varieties of wild durions with much smaller fruits, one of them orange-colored inside; and these are probably the origin of the large and fine durions, which are never found wild. It would not, perhaps, be correct to say that the durion is the best of all fruits, because it cannot supply the place of the subacid juicy kinds, such as the orange, grape, mango, and mangosteen, whose refreshing and cooling qualities are so wholesome and grateful; but as producing a food of the most exquisite flavor it is unsurpassed. If I had to fix on two only as representing the perfection of the two classes, I should certainly choose the durion and the orange as the king and queen of fruits.

The durion is however sometimes dangerous. When the fruit begins to ripen, it falls daily and almost hourly, and accidents not unfrequently happen to persons walking or working under the trees. When the durion strikes a man in its fall, it produces a dreadful wound, the strong spines tearing open the flesh, while the blow itself is very heavy; but from this very circumstance death rarely ensues, the copious effusion of blood preventing the inflammation which might otherwise take place. A Dyak chief informed me that he had been struck down by a durion falling on his head, which he thought would certainly have caused his death, yet he recovered in a very short time.

Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees and fruits, have thought that small fruits always grew on lofty trees, so that their fall should be harmless to man, while the large ones trailed on the ground. Two of the largest and heaviest fruits known, however, the Brazil-nut fruit (Bertholletia) and durion, grow on lofty forest-trees, from which they fall as soon as they are ripe, and often wound or kill the native inhabitants. From this we may learn two things: first, not to draw general conclusions from a very partial view of nature; and secondly, that trees and fruits, no less than the varied productions of the animal kingdom, do not appear to be organized with exclusive reference to the use and convenience of man.

CAT'S-CRADLE IN BORNEO

I AM inclined to rank the Dyaks above the Malays in mental capacity, while in moral character they are undoubtedly superior to them. They are simple and honest, and become the prey of the Malay and Chinese traders, who cheat and plunder them

continually. They are more lively, more talkative, less secretive, and less suspicious, than the Malay, and are therefore pleasanter companions. The Malay boys have little inclination for active sports and games, which form quite a feature in the life of the Dyak youths; who, besides outdoor games of skill and strength, possess a variety of indoor amusements. One wet day in a Dyak house, when a number of boys and young men were about me, I thought to amuse them with something new, and showed them how to make "cat's-cradle" with a piece of string. Greatly to my surprise, they knew all about it, and more than I did; for after Charles and I had gone through all the changes we could make, one of the boys took it off my hand, and made several new figures which quite puzzled me. They then showed me a number of other tricks with pieces of string, which seemed a favorite amusement with them.

THE TRIAL OF A THIEF IN JAVA

ONE morning as I was preparing and arranging my specimens, I was told there was to be a trial; and presently four or five men came in and squatted down on a mat under the audience-shed in the court. The chief then came in with his clerk, and sat down opposite them. Each spoke in turn, telling his own tale; and then I found out that those who first entered were the prisoner, accuser, policemen, and witness, and that the prisoner was indicated solely by having a loose piece of cord twined round his wrists, but not tied. It was a case of robbery; and after the evidence was given and a few questions had been asked by the chief, the accused said a few words, and then. sentence was pronounced, which was a fine. The parties then got up and walked away together, seeming quite friendly; and throughout there was nothing in the manner of any one present indicating passion or ill-feeling,-a very good illustration of the Malayan type of character.

ARCHITECTURE IN THE Celebes

MY HOUSE, like all bamboo structures in this country, was a leaning one, the strong westerly winds of the wet season having set all its posts out of the perpendicular to such a degree

as to make me think it might some day possibly go over altogether. It is a remarkable thing that the natives of Celebes have not discovered the use of diagonal struts in strengthening buildings. I doubt if there is a native house in the country, two years old, and at all exposed to the wind, which stands upright; and no wonder, as they merely consist of posts and joists all placed upright or horizontal, and fastened rudely together with rattans. They may be seen in every stage of the process of tumbling down, from the first slight inclination to such a dangerous slope that it becomes a notice to quit to the occupiers.

The mechanical geniuses of the country have only discovered two ways of remedying the evil. One is, after it has commenced, to tie the house to a post in the ground on the windward side by a rattan or bamboo cable. The other is a preventive; but how they ever found it out and did not discover the true way is a mystery. This plan is to build the house in the usual way, but instead of having all the principal supports of straight posts, to have two or three of them chosen as crooked as possible. I had often noticed these crooked posts in houses, but imputed it to the scarcity of good straight timber; till one day I met some men carrying home a post shaped something like a dog's hind leg, and inquired of my native boy what they were going to do with such a piece of wood. "To make a post for a house," said he. "But why don't they get a straight one? there are plenty here," said I. "Oh," replied he, "they prefer some like that in a house, because then it won't fall;" evidently imputing the effect to some occult property of crooked timber. A little consideration and a diagram will, however, show that the effect imputed to the crooked post may be really produced by it. A true square changes its figure readily into a rhomboid or oblique figure; but when one or two of the uprights are bent or sloping, and placed so as to oppose each other, the effect of a strut is produced, though in a rude and clumsy manner.

LEWIS WALLACE

(1827-)

ENERAL LEW WALLACE is an American of whom his native State, Indiana, is justly proud. In the army and in diplomatic service he has an honorable record; as an author, one of his books has been, with the single exception of Mrs. Stowe's 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' the most popular romance written in the United States. 'Ben-Hur' is a striking production, known and enjoyed far beyond the limits of General Wallace's own land; and it has qualities sure to commend it to all who like fiction that with a historical setting, is dramatic and pictur

esque.

LEWIS WALLACE

Lewis Wallace is the son of David Wallace, a distinguished Indiana lawyer who was once governor and twice lieutenantgovernor of the State. Lewis was born in Brookville, on April 10th, 1827. The family homestead is at Crawfordsville, where General Wallace now resides. His family has fighting blood in it, several of his kin having been soldiers. Lew Wallace- he has taken the more familiar form of the Christian name-studied law and practiced it until the breaking out of the Civil War in April of 1861; when he was made adjutantgeneral on the governor's staff, organized the Eleventh Indiana, and was made its colonel. Good service at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and other notable engagements, brought him promotion in turn to the rank of brigadier-general and major-general. He was a member of the commission appointed to try Lincoln's assassins, was given a diplomatic mission to Mexico in 1866, and made governor of New Mexico in 1880. From 1881 to 1885 he was United States minister to Turkey: it is interesting to note that 'Ben-Hur' was written before General Wallace went to that country, the verisimilitude being produced by careful study and the exercise of sympathetic imagination.

It will be seen from these biographical details that his life has been one of varied activity, such as to furnish a writer with excellent

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romantic material. His work shows what good use he has made of it. General Wallace's stories are vivid in foreign color, brisk with action, and exhibit the instinct for broadly effective scenes and strongly marked characters. Few fictionists offer so many episodes and situations that stand by themselves and lend themselves readily to quotation. His first work was 'The Fair God' in 1873, a story of the conquest of Mexico: a story in which, as in the case of 'BenHur,' he made a novel before he came to live in the land in which his scenes were laid. Some years later (1880) came what is unquestionably his masterpiece, 'Ben-Hur,' which at once became and remained a very great favorite. The book was sold by the hundred thousand. As the sub-title indicates, it is a tale of the Christ. The Israelite hero of the romance is a well-conceived figure; his life is eventful, both in love and adventure, and his relation to the Savior affords the author the opportunity to delineate graphically the incoming religion in contrast with the faiths that came before it. The Oriental panorama moves before the reader with vivid reality. General Wallace deserves praise for this reproduction of the historic past, and his avoidance of the pitfall of mere archæological detail, into which writers like the German Ebers so often fall.

The only other work to be compared with 'Ben-Hur' is 'The Prince of India' (1893); another historical novel on a large scale, dealing with the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, a theme finely adapted to the uses of romantic fiction. The story has vigorous character creation and some stirring scenes, while it is perhaps less successful in its construction as a whole. The prince, whose career is a variant on the Wandering Jew motive, is a splendid bit of character-making; and the mistake is in not keeping him throughout the story the dominant and central figure.

General Wallace has also written a 'Life of Ex-President Harrison'; and The Boyhood of Christ,' a biographical study. In 1889 he published Commodus,' a blank-verse tragedy which uses an incident in the Roman wars. This was republished in 1897 in a volume containing the Oriental narrative poem in blank verse, The Wooing of Malkatoon,' depicting with considerable grace and skill the love fortunes of a young Moslem chief.

General Wallace's wife, Susan Arnold Elston, a native of Crawfordsville, is a popular author; she has written a number of wellknown stories and sketches, and her poem 'The Patter of Little Feet' has been widely quoted.