BACK TO CIVILIZATION 
375 
pore, Mr. Dubois, is one of the best men I have yet 
encountered in one of our consulates. He is a new¬ 
comer in Singapore and yet in his few months he 
has added more prestige to our consulate general 
than all the former men put together. One can not 
but wonder why he is not a minister or an ambassa¬ 
dor, instead of only a consul general. 
Hongkong has been fortunate in having an ex¬ 
cellent representative in Mr. Rublee, and his recent 
untimely death is a distinct loss to the country. Mr. 
Wilder is in Shanghai and he is decidedly a man of 
the best mental and temperamental equipment. So 
now an American traveler may go up and down the 
China coast and “point with pride” to his nation’s 
representatives. How different it was ten or twelve 
years ago! 
We barely managed to get on board the Prinz 
Ludwig —Singapore to Hongkong. It is one of 
the N. D. Lloyd’s crack ships and everybody tries 
to take it. We got the last cabin, as usual, and spent 
hours thanking our lucky stars. 
The China Sea is chronically disposed to be dis¬ 
agreeable, but on this occasion it was quite well 
behaved. There were three days of delightful sun¬ 
shine and then a sudden blighting chill in the air. 
We landed in Hongkong with overcoats buttoned 
up and with garments drenched by the rains and 
mist clouds that battled around the great peaks of 
this little island. The hotels were jammed to the 
sidewalks and we got the last room at the 
Hongkong Hotel, while throngs were turned away; 
