Seeing the Sights

Oliver Optic

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Seeing the Sights

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• Publié par: ymekegup
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 125
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Four Young Explorers, by Oliver Optic This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Title: Four Young Explorers Sight-Seeing in the Tropics Author: Oliver Optic Illustrator: A. Burnham Shute Release Date: January 11, 2008 [EBook #24252] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOUR YOUNG EXPLORERS *** Produced by David Edwards, Emmy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from scans of public domain material produced by Microsoft for their Live Search Books site.) ALL-OVER-THE-WORLD LIBRARY By OLIVER OPTIC —————— Illustrated, Price per Volume $1.25 FIRST SERIES A MISSING MILLION Or THE ADVENTURES OF LOUIS BELGRAVE A MILLIONAIRE AT SIXTEEN Or THE CRUISE OF THE GUARDIAN MOTHER A YOUNG KNIGHT-ERRANT Or CRUISING IN THE WEST INDIES STRANGE SIGHTS ABROAD Or A VOYAGE IN EUROPEAN WATERS —————— SECOND SERIES AMERICAN BOYS AFLOAT Or CRUISING IN THE ORIENT THE YOUNG NAVIGATORS Or THE FOREIGN CRUISE OF THE MAUD UP AND DOWN THE NILE Or YOUNG ADVENTURERS IN AFRICA ASIATIC BREEZES Or STUDENTS ON THE WING —————— THIRD SERIES ACROSS INDIA Or LIVE BOYS IN THE FAR EAST HALF ROUND THE WORLD Or AMONG THE UNCIVILIZED FOUR YOUNG EXPLORERS Or SIGHT-SEEING IN THE TROPICS —————— OTHER VOLUMES IN PREPARATION ANY VOLUME SOLD SEPARATELY —————— LEE AND SHEPARD Publishers Boston [i] "YOUR FIRST SHOT, LOUIS," SAID SCOTT. Page 30. [ii] All-Over-the-World Library—Third Volume of Third Series FOUR YOUNG EXPLORERS OR SIGHT-SEEING IN THE TROPICS BY OLIVER OPTIC AUTHOR OF "THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES" "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD, FIRST AND SECOND SERIES" "THE BOAT-CLUB STORIES" "THE ONWARD AND UPWARD SERIES" "THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES" "THE WOODVILLE STORIES" "THE LAKE SHORE SERIES" "THE YACHT-CLUB SERIES" "THE RIVERDALE STORIES" "THE BOAT-BUILDER SERIES" "THE BLUE AND THE GRAY AFLOAT" "THE BLUE AND THE GRAY—ON LAND" "THE STARRY FLAG SERIES" "ALL-OVER-THE-WORLD LIBRARY, FIRST SECOND AND THIRD SERIES" COMPRISING "A MISSING MILLION" "A MILLIONAIRE AT SIXTEEN" "A YOUNG KNIGHT-ERRANT" "STRANGE SIGHTS ABROAD" "AMERICAN BOYS AFLOAT" "THE YOUNG NAVIGATORS" "UP AND DOWN THE NILE" "ASIATIC BREEZES" "ACROSS INDIA" "HALF ROUND THE WORLD" ETC., ETC., ETC. —————— BOSTON LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 10 MILK STREET 1896 [iii] COPYRIGHT, 1896, BY LEE AND SHEPARD —————— All Rights Reserved —————— FOUR YOUNG EXPLORERS TYPOGRAPHY BY C. J. PETERS & SON, BOSTON. —————— PRESSWORK BY BERWICK & SMITH. TO MY APPRECIATIVE AND VALUED FRIEND [iv] FREDERICK D. RUGGLES, ESQ. RESIDING ON A HISTORIC HILL IN HARDWICK, MASS. This Volume IS RESPECTFULLY AND CORDIALLY DEDICATED. PREFACE "FOUR YOUNG EXPLORERS" is the third volume of the third series of the "All-Over-the-World Library." When the young millionaire and his three companions of about his own age, with a chosen list of near and dear friends, had made the voyage "Half Round the World," the volume with this title left them all at Sarawak in the island of Borneo. The four young explorers, as they became, were permitted to spend three weeks there hunting, fishing, and ascending some of the rivers, while the rest of the party proceeded in the Guardian-Mother to Siam. The younger members of the ship's company believed they had seen enough of temples, palaces, and fine gardens in the great cities of the East, and desired to live a wilder life for a brief period. They were provided with a steam-launch, prepared for long trips; and they ascended the Sarawak, the Sadong, and the Simujan Rivers, and had all the hunting, fishing, and exploring they desired. They visited the villages of the Sea and Hill Dyaks, and learned what they could of their manners and customs, penetrating the island from the sea to the mountains. They studied the flora and the fauna of the forests, and were exceedingly interested in their occupation for about a week, when they came to the conclusion that "too much of a good thing" became wearisome; and, more from the love of adventure than for any other reason, they decided to proceed to Bangkok, and to make the voyage of nine hundred miles in the Blanchita, as they had named the steam-launch, which voyage was accomplished without accident. After the young explorers had looked over the capital of Siam, the Guardian-Mother and her consort made the voyage to Saigon, the capital of French Cochin-China, where the visit of the tourists was a general frolic, with "lots of fun," as the young people expressed it; and then, crossing the China Sea, made the port of Manila, the capital of the Philippine Islands, where they explored the city, and made a trip up the Pasig to the Lake of the Bay. From this city they made the voyage to Hong-Kong, listening to a very long lecture on the way in explanation of the history, manners, and customs, and the peculiarities of the people of China. They were still within the tropics, and devoted themselves to the business of sight-seeing with the same vigor and interest as before. But most of them had read so much about China, as nearly every American has, that many of the sights soon began to seem like an old story to them. Passing out of the Torrid Zone, the two steamers proceeded to the north, obtaining a long view of Formosa, and hearing a lecture about it. Their next port of call was Shang-hai, reached by ascending the Woo-Sung. From this port they made an excursion up the Yang-tsze-Chiang, which was an exceedingly interesting trip to them. The ships then made the voyage to Tien-tsin, from which they ascended by river in the steam-launch to a point thirteen miles from Pekin, going from there to the capital by the various modes of conveyance in use in China. They visited the sights of the great city under the guidance of a mandarin, educated at Yale College. Some of the party made the trip to the loop-wall, near Pekin. Returning to Tien-tsin, with the diplomatic mandarin, who had accepted an invitation to go to Japan in the Guardian-Mother, they sailed for that interesting country, where the next volume of the series will take them. It may be necessary to say that the Guardian-Mother, now eighteen months from New York, and half round the world, reached Tien-tsin May 25, 1893; and therefore nothing relating to the late war between China and Japan is to be found in this volume. Possibly the four young explorers would have found more sights to see, and more adventures to enjoy, if they had struck either of the belligerent nations during the war; but the ship sailed for the United States before hostilities were begun. Of course the writer has been compelled