Yet this is what any lover of whitebait would have to do when bent on visiting the Burmese Greenwich. In the East, however, your factotum saves you all the trouble; you have but to tell him where you are going and how long you intend to stay, and, with a quickness acquired by long practice, he grasps the situation and forgets nothing. In this case, especial stress was laid on the absolute necessity of procuring _the_ fish for dinner, to which end he started the day before, thus making assurance doubly sure. Failing therein, heavy penalties were darkly hinted at, to which he listened without moving a muscle, salaam’d, and disappeared. The following afternoon we were borne quickly down stream in a roomy boat, provided with an awning astern. The conversation had reference to the Mutiny and all that we had seen since; but ever and anon the “fish” would crop up, showing what was uppermost in our minds. When we landed at our destination there was still some little daylight before us, so we resolved on a preliminary tour of inspection, first of our quarters, and then of the shore. The former we found in a very satisfactory condition; the latter was composed of hard sand, pleasant to walk on, while large rocks abutted into the sea covered with seaweeds and a variety of molluscs and crustaceans, especially small oysters. The scene brought vividly to the fore days now numbered with the past and oft looked back upon; but as darkness was coming on apace, as is its wont in the tropics, we retraced our steps, guided by the light that streamed from our room through the venetian blinds. The supreme moment was now near at hand. We had scarcely performed our ablutions and made some slight change in our dress, when my friend gave the order for dinner, in a voice which might have been heard half way up to Moulmein, and, with customary punctuality, our domestic announced it almost immediately with an air of intense satisfaction. It was a trying moment: there stood the dish, beneath the cover of which peeped out a snow-white napkin. My friend helped both of us liberally, and the attack commenced. After a few mouthfuls we looked up and our eyes met; on both our faces stood mute disappointment. We neither thought anything of the fish, and we confessed as much. It was certainly aggravating. Day after day our friends had instilled into the porches of our ears the exquisite delicacy of a fish to be met with nowhere else, and we might just as well have masticated a few lumps of gelatine!