Read "Four Young Explorers" by Oliver Optic online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
It was not a long voyage from Bangkok to the mouth of the Mekhong River; and the sight of land was not as thrilling an incident as it had often been in the experience of the voyagers, and they were not in condition to appreciate the feelings of Captain Columbus when Watling's Island broke on his vision four hundred years before. It had been smooth sailing all the way; the Gulf of Siam had been as gentle and affectionate as a maiden among the flowers, and the China Sea was scarcely more ruffled.
Mr. Gaskette had finished up his new map of Cochin China, so that it was as creditable to his skill and taste as his former efforts had been; and it was displayed on the frame in Conference Hall, which was the usual sitting apartment of the company, though some of them did a great deal of walking on the promenade deck. The water was deeper inshore than farther out at sea, where several spots were marked at eight fathoms; and the passengers had a view of the land before they were within a hundred miles of the entrance of Saigon River.