United States or Mauritania ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
On the third morning from Hong-Kong, when the company came on deck, they found the Guardian-Mother at anchor, but just getting under way with an English pilot on board, who had been taken late the evening before. "Where are we now, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mr. Woolridge, when the party had seated themselves on the promenade to see what was to be seen.
"The native flowers are not so rich as you would expect to find; but the white lilies of the water are as pretty as anywhere, and the flowering shrubs are beautiful. Of course, if you went out to walk in the jungle you would find wild-flowers enough to make a bouquet." "But who would do it?" asked Mr. Woolridge. "I would for one," replied the doctor. "Why not?"
How big a cubic block would that make in feet, young gentlemen? I hope you are not neglecting your mathematics for geography and sight-seeing." "About seven feet," replied Louis, after some mental figuring. "A little more than that," added the professor. "Seven feet is about the height of the cabin of this ship, and one of them would just stand up in it," continued Mr. Woolridge.
Woolridge, has just reminded me of the promise made by the commander that certain ancient travellers over the world should be taken up, as we have frequent occasion to quote them," Professor Giroud began. "There are only three of them of any especial note, the first of whom is Herodotus, 'the Father of History, as he is often called, and was worthy of the title.
In the first one were Captain Ringgold, Mrs. Belgrave, and Sir Modava. Lord Tremlyn had more than once manifested a desire to be in the same carriage with Miss Blanche; and he went with her and Louis on this occasion, while Mr. and Mrs. Woolridge invited General Noury to accompany them. "Akbar made Agra the capital of the Mogul Empire," said Sir Modava, as the carriage started.
"Of course you all recognize the shore before you," he continued. "There isn't much shore there, only a strip of sand, with water beyond it," added Mrs. Woolridge. "What country is it?" asked Miss Blanche in a whisper to Louis, who had his mother on one side of him and the fair maiden on the other. "Egypt," replied Louis, wondering that she did not know.
The heavy dues for passing through the canal are an item, and it would not pay to save two thousand five hundred miles out of twelve thousand five hundred." "But the saving from London to Bombay is forty-four per cent," added Mr. Woolridge. "From Marseilles to the same port it is nearly sixty per cent. The United States 'is not in it'"
"It is difficult to believe that the swamp and lagoon on the starboard were once covered with fertile fields, watered by two of the branches of the Nile, where wheat was raised in abundance, from which Rome and other countries were supplied with food." "What vast flocks of birds!" exclaimed Mrs. Woolridge. "Those are flamingoes, just rising from their resting-place," added the captain.
As soon as the screw stopped, and the little craft began to roll on the long swell, Morris Woolridge put aside the "Chambers's" in which he had been reading up Assyria and Babylon, and went out of the cabin into the standing-room. He looked about him to ascertain the cause of the stoppage; but he could make nothing of it.
"There are a couple of the waiters," said Mrs. Woolridge. "They are nice-looking men, not very black." "They come from India, and make better servants than Arabs," added the guide. "How slender their forms, and what delicate features they have!" exclaimed the New York lady.
Word Of The Day