BACK TO CIVILIZATION 
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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 otf 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 
