. but he chews betel; and his mouth was as black as though he had just eaten a piece of huckleberry-pie, and it looked horrid. that is all the fault i have to find with him."
"it is a bad habit the people here have; but it is not so bad as drinking whiskey, and we must be charitable while our country has its faults; and theirs only spoils their looks, though i have been told there is a 'kick,' or exhilaration, in the use of betel. i don't think i should ever fall in love with a girl who chewed betel-nut. some dyak maidens would have been passably good-looking if their teeth and lips had not been blackened with this drug."
"the missionaries took some of us into the private chapel of a nobleman. there were about a hundred priests, all clothed in yellow robes, with their heads shaven; the service consisted of the constant repetition of a sentence, which a missionary told me meant 'so be it.' it reminded me of the howling dervishes we visited at their monastery, whose service was a[198] monotonous repetition of 'allah il allah,' you went to some of the temples, mr. belgrave, and they seem to me to be all alike. now can you tell me how far it is to the place where we are going next?"
"it is about six hundred miles to saigon, the chief town of french cochin china, and we shall get there to-morrow," replied louis. "you must brush up your french, miss blanche, for we have not used it lately."
"we are off cape liant now, and i must give out a new course," said the commander, rising from his chair by the side of mrs. belgrave.
"south-east half-south!" called the captain at the side window of the pilot-house.
"south-east half-south," repeated the quartermaster at the wheel.
"we are going to saigon, you said, mr. belgrave; but i cannot pronounce the name," added the young lady.
"as to that, you pays your money, and takes your choice," laughed louis. "the french call it sah-gong, shutting out the full sound of the last g," added the speaker, pronouncing it several times with the proper accent. "the english call it sy-gon, i believe; but i have heard it called variously at sarawak."
"but we want to know something about it before we go there," said the young lady. "we had to ask no end of questions about siam because the lecture was postponed for the absentees."[199]
"after lunch to-day a short talk will be given in relation to saigon," replied louis, as the bell rang for that meal.
when the company gathered in conference hall, louis was introduced as the speaker for the occasion, and promptly presented himself before his audience.
"i have very little to say, mr. commander, for general noury has covered the whole subject under the head of cochin china," he began. "what is more particularly known as french cochin china contains 23,000 square miles, and a population of 1,800,000. the part in the north is called french indo-china. the country is precisely that described so carefully by the general, and i need not repeat it. the cambodia, or mekhong river, flows through it with many bayous or cut-offs. on one of these, which is called the saigon river, is the city of saigon, the capital of the french possessions in the east, lippincott says thirty-five miles, and chambers sixty miles, from the china sea; and of course both of them cannot be right, and you are all at liberty to take your choice. the town has grown up within the last thirty-two years; and, after the style of french cities, it is handsomely laid out, with fine streets, squares and boulevards. it contains numerous canals, with stone or brick quays; and perhaps it will remind you of paris along the seine. it is said to be one of the handsomest cities of the east. it has a navy-yard and citadel, and is the most important port between hong-kong and singapore. the[200] people are french, annamese, and chinese. it has a large trade, and contains two colleges, an orphan asylum, a splendid botanical garden, to say nothing of convents and other institutions. the population is put by one at ninety thousand, and by another at about half that number. i have nothing more to say."
louis retired, and the next day the ship arrived at saigon.
