CHAPTER CXII

SAIGON

At four o’clock we are at Saigon. We put up at the Hôtel Continental, the top flat of which is occupied by the “Cercle Colonial.” We dined at table d’hôte. The dining-room was thronged with officers of the Colonial Infantry, dressed all in white, who quartered in the garrison. They were very gay and talked all at once. After dinner we went to the opera. The performance was _La Fille du Régiment_, and the singers very good. The theatre looked very elegant, the men all in white, the ladies in low gowns. Between the acts we went to eat ices on the boulevard. Hindoos, draped in white, with the blue tattoo mark on their forehead, promenaded before us. Towards midnight we were back on board.

January 22nd.—We left the harbour of Saigon at seven in the morning, when the tide was in. We passed before huge English and German cargo-ships anchored in a line along the banks of the river. It is terribly hot, we are all at roasting point.

January 23rd.—Full calm. Intolerable heat.