Read it through once

The Malays contributed an elephant's tusk set in gold, the men of Penang a great bamboo set in gold, and the Chinese of Malaya a fire-screen worked with Oriental skill and beauty. After this ceremony, and including dinner, the Duke and Duchess drove through the Chinese quarters and in the evening witnessed the strange procession of figured reptiles and demons, dragons and monsters of distorted fancy, which marked Chinese pleasure and indicated the loyalty of the coolies as their costly decorations and caskets and the presence at functions of richly-dressed men and women had already illustrated the loyalty of the merchant class. An incident of the afternoon was the singing by five thousand school-children of mixed Eastern races and the presentation of a bouquet to the Duchess. The effect of "God Save the King" in their quaint, native accents was described as being strangely pathetic. On the following morning the _Ophir_ steamed out of the harbour bound for Australia and left eastern civilization behind for the forms and customs of England transplanted upon Australian soil. The shores of Sumatra were coasted, the Straits of Banka, the Sea of Java and the beautiful Straits of Sunda were traversed; the Equator was crossed and His Royal Highness willingly subjected to the quaint and immemorial usages of the occasion; the Indian Ocean traversed and two thousand five hundred miles of this part of the journey experienced before the shores of the island-continent were sighted on May 1st.