AN EASTERN WATER-FALL.
Where the hills came down to the edge of the river there was now and then a water-fall glistening among the foliage, and dashing its white spray over the rocks. The most of these cascades were small, and the boys observed that all the larger tributaries of the Irrawaddy joined the great stream through level plains.
At one of their halting-places a native boat lay close to them, and the odor that rose from it was not altogether agreeable to the nostrils of the strangers. Frank inquired the cause of the disagreeable smell, and was told that the crew was probably at dinner, and regaling itself on nagapee.
Naturally he wished to know what nagapee was.
"It is a condiment that they mix with rice to render it more palatable," the Doctor answered, "and is a great favorite with the Burmese. It is made by mixing finely-chopped fish with certain spices, and other flavoring things, till it is in the form of a paste. The fish is first allowed to get a little old, or 'gamy,' and before they chop it up the smell from it is anything but agreeably to a European. The flavor increases with age, and the older it gets the more do the Burmese like it."
Frank and Fred concluded they would take their rice without nagapee for the future. The perfume that rose from the boat was all they wanted.
MONASTERY AT PROME.
They stopped several hours at Prome, a large town that was said to contain some handsome pagodas and a Buddhist monastery, and was famous for its silk manufactories. One of the first persons our friends met on shore was a man whose accent was so decidedly American that Doctor Bronson at once asked from what part of the United States he had come. He proved to be a native of Massachusetts, and was settled in Burmah as a missionary: he invited the strangers to visit his house, but, as their time was limited, they were unable to do so.