“What country is it in?” asked Joe.
“Dutch Guiana,” the professor answered. “One of the smallest nations in South America.”
The Empire steamed into a port nearly as busy as that of San Juan, although most of the boats were small.
For a second time the gangplank was lowered, and as the explorers had a half-hour to spare, they started on a short walking trip of the city.
“Quite a bit different from San Juan,” said Bob, as he noted that many of the people were native Indians.
The others nodded. None of them had been here before, and they naturally took a great interest in these unusual surroundings. In fact Professor Bigelow was the only one who had ever seen South America before, but this did not lessen his enthusiasm.
The streets were, for the most part, narrow and straight, cutting one another at right angles. The party was surprised to find the houses extremely low, hardly any of them exceeding two stories. Some were built of brick, but most were of cane plastered with mud.
Several minutes were spent in rambling over the various quarters of the city. Then they went back to the ship, which was now nearly ready to sail.
“South America is all right to visit,” remarked Joe, “but I don’t think I’d care to live here.”