They passed me on their way back, rejoicing exceedingly at the success of their stratagem, laughing and joking, as if they had been assisting at a wedding rather than an interment. Besides being good carpenters, they were _facile princeps_ as leather-workers; and once a Chinaman has encased your feet, you will be reluctant to employ any other nationality, be it even a Frenchman, though he comes second best. Having said this, I have said all the good for John Chinaman that I can—the rest is simply nowhere! He is steeped in independence, being very unpunctual, and exceedingly brusque into the bargain. Keeping you waiting until it suits him to bestir himself, he will come forward with, “What you want?” “Boots mended,” is the rejoinder. “Very good; I mend.” “When ready?” you ask—remember, he can only understand his own kind of English. “You come next week,” is his ultimatum. You go next week, and the boots have not been touched. “How is this?”—“Oh! I too busy; you come another time.” “But when, you old thief?”—“Next week I make ready,” and he vanishes into the back premises. For artistic and systematic thieving, too, he has gained a world-wide renown; while as for his other virtues—well, “all men are liars,” and Chinamen form no exception to the general rule. And now I must give some little account of the wonderful vegetation, which eminently characterizes this part of our possessions. The most conspicuous among indigenous trees is unquestionably the Jack-fruit, of which several may be seen in every garden, along the roadside, and shading the houses, in which latter capacity it is not to be beaten, for the thick, green, glossy leaves are very numerous. As an article of food, it ranks somewhat less highly, for a European needs some moral courage to approach the fruit, for a reason to which I have already alluded; though a native esteems it as honey in the comb, and will gorge to repletion on it, and then have a little more—if it is to be had! Standing isolated, it is certainly more striking in appearance than when growing in the jungles; and one is particularly attracted by its curious tendency to grow fruit on the trunk. The elongated mahogany-coloured seeds are, when roasted, palatable and nutritious; while its wood, which is much sought after for special purposes, takes a high place for durability. Not nearly so common, but surpassing it beyond all range of comparison, is that crowning triumph of the vegetable kingdom, the _Amherstia Nobilis_. This glorious plant, than which even a poet’s imagination could conceive nothing more beautiful of its kind, is of the Papillonaceous order, a trifle too symmetrical perhaps to be artistic; it grows to the height of about thirty feet, and on the dense mass of light green, pinnate foliage rest large racemes of bluish-purple flowers in great profusion.