Underneath all this Oriental shade a lovely confusion of fungi, mosses, and every variety of ferns, from delicate maiden-hair to the tall fronds fifteen and twenty feet high. [Illustration: BIRD OF PARADISE.] Birds of brilliant plumage and beautiful form inhabit these Oriental forests――long-legged swamp-fowls, tall as a man and swift as a greyhound; paroquets with green bodies and scarlet beaks fly screaming from tree to tree; the snowy pelican, the white ibis, the argus, the blue-jay, the black and white robin; birds of paradise and humming-birds. The sea-swallow builds her nest in the hollows and caves of the rocky coast, and doves and pigeons are in endless variety. Winged things of myriad kinds troop, great and small――immense butterflies, jewel-like beetles, brilliant dragon-flies, thousands of moths――while at dusk swarms of fire-flies illumine the glades, and the night is noisy with the flitting and buzzing of the insect world. Animals fierce and large as those of Africa infest these jungles; their footprints are all along the paths――wild elephants and boars, the tapir, the royal tiger, the one-horned rhinoceros, the buffalo, herds of deer, wild hogs and squirrels, afford a sportsman plenty of use for his gun; uncanny flying-foxes, and chattering monkeys linked, chain-fashion, hand to tail, or pelting each other with fruit and nuts. Innumerable water-snakes glide among the reeds; the cobra or hooded serpent is abundant; surly alligators, with their ugly red mouths wide open, and huge saurians bask in sunny spots or float like logs upon the surface of the water; leeches abound in the swampy lowlands; frogs and turtles and tortoises, larger than any ever seen in temperate regions, throng the marshes and streams. [Illustration: MONKEYS PLAYING WITH A CROCODILE.] Indo-China also offers a first field of inquiry to the geologist. The peninsula is very rich in minerals; gold is said to be most productive at the foot of the “Three Hundred Peaks;” copper and tin are found in large quantities; silver in connection with copper and lead; and there are unquestionably large unworked deposits of coal and petroleum. Precious stones, brilliant diamonds, deep-blue sapphires, rubies of finest color, emeralds, topazes, rock-crystals and other gems used to ornament the crowns of kings and emperors are a part of the natural wealth. * * * * * Such, then, are the general characteristics and geographical outlines of the Indo-Chinese peninsula. CHAPTER II. _SIGHT-SEEING IN BANGKOK._ To give you some idea of Bangkok, the capital city of Siam, I will imagine myself once more a resident there, with you for a visitor, and will invite you this fine morning to take a seat in our family boat, which is at the landing, and we will go out upon the river.