"For the first time in our lives we have seen people riding in palanquins, or palkees, as they call them here. The vehicle is a box about seven feet long and four wide, and it has lattice sides to allow the air to circulate. The bottom is covered with a neat mat, and the passenger who is to ride in it must lie down and place his head on a pillow with which the palkee is provided, while he puts his hat on a shelf above his feet. We have not yet tried a palkee ride, and when we do we'll be able to tell more about it. In a general way it looks like a very uncomfortable thing to ride in, and you can see very little from the windows on account of your position. There is a pole at each end, which is braced by iron rods, so that it can sustain the weight of the box and a person inside. Four men are required to carry it; and at night there are one or more torch-bearers, whose duty it is to light the way and frighten off any wild animals that come near. These fellows are not very brave; and at the first indication of danger they run away, and are followed by the bearers, who drop the box on the ground and leave the inmate to take care of himself. "The people of Madras have tried hard to make a harbor, so as to avoid the terrible surf that breaks on the coast, but all their efforts have not amounted to much. They began to make a harbor, some years ago, by running a couple of breakwaters out from the shore; but somehow, as fast as they built them, the sea made a protest by 'silting,' or filling up the enclosed space with sand. Next they built an iron pier running out beyond the breakers: it stands on piles, and has a lot of cranes along its sides for hoisting goods out of the large flat-boats, or lighters, that are used here. But the pier cost a great deal of money, and they have been obliged to make so high a toll for using it that it is almost abandoned when the weather is at all suitable for passing through the surf. "We came back to the steamer by this pier, and paid a toll of about ten cents each for using it. Our boat was at the foot of some long stairs, and it bobbed up and down about three or four feet each time, and very rapidly. We had to watch our chances and jump when it rose. Two of us got in all right, but the third did not jump soon enough by a couple of seconds, and when he struck the bottom of the boat he went sprawling on the brushwood and in the water that splashed up through it; but we escaped without a wetting, and that is more than everybody does.