I supposed that we would hear waterwheels just as soon as we got off the ship.

But I was evidently mistaken.
Nobody in Java, so far as I could discover, had ever seen or heard of a Javanese waterwheel.

I inquired of dozens of people--people who had lived there all their lives--but they looked blank when I spoke of waterwheels.

I drew pictures of it, but that didn't enlighten them.
Finally in despair, after a week of vain searching, I drew the plans for a waterwheel and had it made.

And I am taking it home with me, hoping that it may make music.