BACK TO CIVILIZATION 371 



the nicest we had traveled on, and the cooking to 

 rival that of the great restaurants of Paris. 



Cholera was rampant in certain parts of Java, 

 but that didn't stop the sightseers. Nothing less 

 than an earthquake or a lost letter of credit could 

 have stopped them. 



Our adventures in Java were a repetition of 

 "crowds." The Hotel des Indes in Batavia was 

 crowded and we got the last room. The railways 

 were crowded, but not so much as the ones in India, 

 and the carriages are most comfortable. 



For a week we did volcanoes and gorgeous scen- 

 ery, and realized what a delightful place Java is. 

 It is even nicer than Japan, and the hotels are the 

 best in the East. 



My chief purpose in going to Java was to get a 

 Javanese waterwheel. They had one at the world's 

 fair in Chicago, and I have remembered it ever since 

 as one of the most musical things I have ever heard. 

 A friend of mine wanted me to get him one and I 

 volunteered to do so. I supposed that we would hear 

 waterwheels just as soon as we got off the ship. 

 But I was evidently mistaken. 



Nobody in Java, so far as I could discover, had 

 ever seen or heard of a Javanese waterwheel. I in- 

 quired of dozens of people people who had lived 

 there all their lives but they looked blank when I 

 spoke of waterwheels. I drew pictures of it, but 

 that didn't enlighten them. 



Finally in despair, after a week of vain search- 

 ing, I drew the plans for a waterwheel and had it 



