Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/349

Rh themselves—always the best way. The Emperor William can scarcely be expected to visit Tsingtau or Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land—“dots in the ocean” out there—but Queen Wilhelmina rules over great and rich lands and millions of people who need to see their sovereign—and it is not Queen Wilhelmina alone who should go travelling far afield. The sovereign is the one real link between widely scattered lands, and is the symbol of their united nationality, and as so can no longer afford to ignore the claims of far-away subjects. As well it teaches the peoples of the homelands their proper place, and that they are but parts of a whole, and not the whole themselves.]

There are nations beyond the seas now—not, as before, mere scattered communities—and those nations will in time want a head for themselves if they never see their hereditary crowned one. The people at home must begin to realise that. We are not the only nation that must “wake up.” [Now we hear the good tidings that the great British King-Emperor will have himself crowned in his Empire of India—what a splendid and striking fact it will be in history—and we may hope that other parts of his great Empire may sometime also see their sovereigns—it is the most wise of proceedings.]

I wonder if this climate—and the Durian—will exercise as enervating an effect on the German, Japanese, or American activity as it has done on that of others? It certainly is not a climate that permits of much energy. The people rise very early, but by eleven or so retire to their house, get into slipshod attire, repose all day, and only come forth in the evening. They dine about nine or so, and soon retire to bed. It does not sound very lively, and seems a somewhat slovenly life. It may be the only possible one.