The steamer anchored among a considerable number of foreign ships, and as a good many of the latter were receiving cargoes from lighters that lay along-side, the scene was a busy one. Boats, rowed by Chinese, Burmese, Klings, and other Oriental laborers, were speedily at the side of the new arrival, and a lively bargaining began for transportation to the shore. A Chinese boatman offered better terms than any one else, and in a short time our friends were deposited with their baggage in a little hotel facing the river, and in that part of Rangoon known as "The Strand." This is a wide street that has been well paved by the authorities, and it contains the principal foreign residences and business houses, together with the Government offices and other public buildings. The tropical foliage is so dense in many places that comparatively few of the houses can be seen at once, and it is difficult for a stranger to realize that he is in front of a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants when his ship drops anchor in Rangoon River. Rangoon is only a century and a quarter old, having been founded in 1755 by the Burman king, who conquered the province of Pegu, and determined to have a city near the sea; it extends about three miles along the river and a mile back from it, and its streets are generally at right angles, and well paved. There is a great difference between the foreign and native quarters, as in all the open seaports of the East: the former contains well-built houses of planks, with tiled roofs, while the latter consists of bamboo huts that cost only a few dollars to build, and are liable to be blown down in a high wind. Most of the European houses are on piles, to protect them from the occasional floods of the river, and to prevent the intrusion of snakes, who often drop in upon them. The boys were eager to see the greatest of all the sights of Rangoon as soon as possible, and they could hardly wait for the Doctor to complete the negotiations for their stay at the hotel. They found it very interesting, if we may judge from Frank's letter, which he wrote that evening, describing what they had seen during the day. After narrating their impressions of the voyage up the river, and the sights on the way, the youth wrote as follows: [Illustration: GREAT SHOAY DAGON, OR GOLDEN PAGODA.]