144 Among Men and Hoj'ses. 



retort that persons who tub every day must be very filthy to 

 require so much washing. In that respect, women seem to 

 be the greatest sinners, as we can have ample proof if we 

 inquire at any of the London vestry baths about the respec- 

 tive proportions of male and female bathers. We of course 

 remember Edmund About's Italian young lady, who being 

 questioned as to her fondness for tubbing, exclaimed, ' What ! 

 I a noble Roman maiden to wash my body with water! 

 Never ! I sometimes lave it with milk.' Not long ago, when 

 staying for a few days at the only hotel in the Dutch village 

 of Boxtel, I asked mine host if I could have a bath. He re- 

 plied that there was no such thing in the place. I inquired 

 as to the procedure adopted by the inhabitants when they de- 

 sired to wash themselves all over. He answered that they did 

 so in the river, or went without. I followed up by demand- 

 ing to know if the ladies, also, bathed in the river ; to which 

 he exclaimed that Dutch vrows respected themselves too 

 much to be guilty of any such impropriety. I could not help 

 thinking that were I a young bachelor, I would not come to 

 Boxtel for a sweetheart. 



The approach to Singapore through the narrow Straits, 

 which open into the China Sea, and which are studded with 

 beautifully-wooded islands, is singularly picturesque. Being 

 close to the equator, the whole face of the undulating land is 

 covered by an extraordinary wealth and variety of tree and 

 plant life : but it is the worst place for a ' show ' I have ever 

 been in. There are a fairly large number of white men who, for 

 the most part, belong to local mercantile houses, in the transac- 

 tion of the business of which, they spend the greater portion of 

 their forenoons and afternoons, and having done their work, they 

 flit off to their residences, which dot the surrounding country 

 at distances between, say, two to six miles from the city. 

 Consequently, during the evenings and early morning, no 

 one who can afford to sleep out of Singapore remains in it. 

 This custom is delightful from a social and domestic point of 

 view ; but is abominable to a showman, who, to make his 



