Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/83

Rh stairs with api for their masters. It was such a scene of confusion as one sometimes sees in the streets of Cairo, but without the tall camel or the string of donkeys to force their way through it. Gradually, however, something like order began to appear. Boxes, cages, and flower-pots were arranged to the satisfaction of their owners. Yellow-faced Chinamen and bearded Arabs, listening to the suggestions of the mate, were at length induced to subside into something like order; and the man at the wheel, now able to see the ship's head, could steer her with safety in her right course.

Amongst the passengers on board were two Javanese youths, whose rich costume and numerous retinue betokened persons of rank, and whom we afterwards discovered to be princes. Many came to see them off, and while the crew were raising the anchor, the last farewells were said—the ceremony, which occupied a longer time than our good-byes, being to a certain extent both novel VOL. I. F.