BACK TO CIVILIZATION 369 



gers, and there were only six on board. We had 

 elbow room for the first time since leaving Africa. 



When we stopped at Penang there were two dis- 

 tinct sensations. One was that Georgetown, the 

 capital of the Island of Penang, is the prettiest 

 tropical city I have ever seen ; and the other was the 

 first shock of the rubber craze. From that time on 

 we were constantly in a seething roar of rubber talk ; 

 everybody was buying rubber shares and everybody 

 else was talking about starting rubber plantations. 

 The fever was epidemic. Planters were destroying 

 profitable cocoanut groves in order to replace them 

 with rubber trees. Nearly every local resident was 

 putting his last cent in rubber shares and the tales 

 of suddenly increased wealth inflamed the imagina- 

 tions and cupidity of every one who heard them. I 

 mentally jotted down the names of one or two com- 

 panies that are going to declare enormous dividends 

 soon, but that's as far as I've got in my rubber in- 

 vestments. 



Penang, like Hongkong, is an island. The city 

 on the island is Georgetown, while the city on 

 Hongkong is Victoria ; but you will never hear any 

 one speak of Georgetown or Victoria. It is just 

 Penang and Hongkong, and the other names are 

 useless incumbrances. 



Singapore was crowded with Americans fighting 

 for accommodations on the China and Japan steam- 

 ers ; other Americans fighting to get reservations on 

 the Java steamers; still other Americans who, in 

 despair, were going to Hongkong by way of Bor- 



