i68 



A VISIT TO RUBBER PLANTATIONS 



in our clothes, on a pile of old sails in the stern of the boat. The bed 

 was far from comfortable for one at all finical about the soft side of 

 a plank, and the Importer did not take to it a bit. He had chosen a 

 place next to the bulwarks, and had only one ring bolt in the small of 

 his back, while the Manufacturer was curled in the form of an S around 

 a huge cleat, and a part of the steering gear. However, morning came 

 at last, and the little boat kicked along through a blazing sun at first, 

 until it finally clouded up, and later, about three miles to the northeast, 

 a huge waterspout was sighted. We were all so dull and drowsy that 

 we didn't pay much attention to it at first, but when it drew nearer and 

 nearer, and the captain furled all sail and made everything fast, we 



WATER FRONT AT BLUEFIELD S. 



thought it might be possible that we were going to have some fun. It 

 was the first time I had ever seen anything but pictured waterspouts, 

 and I had always been a bit skeptical about them; but as it got within 

 a few hundred feet of us, I was a most thorough convert. It was really 

 a most remarkable sight. The sea was quite smooth, except where the 

 end of the great funnel touched the water, and there it was broken up 

 into curious little wavelets. The huge circular tube of vapor did not 

 go straight up, but slanted off into an especially black cloud and 

 appeared to be a mile and a half in length. When it was near enough, 

 the captain began shooting in its direction with an old-fashioned Colt's 

 revolver, and the Manufacturer, getting his gun, took a hand in the 

 same game. Whether the concussion did the work or not, I don't know, 

 but before it reached us it suddenly dissolved, and in a very few seconds 

 no trace of it was to. be seen. 



