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1 2 3
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6
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD
IN
1887-8
TRIP ROUND THE WORLD
IN
1887—8
BY
W. S. CAINE, M.P.
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ILLUSTRATED BY
70//^ PEDDEE, //. SIIEPPARD DALE, CEO. BICKHAM,
And the AUTHOR
^jiiiBim^innM**!''"'!"""''""™''""'""'"'''"'
LAHORE GATE, DELHI FORT.
LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS
BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL
GLASGOW AND NEW YORK
1888
Q
4 fa
Q fS
LONDON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
TO
MY CONSTITUENTS AND FRIENDS
AT
BARROW-IN-FURNESS,
TO WHOM THESE LETTERS WERE ORIGINALLY ADDRESSED,
THIS VOLUME
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
€
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PREFACE.
Tins volume consists of a reprint of letters addressed to the
Barrozv Neius, the leading newspaper of the constituency I
represent in Parliament, dating from August 1887 to March
1888. The letters were written during idle hours on board
steamer'-j for the amusement and information of my con-
stituents and personal friends, but with no intention of adding
to the many volumes of travel which deal with the various
countries I have seen in my rapid tour round the world.
I have, however, found by experience, that the obiter dicta
of other travellers have been of so much greater service to
me during my own journey than the recognized guide books,
many of which have been put quite out of date by the rapid
developments of transit, and the equally rapid changes in
Eastern customs, that I venture to add my modest contribution
to the literature of travel. I hope it may prove of value to
some of that increasing number of English and Americans to
whom a tour round the world is becoming a matter of course,
and perhaps also of some interest to the general reader. I
have tried to make my letters readable by old and young alike.
In one respect this volume differs — so far as I am aware —
X PREFACE.
from any other of the kind which has yet been published. It
is profusely illustrated. I trust more to my pictures than to
my inexperienced literary powers, to make this volume acceptable
to the public. I wish to acknowledge gratefully the assistance -
I have had from my old friend, Mr. John Pedder, of Maiden-
head, who has evolved the greater portion of the illustrations,
with accuracy and artistic skill, from a heterogeneous collection
of rough sketches and photographs made by me on my
journey; and also to Mr. H. Sheppard Dale for the excellent
architectural drawings of Japanese and Indian buildings which
bear his name.
The journey taken by my daughter and myself has entailed
no hardship or inconvenience, with the not very serious ex-
ception of our voyage across the Pacific. Sii:, W i U ta m - JP^a^eels
steamers can be avoided by other travellers, without losing the
enchanting scenery of the Canadian Pacific route, or incurring
extra expense. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company will
book passengers from Quebec or Montreal, through to San
Francisco, at slightly higher rates than the direct American Pacific
Railroads ; the sea passage from Vancouver to San Francisco
is for the most part in smooth water, the coast being extremely
beautiful, and the steamers comfortable. The only really good
line of steamers crossing the Pacific are those chartered from
the White Star Line sailing from San Francisco ; their names
all end with " ic," <ind if tourists take care to secure this last
syllable, they will be sure of fine ships and comfortable accom-
modation. - -
None of the trans-continental railways of the United States
can compare with the Canadian Pacific either for beauty of
PREFACE.
XI
scenery or comfort in travel. It is easy, however, for those
wishing to see the Yellowstone Park, to cross over vid
Winnipeg to the Canadian Pacific route.
It is important on all American lines of railway to secure
sleeping-car berths the day before starting on the journey— they
are generally crowded. I know no bed of little ease to compare
with a night spent in the ordinary American car.
I advise travellers to resist all temptations to travel by
steamers not flying the British flag. Their ways are not our
ways.
There is absolutely no remedy for sea-sickness, but to go to
bed and stop there till it runs its horrid course. The best food
to take is beef-tea absolutely free from fat, with crisp dry toast,
and grapes. There is an excellent preparation which can be
made ready in a moment with boiling water, called Bovril, and
another equally good, Johnson's beef-tea. I have often seen
well-meaning but misguided folk, coming on board to see their
loved ones off on a voyage, loading their friends' cabins with
hot-house flowers. A basket of hot-house grapes instead, with
six pots of Bovril, would bring grateful memories the third day
at sea. Above all things to be avoided are quack remedies,
or such dangerous drugs as cocaine, nitro-glycerine, or bromide
of potassium. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, every
passenger is ready for a good breakfast the third morning out,
without any remedy but Nature's recuperation, and the odd
hundredth is best left to the ship's doctor.
Clothing sorely exercises the intending traveller round the
world, and, as a rule, twice too much is taken. I advise plenty
of good woollen underclothing, two new tweed suits, light and
I
Xll
PREFACE.
strong, a thin dress suit, a light overcoat, a good ulster, and
a mackintosh, with three or four pairs of shoes of different
strengths, buying tropical clothing on the spot as required.
It is much more costly to pay fares from place to place, than
to make up your route before starting, buying a through ticket
from Thos. Cook & Son. Wishing to be free to select my own
routes and steamers, I took the former course. Here follow
the fares I had to pay:
£, s. d.
i8 i8 o
IS 8 3
36 9 2
Liverpool to Montreal (Allan line)
Montreal to Vancouver (Canadian
Pacific Railway) ....
Vancouver to Yokohama (Sir Wm.
Pearce's steamer) ....
Yokohama to Colombo (P. & O.
steamer)
Colombo to Calcutta (ditto)
Calcutta, Benares, Lucknow, Cawn-
pore, Agra, Delhi, Jeypore to
Bombay, by rail ....
Bombay to Brindi=i. (P, & O. steamer)
Brindisi to London (by rail)
Total . . ;^222 3 5
Messrs. Thos. Cook & Son can supply through tickets covering
all these journeys for ,^155 i8j. M., so that if I had booked
through at starting, I should have saved £66 on each of my
fares. I •- -^e not included in the list of separate fares the extras
I paid for securing whole cabins for my daughter and myself.
I advise intending travellers round the world to fix their
route, and take a through ticket from Cook. The £66 saved
would more than suffice to secure the unspeakable comfort of a
52
12
12
63
12
8
xm
PREFACE.
whole cabin, when the steamers were at all crowded. We
indulged in this luxury crossing the Atlantic and Pacific, at an
extra cost of £io each, and felt it to be the most profitable
expenditure made on our whole journey.
It is well to have a small medicine chest. Ships' doctors are
often very young and inexperienced, and in out-of-the-way
places native doctors are not to be trusted, and the drugs are
bad. In remote Japan, the almost universal treatment for
disease of any kind is to stick the patient's body, in all safe
places, full of needles. Any family doctor will be able to
give a list of tinctures and compressed drugs, such as those
manufactured by Wyeth, or Burroughs Welcome and Co.,
obtainable through any good chemist, with simple instructions
for treating the ailments incidental to travel. They will pack
into a small box about six inches cube. It is true I presented
my own box intact to a medical missionary just before leaving
India, but the knowledge that in cases where doctors were
available, I had the best quality of drugs likely to be required,
added greatly to my comfort of mind all through the journey.
A six months' tour round the world can be done economically,
travelling first-class throughout, for about ;^3S0 ; luxuriously,
with exclusive cabins, for ;£'420 to £^^o.
I can confidently recommend to travellers in Japan my two
guides, Mr. Ito and Mr. Hakodate, both of whom are to be
found at the Grand Hotel, Yokohama.
mm.
CONTENTS.
i
CHAPTER I.
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC.
The " Sarmatian "— The Antrim coast— Our fellow passengers-
Atlantic bills of fare— Belle Isle Strait— The aurora borealis— The
Seamen's Orphanage— Miss Macpherson and her lambs— Contu-
macious ami- vaccinators— Quebec
PAGE
CHAPTER II.
MONTREAL.
Par ici— British swagger— Old Quebec— The St. Lawrence— Mount
Royal— The " Windsor "—The Lachine rapids— The two bridges—
The president of the Canadian Pacific— Px. section and the iron trade
14
CHAPTER III.
NIAGARA.
Our first journey on the C. P. R.— Toronto " side "—Its university-
Its churches— Niagara— American advertising horrors— The falls—
The rapids— The whirlpool— Niagara in winter— The Welland canal
and locks— Railway versus canal— A Canadian homestead—
A farmer's life — Apples — New London — Lake Huron — The
" Alberta "— Soult St. Marie— Lake Superior— Thunder Bay
25
CHAPTER IV.
WINNIPEG.
Port Arthur— Once more on the C. P. R.— Camping out— Trout and
grasshoppers— Night in the train— Thirteen babies— Winnipeg—
Who should emigrate— Wages and cost of living in Winnipeg—
' Farming prospects— Glenbeigh versus Manitoba
41
xvi
CONTENTS,
CHAPTER V.
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY.
The great Canadian prairie — The Assiniboine valley — Brandon — The
Bell farm — Regina — The prairie fauna — Blackfeet — Natural gas —
Calgary — Ranches — Stimson's Ranch — Cowboys and their prospeccs
— The Sarcee Indians — Bull's Head — Indian swells — Eagle rib —
The Leland Hotel— The Salvation Army—" Bravo, Ted ! »— Pro-
hibition of the liquor trade — The fire brigade — Electric light
FAGB
S2
CHAPTER VI.
THE CANADIAN NATURAL PARK.
The Gap^Canmore — Dr. Brett's sanitarium — The panorama of the
Rocky Mountains — The hot springs — An aristocratic boatman —
The Bow river — Trout — Canoeing — Vermilion lake — Sunday at
Banff— A prairie bishop — The national park and its ranger — The
Spray river — Deer, bears, beavers, catamounts, panthers, and other
fearful wild fowl — Fish — Forest fires — The Indians — The C. P. R.
JTX U tcl •• •• •• ■• •• • 9 •• •• •■
68
CHAPTER VII.
THE SELKIRKS.
An early start — Silver city — Mount Lefroy — Summit lakes — Kicking
Horse pass — Field — Mountain goats — Our bear hunt — Glacier
House — Mount Sir Donald and its great glacier — Tne Hermit
range — Stoney Creek — Avalanches and snow sheds — Roger's pass
— Comfort on wheels — The great bend — The gold range — Thomp-
son river — Fraser river — A train burnt — The Cariboo road —
Agassiz — Harrison lake— Vancouver ..
93
CHAPTER VIII.
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
Five years ago and to-day — The Great Sound — Salmon runs — The
candle fish — Herrings — Oysters — Dog-fish— Cod — Coal— Gold —
Iron — Silver — Timber — The Douglas fir — The lumberer — The
farmer — Climate — The Japan current — Victoria — Esquimault —
Work and wages — The heathen Chinee ..
119
i'U
CONTENTS.
xvii
CHAPTER IX.
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA.
PAGB
Sober habits of Canadians generally — Women — The churches — History
of legislation— Prohibition for the North- West— The Scott Act-
Has it succeeded ? — A stepping stone to prohibition .. .. .. 132
CHAPTER X.
ACROSS THE PACIFIC.
Bad-^ttftRagetaeat fi£-SkJ^¥fiw-*e?»ce's «l«aaae£S--©©kyS'— The " Port
Victor" — Confusion and overcrowding — Extra Chinamen — Cock-
roaches — A popular captain — Life on the Pacific — Chinamen's
meals— "Chin-chin Joss" — A typhoon — A volcano — Japan at
iclSC •• «• ,, , , .. «• •( ,« •• »t
us
CHAPTER XI.
YOKOHAMA.
The " City of Sydney " in a typhoon — Yokohama — The bund — The
bay — Ships of all nations — The Grand Hotel — Jin-rickishas — Shops
— Flower-sellers — Bed ! — England v. America — Funerals — Railways
— Agriculture — Utsunomiya — The merry Jap — Babies — A tea-house
— The bath — Food — 0-hy-o — Straw-clothes — Jin-rickisha men —
Cryptomeria Avenue — Road-side incidents . .
153
CHAPTER XII.
NIKKO.
A Japanese hotel — Curio dealers — Nikko the " sunny splendour "—
Nantai-san — Images of Amida Buddha — Nikko the holy — The
sacred lacquered bridge — The Torii — The pagoda — The gate of the
two kings — The holy water cistern — The library — The Korean
lantern — Yo-mei-mon — The cloister — The carved panels — The
Chinese gate — The inner sanctuary- ^e tomb of the mighty
Shogun — lye-mitsu's temples — The Wiu 'od — The Thunder God —
The Kara mon — lye-mitsu's tomb — Enno Shokaku, the sturdy-
legged — Chiu-sen-je — Travelling in Kagos — The Mikado's birthday
— Kamakura — The great L aibutz or Bronze Buddha — A Japanese
feast — Sea-fishery — Sunday at Yokohama — Christianity in Japan —
Fuji-yama — A Japanese mail steamer — Vries island — Kioto
h
m
XVIU
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII.
SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN.
Population — Work and wdges — Cost of living — Education — The
Dragon pond school — A pretty picture — Little maids from school —
The university — The Emperor and his ministers — Local government
— Religion — Justice — Army — Navy — Exports and imports —
Foreigners — Amusements — Music — Dancing — Theatres — The
children's street — Singing and dancing girls — Holidays
PAGB
205
CHAPTER XIV.
JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
The Mikado's palace — The old castle of the Shoguns — Marvellous
paintings and carvings — Decorations — A tea garden — Mr. Glad-
stone's portrait — "Waiting for the young Mikado" — Lacquer
working — Porcelain — Inlaying in gold and silver — Bronze — The
inland sea — Nagasaki — Japanese martyrs — Pappenbuig island
219
CHAPTER XV.
HONG KONG.
The Ladroncs — Piracy — The harbour — Typhoons — " Too much piecy
top-side" — Stick — English town — China town — Shops — The Hill of
Great Peace — Street scenes — The Governor and Government House
— Kowloong — Chinese fishing — Revenue and expenditure — Water —
The council — Missionaries— Shipping and commerce — Work and
wages — Crime
232
CHAPTER XVI.
SINGAPORE.
Coolie swindlers — The tropics at last — The heat — Singapore — The
botanical gardens, an open-air hothouse ! — The cathedral — The
sailors' rest — English town — Malay town — China town — The twenty-
five nationalities of Singapore — Dress — Locomotion — Markets —
Ducks — Fish — Fruit — Whampoa's garden — The harbour and
docks — Fortifications — Revenue and expenditure — Opium and
drink — The Government — Missionaries — Trade and commerce —
Sir Hugh Low — Penang — A curry breakfast
246
CONTENTS.
xix
CHAPTER XVII.
KANDY.
Spicy breezes— Ceylon in sight .and smell— Point de Galle— Adam's
peak-Colombo— Catamarans— The Kandy railway— Country sights
— A6ooo-feet railway climb— Sensation Rock— Kandy— The sacred
tooth of Buddha - Horrible beggars - Kandy-The Peradenia
Garden-Dr. Triman-Keep off the grass-leeches and snakes-
Palms of all sorts-Jack-fruit-Ferns-Creepers-Giant bamboos
-Squirrels-Tropical birds-Tipsy flying foxes-Nuwera Eliya-An
nnitation England-The Hakgala gardens-The jungle-Elephants
—Leopards— Cheetahs— Eagles— Rest-houses— Ramboda
PAOB
261
CHAPTER XVIII.
COLOMBO.
A. M. and J. Ferguson-Princely hospitality-Sir John Coode's great
breakwater-The Grand Oriental-Pedlars and precious stones-
Market place-Cingalese men and women-Bullock carts-Street
scenes-Population-Religion-The devil dancer-Missionaries and
Chnst.anity-The Salvation Army-Education-Mrs. Pigott's
school for Cmgalese girls— Arabi the exile ..
• • 277
CHAPTER XIX.
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON.
The blessings of seventy years of British rule-Crops-Exports-
Coffee planting-Tea- Chinchona-Cacao- Cardamoms-Plum-
bago mining-Condition of the poor-Trade and commerce-
Government-Work and wages-Governor's monuments-Intoxi-
catmg drmk-Licensing system-Consumption of liquor-Intern-
perance and crime— Madras— Surf boats
" •• •• •>
291
CHAPTER XX.
CALCUTTA TO BENARES
Thomas Cook and Son, benefactors !-CaIcutta-The Hooghly-Our
Christmas dinner — Beadon Square — Young Bengal — Indian
railways-Country scenes-Benares-Dr. Lazarus-The Hindoo
XX
CONTENTS,
I'AGB
gate of heaven — Buddhism — Sarnath — 1454 temples — The bathing
ghdts — The Rain God — The Goddess of Small Pox — The observatory
—The Maharajah's launch— The well of healing — The well of
knowledge — The golden temple — Pictures from the " Arabian
Nights " — The sacred bull — Fakeers — The goddess Durga's temple
— Her monkeys — The mosque of Aurungzebe — The Ganges .. 30/
CHAPTE XXI.
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS.
Agra — The river Jumna — The fort — The Delhi gate — The pearl
mosque — The great divan — The courtyard — The harem — The
Jasmine tower — The three pavilions — The glass palace — The view
from the terrace — The Taj-Mahal — Its beauty — The gardens — The
mausoleum — Moonlight — The jewelled tombs of Shah Jehan and
his beloved wife — The marble trellis — The great gateway — Sikandra
— Akbar's tomb — The gateway at Sikandra — Mausoleum of Prince
Etmad Dowlat — Fattehpur Sikri — The royal buildings — Akbar's
palace — The divers — The Fakeer's grave — Birbul's house — The
peacock throne — Mission work in Agra — Village life— Roadside
scenes — Work and wages
325
CHAPTER XXII.
DELHI.
One of the ancient cities of the world — Toglakabad — Timour the Tartar
— The Kutab-Minar — The mosque of Kutab-ul Islam — The iron
pillar — The tomb of Humayoun — Indrapat — Firozabad — Asoka's
pillar— The great Jumma Musjid— The fort of Delhi— The Chandni
Chowk — Merchants
350
CHAPTER XXIII.
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY.
Rajputana — Jeypore — The stables — Man-eating tigers — The Maharajah
—His park — Palace — Museum — Art gallery — College schools —
Hospital — School of Art — Prison — Picturesque street scenes — The
deserted city of Amber — An elephant ride — Alligators— Hindoo
Ascetics — The palace— Ajmere— The Dargah — The Mayo college
CONTENTS.
xxi
FAG8
-The tank-The bazaars-Ahmcdabad-Its trade -Sidi Said's
marble window-The mosques-Rani Sipri's tomb and mosquc-
rhe Jam temple-Lonely Sarkhej-Bombay-The Parsees-The
towers of silence— The caves of Elcphanta
CHAPTER XXIV.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
The Struggle for existence-Race differences-One of the poorest
countries in the world-Average annual income of the people-
Famine - Cholera - Taxation - Land tax -The usurer -The
zemindar-The ryot-Education : primary, intermediate. University
-Mission schools-Cultured natives and social reforms-Technical
education-Loyalty of educated natives-Their desire for a share in
the governmem of their country-The National Indian Congress-
The Civil 3ervice-The Indian Council
3«o
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
1,
"^ \
Jin-rickisha travelling in Japan .
Lahore Gate, Delhi .....
Aurora Borealis ......
Quebec, from Point Levis ....
Horse Shoe Fall, Niagara ....
Whirlpool Rapids, Niagara ....
Emery Hall, a Canadian Homestead
Sault St. Marie Lock, Lake Superior .
Thunder Cape, Lake Superior
A Manitoba Homestead ....
Threshing out Wheat-stacks on the Prairie .
Railway Dep6t, Brandon ....
Calgary, with distant view of the Rocky Mountains
Bull's Head, the Sarcee Chief
Sarcee Squaw and Pony Cart
Eagle Rib, a Sarcee Chief ....
" Bravo, Ted I " a Salvation Army incident .
The Gap : Entrance to the Rocky Mountains
Canmore Rocks .....
Castle Mountain •
View of Banff from above the Sanatorium
Bridge of Boats and Twin Peaks, Banff.
Cascade Mountain .....
On the Bow River, Banff ....
The Bow Falls
Vermilion Lake, National Park, Banff .
A Forest Fire, National Park, Banff
Canadian Pacific Railway Hotel, National Park, Banff.
View in the Selkirks .....
Summit Lake
Kicking Horse Pass .....
Field Station
The Monarchs of the Rocky Mountains .
DRAWN DV
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PACE
{Frontis-
piece,
title-page
8
i6
29
31
35
39
40
49
53
55
59
6i
63
64
65
69
71
72
73
77
80
81
83
85
89
91
92
93
95
97
99
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
XXlll
PAGB
{ FrontiS'
\ piece.
lie tide-page
e . 8
.
. I6
•
• 29
•
• 31
e
• 35
•
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. 40
• ,
• 49
•
• S3
•
. 55
^
. 59
•
. 61
.
. 63
.
. 64
t
. 6s
•
. 69
•
71
72
73
• *
77
80
■ 1
81
.
83
• ■
85
• •
89
• •
91
92
93
» •
95
• •
97
• t
99
The Bear Hunt .,..,.
Snow Sheds ......
Mount Sir Donald and the Great Glacier
The Great I3cnd of the Canadian Pacific Railway
Roger's Pass : the Summit of the Sclkii'.s
An Indian Salmon Cache ....
Salmon Cannery on the Fraser River .
Harrison Lake ......
The " Yosemite " leaving Vancouver .
Indians Salmon Fishing on the Fraser River .
Douglas Pines, Vancouver ....
Esquimault Harbour .....
The " Port Victor "
Vrics Volcano, Yokohama I3ay .
Tea House, Yokv.hama Bay.
Yokohama Harbour . , . , .
A Street in Yokohama ....
Buying Chrysanthemums, Yokohama .
Group of v";hildren, Utsunomiya .
Doll and Fan
Interior of Tea House, Bedroom Floor .
Jin-rickisha Man in his Straw R.dn-Coat
The Road to Nikko
The Hotel at Nikko
Row of Buddhas at Nikko ....
The Pagoda, Nikko
Iloiy Water Cistern, Nikko.
The Kio-zo, or Library, Nikko .
Korean Bronze Lantern, Nikko .
The Yo-mei-mon Gate, Nikko
The Yo-mei-mon Cloisters, Nikko.
The Nio-mon Gate, entrance to the Temples of lye
The Kara-mon Gate, lye-mitsu's Temples
The Chinese Gate, lye-yasu's Temples
On the Road to Chiu-sen-je.
The Great Buddha, Kamakura
Fuji-yama, the Sacred Mountain
Shooting the Rapids, Kioto.
A Shinto Priest .
Music, Japan
Dancing Girl, Japan .
A Street Scene, Kioto
The Inland Sea of Japan ,
mitsu
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:^xiv
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
\\\
■ \
Pappenburg Island, Nagasaki Harbour .
The Kowloong Hills, Hong Kong Harbour
Chinese Town, Hong Kong
Singapore : a Mango Breakfast in July
Adam's Peak, Ceylon .
The Dekanda Valley, Ceylon
On the Kandy Railway— Sensation Rock
The India-rubber Tree, Kandy
The Giant Bamboo, Peradenia Gardens, Kandy
Sir John Coode's Breakwater, Colombo
Devil-dancer and Tom-tom, Ceylon
A Cingalese Workman
A Village Shop, Ceylon
In the Bay of Bengal .
The Bathing Ghats, Benares
Nothing is Sacred to a Snake ! .
The Jasmine Tower, Agra Fort .
The Taj Mahal, from the Summit of the Great Gateway
View from the Terrace of the Fort, Agra
The Tomb of Akbar, Sikandra .
The Palace of Fattehpur Sikri
Birbul's House, Fattehpur Sikri .
The Mausoleum of Prince Etmad Dowlat
The Kutab Minar, Delhi .
The Ruined City of Indrapat, Delhi ,
The Jumma Musjid, Delhi .
The Pearl Mosque, Delhi Fort
Street Scene at Jeypore
The Ruined City of Amber .
The Great Well of the Dargah, Ajmere
Carved Window of the Mosque of Rani Sipri, Ahmedabad
Pierced Marble Window of Sidi's Said Mosque, Ahme
dabad ....
The Tomb of Rani Sipri, Ahmedabad
Cave Temple of Elephanta .
Aden Harbour . . . •
DRAWN BY
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
CHAPTER I.
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC.
On Thursday afternoon, the 1 8th of August, I embarked with
my eldest djaughter on board the Allan liner " Sarmatian,"
on my voyage round the world.
Our first care on coming on board was to find our cabins, and
get the luggage for the voyage safely stowed in them. I had
wisely left the choice of the cabins to my old friends, Messrs.
Allan Bros, & Co., and found they had provided for our
pccommodation the first officer's and purser's cabins, on the spar
deck, so situated as to secure the minimum of motion with the
maximum of fresh air. Compared with the accommodation
furnished on ai Atlantic liner for the ordinary passenger, which
is humorously termed a " state-room," our cabins are little
palaces, replete with every comfort. The officers turn a nimble
ninepence during the summer months by letting their cabins for
the voyage to passengers who like the extra accommodation,
but find their luxury acceptable enough in the terrible voyages
which they have often to endure in the winter. I write this
letter in a room about 12 feet square, with four windows, a hot-
water apparatus, a fine mahogany desk, a wardrobe, a chest of
drawers, a wash-stand which disappears into a recess when not
B
11
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
\ i
!
required, a large and comfortable sofa, and a bed. When the
cabin passengers are sent to bed at ten o'clock, wakeful or
sleepy, and their lights arbitrarily extinguished, I lie on my
sofa reading by the light of a handsome duplex lamp till sleep
comes without effort ; then I turn in. I know no more fearful
punishment for an unhappy Member of Parliament, trained by
sad experience to sit up and keep awake till three in the
morning, than to be sent to bed at ten, with his light, dim and
unsatisfactory at the best, ruthlessly put out at half past,
leaving him tumbling in bed at his very wakefullest moments.
We settled down in our comfortable cabins, put our clothes
neatly away in the drawers, thankfully remembering other
voyages when we have had to get to the bottom of portmanteaux
while the ship was standing on her head, and then sallied forth
for a tour of inspection round the ship which is to be our
floating home for the next ten d?ys.
The " Sarmatian " is a fine steamer of the second class.
She has a speed of 13 to 14 knots, as her five full-day Atlantic
runs on this voyage show, viz. 314, 318, 320, 322, 320 knots
each day, giving a shade over 13 knots an hour. She carries
a goodly family to provide for on the voyage. There are 631
souls en board — 105 cabin, 85 intermediate, 325 steerage
passengers, and a crew of 116.
The anchor is weighed at five o'clock, and soon New Brighton
fort and lighthouse, the various lightships and the foaming
sandy bar of the Mersey, drop astern one by one, and we take
our last look of England for six months, going to bed to dream
of home and friends, mingled with intermittent visions of the
Rocky Mountains, the Flowery Land, the Mikado, " the spicy
breezes that blow o'er Ceylon's isle," and the horrors of sea-
sickness.
August 19th. — We wake up to find ourselves running close in
liUI
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC. 3
along the Antrim coast, which gives us some of the finest
scenery in the kingdom. I am glad to view from the sea points
of interest I had previously enjoyed on shore. Garron Head
and Fair Head were well in sight, then, passing through the
strait between Rathlin Island and the mainland, Carrick-a-Rede,
with its terrible rope bridge 120 feet in the air, the organ rock
of the Giant's Causeway, the rising watering-place of Portrush
follow in rapid succession, and at eleven o'clock we steam into
Lough Foyle, and drop anchor off Moville to wait for the mails
A magnificent Atlantic steamer is already there, and my
thoughts fly off to my constituency as I recognise the good
work of the Barrow Shipbuilding Company in the Anchor liner
" Devonia."
The mails come on board by four o'clock, and away we go.
By nine the light of Tory Island disappears, and we are rocked
upon the bosom of the treacherous Atlantic, with a breeze fresh
enough to send us to bed with mingled fears and hopes for the
morrow's breakfast.
August 20th. — The hopes have it ! It is fairly calm, and but
few passengers are absent from table. The glass has fallen a
trifle during the night, and the bill of fare is scanned carefully
with a view to wholesome dishes. The choice is varied : you
may have tea or coffee, rolls, toast, potato scones, brown and
white bread, corn-meal bread, oat cake and porridge, beefsteak
and onions, savoury omelette, fried fish, Finnan haddie, sausages,
bacon, grilled bones, cold ham, tongue and beef, eggs and
marmalade. The morning keeps fine, and the saloon deck
presents the usual aspect. Ladies are grouped about in
pleasant corners in easy deck-chairs, reading (yellow-back novels
mostly), chatting, and working. Shuffle-board, a sort of deck
bagatelle, and rope quoits, are in full swing, and we all go about
making acquaintance with one another. The bright keen-
B 2
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
looking gentleman, with white hair and a clean shaved face, is
Sir Alexander Gait, a w-ell-known Canadian politician, who was
at one time Finance Minister. He has spent four years of a
long and useful life on board Atlantic steamers, having crossed
and recrossed from Canada to England more than lOO times.
He is in conversation with Mr. Gibbs, Q.C., one of the leaders
of the Northern Circuit, who is spending a well-earned long
vacation in Canada and the United States. That active clever-
faced lady, who seems almost ubiquitous, is Miss Macpherson,
who is taking 47 orphan lads from London slums to Canada.
The breezy fellow in a yachting cap, whom every one says is
the purser, is J. P. Sheldon, Professor of Agriculture at Downton
College, near Salisbury, and a defeated aspirant for Parlia-
mentary honours, who is going to Canada to report on the
farming resources of the North- West Provinces on behalf of the
Dominion Government, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the
Allan Line, all of which august bodies are jointly interested in
the commission. The Japanese gentleman, who leans against the
smoke-room door puffing his cigarette, is the head of a firm of
engineers and shipbuilders in Tokio employing 400 hands, and
I have already made an appointment to go over his works with
him in October. The bright jolly-looking young lady watching
the gulls astern is a teacher in the Girls' Collegiate Institute at
Toronto. The eager pale face, whose earnest grey eyes look |
out of gold-rimmed spectacles, belongs to a young missionary,
who, years ago, was taken from the London gutter by Miss
Macpherson, and is going to join the China inland mission.
The sturdy young fellow who walks the deck with him is
another of Miss Macpherson's lambs, alro destined for China,
but who in the meantime is to have a winter's colportage work
at Toronto. . . . But there goes the luncheon bell, and the
deck clears like magic.
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC.
s
For this meal we have excellent hot soup, cold meats of all
kinds, cold fresh salmon, salad, sardines, stewed fruit, pastry,
and cheese. It is a light and trivial meal compared with
breakfast and dinner.
The afternoon is mostly spent in slumber, induced by the
strong, fresh Atlantic breeze, through which we are bowling
along at the rate of 14 miles an hour ; but every one wakes up
at the sound of the dinner bell, the event of the day to those
who are able for it. This is indeed a meal. Here is the bill
of fare : —
Soup.
Mulligatawny. Vermicelli.
Fish.
Boiled salmon.
Entries.
Grilled pigeons and mushrooms.
Fillet of beef k la Francaise.
Parsley sauce.
Veal and ham pie.
Vol au vent of lobster.
Roast.
Beef and Yorkshire pudding. Lamb and mint sauce.
Sucking pig and currant sauce. Gosling and apple sauce.
Boiled.
Fowls and lemon sauce. Mutton and caper sauce.
Ham. Tongue. Beef.
Vegetables.
Plain and mashed potatoes. Broad beans.
Puddings and pastry.
Jam rolls. Rice puddings. Rhubarb pie.
Plum pie. Italian cream. Apple charlotte.
Lemon cheese cakes. Marmalade tartlets.
Dessert.
Apples, oranges, plums, raisins, figs, nuts, tea, and coffee.
There is a slight roll getting up, and I notice with interest
that boiled fowl and rice pudding are in great demand, and
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
that sucking pig, gosling, vol au vent, jam rolls, and lemon
cheese cakes are not much sought after.
The lavish profusion of the bills of fare in Atlantic liners
always seems to me very unnecessary ; but as there are 1 16 in the
crew, and sometimes 500 to 800 steerage passengers, I suppose
the enormous surplus gets eaten up somewhere.
The intermediate passengers fare quite as well as the saloon,
but with a simpler list of viands. The steerage passengers
have for breakfast fresh bread and butter, porridge, Irish stew,
tea and coffee ; for dinner, soup, hot joints, potatoes, and bread ;
for tea, bread and butter and tea ; for supper, oatmeal porridge.
When the weather is decent their capacity for innocent
enjoyment in the way of food is astounding. There are biscuits
ad libitum at eleven, so that I was net surprised to hear a fat
German emigrant say, " Himmel ! vot a ship ! Five square
meals a day, and noding extra to pay ! "
To-night we run into the tail-end of a gale, and soon find out
how utterly miserable 500 people can be at sea. The ship is
largely laden with steel rails — as a member of the iron trade, I
was glad to hear this at starting, but before night was over I
was fain to wish they were at the bottom of the mine instead
of the bottom of the " Sarmatian." Their dead-weight caused
the ship to roll like a pendulum, and it was impossible to sleep.
I sat up reading all night, and at breakfast next morning it
was found that quite two-thirds of the passengers were badly
under the weather, my daughter among the rest. This roll
continued more or less during the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd, to the
vast discomfort of everybody ; but on the 24th we entered the
great Labrador current, and all were happy. The temperature,
however, fell to about 42 degrees, and everybody was glad to
rummage up their warm clothes. The wind was fresh and keen,
blowing straight " from Greenland's icy mountains." This great
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC.
current flows continuously at the rate of about two miles an
hour direct from the Arctic sea, and every one was on the look-
out for the iccber<j:3 which it brings down into the Atlantic.
None appeared, however, though the captain told me next
morning that he had passed three large ones during the night
in Belle Isle Strait.
We have now got away from the Atlantic and are bowling
across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The air blows fresh and bracing
off T.abrador, but the sun is bright, and all on board are
happy and joyous. We see whales blowing for the first time
on the voyage, and much excitement is caused by a hawk
settling in the rigging, completely spent by its flight, for we are
far out of sight of land. The sailors tried to catch it, but it
hopped feebly from spar to spar, and they failed. During the
afternoon, after three or four hours' rest, it suddenly sped
landwards, and we saw it no more. Si3metime afterwards a
small finch paid us a similar visit, but we were then much nearer
land.
This evening I had sat up rather late reading, and going on
deck for a little fresh air at midnight before turning in, I found
the whole northern sky ablaze with Aurora Borealis. Of
course I have often seen at home what we call "Northern
lights," but now I beheld the real thing of which I had often
read in books of Arctic travel, and its weird beauty is beyond
all description. Even here it is only seen in perfection at rare
intervals. The light sprang in a great arch, like a low rainbow,
from horizon to horizon. The sky beneath the arch was black
as ink, but with one star bright enough to show that it was as
clear below as it was above. The arch was a wide band of
strong well-defined light, out of which sprang curling clouds
of vapoury-looking flames, and sharp spears of light flying up
almost into the zenith. The light given by this beautiful
8 A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
phenomenon was as strong as the full moon, and I do not
think I ever saw a more beautiful sky, by day or night.
■tliit^-
iM^ ■^■iiiaiiaiiiii
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^Mjffigg^^s.
' -^^^S^ ^...,.^-,-'';^^^.*.:a5£> ^»v^.^^
AURORA BORKALIS.
From a
rA^/'cA by the Author.
The 26th finds us in bad weather again. Rain all day, with
a heavy sea rolling up into the Gulf direct from the Atlantic.
At night thick fog, half-speed, and the steam whistle murdering
sleep ; but the morning of the 27th brings us into calm water
and fine weather, the ship running within three or four miles of
the coast of Gaspe, well into the mouth of the St. Lawrence.
At the request of a number of the passengers, a large pro-
portion of whom are teetotallers, I gave an address on the
Temperance Movement on deck this afternoon. This vessel
affords fresh proof of the rapid strides with which the
Temperance Reformation has advanced of late years. In
conversation with Mr. Heaton, the pleasant and courteous
gentleman who acts as chief steward, he tells me that the
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC. 9
change which has come over the drinking habits of the saloon
passengers during the last ten years is very remarkable. Turning
up his books for 1878, he showed me entries of over £\2Q>
paid in a single voyage for strong liquors by forty-five cabin
passengers. This voyage 105 passengers will not spend £lQ.
Nearly half the Canadians on board are abstainers, and of those
who are not, few drink at their rneals. Only thirteen passengers
take wine or beer at dinner, and these are English. I am within
the mark in saying that fully half the intermediate and steerage
passengers are teetotallers.
This evening a concert was given on behalf of that most
valuable charity, the Liverpool Seamen's Orphanage, and a
handsome collection was taken. A large number of the 750
children cared for by this institution have lost their fathers by
the perils of the sea crossing the Atlantic, incurred while
conveying passengers and cargo to and from America. Ihcre is
no class of the community needing an orphanage to the same
extent as seamen. Since this institution was founded sixteen
years ago, more than 40,000 British seamen have been drowned
at sea, and 27,000 more have died in foreign ports. It is a
disgrace to us as a maritime nation that 2,500 of our seamen
should thus find a watery grave every year, and only such
legislation as that which Mr. Joseph Chamberlain vainly en-
deavoured to make law will cope with this terrible loss of life.
A large amount of money is secured for the orphanage by means
of concerts and other entertainments, and the collection on
Sundays on board all Atlantic liners is devoted to this object.
1 have been much interested in the children who are being
taken out by Miss Macpherson for adoption by Canadian
farmers. Miss Macpherson does not emigrate pauper children,
but rather seeks those children who are on the edge of the
workhouse schools, and who, but for her interference, would
lO
A IRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
quickly find themselves there. Let me give the stories of two
or three of these on board as a sample of the whole.
A. B. is a lad who was found ten years ago by a city
missionary in an underground cellar ; he was then about four
years old, and nothing could be discovered as to his belongings.
He was taken to the Islington Boys' Home, and has been re-
commended as a good willing boy suitable for emigration to
Canada.
C. D. was a gutter arab, motherless, son of a drunken father
who beat and starved him. He drifted into a boys' home at
Winchester, and now, at fifteen years of age, is off " to reap and
mow, to plough and sow, and be a farmer's boy " in Canada.
He is a bright, sharp lad, full of expectation and hope, and will
do well. There are a dozen such lads among the forty-seven on
board, but sometimes the facts are reversed by the father being
dead and the mother gone to the bad, while others have lost
both parents, the loss being the lad's gain.
E. F. is a bright, sharp little girl of ten, delighted with the ship
and all on board, the pet of the steerage. When I asked her
how she liked her cabin, she said, " Jolly I I've got a whole soap-
box all to myself for a bed." This was the realisation of her
wildest notion of luxury. Hitherto, if she had liad a soap-box
at all, she shared it with other children. Her father was
drowned at sea, and she has been half starved by an unsatisfac-
tory mother all her life. She is about half the size she ought
to be.
G. H. is a lad who has been deserted by his parents, who fell
at once into kind hands. A lady in his neighbourhood pays the
cost of his emigration.
Many of the children have been rescued from horrible ill-
treatment at the hands of step-fathers and step-mothers, others
have been adopted by Miss Macpherson out of large poor
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC.
II
families, whose parents seem glad enough to let them go, and
others are orphans from various boys' homes.
All these children are purged as far as possible from the evil
influences of their past lives by the kind and judicious treat-
ment they receive in Miss Macpherson's homes in England and
Canada. Their excellent behaviour on board ship, under the
relaxed discipline which is inevitable from the sea-sickness of
their superintendents, speaks volumes for their brief training,
and they live in the continual praise of all the passengers.
Miss Macpherson has taken out to Canada altogether four
thousand four hundred of these waifs and strays, every one of
whom would otherwise have gone to swell the ranks of the
dangerous or pauper classes. The results fully justify her
action. Two thousand five hundred are now comfortably settled
on Canadian farms, the adopted children rather than the ser-
vants of the farmers. Five hundred have been formally adopted
by childless people, another five hundred have been put out in
trades, over two hundred are married and doing well ; some, of
course, have died, but of the whole lot only seven have turned
out hopelessly bad, and are now in reformatories with what-
ever poor chance those institutions afford for a fresh start
in life.
All wonder at this happy result vanishes before an hour's
cnat with the gracious Christian lady who is the life and soul of
it all. This emigration of poor children is but an incident in the
noble life of Miss Macpherson, and is her solution of one aspect
of the sorrow and suffering passing under her notice In her work
among the densely-crowded districts of East London These
poor children, taken away from their horrible surroundings in
time, grow up useful God-fearing citizens of Canada, and often
rise to good positions. More than a score are in professions,
and one of the brightest and most intelligent men I ever met,
13
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
now goinjj out on this ship, destined for a missionary's life, is
one of Miss Macpherson's rescued boys.
Probably no man is better acquainted u ith the inner social life
of Canada than Sir Alexander Gait. He has fully confirmed
me in the deeply favourable impression I have formed of Miss
Macpherson and her work, and assures me that in his judgment
no one person is at this time promoting to the same extent the
real interests of the Dominion of Canada.
I was not surprised to hear from Miss Macpherson that she
utterly refused to emigrate children who had once entered the
doors of a workhouse school. My own experience as a Guardian
of one of the largest unions in London confirms her wisdom. I
wish every one of these detestable and costly institutions were
abolished and the boarding-out system made universal ; but this
is a domestic issue that pertains not to the story of a voyage
round the world.
I do not wonder that Dr. Barnardo, and others who have the
care of orphan children of the very poor, are following Miss
Macpherson's noble example. May God bless her and her
patriotic work ! It is, indeed, '* something accomplished, some-
thing done," to have turned 5,000 street arabs from probable
thieves and lost women into prosperous Canadian farmers and
happy wives and mothers.
We are now running up the St. Lawrence, and an amusing
incident has just occurred. The Dominion Government have a
law that no one shall enter Canada who has not been vaccinated
during the last seven years. Yesterday the ship's doctor went
through all the intermediate and steerage passengers, examined
their arms, and informed those who had not recently been
vaccinated that they would not be let ashore without a fortnight's
quarantine on an island unless they submitted to his lancet.
About four dozen were operated upon ; but a Wesleyan minister
FROM LIVERPOOL TO QUEBEC,
13
and another flatly refused even to show their arms. A medical
officer of health came on board at Rimouski at one o'clock this
morning, and the two recalcitrants were roused out of bed to
face him. They continued obstinate, and were in consequence
reported by telegraph to the Quarantine Static whose officer has
just stopped the ship. The martyrs have broken down at last,
on seeing their luggage placed upon the quarantine launch, and,
with much indignation, have submitted to vaccination. They
do not seem to have had scruples about vaccination itself, but
refused on what seems to me the very just ground that the
saloon passengers have been entirely exempt from the operation
of the law. There were no exemptions in the original Act, until
it was found that saloon passengers were exempted from a
similar law in the United States, and that in consequence saloon
passenger traffic was being diverted from Quebec to New
York.
Shortly after lunch the picturesque city of Quebec hove in
sight, and the " Sarmatian" steamed alongside the wharf at Point
Levis, the terminus of the Grand Trunk Railway, on the opposite
side of the great river.
We have had a delightful and prosperous voyage, the pleasant-
est of all the five journeys I have made across the Atlantic ; but
we are all glad to see land again, and to rush off to the telegraph
office to send word to those at home that we have arrived safe
and well.
/'ij-
'■ ml
14
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
CHAPTER II.
QUEBEC TO MONTREAL.
As soon as the medical officer had issued his fiat permitting the
passengers to go ashore, my daughter and I started off for the
ferry, determined to see all we could of Quebec in the three
hourr> before the steamer once more started off up the river to
Montreal.
It seemed ridiculous on British territory to be hailed in
French by a car-driver, to read the shop-signs in French
and English, with even such simple directions as were needed
to point the road to the steam ferry, being given in both
languages, thus —
This way!
Par ici !
And yet I am told that if any public institution such as a steam
ferry omitted the " Par ici " it would bring about an immediate
revolution. Quebec is as French as Boulogne— yet as loyal to
the British Crown as Folkestone. The ancient province of
Lower Canada has maintained unimpaired the language and
religion of its original settlers. Three-fourths of its population
are French-speaking Roman Catholics. French customs, lan-
guage, and laws remain intact, though the British flag waves
from its citadel. Champlain, the famous navigator, who dis-
covered and settled Quebec, established a fort, a trading station,
and a chapel. The Quebec of to-day is simply an enlargement
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MONTREAL.
17
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of all three. The town lies on a tongue of land under the
shelter of a bold cliff 350 feet above the water, with the Charles
River protecting it on the landward side. The citadel crowns
the hill, and all round are forts and bastions commanding every
point of the river. The whole forms a fortress that would be
impregnable if armed with modern guns, and which would hold
the gates of Canada against any navy that could be sent to force
them. The armaments, however, are of an ancient and obsolete
character, with the exception of three Armstrong guns of about
six or seven tons weight, which escaped the fire of last year.
There is, however, a brass howitzer, on which is engraved, " This
gun was captured at the battle of Bunkers Hill " — a bit of British
swagger which greatly amuses Yankee visitors, who are apt
to remark, " Wal, if you have the gun, I guess we've got the
hill ! "
There are few more picturesque towns in the world than
Quebec. As we steamed away up the St. Lawrence, the lofty
citadel and its satellite forts, with the quaint old French town
nestling under its protection, were all one dark purple mass
against a glorious sunset sky, relieved only by the twinkling
lights of the houses and streets, just blinking into notice as the
day darkened and closed — a scene of beauty not easily to be
forgotten. Quebec is going down hill. It was a melancholy
place for a business man to visit ten years ago, when I was there
seeking custom for English iron, but it seemed to me sadder
than ever in the walk we took through the business streets. It
still maintains its supremacy as the great seat of the timber
trade ; but as that trade finds its way to the sea more and more
by the great network of railways which centre in Montreal,
lumber will follow wheat and locate itself in the up-river port,
to the neglect of poor old Quebec.
Sunday morning, August 28th, found us 50 miles above
C
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
Quebec, on the broad bosom of the St. Lawrence, the great
highway of the Dominion of Canada, and the outlet of the
greatest body of fresh water in the world. The vast inland seas
of Superior, Huron, Eric, Michigan, Ontario, Nepigon, and
Champlain, besides a thousand lakes of less degree, pour out
to the Atlantic past the citadel of Quebec. This noble river
drains an area of over 400,000 square miles of territory, and
contains more than half the fresh water of the globe. The
total length of its course is over 2,000 miles, and its principal
port, Montreal, is 1 50 miles distant from salt water. By the
aid of the Welland Canal three-masted vessels^ with 1,500 or
2,000 tons of wheat in their holds can load at Port Arthur on
Lake Superior, 1,200 miles from the sea, and after traversing
the St. Lawrence, cross the Atlantic and discharge their cargoes
at Liverpool or Barrow.
The St. Lawrence from Quebec to Montreal is from one to
three miles wide. Its banks are thickly populated by the
descendants of the early French Settlers, every village
clustering round a fine Roman Catholic Church, whose tin
roofs and spires glitter in the morning sun. The people are
very poor, and have been rendered so by a bad system of sub-
division of land similar to that which prevails in many parts of
Ireland, The habitants, as these French Canadians are called,
are a hardy, thrifty race ; their young men form the great
strength of the lumber trade, and a backwoodsman would move
Mr. Gladstone to amazement and envy by the way in which he
can wield the axe.
About three o'clock in the afternoon the wooded heights of
Mount Royal appear above the low river banks, and the
passengers throng into the bows of the ship for the first view of
that city of churches, Montreal. As we round the last bend of
the river, the fine stone quays, flanked by a long mile of noble
MONTREAL.
19
warehouses, overtopped by a hundred spires and domes, the
whole set in the olive-green of Mount Royal, form a fine
panorama. In less than an hour we are fast to the Allan Wharf.
A polite customs officer declines to suspect a British M.P. of
smuggling. Our luggage is placed in the hotel waggon, and we
jolt through the disgracefully paved streets to the Windsor
Hotel, a marble palace of 800 rooms, which condescends to
board and lodge its visitors handsomely for I'js. 6d. a day. We
c«rtainly had no reason to complain of the treatment we
received. The head clerk, on seeing my name, asked me if I
was not a British Member of Parliament. I owned the soft
impeachment, and, knowing what a mixed lot we are, waited
with trepidation the effect. Should I be refused admission, or
be huddled away in some garret ? To my great delight we
were ushered into a gorgeous apartment, consisting of a large
drawing-room and two spacious bedrooms, with fine bath-rooms
attached. I protested that this splendour was quite beyond my
means, but was at once politely assured that I was, so far as
these handsome rooms were concerned, the guest of the
landlords of the " Windsor."
Monday, August 29th. — We rose betimes to catch the 7.45
train for Lachine, a pretty village which stands at the head of
the chain of locks which raises the water traffic of the St.
Lawrence over the far-famed Lachine Rapids, which it was our
intention presently to descend in a steamer. It was a glorious
morning, the hot sun tempered with a touch of autumn frost,
which threw a thin veil of mist over the river, and its beautiful
wooded banks and islands. The steamer left the moorings
under the care of an ancient half-breed Indian pilot, who steers
her into the broad expanse of river which spreads out above the
fall. The old exploier Jacques Cartier took it for a fresh
ocean, that would, if he dared venture to cross it, lead him on to
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
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China ; standing on its shores, exclaiming " La Chine ! La
Chine!'' he little thought that 350 years later the Canadian
Pacific Railway would cross the point on which he stood,
carrying passengers and mails from Europe to China in the
short space of five weeks. Soon the broad river narrows into a
width of about two miles, and the increased speed of the vessel
lets us know that we are nearing the great Lachine Rapids.
The pace becomes tremendous as she leaps into the roaring
cataract. Standing in the bows, it seems as if nothing could
save the steamer from being dashed to pieces on the mighty
rocks which split the stream ; but the skilful pilot drives her
down between the two biggest, which almost brush the vessel's
sides, and in another minute we are paddling down a gentle
ripple, and Montreal, glistening in the morning sun, comes into
view.
The interest of this delightful little trip, which hardly lasts
two hours, has been greatly enhanced by the magnificent
cantilever bridge by which the Canadian Pacific Railway crosses
the Sv. Lawrence at the head of the Lachine Rapids, seeking an
outlet for its western traffic through St. John and Halifax and
the New England States. This bridge is built on the same
lines and plan as the well-known Tay Bridge in Scotland. The
steamer swept under it with such speed that all detail was lost,
leaving only on the memory the impression of the lightest and
most beautiful iron structure I had ever seen.
Montreal can boast the possession of two of the finest bridges
in the world, for the great rival of the Canadian Pacific, the
older Grand Trunk, owns the famous Victoria Tubular Bridge,
which was designed by Robert Stephenson, built by Peto,
Brassey, and Betts, and formally opened by the Prince of Wales
in i860. This bridge connects lower Canada with the United
States, and carries off all the Montreal traffic during the six
MONTREAL.
21
months of winter when the St. Lawrence is blocked with ice.
This stupendous work cost ;^i, 200,000. It stands upon 26 piers,
and the centre is about 60 feet above the level of the river. It
is over 3,000 yards long, and contains three million cubic feet of
masonry, and over 8,000 tons of iron. It links together the
system of the Grand Trunk Railway, which on bf th sides of
the St. Lawrence embraces some 2,200 miles of road.
After breakfast I called at the offices of the Canadian Pacific
Railway, and made the acquaintance of its president, Sir George
Stephen, Bart., and Mr. Van Home, its vice-president and
general-manager. They were good enough to give me nearly
three hours of their valuable time, and allowed me to see
their rate-books, and classification-books, and gave me much
information of great interest to a Member of Parliament who
had served for two years on "The Select Committee on
Railway Rates."
The rest of the afternoon I spent in calling upon the many
old friends in the iron trade who, before I became absorbed in
politics, were valued customers, and to whom I used to export
iron and other metals. Much of our conversation naturally
turned on the recent heavy increase of the import duties on iron
and steel, which has so much excited the indignation of our iron
trade at home. I found an almost universal opinion, in which
I fully share, that these protective duties will not be sufficient
to call into existence any important rolling-mills within the
Dominion, though it may do something for iron and steel manu-
factured goods. The duty on finished iron is raised from i 'js. 6d.
per ton to £1. The first result of this will be to drive the iron
trade into the hands of great capitalist merchants, and to squeeze
out small dealers and importers. A dealer could, under the old
duty, buy a stock of 500 tons of merchant iron from England
and put it duty paid into his warehouse for about ;^3,200, and
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22
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
m \\
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as he could obtain four to six months' credit from English
merchants for ;^2,5oo of that amount, he only required ^700
in cash capital to pay freight and duties. By the increase in the
tariff he finds this amount suddenly raised upon him to some
;^i,700, and unless he can immediately bring an extra ^1,000 in
hard cash into his business he must either reduce his stock or
be otherwise crippled. In all my business experience, I have
always found these sudden changes in tariff rates the most
disturbing element I have had to cope with.
The strong protests which were made, at the time the tariff was
changed, by the English iron trade, were successful in inducing
the Canadian Government to make some important alterations in
favour of Great Britain, so far as it affects the interests of the
mother country and the rival interests of foreign countries. A
memorandum has been recently issued by the Canadian Minister
of Finance, which endeavours to show how far the tariff changes
are actually beneficial to British manufactures. An analysis of
the imports into Canada of iron and steel and manufactures
thereof exhibits the remarkable fact that while five years ago
Great Britain contributed 55 per cent, of the dutiable and 94
per cent, of the free imports of these goods, last year the pro-
portion from that country had declined to 50 per cent, and 86
per cent. These figures are put forward with some justice, as
showing a drift of trade from British to foreign iron producers,
and the Finance Minister contends that if the old tariff had re-
mained in operation the Canadian market must in time have
passed under the control of the manufacturers of the United
States, Belgium, and Germany. I do not believe this myself;
but if the conviction has come home to the Finance Minister,
and induced him to vary the tariff with a view to preventing it,
we need not complain.
I never could understand the infatuation of new countries
MONTREAL.
33
for Protection. For years past Canada has been paying 50
per cent, more for every article of clothing than we pay in
England, with a view to creating textile industries of her own
Yesterday I went through the largest retail drapery store in
Canada, containing every kind of textile fabrics for both sexes.
The owner admitted to me that he had not in his store, from
cellar to attic, five shillings' worth of Canadian manufactures.
The one great pleasure of Canada is fishing. Yesterday I
bought a green heart trout rod ; in England it would have cost
me 2\s. — I paid 32J. ; two dozen trout flies, 8.f. per dozen — the
same flies in England would cost 2s. ; gut casting lines, 4J. each
instead of \s. 3^. — and all imported from England. I asked
specially for a Canadian-made rod, but the dealer hadn't got
one fit for fly-fishing ; all his stock had come from England or
the States in spite of 30 per cent, protective duty.
The duties on foreign iron in the United States practically
double the price of iron all over that country, yet fail to
keep out foreign competition. The total importations of manu-
factured iron and steel productions into the States last fiscal
year were 100,000 tons in excess of the two previous years
combined. During the fiscal year just ended the States
imported 1,524,000 tons, against a total in the two years of
1 885-1 886 of 1,445,000. The same appears in iron ore,
last year showing 1,142,000 tons imported, against a total ot
1,127,000 in the two years previous. There seems to be no
signs of any diminution of this great import. I do not wonder
to read this week in a leading New York commercial paper
that " indications warrant the belief that the heavy importations
of manufactured iron and steel production to this country are
a very serious menace to the industrial prosperity of America.
The pertinent inquiry arises — '* How much longer can this
country keep on importing foreign iron and steel in such
hi,:
till
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
enormous quantities without precipitating a first-class collapse
in the iron and steel industries ? "
I have no fear whatever of any disastrous result to the
English iron trade from Canadian Protective tariffs, Canada
will continue to buy from us in increasing quantities ; and if
any capitalist is fool enough to start extensive iron-works in
the Dominion, they will end in what the Yankees call a " first-
class collapse."
I *
( 25 )
CHAPTER III.
NIAGARA.
On Tuesday morning, August 31st, we left Montreal for
Toronto by the new route of the Canadian Pacific Railway,
which passes through a thinly-settled district of some beauty
abounding in lakes and streams. In 380 miles we only passed
two towns of any size — Perth, the centre of a good farming
district, in which many Irish have located themselves, and
Peterborough, placed on the Otonabee River, which here falls
about 150 feet in nine miles, furnishing water-power for many
corn and lumber mills. At the end of 12 hours we reached
the great capital of the province of Ontorio — Toronto. Our
journey was made pleasant by the magnificent parlour-car in
which we rode, furnished with large arm-chairs, movable
tables, and that best of all luxuries when travelling in hot
weather, a sumptuous lavatory. We had an excellent lunch and
tea sensed to us, and I noted with satisfaction that no alcoholic
liquors appeared in the bill of fare which was presented to
us, the Canadian Pacific refreshment-rooms on this section
being apparently conducted on strictly temperance principles.
Toronto is at once the most English and the most prosperous
town in Canada. Its citizens are justly proud of it, and take
^ no pains to conceal their pride. I noticed on the voyage that,
if any passenger walked the deck with an air of being Somebody,
if any lady sat in her deck-chair with a cold and repellent air
m
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
towards strangers, they were sure to hail from Toronto. It is
the Boston of Canada. All culture and refinement begins and
ends there so far as the Dominion is concerned. Kurope may
furnish interesting relics of the past, but there is no real progress
outside Toronto. I never converse with a Toronto citizen without
being reminded of the old Peebles anecdote. " I've seen London
and Paris, but for downright pleesure gie me Peebles 1 "
However, with all the " side " taken off, Toronto is a very
fine city of over 100,000 inhabitants, to which it has grown
from a tenth of that number in about 50 years. It has plenty
of fine buildings, broad and handsome streets, electric lights,
and the usual detestable pavement, which seems inevitable in
every American town. It has a noble frontage to Lake Ontario
of several miles in extent ; viewed from the lake on a fine evening,
it has almost the appearance of Venice from the Lido, and is quite
the most picturesque town in all Canada, except Quebec.
The University is a large Norman building, situated in the
public park, in which is a monument to the students of the
University who were killed in resisting the iniquitous Fenian
invasion of 1866, one of the unpunished villainies of the Irish
scoundrels who abuse the hospitality of the freest country in the
world. The new Parliament House — in which, when finished,
the Ontario Parliament will exercise its carefully-guarded
functions — is only just above the ground, and we could -not
judge of its merits. We visited the Normal School, in which
the elementary teachers of the province are trained, and found
every possible advantage to the students, well arranged in a
stately building.
In different quarters of the city we saw various colleges,
denominational and otherwise, which are aflfiliated to the
University, for the Ontario system of university education has
been successful in including within its teaching influence, both
NrAGARA.
»r
Rom;in Catholic as well as all Protestant denominational
colleges — an example I should like to see followed by our
ancient seats of learning at Oxford and Cambridge. The
University has an endowment of ;^2oo,ooo and an income of
;^i6,ooo a year, with i,8oo graduates and about 400 students.
It contains excellent museums of natural history, mineralogy,
geology, and ethnology.
The churches of Toronto are one of its chief glories. It
boasts the tallest spire, and the handsomest church clock on the
Continent of America. We went over the leading Methodist
Church ; it will seat nearly 3,000 people, and ha.s, besides a
handsomely-fitted lecture-hall to accommodate 600, the finest
series of Sunday-.school class-rooms I ever saw, and a noble
suite of drawing-rooms, in which are held that peculiarly
American institution — the " Church Sociable " — at which the
minister receives the whole of his congregation at evening
parties, on terms of absolute social equality.
From Toronto we crossed the lake to Niagara, where we spent
three delightful days. I will not add to the thousand and one
failures to describe the indescribable. I have seen pictures of
Niagara. I have read poems on Niagara. They are about as
like what they try to describe as Martin's " Plains of Heaven."
The only honest attempt to describe Niagara was made by a
poet who was specially commissioned by the Neiv York Herald
to produce a description in verse that should for all time stand
in the forefront of every other. The poet went, stayed three
months, and then sat down to write. He began —
" Niagara ! Niagara !
You are indeed a staggerer ! "
He could get no further, and his body was found three days
after in the whirlpool.
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28
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
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II
But without attempting to emulate the poet, I will try to
give to those of my readers who have never seen, and may
never see this wonder of the world, some faint idea of what
it really is.
Niagara Falls are formed by the sudden descent of the
Niagara River down a ledge of perpendicular rocks half a
mile wide and more than i6o feet in height, into a huge foaming
caldron over 400 feet in depth. The river flows out of this
caldron in smooth circling eddies for a mile or so, and then
rushes through a mighty gorge only 300 feet wide at the rate of
30 miles an hour, piling its roaring and foaming waves 30 feet
higher in the centre than at the margin, sweeping at its outlet
into a vast circular basin surrounded by high precipitous cliffs,
forming a huge whirlpool in which the river circles previous
to its final rush into Lake Ontario. To state the bare fact
that, according to Sir Charles Lyell, the water passing the
Niagara falls, travels at the rate of 1,500,000,000 cubic feet
per minute, may convey to the minds of my readers a dim
notion of the terrific force and sublimity of this stupendous
cataract.
When I was last at Niagara, some ten years ago, both banks
were in the hands of speculators, who charged a dollar for every
coign of vantage, and before the unhappy tourist could see his
Niagara he had to pay out £\ or ;^5 for admission fees. But
these fiends had other methods of making money. As you stood
on the table rock, the finest point from which to view the Horse
Shoe Falls, a huge board, which you could not possibly evade,
informed you all the time that " Jennings' liver pills were sure,
quiet, but searching." The fine trees which frame every lovely
picture on Goat Island had been let out to a wretch who had
painted on every trunk the startling fact that " Gargling oil was
good for man and beast," and the lovely rocks of Luna Island
llOlviiK SUOK VALL, NIAGARA,
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from
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the p
NIAGARA.
31
resounded with the cry that " Lovell's worm powder was never
known to fail " ! But two or three years ago the enh'ghtened
Governments of the United States and Canada purchased both
sides of the river, and swept out speculators and quacks with the
besom of destructiori. Every approach of the falls is now free
as air, the land being cleared of every building, and turned into
two national parks. Niagara appears to have irresistible charms
m.
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WHIRLPOOL RAPIDS, NIAGARA.
for the fools who enjoy seeing performances in which the main
attraction is danger to human life. We saw a number of people
respectfully surrounding a big but very stupid-looking young
man. Asking who this was, we were told that he was a hero
from Buffalo who had shot the Whirlpool Rapids last week,
boxed up in the small hold of a canoe decked over for
the purpose. There was no skill displayed in this foolhardy
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33
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
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i
performance, as the hero of it was simply cargo and nothing
more, yet scores of people were turning their backs on the
grandest scene in the world to gape and stare at this foolish
youth.
In the height of the season, multitudes of people come in
from Buffalo, Detroit, Toronto, and even Chicago and New York,
not to admire the wondrous beauty of Niagara, but to see a
female named Signorina Maria Spelterina dance on a tight-rope
over the Whirlpool Rapids.
We were fortunate in visiting Niagara at the full moon, which
added greatly to its charm. This was my third visit to this
scene of wonder, and each visit deepens the impression that so
far as I have seen Nature, Niagara is the sublimest and most
beautiful sight on earth. In the winter of 1872 I saw the falls
in the grasp of the severest frost ever known to living Canadians.
The caldron beneath the falls was frozen over, and it was
possible to walk into the very face of the cataract, whose dark
green waters contrasted with the pure white snow and massive
icicles which hung about the edges. The spray which rises
always like a lovely veil from the base of the falls, had frozen as it
rose and encrusted everything on the banks — trees, shrubs, railings
— with a delicate frost-work that glistened like pure silver in the
bright winter sunshine of Canada, and, falling on the frozen
surface in front, had formed enormous cones of ice, one of which,
120 feet high, I mounted, gainmg an unusual familiarity with
the inner recesses of the falls, that was deeply impressive. But
I do not venture to express any opinion on the rival charms of
Niagara in winter, spring, or autumn, in each of which seasons I
have seen and wondered at its strange beauty and terrible
sublimity.
We managed to snatch half a day from Niagara to visit the
locks on the Welland Canal, which connect the navigation
iMif
NIAGARA.
33
between Ontario and Erie, and make it possible for vessels to
surmount the obstacle presented by Niagara. Erie is on a
higher level than Ontario by 300 feet, and this level is reached
by a chain of locks on the Welland Canal 26 in number. Each
lock is over 300 feet long and 45 feet wide, and vessels of
2,000 tons burden, drawing 14 feet, can pass them. It takes a
ship about 14 hours to get through the complete chain of locks,
and they pay dues amounting to gd. a ton if loaded, ?>d. if in
ballast. It was a wonderful sight to stand on the upper lock
and see the vast steps of masonry sweeping round the hillside
for miles, with large three-masted ships mounting to Erie or
dropping to Ontario all along the great curve, undoubtedly one
of the finest public works in the world.
The Canadian Government, with a view to divert the great
grain trade of the lakes to Montreal, have reduced the tolls on
grain coming to that port through the Welland Canal to id,
per ton ; but although the old rate of gd. is charged to American
vessels the quantity of grain passing down the Welland Canal
from United States ports to United States ports increased from
47,000 tons in 1880 to 151,000 tons in 1886, while the carrying
of grain from lake ports of both nations to Montreal has rather
decreased than increased. This is owing to the great develop-
ment of railways in the Dominion of Canada, which seem
destined here, as at home, slowly to press water-carriage out
of existence.
The quantity of cereals arriving at Montreal vid the two
great railway systems of Canada, the Grand Trunk and the
Canadian Pacific, has steadily increased during recent years as
follows : —
1884
1882
Tons.
75,000
1883
Tons.
99,000
Tons.
142,000
1885
Tons.
161,000
1886
Tons.
166,000
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
The quantity passing down the St. Lawrence system of
canals to Montreal for the same period was —
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons,
Tons.
230,000 263,000 • 174,000 134)000 272,000
American experience also goes to prove the growing ascend-
ancy of railways over canals. The New York canals last year
brought to that port 1,490,000 tons of cereals, while the New
York railways in the same year carried over 3,800,000. I
think a careful study of canal and railway statistics in Canada
and the United States would be profitable to the venturesome
capitalists who are taking shares in the Manchester Ship
Canal.
The road from Niagara to Welland and back led us through
many fine farms, the yards and orchards of which gave evidence
of much prosperity. This is a famous fruit district, and
produces the Newtown pippin, the American apple that is such
a favourite in England.
On Saturday, September 3rd, we bid a reluctant farewell to
Niagara and its beauties, and started off to spend Sunday with
a relative who had settled on a farm near St. Thomas, in the
best agricultural district of Canada. Shortly after the train
started, which was the express from New York to Chicago, we
were amused by the conductor calling out in the car — "The
next station is Falls View — five minutes allowed to see Niagara
Falls ! " And there are quite a number of Americans who are
happy and content to have seen their greatest wonder in this
hasty fashion.
It may perhaps interest some of my readers to know what is
the life of the average Canadian farmer. My relative, Mr. Emery,
has a small farm of about 70 acres of very good land. His house
is built of wood entirely, consists of one storey, and contains
NIAGARA.
%%
a kitchen, dining-room, parlour, and five bedrooms. The farm,
with the exception of groceries, furnishes food for the family
throughout the year, the produce consisting of wheat, Indian
corn, peas, hay, vegetables, and fruit. There is abundance of
milk and cream, eggs, poultry occasionally, and the meat of
three pigs each year, in the shape of pickled pork and bacon.
During the three hot months very little meat is eaten by the
average Canadian farmer, but when the frost fairly sets in he
supplements his pig-meat with a sheep and half a bullock,
Tjl ,4'.T
•■y. v 1-"- '
I .-*.A<.V> •,■■■-, '■''■-. ."
'.,-: -CA V^, ■• ■ -
^,,. .^,j.:.,.,. ':^'/-'. i^'^"?>'-;.-;,;.;:'s:
•&■■ ' - «f:.-'
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..^.,.X^7 j-::*;-.irg
!!»fe?aas-: :.V
EMERY HALL.
from a sketch by the Author,
; ; i .
which he hangs up in the frosty air in some place where vermin
cannot reach it, and saws off the meat as he wants it. It keeps
perfectly fresh as long as the frost lasts, which is four or five
months. He sells his surplus produce, after feeding his family
and his stock out of it, and as he has no rent to pay, his wants
arc confined to clothing, groceries, and a few minor sundries.
He educates his children free. He has great opportunities for
putting out his family in the world. My relative has five sons
and two daughters. Two of his sons arc well placed in the
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
employ of a great railway company in the Western States,
one of his daughters being a shorthand type-writer in the same
employ with a good salary. Another son went off platelaying
on the Canadian Pacific while it was being made, saved the
bulk of his wages, chose his location as he went along, and
is now farming 600 acres of his own near Calgary, in the
North-West Province. He has one daughter at home to help
her mother, and one son who manages the farm. His
youngest lad is 16, and goes to a high school at a neighbouring
town of 2,000 population, where he obtains, entirely free, an
education equal to any of our great public schools, with four
University men to teach him. He lodges in a single room, for
which he pays six shillings a month, and on Monday morning
drives over to his school, taking with him a basket of provisions
to last him till Friday evening, when he comes home for the
week end. He will probably become a school teacher for a
few years, save money, and eventually educate himself for the
medical or legal profession. The more I see of Canada, the
more convinced I am of the incalculable benefits of a sy.stem
of free education, which enables any lad of brains to work
himself up from humble circumstances to any position in the
Dominion, I wish we had it in the old country.
I never tasted such delicious apples as were ripening in my
cousin's orchard. His farm is in the very primest part of the great
fruit-growing district that lies on both shores of Lakes Ontario
and Erie. Apples, pears, quinces, melons, chestnuts and grapes
grow in great abundance, and as we travelled from Niagara to
London, the country-side was gilded with the rich fruit of the
farm-orchards. Splendid apples can be bought for is, 6d. per
bushel, and many of the farmers make a special trade of apple-
packing for the English market, and have houses specially built
for the purpose. The growth of the trade is shown by the
NIAGARA.
sr
returns of exports, which have increased from 50,000 barrels in
1874, to nearly 300,000 last year. In England we do not know
what luscious fruit Canada can produce, as the best varieties
will not carry without decay. It is, however, proposed to
construct cold chambers on the ocean steamers by which these
short - keeping and delicate varieties may be brought to
England in perfect preservation.
On Monday, September 5th, we left our relative's hospitable
roof for London, a town of 30,000 inhabitants. An old friend
met us at the station, and drove us round before dinner.
"New" London imitates old London as closely as possible.
The streets are called Cornhill, Regent Street, Piccadilly, Bond
Street, &c., &c. Our friend lives in Westminster, on the other
side of the Thames ; and there is even a Westminster Abbey,
though that, alas ! in New London, is a tavern.
Westminster is under the Scott Act, and the Westminster
Abbey is, nolens volens, a temperance tavern. I was struck with
one singular result of the Scott Act. Both my fricr:ds, the
farmer and my London friend, live under the Scott Act. Neither
of them are teetotallers, yet in deference to public opinion, as
expressed by the adoption of the Act, neither of them place
mtoxicating liquors before their guests, or keep them in their
houses. I hope to write at some length on the operations of
the Scott Act and the prohibitory laws of the North-West when
I have seen more of the country.
Tuesday, September 6th, we spent at Toronto, chiefly in visiting
old friends. The town was all astir from the opening of a
provincial exhibition, to which his Excellency the Governor-
General had come. I had an interesting conversation with Lord
Lansdowne, who asked me to come and see him to discuss some
of the political questions which are coming to the front in the
Dominion. In the evening we dined with my old acquaintance
iii i
^^
''Mi i|
'i
38
/I TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
Professor Goldwin Smith, who li^ taking the lead in the agitation
for commercial union with the States, the most burning question
of the hour in Canada.
Wednesday, September 7th. — We left Toronto at 10.30 for
Winnipeg. The train took us through a beautiful country to
Owen Sound, situated on Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. Here
we got on board the "Alberta," a magnificent Clyde-built steamer
of 1,800 tons burden, specially designed for the Canadian Pacific
Railway to carry the passenger-traffic between Owen Sound and
Port Arthur, their station on the north shores of Lake Superior.
She and her sister ship, the "Athabasca," steamed across the
Atlantic, were cut in two at Montreal, towed through the lakes
and the Welland Canal, and joined together again on the shores
o! Huron. It was blowing a gale of wind, and it was soon made
evident that it is quite as easy for people to be sea-sick on fresh
water as on salt. We ran up Georgian Bay under shelter of
a long peninsula, but about ten o'clock at night we felt the full
brunt of the storm blowing up Lake Huron, and were tumbled
about quite as much as if we had been on the North Atlantic.
Early in the morning the wind abated, and we breakfasted in
peace and plenty under the shelter of Manitoulin Island. Soon
we entered the St. Marie River, which flows for about 40 miles
connecting Lakes Superior and Erie. The shores are low,
and covered with forest, the changing tints of which warned
us that summer was departing. The river channel is very
crooked, but is carefully buoyed, though the passage is even
then so difficult that it is never attempted at night. By noon
we reached the Sault St. Marie, a pretty cataract rippling over a
rocky bed, falling about eighteen feet in a quarter of a mile.
This cataract is surmounted by a fine lock. We had to wait
while a big four-masted steamer, bound from Duluth on Superior
to Buffalo on Erie, ana laden with 2,300 tons of wheat, was taken
NIAGARA.
39
i;
through. Then we entered, and in fifteen minutes were raised
to the level of Lake Superior. The lock is 515 feet long, 80
feet wide, 60 feet at the gates, 39 feet 6 inches deep, and will pass
vessels drawing 14 feet. The banks of the lock arc laid out
as a pretty little park, which is the favourite resort of the
population of Sault St. Marie, many of whom "saw us
through."
Half an hour brought us to Lake Superior, the afternoon
SAULT ST. MARIE LOCK.
being bright, sunny, and calm as a mill-pond. Some wonderful
effects of mirage, distant islands and vessels being raised into
the sky just above the horizon, were watched with much interest
by all the passengers. Presently the masts of a large screw-
steamer are seen sticking up out of the water — no mirage,
unhappily, for we are told that she foundered in the gale of
last night, and that seventeen lives were lost. At ten o'clock
this evening, as we were all going to bed, a sudden storm of
Pipf
40
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
thunder and heavy rain burst upon us, followed by a smart
blow and tumbling sea ; but this morning breaks fine and cold,
and we pass Silver Island and Thunder Cape glistening in
the morning sun.
'%
h' ■'
r'
^'- ~>f
1" i ' I
Wi
"^'c^^^-'-
-'-■s??-'^^^.s.>-;
THUNDER CAPE, LAKE SUPERIOR.
From a sketch by the Author'.
( 41 )
CHAPTER IV.
WINNIPEG.
i. il
On Friday, September 9th, at ten o'clock in the morning, the
good ship "Alberta" moored alongside the pier at Port Arthur,
and at two o'clock the same afternoon wc joined the Pacific
express on our way westward.
Port Arthur was our first experience of the rapidity with
which quite large towns spring up like mushrooms in the
wake of the Pacific Railway. Ten years ago there was only
a landing-place and one or two shanties, the trade of the north
shore of Lake Superior being centred eight miles away at the
old trading port of Fort William, at the mouth of the Kamin-
istiquia River, which affords a good harbour, and which place
is still used by the Canadian Pacific as their chief coal depot
and distributing point for timber, rails, and other heavy supplies.
Port Arthur, however, attracts the general trade of the district,
and if a twentieth part of the hopes entertained by the sanguine
mining speculators who are exploring Thunder Bay and the
islands are realised, it will not be long before the present
agglomeration of wooden stores and houses give way to a
second Swansea and Barrow-in-Furness rolled into one. There
is undoubtedly great mineral wealth, copper, silver, manga-
nese, and magnetic iron ore, that some day will be developed
and make Port Arthur populous and thriving. A hard-working
and enterprising population of about 4,000 souls have settled
\ i
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42
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
i|
here during the last four or five years, and the country round is
being rapidly taken up and farmed. Its own natural resources,
added to its position at the juncture of the railway with the head
of the St. Lawrence navigation, make the prospects of the place
unusually promising.
The scenery at the head of Lake Superior, of which we had
heard much exaggerated praise, was disappointing. Thunder
Cape is a fine range of cliffs, about 800 or 1000 feet high, but
the rest of the country is flat and dull. We did not see the
Nepigon region, lying some distance from Port Arthur, which
is the paradise of the Canadian sportsman. We met some
fishermen returning from a month's camping out, and mistook
them for negroes recovering from a bad attack of confluent
small-pox. Their remarkable complexion, however, was due
to elaborate precautions against mosquitoes and sand-flies.
Immediately on arrival at the shores of Nepigon, each
sportsman coats himself over with a gruesome mixture of
which coal tar, raw petroleum, and peppermint are the leading
ingredients. This is renewed from time to time, and never
washed off till he departs ; on getting home, he undergoes a
detergent process of many hours. This precautionary measure
is only partly successful, for if it cracks, every mosquito and
sand-fly within a mile " goes " for that crack.
The country between Port Arthur and Winnipeg contains
little of interest. It is poor, thin, stony soil, covered with poplar
and shabby little spruce trees, and the only point of attraction
to the traveller is the beautiful clear-flowing Kaministiquia, a
river which makes an angler's heart ache with envy as he views
from the train its almost virgin stream. At one of our lonely
stopping-places, at which the small gang of men who looked
after that section of the line were the only living souls for
twenty miles round. 1 asked the station-master if he ever
WINNIPEG.
43
fished the river. "Occasionally," was the reply. "What," I
asked, "would you expect to catch in an afternoon's fishing?"
The reply was, " I could catch as many trout as I could catch
grasshoppers for bait. I suppose I could bring home 150 or
200 in a good day's fishing, weighing about 120 lbs."! The
general appearance of the stream makes this statement quite
credible.
A night in the sleeping-car of the train, made more or
less hideous by the presence of thirteen weary and unchecked
babies and small children, brought us to the capital of Manitoba,
the new and thriving City of Winnipeg. The wonderful change
in travel which the Canadian Pacific has brought about in the
North-West of the Dominion of Canada is well shown in a
comparison between our journey from Toronto to Winnipeg
in 1887, and Lord Wolseley's journey over exactly the same
ground with his little army in 1870. He took ninety-five days
to complete a journey which wc accomplished in forty-five
hours.
After settling down at the Lcland House, the principal hotel
in Winnipeg, we called on our only acquaintance in the city,
Mr. R. A. Barker, a son of Mr. T. H. Barker, the well-known
secretary of the United Kingdom Alliance. Mr. Barker holds a
responsible position in the Government offices of Manitoba. He
called for us after lunch with a carriage and pair, and drove us
all round the city and its suburbs. In 1870 Winnipeg was only
a few small wooden shanties clustering round the old Hudson
Bay Company's trading port of Fort Garry, with 200 inhabitants,
rendered memorable in modern history from having been the
centre of the French half-breed rebellion under Louis Riel in
1870. In 1875 it had grown to 5,000 inhabitants, in 1879 the
railway reached it and raised its population to 8,000, in 1S80 it
was 12,000, and now it is a handsome well-paved oity of nearly
j:« ti
44
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
1 hi
30,000 in population, which will probably reach 100,000 before
the end of the century. Winnipeg is, and must always be^ the
capital and trading focus of the whole North-West, a fertile
region reaching from the Red River to the Rocky Mountains,
and from the United States frontier to the North Saskatchewan
River, a tract of over a million square miles. It is impossible to
forecast the future of the focus of such an area, but Winnipeg
land-jobbers tell me that Chicago must take a back seat in much
less than twenty years.
Winnipeg is well situated on the tongue of land formed by the
meeting of the Red River and the Assiniboine, about 90 miles
from the United States frontier, and 50 miles south of the great
Winnipeg Lake, into which the Red River runs, and which opens
up by water all the vast and fertile region of the Saskatchewan
River, which is 550 miles long and drains an area of 250,000 square
miles. The main street of Winnipeg is one of the finest in the
world. It is about two miles long, 132 feet in width, perfectly
paved with blocks of wood, with wide side-walks, and is bordered
by a long succession of fine buildings in brick, stone, and timber,
the City Hall, the Hudson Bay Company's stores, the Bank
of Montreal, the post office, and others being lofty and im-
posing structures of which any town in England might well be
proud. The shops are as fine as those in Regent Street in
London, and the Hudson Bay stores alone turn over about a
quarter of a million sterling every year. One of the finest
buildings in Canada is the new grocery store of Messrs. Gait,
son and nephew of Sir Alexander Gait, who trade over the whole
country of which Winnipeg is the centrv^ The stir, bustle,
and business activity of the people are sucii as one sees in an
American town like Buffalo, Cleveland, or Chicago, and the
whole place is brilliantly lighted at night by electricity.
I took some pains to inquire into the prospects afforded
WINNIPEG.
45-
by Manitoba and Winnipeg to intending emigrants from the
old country. We partook of the hospitality of the Lieutenant-
Governor of Manitoba, Mr. Aikens, with whom I had a long
conversation, and I also spent an evening with Mr. John Gait,
who was one o'" the earliest picneers of trade in the North-
West country. Mr. Barker, to whom I have already referred,
has exceptional opportunities of knowledge, and I also got much
help from a very clever and capable young accountant, Mr. J.
W, Rigby, who has been all over Manitoba in half a dozen
different capacities, with his eyes open all the time, so that I
think my authorities are as good as I could find.
With regard to the city itself, it is at present a trading and
not a manufacturing community. There is no opening at all for
commercial men from the old country. The ground is taken up
not only in Winnipeg, but all over Manitoba, by men who have
had ripe experience in the stores of Montreal and Toronto ; any
commercial man or shopkeeper coming over from England
would be doomed to certain failure. I put a hypothetical case
to a dozen of the best authorities. I asked what were the
chances of success for a smart Englishman of five-and-thirty
who had had a 15 years' training in so."ie good merchant's office
in Liverpool or London, and had saved ;^2,ooo ? The replies
were all the same — Manitoba wants neither him nor his money.
All the trade of the country is plucked before it is ripe by
Canadians from Ontario and Quebec.
The ordinary clerk or book-keeper is a drug in the market ;
he can only get labourers' wages. The town is full of them, sent
out by friends in England. They go by the name of " Remit-
tance men," because their chief occupation is borrowing dollars
"till they get their remittance from home."
There is, however, a real demand for agricultural labourers,
who need not remain at the Emigration Depot at Winnipeg for a
m
• ' (■ ii
■ i 1 '. ■
it'!
iii
I ' ^
46
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
11
week, and there is also a fair demand for first-class artisans. The
town is manned at present by second-rate hands from Canada and
the States, and if a good English artisan, who is really capable
and sober, comes along, he quickly displaces the inferior Canadian.
If he comes out with a few pounds in his pocket, and is a
thrifty, saving fellow, he becomes a master very quickly in Mani-
toba, and can go right ahead without a check. It was pleasant
to find that with every tradesman I interviewed teetotallers
are in great demand as workmen, and get an early chance of
showing what they arc good for. The time to arrive in Manitoba,
for all classes of emigrants, is March or April.
I made careful inquiries among different tradespeople and
others as to the rates of wages actually being paid to-day in
Winnipeg. Carpenters in regular work get two dollars, or 8^. ^d.
a day ; cabinetmakers, ^s. 4^. a day ; upholsterers (by piecework),
12s. to 14J". ; smiths, \2s. 6d. ; foundrymen (limited demand),
Si". 4d.; wood-turners, \2s. 6d.\ bakers, \os. 6d.; tin-smiths,
los. 6d. ; labourers, 6s. in summer, ^s. to 4^. in winter ; a first-rate
printer can earn i$s. a day ; and good tailors (at piecework) can
make 15^. to ijs. 6d. a day.
There is also plenty of good employment for women. Hotel
servants get £^ a month with board ; domestic servants, £i
to ;^3 loi". a month with board, and they arc rushed for the
moment they arrive in the town. Seamstresses get 3^. to 4^.
a day with meals for plain sewing. A lady showed me a plain
stuff walking-dress for the making of which she had paid 2>2)^.,
and an ordinary print house-dress cost her i6s. to get made ;
she of course finding all materials. Telegraph and shop girls
get 4^-. a day. Agricultural labourers of good quality can
get places by the year for about .:^50 to £60 in money and
good board. Mr. Barker told me that a Member of the
Provincial Parliament, who lives in his constituency 80 mile3
WINNIPEG.
M
from Winnipeg, is constantly writing to him to send along
agricultural labourers at these rates of pay, but that the men
are always being snapped up by farmers at intermediate
stations who waylay them on the road, and bid higher. There
is no doubt that a good steady unmarried agricultural labourer
can come out to Manitoba, save ;^30 or £^o a year for three
or four years, and then take up land of his own and become
a prosperous farmer on his own account.
But to all those pleasant pictures there is a reverse side.
The cost of living in Winnipeg is undoubtedly higher in almost
all respects than it is in England, largely in consequence of the
heavy protective tariff of the Dominion. The single man gets
off best in the way of food and lodging, as he can board well,
with meat three times a day if he wants it, at \6s. a week.
The married man with a family will, however, find that he
cannot make his high wages go much further than his lower
wages in England. Free trade enables him at home to buy
everything that Manitoba produces in his own markets for
loss money than he would pay in the capital of Manitoba.
Winnipeg market prices last week were : Beef and mutton,
very inferior to English, l^^d. per lb. ; fresh pork, t)\d. ; bacon
and ham, 'j\,d. ; sugar, 4-;V^. ; bread, 6d. for 4-lb. loaf; butter,
salt, \od. ; cheese, yd. ; tea, 2s. 6d. ; coffee, is. Sd. ; tobacco
is cheap, 4s. per lb. ; a ready-made slop suit of cheap tweed
costs £4 ; a good cloth suit, ;^8 ; an overcoat, £s > white
calico shirts, gs. each ; ready-made boots, 24s. per pair ; made
to measure, 30^'. ; very bad coal, 40s. per ton ; wood dear and
scarce. The fuel is a serious item in a climate with nearly
six months of winter in which the thermometer is seldom
higher than 15 or 20 degrees below zero. I went through the
fuel-bills for a four-room cottage, and they reached a total of
over ;^I5 for the year. House-rent is very exorbitant. A
M
1
i 1 ,ii
Ii3
iff
h.!i
48
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
four-roomed cottage cannot be got for less than £2 a month,
and a small six-roomed house fetches £1 easily. On the whole,
however, the high wage more than makes up for the extra
cost of living, and a thrifty artisan who gets steady work is,
on the whole, much better off in Winnipeg than in the old
country. He gets his children's education free, which must
also be taken into account.
The emigrant who is really wanted in Manitoba is the
clever agricultural labourer who is a single man. He can get
employment at once, and can easily save £y:) or ;^35 a year.
In three years, having ^100 of capital and a knowledge of the
country, he can take up his 160 acres of good land, and
become a yeoman farmer on his own account. I had the
curiosity to trace the success or otherwise of such men as
these when they take up land, and I will give a few specimens.
A. B. took up 160 acres in the autumn of 1881, with
£^0 of capital, with which, and a little credit, he purchased
a yoke of oxen for ;^30, a cow for £10, a heifer £6^ and
a horse. To-day he has cleared himself from debt, has 40
of 160 acres broken up for crops, and has the following
possessions : —
10 head of cattle ...... worth 74
I horse ........ 40
100 head of poultry ......
I pair harrows, a good waggon, a plough, a
reaper, a mower, and a rake, half paid for ,
A good, well-built house of hewn logs, three
stables, a barn, and a granary . . . ,
10
36
„ 300
£\^
And if you add to this the improved value of his land, it
is greatly understating the case to say that his ^^40 of capital
has grown in six years to fully £'joo. I have no doubt he
WINNIPEG,
49
could get more than that to clear out. This man never
hired any help ; he had a bijj family of growing lads, and
his eldest, 22 years of age, has just taken up his own 160
acres. His arable land crops 25 bushels of wheat, 50 bushels
of oats, and 45 of barley to the acre, on average years.
C. D. bought some good land in 1883 for ^150, paying
half cash, and getting credit for the rest. He broke up 20
acres in 1883, and 40 more in 1884, in which year he cropped
^ilil
MANITOBA HOMESTEAD.
35 bushels of wheat to each of his 60 acres. His position
to-day is as follows (capital to begin, ;^75) : —
I
Debt paid off 75
1 1 head of cattle .
50
Good log house
40
Mower, rake, and reaper
55
Set of binders
50
Plough.
5
Yoke of oxen
30
Team of horses
60
Waggons
15
Value of land
450
So that his capital has been increased, in four years, fully
ten-fold.
E
Il
50
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
' I 'Il
' ! M
E. F. took up land in 1877, the usual 160 acres. He
started with ;^320 of capital. His position to-day is — houses,
implements, waggons, stock, &c., ^550; value of land in open
market, ^600; total, ;^i,i5P.
G. H. took up land in 188 1, with a capital of £160, just
20s. for each acre. First year he broke 30 acres, and cropped
34^ bushels per acre the year following. He has now 140
acres under plough, and gets an average of about 2,200 bushels
a year off 100 acres of wheat, and about 1,200 bushels of
oats off 40 acres. He owns 21 head of cattle, three span
of mules, 29 hogs, poultry, a complete set of good implements,
an excellent house, a large granary and stable, and 100 tons
of hay stacked. This stock and plant is worth ;^920, and
for the whole farm, land, and stock, he could get ;^ 1,500 at
least.
I. J. began with ;6^ioo in 1879, and is now worth ;^900.
K. L. started in 1878 with £160^ and is now worth £7S'^>
and I should not e aggerate if I said that more than half
the farmers in Manitoba can tell similar stories.
The bulk of these prosperous men are the sons of Ontario
and Quebec farmers, but there arc hundreds of them who
have come out from the old country, A man vutst be a
farmer to succeed. The broken-down tradesmen who are
helped out by friends, the young scapegraces who a''e shipped
by their relatives with a draft for ;^ioo on a Winnipeg bank,
are doomed to certain failure, and even an English or Scottish
farmer is the better of a year or two of service with
an older settler before taking up land for himself, if only
to help him the better to choose his location. " Glenbeigh "
and " Bodyke " tenants, if they were generously helped out
to this magnificent country, and lent ;^ioo per family to
stock theii 160 acres of granted land, would thrive and do
ii
WINNIPEG,
well. If the Uritish Government, instead of en.barking on
the doubtful poliey of Irish Land Purehase, would spend
20 m,llu.ns .n settling gradually i„ Manitoba 200,000 families
of „sh tenant farmers from the eongested distriets, there
would be no diffieulty in getting back the money in easy
n,stalments from the prosperous yeomen they would thus create
and by easing the undue competition for farms in Ireland they
would bring the landlords to fair rents, by the simple laws of
supply and demand. But as long as Ireland is the shuttlecock
of pohfcal party, while Irish agitators hold the battledore
common sense has but a poor chance. '
%
m
E 2
sa
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
CHAPTER V.
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY.
I 'I
Mi!
The country between Winnipeg and Calgary traverses the
great Canadian prairie for over 1,000 miles, and we did not
leave the train between the two points. The Canadian Pacific
Railway run restaurant cars with each train, and provide a
capital breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for a uniform charge of
3i', each. Of course the Pullman sleeping-car is also part
of the train, and by these two conveniences the fatigue of
the long journey is greatly reduced.
The first part of the journey follows the course of the
Assiniboine River, a pretty undulating country, covered with
fields of stubble, with great stacks of wheat in the centre
waiting for the threshing machine. The homesteads are the
usual Canadian frame-house, built of sawn planks nailed to
a strong wooden frame. They are as ugly as it is possible
to make them. The first important station is Portage la
Prairie, the market town of the richest district of Manitoba,
and the junction of the railway, a considerable portion of
which is opened for traffic, which is to bring down the
produce of the great Saskatchewan district. This is a busy
place, with paper-mills, biscuit-factory, and flour-mills, and
enjoys a considerable grain trade. Another 80 miles of rich
wheat lands brought us to Brandon, a flourishing market
town of 4,000 inhabitants, with extensive grain elevators or
1 ■ i
'"
■ ifl
i»
U£di
f J t
' 'm
jjAt
iH
n
■
1^
the
acre
in tl
fanri
undc
blaci
The
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY.
55
warehouses at the station. Wc ran all afternoon through a
district very thinly settled, and it was dark before wc reached
Indian Head, where the famous Ikll Farm is situated, the train
running through it. If there had been any hotel accommoda-
tion within reach I would have stayed over to see this farm,
one of the most interesting agricultural experiments on the
Continent of America, but I was obliged to pass it by. The
Bell Farm is the property of a limited company, managed for
RAILWAY DEI'OT, BRANDON.
the shareholders by Major W. R. Bell. Its area is about 64,000
acres, or about 100 square miles, and is the largest arable farm
in the world. Of course it is not yet all under cultivation. The
farm was started in 1882, and was acquired by the company
under a special Act of Parliament. The land is the famous
black soil of the prairie, and is well vatered by streams.
The contract with the Dominion Government nyis a purchase at
^l«
I
56
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
I i
^s. per anrc, the company undeitaking to bring the land
under cultivation at the rate of 5,000 acres a year for the
first five years. The scheme of the company is first to bring
the land under cultivation -by the use of the best machinery
and then divide it into 250 farms, each provided with house
and buildings, to be sold to the men in their employ at a
valuation price, payable by instalments over a term of years.
No steam plough is used. There are 200 horses employed
on the farm, and they would stand idle for want of work in
ploughing time if steam were used. The ploughman sits on
his plough, and can generally turn 20 miles of furrows in a
day's work. The furrows are often two miles long. Forty-
five ploughs are on the ground each day till the work is finished.
^90,000 of capital has been sunk in the farm, and employment
is given to about 200 men. If the ploughing had to be done
with a single team it would have to travel 140,000 miles,
nearly six times round the world. The value of the 10,000
acres now under cultivation is about ^4 per acre, and is
increasing rapidly every year. The produce is, on an average,
about 20 bushels per acre. The great wheat belt of Manitoba
of which this is a portion, is about 500 miles long and 250 miles
wide, and is capable of producing sixteen hundred million
bushels of wheat, if it were all under good cultivation. The
more I sec of this wonderful stretch of land, with soil often
200 or 300 feet deep, the more I wonder why a \. ealthy country
like England endures the misery of the congested Irish
counties, when a few millions would remove and settle their
starving populations in the midst of plenty and content, with
the certainty of the repayment of every farthing expended.
We passed Regina, the capital of the province of Assinaboia,
at midnight. This is the head-quarters of the 1, Jian service,
and of the North-West mounted police, a magnificent body
III!
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY.
57
of men, 1,000 strong, whose business it is to keep the Indians
in order, and to enforce the rigorous prohibitory liquor law
which exists in the North-West territories. These officers
board the trains, searching passengers and luggage at will,
to guard against the importation of strong liquors. The
morning of September 13th found us out on the boundless
prairie, travelling through a desolate and entirely unsettled
country. For over 200 miles no sign of human life was visible,
except that every 10 miles or so a cottage was placed at a rail-
road siding, in which lived the three or four men whose duty
it is to patrol the line daily. The prairie appeared very
fertile, covered with an abundance of grass. The only life
visible was an occasional flock of ducks or wild geese on the
small lakes, now and then a large species of hawk, and the
universal "gopher," a comical little burrowing animal, which
is found all over the North-West. At noon we reached Maple
Creek, a post of the mounted police, and a station for a large
ranching district some 15 miles to the southward. Near this
place there is a reserve of the Black Feet Indians, and the
noble savages crowded round the platform^ offering polished
buffalo horns for sale. The days of wampum and buffalo
robes have passed away, and these braves were attired in
remarkable costumes of bright coloured blankets, cut into
home-made jackets and trousers by the squaw. One of them
had wide peg-top breeches and loose jacket of white blanket,
covered with huge circles of red, blue, and green about the
size of a cheese-plate, the whole surmounted with a veritable
clown's white jelly-bag hat ; as his face was picked out with
a devious vermilion pattern on a rich ground of yellow ochre,
he felt justified in maintaining a dignified and superior
demeanour, leaving dirty trade to his squaw, who was 30
years of age, and looked about 300.
\'%
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'!! i
58
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
At Dunmore a narrow-gauge railway runs 109 miles across
the prairie to Lethbridge, where an English company, under the
management of one of the many clever sons of Sir Alexander
Gait, arc working a valuable coal mine capable of producing
2,000 tons a day if a market were available. At Langevin, a
single house station, the man who was located there as line
inspector sunk an artesian well for water, but found it undrink-
able. A chance light explained the cause, for he had struck a
well of natural gas. I went into his cottage, and saw a large
stove lighted and heated by this gas, without any other fuel,
brought up from the well by a pipe. He can warm his whole
house to 70 degrees with this gas alone when the temperature is
down to 35 or 40 below zero. Perhaps some day a valuable
deposit of mineral oil will be discovered at Langevin.
At one o'clock on Wednesday morning, the 14th September,
we alighted at Calgary, well content to be at last at the end of
our "^y hours' confinement in the railway train. Calgary is
a thriving infant of two years old. It is a place of much
vigour and bustle, with a population of nearly 2,000. Building
is going on everywhere, and, with three or four exceptions,
everything is of wood. The place looks exactly like a great
international exhibition a week or two before the opening
day. It is laid out or " graded," as they say here, in the usual
ambitious fashion, in wide streets, covering an area of about two
miles each way. The bulk of these noble streets are at present
prairie, bat a brisk trade goes on in "town lots," which seems
the tavourite form of gambling in these new western towns.
Last year Calgary was incorporated, and a Mayor and Council
elected. There was, however, some informality in the election,
and the town proceeded to elect a fresh lot. The first Corpora-
tion, however, declined to resign, and both of them proceeded to
govern the town. After a good deal of ill-feeling the matter
mn
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY.
59
was settled by litigation, and " now there is one." Calgary is
beautifully situated at the junction of the Bow and Elbow Rivers,
fine clear streams of pure water, fresh and cool from the Rocky
Mountains, whose snow-clad outlines were visible on the horizon
60 miles away.
Calgary is the capital of the magnificent grazing country
which lies along the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains, between
the South Saskatchewan River and Montana. This is probably
the finest ranching country on the Continent. For some years
the Dominion Government admitted cattle free of duty into this
CALGARY.
From a sketch hy the Author.
district from the States ; but the rush of cattle from Montana
and Oregon, whose ranchers threw up their holdings to secure
this superior grazing, was so great that last year an import duty
of 10 per cent, was levied, and is still maintained. The area of
this fine grazing country is about four million acres, well
watered throughout by stream.s from the Rocky Mountains. I
drove over three or four of the smaller ranches lying round
Calgary, and also had the pleasure of a long interview with
; !
Ill
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69
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
H 1
■)' la
Mr. Stimson, the largest rancher in Canada, who has taken up
100,000 acres about 50 miles south of Calgary, on the foot hills.
This gentleman settled on his present holding in 1881. He
pays the Dominion Government one halfpenny per acre rent ;
he has the option of buying 5,000 acres at 5^. per acre, and got
his usual 160 acres free for homestead purposes. At that time
he was ranching in Idaho, and he drove his head of 3,600 cattle
and 200 horses over the frontier to his new tract in Canada. In
five years he has increased his stock to 9,000 head of cattle, 1,000
calves, 500 horses, and 150 colts. This is natural increment
only, as he has not only bought nothing, but during the five
years he has sold 1,500 beasts and 100 horses, the sale of which
has enabled him to pay working expenses and invest ;^i,200 in
plant and building. He employs ten men, eight cowboys, a
man for the horses, and a cook. A smart cowboy can earn ;^io
a month and his board, so that if he doesn't care to spend his
money, he can save ^100 a year, and soon become a rancher on
his own account. Two of Mr. Stim.son's cowboys are worth
;^8oo and ;^ 1,200 respectively, well invested in cattle, which run
with Mr. Stimson's herd. Presently they will have enough to
form a small herd of their own, when they will wish him good-
bye and start for themselves. Mr. Stimson told me that three
years ago he took a smart young English lad of 18 on a
month's trial. He was the son of an officer in the army, well
educated, and a strong lithe fellow, who could ride well. At
the end of the trial he engaged him permanently. The lad
saved a year's pay, took up a homestead of 160 acres, took
cattle on shares, he looking after them, his partner finding the
money, and in three years he has made ;^i,ooc out of nothing
but a good seat in the saddle, a clear head, and a strong
constitution. Any young fellow with these three qualifications,
who can stand a rough life in a country where he cannot get a
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY.
6i
drop of strong drink (except on the sly in a town 50 miles away
from his work) can easily become a rich man in 10 or 20 years.
But he must serve his apprenticeship as a cowboy first, for
ranching, like every other trade, must be learnt.
While at Calgary we drove out with Mr. Springctt, one of the
Indian agents, to visit the reserves of the Sarcce Indians, a
fighting tribe which, under the lead of their chief. Bull's
Head, at one time gave a good deal of trouble to the Govern-
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bull's head.
ment, but are now peaceable enough under the generous
treatment they receive on their reserves. Each Canadian
Indian who settles on a reserve is paid five dollars a year per
head of his family, including the papoose of a week old. For
each person in his family he gets daily one pound of beef and
half a pound of flour, with a good allowance of tobacco and
tea. For his protection against the Indian's curse — strong drink
—the sale and manufacture of drink is prohibited throughout
:|(f
62
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
the whole North-West territory, and any person, wliitc or
brown, found with liquor in his possession without a special
permit from the Governor, is fined heavily, and may be severely
imprisoned as well. The week before I reached Calgary a raid
had been made on some illicit dealers in whisky, and fines
amounting to iJ"26o inflicted. The interpreter who accompanied
my daughter and myself in our visit to the "wigwams" or
*' topees," as their tents are called, translated for me the high-
sounding names by which the braves of the Sarcees are called.
I will quote a few : — Big Crow, Big Bear, Big Knife, Prairie
Head, Badger, Bear's Cap, Going to War, Fire Long Ago, Eagle
Rib, Flint, Holy, Dog Skin, Hit First, Hit Twice, Lazy Boy,
Little Calf, Many Horses, Lodge Pole, Many Swans, Old Man
Spotted, Starlight, Splashing Water, Stops Outside the Lodge,
Heavy Behind 1 Walking in the Water, Weazel Head, Went to
Slaughter, Wolf Carrier, White Knife, Rolling Hills, &c.
Bull's Head, the monarch of the Sarcees, has a Civil list of
ten dollars a head per annum for himself and family, and two
pounds of beef and one of flour daily, with tobacco and tea.
In the middle of the camp was a comfortable two-storied
house, surrounded by a few good fields and a garden, the resi-
dence of Major de Bellenhard, the Government agent, whose
excellent wife teaches the Indian children the three R's in a
smart little school-house. The Indians live in tents in the
summer, and small one-roomed log huts in the winter. They
were busy getting these huts ready for occupation. Their tents
were about 12 feet in diameter at the base, and the whole
family ate, slept, and cooked their rations inside it. They sleep
on the floor, rolled up in blankets. The squaws are hideous and
over-worked. They catch and harness the pony, cut the wood,
dig the potato patch, smack the children, cook the food, and do
everything but spend the Government grant, which is all the
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY.
63
work a brave will condescend to do, except smoke his pipe and
shoot an occasional duck. The Cree and Sarcee Indian has
no religion. He has a few superstitions, but the missionary can
make nothing of him.
The Indian's vices are drunkenness and gambling. The
mounted police make the first practically impossible. The
second still prevails, and an Indian will gamble away every-
thing he possesses, to the shirt off his back and his next issue of
rations. Those who know most about them despair of ever
SAKCEE SQUAW AND "ONY-CART.
bringing them into harmony with Anglo-Saxon civilization, and
say the reserve system must go on indefinitely.
The great feature of Calgary society is the overwhelming
predominance of the male sex. Hardly a woman is to be seen
in the streets. The men have not yet had time to think about
matrimony ; that will follow in a year or two, when the many
adventurers settle down to whatever they are fit for. Neither
did I see any old men. The whole population appeared to be
under thirty years of age, and almost entirely English. The
hotel at which we stayed was full to overflowing, many sleeping
ii
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64
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
two in a bed, and all young men ; my daughter was the only
lady in the house. If the Leland Hotel had possessed a liquor
bar it would have been impossible for decent, quiet people to
stay there, and a similar town to Calgary across the frontier, in
ilM
EAGLE RIB, A SARCEE CHIEF.
Idaho, Montana, or Dakota, would have been one long avenue
of liquor saloons and low dancing and music halls. The same
clas« of population frequent Calgary— cowboys, farmers, idlers
waiting their chance, swarm everywhere — yet the town is as
CALGARY AND THE RANCHING COUNTRY.
65
quiet as an English country village. The popular amusement is
the Salvation Army, conducted by a captain and three comely
young women, who were treated everywhere with marked respect.
We went to their meeting in the evening. Thev marched
round the town in their usual fashion, passing through crowds of
cowboys and similar young fellows, without encountering a jeer
or a coarse word. When they entered their barracks all the
"BRAVO, TED !"
men in the place swarmed in after them, to the tune of 500 or
600, took their seats quietly, joined heartily in the choruses of
the hymns, which they seemed to know by heart, and evidently
enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The Salvation Army young
ladies were cordially welcomed with clapping of hands. The
meetings seemed to have been successful, for there were arranged
in a row on the platform a dozen young fellows of the cowboy
pattern, who had been converted at previous meetings, and who
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66
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
I! i'
gave their experience in simple, and sometimes very touching
sentences. One of them was received by the whole audience
with several rounds of warm applause, and cries of " Bravo,
Ted ! " I was informed that Ted was the champion rowdy of
Calgary, and the population were evidently much pleased that
"he had got religion, and was going right ahead into better
ways," as my next neighbour said to me.
Ted made a rattling speech, in which he appealed very
pointedly to some old pals in the hall to come up to the penitent
form, and was launching out into somewhat minute details of his
past life, when the captain put both hands on his shoulders,
wheeled him round into his seat, and told him his was "an
experience that had better be taken in sections, and they would
have some more to-morrow night." I conversed with several of
the audience coming out, and they all spoke in the warmest
terms of the officers of the army in Calgary, and it would
evidently fare ill with any cowboy or idler who ventured to say
a rude word to any of the hallelujah lasses. My evening at the
Calgary barracks strengthened the high opinion I hold with
regard to the Salvation Army. I think nothing has impressed
me on my journey so much as the moral tone and great respect-
ability of this crude population, composed almost entirely of
young men whose occupation is rough, who had many of them
come in to the town after months of hard life on the prairie, and
who might naturally unbend for a little fun. If liquor were sold,
Calgary would be the rowdiest place in the Domin'on. Pro-
hibition makes it one of the quietest, most respectable, and law-
abiding places, with the Salvation Army barracks as its most
popular place of entertainment. Of course the existence of a
small amount of secret drinking raises in some quarters a cry for
a license law ; but I am quite sure that if a license law were
passed for the North-West territory it would become a dead
C.ILGARY AND THE RANCHIXG COUSTRY.
67
letter from the universal adoption of the prohibitory clauses of
the Scott Act.
Calgary has a fine volunteer fire brigade, and needs it, for a
fire to windward in a gale would lay it in ashes in about an
hour. There is no gas in the town, and the streets are pitch-
dark at night, but in a week or two the electric light will change
all that. It is a curious sign of the entire newness of the line of
country opened up by the Canadian Pacific Railway that there
are many towns in which gas never has been and never will be
known, and where the first illuminant used in the public streets
has been electricity.
Calgary will be a big town veiy soon, the centre of that great
cattle, horse, and sheep trade that is rapidly taking up all the
suitable land in the district. There are now about 120,000 head
of cattle and 12,000 horses breeding upon the ranches, and there
is every reason to believe that this number will be more than
doubled during the next eight or ten years.
I left Calgary with regret, for I should have liked to stay on
and see more of the striking characteristics of a region that will
eventually become one of the wealthiest and most prosperous
provinces of the Dominion of Canada.
I would like to note that every soul in Calgary is Free Trader
to the backbone, for duty, sea and land frcigh*:, and the profits
thereon, make the cost of everything sold in the stores fully
double that of English stores.
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CHAPTER VI.
THE CANADIAN NATURAL PARK.
At one o'clock in the morning', on the i6th of September, we
got on board the Western train at Calgary Station bound for
Banff. The train soon reaches the Gap, the gateway of the
Rocky Mountains, through which the Bow River flows on its
1,500 miles journey to Hudson's Bay. As we were to reach
Banff in less than four hours, we did not get much sleep, but
were on the look out for the dawn to see all we could of the
magnificent scenery we were entering. We had just light
enough to see the weird rocks at Canmore, before we were
turned out at Banff Station in the grey of the morning.
We drove at once some three miles to Dr. Brett's Sanitarium,
the only accommodation at present available in the great
natural park of Canada. The Canadian Pacific Railway are
building a gigantic hotel which will accommodate 300 guests,
but it will not be open till next year. We sat down to an
early breakfast, and then set to work to s^^e as much as
possible of the beautiful, and in many respects unique scenery
by which we were surrounded.
Dr. Brett took us up to the top of the house that we might
take in the general prospect. We saw stretching out before us a
broad, flat valley, about two miles wide, filled with primeval
forest. The sombre green of pine and spruce contrasted with the
brilliant yellow of the fading poplar and the vermilion of dying
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THE CANADIAN T>A TIONAL PARK.
71
maple leaf; while the Bow River — the loveliest on earth — winds
through the whole in a bright blue ribbon. Right in front
towers the snow-capped Cascade Mountain, so called from a
small stream which leaps i,ooo feet from its flanks. On the
left the Castle Mountain range — a magnificent panorama of
CANMORE ROCKS.
eternal snow, reminding me somewhat of the Jungfrau group as
seen from Lauterbrunnen ; on the right the Devil's Head
group, v/ith the singular rock towering above the whole mass,
justifying by its remarkable outline the Indian name of which
this is the translation, while behind are the pine-clad Sulphur
72
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
Mountains, and a terrific row of lofty crags known as " The
Twins." The whole forms a panorama of mountains from
10,000 to 1 1,000 feet high, which for beauty and grandeur can
only be equalled by the Cortina dolomites in the Austrian
Tyrol.
Dr. Brett's Sanitarium is intended mainly for the reception of
those invalids who require the treatment which the hot sulphur
spring furnishes, and we took our fi'ot walk to see the caves
from which these healing fountains issue. The two principal
.^$- -,^^ ■■---■':
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CASTLE MOUNTAIN.
[From a sketch by the Author^
springs, which are now being utilised, flow from the central
spur of Sulphur Mountain, 8oo feet above the l(;vel of the Bow
River. The main spring issues at the rate of a million and a
half gallons daily, and has a temperature of 1 1 5 degrees. At a
short distance another spring is found, of a heat about 85
degrees, which is used for a plunge-bath. On the other flank
of the mountain is a cave, with a narrow entrance up which
a wooden ladder leads into a spacious chamber, lighted by
a hole in the stalactite roof. In this chamber is a large pool
about 30 feet wide and from 3 to 6 feet deep, in which hot
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THE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK.
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springs bubble which fill the cave with steam, and make the
atmosphere almost unbearable with the sulphur fumes which are
thrown off. !"ersons suffering from rheumatism bathe in this
cave, and some wonderful cures have been performed. A
crutch hangs on the wall with this dubious label on it, " Owner
has gone home ! "
I do not pretend to know anything about the curative proper-
ties of these springs, but as the leading medical men of the
United States and Canada seem all agreed about recommending
them for various diseases, it is probable that Banff will become a
place of great resort for invalids troubled with rheumatism and
affections of the skin and blood. There is a nice plunge-bath
in the open air near the bath-house, in which the water stands
at about 85 degrees, and in which I had a pleasant swim.
Without the springs, the bracing and pure air and the delightful
scenery will always be sufficient to attract thousands of visitors
every year.
Just below the sanitarium is a new iron bridge, almost com-
pleted, which is to take the place of the bridge of boats which
is now the only means of communication between the hotel and
springs and the railway station. On a bit of cleared forest at
one end of the bridge, a handsome, aristocratic Englishman
lives in a' small tent, looking after half-a-dozen canoes belonging
to one of the small inns. He is reputed to be the Honourable
Somebody Something, and looks the part well enough. The Twin
Peaks, the great feature of Banff, are best seen from this bridge.
The liow River presents a most attractive appearance to the
angler, but does not, in experience, come up to his expectations.
There are trout, and large ones too, but they are hard to catch,
and have an aggravating way of inspectiog your fly, which they
follow to the bank, and then refuse with slow scorn. I tried
every fly in my book, from a " Dusty miller " to a black gnat,
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76
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
but could catch nothing at all. A youth who came along
informed me that " it was no use trying with them things,
guv'nor — you try a bit of beef liver ! " Later on in the day I met
an angler who had come down to "beef," and he caught one
small and pallid trout. On rare occasions they take fly in the
spring and early summer, but they have a bad character for
capriciousness generally. I heard of wonderful fish being caught in
the Devil's Head Lake, a piece of water about 10 miles from Banff.
I saw a man who had been there and had caught jy trout, weighing
220 Ibti., in a single day, trolling with a couple of hand-lines and
spoon-bait, and one trout weighing 43 lbs. was caught there last
year with a piece of beef. The place was too distant for me to
reach, as it is uphill, and the only path an old Indian trail, but
an active young Englishman rode over during our visit and did
his best, but never saw a fish of any kind. The following day
we explored one of the small streams tributary to the Bow, with
a view to learning how to manage an Indian birch-bark canoe.
These canoes are so light that a boy can lift them out of the
water and carry them on his back. The paddler sits or kneels
in the stern and propels the canoe with a broad, single-bladed
paddle, steering with a sort of back stroke that takes a good deal
of learning. However, I managed to canoe my daughter up
two or three miles of a swift running brook, and across a very
beautiful lake from which it flowed called the Vermilion Lake.
Probably no white man had ever seen that lake till two or three
years ago, and it was a most perfect bit of wild and untouched
nature. The day before, we had vainly endeavoured to reach
this lake by land, but the forest was so dense with fallen trees
piled one over the other that it was quite impassable. I cannot
find words adequately to describe the unique charms of the
primitive and unspoiled scenery. The lake was as smooth as
glass, its banks were a wild tangle of brushwood, poplar and
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THE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK.
79
maple, a perfect blaze of autumn red and gold, out of which
sprang tall and s-jmbre cedars and piie trees. Behind these
were the snow-clad mountains, the whole perfectly repeated on
the surface of the water.
We spent a quiet and pleasant Sunday at Banff. This rising
watering-place cannot yet boast a place of worship, though :.
wooden Weslcyan chapel is nearly finished, and a site has been
selected on which to build an Episcopal church. Service is
held in the Town Hall, a humble edifice of logs and shingles.
The only regular service is on Sunday evening, conducted by
Mr. Williams, the Wesleyan minister, an energetic young Welsh-
man, who for many years had been doing a fine pioneer work
amongst these new western villages and towns. His service is
largely attended by the workpeople engaged in building the new
hotel, by whom he is greatly esteemed. He also holds a morning
service at Anthracite, a colony of coal miners, about eight miles
from Banff. The Episcopalians hold a morning service when
they can catch a clergyman, and this Sunday they caught a real
live bishop, the Bishop of Saskatchewan, who is a good father to
his own children, whatever he may be to his scattered diocese,
as any one could tell who saw him feeding his baby most
tenderly with spoon-meat at breakfast in the hotel. He was
accompanied by the archdeacon, a jolly young Irish-Canadian,
who occupied a front seat at the Wesleyan service in the evening,
a not unusual occurrence in Canada, where the absence of a
State Church leads the Episcopalian clergy into more cordial
intercourse with their brethren of other denominations than
seems possible in the old country.
The whole of the Banff valley and adjacent mountains, to the
extent of 100,000 acres, have been set apart by the Dominion
Government as a national park for ever. They have voted
various sums of .noney, in all about ;^ 16,000, for the making of
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80
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
roads and footpaths through the dense forests to various points
of attraction, and will continue to vote further sums until the
work is satisfactorily completed. I had two conversations with
Mr. G. A Stewart, the National Park Ranger, who explained to
me all that he intends doing, and the work could not be in better
or wiser hands. He will let nature alone as mi'.ch as possible ;
he will strictly preserve all the wild beasts and birds, carefully
regulate the fisheries, and content himself with making good
roads and pathways through and through the Reserve to all
B AW-'^ vr,
CASCADE MOUNTAIN.
{From a sketch by the Author.")
points of interest. He will also endeavour to acclimatise forest
trees not indigenous to the soil. No land speculator can smirch
the beauty of the place, as no land will be sold, only leased under
strict terms and for specific purposes. When Mr. Stewart has
completed his labours, the Canadian National Park will be one
of the most attractive holiday resorts on the globe.
The park will be 24 miles long and 9 wide. Within its
area will be found 1 5 miles of the Bow River (of which 9 are
deep water, capable of navigation by a small steamer), 6 miles
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THE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK.
83
of the Spray River, a clear crystal
mountain stream with a fall of
\QO feet within the limits of the park,
flowing through a forest which just now is
one blaze of orange, vermilion, and gold. The
Ghost River and the Cascade River, the Forty Mile Creek,
and half a dozen other brooks, combine altogether a great
wealth of the finest river scenery, in infinite variety. The
area of the park also contains the Devil's Lake, 12 miles long
and 2 wide, and the Vermilion Lakes. The water of these
fine sheets is deep and clear, and mountain ranges on each
side rising thousands of feet above their surface, present
scenery of the g^re«itest t?eauty. The Vermilion Lakes are
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84
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
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linked together by short streams navigable by light canoes,
and are the resort of a great variety of wild fowl.
The junction of the Bow and Spray River is extremely
beautiful. The Bow falls over a leap of rock about 70 feet high,
in a succession of cascades, into a fine pool about 200 feet across,
into which the Spray rushes. The Tunnel Mountain breaks just
over this_^ pool into a frowning piecipice 700 or 800 feet high,
the broken base of which is covered with a wealth of maple,
poplar, and undergrowth, the autumn colour of which beggars
all description.
Large game as well as fish are becoming very scarce in the
neighbourhood of the National Park. It has long been a
favourite hunting ground of the Indians resident in a large
surrounding area. Skin hunters, Indian fishers, who net the
streams, and lately have added other resources of civilisation in
the shape of dynamite, have made sad havoc. Mr. Stewart fully
realises the importance of preserving the animals and fish, which
add so many wild attractions to the scenic beauty of the
National Park. Among the four-footed game still to be met
with in its area is the Wapiti deer, or blue elk, admirably adapted
by form and habit to the park-like woodlands which fringe the
small prairies and cover the green slopes of the surrounding
mountains, while the gullies which extend far up the mountain
sides afford ample shelter during the winter. The lesser deer
are more numerous, and are often to be seen in the glades.
Among these are the black- tail, the white-tail or jumping deer,
the red deer, and the prong-horn antelope. In the mountain
tops are bands of big-horns, a huge wild sheep familiar by name
to all boys who love Mayne Reid and Fennimore Cooper, as well
as goats with long silky hair, much hunted by Indians for their
handsome skins.
There are three kinds of bears— grizzly, cinnamon, and black.
it
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tHE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK.
Zj
The gn'zzly is almost extinct except in remote and un-
explored parts of the Rocky Mountains; and the cinnamon
and black bear are vegetarian feeders, harmless unless wantonly
attacked.- There are many other beautiful animals pursued by
Indian and other hunters for their fur, such as beavers, otter,
musk, fishers, muskrats, martens, badgers, marmots, squirrels, and
such-like, as well as many varieties of plumage and song birds.
All these Mr. Stewart proposes strictly to preserve and en-
courage, while at the same time he will endeavour to ex-
terminate all those animals which prey upon others, such as
wolves, coyotes, foxes, lynxes, skunks, wild cats, catamounts,
panthers, and porcupines, together with such birds of prey
as feed upon fish.
Feathered game consists chiefly of migratory or water-fowl.
Wild swans, geese, and ducks breed freely in the lakes, swamps,
and woodland streams, the Bow River being one of the great
migration waters from the valley of the Columbia River. Besides
these, herons, bitterns, gulls, grebes, pelicans, cormorants, land-
rails, coots, partridge, blue grouse, ptarmigan, sage-cock, and
prairie fowl all nest and hatch in spring and summer time, an
added charm to the wanderer who loves nature in all its forms.
These also will be strictly preserved.
The fish in the various streams comprise white fish, which
takes no bait or fly, having a small mouth and living on
suction — a fine fish for the pan, however; several varieties of
trout, one of which, salmo irideus, I had never seen before I
caught one with a small phantom minnow — it is so called
from its brilliant rainbow-like tints when first cai St ; grayling,
which take the fly well, mountain herring, a .ight silvery
little fish, very like the Welsh " gwyniad " ; gold eyes, a sort
of carp cat-fish, small chub, and suckers. The trout spawn
in April and May, but get into good condition in September.
83
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
J 'Mi
lii!' :
1 ; I
I had a breakfast of the salino iridens, which was excellent
eating, with firm white flesh.
Mr. Sicwart wisely intends to confine all fishing t^ fair rod
and line only, solely for sport and private use, and to increase
the stock, now sadly worn down by the improvident destructive-
ness of Indian fishing, by artificial hatching and rearing. He will
also plant the lakes and marshes with wild rice, which is very
attractive to wild fowl of every kind, both for food and shelter.
Mr. Stewart also proposes, by damming up some portions of
the many streams which run through the park to fill up a chain
of old marshes, and turn them into lakes. I rather protested
against this interference with nature, for I found a special
beauty in these marshes such as I had never seen before.
But he explained that his chief object was not so much to
create lakes as to act as a fire-break from the many con-*
flagrations which rage through the Rocky Mountains during
the summer, and which might at any time sweep through the
National Park. There was some dread of this during the
late very dry summer, when forest fires have been frequent
and extensive. I have myself seen areas of 15 or 20 square
miles of burnt forest, with every vestige of green life burnt
up, and only the thicker trees standing up, the gaunt charred
ghosts of their former grandeur.
Mr. Stewart also talks of importing pheasants and quails
from Vancouver Island, where they were introduced some
yearL ago, and have thriven.
It is proposed to give the Indians who have hitherto hunted,
trapped, and fished over the area of the National Park some
compensation in the shape of increased rations or other
allowance, and then absolutely prohibit them from further
operations of the kind. It is thought that with an efficient staff
of police at Banff to maintain order, enforce regulations, and
"
11
mted,
some
other
rther
t staff
and
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THE CANADIAN NATIONAL PARK.
91
uphold the special measures necessary, composed of forest rangers
qualified by mountain experience and familiarity with the haunts
and habits of the wild animals of the country, of which force
selected Indians would form a part, there would be no difficulty
in jj^ining the objects in view, and in securing the strictest
protection for the game and fish still inhabiting the park.
The Government have been urged to establish at Banff a
museum of Natural history and an aquarium, so that the
efforts of Mr. Stewart may be made of service to science,
and no doubt this recommendation will be carried out.
9Kfr::'Sjt.
CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY HOTEL, BANFF.
Such then are, briefly, the particulars of one of the most
interesting experiments of modern times, and I venture to
predict that in a few years, when it has been thus cared for
and opened out by roads and pathways, there will be few
more delightful holiday resorts in the world than the National
Park of the Dominion of Canada.
The magnificent hotel which is being built by the Canadian
Pacific Railway will furnish that foreground to the maf-
vellous landscape which always won the special admiration of
Dr. Johnson.
\"
• 1'
1
*'ll
I I Ml
VIEW IN THE SELKIRKS.
{From a sketch by the Author.")
CHAPTER VII.
THE SELKIRKS.
On Monday, September 19th, we were
roused from our beds at 4 o'clock A.M.,
as the westward bound daily train passed
through Banff at five o'clock. At the
station we met with the only instance of neglect of duty on the
perfectly-ordered Canadian Pacific Railway. The station-master
did not condescend to leave his warm bed to see the train off,
and we had to carry our luggage ourselves from the omnibus
to the luggage car, and let them go on unchecked to Field,
our next stopping place. It was a cold, sleety morning, and
the magnificent scenery through which we passed was not
THE SELKIRKS,
93
seen to the best advantage, as the tops of the mountain."
were enveloped in snow clouds. At seven we passed a
SUMMIT LAKE.
Station called Silver City. Three or four years ago there
was a " boom " in silver mines in the Rocky Mountains ; a
good deal of exploration went on, and a considerable wooden
\ it
\\
bH|!
i
•MilKfi
;! 1
94
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
village was built. But there was no "silver," and now there
is no "city." Its glory has departed, and only the empty
and deserted log-houses remain to tell of its butterfly existence.
Shortly after, Mount Lefroy, a commanding snowy peak
11,658 feet above sea-level, comes into view, and presently
the birthplace of the noble Bow River is discerned in a small
glacier wedged in between Mount Hector and Goat Mountain,
both over 10,000 feet. Then the highest point of the railway
is reached, 5,300 feet above the sea, at the summit lake,
marshy and shallow, from which trickles a stream at each
end, one of which travels 2,000 miles to the Atlantic, and
the other 1,500 to the Pacific Ocean. We now bid good-bye
to the beautiful Bow River, which has been our genial
companion for so many pleasant days, and under the shadow
of Mount Stephen, the monarch of the Rocky Mountains,
said to be over 12,000 feet, and named after the president
of the Canadian Pacific Railway, we enter Kicking Horse
Pass. This pass received its ridiculous name from an incident
connected with some obstreperous horse ridden by one of
the surveyors of the line, which will stick to it for ever. A
magnificent view meets the gaze. A huge valley, filled from
side to side with magnificent pines and cedars, their dark
green intensified by the red-brown of huge areas burnt up
by forest fires, in which the enormous trunks stand up like
black masts 200 feet high, and 10 or 12 feet thick, is flanked
by peak and pinnacle, the Kicking Horse River meandering
through the bottom like a silver ribbon. The train, with two
powerful engines reversed, and every brake screwed to its
tightest, slides down a gradient of 1,250 feet in less than 10
miles. The road is cut out of the sides of great cliff's, hundreds
of feet above the roaring torrent, and every now and then
we crawl over a trestle bridge two or three hundred feet
n
. ill
THE SELKIRKS.
97
above some gorge torn out of the mountain side by a rushing
torrent. At nine o'clock we draw up at Field Station, a lonely
FIELD STATION.
post in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, where the Canadian
Pacific Railway Company have built a comfortable little hotel,
B
98
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
I 11
at which we decide to stay for 24 hours. It was a great com-
fort to know, as we came down this terrible descent, that we
were travelling on rails made from good honest Cumberland
Haematite. I have noted, with interest, but without surprise,
that the word " Barrow " always appeared on the rails which the
Canadian Pacific Railway have laid down in dangerous places,
or where there is specially heavy wear and tear.
We found the hotel at Field one of the most comfortable
and well-ordered hotels in Canada, and the manager at once
claimed acquaintance with me as having "voted for me when
I stood for Liverpool." Our party, consisting of four officers
from the Fleet at Esquimault, Mr. F. W. Gibbs, Q.C., a most
delightful and charming travelling companion, a young friend
of his, my daughter, and myself, very nearly filled the little
hostelry, which we had to ourselves. After an excellent
breakfast, the materials for which were brought from Calgary,
130 miles away, the nearest town where a shop exists, we
sallied forth to view the magnificent scenery. The landlord
informed us that he had the day before set a snare for
mountain goats, and invited us to go up the mountain for a
mile or so, to see if any had been caught. All went except
my daughter and myself, and we started off for a walk down
the line, the railway being actually the only path of any
kind for 30 miles each way through the dense forest which
everywhere clothes the mountain sides, and which is prac-
tically impassable. About a mile from the station the valley
narrowed to a very small space, with the Kicking Horse
River running quietly between two gravelly banks. Here
we saw a very fine bear on the other side of the river, coming
in and out of the woods, seemingly hunting for something
on the gravel beds. Just at that moment three or four men
from Field, line inspectors, came up on a hand trolly, and
it com-
:hat we
berland
mrprise,
liich the
; places,
ifortable
at once
ne when
■ officers
, a most
ig friend
:he little
excellent
Calgary,
xists, we
landlord
nare for
lin for a
it except
ilk down
of any
;st which
is prac-
le valley
[g Horse
Here
, coming
imething
"our men
lly, and
H 2
THE\ S ELK IRKS.
lOI
we called their attention to the bear. They at once turned
back to the Field Station, begging us to follow down the
line keeping Mr. Bear in sight, as he showed himself every
now and then out of the wood, while they fetched a miner
who owned a Winchester rifle, and who was a crack shot.
In about half-an-hour he arrived. We had seen the bear
frequently, and pointed out the spot where we had last noticed
him. The owner of the rifle at once plunged up to the
middle in the icy river, waded across, and entered the wood
stealthily. In a few minutes the bear trotted out on the
gravel, much perturbed in his mind. Presently he seemed
reassured, and began to grub in the ground with his nose.
Then the hunter crept out of the bushes till he was well
within range. Taking aim, he gave a shrill whistle ; the
startled bear threw up his head, and in a moment he was
shot through the heart, and all was over. The others then
rushed through the river, dragged him back through the
water, and presently he was laid on the trolly in triun.ph.
He was a fine " silver-tip " bear, about as big as a large calf,
with very formidable teeth and claws. I have his skin, which
I shall get dressed into a hearthrug when I reach Victoria.
On Tuesday morning, the 20th, we again took train, and
journeyed as far as "Glacier House," another comfortable
little hotel erected by the Canadian Pacific Railway at the
foot of the great glacier which comes down from the eternal
snowfields of Mount Sir Donald, the highest peak of the
Selkirk Range, about 11,000 feet above the sea, named
after one of the directors and first promoters of the railway,
Sir Donald Smith. We reached it at noon, and after lunch
started off to explore the glacier, to the foot of which a trail
has been cleared. It is a fine and imposing glacier, half-a-
tn'le wide, and seven or eight miles long, but bearing
!;f.J
102
A TRIP RO'JND THE WORLD.
I "i '^m
no comparison whatever with such vast ice fields as the
Corner or Aletsch glaciers in Switzerland. It was covered
with fresh snow, and looked very beautiful in the bright
sunlight. Mount Sir Donald has never yet been climbed,
and there is a legend at the hotel that the first man to
reach the summit will receive a thousand dollars and a
free pass over the line for his life, from the directors of the
Canadian Pacific Railway. In the opinion of my friend
Mr. Gibbs, Q.C., who is a member of the Alpine Club, the
thousand dollars may be pocketed by the first smart Alpine
Clubbist who comes along, and certainly to my comparatively
inexperienced eye it did not seem impossible to an active
Cumberland shepherd. It is however a superb mountain.
The scenery of the Selkirk Range is finer in all respects
than the Rocky Mountaiii ., which are devoid of glaciers, and
also of any extent of snow fields. From the railway platform
at Glacier House there is a view which rivals any of the
notable Swiss cycloramas, and I counted at least a dozen
fine peaks, all of which appeared to be at least 10,000 feet
high, and whose flanks bore miles of snow fields and many
picturesque, though comparatively small glaciers. The Hermit
Range, so named from its fancied resemblance to a Monk
of St. Bernard followed by his dog, is as fine a group of
snow mountains as the world can furnish.
Next morning we walked up the line to see the great snow
sheds, and some of the trestle bridges which span the cataracts
rushing down the sides of these magnificent mountains. One
of these bridges is 176 feet high and 600 feet long, and
another crosi-ing the Canyon of Stoney Creek is 296 feet
high and 450 feet long. These structures are truss bridges
supported upon great timber towers, built up from the bottom
of the valley far below, and Stoney Creek Bridge is the highest
THE BEAR HUNT.
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THE SELKIRKS.
los
timber railway bridge in the world. The whole structure is
of wood, cut from the forests through which the railway travels.
The snow sheds are solid buildings of crib work and piling,
SNOW SHEDS.
with very strong roofs of two courses, one of logs and another of
planks, strongly backed with heavy stone work. These sheds
are placed along the line wherever the devastated track of a
"snow slide" or avalanche appears on the mountain side. It
%
fo6
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
is impossible to describe adequately the tremendous power of
these Selkirk avalanches. Enormous volumes of snow gather
during the winter in some hollow high up the mountain
side, and in spring rush down with a force which nothing
can resist into the valley below. Everything is swept before
them — trees of the largest size, boulders, soil, brushwood, are
torn up and tumbled into a confused mass at the bottom of
the valley. The wind caused by the avalanche is almost as
resistless as the slide itself, and the trees on each side of its
track for a wide area are broken into matchwood. These slides
have been a great difficulty and danger to the line, and have
caused stoppage of the tiaffic for weeks at a time, besides much
loss of life. But now the trai)is run through the snow sheds, and
their powerful roofs, inclined to the angle of the slide, enables
the snow and debris to shoot harmlessly over. There are still
some 3,000 men at work along the line at these various snow
sheds, some of which are over half a mile long, and their many
canvas encampments form picturesque incidents in the scenery
through which the line passes. The Canadian Pacific Railway
Company engage to feed and lodge them for four dollars a
week, and right well these fellows live, with three good meat
meals a day, and the finest air in the world for sauce.
During the morning we walked back up the line to Rogers Pass,
the highest point reached by the railway in crossing the Selkirk
Range. Here is a collection of wooden shanties, used as liquor-
saloons, music and dancing-houses, and places of worse resort
still, to which the more loose-living of these workmen resort. I
found, however, that the bulk of them were steady, sober men,
intent on saving their surplus wages, and on the look-out for
favourable chances in this new country. There- was a good deal
of snow at Rogers Pass, which is a narrow gorge closely hemmed
in by lofty snow-clad mountains.
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THE SELKIRKS.
109
Leaving Glacier House on Wednesday, 2 1st, we found
attached to the train one of the handsome private travelling
carriages which are used by directors and officials on the long
lines which cross the American Continent, and which are
travelling homes of both comfort and luxury. Shortly after
starting, a coloured servant brought me a card bearing the name
of Mr. Baker, the General Superintendent of the Manitoba and
North- Western Railway, a line which opens up a fine agricul-
tural district north of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Mr. Baker
wished my daughter and me to ride through the beautiful scenery
of the Selkirk range in his carriage, which,, being at the tail of
the train, commanded a clear view, and he also asked us to dine
with him afterwards. He first showed us over his car, in which
he lives all the year round for nine days out of fourteen
travelling up and down his line. It was a carriage somewhat
longer than a North-Western first-class coach. It was divided
into a dining-room, large drawing-room, kitchen, pantry, and two
comfortable bedrooms, all handsomely furnished, with a small
platform or terrace at each end, on one of which was kept the
stores in ice-lined boxes, and the other was a sort of balcony on
which to sit and view the passing scenery. An admirable dinner
was served, consisting of soup, oysters, roast beef, two vegetables,
pudding, and dessert, with a cup of excellent coffee. Mr. Baker
was taking a holiday with some English friends. The car was
shunted at any station along the line which they wished to visit,
and the party were enjoying excellent opportunities for sport on
the many lakes along the prairie, the resorts of a great variety of
wild-fowl, as well as being able to see the whole scenery of the
Rockies and the Selkirks by daylight, by hooking on to freight
and ballast trains. We left them behind about ten o'clock, p.m.
on an arm cf the great Shuswap Lake, wheiie they had good
duck shooting next day, while Mr. Baker killed six trout over
no
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
2 lbs. each. Soon after quitting Glacier House Station, the
railway descends 600 feet in two miles of actual distance. This
is done by utilizing two ravines which meet at right angles,
and is a triumph of engineering skill. The line runs along one
side of the first gorge for about a mile, then crosses a high
bridge, and romes back along the other side close to where
it started, but on a much lower level ; thence it runs into the
ir ■
THE GREAT BEND.
second ravine, crosses it high up
its course, coming back down the
opposite side 120 feet below its entrance, yet only 130 feet
further down the pass ; then it doubles upon itself in the main
valley, crosses the river, and presently recrosses. From the top
of these loops one can view six almost parallel lines of railway,
each at a lower level than the others, and the whole largely
composed of trestle bridges and elaborate timber cribbing.
It is a wonderful sight to stand at the top and watch a train
ligh up
iwn the
30 feet
e main
the top
railway,
largely
ribbing.
a train
Roger's pass: the summit of the selkirks.
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THE SELKIRKS.
"3
twist in and out of this succession of loops like some hissing
snake. The whole forms a remarkable feat of engineering skill.
Morning found us in the
Gold Range, running down p
the valley of the Thompson
River, a tributary of the
great Fraser River, into which
it flowed at Lytton, a colony
of gold miners. The Gold
Range is not so lofty as
either the Selkirks or the
Rockies. There are no
glaciers at all, but many of
the peaks are snow-capped,
and the sides of the moun-
tains have a much greater
variety of timber, giving a
richness and depth of colour
which is more beautiful than
the dark greens of the loftier
ranges. As we descend the
slopes, and get into the valley
of the great Fraser River, we
reach the better settled parts
of British Columbia, and the
landscape is brightened by
farmsteads, Indian villages,
and Chinese camps, engaged
in the three leading industries
of the country — farming,
salmon preserving, and mining. Every now and then a group
of Indians would be seen, ingeniously hanging dried salmon on
I
INDIAN SALMON CACHE,
\-l i
I
114
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
trees in such fashion that bears or other climbing animals cannot
reach them. This is the country of big trees and endless forest,
which must eventually beccme the main timber supply of the
whole Am-^rican Continent, as the vast and increasing population
of the States consumes its own limited and rapidly decreasing
lumber districts. All through British Columbia the summer
is warm and rainless, and its forests are scourged by continual
fires, mainly the result of careless Indians and other dwellers in
tents. We saw many of these forest fires, for which, when near
the line, probably sparks from Canadian Pacific Railway
engines are mainly responsible. In ordinary pine woods they
rage through the brushwood and undergrowth, the big trees
escaping with a scorching, which does not seem greatly to
injure them, except in appearance. But wherever there are
big cedars the flames burn merrily, and everything is destroyed.
The trunks of these trees become hollow and decayed, and
when they are reached by the fire they draw like a factory
chimney, and the trunk falling, with its 200 feet long in blaze,
gives the fire a fresh start. It is surprising with what speed
this genial climate fills up the blackened spaces with fresh
vegetation, and ten or twelve years replaces the fallen giants
with thriving children which an English park might feel very
proud to raise in thirty years of growth.
Sometimes these fires are disagreeably hot to the passengers
on board the train, as they rush through them at the rate of
25 miles an hour. On one occasion a whole train, except one
carriage, was entirely destroyed. The engine driver was
running through as usual, when he ran quietly off the rails
into the middle of the track. The heat of the fire had ex-
panded the rails and warped them. The passengers were
all got out easily enough, as it is possible to walk from one
end of an American train to the other, and no one was seriously
TtJE SELKIRICS.
Its
injured except the conductor, who was badly burned in trying
to get out the mails. They managed to get away the end car,
a Pullman sleeping car, but the rest of the train added itself
to the ashes of the forest fire.
It is, however, after all but a small percentage of these
vast forests which fall under this scourge, and every station
affords proof, by the quantity of logs, dressed timber, and
firewood waiting despatch, that the new railway is laying
the foundation for one of the biggest lumber trades in the
world.
Up the valley of the Fraser, and afterwards up the
Thompson, runs the only waggon road in British Columbia, from
New Westminster to Cariboo, the centre of the gold-mining
district, round which there are also several flourishing settle-
ments of farmers. This road was made by the Government
of British Columbia at very great cost, and the lower portion
of it is now superseded, so far as through traffic is concerned,
by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The traffic on this road is
carried on by waggons drawn by teams of oxen, ten or twelve
yoked together, and it is also used by Indians moving their
camps from point to point after salmon and game of various
kinds.
The Fraser River is the' chief watercourse of; British
Columbia, rising in the far north of the Rocky Mountains, and
is navigable for about 120 miles from the sea. The railway
follows it for 250 miles, giving an infinite variety of beautiful
scenery. Now it flows through some deep and rocky ravine,
foaming and tumbling in a series of rapids and falls, then
flowing in rippling stream and placid pool, forming sand
bars which are being washed over for gold by the industrious
heathen Chinee, and other " placer " miners, and presently
broadening into a noble river, navigable by steamboats, dotted
I 2
ii6
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
m
i!:i
il
iiJJ
by Indian canoes salmon fishing, and bordered by variegated
timber ablaze with autumn gold and copper, with every now
and then a comfortable homestead farm and herds of fine
cattle. At New Westminster, 15 miles from the mouth, it
widens into a stream two miles across, from whence it distributes
its wealth in ocean ships and steamers all over the world. I saw
a vessel leave New Westminster for London with 2,200 tons of
tinned salmon on board.
SALMON CANNERY ON THE FRASER,
We got out on the morning of the 22nd, at the little roadside
station of Agassiz, that we might spend 24 hours on Harrison
Lake, a sheet of water 50 miles long, in the heart of the best
district of British Columbia. We drove in a waggon some six
miles over the very worst road I ever saw in my life, to a new
hotel which has just been built on the edge of the lake, the
only hoi!se upon its beautiful shores, but which we found very
comfortable and scrupulously clean. The lake is surrounded
by two ranges of mountains, the first densely wooded to the
THE SELKmKS.
117
summit, the second bare and snowcapped. The scenery is
about half way between Windermere and Como. With the
exception of the rough track from the station, there is not a
footpath which does not end lOO yards from the hotel in dense
impenetrable forest. We spent the day on the lake, exploring
its beauties, and occasionally trying for a big trout, but only
catching one very small one of remarkable beauty.
The next day we went on to Vancouver, the Pacific terminus
of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and brought to a close a
ti
HARRISON LAKE.
\From a sketch by the Author.)
railway journey of over 3,(XXD miles, which, whether for human
interest or natural beauty, far exceeds any previous journey
of my life.
Vancouver is the youngest town in Canada. It was
commenced less than three years ago, when it was a forest
of Douglas pines, cedars, and spruce, of enormous size. I
measured one stump which had been sawn off about 6 feet
from the ground, and it was 1 1 feet 8 inches across. In June
last year, after it had reached a respectable infancy, Vancouver
' 1
i r
ii8
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
was completely burnt down, not a house escaping, so that the
present " city," as the Vancouverites insist on calling it, is just
fifteen months' old. It is of course still a wooden town, but
several fine brick and stone buildings are already erected, and
many are rapidly reaching completion. The Canadian Pacific
Railway Hotel is a handsome building, almost ready for
opening, which will accommodate some 200 guests. Extensive
wharves and warehouses line the shore, and ocean-going
steamers of 3,000 or 4,000 tons can load and discharge there,
The main street is full of handsome shops, and there is a busy,
hardworking population of 4,000 souls, mostly men. Van-
couver will be a town of 20,000 or 30,000 popula ion before
it is ten years old.
THE *'YOSEMITE" LEAVING VANCOUVER.
CHAPTER VIII.
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
v..
On Saturday, the 25th, we left Vancouver in the steamer
" Yosemite " for Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, where
we were to spend a fortnight previous to sailing for Japan. I have
long been anxious to see this colony, so remote and inaccessible
until it has been brought near by the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Five years ago the only direct communication between British
Columbia and the mother-country was by sea round the Horn,
a voyage of six or seven months for the smart barques which
have so long carried on the trade, and which show no signs of
being displaced by the railway. Now the two countries are
within 14 or 15 days of each other, and the ease with which
emigrants can reach this land of infinite capacity and resources
will quickly develop it into one of the most important portions
of our Colonial Empire. I propose to give a brief account of the
impressions I have formed of British Columbia, based upon
careful investigations made during the three weeks I have
travelled over it — investigations in which I have had the guidance
I20
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
w
l:
I
il'i
and help of the Lieut.-Governor, Mayor Fell, Senator Macdonald,
and many other old colonists.
The sail from Vancouver to Victoria gives one a very good
idea of the general characteristics of the country, which has been
compared to a sea of mountains and valleys. These valleys as
they approach the sea become long inlets often lOO miles in
length, which large ocean-going steamers can navigate to the
very top, while at the same time the long chain of islands of
which Vancouver, 300 miles long, is the chief, lying between
these inlets and the Pacific, render their smooth waters equally
navigable to the Indian's birch canoe and the unwieldy stern-
wheel trading steamer. There is no country in the world whose
area is so wonderfully opened up by water carriage as British
Columbia. These bays, inlets, and rivers swarm with fish of
excellent quality, valuable for food and oil. I priced the stock
of a fishmonger in the leading street of Victoria. He was
selling fresh salmon at 2d. per lb. ; cod, 2\d. ; halibut, ^d. ;
fine plaice, 34-(af. ; fresh sardines, a delicious dish, i^d. ; herrings,
i\d. ; smelts, 4//. ; whiting, l^d. ; trout, 4^. — all per lb. Fine
crabs, 35-. per dozen. I suppose the fisheries of British
Columbia must be practically inexhaustible. Although salmon
is the great staple food of the people, they exported in 1885
7,324,000 lbs. of canned salmon. This means a catch of about
two millions of salmon at 7 lbs. each, which appears almost
incredible ; yet the take this year is larger than ever, and is
virtually confined to the Fraser River and its tributaries.
There are three separate runs of salmon every year. They
run for fresh water in the spawning season, ascending as far
inland as possible, after the manner of salmon at home. Those
entering the Fraser River work their way to a point 800 miles
from salt water. The main seat of the salmon fishing is New
Westminster, and for miles above the town the river swarms
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
121
with boats, manned chiefly by Indians, who scoop the fish out of
the water with nets lii<e the ordinary landing net, but much
larger. There are other canneries on Burrard's Inlet, Aleet Bay,
Skeena River, and others north of the Fraser, altogether thirty
in number, affording employment in one way and another to
\%
INDIANS SALMON FISHING ON THE FRASER RIVER.
5,000 or 6,000 hands. A fresh development of the salmon
fishery has sprung up in the last two years, in the shipment of
fresh salmon to the markets of Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and
Chicago, packed in refrigerator cars, that will become an impor-
tant feature of this trade. There seems to me to be no limit to
the expansion of an industry that can send such wholesome and
122
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
* I
11
11 1
nutritious food to be sold retail in England and the Continent
at 4d. per lb., for there is certainly no limit to the supply. In
some rivers the run is so great that the fish literally shoulder
one another out of the water, and die by thousands on the banks.
Within three miles of Victoria this sometimes happens in a
small creek leading out of the harbour, and the fish are used by
farmers for manure. It is a curious fact for anglers that the
Pacific salmon takes no bait or fly in fresh water, but may be
taken readily in salt water. My daughter caught a fine, silvery
fish last week in Esquimalt Harbour with a spoon-bait, though
the run is not on at present. When it is, the officers of the
fleet tell me they turn out with rod and line, and consider a
dozen fish, from / to 20 lbs., a very ordinary catch for each
person.
After salmon, the most important fishing is that of the
oolachan, or candle fish as it is called, because it is so oily that
when dried it will burn like a candle, and is so used by the
Indians. The oolachan is about the size of a sardine. They arc
a delicious fish when fresh, salted, or smoked. The oil of this
fish is considered far superior to cod-liver, or indeed any other
fish oil. The oolachans begin running in March, chiefly on the
Nass River, and great numbers of Indians assemble on its banks
to wait for them. They are caught in purse nets, and often a
canoe load is the result of a single haul. They are then boiled
in iron tanks for several hours, and the oil is squeezed out
through willow baskets in cedar boxes. When cold it is like
thin lard, and is used by the Indians, as Mr. Keiller says of his
marmalade, "as an excellent substitute for butter." Like the
salmon, the supply of this useful fish is practically inexhaustible.
Herrings are very plentiful. They are smaller than those of
our seas, but are quite equal in quality. The Indians catch
these with a primitive weapon, like a large hay rake, with nails
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
"3
driven through as teeth. They paddle their canoe into a shoal
of herrings, and, sweeping this rake through the water, bring
up half a dozen or so each time, and soon fill the boat with
fish.
Halibut, cod, haddock, sturgeon, large flounders, crabs, prawns,
cockles, and mussels are abundant everywhere along the coast,
and in every bay and inlet. The native oysters are not larger
than cockles, but very delicious, and in such profusion as to
make it certain that cultivation would produce as many of
the finest varieties of Atlantic oysters as could be marketed.
Experiments in that direction have been commenced.
As usual, where fish of the herring and oolachan sort is plenti-
ful, the seas swarm with every kind of dog-fish, and a large
factory, employing hundreds of Indians, is engaged in extracting
oil from dog-fish livers. Some 400,000 fish are caught yearly,
yielding 40,000 gallons of oil, the finest lubricant in the world.
The seal fishing is also an important industry, checked for the
present by the arbitrary seizure, by the American Navy in the
Behring Straits, of several sealers hailing from Victoria — a matter
which will form a considerable portion of the work of the Inter-
national Court of Arbitration, of which Mr. Chamberlain has
recently been appointed a member, to the great satisfaction of
all Canadians. About 15 schooners and steamers are engaged
in this trade, employing 400 or 500 sailors and hunters. The
annual catch is about 73,000.
It is supposed by those qualified to judge that in the deeper
waters of the Pacific there are banks where cod will be taken
in quantities equal to those found on the great bank of
Newfoundland.
I have given very much thought to questions relating to
fisheries during the last few years, and nothing has impressed
me more deeply in considering the natural wealth of British
,11 1
124
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
Columbia than the h'mitless profusion of the fish supply. The
time cannot be far distant when, with the new and speedy way
to market opened up by the Canadian Pacific Railway, such a
profitable field for the use of capita! will be much more largely
cultivated.
One of the largest markets for tinned fish and other provisions
of a like nature is our Australian and New Zealand Colonies.
At present large quantities of salmon come to London round
the Horn, and are transhipped to Australia by the Suez Canal,
going round the world to a market in the same ocean as that in
which the fish are caught. It will not be long, I expect, before
some enterprising firm from Lowestoft, Yarmouth, or Aberdeen,
will have a branch establishment at Victoria, and will send
every description of canned and dried fish to the many markets
of the Pacific, north and south.
Salmon forms at present the largest item of export from
British Columbia, being about 900,000 dollars. Next on the
list comes coal, which reaches some 800,000 dollars, mostly to
the United States and the Sandwich Islands. Coal has been
found all over British Columbia, but is only worked seriously at
Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, where large quantities of good
quality are being raised. This is an excellent steam coal, used
by H.M. ships of war stationed at Esquimault, and by the line
of steamers plying between Vancouver and China. There are
five mines employing about 2,000 miners, whose earnings are 8^.
to 1 2 J. per day. Close to these mines, on the neighbouring
island of Texada, are large deposits of magnetic iron ore,
assaying 68 per cent, of metallic iron, with a very low percentage
of phosphorus. This ore is being profitably shipped to iron-
works in Washington Territory, in the States, where it is mixed
with brown hematite. It cannot be long before this juxtaposi-
tion of coal and iron will result in the creation of iron and steel
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
works, which ought to
command a share ot the
Pacific markets, especi-
ally if Chinese labour
can be made available.
The third item in the
list of exports is gold,
which amounts to
700,000 dollars, and is all
exported to the States.
This is produced by
placer mining only, the
primitive hand-washing
of the gravel and sand
of the river beds, but
capital is now being in-
troduced, and quartz-
crushing on a large scale
will soon greatly increase
the production of gold,
as well as give regular
employment to a large
number of miners. Apart
from gold, coal, and iron,
no minerals are worked
to any extent in British
Columbia, but the geo-
logical survey now being
conducted by the Do-
minion Government re-
veals the presence of
large deposits of silver.
DOUGLAS PINES, VANCOUVER,
136
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
copper, lead, platinum, and other metals, which are fast attract-
ing the notice of prospecters from the States and Canada.
Timber is the fourth on the list of exports, about 500,000 dollars,
and furs fifth with 250,000, closing the list of important items. I
think it will not be long before timber heads the list. Already the
markets of Australia, Chili, Peru, China, the United States, and
Great Britain have discovered that in British Columbia they can
get a class of timber which no other country can supply. Red,
yellow, and white cedars, pine, hemlock, spruce, larch, fir, and
oak, grow to a size such as no other country in the world can
rival. The Douglas fir, a wood in great favour with railroad
constructors for bridge work, is the prevailing timber of the
country, its height is usually 150 to 200 feet, and from 10 to 20
feet in circumference. I have seen countless trees far larger
even than this, and they have been known to reach over 300
feet in height, and 35 in circumference. It will stand a breaking
strain of 630 lbs. to the square inch, and is more tough and
tenacious than oak, which breaks at 550 lbs. The trees run up
80 to 100 feet without a branch, thus giving an unusual pro-
^portion of clear lumber, and I have seen masts ready for ship-
ment over 100 feet long and 42 inches in diameter. The great
peculiar value of this timber is that it never warps, and can be
used fresh from the saw. In building Vancouver after the fire,
trees were felled and the planks sawn up and nailed to the
buildings the same day.
No one can estimate the enormous extent of timber in this
province. It covers the whole area of the country, which is
greater than that of France and the British Isles combined. I
have travelled, by rail and horse, over 700 miles through the
province, and, except when there have been exceptionally severe
forest fires, the timber is uniformly large and abundant. The
lumber countries of the United States are becoming rapidly
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
IVl
ittract-
lanada.
dollars,
;ms. I
ady the
:es, and
ley can
. Red,
fir, and
)rld can
railroad
• of the
10 to 20
.r larger
)ver 300
breaking
ugh and
s run up
lual pro-
ibr ship-
he great
can be
|the fire,
to the
in this
,rhich is
lined. I
lugh the
ly severe
It. The
rapidly
exhausted, and in twenty or thirty years the trade between
British Columbia and the Western States will become very
considerable, while the Australian, Chinese, and Japanese
markets for large timber of all sorts will become the property
of this colony much sooner than that. Every saw-mill in
the country is working to its full capacity, and new mills are
being projected. It is undoubtedly the most profitable in-
dustry on the Pacific coast of America.
The soil of British Columbia is prolific, as might be ex-
pected from the constant deposit of vegetable matter from
ages of successive forests, but it seems to me that agriculture
must in the main follow the lumberer, as the cost of clearing
the ground of these enormous trees is almost prohibitory
unless they can be marketed at once. The land once cleared,
however, is of splendid quality, able to produce every fruit,
cereal, or vegetable known to the temperate zone. But there
are in many parts of the province large valleys and deltas,
the bush of which is maple, willow, or poplar of small growth,
which can be cleared with ease. Chinamen undertake to
clear such land for about £^1 or ^8 per acre. The surrounding
forests furnish excellent pasture for stock, and I have seen
fine herds both of oxen and sheep feeding in the densest
forest. This week I have driven over 100 miles through
Vancouver Island along arable tracts lying between sea and
mountain, from two to five miles wide, on which are settled
hundreds of prosperous farmers, and where there is room for
hundreds more. Some capital, however, is necessary for the
settler on Vancouver Island, as the free lands are almost all
taken up by speculators, and have to be purchased. But on
the mainland there are thousands upon thousands of acres of
excellent arable land still unclaimed, in districts where already^
there are some of the largest and most productive farms in
MT
128
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
i
the province ; and on the southern boundary there is a large
area covered with the nutritious bunch grass, which, left uncut,
becomes excellent hay, until it is renewed in the spring,
giving the finest grazing for cattle all the year round. I feel
sure that for the farmer with some capital British Columbia,
from its climatic resemblance to Devonshire and the south
coast of England, is a much better settlement than the severe
climate of Manitoba. Manitoba, however, gives better chances
to the agriculturist who has to make his way without capital,
or with only a very little.
The climate of British Columbia is as nearly perfect as
possible. It is free from excessive heat in summer and
extreme cold in winter, and is healthful and invigorating all
the year round. Snow seldom falls, and never lies more than
a few days. For a period of three years, on Vancouver Island,
the lowest temperature has been eight degrees above zero,
and the highest 84 degrees. The mercury has never been
known to fall below zero. There is nothing on the Atlantic
in the same latitudes that furnishes so excellent a climate
as this. The climatic influence which produces it is the great
current of warm water which flows in the Pacific Ocean, known
as the Japan current, spreading its genial atmosphere from
Alaska to Mexico. From this current an almost constant
wind blows landward, current and wind combined enabling
the Japan and China steamers to make some two days' better
time coming cast than going west. With all this warmth
there is plenty of moisture, the rainfall in Vancouver being
25 inches, and on the mainland 40 to 60 inches. Taken as
a whole, British Columbia is one of the most delightful countries
in the world, and were I compelled by circumstances to seek
a fresh home away from the old country, it would have
attractions that would be irresistible to me.
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
129
•feet as
ler and
iting all
Dre than
: Island,
ve zero,
^^er been
Atlantic
climate
;he great
[1, known
ire from
constant
|enabling
s' better
warmth
;r being
aken as
lountries
to seek
id have
Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, lies on the extreme
south of Vancouver Island. It first became a place of any note
in 1858, when thousands of miners swarmed into British Columbia
after the discovery of gold on Fraser River. The whole trade
of the province till lately was entirely dependent on water
carriage, as its market centres in Victoria. There is a population
of 12,000, a large proportion of which is Chinese and Indian.
The harbour is landlocked and capacious, lined with fine wharves
pfesenting a busy scene. The buildings are fully equal to those
found in American and Canadian cities of equal importance, and
ESQUIMAULT HARBOUR.
[From a sketch by the Author.)
at night the streets are lighted by electric lamps placed on lofty
masts, 200 feet high, giving the appearance of fifteen or twenty
moons ; the effect is very striking, and the lighting perfect.
There is great rivalry between Victoria and its mushroom
opponent Vancouver, but I am inclined to think the old capital
will retain the general domestic trade of the province, while
much of the export business will drift to Vancouver. Probably
the old and wealthy firms of Victoria will open branch offices
in Vancouver, and thus keep both home and export trade in their
own hands. It will be entirely their own fault if they allow
K
I !
130
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD:
upstart Vancouver to shoulder them out. Very large vessels
cannot lie alongside the wharves of Victoria, the harbour only
taking ships drawing less than eighteen feet ; but two miles off is
Esquimault, one of the finest harbours in the world, being the
station for our Pacific squadron. This is a land-locked harbour
three miles long by one to two miles wide, with an average depth
of forty-five feet, and excellent anchorage, the bottom being a
tenacious blue clay. Here the Canadian Government, helped by
a subsidy from the Imperial Government, have built a fine dry
dock, which will accommodate vessels of the largest size. It ia
450 feet long, 26 feet deep, and 90 feet wide at the entrance. It
s a fine piece of work, concrete faced with stone. Here also
is a naval hospital, arsenal and stores, with a small repairing
shop.
Victoria is not so cheap a place to live In as many other
Canadian towns. House rent is dear, a four-roomed working
man's house being from 40J. to 50^". a month. Clothing is very
expensive, and so is furniture. The long carriage and costly
freight from England is a heavy addition to those import duties
. which make imported goods so dear in a colony where food
ought to be cheaper than anywhere else in the world. The
following are the prices at which food can be purchased on the
retail market in Victoria : — Butter, fresh, is. per lb. ; salt, is. 6d,
to 2s. ; cheese, is. to is. id. ; eggs, is. 6d. per dozen ; flour,
2\d. per lb. ; oatmeal, id. ; split peas, 6d. Vegetables, all
grown by Chinese labour: potatoes, is. for 14 lbs. ; onions, 2d.
per lb. ; carrots, \d. per lb. ; cauliflowers, 6d. to gd. each. Ham
and bacon, gd. per lb. ; beef, 6d. to yd. ; mutton, 6d. ; pork, e^d,
I have already given the price of fish, which is the cheapest
food in the market. Sugar is "/d. per lb. ; oranges, 4^. per
dozen ; dried currants, 8^^. per lb. ; cooking raisins, is. ; figs,
IS. Sd, ; tea, is. ; coffee, is. 8d. Good board for single men, 24s.
BRITISH COLUMBIA.
13«
a week. Wages, however, are higher than anywhere else I know
of, though work is irregular in the winter months. Carpenters,
blacksmiths, painters, and tinsmiths get easily \2s. to 14J
per day; stonemasons and bricklayers, 16^. to 20^. per day;
plasterers, i8j". ; common labourers, 6s. to "js. ; fishermen, skilled
hands, ^10 to £\2 per month, with food. The labour market
is unsteady — sometimes plenty of work at the highest rate3,
and then general slackness. But a steady man who means to
settle soon gets permanent employ at good wages. Chinamen
can be got for 3^-. per day, and do nearly the whole domestic
services of the towns. Cooking, laundry, gardening, and
housemaid's work, is all done admirably and thoroughly by
the Chinese, against whom there is a great deal of unjust
prejudice, because they are the only cheap labour to be got.
A decenter, quieter, or more respectable class of people it
would be difficult to find ; and I am quite sure the Canadian
Pacific Railway would never have been made at all but for
Chinese labour. Many of these Chinamen come from Hong
Kong, and are as much our fellow-subjects as the British
Columbians themselves, and ought to possess equal rights of
citizenship. Yet every one of her Majesty's subjects who
happens to have been born under the British flag at Hong
Kong, has to pay £\o import duty on his own body before he
is allowed to land in British Columbia.
■^ i'l'
I
V: :<
*5*
ic ^
132
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
CHAPTER IX.
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA.
No Intelligent and unbiassed traveller can spend any time in
the Dominion of Canada without being forcibly impressed with
the sobriety of its population as a whole. 1 suppose it is a fair
assumption that more than half the people of Canada, without
being total abstainers, habitually drink nothing stronger than
tea or coffee, while the number of abstainers are proportionately
larger than perhaps any other Christian nation. The evidences
of this state of things are abundant. I have been six weeks in
Canada, the whole of which have been spent in hotels— good,
bad, and indifferent — in towns like Montreal and Toronto, in
country villages, and western mushroom towns. I have never
seen a Canadian take intoxicating liquors with his meals. If
anyone is drinking wine or beer it is sure to be an Englishman.
It is the same in almost every private house. A minister of
religion who is not an abstainer hardly exists in all Canada.
The medical profession do their utmost to maintain habits of
abstinence from strong drink, and members of the Dominion
and Provincial Parliaments take the warmest interest in all
laws dealing with the liquor trade.
The active temperance movement is healthy and vigorous.
The organisations are much the same as those existing in
England. Temperance meetings are usually held in connection
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA.
133
rorous.
fing in
lection
with church or chapel, and a Band of Hope is attached to
every Sunday school,
A strong movement is on foot just now to provide temperance
teaching in public schools. The Legislatures of Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick have already made provision for the use
of a temperance lesson book in public schools, and similar
instruction is also given in many districts of Ontario.
The Women's Christian Temperance Union is extending its
operations in all the provinces of the Dominion, and is one of
the most vigorous societies in Canada. The school movement
just referred to is the result of their continual and persistent
agitation.
The United Methodist Church, at a recent conference, passed
a resolution in favour of introducing temperance text books
into schools, urged the Methodist people to do their utmost for
the adoption of the Scott Prohibitory Act, and recommended
Methodist electors to support only those candidates who were
in favour of prohibition. The closing words of their resolution
run : " We strongly recommend all to vote as they pray ; then
"they can pray as they vote. It is a contradiction that
"should at once and for ever end, that a Christian man will
" pray in one day that God will remove the liquor traffic from
"our midst, and the next hour vote to perpetuate it."
The Church of England, especially in Ontario, is very active
in the temperance reformation, and has formed parochial and
diocesan societies almost everywhere.
The Presbyterian Synod, at its meeting last year, by formal
resolution earnestly recommended to office bearers and church
members the practice of total abstinence, and also warmly
urged the universal adoption of the Scott Act.
Indeed, similar resolutions have been passed at the annual
conferences of every religious denomination in Canada, some
ii
134
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
if
of them even going so far as to pass resolutions excluding
fermented wine from the Communion Table ; in fact, through-
out the whole of Canada I find a deep and rapidly growing
conviction amongst all classes who influence society that the
use of intoxicating liquors is morally wrong, and that it is
a grave political error to permit their common sale.
The strongest of all expressions of public opinion in countries
enjoying a free representative Constitution is to be found in
the Acts of Parliament placed on the Statvitc Book by the
elected representatives of the people, and a study of the
temperance legislation of Canada brings out very strikingly
the rapid development of public sentiment with regard to the
liquor trade.
Long before the Confederation of Canada some of the
provinces had declared by legislation that a mere licensing
system had failed to prevent the liquor trade from becoming
a fruitful source of crime, social degradation and misery, and
had taken steps, more or less severe, to add the additional
check of a popular veto. In Nova Scotia it was enacted
that before a licence could be granted the consenting signatures
of two-thirds of the surrounding ratepayers must be secured.
In many of the counties of this province no licences have
been granted for lo, 15, or 20 years, and in the case of
Yarmouth County for 40 years. As long ago as 1855 New
Brunswick enacted a prohibitory law, but it was in advance
of solid public opinion, and was repealed, a very stringent
licence law taking its place.
In Ontario and Quebec an Act w^as passed in 1864 giving
power to municipalities to refuse licences by a vote of Council,
and many districts, under this Act, declared for the principle
of prohibition by large majorities.
After the union of the Provinces, in i86/, the temperance
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA.
US
iding
Dwing
it the
: it is
antrlcs
and in
by the
of the
•ikingly
i to the
of the
icensing
ecoming
jery, and
iditional
enacted
Ignaturcs
secured.
;es have
case of
55 New
advance
itringent
giving
ICouncil,
jrinciplc
iperance
party began their great crusade in favour of a general
prohibitory law for the Dominion of Canada. Meeting after
meeting was held in every Province, and in a space of three
years petitions, signed by over half a million persons, were pre-
sented to Parliament, praying for the enactment of a prohibitory
liquor law. The result of this agitation was the appointment
by Parliament, in 1874, of two commissioners to make a
thorough and complete investigation into the working and
results of prohibition in these various states of the United
States which had adopted it. I have this report before me
as I write, and it is a masterpiece of compiled evidence,
altogether in favour of the adoption of prohibitory as compared
with license legislation. It was referred to a Select Committee
of the Senate and Commons. Their report recommended the
enactment of a prohibitory law for the Dominion of Canada,
and the report was adopted by both Houses.
Progress was barred for a time by the question as to
jurisdiction. It was in doubt whether the Dominion or the
Provincial Legislatures had authority to prohibit the sale of
intoxicating liquors. This did not, of course, apply to the
North-West Provinces of Assiniboine, Saskatchewan, Alberta,
and Athabasca, and the Government at once gave effect to the
recommendations of the committee in 1875 by passing a law
covering the whole of the North-West Territory, prohibiting
the sale, manufacture, or possession of intoxicating liquors
in the North-West Provinces, except with the written per-
mission of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Territories. I have
already referred, in previous chapters, especially the one about
Calgary, to the operations of this Act, and their excellent
results upon the people. I will only now repeat that in
my opinion this Act has done, ard will do if maintained,
as much to promote the prosperity and rapid development
ws ".
i
Vf
'III ii;ii
',|;:H.JII
136
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
pf these valuable territories, as their own natural advantages.
The law is rigorously and successfully carried out, and has
the sympathy and support of the entire resident population.
In 1878 the Mackenzie Government decided that the benefit
of the doubt referred to a few lines back, was in favour of
the Dominion, and that it would be within their jurisdiction
to pass a prohibitory liquor law for the whole country. They
introduced the Canada Temperance Act. It passed its second
reading without a division, and became law. The legality
of the Act was challenged, but the Supreme Court of Canada
confirmed it, one judge dissenting. An appeal was taken
to the Privy Council of Great Britain, who gave judgment in
June, 1882, fully confirming the constitutionality of the Act.
The Act has since its passing been attacked in Parliam'^nt
on three different occasions, but as none of these were
successful I need not trouble my readers with the details.
The Canada Temperance Act, 1878 (commonly known as
the Scott Act) is a local option law, affecting the whole
Dominion of Canada, and was enacted for the purpose of
enabling a majority of voters to suppress the retail sale of
liquor in any city or county.
The Act is divided into three parts. The first part provides
the machinery by which the second part may be adopted
or rejected. The second part is the Prohibition part, and
does not come into force until it has been adopted by a vote
of the electors. The third part provides for the enforcement
of the law after its adoption.
The following is a synopsis of the provisions of these
respective parts : —
Part I.
Petitioning. — One-fourth of the electors in any city or county
may petition the Governor-General in Council to have a vote
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA, 137
^63.
has
)n.
lefit
r of
ition
rhey
cond
jality
uiada
taken
snt in
Act.
am'^nt
were
ails,
uvn as
whole
osc of
ale of
"ovides
|dopted
:t, and
a vote
Icement
taken upon the Act in such city or county. The Governor-
General in Council may then appoint a Returning Officer,
fix a day for voting, and make all other needful arrangements
for the polling of votes.
Voting, — The vote shall be taken by ballot, and in one day.
There shall be a polling place in each polling sub-division
of each municipality.
Very severe penalties are provided for any corrupt practices.
No treating of voters is allowed, and all places where liquor
is sold must be kept closed the whole of the day of voting.
All electors who are entitled to vote at the election of a
member for the House of Commons, have a right to vote
on the Scott Act.
Coming into Force. — If a majority of the votes polled are
in favour of the Act, a proclamation will be issued, bringing
it into force ; but in counties where licences are in operation,
it cannct come into force before at least five months after the
voting, nor until all licences in force at the end of these five
months have expired. If no licences are in force in a county,
the Act may be brought into operation in that county after
three months from the day of the vote adopting it.
Repeal. — If the Act be adopted it cannot be repealed for
at least three years, nor until the repeal has been voted upon
and adopted by the electors. If the Act be rejected or repealed
it cannot be again voted upon for three years.
m
ii ill
these
county
a vote
Part 1 1.
Prohibition. — From the day of the coming into force of the
Act in any county or city, and as long as it remains in force, no
intoxicating liquor shall be sold in any manner or under any
pretext except in the cases hereinafter mentioned.
138
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
\\\ <
Wholesalers. — Persons who are specially licensed may sell
liquor by wholesale ; but only in quantities of not less than ten
gallons, or in case of ale or beer, eight gallons, and only to
licensed druggists, or other wholesalers, or to persons whom
they have good reason to believe will carry it to, and have it
consumed in, some place where the Scott Act is not in force.
Producers of native wine made from grapes grown by them-
selves may, when licensed, sell such wine to any persons in
quantities of not less than ten gallons, unless it be for medicinal
or sacramental purposes, when they may sell as small a quantity
as one gallon.
Druggists. — Licensed druggists may sell in quantities of not
less than one pint. Not more than one druggist may be
licensed in a township, not more than two in a town, and
not more than one for every four thousand inhabitants in a
city. Druggists are only allowed to sell liquor for medicinal
or sacramental use, or for use in some bond fide art, trade, or
manufacture. Liquor can only be sold for sacrament on a
certificate signed by a clergyman ; for medicine only on a
certificate signed by a medical man ; and for any other purpose
only on a certificate signed by two Justices of the Peace. The
licensed druggist must file all these certificates, must keep a
full record of all the sales he makes, and report the same to
the collector of Inland Revenue.
Part IIL
Penalties. — The penalties for illegal sale are : — For the first
offence a fine of not less than ;^io ; for the second offence a fine
of not less than ;^20 ; and for the third and each subsequent
offence imprisonment for not more than two months.
The clerk or agent who sells for another person shall be held
lii J! I ] :
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA. 139
guilty as well as his employer, and shall be liable to the same
punishment.
All liquor and all vessels containing liquor in respect to
which offences have been committed shall be forfeited.
Procedure. — Full directions are given as to modes of pro-
cedure and instructions as to the powers of all persons who
have authority or jurisdiction in regard to offences against
the Act.
Enforcement. — Any person may be a prosecutor for a violation
of the Act. The collector of Inland Revenue is required to
prosecute when he has reason to believe that an offence has
been committed.
Provision is made for the appointment of License Com-
missioners and Inspectors in places where the Scott Act is in
force, and provides that it shall be the duty of these officers to
see to its enforcement.
Evidence. — In a prosecution it is not necessary that a witness
should be able to state the kind or price of liquor unlawfully
sold. It is enough to show that unlawful disposal of intoxicating
liquor took place. The finding in any place of liquor, and also
of appliances for its sale, is primd facie evidence of unlawful
keeping for sale, unless the contrary is proved. The husband or
wife of a person charged with an offence against the Scott Act
is a competent and compellable witness.
Tampering with Witnesses. — Any person attempting to tamper
with a witness in any prosecution under the Act shall be liable
to a fine of ;^io.
Compromise. — Any person who is a party to an attempt to
compromise or settle any offence against this Act, with a view of
saving the violator from prosecution or conviction, shall, on
conviction, be imprisoned for not more than three months.
Appeals. — No appeal shall be allowed against any conviction
■ill
! '1
I4Q
4 TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
made by any Judge, Stipendiary, or Police Magistrate, Sherifif
Recorder, or Parish Court Commissioner.
The first vote was taken on the Act in the town of Frederick-
ton, New Brunswick, in October, 1878. The contest was as
keen as a parliamentary election in England. The subject was
discussed to the utmost during a long and active campaign.
Both the liquor and the temperance party were well organised,
and the electors thoroughly canvassed. It was felt on both
sides that "first blood" was of great importance in the great
fight, of which this was to be the first round, The result was
that more electors polled than at the previous parliamentary
election, and the Act was adopted by two to one — 403 to 203.
This victory was quickly followed by others. There are 14
counties and 3 cities in New Brunswick, and the Scott Act
is now in force in 10 counties and 2 cities. The leading city,
St. John, has not adopted the Act, but in the two elections
which have taken place since the Act became law. it was
defeated first time by a majority of two only, on a poll of
2,150, and the second time by a majority of JT, on a poll of
3,297. In the three elections which have taken place in
Frederickton, it has been found impossible to repeal previous
decisions, though the majority in favour of the Acts has been
greatly decreased. I have had no opportunity of inquiring into
the reason for this.
Nova Scotia has 18 counties and i city, of which 13 counties
have adopted the Act.
Manitoba has the Act in force in 2 counties out of 5, and
the temperance party in Winnepeg, the capital, are about to
test it there for the first time.
Prince Edward Island has 3 counties and i city, all under
the Act.
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA. 141
herlff
Icrick-
vas as
ct was
ipaign.
anised,
ji both
e great
,ult was
nentary
to 203.
are 14
ott Act
ing city,
elections
it was
poll of
poll of
)lace in
[previous
las been
|ing into
Icounties
5, and
Ibout to
111 under
Ontario has 38 counties and 11 cities; 25 counties and
2 cities have adopted the Act.
Quebec has 56 counties and 4 cities ; 5 counties only
have adopted the Act, but a considerable portion of Quebec
is under prohibition through a provincial Act. British
Columbia has 5 Parliamentary constituencies, but the tem*
perance is so feeble, and the liquor interest so rampant, that
the Act has never yet been even tested in the province.
The sale of liquor to Indians, nearly half the population,
is forbidden by the laws of British Columbia under severe
penalties, thus giving a protection to Indians withheld from
their less fortunate white fellow-citizens.
The enemies of the Act contend that it has not diminished
but increased drunkenness in the districts where it has been
adopted.
In reply to that I would point out that in all the 63 districts
in which the Act has been put into force, it remains in force
to-day.* In one instance, in Lambton-Ontario, it has had a
chequered experience, being adopted in 1879 by a majority of
215 on a poll of 4,919, rejected in 1881 by a majority of 105 on a
poll of 5,819, but once more adopted in 1885 by the tremendous
majority of 2,912 on a poll of 6,104 5 so that in the only
case in which a constituency, having once adopted prohibition,
has gone back to liquor selling, the experience of the election
has been such as to bring forth most emphatic repentance. It
is quite clear that those districts who adopt the Act find it to
their advantage to maintain it, and it is significant that of the
63 districts where it is in force only C have attempted its repeal.
The aggregate vote has been 161,000 for and 111,000 against.
But after all, the best test of the success or failure of prohibi-
tion is to be found in the actual consumption of liquor per
* October, 1887.
'11'
142
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
head in various districts wlicre prohibition is more or less in
force.
The following table shows the number of gallons of liquor
consumed per head annually in the 7 provinces of the Dominion
of Canada.
Province.
("i.illons per head.
Prince Edward's Island . .
•884
Nova Scotia
1-323
New Brunswick.
1-574
Manitoba ....
2'252
Quebec ....
. 3-8/3
Ontario ....
4-761
British Columbia
7-779
A comparison of these figures with the extent to which the
Scott Act has been adopted in each province, clearly shows
that the consumption of liquor decreases in proportion. It
is a significant fact tl^at British Columbia, where liquor shops
flourish to an extend. I have never seen equalled in any town
in England, the consumption of liquor is about nine times
greater than in Prince Edward's Island, where the Scott Act
is in full force in every district.
This year a series of votes were taken in the Dominion
House of Commons, which prove clearly enough that the
elected representatives of the people support the Scott Act
thoroughly. A proposal to repeal the Act altogether was lost
by a vote of 145 to 38, and an amendment permitting the sale
of wine and beer in prohibited districts was lost by 136 to 47.
The vote was in no sense a party one, a majority both of the
Liberals and Conservatives being secured for the maintenance
of the Act.
The hostile criticisms of opponents have no Weight with mt'
in the face of these considerations, viz. :---
I. That districts which once adopt the Scott Act stick to it.
THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT IN CANADA.
143
less in
■ liquor
)minion
aiich the
•ly shows
irtion. It
uor shops
any town
ine times
[Scott Act
|Dominion
that the
IScott Act
^r was lost
the sale
136 to47-
)th of the
kintcnaucc
lit with me
itick to it.
2. That the consumption of liquor decreases in each
province in exact proportion to the extent in which the Scott
Act is adopted.
3. That Parliament refuses by such overwhelming majorities of
botJi political parties to repeal the Act or weaken its provisions.
I have visited a great number of the districts in which this
Act is in force. No doubt in some of these the law is
administered with great laxity, and the Press is full of
complaints of the conduct of the inspectors and police
magistrates whose duty 't is to bring offenders to justice.
But the entire law-abiding population as a rule uphold and
defend the Act, and loyally carry out its provisions. I have
been a guest at half-a-dozen houses in which my host was
not an abstainer himself, yet, in deference to the public opinion,
expressed by the adoption of the Acts, had not a drop of
liquor of any kind in his house.
But those who speak most warmly in favour of the Acts are
tradesmen other than liquor sellers, to whose tills the money
goes which before was spent in drinking saloons.
The general opinion is that wherever the Scott Act has been
fairly and rigorously enforced it has been a great blessing to the
community, and no demand is ever made for its repeal. That
where it is badly enforced, it has at any rate destroyed the charm
and attractions of the liquor saloon, and has put an end to the
system of "treating," which was so common all through Canada.
The sobriety of Canada, as compared with England, is
shown by the amount of liquor consumed. Canada consumes
one gallon of intoxicating liquor per head, compared with ten
in England.
I have not gone into any details concerning the working of
the Act. It is enough for the purpose of this chapter to set
forth the facts I have enumerated, and I think every temperance
I
I
i «
t44
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
I i^' i!
reformer in England will agree with my conclusions, which arc
that it is clear that the people of Canada who have adopted
prohibition like it too well to part with it, and that the whole
of the Canadian people, speaking through their elected repre-
sentatives, have no intention of repealing the Act.
The people themselves are the best judges of what is good
for them in a matter so closely affecting their interests as
this.
The temperance party in Canada look upon the Scott Act
as only a stepping-stone to prohibition. I have come to the
deliberate opinion that it is only a question of time, and not
a very long time either, for Canada to adopt a universal
prohibitory liquor law, such as exists in Maine. Public opinion
is being educated at great speed by the experiences of the Scott
Act, and I find everywhere and in all sections of society an
inclination towards prohibition that is very encouraging to the
hopes and aspirations of Canadian temperance reformers.
( 145 )
■*' 'it
CHAPTER X.
■i'i'
ACROSS THE PACIFIC.
n..'{
The Canadian Pacific Railway Company can manage a great
railway line to perfection, but they have much to learn before
they can claim success as managers of an ocean line of steamers.
When I arranged last July to cross the Pacific from Vancouver
to Japan, I engaged my passage for a steamer sailing September
23rd. On arriving at Montreal I was informed that the date
had been postponed to the 29th. On reaching Winnipeg the
sailing was again postponed to October 2nd, and on arrival at
Vancouver the date was finally fixed for October 7th. That
date found us, with a number of our fellow-passengers, waiting
for the " Port Victor," at Victoria ; we could see nothing of
the "Port Victor," and letters and telegrams to the Canadian
Pacific Railway agent in Vancouver elicited no information
whatever of any definite character. On the morning of the 8th,
however, we were informed that the " Port Victor " was coaling
at Nanaimo, would reach Esquimalt about noon, and that we
were all to be at the Hudson's Bay Wharf with our luggage
at two o'clock, when a tug would take us ofif! We assembled
there at l . 30 to find neither tug nor anyone representing the
Canadian Pacific Railway from whom any information could
be obtained. We stood about for two or three hours, all
grumbling as only Englishmen can, when one of the Canadian
Pacific Railway clerks came to say that the tug would be there
Vi
146
A TRIP ROUMD THE WORLD,
'ill"!
i
If ^ M
iii,
at five o'clock. This time he was right, and by six o'clock wc
were alongside the " Port Victor " in the noble harbour of
Esquimau.
Here we found a scene of the wildest confusion. The Cana-
dian Pacific Railway agent that morning had booked an extra
sixty Chinese steerage passengers from Victoria, in addition to
a hundred or more who had been put on board at Vancouver.
He had done this without the knowledge of the captain of the
" Port Victor," and the delay in getting us on board was due to
the steam-tug having been used to ship these sixty extra China-
men, for whom there was absolutely no accommodation what-
ever provided.
Msiiifiiiii
tllE " rORT VICTOR."
After a hurried scrambling meal the twenty-seven cabin
passengers demanded their berths, when it was found that the
ship was only designed to carry twelve cabin passengers, and
that the Canadian Pacific Railway agent had been obliged to
requisition nearly all the officers' cabins, as well as to construct
others as makeshifts. We fared better than anyone else, for
knowing that the "Port Victor" was only a second-class
steamer, I had secured by extra payment two entire cabins for my
daughter and myself ; these, however, have proved anything but
satisfactory on the voyage, as the one I occupy is a bath-room
and closet converted for the occasion, and Is swarming with cock-
roaches and such like company, which a week's treatment with
Keating's powder and carbolic acM has failed to drive away.
ACJ'^OSS THE PACIIIC.
M7
: Cana-
n extra
ition to
icouvcr.
\ of the
, due to
I China-
,n what*
y^-'
Two ladies who were going out as missionaries were put in a
wretched little room converted from a steward's pantry, and
twice on the voyage have been drowned out of it by burst pipes,
soaking their beds, and the entire contents of their trunks. Two
gentlemen found themselves in a temporary structure next to
the funnel, with a large stove-pipe enclosed within ; the tempera-
ture in this dog-kennel has ranged from 85 to lOO degrees, and
tiio tenants have been obliged to sleep on the settees in the
saloon. None of the cabins appeared to have been cleaned out
after the previous voyage, and when a day or two after starting
I insisted on having my daughter's cabin and my own cleaned
out, the amount of dirt, dead cockroaches, &c., which had to be
removed was terrible.
The saloon accommodates just sixteen persons to table ; with
ofiicers we are thirty-four, so that two services of each meal are
necessary, and the cooks and stewards are certain to be worked
beyond their powers.
By seven o'clock we all know our fate for the voyage,
and we Cj^pect every moment to see the anchor weighed and
get away. But presently the steam-tug comes alongside once
more with a pile of planks on deck and twenty carpenters,
and we arc Informed that it will be impossible to leave that
night, ad sleeping accommodation must be provided for the
sixty extra Chinamen. We go to bed, but not to sleep. The
tramp of workmen, the noise of their hammers, and their
drunken blasphemy make night hideous. However, at five
o'clock on Sunday morning, October 9th, we get under way, and
by noon the beautiful mountains of the Olympian range are
fading from view, and we are on the wide Pacific.
In fairness to the Canadian Pacific Railway I must state that
they are not directly responsible for this disgraceful management.
The line at present is an independent one, run by Sir WiliifMa
L 2
148
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
L'i
\\\
I lii
\\\\
Peai-eerMrP., who has a number of old Atlantic liners that he is
employing in this service. I suppose, as he is only a stop-gap
till the Canadian Pacific Railway can build or purchase fine
steamers of their own, he thinks he can afford to treat his
passengers with reckless disregard. It is a pity the Canadian
Pacific Railway ever allowed their names to be associated with
a management not under their own control. I have no doubt
that when the line passes into their hands, as it will do in a few
months, they will be as careful of the comfort of the passengers
at sea as on land. If they are, no one will have anything to
complain of.
It is simply dishonest to take double the number of passen-
gers a ship can carry, and when we happen upon stormy weather
the discomfort and misery of everyone on board is almost
intolerable. I feel it little short of a swindle that I should have
been charged a fare and a half for a small cabin which was only
fit to sleep in when drenched with carbolic acid, and in which I
was generally awakened in the morning by cockroaches making
their breakfast on my eyes. I warn any traveller who thinks of
coming out to China or Japan to give the Canadian Pacific Rail-
way line of steamers a very wide berth until the management is
changed. We have, however, been singularly fortunate in our
captain, who has done everything in his power to counteract the
disgraceful management of his charterers. Captain Bird is only
twenty-six years old, and has been but nine years at sea. He
was promoted to the command of the " Port Victor " this voyage,
and has fully justified the singular confidence reposed in him by
the owners. His whole management of the ship and the comfort
of his passengers under the grossly unfair strain which has
been put upon him by SwAVilliam Pearce's-ag^ts, has earned
the gratitude of all on board. I have taken a good many
voyages in my day, but never met with a captain whose popu-
ACROSS THE PACIFIC.
149
larity was so great with his officers, his crew, and his passengers,
or wliosc popularity was so thoroughly well deserved. His
conduct of the ship has done much to obliterate the bad im-
pressions formed by all the passengers of the treatment they
have received.
A voyage across the Pacific leaves little to be said. We have
had good weather on the whole, though we experienced fully ten
days of strong head winds, which stretched the voyage out to
eighteen days. The Pacific is a melancholy and desolate ocean,
with continual fog and rain, and the latter part of the voyage
was muggy and intensely hot, in consequence of the warm
Japan current which flows up from the tropics at a speed vary-
ing from forty to a hundred miles a day. The atmosphere
is damp and depressing, and discourages all exertion. The
passengers spend their time chiefly in reading novels and books
by various authorities on Japan. The most popular book on
board has been one I brought with me from England, " East by
West," a story of a tour round the world two years ago by H. W.
Lucy, the well-known journalist and writer of " Toby's Diary " in
Punch. I think every passenger on board has either read it
or heard it read aloud. At night, when weather permits, we
gather under the awning, and amuse ourselves with songs and
glees, riddles, recitations, and stories. When the weather is wet
or stormy, we go to our stuffy and crowded cabins, and get to
sleep as soon as we can.
We get some amusement out of our Chinese fellow-pas-
sengers. These are all kept in the forward part of the ship,
and, when fine, take their meals on deck. They consume
prodigious quantities of rice and meat, and seem inordinately
fond of pickled eggs, which they crack and eat with great gusto,
giving cries of delight in proportion to the relative " highness " of
each egg. When the weather is bad they huddle below, and
I
150
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
gamble furiously for " cash," small copper coins, a thousand of
which are worth half-a-crown. If the sea is rough they proceed
to " Chin Chin Joss." " Joss " is their head deity, and they arc
quite sure he cannot be aware that there arc pious Chinese on
board, or he would never tumble " Port Victor " about in such an
unceremonious manner. They select a deputation to remonstrate
with Joss. They write on sheets of paper the information that
though the ship is manned by " Foreign devils," and that the
cabin passengers are no better, yet there are hidden from his
sight in the lower deck no less than 163 faithful people, who are
very sea-sick. They then march round the ship with little
paper flags flying, and a plate containing rice and a {Q.vi
copper coins, which with their humble petitions for calm
weather they commit to the deep. Joss, however, remained
obdurate, and we had nearly a week of head winds and pitching,
One of the stewards, a Chinaman, viewed the oroccedings with
great contempt, as a professing Christian ; he informed me,
"Me no silly chin-chin Joss, me chin-chin Sky-God, same as
English."
At noon on the 26th the observations informed us that we
were at last within thirty hours of Yokohama, if the weather
remained favourable, and that we might reasonably hope for
but one night more on board. But during the night we were
kept back by a strong wind and sea, which, early on the morning
of the 27th, developed into a hurricane. The captai wisely
decided not to attempt to land, as the storm had increased in
intensity the nearer we approached it. So at tv/o o'clock the
ship was with much difficulty put about, and for twelve hours we
steamed slowly with head to wind, and our back:; to Yokohama.
The seas were tremendous, and at six o'clock were breaking
over the ship in great volume, making it impossible to c. ls the
decks without being drenched or washed off one's feet, the wind
ACROSS THE PACIFIC.
ni
blowing with full typhoon strength. Under Captain Bird's
admirable seamanship, we rode it out without the loss of a spar,
with the exception of the Cliinamen's galley, a temporary
structure on deck, which went by the board as the ship was
being laid to. The " Port Victor " behaved as well as a ship
could, though wo were all considerably rolled about. At two
o'clock on the morning of the 28th the storm abated, and after
three unsuccessful efforts the ship was at last brought about,
and morning found us once more heading for Yokohama.
The passengers were a pallid and limp company. Very few
VRIES VOLCANO.— YOKOHAMA BAY.
(^From a sketch by the Author.)
of them h?i slept a wink, and some had sat up all nigh*- too
frightened to go to bed ; indeed some who had gone to bed were
rolled out so often that they gave it up for a bad job and sat it
out on the floor. Our cabins being amidships we slept better
than others. I slept from eight at night to six next morning,
carefully v/edged in between an air-pillow and the mattrass, only
awakened by efforts to get the ship about, which would have
roused Rip Van Winkle. Some of the passengers had expressed
a wish to " see a typhoon." What they did see was near enough
I
A^-i
;!/
ill
i
152
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
to the genuine article to prevent their expressing it any more.
The cargo shifted during the night, giving the ship a list to
leeward of about three feet. At ten o'clock we were running
along the coast of one of the outlying islands of Japan. We
passed a good many sampans, or native boats, engaged in fishing,
and through our glasses could see quaint villages and wooded
hills. One of the islands we passed was a volcano, not a very
big affair, but smoking vigorously. At noon Yokohama was in
sight, and an hour later we dropped anchor, and bid a glad
good-bye to the " Port Victor " from the steam launch of the
Grand Hotel.
il
I
I
( 153 )
CHAPTER XI.
YOKOHAMA.
''In
The passengers by the " Port Victor " were more reconciled to
their bad treatment on hearing the fate of the " City of Sydney,"
the steamer of the rival line from San Francisco, which arrived
the day after. She was caught in the same hurricane which
delayed us, but fared much worse than we did. Her saloon was
waist-deep in water for twelve hours, some of her deck cabins
were swept overboard, two of her boats were stove in, and one
of her crew drowned.
The passengers came into our hotel at Yokohama in terrible
plight. All their luggage was soaked with salt water, and they
were much exhausted and worn out. Certainly the Pacific does
not deserve its name, so far as our experience has ^'one.
Yokohama is a modern seaport divided into European and
Japanese quarters. The European portion of the town is very
handsome, consisting entirely of the ofiices and residences of
merchants, stretching for about a mile in length. There is a
fine esplanade called the Bund, on which the principal hotels, a
fine club, and handsome houses are to be found. Behind this is
Main Street, where the banks, merchants' offices, stores, and
other business premises are placed. The town terminates in a
fine blufif, on which pretty villas are dotted. The Japanese
quarter contains many fine shops and stores, where native
:
II
154
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
111'
products such as rice, silks, embroideries, lacqucr-waro, pottery,
and fine metal work are exposed for sale.
The trade of Yokohama is considerable. Thcr- are no wharves
or docks, vessels riding
at anchor in a fine bay.
This presents a busy and
picturesque scene with
some twenty or thirty fine
steamers of all nations,
combined with native
junks, sampans, and
bustling steam launches.
I noticed steamers
under the flags of the
Peninsular and Oriental,
the Canadian Pacific, the
White Star, and the Holt
Lines (all English) ; the
Occidental and Oriental (United States), the Messageries
(French), the German Lloyds, the Japanese Mails, with British,
American, Japanese, and Russian men-of-war. It is gratifying
to know that, as usual
all over the world, three-
fourths of the carrying
trade of Japan is done
under the British flag.
There are 1,250 Euro-
pean residents in Yo-
kohama, of whom 587
are British, 228 United States, 160 German, and 109 French.
Yokohama twenty-five years ago was only a small fishing
village. It is now a flourishing town of 70,000 inhabitants, the
TEA-HOUSE NEAR THE BLUFF, YOKOHAMA,
YOKOHAMA HARBOUR.
YOKOHAMA.
J55
chief port of Japan, a firsi-class station on the road both from
Canada and the United States to China and the East Indies,
and is the terminus of the Peninsular and Oriental, Messageries
Maritimes, and the German Lloyds in the far East, The entire
export and import trade of Yokohama amounts to about six
and a half millions sterling.
We took up our quarters at the Grand Hotel, which has the
reputation of being the finest hostelry in the East, and I can
quite believe it, for I never stayed at a better, East or West.
After taking our rooms we started out for a Jin-rickisha ride
frcnch.
ishing
Its, the
A STREET IN YOKOHAMA,
through the town. The Jin-rickisha is the universal conveyance
of Japan.* It is impossible to hire a carriage or a horse ; every
journey, long or short, whether from one point to another in the
towns, or for a 200 mile journey across country, except on the
two small railways, must be taken in Jin-rickishas. This con-
veyance is something between a single perambulator and a
hansom cab, with a hood that shuts back, and seating one
person only. It is very lightly built, with two wheels about 4 feet
in diameter, and slender brass-bound shafts, united together by
a tie-piece at the end. It is drawn by a man who gets in
* See frontispiece.
■ I ■;
Yft: : i
i. r
11)
IS6
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
m\
between the shafts, pressing against the cross-bar at the end.
For long journeys you drive tandem, and a man of weight Hkc
myself often engages three. These men trot along at from
five to seven miles an hour, and are splendid specimens of
muscular development ; their calves are a wonder to behold,
and would be the envy of a London flunky. The dress of these
men consists of a pale-blue cotton shirt with hanging sleeves,
and tight-fitting breeches of the same material coming down to
the knee. Legs and feet are brown, tanned, and bare, with
the exception of the universal straw shoe, tied on by straw
twists, with a loop through which they thrust the great toe.
We start off through the European town, admiring the
pretty Eastern-looking houses and their lovely gardens, go to
the bank for some money, telegraph our safe arrival to friends
at home, and then drive on to the Japanese town, eager to see
the quaint and interesting people of whom we have heard so
much. The shops were odd and strange ; they are without
fronts, and the floors are raised about two feet from the ground
in one high step, some three or four feet back from the thresh-
old. The floor is covered with white fine matting, scrupulously
clean, and it is customary to kick off the shoes and enter the shop
in your stocking feet. Sometimes, in the case of Europeans,
who have an unfortunate habit of ignoring the customs of
foreigners, a servant will bring out a large cloth and carefully
wipe the dirt off the shoes of customers who decline to take
them off.
The goods are displayed on stands and ranged on shelves, the
reserve stock being kept at the back or in fire-proof warehouses
adjoining, which appear to be built of planished copper sheets
fastened on the wood, thick enough to resist flames from outside
in case the light structures in the neighbourhood take fire.
It matters not at what shop we halt, the proprietor comes
YOKOHAMA.
»57
end.
t like
from
;ns of
^hold,
these
eeves,
iwn to
;, with
straw
le.
ig the
i, go to
friends
r to see
eard so
without
g
round
hresh-
ulously
le shop
opeans,
oms of
refully
o take
^es, the
-houses
sheets
outside
fire,
comes
BUYING CHRYSANTHEMUMS, YOKOHAMA.
bowing out and begs us to look at anything we please, never
once asking us to buy. At one we sec a platform weighing-
machine, and our whole party weigh themselves, to the ecstatic
iss
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
! ^ii ;•
;J
1!
delight and amusement of the tradesman and his children, who
arc summoned out to enjoy the spectacle. Much interest is
taken in my portly form, as the diminutive Japanese greatly
admire bulk. I am, however, personally gratified to find that
the " Port Victor " has taken 1 5 lbs. off my weight.
Every shop has a pretty china vase standing against the wall,
with a few branches of chrysanthemums arranged in it with that
singular feeling for colour which seems almost universal in Japan.
We bought a great bunch of beautiful blooms from a peripatetic
flower-merchant for a few small copper coins.
After a two hours' stroll we were glad to get back lo our
hotel, enjoy a good dinner and go to bed. No one knows what
a priceless blessing is bed, who has not been tumbled about for
three stormy nights in the hard bunk of a steamer.
Japan is one of the rainiest countries in the world, and Satur-
day morning was one of its rainiest days. The annual rainfall
at Yokohama is about 160 inches, and, if my memory serves
me, I think the only place in the British Islands at all approach*
ing to this is Seathwaite-in-Borrowdale.
Our party for Japan consists of rriy daughter and myself, with
an American gentleman and his wife, named Russell, whose
friendship we have formed during the voyage across the Pacific,
and who, like ourselves, are travelling round the world. As the
rain is so heavy, the ladies go in Jin-rickishas to do some
shopping, while Mr. Russell and I go over to Tokio to visit
our respective legations, and get passports, without which it is
not permitted to travel into the interior.
We had each of us written to our ambassadors the night
before, begging that, if possible, we might have our pass-
ports next day, as our time was very limited. On arriving at
Tokio, we repaired to our respective legations. I not only
obtained my passport, but had an excellent lunch and an hour's
YOKOHAMA.
»59
interesting conversation with Mr. Trench, our chargi! d'ajfaircs.
Mr. Russell, however, when we met, told mc to his and my great
disappointment that he could not get his passport for two days.
I suggested to him that he should go back to his ambassador
and express his surprise that America should fail to get pass-
ports as quickly as England. He did so, and in consequence
got it the next morning.
While in Tokio that afternoon, I called on a lady, an old friend
of mine, Miss Dawbarn, of Liverpool, who left England nearly
two years ago with a view to engaging in missionary work at
her own expense. I found her comfortably settled in a pretty
Japanese house, where she teaches English to classes of gentle*
men and ladies on alternate days. She makes some charge, and
finds she can get as many pupils as she can manage. T\\Q.y arc
all drawn from the wealthy classes, and she hopes to be able
to influence many of them in favour of Christianity. She
seemed very happy in her work, and sanguine of success.
Many of her pupils are now members of the various missionary
churches.
I also saw a native funeral procession, very different from the
ugl}' and depressing institution which prevails in England. The
great feature of the procession was abundance of beautiful
flowers. I saw at least fifty great garlands of chrysanthemum.s,
five or six feet high and three feet in dianicter, each of which
must have contained many hundreds of blooms, being borne in
the procession, which was headed by a number of priests in
bright-coloured picturesque robes.
On the following morning we all left Yokohama early, en route
for Nikko, a journey of about no miles, of which 80 was by
railway. Japanese railways are narrow gauge, about three feet
wide, laid in double-headed rails on chairs and sleepers, and the
train travels about 18 miles an hour. The stations are scrupu-
:i^i
|i '
'1 i.
i6o
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
lously neat and clean, and the rolling stock is very comfortable.
The carriages are seated like omnibuses, with the first-class
divided into three compartments, all communicating, and it is
possible to traverse the train from end to end as in America.
There are about 150 miles of railway now open in Japan,
and some 450 more are projected, which will be built as soon
as funds permit. English engine-drivers are employed, but the
passenger and goods traffic is all managed by Japanese.
The line from Yokohama terminates at Tokio, and we had
to ride in Jin-rickishas for three or four miles across Tokio to
reach the station for Utsunomiya, our next stage sixty miles
further on.
This journey was very full of interest, as the line passes through
the finest agricultural district in Japan. It is densely populated,
and the farms vary in size from half an acre to ten acres.
Nearly every house we passed had pretty little gardens full of
flowers, mostly chrysanthemums, now in all their glory, with
quaintly-trimmed trees four or five feet high, tiny little water-
falls and ponds, with toy bridges and boats. Some of these
gardens looked exactly like a willow-pattern plate.
The soil is of magnificent quality and depth, and the whole
country is running with clear streams of water, forming a
complete system of irrigation. On most of the farms it is quite
possible to get three crops in the year off the land. The main
crop is rice, the staple food of the Japanese, and the whole
country was yellow with the ripe grain, now being harvested.
Every inch of the soil is cultivated. There are no hedges or
ditches, the farms being divided by a small raised ridge about
six inches high, which carries a little crop of its own on joint
account for the two farmers whose land it divides. The soil is
tilled by hand only. In a journey of eighty miles I only saw
two horses, each engaged in drawing a small plough. Most of the
YOKOHAMA.
I6i
hole
ling a
quite
main
whole
estcd.
jes cr
about
I joint
soil is
^y saw
of the
cultivation is clone by a curious hand plough, which turns up a
3 ft. furrow every blow. The land seems capable of growing
any crop that is put into it. Besides rice, I saw patches of tea,
onions, daikons (a long white turnip, that seems a great article
of diet everywhere), cauliflower, cabbage, beans, cotton, caladiums,
buckwheat, ginger, carrots, barley, sweet and common potatoes,
peas, beets, pepper, bamboos, tobacco, radishes, lettuce, maize,
dhurra, celery, lotus (the seeds of which are a favourite food),
artichokes, castor oil, and everywhere small clumps of yellow
chrysanthemums, the flowers of which are boiled and eaten with
much relish. Besides these ground crops there were orchards
of mulberry-trees for silkworm culture, pears, cherries, plums,
peaches, and persimmons, weighed down with golden fruit, a
great favourite with Japanese of all sorts and conditions. These
trees were all hung round with great bunches of rice straw,
toughening to be plaited into hats and shoes. Not even in the
best parts of Belgium is such perfect cultivation to be found as
in this beautiful garden of Japan.
Four' hours after leaving Tokio we arrived at Utsunomiya,
the capital of a province, with a population ot 25,(X)0. We
walked up to our quarters for the night, escorted through the
streets by an admiring crowd of natives of all ages, who made
huge merriment of our various peculiarities of dress, but with a
good-natured politeness that took away the smallest trace of
offence. I felt quite conceited at the special attention I re-
ceived personally, due entirely to my six feet of height among
a five-foot people. As we walk along, laughing groups run ahead
and bring out their biggest men, whom they range alongside
of me, driving them aw?y with sccrn as they fail to reach my
gauge. My beard also receives much attention. One girl came
up to me, bowed almost to the ground, and then pulled my
beard, and ran away laughing.
M
I
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V]
vQ
V
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
1.0 ErKf IM
12.2
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mi
2.0
L25 liU 1.6
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y.
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ra
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163
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
The children are delightful and quaint beyond all description.
The boys have their heads shaved, except odd little tufts on the
crown and sometimes behind the ears, the little girls wearing
their hair exactly as it appears on the twopenny fans so universal
all over England. All the babies are bound on the backs of
other children, and it is common to see a baby a year old tied
GROUP OF CHILDREN, UTSUNOMIYA.
on the back of a brother or sister three or four years old.
Nothing is seen of the baby but its head, and the combination
presents the droll appearance of a two-headed child. The baby
is as jolly and laughter-loving as its bearer, and both grin and
laugh in happy unison. All the children, great and small, laugh
I
YOKOHAMA.
163
from crown to toe, are fat and wcU nourished, and are the
happiest and joUiest children on the face of the earth. I never
tire of the charming groups they make at every street corner.
They swarm in every village like rabbits in a warren. Japanese
children are the chief delight of their parents. I never saw
such happy, well-behaved children. The only time I have ever
heard one cry was when I came suddenly round a corner in
some country village, when I fear they mistook me for the Red-
whiskered Devil. They are never scolded or punished in any
DOLL AND FAN.
way, either at home or at school, and a parent who struck a
child would be shunned as a monster. I do not, however,
think this treatment would answer in England. I have heard
the excellent qualities of Japanese children ascribed to their
vegetarian diet, but I must leave wiser dictists than I to settle
that question. The Japanese love to turn their children out
smartly dressed, with doll and fan. and the bright harmonious
colours, the infinite variety of pattern and material, with the
quaint cut of .he garment added to their absurdly comical
M 2
,l!L
I
i !
164
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
heads, plump faces, and beady-black eyes, yield never-failing
amusement to us all.
We stayed the night at a Tea-house, as the Japanese hotels
are called. We found ourselves, on arrival, in front of a large
house, of which the whole ground floor is open to the street ;
six feet back from the parapet is flush with the street, and the
whole of the rest of the floor is raised about two feet. The
edge of this floor is used as a seat for Jin-rickisha men, village
gossips, &c., and a part of it carries a small counter, on which
are arranged little dishes of fish, vegetables, rice, and what not,
ready to be cooked at a charcoal fire behind it, for any passer-
by who may order a meal. Immediately behind this step the
whole of the vast floor is covered with spotless white matting,
every one taking off his shoes before stepping upon it. The
area is quite bare and empty, divided by black wooden lines,
which, on examination, are found to be grooves, in which at
nip-ht light frames covered with opaque translucent paper
partitions slide into position, forming separate rooms for
sleeping. At one side is a raised dais, prettily decorated
with pictures and choice little works of art, with the usual
pot of chrysanthemums in bloom. Every hotel is obliged to
have this dais, on which the Mikado, or Emperor of Japan,
would sit if he ever visited the village, and selected that
particular tea-house as his abode. Every one of the many
thousand tea-houses in Japan has one of these dais, all of
which are daintily decorated with flowers and household
treasures.
At the back of every tea-house is a pretty little garden, with
a large bath-house, containing tubs of hot and cold water. The
Japanese are as scrupulously clean in their persons as in their
houses, and often wash all over two or three times a day. The
room in which we had our dinner looked out upon the large
YOKOHAMA.
i6s
open window of the bath-house, in which three men and two
women were tubbing, with that absolute disregard of decency
which characterised our common parents before the fall, when
they were naked and not ashamed. Later on in the evening,
as I was passing to my room, one of the waitresses, in the
costume of Eve, made me a most profound and grave bow,
wishing mc good-night. No Japanese has yet become civilized
enough, with all their wonderful civilization, to believe it possible
UP Jer any circumstances that he or she is nuked. In summer
»' VM
INTERIOR OF TEA-HOUSE, BEDROOM FLOOR.
times this condition of things is uni-
versal. It is a little embarrassing at
first to the modest European, but one soon gets used to it, and
accepts it as the primitive innocence of a simple and guileless
people.
Europeans cannot eat Japanese food, ejicept eggs and rice ;
everything else is more or less " high " and pungent in flavour.
So all the guides are excellent cooks, and in tea-houses on
frequented routes there are nice little kitchens with small
! i
1;;?
1 66
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
charcoal fires, where the guide manages to produce excellent
meals, the materials for which have to be brought along from
the large towns, as it is only possible in smaller towns and
villages to purchase vegetables and rice. Milk is an unknown
dainty in Japan, except in large towns where Europeans live.
At Nikko, where some 1,500 Europeans go during the year,
there are two cows, but I have not seen one since I entered
the country.
We have an excellent guide in Mr. Hakodate, of Yokohama,
who produced us an admirable dinner of soup, fish, steak,
chicken, and pudding. At ten o'clock the servants make up
the bed-rooms. They rattle out the sliding paper partit'ons,
and our sitting-room is at once divided into three bed-rooms,
on the floor of which our " beds " are laid. These consist
of three or four thick quilts, with another rolled up for a
bolster. You may have either a thin mattrass with warm
covering, or a thick mattrass with light covering. We slept
very well on the whole, though the ladies found it a strangu
and novel experience.
There was no other furiiiture of any kind or description, and
our clothes had to be laid on the floor. In the morning, for
our ablution, we had the choice of the bath-house or a tiny
basin of water placed on a shelf in the garden, with a tub and
dipper by its side. We had brought each a towel and soap,
and the whole party took it turn about to wash at the basin,
as we have not been long enough in Japan to face the bath-
house. After an excellent breakfast we prepared to start off
to Nikko, a drive of about twenty-five miles. Eight Jin-rickishas,
with a crowd of laughing noisy human horses, were gathered round
the door, and soon we were all stowed away in them, rattling
through the streets of Utsunomiya to the ecstatic delight of
hundreds of jolly children, who pursued us with peals of laughter
YOKOHAMA.
167
and cries of " 0-hy-o ! O-liy-o ! " (good-morning). The road to
Nikko is all up-hill, rising 8co feet. Each Jin-rickisha had
two men in tandem except mine, which had three, I being
nearly double the weight of any other member of our party. It
is simply astonishing how these vigorous little chaps spin along.
Our first stage was 1 1 miles, which wc covered in i hour and
35 minutes, our second was y\
miles in 65 minutes, and our last
6]r miles in 50 minutes, the whole
25 miles being covered in three
hours and a half, or at the rate
of nearly eight miles an hour.
They ran their empty vehicles
back the same day, deli^i-hted to
get three shillings each for the
job.
We stopped twice at road-side
tea-houses, to give the men a
quarter hour's rest and breathing.
They did not seem to drink any-
thing, although they were stream-
ing with perspiration, but they
rinsed out their mouths at the
roadsic'e stream, washing their
legs and arms as well. At one
tea-house they all had dinner. This consisted of a bowl ot
boiled rice, a poached ^gg^ and a mess of stewed vegetables, all
served in pretty lacquer vessels on a tray. The cost of this
meal, which is their usual dinner daily, was just a penny farthing
of our money.
The men put on a new pair of shoes at evety stage, fhey
wear a thick plaited straw sole or sandal, bound to the foot by
JIN-RICKISHA MAN IN HIS STRAW
RAIN COAT.
i
i68
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
thin swathes, and get three pair for a penny. The horses are
shod also with straw shoes, and a main road on which there is
much traffic is strewn all the way with old straw shoes.
THE ROAD TO NIKKO.
When the weather is vet the Jin-rickisha men wear cloaks
and hats of straw, giving them the appearance of being
thatched, like a small walking haystack. The farmers and
YOKOHAMA.
169
I cloaks
being
rs and
better sort of folk put on a cloak of yellow oiled paper,
perfectly waterproof, similar to that used in a copying-press
at home, and all carry gigantic paper umbrellas of gorgeous
pattern, oiled to make them waterproof. It can rain in Japan,
but it is well worth while to endure two or three wet days for
the sake of the odd costumes one meets at every turn.
The road we are travelling on is one of the great highways of
Japan, and the whole way is a long avenue of magnificent
cryptomerias, a tree something like a fine Scotch fir in
appearance. These trees are about 100 feet in height, and this
noble avenue runs for fifty miles. These trees were originally
planted by a pious Daimio, or prince, and a more imposing
preparation for the religious glories of Nikko could not have
been conceived. The road itself is an excellent, well-made
gravel road, with a stream of crystal water about two feet wide
and one deep, running along both sides, conveying water to
the populous villages which line the route.
The scenery all along the road is very beautiful. A Shinto
shrine, with its odd torii or bird-perches, a quaint roadside tea-
house, a farmyard with peasants threshing out rice or mille':,
charming groups of children playing about some pretty village
street, or in its bright gardens, the perfect tillage of the fields,
th ; low ranges of wooded hi' is gorgeous in autumn tints of
vermilion and gold, with the blue mountains of Nikko, 8,000
feet high, for a background, form fresh and delightful pictures
at every turn of the road.
The traffic of the country seems all to be done by human
beings and a few pack-horses. In the fifty miles to Nikko and
back we did not see a dozen carts. There is an omnibus from
Utsunomiya to Nikko, holding six people, before which a man
runs blowing a furious horn to warn everybody to get out of the
way of this terrible and dangerous vehicle.
;, tl
! (
I it"^
170
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
Men and women alike bear a hand in the transport of goods
about the country ; the man in the shafts of the handcart, the
wife pushing merrily behind, with the inevitable baby on her
back bobbing up and down with a broad grin and a nose that
wants blowing. The only drawback to Japan is the absence of
children's pocket-handkerchiefs.
No animals are to be seen except the pack-horses, which arc
nasty, vicious, badly-broken ponies ; cats with short stumpy
tails, an odd dog or two, and some poultry about the size of
decent bantams. Cows, sheep, and pigs are no use in a country
where nobody eats meat. I have not seen a single butcher's
shop, except at Yokohama, during my whole visit.
The only machine of any kind that I saw in my two hundred
nules of travel is the rice-pounder, which consists of a long beam
of wood swung on a pivot, not unlike a see-saw, at the end of
which is a stout peg at right angles ; underneath this peg is a
stone hollow filled with rice, and a man jumps off and on the
other end, which of course make , the peg rise and fall into the
hollow, thus pounding the rice into flour.
In large villages this is done by an undershot water-wheel,
which revolves a series of tilts, like a tilt hammer in a forge, but
the wooden pegs and stone hollows are just the same as in the
more primitive farmyard machine.
Every house and cottage in Japan seems to have a stream of
bright sparkling water running in front of it. This is used by
the whole family or village for promiscuous ablutions, for
washing clothes and vessels, for irrigating their gardens and
little farms, and is yet always so clear and pure to look at that
one could put in a glass and drink it with pleasure, so far as
appearance goes. There are, however, few countries where
water is so dangerous to drink unless boiled, and I always
drink tea, the national beverage, which is a pale, weak
YOKOHAAfA.
• 71
goods
■t, the
n her
c that
ncc of
ch arc
itumpy
size of
:ountry
ntcher's
lundrcd
ig beam
: end of
peg is a
I on the
into the
;r- wheel,
)rge, but
Ls in the
infusion, vcr/ pleasant and refreshing, when one has got used
to its pccul'.ar flavour.
The village graveyard is a small patch of ground surrounded
by trees, and each grave is marked by a square, upright stone,
with an inscription. It is a puzzle at first to account for the
smallness of each grave until one learns that Japanese coffins
arc square, and the body squeezed in with the knees tucked up
to the chin. We passed a funeral on our way, the coffin being
about 2-]^ feet square, the body inside extremely unpleasant, and
it was quite time that the ceremony took place.
When a woman marries in Japan, she deliberately destroys
her good looks by staining her teeth jet black. I don't know
how it is done, but it gives one quite a shock to meet a nice
smartly-dressed young woman, with a magnificent chignon of
black hair, studded with tortoiseshell pins and combs, and a
jaunty rose stuck at the top, and then to have the whole thing
destroyed by a black smile, that gives the appearance of the
mouth being a vast dark cavern. Strolling through Utsunomiya,
I saw the show-case of a dentist filled with " guinea jaws " of
shiny black false teeth. I am glad to hear that fashionable
people are abandoning this hideous practice, and as fashion is
everything in Japan, I hope it will soon disappear. The notion
which inspires the custom is, that a girl once married, has only
attractions for her husband, and must no longer present a pleas-
ing appearance to the world at large. The success is complete.
Every Japanese man has a pipe-case and tobacco-pouch stuck
in his girdle, and these are often beautiful works of art, deco-
rated with raised metal-work or carved ivory. The pipe itself is
a straight bronze or bamboo tube with a tiny bowl at the end, in
which a pinch of fine tobacco is placed. After three whiffs the
ash is thrown out, and the bowl re-filled.
The only intoxicating liquor drunk by the Japanese is sake, a
ii '^'-\
m
172
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
drink made from rice, which has the colour and appearance of
pale sherry. This is kept in a barrel and drawn off into long
china bottles, which are dipped into hot water and served on
lacquer trays with little cups, on which the god of good luck is
painted. It does not seem to be largely consumed, and I have
only seen one man under its influence. I have, however, seldom
seen a more imbecile-looking drunkard, and I am told that its
effect makes the drinker more supremely silly than any other
known intoxicant. On the whole, I think the Japanese are an
unusually sober people.
•i \\
Hii'l
( 173 )
liil
CHAPTER XII.
NIKKO.
The hotel at Nikko is a Japanese house, kept in Japanese
style, but with generous concessions to European customers. It
is true we all have to perform our ablutions in turn on one corner
of the verandah, before the gaze of admiring critics in the shape
of children, who gather early in the morning on coigns of vantage
to see the foreigners wash themselves ; but our wash-basin is a
marvellously beautiful bit of Japanese workmanship. It is true
that the rooms are one vast door, and that you can enter or
leave at any point of any wall, by sliding one of the many frames ;
but we have bedsteads, chairs and tables, a cook who has had
lessons from a Frenchman, and our drinking water is placed on
the table in a Scotch whisky bottle, and a Bass's beer bottle, with
the labels still attached, giving a festive and rakish, though
thoroughly English, appearance to the meal, hardly acceptable,
however, to good teetotallers like the whole of our party.
Shortly after arrival, the Japanese "chef" served us a very
tolerable dinner. When it had been removed, and tea brought
in, suddenly every side of the room slid open, and six bowing
and smiling Japanese silently entered, each with an enormous
bundle on his back. They shut themselves in, placed their
burdens on the ground and begun to unfasten them, all the
while softly sucking in their breath in a curious faint whistle.
We demanded instant explanation, and the ringleader said,
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174
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
"Mr. Shentlcmans! We very good Japanese Number One
Curios!" and promptly placed on the table a large pot and a
lacquer box. The others followed suit, and soon pandemo-
nium set in. Each of the six pressed his rival wares upon our
attention, and the table, chairs, walls, and floor were covered
with an assoitment of pottery, new and old, lacquer, broaze, old
Daimio's robes, swords, knives, embroidery, and what rot. Out
of a wilderness of modern rubbish, we managed to select some
THE HOTEL AT NIKKO.
really fine specimens of old lacquer, pottery, embroideries,
and metal work, which we eventually purchased at about one-
half the price demanded. This experience was repeated every
night, not only at Nikko, but almost everywhere in Japan,
at tea-house or hotel.
Nikko is the great wonder of Japan. Its shrines and
temples are celebrated wherever the Buddhist religion exists.
" Nikko " means " sunny splendour," and it well deserves the
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name. The town is small, and is filled with tea-houses for the
accommodation of the pilgrims who resort thither at times and
seasons of religious festivals. It lies in a lovely valley, through
which a clear mountain river rushes, furnishing water for endless
streams and leats rippling through street, lane, and garden.
It is surrounded by high hills, clad to the summit with
magnificent cryptomeria trees, in their turn overtopped by
mountains, of which the highest, Nantai-san, about 10,000
feet above the sea, is gorgeous in autumn splendour from base
to summit. Here dwells the Wind-god, and pilgrims ascend the
mountain in the Spring, to a shrine on the top, where they
arrange with his godship for a proper supply- of rain and fine
weather throughout the year. Nantai-san responds nobly,
sending down his generous flanks a dozen ample streams,
which irrigate thousands of square miles of fertile land.
The next morning we went up the valley to get a view of the
Nikko range, following a path by the banks of a brawling stream
full of trout, bordered by luxuriant and varied vegetation glorious
in autumn gold and copper. Two miles from Nikko we reach
the famous images of Amida Buddha, arranged in a long
row of many hundreds by the river-side, contemplating with
great serenity of countenance (unless their heads have been
knocked off by Shinto blasphemers), the noble range of which
Nantai-san is the centre and summit. It is supposed to be
impossible to count this long row of images, and while the rest
of the party engaged in the attempt to do so, I made a sketch
of the beautiful landscape, which is reproduced on the previous
page.
Nikko has been a holy place to the Buddhists since the eighth
century, when a wise old Buddhist missionary from China visited
it, and had a confidential interview with Nantai-san, the Shinto
deity of the mountains; instead of declaring him an impostor, as
N
II
178
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
\i
any vulgar reformer might have done, he annexed him as a "mani-
festation of Buddha," vi^hich position he has occupied ever since.
All the glories of Nikko centre in the tomb of the great
Shogun lye-yasu, who drove out the Jesuits and extirpated
Christianity. His son buried him with great pomp and
splendour in the year 1617, on the top of a hill above Nikko,
nnd the Mikado made a god of him as "the light of the East,
the great incarnation of Buddha." Nikko, in all its former
magnificence of Buddhist ritual and paraphernalia, with its 200
priests clad in gorgeous robes, must have been a wonderful
sight. But its glory has departed with the disestablishment of
Buddhism, and now six Shinto priests sell tickets of admission
to Christian tourists whom lye-yasu would have promptly
crucified, and the only ritual visible was at one of the large
temples, where a melancholy old lady in shining raiment,
with a fan and a bunch of small bells, goes through a brief
dance for any one who will throw a copper into a bowl. We
bought three or four performances for as many farthings.
On leaving the hotel, and walking up the main street of the
town, we come to two bridges, one of which is carefully guarded
by locked gates. This bridge is made of wood, lacquered a
deep red, and has never been repaired since 1638, the year in
which it was built. It appeared perfectly sound, and there is
no trace of decay from the wear and tear of 250 years of
Japanese rain and storm. The blue waters of the river, which
is here 40 feet wide only, rush under the bridge between two
steep banks, the warm Indian red of the lacquered wood con-
trasting finely with the dark cool green of the splendid crypto-
merias, the whole scene brightened by the torrent beneath.
This sacred bridge is only opened once a year, during the great
festival week.
Soon after crossing the river, we mount a flight of broad wide
MIKKO.
179
steps, leading to the great granite Torii or Shinto archway
erected in 1618. It is 27 feet 6 inches high, and the columns
are fine monoliths, 3 feet 6 inches in diameter.
Passing under this archway we see a magnificent pagoda of
five stories in height, rising 104 feet, the eaves of the roofa being
THE PAGODA, NIKKO.
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18 feet in length. The lower story is surrounded by twelve
emblematical animals : a rat, bull, tiger, hare, dragon, serpent,
horse, goat, ape, cock, dog, and pig ; all carved and painted with
wonderful resemblance to life. This pagoda is most graceful
in form, and its harmonious decorations stand out well against
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
the dark background of cryptomcrias, which everywhere lend
such an added charm to the Nikko temples.
Passing on through the Nio-mon, or gate of the two kings, we
find ourselves in a spacious courtyard, enclosed by a timber
wall lacquered dark red. In this courtyard are three very fine
buildings, arranged in the zig-zag so dear to the Japanese, which
are used as store-houses for the various " properties " employed
tUkMIOtfJc
HOLV WATER CISTERN, NIKKO.
at the annual festivals. Here also is a large tree, enclosed by
a railing, which is said to have been one that lye-yasu had
planted in a pot shortly before his death, and which was trans-
planted here. Close to the tree is a handsome stable, in which
is a sacred white pony, called "Jimme," kept for the use of
the god, opposite to which is the famous holy-water cistern.
-This is cut from a solid block of granite, and is so carefully set,
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that the water flows in one even stream from every inch of its
four sides. The cistern is covered by a wooden roof, clamped
on to twelve square granite pillars, with finely chased bronze
plates. The roof is richly carved and painted, and being open,
affords a good opportunity of studying the marvellous joinery
of these old Japanese carpenters. Just beyond the holy- water
THE KIO-ZO, OR LIBRARY, NIKKO.
basin is a beautiful decorated building, known as the Kio-zo,
or library. Inside this building is a complete collection of
Buddhist scriptures, mounted in a revolving eight-sided cup-
board, with red-lacquered panels, and gold pillars. R id the
interior walls are paintinf;s of various subjects on a gold ground.
In front of the building are some of the great stone and bronze
lanterns, 6 feet in height, which are lighted up on the feast days.
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ii2
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
A fresh flight of steps leads us to mother courtyard, along
the front of which is a stone balustrade, on which is placed a
bell tower, a huge bronze candelabrum, presented by the King
KOREAN BRONZE LANTERN, NIKKO.
of Loochoo, a bronze lantern, the gift of a Korean king, and a
drum tower. Behind these is a temple decorated with fifteen
or sixteen groups of carved birds that well repaid an hour's
study.
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NIKKO.
185
Yet another flight of stone steps brings us to the platform
on which stands the gem of Nikko, the vvondrously beautiful
gate called Yo-mei-mon. This is supported by white-lacquered
columns, carved with a small regular pattern. On one of the
pillars the pattern is carved upside down, lest the perfection of
the structure should excite the envy of the gods, and bring
misfortune on the architect. This is called the "evil-averting
pillar." The gateway has two stories, the lower one being
surrounded by a gallery. The side niches to the front contain
two ferocious-looking images, armed with bow and arrows ; to
the back, they contain the sacred dogs of Japan. The entire
building is covered with marvellous sculpture. Here we see a
tiger and cub, the grain of the wood cleverly used to produce
the fur ; here a group of flowers or fruit ; there, birds, beasts,
and fishes disporting themselves like nature itself. The capitals
of the columns are the heads of strange, quaint, fabulous beasts.
Where the cross-beams of the second story intersect are white-
lacquered dragons' heads. The railing of the balcony consists
of groups of children at play, and other figure subjects, alter-
nating with birds, and the ends of the supporting beams are
carved into the portraits of famous Chinese and Corean sages.
The illustration on the previous page is the back view of this
marvellous gateway.
Right and left of Yo-mei-mon extends. a long cloister, the
outer walls of which contain a double row of carved panels,
consisting of groups of trees, birds, beasts, flowers and fruit,
coloured after nature, all of marvellous beauty and great in-
tricacy of workmanship. The base of the wall consists of great
blocks of stone, from which rise uprights about 12 feet apart.
These pass through thicker horizontal members. This produces
a double row of elongated spaces, one 16 inches high, and the
other 5 feet, in which the carved panels are inserted.
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1 86
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
The lower range, which is the narrowest, consists altogether of
representations of storks, clucks, gccsc, and other water-fowl, in
flight, standing on the banks of streams and lakes, or swimming
and diving in the water. The upper range consists of pierced
work of floral composition chiefly, treated with great tenderness
and beauty, with a masterly decision about the carving such as
I have never seen anywhere before — the whole being one rich
and harmonious mass of colour, such as only Japan can produce.
On the following page is an illustration that gives some fait ;
idea of what I have described so feebly. The cloisters vvithi
this wall are decorated with great simplicity.
Passing through Yo-mci-mon, we enter a court enclosed on
three sides by the cloister I have just described ; on the fourth
side rises a great stone wall, built against the face of the hill.
In this courtyard are several buildings. One contains a stage
for the performance of sacred dances.
In another building is an altar before which worshippers burn
sweet-smelling bits of cedar, while the priest recites prayers. A
third contains some cars which are used in the annual festivals,
in which the spirits of lye-yasu and other heroes ride invisibly.
Emerging from this court, we enter a quadrangle fifty yards
long, which loads to the holy of holies of Nikko, entered by a
gateway as beautiful in execution and design as Yo-mei-moii
itself. This is called Kara-mon, or Chinese Gate, and is built of
precious woods from China, inlaid and carved with marvellous
detail and skill. At this door we were met by a bald fat priest,
who directed us to take off" our shoes. The double doors of this
entrance are richly decorated with arabesque work of flowers in
gold relief. Dragons which seem almost alive twine themselves
round the columns which support the roof. On the door is a
mass of varied decoration perfectly distributed, in such beautiful
detail and such harmonious completion, as to furnish a perfect
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NIKKO,
189
example of the thorough mastery of decorative art possessed by
the architects and builders of this marvellous series of sacred
building. - - . . . ...
A few more steps lead into the oratory, a large room 42 feet
long by 27 feet wide, covered with matting, in the middle of
which is a black table, with a small circular mirror placed upon
:7
NIO-MON GATE, ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLES OF IVE-MITSU.
it, the sole emblem of the Shinto religion. The walls of this
inner sanctuary are decorated with carved oak panels, and the
ceiling is also carved and painted.
Returning to the courtyard and passing through a small
doorway, over which is a famous carving of a sleeping cat, we
mount 200 steep moss-grown .;teps, which lead to the summit ol
the hill. Here is the tomb of the mighty^Shogun, lye-yasu, a
4^
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
simple bronze casting, in front of which stands a low stone table
on which are placed a huge bronze stork with a candlestick in
its mouth, a bronze incense-burner, and a vase with brass lotus-
flowers and leaves. Weary with six hours of wandering through
these superb temples, we return to our hotel, leaving the minor
temples of lye-mitsu for the next day.
-^ L:^
KARA-MON GATE, lYE-MITSU'S TEMPLES.
Passing through the Torii, which forms the entrance to the
group of Buddhist temples leading up to the tomb of the second
Shogun, lye-mitsu, we come to two red-lacquered buildings
standing together, joined by a covered gallery. One of these is
sacred to the Indian goddess Ariti ; a demon who had sworn to
devour five hundred children in the metropolis of Buddhism,
but who, being converted before she could carry out her fell
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NIKKO,
193
purpose, forthwith entered a monastery and became a burning
and shining Buddhist light. The other is dedicated to Amida,
and in it are preserved the bones of the Shogun Yoritomo.
Beyond these buildings is the Nio-mon, the gate of the two
Kings, at the top of a flight of wide steps. The two Kings are
a gigantic pair of muscular figures, painted red, with every
conceivable expression of warlike ferocity. Another flight of
steps leads on to the gate called Ni-ten Mon, with similar
statues painted green and red. Inside this gate is an image of
the Wind-god, painted green, who carries the winds tied up in
a long sack, slung over his shoulder. His companion is the
Thunder-god, and both of these are as furious and turbulent-
looking as Japanese ingenuity can carve them. The only
other gate worth mentioning, in the succession which lead
through the many courtyards to the tomb of lye-mitsu, is
the Kara-mon, of which I give an illustration on p. 190. All
these courts contain many temples and other buildings fully
equal in detail and interest to those of lye-yasu, surrounded
by the same cool green background of cryptomeria trees.
Returning from lye-mitsu's tomb, we pass a building con-
taining a curious life-like figure of an old man with a long
beard, and preternaturally sturdy legs. This is an image of
Enno Shokaku, a famous Buddhist saint, who possessed an
extraordinary power of working miracles and charming spirits.
He had special influence with Hill spirits, and many of the
most arduous mountain paths are the result of their joint efforts.
There is an unhappy Hill demon, named Hitokotonushi, who
dared to disobey him, fast imprisoned in the centre of one of
the Nikko mountains, who will not be let out till the Buddhist
Messiah appears, 5,670,000,000 years hence. After conferring
great benefits on the Japanese people, Enno flew away to China
in the year 701, and was never heard of again.
:
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IITH
J|t:,
194
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
His image is supported by two of his most obedient demons,
painted red and green, by name Zenki and Goki. He is still
supposed to be able to confer great physical strength, especially
in the legs, and is the favourite saint of Jin-rickisha men, who
hang up exaggerated straw sandals in all parts of the building
as votive offerings.
We spent three days at Nikko, but they were only enough to
show us the utter hopelessness of getting even an idea of the
wondrously beautiful details of the whole. Nikko remains with
me as a beautiful dream ; I do not possess much more than
a vivid remembrance of its massive temples looming warmly red
against the cool green of the dense foliage, and I can only depend
on photographs to bring bacK to my memory the infinite and
beautiful details of their superb decoration.
Nikko has a right to stand in equal rank with the finest
religious edifices in the world. Pagan or Christian ; as a triumph
of carpenter's work and of glyptic art, nothing in the world can
bear comparison for a moment. It has been an education to
have seen them, even in the hasty manner in which it has been
possible to me.
During our stay at Nikko we took a day's excursion into the
neighbouring mountains, our destination being the lake of Chiu-
sen-je, 4,000 feet above the sea, through magnificent mountain and
river scenery. The road was quite impassable for Jin-rickishas,
so we took the other popular conveyance of Japan, the Kago,
which consists of a stout basket-chair slung upon two strong
bamboo poles, carried by four stout coolies. We were a strange
procession to an English spectator. Seven Kagos, containing
three Englishmen, three Englishwomen, and Mr. Hakodate, our
Japanese guide, borne along by twenty-nine natives (I had an
extra man as usual), all stepping in time, and singing weird
chants in a minor key. We had eight miles to travel to Chiu-
NIKKO.
195
sen-je lake, with a rise of 3,000 feet. They covered the eight
miles in just four hours. It was very easy and comfortable
travelling, except downhill, which seemed to take it out of our
bearers more than going uphill. At the end of the day,
however, they did not show the smallest trace of fatigue, and
would have been quite willing to run us 20 miles in Jin-rickishas
before going to bed.
ON THE ROAD TO CHIU-SEN-JE.
From a sketch by tlie Author.
Chm-sen-je is a pretty village, with many fine tea-houses ; a
place of great resort in summer-time for wealthy Japanese.
The lake is a fine expanse of water, about 10 miles in cir-
cumference, with lovely surroundings. Nantai-san rises sheer
out of the east bank, and both it and the lower hills on the
opposite side are clad with variegated forest. The tea-houses
all front the lake, and on the other side of the road, under the
fiififs of the sacred mountain, are rows of houses inhabited by
O 2
196
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
priests. From one of these houses runs the pathway to the
summit of Nantai-san, to ascend which it is necessary to obtain
permission from the High-priest at Nikko. The stream which
leaves the lake, forms a magnificent waterfall, in two leaps
falling some 550 feet.
Count Ito, the Japanese prime minister, had invited us to a
great ball in honour of the Mikado's birthday, at which the
Emperor and Empress were to be present ; but the charms of
Nikko were too great a counter-attraction, and we did not go.
We left Nikko that morning, and the town, being the Mikado's
property, was en fete. A bamboo, with the Mikado's flag at the
top, was posted in front of every house, and the swarms of
children were all running about, making merry with paper flags
on little sticks, or flying kites. We returned by the same road
by which we came, our Jin-rickisha 'uen running the 25 miles to
Utsunomiya in just 2^ hours, or 10 miles an hour. We reached
Tokio, the capital, about nine o'clock, and drove 5 or 6 miles
through the streets. Although the capital has a population of
nearly a million, there is not a single gas-lamp in the streets.
This night, however, in honour of the Emperor's birthday, every
house had a large brightly-coloured paper lantern hung out, and
the thousands of people who thronged the streets carried smaller
ones in their hands. It was a veritable feast of lanterns, and the
effect was far more beautiful than any illumination I had ever
seen before. We went on to Yokohama by a later train.
The next few days were spent at Yokohama, with an
occasional excursion to Tokio and the neighbourhood.
One very pleasant day was devoted to a Jin-rickisha ride to
Kamakura and its great image of Buddha, called the Daibutz.
This cologpal figure, of great antiquity, is in a sitting posture,
and is forty-seven feet in height. It was cast on the spot in
sections of about six feet in height, forming one huge mass of
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NIKk'O.
197
metal, in which the divisions of the several castings arc distinctly
visible. The figure represents Buddha in meditation, and is full
of dignified repose. A large jewel is placed in the middle of the
forehead, from which light is supposed to beam, and is significant
of Buddha being "the light of the world." The interior is
hollow, and is fitted up as a temple with shrines. The curious
head-dress is composed of clusters of snails, who, out of
THE GREAT BUDDHA, KAMAKURA.
gratitude to Buddha for his love of animals, shielded thus from
the sun the exposed head of their holy friend.
We went to a neighbouring tea-house, of some note with
Japanese epicures, where we had previously ordered a real
Japanese meal. This nation shines in every fine art except
that of cooking. The whole meal was served to us at once in
five or six lacquered wooden bowls on a pretty tray, with a huge
basin of boiled rice on the floor, in a corner. Three charming
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A TRIP ROUND J HE WORLD.
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young ladies in full native costume served us, and then waited
to sec us cat, in eager expectation of fun. We first tried the
soup. It was hot water, with uncooked giblets of some un-
known fowl. No one got beyond the first mouthful. Then we
tackled a small fried fish, about the size of a sardine, seasoned
with pickled grapes and chestnuts. That we ate. Then we
attempted a third dish, which we discovered to be a large piece
of absolutely raw fish in pickled dail.on, a sort of horse-radish,
which is dear to the Japanese stomach, but which has the most
horrible smell imaginable. Many times during our stay in
Japan we have wondered at the typhoid-suggesting smells wc
experienced in the dainty and cleanly tea-houses, but on com-
plaint our guide always produced a bowl of daikon, which set
our minds at rest. There was also a mess of dubious vegetables
and some boiled chrysanthemums, but nothing on the whole
tray, except plain boiled rice, which an English palate could
stand. We were all hungry, and looked at each other in dismay.
The waitresses giggled and wriggled with delight. To our joy,
however, one of them left the room, and returned with a huge
bowl of fresh bantam's eggs, which, with the rice, furnished a
wholesome and abundant meal. As usual, the ladies of our
party were subjected to a rigorous investigation by the landlady
and her pretty waitresses. Every article of jewellery was passed
round and examined ; their hats, cloaks, and dresses were
scrutinized and discussed, and every sort of curious question put
about their families and belongings. We men were treated
with indifference and contempt, until the bill was made out,
when they all came in smiling, to get their " pocket-money."
We took a boat in the afternoon, intending to visit a small
island on which some old Shinto shrines were to be seen, but a
fleet of fishing boats attracted our attention, and growing dark
as we rowed from boat to boat, examining their tackle and nets,
NIKKO.
199
the island was abandoned. Fishing is, after agriculture, the
chief industry of Japan. There are about 200,000 fishing boats,
giving employment to some two millions of the population.
Fish, fresh and salted, is the chief animal food of the people.
We spent a quiet Sunday in Yokohama. In the morning we
went to a Union Church, at which all the religious denominations
in the European town, except the Episcopalians and Baptists
worship tog Jther. Nine different missions, American and English,
meet together in Christian fellowship, and it is hoped that by-
and-by this movement will result in a complete union of all the
native churches under the charge of Protestant Nonconformists in
one denomination, thus going far to remove what must always be
a hindrance to mission work, the appearance of division in the
Christian Church. I also saw a native congregation, that of the
Dutch Presbyterians. It was crowded to overflowing, as indeed
are most of the mission churches. There are now over 20,000
native members of Protestant churches in Japan, and Christianity
seems likely before long to crowd out the threadbare super-
stitions of Shinto and the idol-encrusted religion of Buddha.
The strong desire of leading men in Japan for assimilation to
European civilization is very likely to take the form of the State
adoption of some phase of Christianity. The dread of the
missionary is that it will be Romanism, I know of no heathen
country where the responsibility of the missionary is so great
as in Japan — or where the prospects of success are brighter.
The Japanese Christian reaches as high a standard as the
English, and the native preachers are quite as intelligent and
well taught in the Scriptures as any of our missionaries them-
selves. Besides this, influential and wealthy Japanese gladly
avail themselves of the excellent schools which have been esta-
blished by American Missionary Societies, where high-school
teaching is given, combined with instruction in the Christian
T f
900
A TRIP ROUND THE IVORLD.
religion. Miss Crosbie, an American lady, has 120 Japanese
young ladies in her fine boarding-school at Yokohama, many of
whom are the daughters of men of high position in the State.
Christianity is now more than tolerated in Japan, it is encouraged
by some of the most influential people of the country.
Every morning we go out upon the roof of our hotel to get
a view of the wonderful mountain which appears so constantl)'
upon the various products of Japanese art and manufacture ;
painted on paper, woven into textile fabrics, worked upon
lacquer and pottery, carved in relief on wooden panels of
cabinets, or chased on bronze vases. Fuji-yama, the most
sacred mountain in Japan, is a magnificent volcanic snow-clad
cone, rising in sublime isolation over I2,0CX) feet from the
plain ; its last eruption took place in 1707, and did great
mischief. Fuji-yama has rarely been out of our sight during
our excursions in the neighbourhood of Yokohama.
On the 9th of November we bid farewell to Yokohama, having
taken passage in the Japanese st«^amer " Yamashiro Maru " for
Kobe, 350 miles distant, the treaty port of Kioto, the old
capital. This is one of a line of fine boats which carry the
Japanese mails from port to port, and sail under the Japanese
flag. I have never travelled on a more comfortable steamer.
The scrupulous cleanliness of the people was visible everywhere.
The state-rooms and saloon were airy and beautifully fitted up,
and the cooking admirable. The officers of all the vessels on
this line are English, the crews being Japanese. The " Yamashiro
Maru" is a ship of about i,8cx)tons register, of J4 knots speed,
built by Sir William Armstrong and Co. She is fitted for a
powerful armament, and could be converted into a first-class
cruiser in three days. I inspected every inch of her under the
guidance of the captain and chief engineer, and was delighted
with everything I saw. During the afternoon we passed Vries
for
old
the
anese
lamer.
^here.
|d up,
:1s on
.shiro
ipeed,
for a
•class
:r the
Ighted
Vries
NIKKO.
201
Island, on which is an active volcano, which made a much better
show of flame and smoke than I have ever seen from Etna or
Vesuvius. Wc reached Kobe about five o'clock on the after-
noon of the lOth, and went up to Kioto by the first train next
morning. We put up at the most comfortable Japanese hotel
we have yet met with, the Ya-Ami, situated on the slope of a
wooded hill, with Kioto spread out before its terrace like a map.
FUJI -YAM A.
From a sketch by the Author.
Kioto covers an area of about 25 square miles, with a population
of some 350,000. As every Japanese house is the same height,
and all the temples are on the hills behind the hotel, the view is
a monotonous stretch of brown roofs, with an expanse beyond
of well-cultivated fields, closed in by a fine range of timbered
mountains about 10 miles distant. The scenery in these moun-
tains is exceedingly beautiful, fully equal to that at Nikko, but
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202
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
as our main object in coming to Kioto was to see something of
the social life and domestic institutions of the Japanese people,
we only devoted one dcty to its enjoyment. We rode in Jin-
rickishas some 1 6 or 17 miles across the range, returning by a
magnificent mountain gorge, 7 or 8 miles in extent, with
lofty cliffs and wooded hills closing in a fine rapid river,
down which we drifted, Jin-rickishas and all, in a large flat-
bottomed boat, shooting 24 rapids on the way.
At the foot of the gorge was a '-harming village, the favourite
pic-nic resort of the wealthy inhabitants of Kioto. Here are
scver^*! very fine tea-houses, and their balconies and open
chambers were filled with picturesque groups in all the
splendour of Japanese holiday attire. Here and there, alas ! were
aristocratic parties who have learned to despise the beautiful
dresses of their own artistic country, and think it proper to rig
themselves ovX in dreadful flounced imitations of obsolete Paris
fashions, of which the predominant colours are mauve, magenta,
or solferino. The gentlemen attire themselves in ready-made
" reach-me-downs " of black cloth, shiny patent-leather shoes,
and round pot-hats. The incongruity with the pretty and
charming groups in native dress was complete, and presented a
sad and sorrowful spectacle.
I <\
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Pl
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Mi-
i s
CHAPTER XIII.
SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN.
We had carefully reserved a full week for Kioto, the ancient
capital, and the most intensely Japanese town in all Japan, with
a view of seeing all we could of the social condition and habits
of the people.
They make a great mistake who think that because Japan is a
heathen country it is therefore of necessity low down in the scale
of civilization. In everything that makes a country happy,
prosperous, and contented, Japan will compare favourably with
any nation in Christendom.
The population is composed of four distinct classes, whose
difference is sharply defined in Japanese society. It con-
sists of
r. The Royal Family
2. The Nobility
3. Priests : Buddhist and Shinto
4. Common people .
30
2,000,000
. 320,000
34,000,000
There are very few foreigners resident in Japan, and these are
confined to the treaty ports. There are about 2,500 Europeans
and 3,000 Chinese. There are also in the treaty ports a con-
siderable number of Eurasians, the illegitimate offspring of
European fathers, whose existence goes far to justify the com-
plaints of missionaries that it is the Christian and not the
:M''
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
i. ;.
I-
Buddhist heathen who keep back the spread of Christianity
in the East ; and also perhaps explains the almost universal
contempt with which the merchant class in the East speak about
missionaries. The irreligion and open immorality of Europeans
in Japan and China, with some honourable exceptions, is very
bad indeed.
The working classes in Japan are poor. Wages, from our
standard, are exceedingly low. But all the necessaries of life
are correspondingly low, and if "he is richest whose wants are
fewest," the Japanese are rich enough. The day's work in Japan
is ten hours. Labourers get from ^d. to i^d. a day ; carpenters,
2s. 6d. to 3J". ; mechanics, 2s. to 2s. 6d. ; machinists and black-
smiths, 2s. to 3^. ; farm labourers, \od. to \s., with board ; tea
firing and packing, lod. to is. 6d. ; potters, ordinary hands, 2s.,
skilled hands, 3^. to 8s., piece work. Painters and decorators of
pottery, art metal workers, lacquercrs, and the host of artistic
workmen who produce the beautiful works which decorate
European houses so plentifully, often earn from los. to 15^. a
day, and become rich.
The cost of living is very small. It may be judged by the
fact that single men in large towns can get good bed and board
for $d. a day. Japanese live almost entirely on rice, fish, and
vegetables, with eggs as a luxury. I have seen dozens of
Japanese meak prepared for the families of working people, and
it is invariably the same — three bowls, one of rice, one of mixed
vegetables, and one of fish, fresh or salted, and often raw ! These
meals are sold ready cooked for about three-halfpence, and
probably do not cost families half that sum per head. The work-
ing people are as well housed as ours at home, and their houses
are all scrupulously clean. Taxation, both Imperial and local, is
extremely light, and hardly touches the working class. Every
town and village has an abundant water supply, the sewage
SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN.
207-
)y the
board
(h, and
:ns of
le, and
I mixed
These
|e, and
work-
Ihouses
)cal, is
Every
sewage
and refuse of every house being collected nightly, and carefully
used in agriculture.
Education is cheap to the well to do, and free to the poor..
There is a system of Government primary schools professing to
be within reach of every child, and this seems probable, as there
are over three million of children receiving instruction in 29,ocx>
elementary schools, besides 180 high schools, and 71 normal
schools or training colleges, in which are 5,300 persons being^
trained as teachers. The total annual expenditure on education
is ;^i, 500,000.
I visited one of the ordinary elementary schools of Kioto, the
Dragon Pond School, at which 500 children are educated. The
fees are %d. per month for the lower forms, and 13^. for the
higher ; the poor, as I have already mentioned, being educated
free. How the distinction is arrived at I could not find out.
The course includes reading, writing, dictation, arithmetic,
algebra, and mathematics, the use of the counting machine,
a little English, music, and gymnastics. The head-master
received us in a large room, on the walls of which were frames
containing the rules of the school, the duties of each teacher,
and a fine frame containing a testimonial from the Mikado, who
once visited the school, and sent this afterwards to the head-
master. The inevitable tea was served, and we were then
conducted round the buildings, which were a series of one-
story class-rooms, grouped round a playground. The first con-
tained a class of girls about ten years old, who went through
a series of gymnastic exercises with clubs, dumb-bells, and bar-
bells. The second held a class of sixty boys and girls, who
were being taught elementary Japanese music, a female teacher
marking time with two wooden clappers. The children sang
several pieces in a monotonous minor key, which was, to our
untutored ears, very dull and disagreeable. The third room
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
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contained a reading class of sixty boys. The master had a
large blackboard, on which he wrote a sentence containing some
moral sentiment. He spelt it over for the class with great
distinctness, and then explained its meaning and application.
Having done so, he asked every boy who thoroughly understood
it to hold up his hand ; about half the class did so. The master
then went carefully over the ground again, and asked all who did
not understand to hold up a hand. Three boys responded,
whereupon the master left his desk, visited each of them one
after the other, cleared away the boys' difficulty, and thus got
the whole class instructed. This once secured, each boy, with
Indian ink and paint-brush (the universal Japanese pen), care-
fully copied the sentence from the blackboard. I went round
the class to see the copies, and at last understood how it is that
the Japanese are the finest draughtsmen in the world. We next
visited the elementary reading class, where the same system of
patiently insisting on every member of the class understanding
his lesson before going on to the next was pursued. The head-
master told me that no boy or girl in the school would dream of
holding up the hand unless they really did understand what the
master was explaining.
The lower forms consist of boys and girls mixed, but in the
upper forms the instruction divides itself, and the sexes with it,
We then went to the classes of the higher standards. Each boy
and girl here has a seat, and a desk arranged to hold writing-
box, books, and slate. There are eight class-rooms in all. In
one I saw the prettiest picture imaginable. It was a large light
room, the walls covered with a cream-coloured paper decorated
with a raised pattern of flying storks, and the floor carpeted with
pale green matting. In the middle of the floor fifteen or twenty
pretty Japanese girls from twelve to fifteen were sitting on their
heels, in the bright-coloured clothes they love so well, each with
in the
lith it.
[h boy
•iting-
ll. In
light
)rated
with
/enty
SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN.
209
a jaunty flower stuck in her chignon, cutting out or stitching
men's and women's dresses. Each girl had a nice lacquered
work-box full of coloured silks. This charming group of girls,
clad in gay but perfectly harmonious colours, surrounded by
pale cream-colour and sea-green decorations, formed a tableau
not easy to forget. Every girl is turned out of a Japanese
school, not only able to make her own clothes, but her husband's
also. In another room was a large class of girls singing from
European notation. They sang for us some Japanese poetry
to the tunes of "Rousseau's Dream" and "Auld lang syne"
very sweetly and accurately. In a month or two they will
have an organ, and will learn part music.
On the whole, and taking the different social circumstances of
the two countries into account, I think the Japanese elementary
education is quite equal to our own. I was much impressed
both by the excellent discipline of the school and the earnestness
of the pupils. No warning was given of our visit ; we simply
went to the school, and begged admittance. It was to the
children the same thing as if six Japanese ladies and gentlemen,
in full national costume, suddenly appeared in the class-rooms of
a London Board School. Yet not a child whispered to another,
and the work went on with the same precision while we were
present as when we were absent. The children and teachers
seemed at perfect touch with each other, the earnest attention of
the one being equalled by the kindness and patience of the other.
The higher schools of Japan are as good in their way as the
elementary, and above them all is the University of Tokio, with its
five colleges of law and political economy, medicine, engineering,
literature, and science. In these colleges are upwards of 1,200
students, taught by 100 professors. Six hundred of the students
are taught foreign languages. Among the professors are
Japanese who have graduated at Oxford, Cambridge, London,
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
¥
and Victoria Universities in England, Cornell and Michigan
in America, Strasburg and Leipsic in Germany. The classics
taught are old Chinese and Japanese literature. This University
of Tokio is based upon the German standard, and will compare
favourably with any of the smaller German universities. Ger-
man influence is becoming increasingly powerful in Japan.
The Government of Japan appears to be popular and firm.
At present it is an absolute monarchy, but a constitution and
Parliament is in the air, and will not long be withheld. There
is not much political sentiment in the country. Ito, our guide,
is a bit of a radical, and took us to a public meeting v;here
some orators were airing a grievance. There was a very small
attendance of listless politicians, listening to a fiery speech from
a tiny little lawyer, who was as fierce as a dragon. The chair
appeared to be taken by two policemen in uniform, who sat at a
table making notes of the speech, stopping the speaker with a
sounding smack of their staves upon the table when he ran too
near the edge of sedition. It was a ludicrous performance, as
the little orator was chucked up every two or three minutes.
The Emperor is highly spoken of by every one as an
intelligent and progressive monarch. He is thirty-five years old,
the direct descendant of the gods, and inherits by primogeniture.
The crown has been on the head of his direct line of ancestors
for 2,200 years. His advisers are ten cabinet ministers, who are
the heads of the great departments of state ; viz. : Foreign and
home affairs, finance, law, army, navy, education, agriculture and
commerce, public works, and the Imperial household. Below
them is a senate of about forty members, chosen by the Emperor
for distinguished service to the state. This senate discusses all
legislative questions, and their decision becomes law, subject to
the approval of cabinet and Emperor. There is also a council
of state, appointed by the Emperor, which has administrative
n?
SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN.
211
and executive functions. Local government is in the hands of
forty-four governors of as many provinces. Local taxation is
settled by provincial assemblies elected by men twenty-five
years old, who pay not less than 30^. of land tax. There are
about 1,800,000 of these electors in the forty-four provinces.
The state religion is the religion of the minority, but it only
A SHINTO PRIEST.
receives about ;^20,000 of public money. There are two religions
in Japan, Shintoism and Buddhism. Their relative strength is
18,000 Shinto priests and 76,000 Buddhist priests. So many
of the population belong to both religions, and so many others
ridicule both, that one can only estimate their relative strength
by the number of priests. I have failed to make head or tail of
either religion, having neither time nor inclination for their study.
P 2
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
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They seem to me, however, to be fast decayin^T and ready to
perish. They are huge masses of superstition encrusted on a
sublime foundation, none of which is now visible.
The national expenditure of the Japanese is the modest sum
of ;^io,ooo,ooo. More than half the revenue is obtained from
the land tax, which averages about 1 5^-. an acre on rice-fields
and about 4J. an acre on other cultivable land. The rest comes
from charges on mines, roads, alcohol, tobacco, post-office, stamps,
carriages, ships, railways, telegraphs, and import duties.
Justice costs ^^"300,000, police and prisons £/^oo,ooo, army
;^i,400,ooo, navy ;^45o,ooo, pensions ;^6o,ooo, and ;^3,5CX3,ooo
goes towards the redemption of a national debt of about
;^50,000,000.
There are about six million landowners with very small
holdings, whose tillage I have referred to in previous chapters.
Every man from seventeen to fifty years is liable to military
service in case of invasion. The standing army, with reserves,
is 110,000 strong.
They have an excellent little navy, well-manned and quite up
to modern warfare. It is, I suppose, the most powerful possessed
by any nation on the Pacific Ocean.
The area of Japan is 148,000 square miles, with a population
of thirty-seven millions.
There is a simple poor law, by which infirm and aged poor
receive enough rice to live upon. There are only 10,000 paupers
in all Japan. But that is not strange in a nation of tea-
drinkers.
The forests mainly belong to the Government, and cover
thirteen million acres. I believe there is a law that every tree
in Japan over a certain girth belongs to the state. This, how-
ever, is not rigorously claimed.
The exports are about six millions sterling, consisting chiefly
T\
SOCIAL LIFE IN /A PAN.
ai3
cover
jry tree
^s, how-
chiefly
of tea, silks, porcelain and lacquered ware, bronzes, camphor,
ginger, &c.
The imports are about four millions. England has the lion's
share of the trade of Japan. At Kobe, when I was there, there
were twenty-four large steamers on the berth, of which five
were Japanese ; of the remaining nineteen, twelve were English,
four German, two American, and one Belgian. The tonnage
of the English steamers was three times that of all the
others combined.
Japan publishes about two hundred newspapers, which have
an average circulation of each issue of about four thousand
copies.
The country possesses 250 miles of railway, 4,800 miles
of telegraph, and 6,000 post offices.
No foreigner is allowed to leave the boundaries of the Treaty
Ports without special permission from the Foreign Minister,
which must be applied for through his ambassador. The reason
or this is that European countries will not consent to submit
their citizens to Japanese law, but insist on trying them in the
Consular Courts of the Treaty Ports. Whenever European
powers are willing to admit Japan to equality as a civilized
nation, the Japanese Government will gladly throw the whole
country open, and permit Europeans to settle and trade where
they please. There is a good deal of soreness on this subject
among educated Japanese, and the short experience I have had
of their country inclines me to sympathize fully with them in
their demand that Europeans shall submit themselves to Japa-
nese law. Their Government is now engaged on a code of
criminal and civil law based on the Code Napoleon, and when
this is completed it will be impossible to refuse them full and
equal entry upon the rights of civilized nations. Japan is
probably now the safest country in the world for the traveller,
214
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
either as regards person or property, though twenty years ago it
was just the reverse.
The Japanese are a gay and light-hearted people, fond of
pleasure and amusement. I spent several evenings in going to
their theatres and other places of entertainment, accompanied
by Mr. Ito, the clever and intelligent guide who went with Miss
Bird in her travels through "unbeaten tracks in Japan," and
who had also acted as guide to my friend Mr. H. W. Lucy. He
I
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MUSIC.
is well acquainted with the social customs of the people, and
speaks English with great fluency. Women never take part in
Japanese theatres ; when they come into a play their parts are
taken by boys. The Japanese play is a lengthy business,
beginning at lo o'clock in the morning and going on to 1 1 at
night. They are mostly historical romances with tremendous
dialogues, reminding me of my schooldays and the dreary pages
of "Racine." The company come early and bring their dinners
with them, making a day of it.
[e, and
)art in
Irts are
isiness,
II at
;ndous
pages
linners
SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN,
9tS
Other theatres are given up to conjurers, athletes and acrobats,
dancing girls, and music, but all are conducted with a decency
and propriety very different from similar places at home.
There is nothing whatever in Japanese amusements that need
call a blush to the cheek of an English school-girl. Intoxicating
liquors are never sold at any place of amusement, and very little
anywhere else. Tea is the national beverage, and is brought
out on every occasion. It is
served on a tray with a small pot
surrounded by delicate little por-
celain cups, and drunk hot without
sugar or milk. Sak6, or rice beer,
is the only intoxicant used in Japan,
but the majority of the population
are absolute teetotallers, and a
drunken man is a rare spectacle.
Japanese children have much
amusement provided for them, and
the most popular of all the theatres,
for old or young, were those where
some fairy tale or story was recited,
to a running illustration of magic-
lantern views. It is seldom one
sees children without a toy of some
sort, and in every town there is
a "children's street," generally one of the avenues to a great
temple, where little theatres abound, little archery grounds. Aunt
Sallies, small zoological gardens, performing monkeys, and what
not, with endless toy shops where porcelain toys, dolls, kites,
flags, battledore and shuttlecocks, balls, and tops, may be bought
by fond parents for their jolly, laughing, happy children.
One of the favourite amusements of the Japanese are the
DANCING GIRL.
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
performances of the singing and dancing girls. The ladies of
our party had heard so much of these performances that Mr. Ito
undertook to arrange a private display for their benefit at one
of the principal tea-houses in Kioto. These girls are quite a
class by themselves. They begin their profession at twelve
years of age, anJ are apprenticed to their employer, who is
bound to teach them not only their art, but to give them a very
high general education. Half their pay goes to their parents,
and the rest accumulates for their own benefit until they marry.
They are jealously looked after and taken care of Their
performances consist of an acted story, some of them in panto-
mime acting the part, while others sing the tale. In our sense
of the word they do not dance at all, they simply place them-
selves in tableaux illustrative of the sung story.
We were shown, on arrival at the-tea house, into a large upper
room, where chairs had been placed for us, all the rest of the
space being covered with the usual matting, and lighted with tall
candlesticks and candles. Presently the performers came in.
There were eight in all. Two were dressed in pretty silk robes
of brown and dove-colour combined, and took their seats against
the wall, each with a samisen, or Japanese guitar, which they
played with a broad strip of ivory. The other six were dressed
in long robes of bright red and dark blue, and were the actors
of the tableaux. They all sat on their heels in a row in front of
us, and appeared to be young girls of fourteen or fifteen. They
were very modest and well-behaved, but at once began a merry
conversation with us through Ito, displaying all the amusing
curiosity of the Japanese. They were greatly interested in the
ladies' dresses and jewellery, asked all sorts of questions about
England, and evidently despised a maiden lady of our party of
some fifty summers, because she had lived to such an age
without a husband. We asked a few questions in our turn, and
SOCIAL LIFE IN JAPAN.
2x7
found that they had all entered the profession to help their
parents, speaking of them with much love and affection. I
asked the names of each, and had them translated by Ito. The
literal translation of the two singing girls* names was " Singing
Pine Tree," and " Noble Soft Lady." The tableaux girls were
" Singing Leaf," " Thousand Years Old Pretty," " First Happy,"
*' Small Sour Plum Blossom," " Pleasure," " Deer," " Chrysanthe-
mum." I won't attempt the Japanese equivalents.
Conversation over, one of them brought in tea, and the usual
sugar-plums accompanying it. In return I handed round a
box of compressed chlorate of potash tablets, which I always
carry in my pocket, which the young ladies munched up
and swallowed with many faces, quite under the impression
that they were very choice English sweatmeats. They are as
palatable r,s Japanese sugar-plums, anyhow.
The performance then commenced. Mr. Ito was in raptures
with it, and assured us it was the highest art Japan possessed.
The music was horrible and ear-splitting. The song was
extremely lengthy, and droned in a monotonous minor. We
had two — one was thirty-five minutes long, the other forty.
The first was descriptive of the pairing of birds in spring and
the love passages of the lion and peony. It was illustrated
by a series of tableaux, in which bright fans and coloured
handkerchiefs were brought into much requisition. The second
was a dreary ditty in which a young daimio or prince is telling
his nurse of all the cruel treatment he has received from his
lady-love, and of the acts of heroism he has performed with a
view to its abatement. We were glad when the time arrived to
make the young ladies a present of pocket-money, and wish
them good-night. I heartily wish that the decency and
decorum of Japanese amusements could be imported into our
theatres and music-halls. From the costly performance I have
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
just described down to the poor theatres where the admission is
less than a halfpenny, an English girls' boarding school might
witness everything.
The only places where ribaldry and indecency is to be seen in
Japanese performances is at the Treaty Ports, for the sole benefit
of Europeans, and chiefly for Englishmen.
The Japanese have nothing approaching to our Sunday, either
for religious worship or a day of rest. They have, however,
about twenty public holidays in the year, and judging from the
way in which all classes throng the theatres and tea gardens
during the daytime, they are not slack in taking as much rest
in one way and another as will make up for our fifty-two
Sundays and four bank holidays. They resort to the temples in
great crowds on religious holidays, but as a rule they leave
religion till they are old, like other nations of the world.
( 219 )
CHAPTER XIV.
JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
Among the sights which most attracted me at Kioto, were the
palace of the Mikado and the ancient castle of the Shoguns.
These are both difficult of access, as permission must be
obtained from the minister of the Royal Household. This was
secured for our party by the kindness of Mr. Trench, the British
Charge d' Affaires, and we lost no time in availing ourselves of
the privilege.
We first visited the palace, which is a modern building,
re-constructed after a great fire about thirty years ago. It is
built entirely of cedar, and is a huge wandering one-story
building, without any pretensions to architectural beauty. Its
great attraction, like that of all other Japanese buildings, is
found in its internal decorations, for which this palace er;oys
great repute, the best artists in the country having been
employed upon it. We felt somewhat of a shock, therefore,
when on arrival we were shown into a reception room covered
with a detestably bad tapestry carpet of the loudest pattern,
surrounded with cheap European chairs covered with "Sol-
ferino," the worst of aniline dyes ; I fear but a foreshadowing
of what will happen to all the rest of the palace as " Western
civilization " continues to prevail at the Mikado's court, es-
pecially if its influence be German, as at present.
In this room we were speedily joined by two Court officials,
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
h '-!:
who had been instructed to show us round. Each room led out
of the other by a series of sliding walls. The first suite
consisted of three handsome reception rooms, covered with fine
matting, bound with red, the Mikado's colour, forbidden to
subjects. These rooms, like all the resj, were entirely devoid of
furniture, which is never used in Japan, everyone sitting on the
floor, tables and other necessary articles being only brought into
the room when required for use. From these rooms we were
shown into a charming suite of family apartments, consisting of
seven or eight small chambers, surrounding one large parlour, in
the centre of which was a raised dais, covered with a beautiful
white silk canopy, within which the Mikado was secluded from the
rest of his family, until the reforms of twenty years ago. Passing
on through a courtyard, we enter the large hall in which the
Mikado holds his court reception. This room is about lOO feet
long by 80 feet wide, with a dais and canopy in the centre. The
walls are decorated with a series of portraits of distinguished
literati of China, Korea, and Japan. The large ante-room, in
which the nobles assemble, is divided into three sections, each
a step higher, on which the three distinct grades of nobility
are separated. Behind these rooms is the Mikado's study,
with recesses and cupboards in the wall, of decorated lacquer
work, for books and writing materials. All these rooms are
ornamented with paintings in distemper on a dead gold
paper, the most beautiful decorative art I have ever seen. The
scenes are nearly all drawn from Nature, and are mostly
arrangements of animal and forest life. The Japanese have an
intense affection for birds, insects, and flowers. The Buddhist
religion encourages this sentiment, for it forbids the destruction
of the smallest created thing. No Japanese child would try to
catch a butterfly, tie a string to a mouse's tail, pull the wings off
a fly, or perform any of the barbarities on dumb animals that
llfl
JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES,
221
our English children so often delight in. This harmony
between human beings and the lower creatures enters largely
into Japanese art, and they specially delight in decorations in
which animals are represented in the full enjoyment of life.
Thus, one of the walls in these beautiful rooms represents storks
on reedy sandhills, with seashore and waves ; another a mass of
blossoming briers with song birds fluttering about them ; a third
a pleasant river, overhung with wisteria in blossom, with
swallows skimming over the surface ; a fourth represents moun-
tain deer drinking at a rush-grown lake, over which curlews are
disporting themselves ; a fifth, of singular beauty, one of the few
which escaped the fire, had one panel decorated with a vine
in full fruit, in which squirrels were chasing one another about,
while the three other panels of the same room displayed a
woodland scene of marvellously painted foliage, under which
the various animals of the forest were moving about in perfect
grouping, the whole forming a picture of which Landseer himself
might have been proud.
We had spent three hours in admiration of this charming
series of decoration, and had arrived at the end of what Mr.
Ito, our interpreter, informed us was all that was ever shown.
The two officials, after a little consultation, then informed Ito
that it was so seldom that any of their foreign visitors cared
for the beautiful work on the walls as we had, that they would
relax the rule in our favour, and show us the Mikado's private
apartments as well. These were the most exquisite of all.
They consisted of nineteen or twenty small rooms, even more
perfectly decorated than the public reception rooms. The
Mikado's bedroom contained a wardrobe in sixteen panels,
representing flowers, birds, fruits, insects, and fishes, that con-
stituted, to my mind, as perfect a specimen of decorative art
as the world could produce.
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
The next day we visited the Shogun's Castle. This building
is about 250 years old, and is entered by a magnificent gateway
20 feet wide and 50 feet high, richly decorated on every inch of
available surface with gilt bronze and carved wood panels of
birds and flowers. The " Castle " is a large, one-storey house,
similar in character to the Mikado's palace, and decorated in
the same fashion. The interest, however, is greater, as the
decorations of the castle are of the same date as the building,
and painted by the great artists of the finest period of Japanese
art, while those of the palace are modern reproductions of
similar work destroyed by the fire. The various rooms of the
castle are divided, for ventilation I think, by wide friezes of
pierced woodwork of finely-carved subjects of birds and flowers,
which, in combination with the distemper panels below, had
a very striking and beautiful effect. It is very curious, in
studying these two palaces, to notice how much that is best
and loveliest in modern European decorative art has borrowed
its inspiration from the great artists of Japan. It would be
wise for the authorities at South Kensington to try to
obtain a series of the finest of these decorative panels, copied
by competent Japanese artists. I can conceive of nothing
that would be of greater service to those clever students who
are doing so much to raise the standard of decorative art in
England. They would show how perfectly the Japanese, in
their marvellous work, discard all unnecessary detail, and seize
simple and symmetrical forms only.
As we came away from the castle, my daughter and I could
not resist the temptation of entering one of the charming tea
gardens to which Japanese families resort when they give
festivities. The garden was at the back of a tea-house,
and consisted of about twenty raised wooden platforms,
some 10 or 12 feet square, each of which was completely
r^
JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
333
in
surrounded and rendered private by flowering bushes of chry-
santhemums in pots. On entering, the garden looked like
a fine flower show. These compartments were filled with
merry parties at dinner, and as we passed in front of each
entrance the host would politely invite us to enter and
partake of his hospitality. Mr. Ito informed us that it would
be considered polite if we accepted one of these invitations
after we had walked round the gardens, and we did so,
joining for a short time a family party of seven or eight,
who were celebrating a birthday of one of the children. We
declined the food, but took tea and sweets, chatting with
them through our interpreter. They were very anxious to
know if my daughter was married, and at first rather despised
her, in that she was not. But on my explaining jocularly
that she was waiting for the young Mikado (a lad of eight),
they accepted the statement with perfect gravity, and saluted
her with profound respect. Ito afterwards told us that
they would consider it ill-bred to show doubts of any
statement, however preposterous, made to them by a stranger
and a guest. No intoxicating lii.;uor was being consumed on
the premises ; all were drinking tea with their little banquets.
The only sign of strong beverage visible was in a picture of
Mr. Gladstone, with Hawarden Castle in the background, laying
aside his axe while he imbibed a pot of stout with keen enjoy-
ment depicted on his countenance. This was the highly-
coloured advertisement of the beverage, and was evidently a
treasured specimen of the finest English art, dear to the
soul of the tea-house proprietor, who called our attention to it
with justifiable pride.
During our stay in Kioto, I visited several manufactories of
some of the staple industries of the country, with which we are
familiar in England, such as pottery and porcelain, cloisonn^e
t
224
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
Ml
enamels, lacquered wares, bronze and metal work, and textile
fabrics.
Perhaps the finest of all the arts of Japan is that of
lacquering upon wood. This ware is in universal use in Japan,
and is largely exported as well. Boxes, trays, bowls, dishes,
cabinets, cups, vases, bottles, and, indeed, almost everything
which we make of glass, in Japan is made of lacquered wood.
The manufacture is not carried on at large factories, but in the
homes of the workpeople, in rooms scrupulously clean and free
from dust. The cup, bowl, or other article is cut out of a piece
of perfectly dry wood, and finished in a curious lathe, whose
spindle revolves first one way and then another, with the same
action as a bow drill. When a perfectly smooth surface has
been secured, coat after coat of lacquer is laid on, and the whole
ground down to a fine hard surface by means of charcoal, and
polished with the ash of deers' horns. The finest specimens are
decorated with gold ; thick lacquer is laid on by a fine hair
pencil in floral and other designs, powdered gold being shaken
over the sticky surface, and burnished when dry. The designs
are often in high relief, and sometimes are quite elaborate
pictures. I have a little medicine box in gold lacquer, about
three inches by two inches, on which the artist has drawn about
one hundred wild horses in every possible attitude, the whole
forming a most delicate and beautiful work of art. Often the
lacquer is inlaid with pearl and ivory carved in relief, and,
indeed, there is no end to the variety of treatment possible
in this interesting manufacture.
The lacquer tree is one of the commonest in Japan, and the
clear varnish is taken from it when the tree is from five to eight
years old. The bark is sliced from the trunk and the stem
nicked here and there with a knife. The exuding juice is
scraped off, and when no more will come the tree is cut down,
'f 1
xtile
t of
apan,
ishes,
thing
wood.
in the
d free
piece
whose
- same
ce has
; whole
lal, and
ens are
ne hair
shaken
lesigns
aborate
•, about
about
whole
"ten the
lef, and,
possible
land the
Ito eight
Ihe stem
I juice is
it down,
JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
225
chopped into small pieces, and soaked in water for some days,
after which a quantity of the varnish is skimmed off the surface.
The Japanese export large quantities of pottery to all the
countries in Europe, producing artistic porcelain at a price and
of a quality that defies competition. There are upwards of a
hundred potteries in Japan, employing many thousands of the
population, but I could get no statistics. The pottery produced
in Japan during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is the
most beautiful in the world, and has been copied in every great
centre of porcelain manufacture in Europe. The well-known
" Crown Derby " is directly copied from the products of Imari,
I'n Japan, while the ware known as " Satsuma '* has furnished the
motive for the best work of the Royal Worcester potteries.
We visited a great many of the shops where various kinds of
pottery was produced. Those working on a large scale had
little to show that was really fine, and it seemed to me that
the enormous demand for their wares which has set in lately,
and which gives no sign of abatement, is slowly deteriorating
the high quality of both decoration and workmanship. But in
some of the smaller factories, where the work was carried on by
a single family, aided by one or two specially-trained assistants,
we saw specimens that were as fine as anything Japan has
produced at her best period. There is, unhappily, everywhere a
tendency to overload with decoration, and to depart from that
charming simplicity which characterised the old art of Japan,
and this is visible not only in pottery, but in their enamel,
bronze-work, and textile fabrics. I bought from a curio dealer
at Nikko an old kettle of forged iron, round which twined a
single spray of blossom inlaid in gold and silver, with two or
three figures seated under it. It is an exquisite piece of work,
its special charm lying in its simplicity of treatment. I was
told at Kioto that a silversmith was reproducing this old inlaid
Q
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
I . ..
work, and I went to his shop to sec what it was like. He was
producing excellent results, but his kettles were so overloaded
with decoration as to lose all suggestion of being intended to
boil water in. An old Satsuma cup is decorated with a
single chrysanthemum only, or perhaps a golden pheasant in
flight, or a tender spray of plum or cherry blossom just straying
round it. A modern Satsuma cup will have a flower garden
spread over its entire surface, and the vendor will urge you to
buy it because it has fifteen different specimens of butterflies
and insects perched on the blooms.
If the Japanese maintain the old traditions of their decorative
art, their trade in pottery, bronzes, enamels, embroideries, silk
fabrics, lacquer, and art work generally, already of great pro-
portions, will increase indefinitely. In America alone, where
there are no art manufacturers worth naming, they ought to find
a market that will employ every pair of hands they can train.
But if they push their mania for Western influences too far I
think they will find that Western ideas are best carried out by
Western brains, and that it is Japanese art in its integrity, and
not Japanese imitations of English and French art, that
will succeed in bringing prosperity to their workshops.
On the 14th of November we left Kioto, with many regrets,
and took the train to Kobe, embarking the same evening on
board the P. and O. steamer "Thibet " for Nagasaki and Hong
Kong. Next morning found us in the famous Inland Sea of
Japan, a long strait between the two principal islands, from 10
to 30 miles wide, stretching 240 miles east to west, and ex-
panding into six great lagoons, dotted over with rocky and
well-wooded islands. There is about 700 miles of seaboard to
the Inland Sea, densely populated, every inch of available soil
on the islands and the mountain flanks being under fine culti-
vation. I counted on the chart 407 islands between Kobe and
f
IV}
m
3 was
oadcd
cd to
ath a
ant in
raying
garden
you to
:tcrflies
;orativc
ies, silk
;at pro-
, where
t to find
in train.
;oo far I
1 out by
rity,
and
irt, that
rets,
reg
ming on
id Hong
Sea of
from 10
and ex-
;ky and
Iboard to
lable soil
ine
culti-
lobe and
A STREET SCENE, KIOTO.
Q 2
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m
IS
th(
tlK
the
the
Fn
wei
tiar
of
JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
229
Simonoscki ; on each side ranges of lofty mountains rise 6,000
or 8,000 feet above the sea, and the combinations of mountain,
island, and village, with stretches of blue water dotted with
junks and fishing boats, formed one long succession of charming
pictures from dawn to sunset. We passed the narrow straits
of Simonoseki, about half-a-milc wide, at dusk, and were soon
out in the open sea, heading for Nagasaki, which we reached
about nine o'clock next morning. The Inland Sea, though full
of swift currents and whirlpools, is perfectly safe navigation, and
as it Is well lighted throughout, it is navigable night and day.
THE INLAND SEA OF JAPAN.
From a sketch by ike Author.
Entering Nagasaki harbour, the terrible island of Pappcnburg
is pointed out to us, the scene of the martyrdom of the last of
the Japanese Christians, in the seventeenth century. Early in
that century there were over two millions of Christians in Japan
the disciples of Jesuit missionaries. The Ruler of Japan, dreading
the increase of the new religion, and alarmed at the number of
Franciscans, Jesuit priests, and Spanish mendicant friars who
were pouring into the country, determined to suppress Chris-
tianity altogether, and decreed the expulsion from his dominions
of all the foreign priests. The Christians, headed by their
If
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230
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
priests, rose in rebellion, and were defeated. No quarter was
given, and the new religion was stamped out with fire, sword,
and torture, prisoners being offered the choice of recantation
or crucifixion. But few of these Romanist converts abandoned
their faith, and hundreds of thousands were horribly slaughtered.
The history of Christendom furnishes no greater instance of
sacrifice and heroic constancy. The Christians made a final
PAPPENBURG ISLAND, NAGASAKI.
From a sketch by thx: Author.
stand against the Shogun in an old castle near Nagasaki, which
they fc»rtified strongly. Two months' siege reduced it, and the
garrison, amounting to many thousands, were hurled from a
steep rock on the island of Pappenburg, now a favourite pic-nic
resort for the people of Nagasaki. The great Shogun thus
obliterated the last trace of a hundred years of Papal Chris-
tianity. It remains to be seen whether the determined efforts
which are being concentrated on Japan by English and
JAPANESE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 231
American evangelical Christianity will succeed with a people
who once accepted in such numbers, and with such devotion
the ritual of Rome. I think it will. Japan has moved on since
then.
Nagasaki is one of the famous harbours of the world. It is
about six miles long and a mile wide, land-locked by high hills,
with good anchorage and deep water throughout. It is an
important coaling station, some thousands of tons of good coal
being raised every week from an island about ten miles off.
We remained there about seven or eight hours, and then pro-
ceeded to Hong Kong, where we arrived on Sunday morning at
10 o'clock.
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232
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
CHAPTER XV.
HONG KONG.
Forty years ago Hong Kong was only a barren island in the
midst of an archipelago at the entrance of the Canton river,
inhabited by a male population, who combined the innocent
pursuits of fishing and stone-quarrying with the more exciting,
pastime of piracy, an amusement of long standing, the name of
" Ladrones " (thieves) being given to the islands by the Portu-
guese of Macao, two hundred years ago. From all I hear the
name is still well deserved, for Hong Kong is the Alsatia of
Canton, and whenever a citizen of that blackguard city goes a
step too far he bolts for Hong Kong.. Piracy, too, still exists.
Every Chinese sea-going j-.unk cai'ries a couple of cannon and a
stand of small arms, ostensibly for protection from pirates, but
in reality to enable them to do a little piracy on their own
account when opportunity offers, in the shape of a weaker junk
than their own, when they destroy all evidence of their crime by
slaughtering all on board.
The island of Hong Kong presents a very picturesque
appearance from the sea. It is a single rugged mountain ridge,
broken into several striking peaks- from 1,500 to 1,800 feet high,
with wooded ravines running down between them to the sea
shore. It is about 11 miles long and from two to four miles
wide, enclosing an area of 29. square miles. The main entrance
to the magnificent land-locked harbour is by the Lymoon Pass,
only half a mile wide.
IP.
HONG KONG.
233
The harbour is one of the finest roadsteads in the world. It
is surrounded by mountains from 1,000 to 3,000 feet high, with a
depth of water varying from 20 to 60 feet, covering an area of
over 10 square miles, every inch of which affords good safe
anchorage. There are three good entrances from the sea, well
lighted at night.
It is impossible to imagine a more beautiful spectacle than
resque
ridge,
high,
lie sea
miles
Itrance
Pass^
-'KS'
.^^
THE KOWLOONG HILLS, HONG KONG HARBOUR.
From a sketch by the Author.
that presented from the deck of our
steamer as we dropped anchor in Hong
Kong Harbour. Steamers and sailing
ships of every nationality were riding in the roadstead, the sur 'ace
of the water swarming with junks and boats of every description,
lending life and animation to the scene. On one side the island
of Hong Kong, with its lofty peaks steeped in the morning-
sunshine, the white villas and gardens of the Europeans on the
slopes above the town glistening like pearls and emeralds ; the
brown native town, the blue sea flecked with a thousand little
sails, and "the British fleet a-riding at anchor" in the fore-
ground. On the other side the busy wharves and graving docks
of Kowloong, the frowning forts of Stonecutter Island, and the
lofty mountains of China beyond. It is not always thus. In
summer terrific hurricanes, called typhoons, brew in the mis-
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A TRIP ROUND TH£ WORLD.
named Pacific Ocean beyond the Philippine Islands, and visit
Hong Kong in the full strength of their devastating circle. One
of the finest of the noble buildings on the Kovvloong side of the
harbour is the Observatory, on the roof of which is a pole and
red ball, the dreaded typhoon's warning. When the glass
begins to fall anxious watch is kept on the red ball, and when it
is run up to the top of the pole a sight worth seeing begins.
The 2,000 junks, sampans, hakans and other boats bolt hot foot
from the quays of Hong Kong, every sail set and every oar out,
and pack themselves out of harm's way under the sheltering
wing of Stonecutter Island. Every steamer gets up steam
promptly, and all who can get in huddle into a sheltered corner
with Her Majesty's fleet. The population get indoors with all
speed, securely closing every window, shutter, and door, and all
wait the arrival of the dreaded enemy. The barometer falls an
inch an hour, till it gets round almost to "set fair" the wrong
way, and then a blast like a shot from a hundred-ton gun falls
upon the town and bay. Junks and boats which have not gone
to Stonecutter's are blown ashore and piled in matchwood on
the beach, verandahs fly down the streets like kites, even the
great granite blocks of the sea wall are torn from their position,
and ocean steamers have to drive their engines at full speed to
keep their anchorage. The loss of life and property is some-
times very great in spite of all precautions. Steamers have been
driven together and broken like pipkins, and large ships have
been stranded far above high-water mark. Two days after a
great typhoon in 1 874 ninety-six corpses were picked up on the
smallest island in the harbour.
The P. and O. launch took us ashore about eleven o'clock on
Sunday morning, the other passengers waiting for the hotel
launch. On reaching the jetty fifty Chinese 'long-shore coolies
leaped on board, seized our portmanteaus, and began tugging
if
HONG KONG,
n%
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and fighting over them like vultures over a carcase. Our luggage
and they, in " one wild burial blent," tumbled on shore, and we
gave it up as lost. To our great relief, however, a small man
who had come ashore with us, a P. and O. luggage clerk, rushed
into the mel^e, belaboured the coolies with fist and boot, and
in about three minutes an orderly procession of twenty, four to
each portmanteau and two to each Gladstone bag, started for the
hotel, the energetic P. and O. at the head, my daughter and
I bringing up the rear. The procession briefly halted at the
hotel office for the number of our rooms, then solemnly ascended
to the third floor, and the luggage was deposited in our two
respective chambers. I asked P. and O. how much I was to pay,
and he instructed me to give a halfpenny each ! I gave them a
penny, P. and O. rebuking me gravely for " spoiling the market,"
and they appeared abundantly content. Presently, however, P.
and O.'s back being turned, they all came clamouring for
more on the plea of "too much piecy top side," by which
they meant to signify three pairs of stairs, but P. and O.
suddenly returning, swept them out of the hotel with many
thumps and kicks.
Stick and fist seem to be the only treatment meted out to the
coolie population of Hong Kong. It may be quite true, as some
Europeans urge, that no other argument prevails, but I am not
surprised that " China boy " in return steals whatever he can,
and sticks a sly knife into a European skin every now and
then.
Immediately after lunch we started out to see what we could
of the only real Chinese town we shall visit in our travels,
as we cannot spare time to visit any portion of the Chinese
Empire. Hong Kong is virtually two towns. In one the
European merchants and their clerks, with the military and
naval forces, live ; in the other the Chinese.
I
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236
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
There are 8,000 population in the one, 160,000 in the other,
and the smaller population covers the most ground. Two
leading thoroughfares, Queen's road, and the Praya or Quay,
run through both quarters. The Queen's road contains the
shops, clubs, banks, and hotels, the Praya the merchants' offices
and warehouses, with wharves and jetties innumerable. It is in
contemplation to extend the Praya sixty feet further out into
the harbour, as the traffic of the port is becoming congested for
want of space.
China town consists of three or four good wide thoroughfares,
parallel with the Praya, out of which wander narrow filthy lanes,
swarming with people of all ages and both sexes, and suggesting
a very maggoty, mouldy cheese more than anything else. The
people are rough, brutal, uncivil, villainous-looking, in marked
contrast to the charming and delightful population we have left
behind us in Japan. The open shops and pleasant tradesmen
we saw there give way to grimy, dark little dens, the windows of
which are covered with glass, it being unsafe to leave goods ex-
posed to view in Hong Kong, thieves being not only abundant but
universal, while escape in the crowded streets is certain and easy.
The wide distance which is usually maintained between
precept and practice is amusingly illustrated by the scrolls one
sees hanging up in every shop, on which are printed exhortations
from Confucius in praise of honest traders, and commending
civility to strangers.
The Hong Kong shops are famous emporiums for Chinese
curiosities, and here one may purchase silk and satin embroideries,
filagree work, pipes, gold bangles, and earrings, sandal wood
boxes and fans, carved ivory, carved walking-sticks, carved horns,
tortoise-shell work, and dead birds of wonderful plumage ; the
workmen who are manipulating these various articles sitting in
the window to be stared at by the passers by.
"P
; other,
Two
Quay,
ins the
' offices
It is in
)ut into
3ted for
ghfares,
ly lanes,
Tgesting
;e. The
niarked
lave left
adesmen
dows of
ods ex-
Id ant but
nd easy,
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oils one
rtations
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[Chinese
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At
I
HONG KONG.
239
The signboards arc often in Chinese and English, the latter
being generally of the kind known as "pidgin." Many of the
shops hang out wooden emblems, a practice common enough
in our own country.
As one wanders further and further from the English town.
Hong Kong gets frowsier and more ruffianly every yard, till
Tai-ping-shan is reached (the Hill of Great Peace, as it is face-
tiously called), where a seething mass of blackguardism exists.
Here are the sailors' and soldiers' grog shops and their inevitable
associations and surroundings, resorted to by seamen of all
nationalities, and women of the most degraded character. Low
music halls, liquor bars, old clothes shops, pawnbrokers, filthy
cook shops, and filthier opium dens abound everywhere, with
dirt, squalor, and population to match. I have never seen a city
so lovely as Hong Kong, when viewed from a respectful dis-
tance, nor one in which beauty of situation and magnificence
of buildings was laid so completely cheek by jowl with ugliness
and horror of every kind.
In the better part of China town the streets are very quaint
and picturesque, running up the side of the hill in a series of
long steps, with shops on each side. The whole population is on
foot, everyone being either carried in a sedan chair or walking.
There are a few jin-rickishas plying for hire on the level ground,
but there are only two carriages in Hong Kong, the governor's
and Mrs. Jardine's, the wife of the leading merchant of the place.
The streets are full of perambulating tradesmen ; water-carriers,
with buckets at each end of a bamboo cole ; fruit sellers with
baskets of pears, grapes, oranges, brilliant persimmons, and
shaddocks ; while others vend pieces of sugar-cane, pea-nuts,
and sweetmeats. Coolies go round the houses carrying huge
cages of live chickens, ducks, turkeys, quails, and other birds.
At street corners are open-air restaurants with fearful viands
^31 1
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240
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
displayed for sale, and at which Chinamen stand devouring
the dainties with great gusto, a dish of grey greasy cabbage
with fids of fat pork being the favourite. In some shady corner
is a letter-writer, who varies his occupation with a little fortune-
telling and quackery. The only open shops are the barbers', who
are kept busy all day long shaving their customers' heads and
faces, and trimming and anointing their long pigtails. The
Chinese are so particular about their shaving that they have the
inside of their ears and nostrils shaved with delicate dainty little
razors. All these, with many similar incidents, make a Chinese
street a perfect kaleidoscope of movement and colour.
After spending two or three hours in China town we called on
Sir William des Vocux, the Governor of Hong Kong, to whom
we iiad introductions. Government House is about 150 feet
above the town, surrounded by private grounds, and a public
garden beautifully situated and charmingly laid out, in which
palms, cactuses, poinsettas, bougainvilleas, aloes, hibiscus, ferns,
orchids, passion-flowers, and a score of other plants which only
flower with us in hothouses, were blooming in the November
sunshine. The Governor asked me to dine with him that
evening, to meet some of the leading officials of the colony, from
whom I got a large amount of interesting information, some of
which I will record presently.
The following day the Governor proposed we should spend
with him on board his steam launch, visiting the various points
of interest in the harbour and round the island ; and on the day
after Colonel Storer placed the Royal Engineers' launch at our
disposal, Major Camperdown, R.E., kindly accompanying us, to
show us the fortifications and explain the defences of the port.
We thus were enabled to see more in the three days we were
in Hong Kong than, unaided, we could have seen in a
week.
HONG KONG.
241
ill I
uring
•bagc
orncr
•tunc-
', who
s and
The
vc the
Y little
!hinese
lied on
whom
50 feet
public
I which
s, ferns,
"h only
^vember
that
from
3ome of
m
ly
spend
s points
the day
at our
g us, to
he port,
ive were
n in a
At Kowloong, when finished, there will be the largest dry-
dock in the world, capable of holding the new ironclad, the
" Trafalgar," or the longest merchant steamer afloat. It will be
completed next March. When busy, the Hong Kong and
Whampoa Dock Co., who are building this dry-dock, employ in
their engine sheds and shipbuilding yard over 4,000 hands, all of
whom, except the foremen, are Chinese.
The harbour and its inlets swarm with fish of many kinds,
and the Hong Kong fish market is one of the best in the
East.
I thought I knew most ot the methods pursued in different
parts of the world to catch fish, but I find a new one at Hong
Kong. All round the island and on the mainland opposite are
small clusters of huts where the fishermen live. In front of this
a stage runs out into the sea, on which is a rough wooden
windlass, attached to a huge drop net. This net is lowered to
the bottom, and all the boats put out from the shore, form into
a circle, and slowly close in upon the net ; the fishermen, by
means of long poles with which they beat the water, by striking
gongs, and uttering fearsome yells, frighten the fish over the
drop net, which is then wound up from the platform full of the
spoil of the sea. It sounds very primitive, but they catch fish,
and that's the great thing after all.
Hong Kong is a Crown colony, with a Governor and Council.
Its revenue is about ;^230,ooo, and its expenditure about
;{^200,ooo, with an extraordinary expenditure last year, mainly on
fortifications and other public works, of ^^135,000. Its revenue
is derived as follows : — From Crown lands and quarries, ;^30,ooo ;
markets and piers, ;iC 12,000; licences — spirit ;^7,ooo, opium
;^32,ooo, miscellaneous ;^4,ooo ; stamps, ;^30,ooo ; municipal
rates, ;^52,ooo ; postage, ;^22,ooo ; fines and fees of courts, light
dues, junk licences, and other miscellaneous items, ;^40,ooo.
r t r
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343
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
Ifi'i
w
The expenditure is roughly — MiHta'ry, ;{^22,ocx) ; police, ;{^32,ooo ;
post office, ;^2i,ooo; judicial, ;^i 3,000; prisons, ;^9,ooo; fire
brigade, ;£'2,5oo; harbour, ;^8,ooo; gardens and plantations,
;^3,ooo ; Surveyor-General's department, ;£"9,ooo ; various- police
offices, ;^ 1 5,000 ; education, ;£"/, 500 ; roads and bridges, ;{'6,ooo ;
works and buildings, ;{i"i 2,000; the Governor's pay, £6,000.
There is a magnificent water supply brought to the town from
the hills by a fine aqueduct, which is a marked feature in the
landscape. ;^3 5,000 of the extraordinary expenditure of last
year was in connection with this ; about ;{"i 6,000 was also spent
in sanitary improvements.
The Council, which constitutes the Government, consists of
the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Commander-in-chief,
the Registrar-General, Treasurer, and Sui .cyor-Gcneral, and the
Registrar of the Supreme Court. These eight form the Exe-
cutive Council. The Legislative Council, which makes the
laws for the colony, consists of the eight above named, the
Chief Justice, and five unofficial members, all of whom are
justices of the peace, and one of whom is a Chinese.
The pension list of the colony reaches ;^4,5oo annually,
about half of which goes to the police.
The following nations are represented by resident consuls : —
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chili, Denmark, France, Germany,
Hawaii, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Siam,
Spain, Sweden, and United States. This gives a good idea of
the various nationalities which throng the wharves of Hong
Kong.
The places of worship are the cathedral, with about 400
worshippers ; a seamen's mission, 70 ; a union nonconformist
church, 300 ; a small German chapel, 100 ; four Roman Catholic
churches, with 2,800 worshippers, mostly Portuguese. All these
are European churches.
HONG KONG.
243
ooo;
, fire
tions,
lolicc
),ooo ;
DO.
1 from
in the
,f last
spent
ists of
i-chicf,
ind the
e Exc-
:cs the
ed, the
cm arc
inually,
isuls : —
:rmany,
Siam,
idea of
Hong
)ut 400
\formist
.athoHc
,11 these
The London Missionary Society (Congregationalist) has four
services in chapels or rooms in China town, with an aggregate
congregation of about 500. The Church Missionary Society
lias got a little room which holds about 50, seldom full, and
German missionaries have three congregations, numbering
altogether about 200. The Roman Catholics have five Chinese
chapels, with a total attendance of 500.
It does not speak great volumes for Hong Kong Christianity
that forty years of English government and influence shows but
1,200 Christian worshippers in a population of 160,000 Chinese
subjects. Missionaries do best the further they get away from
" Christian " colonists.
The educational statistics of Hong Kong do not make one
too proud of the department. There must be at least 16,000
children of school age in Hong Kong, yet there are not 6,000 in
school attendance. There are any number of schools. Sixteen
arc Government schools, one of which costs ;^3,ooo to administer,
and is a school for the better class of Europeans, with an M.A.
at the head of it. Fifteen are Government-aided schools, the
masters of which are granted £10 a year, and 50 are missionary
schools, which receive small grants in aid, and which educate
4,000 out of the 6,000.
The currency of Hong Kong is the Mexican silver dollar, and
about four millions of paper money issued by three banks.
There is also a Colonial silver currency of 20, 10, and 5 cent
pieces.
The shipping returns for Hong Kong ought to silence those
who are so fond of quavering about the decadence of British
trade and commerce. Hong Kong is the greatest trade
emporium in the East, the heart from which pulsates the com-
merce of a third of the human race, China, Japan, and nearly all
Oceana. It will be interesting to analyse, from the shipping
R 2
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244
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
returns of Hong Kong, what is the share of all this trade which
falls to England as compared with her many competitors for the
trade of the East.
27,222 vessels of all nations, with a gross tonnage of 6,324,000
tons, and crews amounting to 470,000 men, entered and left the
port of Hong Kong last year. Of these vessels 23,100, with a
tonnage of 1,753,000, were Chinese coasting vessels, bringing
their country's produce to this great distributing centre ; thus
leaving for all other countries 4,100 ocean-going vessels, with a
total capacity of 4,570,000, or an average of about 1,100 tons
each. Of these three-fourths of the whole, both in number and
tonnage, were English, leaving just one-fourth for all the other
nations of Europe and the world.
I will give, in order of precedence, the exact returns for each
nation.
British. .
German
Vessels.
2,982
676
Tonnage.
3,372,000
488,000
French
123
176,000
United States
III
149,000
Danish
55
23,000
Dutch . . . .
38 . .
50,000
Spanish
Austrian
33
23
19,000
45,000
Norwegian .
22
22,000
Siamese
16
7,500
Itahan. . .
1$ .
19,000
Russian
S
12,600
Japanese
Belgian
7
I
5, 000
850
Hawaiian
I
350
This most satisfactory return is not due to the fact that Hong
Kong is a British port, for pretty nearly the same results would
be shown by an analysis of the foreign carrying trade of New
York, Odessa, Genoa, Alexandria, Antwerp, Havre, or Hamburg.
If
HONG KONG.
245
The number of fishing boats frequenting the harbour and
bays of Hong Kong is estimated at 3,000 ; the families all live
on board their boats, and, it is said, re .ch a total ^of 30,000
souls.
The average rate of wages for labour in Hong Kong is very
low. Domestic servants (all male), 4^. 6cl a week without food ;
ij. Id. per week with food. Chinese workmen at trades, 3^. 6^.
with food. Day labourers, U. per day ; blacksmiths, 2s. ;
carpenters, \s, 4^. ; masons and bricklayers, is. id.
The Chinese are terrible thieves. Nearly 17,000 persons were
brought before the police magistrates last year for various
offences, larceny and unlawful possession being the majority ;
about: 400 for drunkenness, piracy, and kidnapping. Burglary,
highway robbery, and assaults make up most of the balance.
The daily average number of prisoners in prison is about
700. It must, however, be borne in mind that many of these
criminals ought to be in Canton prison instead of Hong Kong
if they got their deserts.
w
»
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246
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
CHAPTER XVI.
SINGAPORE.
On the afternoon of November 22nd we were dropping slowly
down Hong Kong Roads on board the Pacific and Oriental
steamer "Ancona." We had about a score of cabin passengers
and some 200 Chinese coolies, who were being taken out to
Singapore by a labour company. These coolies engage for a
term of years. The company pay them so much a month, and
contract to bring them back at the end of their term of service.
About a mile from Hong Kong I heard a sudden splash.
Running to the side and looking over I saw a Chinese coolie
calmly striking out for a small boat a quarter of a mile off,
which pulled to meet him, and into which he climbed. A small
steam launch, which had been following the " Ancona," swooped
down upon the boat, and we could see the coolie through our
field glasses dragged into the launch, and thrust into its hold.
It was explained to us that these rascally coolies get a month's
pay, about 30^. in advance, and that if any of them can slip
overboard undetected they make for shore, ard engage in the
next gang, pocketing the month's pay. In consequence the
steamer conveying them is followed out to sea by the agents of
the Labour Company, who pick up their man as he jumps
overboard, and then send him to prison as a warning to his
fellows. During the passage of the " Ancona " from her anchor-
age to the open sea no less than six jumped overboard, of whom
SINGAPORE.
247
only two were retrieved by the launch, four escaping in boats,
every fisherman apparently being in the swindle.
We had a pleasant and uneventful passage to Singapore,
which we reached in less than five days, arriving on Sunday
morning about noon. We moored alongside the coal wharves
of the Pacific and Oriental Company, which are about three
miles from the town. The heat was very great. Singapore
being almost on the equator, the same temperature prevails
almost all the year round, and although the sun had been
clouded over all the morning the thermometer stood over 90° in
the shade. After lunch we started off in a carriage to see what
we could. The carriages are covered with a thick roof, and the
sides and ends are open all round, with windows of open wood-
work, which can be drawn up as a shield from the burning sun.
It has long been one of my dreams to see the tropics, and I
looked eagerly out of the carriage for plants and trees
familiar to me as a horticulturist and cherished in hot-houses at
home, which I longed to see growing in their native heat. The
first hedge we came to contained a shrub and two creepers in
bloom, which were familiar greenhouse friends, and every
garden we passed was a mass of bananas, palms, pineapples,
cactuses, and flowering plants. I have never seen such greenery.
Talk about Ireland as the Emerald Isle ! Singapore is an
emerald all the year round, for here it rains eighty inches in the
year, with a vertical sun blazing on everything between the
showers.
We drove through the town to the botanical gardens, a park
of some 300 acres, beautifully situated on the sunny slope of an
evergreen hill, the most delightful garden imaginable, nearer to
Eden than I could have believed anything on earth to be. Here
were great forest trees a mass of crimson bloom, delicate-leaved
acacias forty or fifty feet high, with vermilion blossoms at the
' 'III
M ■( fl' II
248
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
n
end of every twig, shathodeas covered with their great orange
flowers, bushes of yellow allamanda, brilliant crotonc, with
ixoras, begonias, hoyas, eucharis lilies, stephanotis, callisteraons
and every variety of orchids, blooming in the open air. In the
ponds were the wonderful Victoria Regia lily and the scarlet
lotus. In spite of the burning sun we wandered through the
garden for nearly two hours, at the end of which we were
thankful to adjourn to a friend's house in the neighbourhood
for a cup of refreshing tea. Thence we repaired to the cathedral
for evening service. We found it a very fine church, with a
choral and processional ritual. It was strange to see three
rows of huge punkahs or fans running down the whole length of
the cathedral, waving back and forward all through the service
over the heads of the congregation. I was glad to escape from
the pompous cathedral service to a hearty little meeting of
soldiers and blue jackets at the Sailors' Rest, a coffee house and
recreation room established for their benefit by an excellent lady
who lives in Singapore, Miss Cook, to whom I was introduced
after the service, which was conducted by Col. Cardew, who
commands the regiment of infantry stationed at Singapore.
On Monday morning we again drove into the town, as the
steamer was not to sail before four o'clock. Singapore appears
to consist of three towns. The business or English town, Malay
town, and China town. They are all connected by a wide
esplanade facing the harbour, between two and three miles
long. There are many fine buildings. The Post-office, the City
Hall, the Police Barracks, the imposing Public Library, the
Cathedral, and the Government Buildings are all handsome
stone edifices of considerable pretensions. The town is full of
open spaces, beautifully laid out, especially the Chinese park, a
charming little garden of four acres in the middle of the most
densely populated district. There is another pretty garden of
SINGAPORE.
249
ten acres, in the middle of the esplanade, facing the cathedral,
covered with a green sward like velvet, and surrounded by
magnificent trees. The esplanade itself for more than a mile
is shaded by a double avenue.
The great business centre is Commercial Square, surrounded
by banks, shops, and warehouses. Seven leading streets radiate
from this centre, presenting the usual gay and lively scenes
peculiar to an Eastern commercial city, in which the 140,000
inhabitants of Singapore swarm, clad in the brilliant and
picturesque dresses of their twenty-five nationalities, relieved
by the rich brown skins of those who wore no dresses at all.
I suppose there is no place in the world where such a con-
glomeration of peoples is gathered together as appear in the
busy streets of Singapore. The Blue Book of the Colony
distribuces the population among the following nationalities : —
Achinese, Africans, Anamese, Arabs, Armenians, Bengalis,
Boyanese, Bugis, Burmese, Chinese, Dyaks, Eurasians, Euro-
peans, Japanese, Javanese, Jawi, Pekan, Jews, Malays, Manilamen,
Parsees, Persians, Siamese, Singhalese, and Tamils. About half
the population are Chinese, next come Malays, and third in
strength Tamils from Southern India.
One is much impressed by the scarcity of women in the streets.
Chinese women, however, do not leave their country readily, and
although there are 72,000 Chinese males in Singapore, there are
only 14,000 Chinese women ; there is also but one Tamil woman
to four Tamil men. The Malays, being the natives of the plac 3,
have their population pretty equally divided between tie
sexes.
The smart dresses of the Malays form the r.iost striking
feature in the scene. It consists of a single piece of silk, woven
in as many and various colours as Joseph's coat, twisted round
the waist, and hanging down petticoat fashion to below the
iif'J
Iff
i
ill
'm
1
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In
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250
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
knees ; a piece of white muslin or cotton cloth thrown pictur-
esquely about the shoulders, with a noble turban of crimson
silk.
This finery is for the streets only, for a glimpse into house
or shop reveals these same dandies squatting about on floor or
counter with nothing on but a loin-cloth, the children contenting
themselves with a tin fig-leaf about the size of a penny tied
round their waists with a string.
The chair of Hong Kong and the jin-rickisha of Japan find no
place in Singapore, though there are a few of the latter. The
conveyances here are the Indian ** gharry," drawn by active wiry
little ponies about eleven hands high, which bowl you along
at the rate of eight or nine miles an hour with wonderful
endurance. Their drivers are all Malays dressed in full native
costume.
I always like to visit the markets in every strange town.
Singapore, like every other Eastern town, is well off in this
respect, and the supply of food of all sorts is as usual in the
hands of the industrious Chinese, who catch the fish, grow the
vegetables and fruit, raise the ducks and poultry, and import
the beef and mutton. The food dearest to the Chinaman's soul
is duck and pig. All round Singapore are small farms in which
pigs are reared for the market, and ducks are hatched by arti-
ficial incubation. One of these hatching establishments rears
from 25,000 to 30,000 ducks every month. The hatching house
is just a small hut, roofed with tiles, with arrangements for so
modifying and retaining the sun's heat within the building that
it is maintained at one even temperature day and night. Ducks
alive, ducks dead, and ducks roasted and baked, are the leading
feature of the Singapore markets. After ducks come fish, which
are caught in great quantities in the bays and straits of the
archipelago of islands, of which Singapore is the centre, and
i town,
[in this
in the
row the
import
n's soul
1 which
by arti-
s rears
house
for so
,ng that
Ducks
leading
., which
of the
re, and
SINGAPORE.
251
which are brought to market fresh, or rather alive, twice a day,
at daybreak and at two in the afternoon. Cuttle-fish are in
great demand ; crabs shaped like long-tailed fans, whose tails
are full of green eggs about the size of a pea, are also a great
delicacy. Prawns, six inches long, are prized for curry, and the
variety of fish of all sizes ranged from a 12-foot shark to the
tiniest transparent whitebait.
The shark appeared the staple food of the poor in fish diet ;
but the bonita, a fish that looked like a two-foot herring, small
sword fishes, gar-fish, a creature that seemed all fins and head,
another with a head so big that its eyes look out from the
middle of its sides, and a fish about the size and character ot
the chad of the English channel, were all plentiful and cheap.
One whole side of the market is given up to dried and salt fish,
which made one thirsty even to look at. Another avenue is
devoted to "chow chow," or cooked food of all sorts, where
groups of Chinese and Malays were squatted about enjoying
fearsome-looking dainties of various kinds and flavours. The
meat supply comes from Slam and India, and the fowls mainly
from Cochin China and the Malay Peninsula. In the market
we brought some fruit for lunch. The far-famed mangosteen
was in season, and is a delicate pulpy fruit about the size of a
large strawberry, with a fine subtle sub-acid flavour, embedded
in a husk about f inch thick. Nothing could form a prettier
study of colour for a school of art student than the freshly-
broken mangosteen, with its kernel of shining pulp, milk
white streaked with a little yellow, embedded in the bright
chestnut brown of its husk. Large pineapples at \d. each,
great clusters of golden bananas and mangoes, green-skinned
oranges, persimmons from China, lychees, custard apples, cocoa-
nuts, and other tropical fruits were displayed in tempting
profusion, but a punnet of Kent strawberries or a pound of
m
ili
( ■'
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252
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
:' ' J,
Maydukc cherries are, in my opinion, worth the whole fruit
market of Singapore.
From the market we drove some three miles into the country
to see the garden of a wealthy Chinese millionaire merchant,
who has made a hobby of it for years. I don't know how much
money the wonderful tropical houses at Chatsworth have cost
the Duke of Devonshire, nor how many thousands a year it
takes to maintain them, but Mr. Whampoa knocks them into a
cocked hat with a dozen coolies at wages of less than is. per
day. He wants no costly conservatories designed by a Chinese
Sir Joseph Paxton. His two lakes covered with Victoria Regia
leaves as big as open umbrellas, with their gorgeous flowers as
big as a wide-awake hat, thrive better under the blazing canopy
of the equator than they can ever hope to do at Chatsworth or
at Kew under glass and over coals. All the shelter he wants
for his vast collection of orchids is a little open matting
stretched across a bamboo frame, or the natural foliage of some
tree on whose trunk the orchid clings. Even Mr. Chamberlain
must take a back seat behind Whampoa as an orchid grower.
Here and there in the garden are summer-houses on tiny
islands, reached by miniature bridges, i;xactly like the pictures
on willow plate china. Trees and si; rubs are cut into the
shapes of dogs, birds, horses, cows, mandarins, and what-not, the
effect being heightened by the introduction of fierce glass eyes,
artificial hands, heads, and feet, which give a very ludicrous
grotesqueness to the garden generally.
Singapore harbour is wide, deep, and well sheltered. The
great demand of every steamer which enters it is coal ; lying, as
it does, just half-way between Colombo and China, it is one of
the most important coaling stations in the world. It is well
fortified with three excellent, newly-constructed forts, which
look formidable enough, but which are dumb dogs for want
SINGAPORE.
253
of guns, long promised by the Home Government, but not yet
forthcoming — the Ordnance Department of the British Govern-
ment being the worst-managed and most exasperating branch of
the public service.
There are four fine graving docks in the port, the largest of
which is 475 feet long, 60 feet wide, with a depth of water
21 feet. There are about one and a half miles of wharves,
alongside of which ocean steamers can lie, with a stock of
300,000 tons of coal, a tempting bonfire to an enemy's cruiser
in times of war.
The Straits Settlements consist of the Islands of Singapore
and Penang, and the town of Malacca on the mainland ;
subsidiary to the Government of the Straits Settlements are the
dominions of the Sultans of Johore and Perah, whose territories
lie along the Straits coasts of the Malay Peninsula, and who
are virtually under the care of a Resident ; and some smaller
native states, who look to the Straits Government for counsel
and help.
The annual revenue is about ;^6oo,ooo, of which two-thirds
is derived from opium and spirit; licences (some ;^38o,ooo).
The revenue from land is ;^65,ooo ; from pawnbrokers'
licences, ;£'25 000; stamps, ;{^5o,ooo ; port and harbour dues
;^i2,ooo; postage, ;^i8,ooo; profit on coinage, ;^io,ooo; mis-
cellaneous receipts making up the balance. The increase of
1886 over 1885 was nearly ;^40,ooo, denoting very satisfactory
material progress.
The expenditure con??sts of the following items : for salaries
in all the civil departments, ;^26,ooo ; for administration of
justice, ;^8o,ooo ; for police and gaols, ;^20,ooo ; for niedical
service, education, ;^2o,ooo ; ports and harbours, ;{i 12,000;
postal services, ;^io,ooo; works and buildings, ;^i6o,ooo; roads,
bridges, and canals, ;^2 2,000 ; military expenditure, ;^40,ooo ;
jHf
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254
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
:1l!:t'i'
pensions, ;^ 15,000; which, with a scries of miscellaneous items,
makes up a total expenditure of ;^5 80,000, leaving a good
surplus, and a decrease on the previous year of about ;^i 5,000.
The exclusive privilege of retailing opium and spirits is
farmed out for a term of three years, and the Chinese are the
principal competitors for both. A licence to keep an opium shop
costs 40J. Spirit licences vary from £16 to ;^8 for hotels and
saloons ; small spirit shops, 40i'. ; toddy and bhang shops, 40^.
The income from opium and spirit licences is greatly on the
increase, showing that in Singapore, as everywhere else where
English influence sways the habits of natives, intemperance is
increasing instead of diminishing. The revenue from these
farmed licences has grown in twelve months, 1885- 1886, from
;^340,ooo to ;^38o,ooo. No check of any kind seems to be
placed on the issue of any number of these licences, which
appear to be issued at the discretion entirely of the man who,
for a lump sum, farms the right to grant them. I drove a circle
of 15 or 16 miles round Penang Island, and every little village
and hamlet had its spirit or toddy shop. Surely a Government
whose revenue shows a steady increase and regular surplus,
might devote some of its energies to reducing the appalling
number of opium and spirit shops. I was not surprised to hear
that missionary efforts in the Straits Settlements met with but
scanty success.
The local revenues of the municipality of Singapore arc
;^8o,000, and the expenditure about the same. This is raised
by assessment on houses, taxes on carriages, rent of markets,
water rates, &c. The administration is all that can be desired.
The water supply is excellent, the roads level and well made,
the streets clean and well swept, the town well lighted, and the
same may be said of Penang, whose local revenues are ;iC40,ooo.
The public debt of the colony is the modest sum of ;^40,000.
SINGAPORE.
JS5
items,
good
300.
its is
re the
n shop
;ls and
5S, 40J.
on the
where
ance is
these
5, from
3 to be
, which
in who,
a circle
village
rnment
iurplus,
palling
to hear
ith but
)re arc
raised
larkets,
Idesired.
|l made,
ind the
140,000.
40,000.
There is a volunteer corps in Singapore, which claims to be the
first ever started in the East Indies, and indeed it is older than
any of our existing corps at home, except the ist Lancashire,
having been established in 1854. It consists of one officer, and
fifty-one non-commissioned officers and men. It drills between
thirty and forty times in the year, and costs £160.
The composition of the Executive and Legislative Councils is
much the same as that of Hong Kong, described in the last
chapter. There is one Chinese on the Legislative Council.
The Governor draws a salary of ;^4,ooo a year, with free
quarters at Government House, and various allowances and
perquisites ; the Colonial Secretary is paid ;^ 1,600, with free
quarters; the Treasurer ;^r,ooo, the Surveyor-General gets
;^l,200 a year besides his pay as Colonel of Royal Engineers,
the Commissioner of Lands ;{^i,ooo, the Harbour Master .1^700,
the Postmaster-General ;^700, the Chief Justice ;^2,ooo, the
Puisne Judge ;^ 1,400, the Registrar ^C/oo, the Attorney-General
;^i,300, the Police Magistrates from ;^6oo to ;^8oo, the Bishop
;({^ioo! the Colonial Chaplain ;^6oo, the Inspector of Schools
;^700, the principal Medical Officer ;^8oo, the Inspector-General
of Police ;^8oo, European policemen ;^8o and free quarters with
rations, the Superintendent of Prisons ;{^8oo, with free quarters ;
and the superintendent of the Botanic Gardens ;^400, with free
quarters and ;^70 travelling expenses. I don't think the salaries
pail to these leading officials can be considered excessive, taking
into account the responsible work they have to do and the
blazing climate in which they have to do it. At Penang and
Malacca the Resident Councillor gets ;£" 1,000 a year and free
quarters, and the Resident at Perah, who is to all intents and
purposes the actual governor of the country, receives ;^3,ooo a
year.
The total population of the three towns of Singapore, Penang
i-
ill
IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)
V
io
{/
A
l/x
1.0
I.I
1.25
150 '"^^ llllli
Z US 12.0
12.5
12.2
1.8
14 11.6
y]
/\
/A
k
vV
A
256
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
I
II II! I
and Malacca is 424,000, of which 174,000 are Chinese, 174,000
Malays, and 3,400, including military, are Europeans.
The heathen of the Straits Settlements are not much troubled
by missionary zeal. How is it, I wonder, that we so persistently
neglect the conversion of the heathen at our own doors in our
various Crown colonies? Can it be that the specimens of
Christianity who form our governing and merchant classes are
of such quality that missionaries find it impossible to get the
heathen to believe in the religion whose products they are?
The fact that a " Christian " Government draws the bulk of its
revenue from the encouraged vice and degradation of the popu-
lation, may go far to account for the obstinate preference of a
Mohammedan native for a religion which enjoins total absti-
nence, and forbids the social habits which produce Eurasians?
The merchants say the missionaries are idle and worthless, the
missionaries retort in kind, and for myself, I fear that in
Singapore, at any rate, there is truth on both sides. There is a
magnificent cathedral at Singapore, with a Right Reverend
Bishop, a Venerable Archdeacon, and an Assistant Colonial
Chaplain. There is a surpHced choir to boot. The S.P.G. has
also a missionary, who gets ;^300 or ;^400 a year. The only
natives visible at the cathedral services are the fifteen or twenty
Malays who, standing outside the building, pull the punkah
strings to cool the fashionable worshippers inside. The only
attempt to reach the heathen by the Church of England
is a small school chapel, at which there is an attendance of fifty
or sixty at most.
The Presbyterians have a fine handsome chapel for
themselves. I surveyed it from the outside, and it had a
fashionable congregation of 1 50 or 200. Fifty or sixty carriages
were waiting outside, with as many native servant:^ as there
were good Presbyterians inside. The minister gets ;^500 a
SINGAPORE,
as;
[74,000
roubled
istently
1 in our
lens of
sses are
get the
ey are?
,k of its
,e popu-
ice of a
il absti-
irasians ?
iless, the
that in
lere is a
leverend
Colonial
P.G. has
rhe only
»r twenty
punkah
rhe only
England
;e of fifty
apel for
it had a
carriages
as there
5 £SQO a
year and a free house. The English Presbyterian Mission have
one clerical and one lay missionary. They have four small
rooms in Singapore in which they hold services, and in none of
which do they muster a congregation of fifty souls. I do not
venture to judge these gentlemen. I am quite sure from all I
heard that they were excellent and pious men, but the results of
their labours are miserable and unsatisfactory, and I cannot but
think that their methods and plans of working must be wrong.
In Penang the Nonconformists have no missionary whatever,
but the Church of England (S.P.G.) maintain an excellent native
missionary to the Tamils, who seems to be meeting with
some measure of success. He has an average congregation
in Penang of eighty-five out of a total Tamil population of
25,000.
In Province Wellesley there is an undenominational Protestant
mission, with an English minister and four native assistants.
They have services in five places, and possess three small
chapels, none of which will hold a hundred persons. They have
sixty or seventy Chinese worshippers among the lot. The
Church of England people keep a clergyman for themselves
at a salary of .^350, and have three " Catechists," who work
among the Tamils.
At Malacca, the Colonial Chaplain ministers to English
residents at a salary of ;^55o, and they pay Mr. Chong Sin Tai,
to convert the Chinese, a salary of ^30! Nonconformists do
not put in an appearance at Malacca.
So much for Protestant zeal for the conversion of our heathen
fellow-subjects in the Straits Settlements. But v/hat are the
Roman Catholics doing ? may be asked. They have twenty-five
chapels in the colony. They have forty-one priests, missionary
priests and Catechists, with aggregate congregations of 6,500. I
think it would be well if the secretaries of our various missionary
S
258
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
■ 1 1
societies spent twelve months in the East trying to find out
how it is that Jesuits succeed so well when they fail so com-
pletely.
What I fail to understand is the comparative zeal and success
of Roman Catholicism and the comparative failure of Protestant-
ism in the conversion of the Eastern heathen to the Christian
faith. The fact is there, and is stubborn. I draw the figures just
quoted from returns furnished to the Government of Singapore
by the various denominations themselves, and published in the
Blue Book for 1886.
The imports from all countries into the Straits Settlements are
;^i2,8cx),ooo, and the exports to all countries a shade over
;^io,ooo,cxx),the bulk of this enormous trade being the collection
at this great " corner shop " of the world of the produce of the
surrounding islands of the Malay Archipelago, and its distribution
to England, Europe, and America.
The Straits Settlements are free ports, open on equal terms to
the commerce of the world. The total imports and exports
from and to the British Empire reach a total of ;^8,400,ooo.
The total imports from and exports to every other nation in
Europe and their colonies, including French India, French
Cochin China, Java, Sumatra, Celebes, and all the other Dutch
islands, Portuguese India, and the Philippine Islands reaches
;^6, 500,000. This is a remarkable instance of the supremacy of
British commerce, drawn from a free port in the very centre of
all the most important colonies of our European competitors,
containing populations of over fifty millions, on an area of
470,000 square miles ; in the midst of which we are squatted on
two small islands and a tiny province.
This is brought out more forcibly by a comparison of
shipping statistics, which demonstrate how completely English-
men and English trade dominate in every part of the earth,
SINGAPORE.
259
i out
com-
iccess
stant-
ristian
:s just
japore
in the
nts are
e over
ilection
of the
ibution
erms to
exports
^.00,000.
ition in
French
Dutch
reaches
macy of
entre of
petitors,
area of
atted on
rison of
English-
He earth,
and how British traders manage to get the best of it, even in
colonies settled by other European nations.
The following shows the number of ships and tonnage entered
and cleared from the port of Singapore alone during 1886 with
their flags : —
Ships.
Tonnage.
United Kingdom.
535
776,CXX)
France
89 .
159,000
Germany .
87 .
110,000
Austria
41
79,000
Belgium
None
—
Holland .
5
8,000
Italy ....
9
13,000
Russia
26 .
43,000
Spain.
7
11,000
Colonies.
British Possessions
.
1,162
1,491,000
French ,,
.
167
. 197,000
Dutch „
•
1,033
. 707,000
Spanish „
.
91
. 108,000
e fieures show conclusi
velv how impc
)ssible it
Colonies not British to get their imports and get away their
exports except with the help of British bottoms and through
British emporiums. All this we owe to John Bright, Richard
Cobden, and Free Trade.
We left Singapore, after a stay of nearly two days, for
Penang, where we remained six hours, from 7 A.M. to 1.30 P.M.
We went ashore with Sir Hugh Low, the British Resident at
Perah, who, with Lady Low, were our fellow-passengers. He
and I had foregathered on the voyage, in sympathy as orchid
growers. He is a very distinguished colonial official, but I
confess his name was more familiar to me as the discoverer of
some of the most beautiful orchids in Borneo, which bear his
name. We drove together to the Botanical Gardens, about five
miles out of Penang, and spent two pleasant hours with Mr.
S 2
26o
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
Curtis, the superintendent, who showed us many rare and
beautiful plants which he had brought into the gardens from
Malayan jungles
We then breakfasted' with Mr. Brown, the leading merchant
of Penang, who had been our fellow-passenger also from
Singapore, at his beautiful country house, and the wonderful
curries he gave us will linger in our memories.
SINGAPORE— A MANGO BREAKFAST IN JULY.
( 261 )
CHAPTER XVII.
KANDY.
On Sunday morning, December 4th, the Island of Ceylon was
eagerly watched for from the deck of the " Ancona" by all its
passengers. Perhaps it would be more correct to say it was
eagerly smelt for, as both captain and first officer at breakfast
assured their somewhat sceptical passengers that
"The spicy breezes
Which blow from Ceylon's isle,"
was no poetical fiction, but a pleasant reality when the wind was
blowing off the land, which it was kindly and very softly doing
that morning. Certainly about eleven o'clock I perceived a
distinct odour of aromatic wood, not unlike the smell of a larch
plantation in spring, which I was informed came from the
numerous cinnamon gardens along the coast.
We had had a delightful five days' run from Penang. The
sea was calm enough all the way for a Rob Roy canoe, while
the gentle zephyr of wind, dead ahead, increased by the speed
of the ship, kept the deck and cabins cool and breezy ; an
important addition to our comfort, as the thermometer seldom
stood below 85°, even at night.
At noon Point de Galle, which was the old coaling station
before Sir John Coode's famous breakwater was made at
Colombo, hove in sight, the "Ancona" steaming near enough to
:f'
262
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
shore for signals to be telegraphed on to Colombo, and to
enable us to see vast cocoanut plantations on shore, with
Adam's Peak, the sacred mountain of Ceylon, rising high in the
dim distance. The Peninsular and Oriental mail steamer from
Calcutta, and also the one from Australia met the " Ancona "
twenty or thirty miles from Colombo, and the three fine vessels
kept each other company to port, where mails were to be
ADAM'o PEAK, CEYL~tN.
i'rom a s^ietch ly iht AuiJtor,
■^\\V
exchanged, a not unusual instance of the admirable punctuality
of the great Peninsular and C>rieptal Company.
It was nine o'clock, and qui^'^ dark, when we dropped anchor
in Colombo harbour, too late to go ashore, so we decided to
sleep on board and disembark in the early morning. Six
o'clock found us on deck to take a first look at the harbour.
It is enclosed by a magnificent breakwater nearly a mile long.
KANDY,
263
nd to
, with
in the
r from
icona "
vessels
to be
JCTs!'
**7k
tuality
inc
d anchor
ecided to
ing. Six
I harbour,
mile long,
of which I shall have something to say later on ; right opposite
to the ship is the busy wharf and Custom House, with the
useless old fort ; northwards the crowded and picturesque
native town ; and southward the bright suburb of Kolpetty, the
whole standing " dressed in living green " of cocoa palm,
plantain, bread-fruit, and mango trees.
The ship was surrounded with native boats, clamouring for
jobs to take passengers ashore, and I saw for the first time in its
native waters the " Catamaran," which had excited my interest two
or three years ago at the Fisheries Exhibition in London. This
singular boat consists of a tree-trunk, about 20 to 25 feet long,
hollowed out like a canoe. The two sides have a sort of bul-
wark 3 feet high, made of upright boards lashed on, the width
between being 18 or 20 inches. If this were all, the " Catamaran "
would be the crankiest boat ever made ; but some feet away
from the canoe and parallel to it is a stout log of bamboo or
other light wood, the same length as the boat, both being fastened
together by two curved bars of bamboo. This outrigger lies on
the surface of the water, and by its weight on one side and its
resistance to the water on the other renders the " Catamaran " one
of the best sea boats in the world, and they are often met with
far out of sight of land and in very rough weather. We were,
however, glad to find that Captain Webber had kindly placed
iiis gig at our disposal, in which, with our luggage, ve went
ashore, to find that a polite Custom House officer not only
declined to search our trunks, but volunteered to take care of
them for us till two o'clock, when we had decicied to go on to
Kandy, the ancient capital, leaving Colombo till the end of our
visit.
We spent the morning in driving about Colombo, but as we
shall be there three or four days before going to Madras and
Calcutta, I will leave any remarks on the capital of Ceylon to the
ill
(f :^
■i I
264
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
1; ' '■&
next chapter. At two o'clock vvc drove to the station and took
our seats in the train for Kandy, with a 75-milc journey before
us. The Ceylon railways are a Government monopoly, and
there are 185 miles open for traffic. The carriages arc horribly
uncomfortable, the first-class being no better than the third-
class on an English trunk line. I had to pay heavy excess on
our luggage. The journey lasted five hours, an average speed
of 15 miles an hour. For some miles out of Colombo the train
runs through a flat country chiefly under rice cultivation, or in
grass for cattle. The whole area is one vast swamp, every crop
being profusely irrigated, the cattle, all black buffaloes, feeding
knee deep in water. Wherever there is a knoll, or a bit of rising
ground, a beautiful tropical picture forms itself; a clump of
quaint cottages and barns, sun junded by palms, jack-fruit trees,
bananas, and vegetable gardens, the dark red tiles of the build-
ings, the bright yellow and crimson dresses of the peasants, and
the brown skins of the naked children relieving the intense and
somewhat monotonous tropical green. Presently the Kelani-
Ganga River, the greatest stream of water in the island, is
crossed by a very fine iron bridge, and on the other side a
branch line turns off to the quarries from which were got the
stones for building the breakwater at Colombo. Fifty miles
from Colombo the railway begins the great climb of 6,000 feet
to Nuwera Eliya. It creeps up the flank of a magnificent
mountain, Allagalla, whose high peak, crowning a sheer preci-
pice, dominates the whole valley. From the summit of Allagalla,
the old Kandyan kings used to hurl those whom they suspected
of treason. On the opposite side of the great green valley of
Dekanda are the Camel Mountain, so called from its resemblance
to that animal, and the Bible Mountain, with a chain of con-
necting peaks 4,000 to 5,000 feet above the sea. In the valley
are seen terraced fields of pale green rice, the flower-like branches
KANDY.
265
id took
r before
•ly, and
liorribly
c third-
ccess on
re speed
;he train
)n, or in
'ery crop
;, feeding
of rising
clump of
ruit trees,
he build-
sants, and
tense and
3 Kelani-
island, is
ler side a
■e got the
ifty miles
6,000 feet
lagnificent
leer preci-
AUagalla,
suspected
valley of
isemblancc
tin of con-
the valley
:e branches
of the Kekuna trees, magnificent forest t^ces covered with purple
and pink blossoms, palms of all kinds, With here and there noble
specimens of the great talipot palm, and patches of luxuriant
THE DEKANDA VALLEY,
tropical jungle, bright with a score of different brilliant flowers
or creepers which throw themselves from one tree-top to the
other, as they tower above the tangled undergrowth. Beautiful
I
iMni
111
266
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
waterfalls arc seen up the glens, as the train climbs slowly by,
while others rush under us as we cross them on bridges, to leap
into mid-air, and lose themselves in clouds of mist and spray,
OM tttE KAMI RAILWAY — SENSATION ROCK.
in which the sun dances in all the colours of the rainbow. Every
now and then we get a glimpse beneath us of the fine road con-
structed long since by the English Government, to enable them
t'lii
KANDY.
367
to take and keep possession of the ancient capital, which had
been wrested from the Portuguese and Dutch by the valiant old
Kandyan kings ; this road is now superseded by the railway.
A few miles from Kandy the train, after passing through several
tunnels, runs over what is called " Sensation Rock," skirting the
edge of the cliff so closely that the sight drops a thousand feet
before it rests on anything on which a blade of grass or a
tropical creeper can lay hold. Just beyond this exciting scene
we cross the dividing ridge of two water-sheds, and in a very
short time reach the lovely valley of Kandy, run into the station,
and by seven o'clock find ourselves comfortably settled at the
Queen's Hotel.
Ceylon is an island of villages, and Kandy, though the ancient
capital, is not much more than a group of two or three villages,
containing in all a population of 22,000. It has little of general
interest, the only buildings of any importance being the gaol,
the barracks, three or four churches and chapels, the Govern-
ment office, and the world-renowned Temple of the Sacred
Tooth of Buddha ; this latter being an insignificant little shrine
of no great antiquity or architectural beauty, its only interest
lying in its peculiarly sacred character, rendering it the heart
from which all Buddhist sentiment ebbs and flows.
The temple is a small building with a good-sized courtyard
surrounding it, the outer walls of which are decorated with
hideous ill-executed frescoes of the various punishments inflicted
in the Buddhist Hell, differing very little in character from those
one so often sees depicted in Roman Catholic churches in Italy.
The deepest and hottest hell, with the most gruesome fiends to
poke the fire, is reserved for those who rob a Buddhist priest,
or plunder a Buddhist temple. The great relic, which is two
inches long and one inch thick (what a tooth to ache !) is pre-
served in a gold and jewelled shrine, covered by r. large silver
H ii'
ifiii
i
268
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
I| !!
' :'!
■ ..:i
bell, in the centre of an octagonal tower with pointed roof. It
is only exposed to view once a year, but I was privately
informed that five rupees would open the door for me. I
preferred my five rupees.
In the porch of the temple were groups of horrible beggars,
who display their various wounds and defects of nature with
much liberality. The most popular appeared to be a monster
with a huge tooth growing through his under lip. I suppose
his popularity was due to the fact that this horror was nearer to
the genuine article in the shrine than could be found outside
the mouth of a hippopotamus.
The kings and priests of Burmah, Siam, and Cambodia send
regular yearly tribute to the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, and
more or less reverence is paid to it in India, China, and
Japan.
The real charm of Kandy lies in its beautiful situation. The
town itself is lost to view in green tropical foliage. It is built on
the banks of a large artificial tank or lake, about three miles in
circumference, surrounded by beautiful hills five or six hundred
feet above its surface, on which are dotted here and there the
pretty bungalows of missionaries and other well-to-do inhabitants.
We spent a morning wandering about the lovely lanes of these
hills, in any of which you may gather from the hedgerows
bunches of "hot-house" flowers, which would fetch a guinea
at Covent Garden market. From their heights magnificent
views of the high mountain ranges of Ceylon are obtained, all
richly timbered to the summits.
I found growing wild on these charming hills sunflowers, roses,
dracoenas, poinsettas, mimosas, lantanas, balsams, iconias, petreas,
passion-flowers, and a dozen other varieties of beautiful blooms
familiar to me in English hot-houses, but whose names I cannot
now call to mind.
KAN jY.
269
ll
•oof. It
)rivately
me. I
beggars,
ure with
monster
suppose
nearer to
d outside
Ddia send
ooth, and
hina, and
ion. The
is built on
miles in
hundred
;here the
habitants,
s of these
ledgerows
a guinea
lagnificent
itained, all
vers, roses,
IS, petreas,
ul blooms
s I cannot
In the afternoon we drove out to the Government Botanical
Gardens at Peradenia, whose distinguished director, Dr. Triman,
I had become acquainted with in the train, and who showed
us much kindness and hospitality. The entrance to the garden
is through a fine avenue of tall india-rubber trees, towering into
the air a hundred feet, spreading out into enormous leafy crowns
fifty or sixty feet in diameter, their huge roots, longer than the
tree is high, creeping over the surface of the ground like great
THE INDIA-RUBBER TREE.
snakes, sometimes growing straight up in the air till they attach
themselves to the lower branches, thus forming stout props to
support the weight of heavy foliage, and enable it to resist storm
and tempest.
There is no need in this garden for the familiar notice, " Keep
off the grass." If you venture on the lawns, especially in damp
weather such as we are having, nasty little leeches the thickness
m\
a7o
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
of a hair wriggle through your trousers and stockings, and suck
your blood till they swell out to the thickness of a lead-pencil.
Instances are known in which men have gone to sleep on the
grass in Ceylon, and have been found dead, sucked to death by
hundreds of these horrible creatures. It is also necessary to
beware of " snakes in the grass." The day before our visit one of
the gardeners was bitten by a snake, and was lying dangerously
ill in the hands of a native doctor, who possesses secret remedies
handed down to him from his forefathers by word of mouth only.
While we were enjoying a cup of tea at Dr. Triman's bungalow,
another gardener brought a fine lively cobra which he had just
caught, tied by a string to a stick, striking its fangs vigorously
into every object that was thrust towards its head. On the whole,
therefore, we kept to the paths and beaten tracks as much as
possible to avoid these gentry, as well as centipedes and black
scorpions, which are equally plentiful. Immediately inside the
garden gate is a wondrously beautiful group of all the palms
indigenous to the island. Here is the cocoa-nut, with its
cylindrical trunk two feet thick, soaring up into the air 1 50 feet,
crowned with a huge tuft of feathery leaves eighteen or twenty
feet long, with great bunches of fruit clustering in their shade.
The Palmyra palm, which, according to a famous Tamil poem,
can be put to 801 different uses. Its leaves are circular, with
seventy or eighty ribs, opening like a great fan. These leaves
are used by the natives to thatch their cottages, to make matting
for floor and ceiling, bags and baskets, hats and caps, fans,
umbrellas, and paper. The fruits, as well as the young seedlings,
are cooked and eaten as a nutritious vegetable, and from the
flower-spikes, alas! the native obtains palm wine or toddy,
which can be distilled into stronger arrack. The Sago palm and
its relative, the Kitul palm, yield not only the nutritious pith
which makes the familiar pudding of our childhood, but also
KANDY.
371
i suck
pencil.
on the
:ath by
sary to
t one of
erously
^medics
th only.
ingalow,
lad just
porously
le whole,
much as
nd black
iside the
le palms
with its
1 50 feet,
ir twenty
;ir shade,
il poem,
liar, with
se leaves
matting
laps, fans,
jseedlings,
from the
•r toddy,
palm and
;ious pith
but also
produce excellent sugar and splendid fibre for rope-making and
other purposes. The Areca-nut palm produces the well-known
Betel nut, which, rolled up in leaves of the Betel pepper, with a
little lime and tobacco, makes the favourite " chaw " of the natives
of Ceylon and India, a harmless, though nasty practice, for which
they will sacrifice meat, drink, washing and lodging. More
beautiful than these is the nueen of all palms, the Talipot, which
for thirty years from its biith pushes up its straight white shining
trunk, with its crown of dark green leaves, till it reaches a height
of a hundred feet or more. Then it blooms — and such a bloom !
a tall pyramidal spike of white blossoms forty feet above its
crown of huge green fans, perhaps the noblest flower the world
produces. Each bloom forms a nut, and the tree, having
scattered its seeds to become palms in their turn, dies of the
supreme effort. We were fortunate enough to see a magnificent
Talipot in full bloom, and to obtain a good photograph of its
marvellous beauty. The travellers' palm is one that contains
quantities of perfectly pure water in the thick ends of its leaves.
The Cabbage palm has a capital edible imitation of that homely
vegetable as its fruit, and the Oil palm, with a dozen other
varieties, were all to be found in flourishing growth in the
remarkable clump of palms I am trying to describe so feebly.
The next point of interest was a plantation of nutmeg and
clove trees, further on were Jack-fruit trees, with their huge fruit
growing from the trunk and weighing fifty or sixty pounds each ;
bread-fruit, pomeloes, the candle tree, the TCid%v{\^zQ,\\\. Anthurium
Regale^ with its vari-coloured leaves, three feet long by two feet
wide, were all passed and examined with interest and curiosity.
We then were taken into a dense piece of jungle, in which giant
creepers, with stems six or eight inches thick, climbed to the
tops of the highest! trees with profuse blossoms of all sizes and
colours, while the ground was covered with all kinds of tropical
y j
273
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
ferns, including the lovely Adiantum Farley ense, the gold and
silver ferns, great tree ferns, Adiantum Peruvianum, and a hun-
dred other varieties of ferns, lycopodiums, and ground plants.
I) '
!';; i
i| I
THE GIANT BAMBOO— PERADENIA GARDENS.
But the great sight is the giant bamboo, which grows in
mighty clumps by the bank of the fine river that flows round
the gardens. These form enormous green thickets more than
' I
KANDY.
in
'HI
f If
and
hun-
lants.
frows in
^s round
)re than
100 feet high, and the same in thickness, consisting of 80 or 100
tall cylindrical stems, each from one to two feet thick. They
grow so closely crowded together that a cat would find it
difficult to find her way through. They shoot 70 or 80 feet
into the air without a break, and then spread out into immense
branches of slender little leaves, that give the appearance of
gigantic green ostrich feathers. As every one knows, the
bamboo is one of the most useful plants that grow in the
tropics, and I might fill my book with a description of all the
uses to which it may be put.
The garden swarms with pretty striped squirrels and with
bright-plumaged tropical birds, while hanging from the branches
of the trees are swarms of great flying foxes, which live upon
the different kinds of fruit, and very often get drunk on the
sweet palm sap, being found lying helplessly incapable in the
vessels which the natives leave out all night to catch the juice.
But there is no end to the botanical wonders of this unrivalled
and fascinating garden of Peradenia.
The next day we left Kandy in company with Dr. Triman to
visit the great health resort of the English residents in Ceylon
Nuwera Eliya, 6,200 feet above the sea level. In the advertise-
ments of one of the hotels here the attraction is held out that it
is " so cold as to make it possible to burn open English fires all
the year round." The great desire of a European who has been
baked for eight or ten months in the oven of Colombo is to feel
cold, to wear a great coat and comforter, to sleep without
mosquito nets, and with halt a dozen blankets over him. So
he goes to the most detestable place on the whole island, where
the rain-clouds of a radius of 1,000 miles love to dwell ; where
the climate is cold and damp ; where the thermometer is at
freezing point at six in the morning and eighty in the shade at
noon ; where the rainfall is 1 50 inches and the sun shines only
1 ! 1
274
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
')■
.1,
sixty days in the year. Here the Anglo-Cingalese love to play
at "being in England." They build themselves feeble imita-
tions of English cottages ; despising the fine flora of the country,
they fill their gardens with pallid pinks, roses, and other English
flowers, which look as miserable as a Hindoo beggar in a
November London fog. They grow wilted specimens of
English vegetables, and on rare occasions really clever gardeners
have been known to ripen a strawberry ; then a solemn dinner
party is given to intimate and valued friends, and that straw-
berry is reverently divided and eaten in solemn silence. It is
the dream of their lives to grow a cherry, and the man who
succeeds will have a monument. They have cherry trees, but
they all turn into weeping willows, and blossom feebly all the
year round. These cottage gardens gave me a nightmare, and
I dreamt that Nuwera EHya was a bit of England, dying of a
bad cold in the head. The only English plant that has acclima-
tised itself with any vigour is gorse, which was all about the
hedges in odorous profusion.
Dr. Triman took us to see his hill garden at Hakgala, six
miles from Nuwera Eliya, where his clever deputy, Mr. Nock,
grows with some little success various English plants and
flowers, and with distinguished success a wonderful variety of
semi-tropical flora ; he also experiments on possibilities for the
advantage of Ceylon planters. Here we saw the magnificent
New Zealand tree ferns, the huge shield fern, splendid rhodo-
dendron trees as big as oaks, with trunks 2 feet thick, beautiful
ground orchids, lobelias, large gentians, balsams, an endless
variety of ferns and lycopods, and a brace of magnificent jungle
cocks, which flew out of a tree as we passed by, resplendent in
their gold and crimson plumage.
Nuwera Eliya is a great plateau, on which is a fine lake about
two miles long, which has recently been stocked with English
KANDY.
975
Ike about
English
trout. One was caught with the artificial fly the other day, and
the intelligence was immediately cabled to the English press.
They are said to be thriving, but Dr. Triman fears that as soon
as the natives find out they are there they will manage to clear
the lake out somehow or other. Fish have a poor chance in
this Buddhist country. A Cingalese won't take life, so he never
tastes butcher's meat ; he has, however, no scruple to help a fish
on to dry land and let him die if he can't get back to his native
element, and by this amiable quibble he is able to add fish to
his mess of rice without any breach of conscience. Your
Buddhist is a true Pharisee. The highest peak in the island,
Peduru Galla, rises just behind our hotel, and is a favourite
excursion, but as we were not fortunate enough to get one of
the rare sunny days, we did not ascend it. Peduru, and all
the peaks round Nuwera Eliya, are forest-clad to the summit,
and are the chosen home of the wild elephant, which still exists
in considerable numbers in Ceylon. There were five or six of
these huge beasts in the jungle, within half a mile of Hakgala
gardens, and every now and then they had a tramp through
them, to the sore dismay of poor Mr. Nock. There are also
leopards, cheetahs, tiger-cats, jackals, elk, wild boar, monkeys,
and a fine crested eagle, all plentiful in the ancient and sombre
forests which clothe these lofty mountains.
Instead of returning to Kandy by the railway we determined
to drive from Nuwera Eliya through a fine mountain pass to
Gampola, a distance of forty miles, taking the train thence back
to Kandy. It was very curious, in our descent of nearly five thou-
sand feet, to watch the gradual change from temperate vegetation
to all the luxuriance of the tropics. Half-way down we stopped
at the Government Rest House at Ramboda to bait our wretched
pair of ponies, and get some refreshment for ourselves.
These Government rest houses are placed at intervals of
T 2
! ":''A
276
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
fifteen miles along all the roads in Ceylon. They contain a
good guest room and five or six bedrooms, rudely furnished, but
tolerably clean and comfortable. The charges are moderate.
For the use of the house, 9</. ; for a bed, is. ; for sheets and
blanket \s,\ a lamp, \d. ; breakfast of tea or coffee, toast, eggs,
and meat, 2s. id. ; dinner of three courses, 2s. 6d. There is also
accommodation for poor people at reduced rates, and for horses
and cattle.
Ramboda is situated in a wide amphitheatre of mountains,
and has a dozen fine waterfalls within a few hundred yards of
each other, the amphitheatre indeed being one great spring of
water. From Ramboda to Gampola we passed through a
succession of coffee, tea, cocoa, and chinchona plantations, of
which I shall have something to say in my next chapter, when I
shall refer to the natural resources of this rich and fertile colony,
and we finally arrived at the station in a deluge of tropical
rain.
We spent a quiet Sunday at Kandy, visiting some of the
missionary stations and native churches. Next day we came
down to Colombo to spend two or three days previous to sailing
for Calcutta and Madras.
: I i
( V7 )
itain a
led, but
)derate.
2ts and
it, eggs,
; is also
f horses
untains,
^ards of
jring of
ough a
:ions, of
, when I
i colony,
tropical
2 of the
ve came
sailing
CHAPTER XVIII.
COLOPvIBO.
We spent four days pleasantly and profitably at Colombo, the
capital of Ceylon. While at Kandy I had written to Mr. A. M.
Ferguson, the proprietor of the Cey/on Observer, who had long
been known to me by repute as the man of all others best
acquainted with the social condition of the Cingalese people,
asking him if he would give me the opportunity of making his
acquaintance. I got a reply from his nephew and partner,
Mr. John Ferguson, saying that his uncle was up country, but
that he himself would call on me on my arrival, and be glad to
help me all he could to some knowledge of the country and \H
people. He kept his promise, and treated us with a princely
hospitality. His time, his carriage, his library, his bungalow,
and himself he placed unreservedly at my disposal, and the
more I drew upon him the better he was pleased. A. M. and
J. Ferguson are sound authorities on all Cingalese questions •
the one has been forty-seven years, and the other twenty-five
years editor and proprietor of the leading newspaper on the
island, and both have written many books and pamphlets on
the resources of Ceylon, marked by great shrewdness and
research. Mr. John Ferguson at once constituted himself our
" guide, philosopher, and friend," and by his help we saw and
learnt more in four days than we could have acquired in four
weeks without him. I was also favoured with long interviews
r
m
I
378
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
with Sir Arthur Gordon, the Governor of the Colony ; Mr.
O'Brien, the Colonial Secretary ; Mr. Campbell, the Inspector-
General of Police and Prisons ; Mr. Pigott, the senior Baptist,
and Mr. Scott, the senior Wesleyan missionary, both of whom
have had twenty years' experience of Ceylon ; Mr. Grinlington,
the leading merchant of Colombo, and many others ; and in this
and my next chapter I desire to tell my readers some little of
what I have gleaned from these authorities with rega'-d to
this valuable possession of the British Crown.
Colombo owes] its existence as a seaport to the genius of Sir
John Coode, the great engineer. Before the existence of the
breakwater, Galle was the chief port of Ceylon, the coaling
station of the Peninsular and Oriental Co. and other lines of
steamers trading with Calcutta and the East. Poor Galle is now
quite extinguished by its powerful rival, whose harbour, easily
accessible by day or night, provides safe and easy anchorage for
the entire passing trade of the East, as well as for the bulk of
the export and import trade of Ceylon. The harbour is over
500 acres in extent, more than half of which has a depth of from
26 to 40 feet at low water spring tides. In this deep water
twenty-four sets of double screw moorings, suited for vessels of
the largest class, drawing 25 feet and over, have been laid down,
furnishing accommodation far in excess of the present require-
ments of the trade, which, however, will in good time require it
all and more.
The first block of the magnificent breakwater was laid by the
Prince of Wales on December 8th, 1875, and the lamps of the
lighthouse shone out over the Indian Ocean on the night of
January 27th, 1885. The breakwater thus took nearly ten years
to complete. The shore portion, or " root work," extends over
4^- acres, reclaimed from the sea, having a solid wall of concrete
blocks to the sea front, and a fine wharf about 1,000 feet long on
COLOMBO.
379
the harbour side with a depth at low water of 14 feet, accom-
modating a considerable number of good-si;?ed vessels engaged
in the coasting trade. From this wharf the breakwater starts, in
16 feet of water at low tide, extending northwards for over 3,000
feet, then curving inwards for another 1,000 feet or more, which,
with the shore portion, makes a total length of 4,877 feet, or close
upon a mile in length. The breakwater ends in about 40 feet of
water at lowest tides with a circular head 62 feet in diameter,
on which there is a fine lighthouse visible for 10 miles. This
circular head is formed of concrete in mass, in a wrought-iron
caisson under low-water, and of concrete blocks above the level.
The breakwater itself is composed of a mound of granite rubble
stone, raised by convict labour from quarries about 12 miles
distant. The rubble mound, after being allowed twelve months
to consolidate, was levelled off by means of divers to depths
varying from 1 3 feet below water at the land end to 24 feet
below water at the breakwater head. Upon the mound, thus
levelled, huge concrete blocks from 16 to 32 tons in weight are
founded, extending up to eight feet above low w^ater, the whole
being finished off with a capping of concrete in mass, four feet
thick, throughout the whole length of the breakwater.
During the south-west monsoon the sea breaks over the whole
length in columns of spray 50 feet high, a marvellous sight which
I v/as not privileged to see, the north-east monsoon blowing while
we were at Colombo. But I remember having seen a fine photo-
graph of it in Sir John Coode's office at Westminster, which was
more like Niagara Falls turned upside down than anything else.
The total cost of this wonderful feat of engineering skill was a
little over £^00,000, but its value to the colony is far beyond
price. Before its construction vessels were often delayed days,
and even weeks during the south-west monsoon, owing to the
impossibility of loading and unloading shore boats in the
iir
it
28o
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
tremendous swell which rolled across the open roadstead, while
even during the lulls of the monsoon the damage to cargo and
the loss overboard, as well as the extra cost of operation, was
very great indeed. The value of the breakwater to the port of
Colombo is best shown by the fact that since 1882, when the
breakwater first began to afford material protection to shipping,
the tonnage of the port has increased from 1,700,000 to very
nearly 3,000,000 tons.
It is proposed some day to meet the breakwater with a
northern arm from the opposite shore, which would make the
harbour smooth water in every wind that blows. The mer-
cantile interests press this further development of the harbour
upon the Government with some vigour, but the present
Government prefer, and as I think rightly, to push on other
public works, viz,, railway extension, irrigation tanks, and the
further fortification of Colombo. But if the trade of the port
continues to increase in anything like the proportion of the last
few years, some extension of the harbour and the building of a
good dry-dock will become imperative.
The breakwater makes a very fine promenade when the wind
is off shore, but is very little resorted to by the inhabitants.
We walked to the end and back one fine evening, but it was
deserted except by three or four natives lazily fishing, and by
small processions of crabs making short cuts over the break-
water from the open sea to the more succulent feeding grounds
of the harbour.
The Grand Oriental Hotel at Colombo is one of the sights of
the East. It is a caravanserai with 100 bedrooms, and when
two or three Peninsular and Oriental steamers are in port these
rooms are all filled, and couches are laid out in the verandahs
and passages for the surplus. ; Its dining-room will seat 300
people, and its huge verandah, facing the sea, is crowded with
COLOMBO,
381
while
o and
n, was
)ort of
en the
ipplng,
o very
with a
ike the
le mer-
liarbour
present
>n other
and the
the port
the last
ing of a
;he wind
abitants.
,t it was
and by
|e break-
grounds
sights of
Ind when
iort these
[erandahs
seat 300
Ided with
pedlars and vendors of the precious stones for which Ceylon is
famous, a trade largely supplcmentc J by Birmingham enterprise.
These brigands are mostly Moormen, descendants of a colony of
Arabians who have waxed mighty in the retail trade of Ceylon.
They address their customer with bland confidence, introducing
themselves in various guises. One informed mc that he was
" Strcetcr's confidential buyer " ; another introduced himself as
SIR JOHN COODE'S BREAKWATER, COLOMBO.
" the personal friend of Lord Rothschild " ; and a third as the
" favourite jewel broker of the Prince of Wales." They vary
their list of distinguished patrons for Americans, substituting
Tiffany, General Grant, and Vanderbilt, while they dazzle
Australians by enormous prices. I was told over and over
again, " If you was Australian my price would be a thousand
rupees, but for Englishman I take 200," finally coming down to
20. No one escapes in the long run. Scornful sceptics begin
11
1
t
ii
1
\
282
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
ill'
iiiiii
by treating every stone as " Brummagem glas ," and threatening
the pedlars with a stick, but they ahvays end by being taken
into a dark coi ner to see a sapphire gleam in the light of a wax
match, and come on board with a dozen bits of coloured glass
wrapped up in cotton wool, for which they have given £2 or
£'i each. If glass, these so-called precious stones are only
worth a few pence ; if genuine, they are worth ;^50 each.
You may, however, go to respectable shops, known to bankers
and merchants, ond buy very pretty things made of third-class
sapphires and cat's-eyes cheaply enough, after two or three days'
patient chaffering ; there is one jeweller who has a small stock
of really good things, but every fine stone that is found finds a
ready market at its full value in Calcutta, London, or Paris, and
the splendid stones purchased by transient passengers are either
flawed or otherwise inferior in colour or quality, or are other
stones than represented. The finding and cutting of gems is an
important trade in Ceylon. At Kandy the cutters are seen in
their little shops worl;ing a cast-iron cylinder with a bow, like a
drill, on which they grind the uncut sapphire or ruby, which are
the gems most frequently discovered. The zircon, a smoky-
coloured diamond, the amethyst, the chrysoberyl, or cat's eye, a
gem which has lately come into fashion, and for which great
prices are demanded, garnets, spinel rubies, tourmalines, and the
pretty moonstone which was so popular a purchase at the
Colonial Exhibition in London a year or two back, are all found
in various parts of Ceylon, mostly about Ratnapura (the city
of gems).
Ceylon is also celebrated for fine pearls, gathered from oyster
or mussel banks on the north-west coast.
The pettah, or native market-place, is, as is always the case in
the East, a scene of busy life, fiiU of varieties of costume, race,
and colour. The traders in Ceylon are Moormen and Cingalese ;
COLOMBO.
283
tening
taken
a wax
. glass
£2 or
I only
each,
lankers
d-class
e days*
1 stock
finds a
ris, and
; either
e other
ns is an
I seen in
/, like a
lich are
smoky-
eye, a
h great
and the
at the
II found
the city
oyster
case in
ie, race,
Igalese ;
the labourers are mostly Tamils from Southern India. The
Moormen wear cotton trousers and jacket, with a curious
beehive-shaped hat of plaited grass, dyed in various colours.
The Cingalese wear a sheet of brightly-coloured calico twisted
round the hips, and reaching to the feet like a petticoat, with a
white jacket. They delight in long hair, which they twist up
into a chignon, combing it back all round the forehead. Their
only " hat " is a round tortoise-shell comb, which every Cingalese
wears as a sacred duty. The Tamils wear as little as possible,
and the children of all sorts nothing at all except a bit of string
round the waist or neck, from which is suspended a charm to
ward off the attacks of their favourite devil. The Cingalese
women and men dress very much alike, and it is often difficult
to tell which is which until you realise that the men wear a
comb, and the women hair-pins. Besides the pettah, or central
market, there are others clustered round the suburbs, to which
the villagers on their own side of the town resort. One of
these is on each side of a curious bridge of boats, about 500 feet
long, two miles out of the town on the Kandy road, composed
of twenty-one boats anchored at each end, from which two are
slipped every day for two hours to let the traffic through.
The Cingalese are a rice-eating people ; rice and some curried
vegetable, such as cocoa-nut, jack-fruit, or plantain, with a little
dried fish, forming their diet all the year round. Fish, fruit, and
vegetables, therefore are the chief stocks of all the markets.
The vehicular traffic of the country, except a few carriages in
Colombo and Kandy, is drawn by bullocks. These animals are
often very beautiful, being all of the Zebu breed of India, which
are generally to be seen attached to Wombwell's Menageries
under the name of " Brahmin Bull." There is a pretty little
variety, about the size of a small pony, that are used in gigs and
other carriages, and travel 30 miles a day at a trot of about 5
m
284
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
miles an hour. The bit is a piece of rope passed through a
hole in the nostrils. The Buddhist religion, though forbidding
the killing of any animal, does not seem to forbid their torture,
and these poor brutes" are most cruelly treated by their drivers.
The Government has been obliged to enact severe penalties for
this offence.
The streets of Colombo are broad and well made, with a
gravel of rich, dark red colour, which contrasts pleasantly with
the profuse foliage of the endless gardens and trees which line
the footpath, the poorest hut having a bit of garden about it.
The town is placed on a neck of land between a magnificent
sheet of fresh water and the sea, so that every street has its
vista ending in bright and sparkling water, giving a special
charm to the town that I have never seen anywhere else. There
are no fine buildings in Colombo. The Governor's residence,
called Queen's House, the Government Buildings, the Cathedral,
Clock Tower, and other public institutions call for no comment
on the score of architectural merit. The Museum is the finest
building in the town, well situated in the mi' st a the Cinnamon
Gardens, now a public park.
The Barracks are a series of buildings capable of accommo-
dating 5,000 soldiers. We are able, however, to " hold down "
our Cingalese subjects with a single regiment. I was glad to
find that in this hot tropical station over 200 soldiers out of
1,000 found no difficulty in being staunch total abstainers.
The total population of Ceylon is 2,800,000, of whom 1,850,000
are native Cingalese, 700,000 are Tamils from Southern India,
200,000 Moormen and Malays, and 22,000 Europeans and
Eurasians, The religious census shows that 1,700,000 of the
population are Buddhist, 600,000 Hindu, 200,000 Mohammedan,
and 270,000 Christians.
The Roman Catholics are in overwhelming majority among
COLOMBO.
285
ugh a
idding
orture,
Irivers.
;ies for
with a
ly with
ich line
bout it.
;nificent
has its
special
. There
2sidence,
athedral,
omment
e finest
innamon
I
ccommo-
down "
glad to
fs out of
liners.
1,850,000
rn India,
eans and
K) of the
mmedan,
ty among
Christian denominations (220,000 of the whole), being as success-
ful in Ceylon as everywhere else throughout the East.
The Buddhist priests are very ignorant, and exercise little or
no moral restraint over their people, who are more attached to
their ancient superstition of devil worship than they appear to
be to Buddhism, which they only respect so far as the outside of
DEVIL-DANCER AND TOM-TOM.
the cup and platter is concerned. The devil-dancer and his
curate, the tom-tom beater, have a good time in Ceylon, and
there are 2,735 of these scoundrels distributed throughout the
island. They are simply professional exorcists, and as every-
thing untoward — bad weather, sickness, and what not — is the
direct result of devils, they are in continual request. It speaks
ill for Buddhism that 2,000 years of influence over the Cingalese
ui
IST^
286
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
has not destroyed this base and grovelling superstition, which
has rooted itself so deeply that even native Christians will resort
to it secretly in great emergencies.
During the brief fortnight I have been in Ceylon I have
endeavoured as far as possible to find out what is being done by
Christian missionaries to conquer this headquarters of Buddhism.
The Roman Catholic Church has been at work longer than the
Protestants, having entered the mission field with the Portuguese
conquerors 350 years ago, who brought with them the usual
army of ecclesiastics. Their methods of conversion were bound
to succeed more or less. The Inquisition played its part, " con-
version " was the only gate to employment open to the natives,
and the priests didn't object to these converts "bowing in the
house " of Buddha, if they were reasonably often at mass. But
whatever the methods pursued by the Roman Catholic missionary,
they get and keep disciples.
The Dutch cleared out the Portuguese in 1656, and, although
they had no inquisition, they refused employment to any native
who refused to make profession of the Protestant religion. In
1796 the English cleared out the Dutch, and in 181 5 were in
possession of the whole island. There was not much missionary
spirit in English churches during the dawn of this century, but
as early as 18 12 the Baptist Missionary Society commenced
operations in Ceylon, followed in 1818 by the Church Missionary
Society, and a little later by the Wesleyans, who are now the
most active of all in the island.
Seventy years of Protestant missionary enterprise has pro-
duced 22,CKDO Episcopalians, 20,000 Wesleyans, 13,000 Presby-
terians (a large proportion of whom, however, are descendants of
the Dutch), and 5,000 Baptists, in all 60,000 Protestants, old and
young, of all sorts, as contrasted with 220,000 Romanists.
Does this reflect credit on English Christianity ? The result is
COLOMBO.
287
ts.
hardly pentecostal ! I can find no fault with the men who are
at work ; I had ample opportunity of judging of their quality,
and I did not find any missionary who was not full of zeal and
devotion, shrewd, practical, and sensible. But these results
appear to me so poor and inadequate to the expenditure of men
and money that it is impossible to feel satisfied with them. For
instance, the Baptist Church in Kandy was commenced in 1841,
and has less than fifty members, or about one member for every
year it has been in existence, and is not self-supporting. Yet
this church has a native pastor of great merit, and has from its
origin been under the residential superintendence of the best men
the Baptist denomination could furnish. I have had the pleasure
of becoming acquainted with three men who, in succession, have
been in charge at Kandy : Rev. Mr. Carter, who is not only a
capable and experienced missionary, but the most distinguished
Cingalese scholar living ; Rev. H. R. Pigott, a man of much
energy and power, and the present resident. Rev. H. A. Lapham,
who was for some years colleague of Hugh Stowell Brown, in
Liverpool. Better and fitter men could not be found. For fifty
years such men have been at work for the Baptist Missionary
Society, and I have no reason to suppose that the men sent out
by the Church of England and the Wesleyans are one whit
inferior. Yet, in my humble judgment, they have failed to do
more than scratch the surface of Buddhism.
The Salvation Army has now entered the field, and I went to
some of their meetings. They are pursuing entirely differ'int
methods to those hitherto employed. Their missionaries dress
like Buddhist priests in a piece of yellow cotton cloth, bare-
headed and barefooted, and their female captains in Cingalese
women's dress. They throw themselves upon the hospitality of
the natives, and live upon rice, which they beg from door to door.
They claim to have made 700 converts this year, but the other
tr
fi\
'A
,11
288
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
missionaries say they are sheep-stealers, and that the 700
consists of the flotsam and jetsam of other native churches.
However that may be, no one who knows anything about them
can question their genuine earnestness and enthusiasm, and
although I doubt if methods which have been so wonderfully
successful with the English blackguard will succeed with the
mystic Buddhist of Ceylon, I think the Salvation Army will
make and keep its converts like the rest. Their temperance
zeal may perhaps do something to diminish the growing
appetite of the Cingalese for " Christian " liquors, and their
untiring energy will infuse fresh zeal into other missionaries.
There is some evidence of this latter result in the fact that
the Colombo district of Baptist missions has baptized 163
converts this year, as compared with only 33 during 1886.
Although I cannot concede the praise of unqualified success
to the efforts of Protestant missionaries to convert the heathen
of Ceylon to living Christianity, there is no need to qualify the
recognition of the services they have rendered to education and
morals throughout the island. There are 3,460 schools in
Ceylon, giving instruction to 112,652 children. These schools
and scholars are assorted in the follov/ing list, taken only from
those schools receiving grants in aid from Government: —
No. of Schools.
No. of Scholars.
Church of England .
243
13,917
Roman Catholic
208
16,466
Wesleyan
223
14,988
Baptist ....
. . 46 .
2,356
American missionaries .
. 136 .
8,088
856
55,815
132
3,733
To which must be added children
being educated in other mission
schools, unaided ....
Total to credit of missionaries and
Christian churches . , , 988 59, 54^
It is therefore clear from these figures that more than half the
COLOMBO.
289
education in Ceylon is due to the efiforts of the various denomi-
nations of Christian missionaries. It is, however, a powerful
testimony to the tenacity of Buddhism that while the children of
Cingalese parents are sent in such numbers to missionary schools,
so few of them become Christians in after life. The Wesleyan
schools of liie Galle district have 3,253 children in attendance,
of whom 320 only are Wesleyans, while 2,y^ are Buddhists.
There are only fourteen Buddhist schools on the whole island,
receiving grants with 902 scholars. It is an extraordinary fact
that the religion of Ceylon can safely afford to allow half its
children to be educated by the missionaries of a rival religion,
and yet maintain its hold upon them when they reach maturity.
I went with Mr. Lapham, the Baptist missionary at Kandy, to
visit some of his village schools. One of them had about 120
boys on the books, with seventy-six present, a head master, and
two assistants. The elder lads could speak English fairly well,
and the average appeared good, as far as I could judge by some
test questions. The school hours were from nine to three, with
religious instruction quite optional. The boys were mostly the
sons of small farmers, and some of them came five or six miles
to school. They rise to an eighth standard, to pass which boys
must explain a passage from some Cingalese classic, pass an
examination in all the rules of arithmetic up to interest and
discount, in the geography of the world, the history of Ceylon,
and advanced English reading and writing. I also visited
Mrs. Pigott's training school for female teachers at Colombo.
She has thirty or forty young Cingalese women boarding with
her, who are trained by her two daughters, who hold certificates
from the College of Preceptresses in London. These girls have
all professed conviction to Christianity, and their future lies in
the village and other elementary schools of the Baptist mission,
and in many cases as wives of native Christian pastors and school-
U
«
i
390
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
masters. Mrs. Pigott has been unusually successful in this
excellent work, and I hope the Baptist Missionary Society will
enable her to extend it far beyond its present limits.
I heard much that was good of the work being done at Jaffna,
in the north of the island, by the American missionaries, who
are said to have been more successful with the Tamils than any
other mission agency. I tried to go and see what they were
doing, but as it would have involved three days and nights in a
bull-cart, I did not venture. Since my return home I have had
as my guests two ladies connected with this work at Jaffna, the
Misses Leitch, who are endeavouring to raise money for a
college for training young Tamils of both sexes.
It is well worth while for our missionary societies to give
more and more attention to Ceylon. It is the home and heart
of Buddhism, and if Ceylon were converted to Christianity it
would have a marvellous effect on Buddhism all over the East.
A few good medical missionaries would do much to strengthen
the hands of those already at work. Native medicine is a very
feeble institution in Ceylon, and the devil-dancer is the most
popular practitioner.
While in Colombo I paid a visit to the exiled Arabi Pasha.
I was warmly welcomed by him in an excellent bungalow, in
which he appears to lead a happy and contented life. He would
converse upon any subject but Egypt, on which he maintained
a discreet reserve. He takes a leading position in Mahom-
medan society, and both he and the other exiled Pashas are
settling down, some of them taking up land and becoming
planters. He still pretends to sigh for his native country, but I
shrewdly suspect that if he were offered the chance of returning,
without his comfortable pension of ;^500, he would beg to be
excused. A man who heads an unsuccessful revolution has no
place in his country for ever afterwards.
( 291 )
CHAPTER XIX.
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON.
WE have been in possession of tl,e Island of Ceylon since :8k
when we finally subjugated the savage ruffian who was the thJ
K.gc.Kandy. My .lend M. John Ferguson Hndlyfu!; s
me w.th some parfculars which he had carefully compiled
showmg the condition of the island at that time, and wh
compared with the statistics of the Blue Book fo; .886 le
s nkmg evdence of the material prosperity which sixty y!2
of Brmsh rule brings to such a county- as Ceylon, and such a
people as the Cingalese and Tamils, which form its popu aTon
I g.ve a few of these facts in comparison one withT o2 "
Population .
Number of houses
Military force required
Revenue .
Imports and exports
Roads
Railways .
Tonnage of shipping
Expenditure on education
Health expenditure
Post Offices
Area under cultivation.
Live stock .
Carts and carriages
In 1815.
750,000 .
20,000 .
6,000 troops
;^226,000
;^S46,ooo
Sand and gravel
tracks only.
None
75 1 000 tons .
;^3,ooo .
;^I,0OO .
4 .
400,000 acres
250,000 head
SO .
In 1886.
3,000,000
500,000
1,000
;^i,3oo,ooo
;^8,4oo,ooo
2,250 miles of
good roads.
183 miles
4,000,000 tons
;^7o,ooo
;^6o,ooo
130
3i 100,000 acres
1,500,000 head
20,000
U 2
293
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
But besides, there are in the island i,ioo miles of telegraph, a
Government savings bank with 10,000 depositors, 120 excellent
hospitals and dispensaries, with a first-rate medical College for
natives. If Ceylon had remained under the rule of the Kandyan
kings none of this progress would have been visible. Ceylon
is a purely agricultural country, as its lists of exports clearly
show. The following is a short list of the exports of some of
the principal crops of Ceylon for 1886 :
Cardamoms
Areca nuts . .
Quinine ....
Cinnamon and cinnamon oil
Cocoa nuts and fibre
Cacao
Coffee .
Cotton .
Cocoa-nut oil
Tea
Tobacco .
£
22,000
100,000
300,000
115,000
70,000
40,000
600,000
20,000
24,000
370,000
80,000
Fifteen years ago the great staple crop of Ceylon was coffee,
which, in the years 1868, 1869^ and 1870, reached an average
6xport of ;^4,ooo,ooo. This industry is, unhappily, being slowly
destroyed by a minute fungus which has attacked the leaf,
working deadly mischief all over Ceylon, and especially in the
young plantations which, at a capital outlay of nearly ;^3,ooo,ooo,
were brought under coffee cultivation in the years 1870-74.
The slow but sure destruction of this valuable industry is shown
by the list of exports from 1877 to 1886, which are as follows,
in cwts. : —
Year.
Cwt.
Year.
Cwt.
1877
. 620,000
1882 . .
. . 260,000
1878
. . 825,000
1883 . .
. . 323,000
1879
. 670,000
1884 . .
. . 315.000
1880
, . 454,000
1885 . .
. . 224,000
188I
, . 564,000
1886 . .
. . 180,000
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON.
293
Many of the coffee planters of Ceylon have been hopelessly
ruined, and if it had not been possible for the valuable cleared
lands to be brought under other profitable crops, it would have
gone hard with the colony. The planters of Ceylon are shrewd
industrious men, with a large Scottish element among them,
and they seem to be finding their salvation in TEA and
QUININE.
In 1872 there were not 500 acres of chinchona (quinine tree)
in all Ceylon, with an export of bark not reaching 12,000 lbs. ;
while to-day there are at least 30,000 acres under cultivation,
with an export of 14,000,000 lbs. of bark.
In 1876 the exports of tea were 23 lbs. 1 This year they will
exceed 14,000,000 lbs., and Ceylon bids fair to rival the most
important districts in Northern India in its tea-growing
capacity. The teas are of a high character, fine flavour, and
perfectly pure, and I see no reason why India and Ceylon
should not in course of time supplant China teas to a very large
extent. I visited several of the finest tea plantations in Ceylon,
and in many cases found the young tea plants growing up in a
forest of stumps, all that was left of what was once a valuable
coffee estate, destroyed by the fell fungus. Tea will prove of
greater value to the colony than coffee growing, as it employs
rather more than twice the number of hands per acre. I
should think that there are few better opportunities open to a
young Englishman with a little capital than to come out to
Ceylon, serve a two or three years' apprenticeship to tea
growing, and then start an estate for himself.
Other coffee planters are turning their attention to the cacao
tree, on which the bean grows which gives us our cocoa and
chocolate. The export of this product has grown from 10 cwt.
in 1878 to 14,000 cwt. in 1886, and is likely, in a very few years,
to reach ten times this amount. Cardamoms have risen in the
".I
294
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
same space of time from 14,000 lbs. to 240,000 lbs. It will be
readily seen from these figures that although the destruction of
the coffee tree has been disastrous to a large number of planters,
the colony is recovering itself with great buoyancy, and is
probably more solidly prosperous to-day than at any previous
period of its history.
The only industry in Ceylon which is not agrarian, is plum-
bago mining. This is entirely in the hands of the Cingalese,
who work mines up to 300 feet in depth in a very primitive
fashion, obtaining some ;^3 50,000 worth of the finest plumbago
in the world.
It appears to me, in the short visit I have been able to pay
to this interesting tropical colony, that its main dependence in
the future must be on tea, and the best authorities tell me that
the export will in a very few years reach thirty or forty million
pounds, worth some two millions sterling. I am also told by
coffee planters that the ravages of the disease is abating, and
that the colony will be able to produce in future an average
export of coffee of about one million sterling, or one-fourth of
what was produced at the highest period of its prosperity. It
is quite evident, however, from the figures I have given, that the
deficit of three millions on coffee is fast being overtaken, and
that the general prospects of Ceylon agriculture are bright
enough.
There is no doubt that the change of culture in Ceylon from
coffee to tea will be of great benefit to the masses of the popu-
lation, from the largely increased employment which it will
afford. Almost all the plantation labour is carried on by
Tamils, from Southern India, the Cingalese refusing to do coolie
work, devoting themselves entirely to trading, small farmii ;,
carting produce (a large industry), and to handicrafts. To these
Tamils Ceylon is a heaven upon earth. In their own country
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON.
29s
ill be
on of
nters,
nd is
jvious
plum-
jalese,
mitive
Tibago
to pay
mce in
le that
million
old by
ig, and
verage
urth of
It
lat the
en, and
bright
)n from
popu-
it will
on by
coolie
armii ;,
b these
ountry
their average earnings per family of five reaches about £6 in
the year, or less than id. per head per day, a condition of things
that appears almost incredible to English minds, and in which
recurrent famines, terrible in their results, are certain. The
Tamils employed on a Ceylon tea estate have the wealth of
CrcEsus compared with their relatives at home. They have
good huts, cheap food, small gardens, medical attendance, and
can earn from 6d. to 9^. per day. I doubt if, considering the
climate and cost of living, there are any labouring classes in
the world better off" than the Tamil families settled on the
plantations of Ceylon.
The revenues of the colony average about ;^ 1,000,000, of
which ;£"6so,ooo comes from taxation, and ;C3 50,000 from land
sales, railways, and other miscellaneous receipts. The expendi-
ture is slightly in excess of revenue for 1886, being ;^ 1,040,000.
The public debt is 2\ millions, and has been incurred for
Colombo harbour, railway extension, water works, &c.
The trade of Ceylon, as everywhere else in the East, is over-
whelmingly in the hands of the English. Of 6,341 vessels
entered and cleared last year at Ceylon ports, 413 only were
foreign, 4,928 were British.
Of ;^6, 500,000 of commerce in the year 1886, foreign countries
got ;^ 780,000, while ;{^5,720,ooo fell to the British. And yet
the Conservative caucus in England passed last year, amid loud
acclamations, a resolution condemning the Free Trade policy
which makes and keeps us supreme in every neutral market in
the world, and enables us to open our own ports and those of
India and our Crown Colonies to the commerce of other rival
nations with impunity, and without a single protective duty.
Ceylon gets on without a poor law. A very few old persons
get a charitable allowance from the Government, varying from
2s. to 25^. each per month, but it amounts to very little on the
t
m
III;'
r|M<1
i
J I '
296
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
whole. Employment is plentiful, the people are thrifty, the
cost of living is extremely small, and the young and strong are
glad to care for the aged and weak.
The Local Government of Ceylon consists of the following
Boards ;--
1st. The Executive and Legislative Councils, which are of the
same composition and exercise the same functions as I have
already described with regard to Hong Kong or Singapore.
None of the members are elective, but there is always a Cinga-
lese and a Tamil member on the Legislative Council.
2nd. Municipal Councils, 01 which the majority are elected by
occupiers rented at £"] a year, the rest beinrf nominated by the
Governor. In Colombo there are five official and nine elective
members. The other two boroughs in the island are Kandy
and Galle.
3rd. Local Boards in populous di«-.tricts, composed in the same
manner as the Municipalities. There are ten of these Local
Boards in Ceylon. The qualification is an occupancy of not less
than £% \Qs.
4th. The Village Council — This is a Council elected by a
constituency composed of every male inhabitant of the village,
or groups of villages, who is twenty-one years of age. There
are forty-eight of these Village Councils. Anything approach-
ing party politics is quite unknown in Ceylon. There is a
tendency to jobbery, which, however, is kept in check by the
official members. On the whole the system of local govern-
ment appears admirably suited for the budding intelligence and
education of the people, and will no doubt be extended as the
social conditions improve and justify.
I have already spoken of wages paid on tea, coffee, chinchona,
and other plantations, as ranging from 6d. to ^d. per day. The
general rate of wages for labour in Colombo and other towns, for
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON.
99f
such work as stablemen, messengers, porters, gardeners, &c., is
about the same, 12 to 15 rupees a month, the rupee being worth
IS. $d. Men in more responsible positions, such as warehousemen,
foremen of gangs of coolies, &c., are paid 35J. to 40s. per month.
Skilled workmen, bookbinders, machinists, compositors, cabinet
I'f
A CINGALESE WORKMAN.
makers, and carpenters get 455-. to 50^. per month. Good clerks
and bookkeepers, £^0 to ;^5o a year. These wages will appear
very meagre to an English workman, but I expect the Cingalese
is better off with these wages than the English workman with
his. The Cingalese wants no fire, no meat, no woollen clothes,
no beer ; his house costs a tenth of the English workman's ; he
';■ V
298
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
dresses in a shilling's worth of cotton cloth, and only wears a
pennyworth of it when he is working. He is content with two
meals a day of rice, at $s. per bushel, and vegetables flavoured
with curry, and has' half a farthing's worth of dried fish on
Sunday. He has never felt cold in his life, and the climate he
lives in enables him to thrive as well on his simple vegetarian
diet as an Englishman at home can on beef and mutton.
Everywhere they give the constant impression of being a joyous,
contented, sober, well-nourished people.
The Government of Ceylon, like that of every Crown colony,
is virtually a despotism tempered by the Colonial office, and
"question time" in the House of Commons. The Governor
selects such men, in addition to his leading permanent officials,
as he believes can best advise him, and the decisions of this
Council become the will of the Government. The influence of a
really able, energetic, independent Governor, thoroughly just
and impartial, is practically paramount, and every successive
Governor strives to leave behind him as the record of his term
of office some public work of utility — an education scheme, a
college, a hospital. A bronze statue of Sir Edward Barnes
stands opposite the Queen's house in Colombo, but his real
monuments are the great macadamized road to Kandy, the
bridge of boats on the Kelani river at Colombo, and the superb
satin-wood bridge at Peradenia. The railway to Kandy keeps
green the memory of Sir Henry Ward ; Sir Hercules Robinson
has left his record in every province of the island, especially in
irrigation works, and Sir William Gregory's massive stone
monument is a mile long — the famous Colombo breakwater.
The present Governor is set upon restoring to their ancient useful-
ness the great tanks at Kalaweava, which, when completed, will
be seven miles square, 20 feet deep, and will send water down a
canal 54 miles long, irrigating a vast area through the dry
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON.
299
just
season ; an area now almost unpeopled, but which 2,000 years
ago, watered by these ancient tanks, had a population of at
least a quarter of a million, whose ancient cities and temples,
smothered in jungle, are still among the wonders of the East.
Plenty will be left for successive Governors to accomplish. A
great development of the railway system is imperative, and its
profitableness assured by past experience ; the Lords of the
Admiralty join the Colombo Chamber of Commerce in the
urgent demand for a good graving dock at Colombo, the only
dry dock in India being at Bombay ; vernacular education is
but in its infancy ; the codification of the civil laws is un-
accomplished ; cin agricultural college would aid greatly in the
development of Crown and other lands ; and nothing would add
to the importance and wealth of Ceylon more than the abolition
of its Custom House, and the establishment of Colombo and
Galle as free ports.
This is a political programme well within the reach of the
Government of Ceylon. Many of the public works named
would be self-supporting from the first, and the rest might be
carried out by loans. The public debt of the colony is not
much more than a single year's revenue, and in recent years the
splendid network of roads, the series of restored irrigation
works and many public buildings, costing in all over six
millions sterling, have all been paid for from the general
revenue.
Among the social diflficulties perplexing successive Governors
is the question of the sale of alcoholic liquors, the consumption
of which is undoubtedly on the increase, and to meet which
temperance societies are being formed, and total abstinence is
being urged on the natives. Missionaries, both European and
native, are adding temperance advocacy to their Christian work,
and most of them appear with a conspicuous blue ribbon.
'
rvH'
300
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
W
ti
.ill
» : ! I
They find that " Christian " vices are the chief temptations to
Christian converts, and one missionary whom I knew in
England as a strong opponent of total abstinence has been
forced by circumstances to adopt it, and is now making up by
hib zeal in the cause for his previous opposition. We cannot
be held responsible, however, as in so many other heathen
countries, for the introduction of intoxicating liquor into Ceylon.
The inhabitants of Southern India manufactured them long
before they ever beheld an Englishman, and have used toddy,
the fermented sap of the cocoa-nut palm, for many centuries.
The Portuguese and Dutch taught them to distil toddy into
arrack, and we are now making them familiar with the infernal
cheap spirit of Europe, which is sold in the village toddy shop
to a considerable extent.
The licensing system of Ceylon is akin to that of India and
Singapore. The exclusive privilege of manufacturing and
selling arrack and toddy is reserved to Government, being
farmed out by public auction every year in each province.
These farmers in turn sub-let the privilege to the village
pot-house keeper, at a handsome profit, compelling the sub-
tenant to buy all his supply from them, like the monopolist
brewers in England. The head farmer usually manufactures for
himself. He pays to Government 100 rupees for each still of a
capacity of not less than 1 50 gallons. Wholesale dealers, who
may not sell less than 35 gallons at once, also pay 100 rupees
for a licence. Retailers arrange as best they can with the head
farmer, who has paid a lump sum by auction. About one-
seventh of the whole revenue is derivable from the arrack and
toddy farming, which makes it very difficult for the Government
to restrict its consumption without seriously disturbing the
finances — a step from which every well-regulated Governor
shrinks with dismay.
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON.
301
The liquor trade is virtually uncontrolled. No excise officers
exist, and the Government has to depend upon the Renters
to detect and check illicit sales in their own districts. Adul-
teration is largely practised, and no efforts are made to
prevent it.
It is very difficult to find any statistics by which it is possible
to test absolutely the increase or decrease in the consumption
of strong drink, but the rough test of the money the farmers
are willing to pay for the monopoly gives a fair gauge. Here is
an instructive little table which I have extracted from the Blue
Book :—
Year.
1830
1840
1850
i860
1870
Population.
962,000
1,400,000
1,590,000
1,876,000
2,128,000
Average for the last 10) ,
years . . . \ 2,650,000
Revenue.
283,000 Rupees.
410,000
557,000
735,000
1,279,000
1,905,000
It will thus be seen that the farmers are willing to pay
progressive prices for the monopoly, far in excess of the pro-
gressive increase in the population. A simple rule of three
sum will show that the average for the last ten years gives
nearly 900,000 rupees of revenue in excess of that of i860,
taking into account the increase in the population. The con-
sumption of liquor by natives has therefore increased per head
nearly double in twenty years, a fact that ought to cause the
gravest alarm to any responsible Government. It must further
be remembered that the last ten years has been one of very
unusual depression, caused by the destruction of the coffee
plant.
The consumption of spirits in Ceylon is estimated at twelve
million bottles a year, which gives an average of four and a half
302
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
bottles per head, and a total expenditure of about eight millions
of rupees. When it is remembered that apart from infants and
young children, a large proportion of the population are Moham-
medans, who are strict teetotallers, and that many others avoid
intoxicants on grounds of religion or caste, it is not to be
wondered at that this large consumption of spirits produces
a great deal of drunkenness, enough to cause anxiety in the
mind of every thoughtful Cingalese. A few years ago an
administration report of one of the remote country districts said,
" the habit of indulging in spirituous drinks increases. A glass of
arrack has taken the place of a cup of cofifee as the early morning
beverage of many ; others drink raw spirits immediately before
their meals, while many, including not a few head men, have the
reputation of being habitual drunkards."
Native opinion is universally against the village arrack shop,
and I have had abundant assurances that if the Government
prohibited the distillation of arrack altogether, and only per-
mitted spirits to be imported by the consumer, forbidding the
retail sale, such restrictions would be warmly welcomed by all
native society. It would without doubt be diflEicult to prohibit
the use of toddy, which can be tapped from any hardy cocoa-nut
palm. But compared with arrack, toddy is an innocent beverage,
containing about four per cent, of alcohol, and is preferred by
the natives perfectly fresh when it can be got, before fermenta-
tion has set in. The large amount of spirit drinking in Ceylon
by the natives ought to alarm greatly the paternal Government
of the island, and it should not be beyond the great ability of
Sir Arthur Gordon to devise some fresh tax by which the revenue
could be recouped. But loss of revenue from a diminished
consumption of spirits would in itself result in a great saving
of expenditure, as well as adding largely to the general pros-
perity of the population, and some serious effort ought to be
nillions
nts and
loham-
's avoid
; to be
roduces
in the
ago an
cts said,
glass of
morning
y before
have the
ck shop,
/ernment
mly per-
ding the
;d by all
prohibit
:ocoa-nut
beverage,
ferred by
fermenta-
n Ceylon
vernment
ability of
le revenue
iminished
:at saving
eral pros-
ght to be
M
o
><
u
o
X
tn
M
<
THE RESOURCES OF CEYLON.
30s
made to check the evil, before its growing revenue increases
indefinitely the difficulty of facing it. It is a scandal that a
Christian Government of a heathen country should depend for
its revenue on the vices and improvidence of its subjects.
The farming system, dependent as it is upon an unchecked
stimulus to extended sale, is the very worst and silliest licensing
method that could be devised. I was glad to find, in conversa-
tion with Sir Arthur Gordon, that he entirely condemned it, and
is very anxious to exchange it for an excise duty, and a severely
restricted system of wholesale and retail licences controlled by
the police and magistracy. I have no doubt that by this a larger
revenue could be obtained from a smaller consumption, and that
severe measures against adulteration might render the liquor
sold less noxious. The really sensible course, however, would
be to prohibit absolutely the sale and manufacture of distilled
liquors, and face the disorganization of finance boldly ; it would
not be long before it would right itself by the increased prosperity,
sobriety, and industry which would accrue. The problem is a
difficult one, but I think that any Governor who solved it would
go down to posterity with a greater name than any of his
illustrious predecessors.
We left Colombo with much regret in the Peninsula and
Oriental steamer Rosetta for Calcutta on the 15th of December.
We reached Madras on the i8th. Madras is one of the oldest
settlements in India, and is the third port in importance. It is
a large town, with a frontage to the ocean of some three miles.
A tremendous surf breaks on the beach, and the swell even in
the finest weather renders it difficult to load and unload ships.
Some years ago ;^6oo,ooo or ;^700,ooo was spent on two break-
waters, but they have been destroyed by successive gales, and
the sea now flows fourteen feet deep over the greater portion of
it. We were landed in huge boats, built of planks sewn together
iri
r."!"'f \
306
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
with cocoa-nut fibre, with twelve or fourteen oarsmen. It was
difficult and dangerous to get in and out of these boats, as one
had to jump into the arms of the crew, as she lurched up to the
steps of the steamer, and afterwards to the pier. The Babel of
tongues caused by thirty or forty of these boats round the ship
was a perfect pandemonium. We spent a few hours ashore,
wandering about the streets, but being Sunday, had no
opportunity of visiting any of the institutions of the town.
Mill
IN THE BAY OF BENGAL.
Jill I M
Sill
( 307 )
CHAPTER XX.
CALCUTTA TO BENARES.
M
We reached Calcutta at ten A.M. on the 24th of December. I
had telegraphed from Madras to that beneficent providence of
modern travellers, Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son, asking them
to engap"e an intelligent native servant to travel with us through
India. The steamer had hardly moored when a polite person
in a blue striped turban and white calico suit introduced himself
as " Aino Deen," whipped us ashore in a small boat, and sent U3
off to the Great Eastern Hotel, following an hour later with all
our luggage. Calcutta is crammed with strangers from all parts
of Bengal and Northern India, who have come up to the
capital, to pay their respects to the Viceroy at the Levee and
Drawing Room, to see the races, and enjoy the Christmas
Holidays, which are four days, during which the banks are
closed and all business suspended. I had telegraphed from
Madras for rooms ; we got one, divided by a screen, and we felt
ourselves lucky to get that. Many of our fellow-passengers had
great difficulty in getting a roof to shelter them, some being put
into dormitories with a dozen beds, and others gladly taking
tents pitched on the roof.
Calcutta is a handsome modern town, and likes to be called
" the city of palaces," a name it does not in any way deserve.
There are a good many fine buildingr., handsomely grouped
in the occupation of the Government — the Town Hall, the High
Court, the Post Office, the Telegraph Office, the Currency
X 2
II
J0«
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
Office, the Bengal Secretariat, the Dalhousie Institute, and
Government House, but as they arc none of them to be
compared for a moment to any good Lancashire Town
Hall, I need not inflict any description of them on my
readers.
Calcutta spreads itself along the banks of the Hooghly, a
branch of the Ganges nearly a mile wide, for a distance of four-
and-a-half miles. Its area is seven square miles. The centre of
the town is occupied by the buildings just referred to, the Eden
Gardens, where a band plays by electric light every evening to
the fashionable people of the city, white, native, or mixed, and
the Maidan, a great open space of grass, in the middle of which
is the old historic fortress of Fort William, erected by Clive at
a cost of two millions sterling. Round this great common the
roads are lined with the fine houses of English residents and
wealthy natives, beyond which are miles of native streets and
lanes crowded with a teeming population of Bengalis.
The finest sight in Calcutta is the magnificent line of shipping
along the quays and wharves of the Hooghly, taking in cargoes
of jute, cotton, indigo, grain, hides, silk, and tea, or discharging
the different manufactures which England exchanges for
Indian produce, a trade reaching nearly sixty millions sterling
every yea where in the world is such a display of shipping
to he jl glance as from the great Hooghly Bridge. First
com*. ittile of noble steamers, few of them under 2,000 tons
register, and then two miles of full-rigged iron ships, many of
them carrying four masts, and with an average capacity of
3,000 to 4,000 tons of dead weight.
Calcutta has not greatly interested me. The historic spots
connected with Job Charnock, Holwell, and Clive have all
disappeared. The famous Black Hole has vanished in toto^
and a spick and span post-office covers the almost forgotten site.
m
CALCUTTA TO BENARES,
309
Calcutta is a brand new English city, with a fashionable drive,
a Rotten Row, modern European shops, a fine cathedral and
Methodist Chapel, with native India thrust into the background ;
and a very dirty and unwholesome background it is, in which
cholera darkly lurks.
We have not been able to see any of its institutions, educa-
tional or otherwise, as they are all closed for the Christmas
holidays, and they are not worth waiting for, as in almost every
instance better and more characteristic institutions may be seen
in the great inland towns we are about to visit.
We were not allowed to eat a lonely Christmas dinner at an
hotel. The Hon. J. F. Norris, Q,.^.., one of the judges of the
Supreme Court of Calcutta, who contested Portsmouth in 1880
as a Liberal, carried us off to his hospitable board, round which
we met a pleasant and merry company. I had never met Mr.
Norris before in my life, and only made Mrs. Norris's acquain-
tance on the steamer, which she joined at Madras, but this
hearty and spontaneous hospitality is characteristic of English-
men in India, and we expect to experience plenty more of it
before we leave the country.
On Sunday afternoon we went with my friend Rev. G. Kerry,
the senior Baptist Missionary in Calcutta, to Beadon-square,
where the different missionaries speak in the open air to a regu-
lar audience of educated Bengalis, who come there to listen and
discuss. There were about a hundred present, who from their
dress and general appearance appeared to belong to the richer
middle class. I had an interesting discussion with them on the
liquor question, and found them, without exception, strongly
opposed to the existence of spirit shops at all, and that they
had evidently followed with interest the agitation which has set
in at home with regard to the t'-ade in liquor with subject races
of England.
(
il
SIC-
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
Young Bengal is highly educated. They are beginning to
despise the venerable superstitions of Brahminism, and it is
common to meet with young clerks in the public service or in
merchants' offices to whom the writings of Comte, Herbert
Spencer, Darwin, Huxley, and Tyndal are familiar friends, and
who, though preserving the outward respect for the faith of their
fathers, are really atheists, or at best theists. Young men of
this stamp begin by eating prohibited food. They eat mutton,
but still abstain from beef, as to eat the sacred cow would be
open sacrilege that would lead to instantaneous loss of caste.
They frequent the hotels, and beginning with a glass of
lemonade, soon slide into wines and spirits. Drinking is quite
common among high caste young Hindoos in Bengal, especially
in large towns. A party of educated young natives is hardly
respectable without wines, and toasts are the order of the day.
There is also much clandestine drinking in the country amongst
educated natives. It is easy to see that leaders among
enlightened Bengalis are deeply anxious that the Government
should discourage the sale of liquor to the uttermost, and are
filled with dread at the certain results which must follow the
present senseless out-still system.
We left Calcutta at nine o'clock P.M. on Monday night for
Benares, by the mail train for Bombay. There are no sleeping
carriages on the Indian railways ; but a hard bench, thinly
covered with padding, is provided in the first-class carriages, and
it is necessary to provide one's self with mattress and pillow.
There is a lavatory attached to the carriage, but no soap or
towels. Indian railways are twenty years behind time with
their railway accommodation. The refreshment rooms furnish
plain meals, badly cooked, all along the 1,450 miles from
Calcutta to Bombay, for the daily mail trains. Messrs. Cook
and Son very kindly sent to the hotel for all our luggage,
CALCUTTA TO BENARES.
311
ing to
d it is
;e or in
H[erbert
ids, and
of their
men of
mutton,
'ould be
)f caste.
Tlass of
is quite
specially
s hardly
the day.
amongst
among
/ernment
, and are
)llow the
night for
) sleeping
:h, thinly
ages, and
d pillow.
) soap or
;ime with
IS furnish
iles from
,rs. Cook
luggage,
engaged a carriage for us, and all we had to do was to drive to
the station and get into the train. It is always a pleasure to
have any transaction with this enterprising firm, who attend to
the smallest and most trifling wants of their clients as readily,
cheerfully, and as thoroughly as they would if you wanted a
ticket for a voyage round the world.
At daybreak we were 200 miles from Calcutta, in the midst
of the vast and fertile plain of Bengal. During the night,
stopping at wayside stations, we heard the howls of the jackals,
which swarm throughout India. It was pretty cold and sharp,
and we found overcoats and ulsters very welcome up to nine
o'clock, when the heat of the sun made us glad to throw
them off again.
The scenes from the carriage window were full of interest and
variety. The mud-built villages teeming with population, the
great tanks and irrigating canals, the abundant wells from which
the coolies were raising water by means of the primitive shadouf,
a long pole swung on a pivot with rope and bucket at one end,
and a huge lump of clay at the other ; every now and then vast
green plains without a tree or hut, stretching away to the horizon ;
the enclosed gardens of some wealthy zemindar or landowner ;
a Hindoo temple on some rising mound, herds of zebus,
buffaloes, and goats, rows of bright green parrots and jays sitting
on the telegraph wires, a flock of 300 or 400 ducks dashing down
from the sky with a great splash into some tank, or great white
storks and brown kites circling overhead, kept cur interest
excited till we crossed the great Ganges at Benares, on the new
iron bridge, one of the finest in the world.
At Benares station we were met by Dr. Lazarus, one of the
oldest medical practitioners in India, who has lived in Benares
for forty years, and to whom I had letters of introduction. He
ushered us into a magnificent open carriage, drawn by two
I
i|i.
^i
312
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
i' ti
horses, with coachmen and two footmen in gorgeous livery
of crimson and gold. I thought this was pretty smart for a
doctor, the " profession " generally affecting 'sober and quiet
equipages, but Dr. Lazarus presently informed me that he had
told the Maharajah of Vizianagram that a friend from England
was coming to see Benares, and he promptly placed this carriage
at our disposal day and night as long as we remain here. The
Maharajah resides chiefly at Vizianagram, which is in the Madras
Presidency, but, having large estates round Benares, he keeps up
three or four palaces, to one of which he comes for a few weeks
every year, and the rest are lent to distinguished Hindoos who
come to visit the Holy City. He takes much pleasure in
showing attention to English visitors.
We have spent nearly three days in Benares. It is probably
the most ancient city in India, and is supposed to date back to
times when the Aryan race first colonized the country ; it is cer-
tainly coeval with the earliest days of Hindooism, and has held
the first place in the hearts and affections oi the Hindoos through
every century of their history. For thousands of years it has
been the holiest of holy places, resorted to by pilgrims from
every part of India. To the pious Hindoo Benares is what
Mecca is to the Mohammedan, what Jerusalem was to the
Crusader. The longing of his whole life is to visit this place of
spotless holiness, and wash away his blackest sins in the waters
of the sacred Ganges. Truly blessed is he if he may die there,
and most of the fine palaces which fringe the river have been
built by Rajahs, princes, and rich bankers from different parts of
India, as homes for their aged relatives, who wait patiently, but
with ecstatic happiness, the summons of the dread angel of
death. Benares is the gate of heaven, and in its whole precincts
there is not the smallest chink by which any faithful Hindoo
may be squeezed into the " other place " by mistake. Benares
CALCUTTA TO BENARES.
313
livery
; for a
quiet
le had
ngland
arriagc
I. The
Madras
eeps up
V weeks
DOS who
Lsure in
probably
back to
it is cer-
has held
through
rs it has
ms from
is what
s to the
; place of
le waters
die there,
ave been
,t parts of
ently, but
angel of
precincts
il Hindoo
Benares
is equally revered by the other great church of the East — the
Buddhist. Twenty-five centuries ago Buddha chose this city as
the centre from which to spread his reforming doctrines, for even
then it was a place of such power and influence throughout the
East that it was of paramount importance that a teacher of the
power and pretensions of Buddha should secure the countenance
and support of its pundits and teachers. Tradition says that from
Benares Solomon got his apes and peacocks, both of which are
to be seen as sacred animals in the Hindoo temples of the city
to-day ; and further, that among the wise men of the East who
came to Jerusalem at the time of our Saviour's birth was a Rajah
of Benares. However that may be, there is probably no sacred
city in the world with so ancient and unbroken a record, or which
to-day exercises its sway over so many millions of devotees ; dear
alike to a religion which above all others is saturated with the
grossest and vilest idolatry, and to its great rival, which, despising
idolatry and polytheism, teaches that each individual man, by a
holy life, can himself become absorbed into the Divine.
Buddhism has long since been swept out of India, and has not
even a shrine within the boundaries of Benares. But at Sarnath,
four miles away, is a great tope, or solid tower, built at the time
when, eight centuries after Buddha, Asoka, the ruler of Benares,
tried to make this religion the creed of the whole country.
To these sacred ruins distinguished Buddhists from Hionen
Thsang, who came a pilgrim from China in the seventh century,
on to the author of " The Light of Asia," love to resort, that
they may see the spot where their beloved master sat under his
Bo tree and evolved his wondrous doctrines.
This marvellous tope consists of a stone basement, 93 feet in
diameter, the stones being clamped together with iron to the
height of 43 feet. Above the stone-work, the building is of
brick, the whole rising to a height of 128 feet above the plain.
Il
i| i;
11
314
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
Encircling the monument is an exquisitely beautiful band of
sculptured ornament, of which enough remains to show what the
whole must have been. The central part of this band, which is
about 1 5 feet wide, consists of a geometrical pattern, with above
and below a variegated pattern of foliage and flowers. This very-
interesting monument is the finest tope in Bengal, and well
repaid us for a hot and dusty drive.
Modern Benares is a city " wholly given to idolatry," and is
said to contain 1,454 temples to the honour of various gods of
the Hindoo mythology. I have not visited them all, but I have
seen enough to justify me in accepting the statement. It is
finely situated on a bend of the river Ganges, which in the rainy
season is about a mile wide, but now flows deep under the city,
with great bare sandbanks on the other side. It used to be
approached by a bridge of boats, which has just disappeared in
favour of a very fine iron bridge, nearly a mile long, with road-
ways for rail, carts, and foot-passengers. The town itself is
ranged for 31^ miles along clifis of 100 feet high, crowned with
magnificent palaces, temples and mosques, whose glittering and
picturesque pinnacles, domes, and minarets sparkle like jewels
in the bright morning sun. Down the face of this cliff, pious
and wealthy Hindoos have built magnificent flights of steps
leading down to the river, at the foot of which crowds of
devotees and pilgrims are constantly bathing themselves in the
sacred Ganges. These steps are called Ghats, and there are
more than thirty of them altogether.
We got up at daybreak, that we might see these Ghats at
sunrise, their busiest time. Our hospitable friend. Dr. Lazarus,
had arranged for the Maharajah's barge to be ready, and we
drove at once to the Dasasamed Ghat, passing on the way the
Church Mission College, where 500 or 600 native ladr are
taught. We stopped a little short of the Gh^t, to visit the
«^
i 11
i^lfl
jand of
rhat the
vhich is
h above
his very
nd well
' and is
gods of
it I have
t. It is
he rainy
the city,
;d to be
)eared in
ith road-
itself is
led with
ring and
:e jewels
iff, pious
of steps
•owds of
es in the
here are
Ghats at
Lazarus,
;■, and we
way the
lad? are
visit the
m
H
O
PQ
»
!i|
iliii
I
*:>
1:1
iiri
CALCUTTA TO BENARES.
317
curious observatory which rises loftily at the top of the steps,
giving a noble appearance to the Ghit, when viewed from the
river. In the passage leading up to the entrance, we passed a
Temple sacred to the Rain God, who is drenched with water in
dry weather to remind him he is neglecting his duty, but who is
allowed to get covered with thick dirt in the rainy season. If
the drought is great, they put him in a cistern and keep him
wet till he is fairly roused to a sense of his responsibility. This
god, whose name is Dalbhyeswar, is also the friend of the poor
man, but they do not seem to have much faith in him, as he is
not much noticed, unless circumstances necessitate his removal
to his cistern. His wife or companion, who shares his temple, is
a lady named Sitala, who is the goddess of small-pox. Next to
this is the Temple of the Moon, where diseases of every kind
may be healed. The good people of Benares, however, seem
to have more faith in the excellent hospitals and Dr. Lazarus.
The observatory contains some curious structures for making
astronomical observations and calculations, a huge mural
quadrant and an equinoctial circle ; the view from the roof
looking over the principal Ghdts was very curious and in-
teresting.
We then descended the great flight of steps and got on board
the Maharajah's launch, painted red, with a huge prow shaped
like a peacock, a necklace of pearls round its neck, and a gilded
canopy over our heads. We rowed slowly down the river past
all the principal Ghdts. These were thronged by thousands of
earnest men and women from all parts of India, who, removing
their upper garments, stepped into the river up to their waists,
immersing themselves over and over again in the sin-cleansing
Ganges. It was a very sharp morning, the thermometer having
gone down to 45 degrees during the night. It was a pitiful
sight to see tottering aged women, with scanty white locks,
11 ii
ill
m
318
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
stepping into the cold river, and then crawling feebly up the
steep steps with their wet clothes clinging to their poor shivering
lean legs. When we landed we were begged to be careful how
we passed them, for if our infidel shadows fell upon them the
unhappy creatures lost the virtue of the wash, and had to creep
back and do it all over again. Many of these aged creatures of
both sexes had left home and family a thousand miles away,
never to return, happy and glad to chill themselves slowly into
heaven at holy Benares.
After bathing at the Ghats the devotee betakes himself to
Manikarnika, the famous well of healing, which will wash away
the foulest and blackest murder, or even the still greater crime of
having cheated a priest of his dues. This well was dug by the
God Vishnu, who worked so hard at it that he filled it with his
perspiration. When he had finished he invited a rival god,
Mahadeva, to come and look at it. Mahadeva was so pleased
with it that he shook with delight, and one of his earrings fell
into the well, thus giving it a double sanctity.
I saw the contents of this well, and if it be Vishnu's sweat he
must have been a very dirty god indeed, worse than any of his
worshippers, for the stink is horrible. It is thicker than gruel
from constant bathing, and the flowers which each worshipper
throws into it, to decay uncleansed. A fat priest sits at the
mouth of the well dispensing ladlefuls to an eager crowd, who
drink it up greedily. A collection is, of course, being con-
tinually taken up. Cholera is seldom absent from Benares, and
in hot weather has a high time.
From this the pilgrim (if cholera permits) goes to the Well of
Knowledge, Cyan Kup, and has another drink of rotten liquid
flowers ; he may then wander from temple to temple and shrine
to shrine, till the time comes for his return, surfeited with holi-
ness, to his native village, or till he dies on the sacred soil of
'i
CALCUTTA TO BENARES.
319
up the
hivering
ful how
hem the
to creep
itures of
;s away,
ivvly into
mself to
ish away
crime of
ig by the
with his
ival god,
3 pleased
rings fell
sweat he
,ny of his
lan gruel
orshipper
ts at the
owd, who
eing con-
lares, and
le Well of
ten liquid
md shrine
with holi-
ed soil of
Benares. This well is in the courtyard of the famous Golden
Temple, dedicated to Shiva, the Poison God. This temple is a
quadrangle covered with a roof, above which rises a very pictur-
esque tower. At each corner is a dome, with a larger dome in
the centre. These are all covered with gold plates, presented
by Runjeet Singh. The courtyard is thronged with worshippers
and sacred bulls and cows, and the jostling of the dirty smelling
crowd is not pleasant in the heat of the day.
We passed from temple to temple, through streets like pictures
from the " Arabian Nights," past shops in which skilful artists
were making the chased brass dishes and bowls so familiar to
us in England, or cutting out clever wooden toys, boxes, and
puzzles. Here were a group of weavers, squatted on the ground
waiting to be hired by the merchants of the richly-embroidered
gold and silver cloth for which Benares is famous ; there in
some open space were groups of pilgrims, with their worldly
goods in two bundles hung from each end of a bamboo,
decorated with red ribbons to denote their object, footsore and
weary, from a tramp of many a hundred miles along the hot
and dusty roads of India, but overjoyed at reaching the holy
spot at last. Brahmins, priests, bellowing street preachers of
Hindoo dogmas, vicious pariah dogs, horrible beggars who
showed their horrible deformities, sacred bulls and cows, street
hawkers, palankeens, and flocks of poultry throng the narrow
streets and lanes, making locomotion difficult, but presenting
a busy swarming mass of bright colour and movement, such as
I have only seen equalled in the bazaars of Cairo. The sacred
bull is a distinct nuisance. These are animals performing much
the same religious function as the scapegoat did for the Jews,
but instead of being turned loose in the wilderness he is turned
loose in the narrow streets of a busy town, whose pious inhabi-
tants tempt his pampered appetite with dainties put out for him
i; li
li
I
320
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
in an iron pot on the doorstep, and who permit him unchecked
to walk into any shop he fancies, and help himself to any fruit,
vegetables, or grain for which his soul may lust. Everybody
makes way for my lord, and if any scoffer were to twist his tail
he would have to run for his life. The municipal authorities used
to kidnap them at night, and turn them loose on the other side
of the Ganges, but they swam back the next night, and turned
up holier than ever. Now they are darkly stolen by the police,
disguised, and utilised for carting away the town refuse. But
in spite of this their name and nature is Legion. I never saw a
NOTHING IS SACRED TO A SNAKE !
more self-righteous looking Pharisee than a fat old white bull in
one of the temples, levying blackmail from every worshipper,
who brought him each a cake, some rice flour or a dainty bit
of fruit. I have been told that suburban snakes have a pleasant
trick of shackling the hind legs of the sacred cows, and helping
themselves to milk, a dainty of which serpents are inordinately
fond.
A great feature of the GhAts are the Fakeers or Ascetics, who
resort hither from the uttermost parts of India. We saw one
of these sitting in a circle of low mud wall which be had built
for himself. His hair and beard were long and matted, and
CALCUTTA TO BENARES.
321
his face and body covered with ashes from a small fire which
he had provided for the purpose. The expression of his coun-
tenance was one of rapt ecstacy. The admiring bystanders
said he had been there for eight days without moving or
speaking. If any pious person placed a cake or a bit of fruit
on his stone he would eat it in an absent manner, washing
it down with Ganges water. There arc hundreds of these
Ascetics constantly at Benares. We heard some very eloquent
preaching from Hindoo pundits, who sat on a raised platiorm,
and discoursed to large assemblages, chiefly veiled women.
These men are all Brahmins, the highest caste of Hindoos, and
there are some 20,000 or 25,000 of these in Benares, none of
whom do a stroke of work, all fattening on the alms devout
Hindoos are always ready to bestow. They superintend the
worship in the temples and control all the holy places of the
city, but their work consists chiefly in holding out their hands
for money, and it is little wonder that where the highest caste
are the loudest beggars all the rest follow suit, making India
the worst place in the world for this pest.
Among the many curious sights of Benares is the temple of
the goddess Durga, about three miles out of the town. The
temple is a fine building, set off by a large tank in front and
trees all round, but with no special architectural interest. In
front of the shrine is an altar, bedabbled with blood, on which
many goats are sacrificed. Durga is the terrific form of Shiva's
wife, and delights in destruction and bloodshed of all kir':^s.
Whenever a Hindoo wants a meat dinner he brings a kid to
Durga, and sacrifices it. The priests levy toll on the carcase,
and then he may take it away and eat meat offered to idols to
his heart's content. In the trees around this temple, peering
over walls and round pinnacles, are hosts of monkeys, about the
size of dogs. These animals are all living deities, gods, and
Y
11
1 11
332
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
goddesses, and it would be a horrible crime indeed to injure
one of them. They are so mischievous, that it is impossible for
any one to live within half a mile of the temple, as all their
household belongings would be destroyed by these creatures,
which are numbered by thousands. They became such an
intolerable nuisance some years ago that the magistrate of
Benares removed all he could catch to a distant jungle. We
bought a few handfuls of rice, and whenever we threw it on the
ground scores of these monkeys appeared in a few seconds.
The finest building in Benares is the lofty mosque of Aurung-
zebe. Its foundations are laid deep below the river's bed, and
rise from its level in great stone breastworks, on the summit
of which are the four walls and domes of the mosque. Soaring
high into the air, like the tall stems of some beautiful flower,
are two delicately graceful minarets, 1 50 feet from the floor of
the mosque, 8| feet in diameter at the base, tapering to 7^ feet
at the summit, overtopping every temple and palace in the city.
The river is 1 50 feet below the base of the minarets, so that the
whole structure rises some 300 feet sheer. Mohammed, the
worshipper of one god and the greatest breaker of idols the
world has seen, thus looks down with lofty and desolate scorn
on the hundreds of temples which not even the savage persecu-
tion of the great Aurungzebe, or eighty years of Christian
missions, has been able to reduce by one. We climbed
laboriously to the summit of one of these pinnacles, and got
a glorious view of the city, and the great sweeping river bearing
away the sins of its devotees to the great ocean, and wondered
sadly when the most religious people on earth would turn
from their hideous superstitions to the truth of Christianity.
There are two or three earnest missionaries pecking at this mass
of horrible idolatry, which but for the restraint of British rule
would burst out again into all its ancient cruelties of Juggernaut
CALCUTTA TO BENARES.
323
injure
iblc for
U their
catures,
iuch an
trate of
Ic. We
: on the
jconds.
Aurung-
bed, and
; summit
Soaring
x\ flower,
I floor of
7\ feet
the city.
) that the
imed, the
idols the
late scorn
1 persecu-
Christian
e climbed
1, and got
er bearing
wondered
/ould turn
hristianity.
t this mass
kitish rule
Juggernaut
and Suttee ; but they are malcing about as much impression
on it as a woodpecker trying to cut down an oak, and I doubt
if there is a single convert to Christianity in licnares who is
not in some way or other dependent upon tiic missionaries.
This dense ancient mass of priest-ridden heathendom has
resisted alike the attacks of Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and
Christian missionaries.
Benares used to be a great d(ip6t for all the agricultural
produce of a vast area of India, whence it was sent down the
Ganges to Calcutta for distribution over the whole world.
Fleets of boats and steamers were used for this purpose, but
the railway has almost extinguished them ; another instance of
many others I have noticed in my journey round the world, of
the destruction of the traffic on great water-ways by railways,
tending to confirm the distrust I have always felt of the success
financially of such schemes as the Manchester Ship Canal, and
this new proposal to take ships up to Leeds vid Goolc. Only
an absolutely free water-way like an open sea appe?rs able to
compete successfully with railways, and not always then,
as the trade between the Bristol Channel and the Mersey
proves.
Benares is full of sad pathos, its streets, its temples, and the
Gh^ts all affording evidence of the powerful roots which the
Hindu religion has struck deep down into the affections and
devotions of this ancient people. For beauty of situation and
picturesqueness of detail it has few rivals. I would fain have
prolonged our stay for weeks, but our time is short, and the
shadow of St. Stephen's looms dark in front of our pathway
round the world. So with a reluctant good-bye to Benares,
hoping it may be only au revoir, we take train to Agra to see
a new phase of past Indian life in the wondrous monuments
which tell of the vanished greatness of the Mogul Empire.
Y 3
..,
324
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
The natural course of our trip should have taken us somewhat
out of our way to Lucknow and Cawnpore, but the main interest
of these places consist in the scenes and memorials of the
mutiny, a dark and terrible episode in our history of which I
am content to have read about, and we pass on, without
reviving its horrid memories
11
( 3^5 )
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS.
A LONG and weary night's journey on the 29th of December
brought us in the early morning to Agra, the city which Akbar,
the great Mogul Emperor, chose as his metroplis in the middle
of the 1 6th century. Akbar was seventeenth in descent from
Timour, or Tame-lane, the great Tartar conqueror of India,
whose descendants have sat on the throne of Delhi till Hodson
slew the two sons of the last king during the mutiny. The
Mogul Empire reached its zenith during Akbar's reign, and
nearly all the wonderful buildings and palaces, which attract
visitors from all over the world to Agra and Delhi, are the
monuments of his splendour and extravagance, or of his
immediate successors, Jahangir, Shah Jehan, and Aurungzebe.,
Agra is situated on a great bend of the river Jumna, which is
crossed by a clumsy bridge of boats, and also by a fine railway
bridge. The fort is placed in the angle of the peninsula formed
by this great bend, on the very edge of the bank, commanding
the river. The old walls of Agra enclose an area of 1 1 square
miles, about half of which is covered with dwelling houses,
containing a population of 150,000. The town is better built
than most Indian cities, and has a larger proportion of well-to-do
citizens.
In viewing the city from across the river, the great central
object is the huge crenelated fortress of sandstone, with its vast
H> 13
11
\i\
326
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
< *
red walls and flanking defences surmounted by the white marble
domes of its royal palaces. This enormous fortress, impregnable
at the period in which it was built, is a mile and a half in circuit,
and its frowning walls are 70 feet in height. During the mutiny
in 1857 it sheltered the whole of the European population, over
5,000 in number, within the walls of its barracks and palaces.
The fort is placed in a position to command the whole town, as
well as every possible approach by the river.
The only entrance to the fort is by the Delhi gate, a
magnificent building of red sandstone, reached by a drawbridge
across the wide moat. Passing through this gateway, guarded
by tall Sikh soldiers, a winding road brings us to a long flight of
steps leading up to the famous Moti Musjid, or pearl mosque,
the private chapel of the Court of the Mogul Emperors,
occupying much the same relative position to the great Palace of
Agra as St. George's Chapel does to Windsor Castle. When the
door of the gateway was thrown open I was literally blinded
with the dazzling beauty of the mosque, standing in the full
blaze of noonday sun. Against a cloudless sky of the purest
azure stood a corridor of three rows of beautifully-proportioned
Saracenic arches, crowned with a row of lovely cupolas, sur-
mounted in their turn by three lofty domes. These three aisles
stood open to a great courtyard, surrounded by cloisters, with a
large fountain in the centre. Courtyard, cloisters, corridors,
cupolas, and domes were all alike of the most beautiful white
marble, decorated with fine carving in low relief. The mosque
itself, ?>., the three arched corridors, is 142 feet long by 56 feet
deep, the courtyard being 100 feet wide from the mosque to the
gateway. At each end of the mosque are marble screens of
floriated tracery, and the columns, arches, and ground vaults,
exquisitely decorated, intersect one another with infinite grace
and beauty when viewed from the outer corners. This mosque
marble
;gnable
circuit,
mutiny
n, over
palaces,
own, as
gate, a
wbridge
guarded
flight of
mosque,
mperors,
'alace of
Vhen the
blinded
the full
e purest
)ortioned
:»las, sur-
-ee aisles
s, with a
corridors,
ul white
2 mosque
y 56 feet
ue to the
creens of
id vaults,
lite grace
s mosque
M
I I
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS.
3^9
was built by Shah Jehan in 1654, and the only ornament which
is not strictly architectural is an inscription in black marble,
inlaid in the frieze of the mosque itself This inscription tells
us that "the mosque may be likened to a precious pearl, for
no other in the world is lined throughout with marble." The
gateway is well worthy of careful study. In the centre of the
court is a large square tank of white marble for ablutions. A
cloister runs all round the courtyard, containing 58 slender
twelve-sided pillars, on square bases. During the occupation
of the fort by the British refugees at the time of the mutiny
this pearl mosque was used as the hospital.
A few minutes' walk further brings us Xo the great Divan, or
public audience hall, 192 feet by 64 feet, the roof being supported
by a succession of colonnades of red sandstone, covered with
plaster, and painted white and gold. In the centre of this hall
is a curious alcove of marble, inlaid with mosaics of precious
stones, in which the Emperor sat, watching the administration of
justice in the court immediately beneath him. The Prince of
Wales, the future Emperor of a vaster India than that of the
Mogul, held a durbar, or public reception of native princes, in
this great Divan during his visit to India in 1876.
Passing through a small door at the side of the alcove, a flight
of steps conducts us into what is probably the most beautiful
and unique monument of Saracenic domestic art. We wander
on through a succession of great courtyards, surrounded by
arcades, on the top of which are a series of white marble palaces
and pavilions, elaborately decorated with carving and inlaid work
of precious stones. One of these vast courtyards is 500 feet
long by 370 feet wide^ with a broad walk 20 or 30 feet wide all
round the top of the cloisters, from which lead innumerable
chambers.
The Harem surrounds a beautiful Eastern garden, bright with
• )
330
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
fountain and blossom ; three sides of this garden are occupied by
the ladies' apartments ; the fourth, overhanging the outer wall of
the fortress loo feet above the river, is composed of three white
marble pavilions of exquisite grace, whose walls, pillars, and
roofs are adorned with inlaid flowers of agate, cornelian, lapis-
lazuli, onyx, porphyry, jasper, bloodstone, and other precious
stones, and are topped with golden domes. On a lower level,
down six or eight marble steps, is the Jasmine tower, the boudoir
of the chief Sultana, a wonderfully perfect specimen of carved
and inlaid marble, which has been finely restored at the expense
of Lord Northbrook, when he was Governor-General of India,
and a projecting belvedere, in which the Emperor sat to view
elephant fights and other savage sports on the plains below.
Another curious apartment is the Shish Mahal, or palace of
glass, being the Hammam or Turkish bath, used by the ladies
of the Harem, a series of chambers adorned with thousands of
small pieces of talc or mica, disposed in intricate designs, giving
the appearance of innumerable little mirrors.
I cannot attempt to do justice to this gorgeous home of the
great Mogul Emperors, probably the most magnificent palace
the world has ever seen. We spent many hours of our stay in
Agra, wandering through its beautiful courts and chambers,
finding fresh cause for admiration every moment.
From every window and terrace of the palace the view closed
in with the shining dome and minarets of the sublimely beautiful
tomb which Shah Jehan erected over the body of his beloved
wife Mahal, who died in giving birth to her eighth chi'd. The
famous Taj Mahal is probably the most renowned building in
the world. Like that other great tomb, the pyramid of Cheops,
at Cairo, one's enjoyment of its wondrous loveliness is marred by
the recollection that it was built by forced labour, and was
reared on the lives of hundreds of its makers. Twenty thousand
apicd by
r wall of
ee white
ars, and
an, lapis-
precious
ver level,
2 boudoir
of carved
J expense
of India,
t to view
ns below,
palace of
the ladies
lusands of
;ns, giving
me of the
nt palace
ur stay in
chambers,
iew closed
y beautiful
beloved
hiM. The
juilding in
of Cheops,
marred by
•, and was
y thousand
- ..■**% .•^4--'
Si-
•■! II
i
lllK TAJ MAIIAI., FROM THE SUMMIT 01' THE GREAT GATEWAY,
■'11 ' \
; I;
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS,
333
workmen were employed for seventeen years in building and
decorating the Taj. They were half starved, and their families
wholly starved, producing great distress and mortality among
them. The total cost is estimated at over forty million rupees,
or about four millions sterling.
The road to the Taj Mahal from Agra passes the ruins of
many ancient palaces, leading up to a superb gateway of sand-
stone, inlaid with floral ornaments, and passages from the Koran,
in white marble. We had chosen noon for our first visit to the
VIEW FROM THE TERRACE OF THE FORT, AGRA — THE TAJ MAHAL
IN THE DISTANCE.
11
Taj, for I love the blaze of the midday sun beyond all other
times of the day if there is anything to be seen worth seeing.
Passing through the gateway, we stood upon a flight of steps
looking down an avenue of sombre cypresses, the floor of which
was of white marble, covered with water about a foot deep,
reaching away for three or four hundred yards ; the vista closed
in with a vast dome of white marble, posed on a building whose
perfect symmetry and absolute finish of every detail, flashed like
some priceless jewel in the glorious blue setting of the Indian
i ■
334
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
'.' I
i
I'll
noonday sky. The beauty of it literally struck us dumb. Words
were worthless, I had come disposed to carp a little at what had
been so continually praised, but I found the building as a whole,
its details and its surroundings, its exterior and interior, abso-
lutely faultless. My daughter said, " It was never made, it has
grown like some beautiful flower."
The enclosure in which the Taj is placed is a great garden in
which orange and lemon trees, pomeloes, pomegranates, palms
and flowering shrubs and trees, with marble fish ponds and
fountains, speak of the East in every whisper of their leaves and
plash of their waters. This garden is a third of a mile long,
and nearly as wide. The marble paved avenue of cypresses runs
through its entire length, closed at one end with the dazzling
marble Taj, at the other contrasted by the rich red sandstone
gateway. The tomb itself is i86 feet square, and 220 feet high
to the top of the dome ; it is raised upon a plinth of white
marble 313 feet square, and 18 feet high above the level of the
garden. At each corner of this plinth stand four tapering
minarets 137 feet high, also of white marble. At each side of
the Taj, about 4CX) feet back across a great court flagged with
marble, are splendid mosques of red sandstone, richly decorated
with mosaics of white marble, and topped with three white
marble domes, only inferior in beauty to that of the Taj itself
During one of our visits one of these courtyards was occupied by
a little pic-nic party of thirty or forty Hindoos in every variety
of bright holiday attire, the colours of which formed an ad-
mirable foil to the white brilliance of this wonderful building.
We were fortunate enough to see the Taj by the light of the
full moon on two consecutive evenings. It is even more beautiful
in the silver dress of moonlight than in the golden robes of the
noonday sun. By day or night alike it has made an impression
on my memory that nothing can ever obliterate.
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS.
335
kVords
at had
whole,
, abso-
it has
rden in
, palms
ds and
^cs and
le long,
;es runs
lazzling
ndstone
eet high
)f white
1 of the
tapering
I side of
ed with
Ecorated
;e white
aj itself,
apied by
r variety
an ad-
Duilding.
it of the
Deautiful
2S of the
ipression
Inside the Taj, the Emperor Shah Jehan and his beloved
Mahal lie buried side by side in marble tombs, inlaid with rich
gems. The great Mogul Empire, over which they ruled, has
passed away, and on this gorgeous remnant of its splendour we
saw "Tommy Atkins" sitting in the seat of the scornful,
carving the broad arrow of a greater Empire on its topmost
stone.
There were originally two great silver doors at the entrance,
but these were taken away and melted by the Jats. The
architect was a Frenchman named Austin de Bordeaux.
The interior of the Taj is lighted through double screens of
white marble trellis-work of the most exquisite design, one on
the outer, the other on the inner face of the walls. In England
a building thus lighted would be gloomy and almost dark, but
in the blazing sun of India, in a building composed entirely
of pure white marble, it only tempers a glare that would other-
wise be intolerable, while giving light enough to see the lace-like
details of the open trellis-work.
The great sandstone gateway to the garden in which the Taj
stands, is a worthy entrance to this splendid monument. It
is 140 feet high and no feet wide, built of warm red sandstone
inlaid with ornaments and inscriptions from the Koran in
white marble, and surmounted by twenty-six marble cupolas.
After gazing at this gateway of sombre hues, it is a marvellous
contrast to pass through, and behold the soft and pearl-like
whiteness of the Taj, dazzling in the noonday light, framed
in green cypress and orange trees, against the deep blue
background of the Indian sky.
About five miles from Agra, at Sikandra, an ancient place
supposed to take its name from Alexandra of Macedonia, is the
last resting-place of Akbar, the greatest of the Mogul Emperors.
A fine gateway of red sandstone admitted us into what had once
'lifitiiiii '
336
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
been a pjrcat fjardcn, as well cared for as lliat of the Taj, but
which is now a wilderness of infinite beauty. In the centre of
this rises a singular building of five stories or arched causeways,
of hewn stone richly carved, the bottom story of which is 300
feet square, and the top story, 74 feet high from the base, is
a cloistered quadrangle of white marble, 70 feet square. The
outer walls of this cloister are formed of marble screens pierced
with a great variety of intricate patterns and designs, through
THE TOMB OF AKBAR, SIKANDRA.
which the blue of the sky and the dark green of the tangled
garden glitter like some fine mosaic.
In the heart of this great pile of arched terraces lies the tomb
of Akbar in a gloomy domed chamber, into which the light of
day faintly struggles through narrow apertures in the walls.
This huge mausoleum took twenty years to build, and is said
to have employed 3,000 workmen the whole time.
The gateway at Sikandra is magnificent. It is a massive
structure of red sandstone with a scroll of white marble twelve
ic Taj, but
; centre of
causeways,
lich is 300
he base, is
uare. The
;ns pierced
IS, through
the tangled
es the tomb
the light of
1 the walls.
and is said
5 a massive
arble twelve
at
D
<
u
t
v>
"ai
■<
ca
<
O
ai
U
S5
ed
O
U
ill
! '•
ii:
It
THE CITY OP THE ORE AT MOGULS, 339
inches broad, adorning it, engraved with a chapter from the
Koran. It is 72 feet high, and the roof is crowned with a whi^e
marble minaret about 60 feet high at each corner. The viev
from the top is wide and extensive, comprising the river Jumna
winding through the fertile plain hke a great blue ribbon, the
domes and minarets of the mosques and palaces of Agra, the
Taj Mahal glistening in its great loop, with Fattehpur Sikri far
away to the south.
Twenty-four miles distant from Agra is the curious and
wonderful deserted city of Akbar, Fattehpur Sikri, which was to
the palace at Agra what Windsor Castle is to Buckingham
Palace. The ancient walls of this city are seven miles round, in
the centre of which the magnificent series of buildings rise on a
hill about 150 feet above the plain. The walls remain, but the
city has long since vanished, fertile fields and gardens having
taken its place. Some idea of its extent may be guessed from
the vestiges of the great market or bazaar, a mile in length, the
flint pavement of which may still be distinguished near the -ate
on the north side. The royal buildings cover the whole summit
of the hill, completely dominating the city and plain. They are
half mosque and sepulchre and half palace, for the Moguls loved
to rest in their graves with even greater magnificence than that
in which they spent their lives. The main entrance is by the
great gateway of the mosque, the highest gateway in the world,
it is said, whicn, standing on a flight of steps about 100 feet
wide, rises 130 feet from the roadway, visible for 20 miles
across the plain. At the side of this towering gateway is a
large tank about thirty feet deep, into which men and boys
leaped i'rom a height of seventy feet as soon as we appeared,
running up the steps breathless and wet to beg for annas in
reward. These Singular tanks or wells are to be seen in most of
the Mogul palaces, and were used as cool retreats from the great
Z 2
a III
m
,(
)
340
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
ii '
I 1^
heat of summer. Passing through the gateway, we entered
the fine cloistered quadrangle of the mosque, 4-33 feet long and
366 feet wide, in which were placed two magnificent tombs, one
of carved red sandstone, and the other of pierced marble, looking
at a distance like fine lace. This latter is the tomb of a Fakeer,
a holy hermit who had great influence over Akbar, and who
must have been a shrewd and clever statesman, if the legends
which are told of him are true. Half the village claims lineal
descent from this Fakeer, including a smart young Hindoo who
acted as our guide. Over the grave is a curious canopy like
a four-post bed, incrusted all over with fine mother-of-pearl
inlaid work. Leaving the mosque, we wander on for hours from
palace to palace, through courtyards and old gardens, past
dainty white marble summer-houses and sculptured sandstone
stables, all in that fine preservation which only is possible in
such a perfect climate as India. I will try to describe one of
these royal houses, the apartment of Birbul, one of the Emperor's
favourite Hindoo ministers. It contains eight rooms, each fifteen
feet square, on two stories. Not an inch of wood is to be found
in the whole structure, which is entirely of red sandstone, built
in the most massive manner. The minuteness of the decoration,
which covers every inch of space inside and out, is more like the
work of some Chinese ivory carver than of a stonemason. The
ceiling of the rooms on the ground floor is made of long slabs of
sandstone fifteen feet long by one foot wide, resting on bold
cornices, as richly decorated as the rest. The rooms in the
upper story are crowned by massive domes, got by putting a
capstone on the top of sixteen sloping slabs, each of which
stands upon an abutment, the whole supported on eight sides,
rising from the walls of the room. One is puzzled whether to
speak of it as "the most diminutive of palaces or the most
gigantic of jewel cases," but the prevailing impression in my
entered
ong and
nbs, one
looking
, Fakeer,
ind who
legends
ns lineal
doo who
lopy like
r-of-pearl
)urs from
ens, past
;andstone
Dssible in
be one of
Lmperor's
,ch fifteen
be found
one, built
ecoration,
•e like the
;on. The
g slabs of
r on bold
IS in the
putting a
of which
ight sides,
v'hether to
the most
on in my
r !
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS. 343
mind was that it ought to be removed to South Kensington and
put under a glass case. There is a cast of two pillars from this
wonderful little palace to be seen at that museum, which give a
good idea of its infinite beauty of decoration.
It is at Fattehpur Sikri that the great Akbar must be judged
as a builder. During the whole of his reign of fifty years it was
his favourite residence. It has been fitly spoken of as "a
THE MAUSOLEUM OF PRINCE ETMAD DOWLAT.
romance in stone, and a reflex of the mind of the great man
who built it."
A pleasant morning's drive is to be had by crossing the
Jumna by the old bridge of boats, a gay and busy scene,
thronged with bull-carts from the country, the gravelly banks
of the river on each side being crowded with washermen and
water-carriers. About a mile up the river stands the tomb of
344
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
Prince Etmad Dowlat, one of the most beautiful mausoleums in
India, a masterpiece of pierced and carved marble, and pietra
dura. Like all other mausoleums, it stands in a lovely garden
overhanging the river. From the terrace of the garden a fine
view is obtained, and we found some amusement in a number of
enormous tortoises or turtles, swimming about in the river.
Some of these were 4 or 5 feet long, with great horny-beaked
mouths ; we were told that they have been known to attack
men swimming across the river, and pull them under water,
drowning them.
I suppose the various palaces and magnificent tombs erected
by the Mogul Emperors during a period of less than a century
must have cost ten or twelve millions sterling, although chiefly
erected by forced and unpaid labour. The jewelled peacock
throne of Shah Jehan was worth seven millions sterling. This
pomp and show was paid for out of a revenue wrung out of the
very life-blood of the people, equal in amount to the whole
revenues of British India. The beneficent change from the
rule of these wasteful tyrants to that of the present Empress of
India is shown by the fact that for a less sum of money than
that spent upon three palaces, two tombs and a throne, the
British Government has made 4,500 miles of irrigating canals,
watering some three millions of acres, giving employment and
food to 15 or 20 millions of population.
I visited several of the missionaries in Agra. The Church
Mission consists of several excellent schools and a good church.
The Baptists have three missionaries, six Zenana lady mission-
aries, fifteen nat've pastors and schoolmasters, and ten native
women whose work it is to visit the Zenanas and read to the
wives and children of Hindoos. They have six day schools,
with 315 boys and seventeen teachers, in which they give
very good elementary education. Dr. Valentine, a Presbyterian,
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS.
345
2ums in
1 pietra
garden
n a fine
mber of
le river,
-beaked
D attack
r water,
; erected
century
li chiefly
peacock
g. This
at of the
le whole
from the
npress of
»ney than
rone, the
g canals,
nent and
e Church
d church.
mission-
en native
ad to the
y schools,
;hey give
byterian,
has an excellent training college for native medical mission-
aries, with ten clever young Hindoo Christians as students.
Dr. Wilson, an American Methodist, and his talented wife,
who is paid by the Baptist Zenana Mission, conduct three
dispensaries in different parts of Agra, as medical missionaries.
I visited all three, and was astonished at the amount of work
they got through in the day. They treat between them over
11,000 patients in the year, and their reputation is so great that
villagers come long distances for advice. I saw a man who had
walked twelve miles from the country, returning the same day,
and he did this every three days to get medicine and advice.
Dr. and Mrs. Wilson are specially commended in the report of the
medical ofificer for the North-West Province as having the best
and most successful dispensary in his district. Folk at home
sometimes arc apt to think that a missionary in India has a
mighty easy time of it. It may be that there are some who
have, and I have seen such, but not here. The day we left
Agra, Mr. Daniel Jones, the senior Baptist Missionary, left for
a two months' tour through the villages. He is accompanied
by a native, and his home will be a small gipsy van, drawn by
bullocks. He will not sleep in a bed the whole time, and often
will live for days together on the poor bread of the villagers.
He will preach six or seven times every day in the open air. I
have found that missionaries, as a rule, know far more about
the real social condition and habits of the people than the run
of the civil or military services, most of whom hold themselves
very much aloof from the native population. Missionaries, on
the other hand, mix freely with all classes, their wives and the
ladies who visit the Zenanas having a wider knowledge about the
home life of the Hindoo and Mahommedan population than any
other Europeans. All through India, so far, I have received more
real help from missionaries in my efforts to learn something of
\\
\\\
Trff
346
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
\\i
the Indian people than from any other Engh'shman with whom
I have come in contact. With some honourable exceptions
the Anglo-Indian, civil and military, speaks of the native with
distrust and conterhpt, and it is a significant comment on their
attitude towards the humbler folk that in most of the hotels I
have stayed at notices are put up in the rooms begging guests
* ' not to illtreat the servants."
I liave tried as well as I can to see something of the village
and country life of India, and the journey from Agra to
Futtehpur Sikri, a drive of about 50 miles altogether, took me
through many villages. My companion was a Baptist mission-
ary, Mr. Potter, a man of rare intelligence, who is very familiar
with the district, and who had friends and acquaintances in
every village we passed through. The scenes along the road
were full of interest and variety. The animal life in India is
abundant, and, as no Hindoo injures or kills any wild animal,
they are wonderfully tame. The minars, a very common bird
about the size of a blackbird, hardly takes the trouble to hop
out of the way of the horses' feet. Vultures and crows, the
scavengers of the villages, roost about on stumps and rocks, and
let you come within a few feet of them, when they move lazily
away for a short distance. At every pond, handsome storks,
cranes, and wild ducks are to be seen, peacocks strut about
the fields, pheasants run across the road, pigeons, ring-doves,
hoopoes, woodpeckers, and bright green parrots fly from tree to
tree, and pretty grey squirrels, full of cheerful impudence, are all
over the place, on roofs of huts, walls, playing in the dusty road
or chasing one another up the trunks of trees. The village well
is always hard at work, with a couple of sleek oxen drawing
huge leather buckets up to the surface with rope and pulley.
Beggars are everywhere. In one place they were so numerous
and so miserable that I gave the head man of the village the
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS.
347
largess of one rupee, which he went off at once to change into
pies (small copper coins about half a farthing in value), with the
whole lot howling at his heels.
These poor creatures are all deformed or leprous, the result in
most cases of chronic hunger. In one village some girls pursued
us clamouring for coppers, on the strength of their being hungry.
They were well-fed and well-clothed rogues, and got nothing.
One of them, however, had a pretty puppy, which the ladies of
our party noticed. Immediately the girl exclaimed, with a grin,
" This puppy very hungry, Ma'am Sahib ! "
The village communities in India may be divided into two
classes, cultivators of the soil and those who render different
services to the cultivators, for which they are paid in kind.
These latter are, firstly, the head man of the village, elected by
popular suffrage, who manages all the affairs of the community,
assisted by a village council of five or seven in number. The
village accountant comes next, then the priest ; the barber, a
very important functionary, who shaves, shampoos, cuts nails, and
acts as village doctor ; the potter, who makes all the pots and
platters for the village, with great skill ; the blacksmith, the
carpenter, the dhoby or washerman, who belongs to a special
caste of his own, and no family, however poor, "washes at
home ; " the water-carrier ; the tailor, the shoemaker, who
belongs to the lowest of all castes, the watchman (this function-
ary always followed me about the village, never losing sight of
me till I was well off the premises !), and lastly the impure caste
who do all the dirty work of the village. Large villages add to
to these a schoolmaster, an astrologer, an apothecary, and an
exorcist of evil spirits. As far as I could make out, these trades
are all paid in the produce of the soil, and £h?.rp the prosperity
or adversity of agriculture equally with the cultivators of the
land. Cultivation is very primitive. The land is fertile, and
348
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
i
seems to need no manure. At any rate it gets none, as all the
cow dung is made up into cakes with chopped straw, dried in
the sun, and used for fuel. It is strange to see the sunny wall
of a house covered all over with these cakes.
The shopkeeper is also an important person in large villages,
though he is not in community with the rest. He is also a
money-lender, and the child-like Hindoo cultivator also gets
into his clutches, and becomes his mere slave. The villagers
generally appear better fed and nourished than the town
labourer, but the poverty of the whole country is very great,
and probably four-fifths of the population of India live and die
without ever once having had as much as they could eat at a
meal.
In towns the average earnings of a labouring man is one
rupee a week, and his wife may pick up one way or another 4
annas. A rupee is worth \s, 6d. of our money, and 4 annas
about ^\d. He and his children live entirely upon bread or a kind
of lentil called dhol, with a little vegetables, pepper and salt
stewed together to relish the bread. If he has four children, six
mouths to feed, he can only afford one meal a day, and that a
scanty one. His wants are few indeed — hut, fuel, washing,
clothes, and food. I have carefully inquired into the cost of
these necessities for a week for such a family. Rent is i anna,
washing J anna, fuel 2 a mas, vegetables, pepper, salt, and oil,
2^ annas, \ lb. of corn or dhol per head per diem, 16 annas ;
total I rupee 6 annas, or 2 annas more than the whole earnings
of the man and his wife, leaving nothing for clothes, which
must cost about 7 rupees a year for a family of six, and which
must be squeezed out of the ^ lb. of flour. The Zenana
missionaries told me that there are widows in Agra and Delhi
who are living on is. 6d. per vionth ! It is little to be wondered
at that when pestilence or famine comes these poor creatures die
THE CITY OF THE GREAT MOGULS.
349
off like flies. Before British rule, famine and cholera would
often clear off millions in a single year.
The average Hindoo does about one-fifth of the work of an
average Englishman, and has not physical strength for more.
In the cotton mills at Agra and Cawnpore, it takes exactly
three times the number of grown men to turn out as much
work as a Manchester mill employing women and children
as well as men. There are some terrible social problems to
be solved in India, and unless by irrigation and other public
works fresh tracts of land are brought under cultivation, and
the price of food reduced, recurrent famines will be inevitable.
In England the average income per head per annum of popula-
tion is £ii\ in France, £21 ; in Turkey, the poorest country
in Europe, £d,\ but in India it falls as low as £\ i5j-., with a
steadily increasing population to share it.
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350
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
CHAPTER XXII.
DELHI.
Delhi is one of the ancient cities of the world, and has exer-
cised a controlling influence on the politics of India from a period
which loses itself in the distance of ages. Fifteen hundred years
before Christ it had a distinct history, whose traditions are as
marked as those of Nineveh and the Exodus, and portions of
the great ruined fortress of Indrapat, foui' miles from modern
Delhi, are pointed out as dating back to the time of Joshua.
Seven ancient and ruined cities, with colossal fortresses, marble
palaces, stupendous wells, and magnificent temples, stretch for
12 or 15 miles on the great plain which lies between the Ridge
and the River Jumna, any of which would be one of the wonders
of Europe if situated on that continent, and attract as many
travellers as Heidelberg, VeniCvj, or the Alhambra.
Some of these ruined cities were the mere freak of despots
who wished to found capitals bearing their own name and com-
memorative of their personal glory. They appear to have built
new cities side by side with the older ones, and forced the whole
population from one to the other. The Cyclopean group of
buildings, known as Toghlakabad, consisting of a citadel, a vast
enclosing fortress with 13 gates, and a huge hexagon of outer
walls, is called after a successful military adventurer, one Toghlak
Ghazi Khan, whose life was one of those wonderful topsy-turvies
DELHI,
351
that are only possible in Oriental Empires. IJe started life as a
Turki slave, and was raised by his master (the En^peror) to the
Governorship of the Punjab; he showed his gratitude by murder-
ing his benefactor, and usurping his throne. His dynasty lasted
pearly a century, and was a succession of savage vuffians whose
kingdom was in continual revolt, and whose subjects must have
been the most miserable wretches on earth. Places are still
shown where one of them used to hunt men with dogs, and
slaughter them like wild beasts. When Timour, the Tartar
conqueror, swept down with his hordes, the dynasty of Toghlak,
sapped by Mohammedan mutinies and Hindoo revolts, fell an
easy prey. Timour had a five days' slaughter, after the fashion
of the times, during which the streets were impassable for dead
bodies, leaving Toghlakabad the abode of vultures and jackals,
whose descendants swarm there to this day.
History has repeated itself often enough in Delhi, and we
passed from one ruined city to another, with wondering eyes for
the magnificence of the monarchs and aching hearts for the
misery of the subjects, ending with the great fortress of New
Delhi, from which the last of the Mogul Emperors was driven in
1857 by the victorious English troops under General Nicholson,
dying a State prisoner in Rangoon five years after.
The present ruler of Delhi lives in a modest bungalow near
the Cashmere Gate. He did not attain his position by slaughter^
and conquest, but by the milder and more peaceful way of the
Indian Civil Service examinations.
I will not weary my readers with any detailed descriptions of
this vast area of ruined cities. My own mind is rather chaotic as
to the identity of the splendid mausoleums, delicate inlaid tombs,
carved marble palaces, bathing houses one dazzling sparkle of
pearl and mica, and lovely gardens full of ruined summer-houses,
which float before my memory as I write, illustrating the rise,
352
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
\\
I
prime, and decadence of Mussulman art in India. I will content
myself with a brief account of some of those buildings which
command the immediate interest of all who visit Delhi. The
chief of these is that superb monument which still remains as
perfect as ever, of the
reign of Kutab-ud-din,
the first resident Mos-
lem sovereign of India,
erected in the early part
of the thirteenth century.
The Kutab-Minar, the
loftiest tower in the
worll, rises out of the
ruins of the older fort-
ress of Lallkot, a Hin-
doo stronghold of the
eleventh century, whose
massive walls encircle
the mosque of which the
Kutab is the splendid
minaret. This magni-
ficent tower is 238 feet
high, twice the height
of the Duke of York's
column, tapering from
nearly fifty feet at the
base to a diameter of
nine feet at the top. It
IS divided into five stories. The lower story is 95 feet high, and
consists of twenty-four faces in the form of convex flutings,
alternately semi-circular and rectangular. In the second
story, which is 5 1 feet, these projections are all semi-circular ;
THE KUTAB-MINAR.
DELHI.
3>3
in. the third story, 41 feet, they are all angular; the fourth
is a plain cylinder, and the highest is partly fluted and
partly plain. Each story is divided by an ornate gallery
running round the tower. The whole is encrusted with chapters
from the Koran cut in low relief. A circular staircase of 375
steps took us to the top, where we remained for a long time
picking out of the plain spread at our feet the well-defined walls
limiting the great fortresses and citadels which have one by one
disappeared with the successive dynastie. which created them,
leaving only their mighty ruined cities as the memorials of their
vanished empires. The Kutab-Minar is supposed to be the most
perfect as well as the loftiest tower in the world. Its carvings
are as fresh as if they were of yesterday's date, and it soars into
the air to its utmost height without break or flaw. I know of
nothing that :an be compared with it for beauty except that
wonderful masterpiece of Italy's greatest architect, Giotto's
campanile at Florence, erected about the same period.
The Kutab-Minar is about eleven miles from New Delhi, and
the two roads by v/hich we went and returned were one long
succession of ancient monuments of the greatest architectural
interest. The most notable of these is the magnificent tomb of
the Emperor Houmayoun, situated in a large desolate garden of
about twelve acres, whose wild and tangled shrubberies are full
of a weird beauty of their own. We enter this garden through a
double gateway of red sandstone, and pass along a broad walk to
the great mausoleum, which is 287 feet square and 70 feet high.
The front is a curious hollow, half-moon-shaped archway, with
alcoves. Within are three beautiful white marble tombs. The
building is of red sandstone artistically inlaid with white marble.
It was in this tomb that the two sons of Bahadur Shah hid
themselves after the storming of Delhi, in the mutiny, being
captured there and shot by Major Hodson,
2 A
I If
^1 1
354-
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD,
.m.
Near the Kutab-Minar is the Mosque of KutaL-ul-Islam, now
in ruins, unrivalled for its great line of arches, 385 feet long,
covered with flowered tracery of much beauty and grace. Within
this mosque is the famous iron pillar, a solid shaft of wrought
iron, 16 inches in diameter, .24 feet in length, and weighing
17 tons. This column has 'an inscription cut upon it, which
commemorates the victory of Rajah Dhava over the Vahlikas.
This pillar is probably 1 700 years old. It is a striking fact that
the Hindoos, so long since as this, were capable of forging a bar
INDRAPAT.
l-ji
of iron larger and heavier than any that have been forged even
in Europe up to a very late date.
On the way back from these interesting monuments, we paid a
visit to the ancient city of Indrapat, repaired by Houmayoun and
partly rebuilt by Shir Shah in the sixteenth century. The
crumbling walls of the old fortress are very picturesque. All the
•gates but one are now closed up, and of that I give an illustration
above.
There is a noble old mosque here, deserted and grass-grown,
with a tiny little Baptist Chapel just opposite the main entrance.
%.
DELHI.
355
in which a school is held, and services are conducted by the
missionaries at Delhi. Near the mosque is an octagonal building
70 feet high, used by Houmayoun as a library.
Two miles nearer to Delhi is the great fortress of Firozabad,
now utterly ruined, but which must have been a formidable place
in old time, dominating the river Jumna, which flows at its base.
Within its walls, on the top of a hill, is one of the columns
on which are inscribed the edicts of Asoka. It is a monolith
of pink sandstone, 40 teet high, 2200 years old, ai I the
UA'^SOHJ Cm.
\
THE JUMMA MUSJID, DELHI.
characters inscribed upon it are of the oldest form yet discovered
in India.
The glory of New Delhi is the famous Jumma Musjid, the
great Mosque of Shah Jehan, the builder of the Taj and the Pearl
Mosque at Agra, described in the last chapter. This building
is raised on a flattened rock just opposite the great sandstone
fort. It has three splendid gateways, reached by magnificent
flights of steps, opening on the great cloistered courtyard, 600
feet by 200, at the end of which is the superb mosque, roofed in
2 A 2
356
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
*
i
by three marble cupolas, crowned with gilt spires, and flanked
with two lovely minarets i lo feet high. The flights of steps by
which the mosque is reached, add greatly to the grandeur of this
noble building. The lowest step is 150 feet long, and this
length gradually diminishes up to the top of the flight, which
consists of forty steps, each eight inches high. Within the
mosque are some curious manuscripts and relics, which a rupee
will produce. There is an old Koran written in Kufic, dating
from the seventh century, the slipper of Mohammed, a hair of
the Prophet's beard, and some other kindred rubbish.
We went there at noon on Friday, which is the Sabbath of the
Mohammedans, when some thousands of men, in every variety
of costume, were assembled in the spacious courtyard and
mosque, to pray to the one great God, and hear the Koran read
aloud.
The great citadel, or fort of Delhi, is a gorgeous building of
red sandstone, of which the Lahore Gate, which did such
damage to the English storming column in the mutiny, is
the main entrance. Inside the fort are a succession of palaces,
of which the Diwan i Khan, or private Hall of Audience, is
the most remarkable. It is 90 feet by 70, of white marble,
beautifully inlaid with pietra dura and gold. Some of the
most beautiful pierced marble work in India is to be found
in the palaces w'thin the fort at Delhi.
Opposite to the Diwan i Khan is the Moti Musjid, or pearl
mosque, an exquisite little gem. It has a handsome bronze
door, and the fagade has three arches. The building is of
pure white marble, and is about 40 feet square. It was built
by Aurungzebe in 1635 A.D. and cost over ;^ioo,ooo.
Delhi is the great trading centre of the North- West Provinces,
and the main street of the town is the celebrated Chandni
Chowk, down the centre of which rune an aqueduct shaded by a
DELHI.
357
fine avenue of trees. It is lined on both sides with the shops and
handsome dwelling houses of its merchants, whose touts pester
you to come and see their wares, pressing into your hands cards
and circulars written in absurd Baboo English, advertising their
stocks, consisting chiefly of Cashmere shawls, chuddcrs, gold and
silver embroidery, wonderful loom work, jewellery, metal work,
pietra dura, enamels, carpets, pottery, weapons, armour, and all
THE PEARL MOSQUE, DELHI FORT.
the other artistic melangerie for which India is famous. These
pests ran after us in crowds, vociferating the names of their
distinguished customers. Lord Randolph Churchill must have
spent a large fortune when in Delhi two years ago, as at least
100 different merchants claim to have sold him large parcels of
goods. After him the Duke of Cleveland appeared the best
customer, and then Lord and Lady Brassey.
358
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
We spent some days in exploring the wonders of Moslem
architecture at and round Delhi, and in visiting schools anc^
other institutions ; but the narrow limit of this volume forbic'i
enlargement. We .left for Jeypore with regret, feeling that a
month could be well spent in a city which, whether for archi-
tectural beauty, historical associations, or present social interest,
may rank with Rome, Cairo, Athens, or Constantinople.
( 539 )
CHAPTER Xxnl
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY.
We had looked forward with much interest to Jeypore, froril
the fact of its being the chief city of that group of independent
native states known as Rajputana. It is also considered the
finest native city in India. It is a modern place, with the
widest streets I have ever seen. The main thoroughfares are
in feet wide, the side streets 55 feet, and the back Ic.nes
28 feet, all running at right angles to each other. The palace
of the Maharajah, occupying a vast area in the middle of the
city, is a fine lofty edifice of eight stories, in the usual florid
style so popular with modern Hindoo grandees, calling for no
remark except that it appeared more tawdry than perhaps it
really is to eyes fresh from the pure and chaste beauty of
Moslem architecture at Agra and Delhi. The stables of the
palace are one of the sights of India, containing 300 horses
and 50 elephants, ten times as many as can be used ; but this
is the custom of owners of palaces, from Buckingham down-
wards. We were most interested in a dozen huge man-eating
tigers, confined in cages, and fed at the Maharajah's expense.
The amiable creatures to which we are accustomed at Regent's
Park and in Wombwell's menagerie are quiet tabby cats com-
pared with these horrible monsters, who shook tht, bars of their
cages with impotent .age and fierce glare, growling with every
36o
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
tooth exposed at any person who approached them. They vers
certainly the most " fearful wild fowl " I ever saw.
The present Maharajah has no ideas or aspirations beyond
his Zenana and his stables, but his predecessor the late
Maharajah, was one of the finest and most public-spirited
men India has ever possessed. With an income from his small
State of two millions sterling, he has made his little capital
one of the most modern and civilized cities in the world. The
town is lighted with gas throughout, while the greater cities
of Delhi and Agra have but a few dull oil lamps. He has
laid out a magnificent park of 70 acres, the finest garden in
India. Within its area is a bulldinp^ much handsomer in every
way than his own palace, devoted to a museum of Indian and
European art, and also a splendid hospital, called after Lord
Mayo, who was his warm personal friend, with lOO beds and
a distinguished English physician at its head. The water
supply is pure and abundant, while the sanitation of the city
and the great cleanliness of the streets is secured by a
Municipal Committee. The centre of his Highness's educa-
tional system is the Maharajah's College, affiliated with the
Calcutta University, with an attendance of nearly 1000 stadents,
taught entirely by native professors. There are 33 schools
for elementary education, and this enlightened prince estab-
lished female schools, a great innovation in Hindoo society,
in which are 700 or 800 pupils. There is a fine High School
for the sons of Rajput nobles, and one of the best buildings
in the city is the School of Art for technical education, in which
I saw numbers of young men and boys receiving instruction in
drawing, carpentry, iron-working, electro-plating, engraving,
metallurgy, silver and gold-working, enamelling, watchmaking,
wood-carving, sculpture, embroidery, and other native arts for
which India is famous. The jail is one of the best in India,
"er2
ond
late
ited
mall
Dital
The
ities
has
[1 in
very
and
^ord
and
'ater
city
•y a
uca-
the
ents,
lools
itab-
iety,
hool
ings
hich
>n in
Ang,
5 for
idia,
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o
w
u
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H
w
JEYPORE to BOMBAY.
3Si
O
w
o
<
I
H
w
5
and remunerative. It is little wonder that the R?jput people
revere the memor>' of a Maharajah who has been patriotic
enough to set aside much of the extravagant splendour of his
ancestors in favour of such expenditure as this, designed for
the benefit of his people at large, and all completed and paid
for during a single reign of 30 years.
The streets of Jeypore are crowded with a stalwart race
of men, superior in every way to the poor, ill-fed, and half-
clad people of Bengal and the North-West Provinces. There
are signs of wealth on every hand. The scene from the
fountain where the four p;reat thoroughfares of Jeypore meet
IS as picturesque as anything I have ever seen in my travels.
The great open space is filled with stalls of fruit, vegetables,
and cereals ; gay piece goods from Cashmere, Cawnpore, and
Manchester, are displayed from others ; thousands of pigeons
walk in and out on the pavement, taking the greatest interest
in the gaily dressed bargainers in front of every stall. A
continual stream of traffic flows down each broad roadway,
foot passengeij mingling with smartly caparisoned elephants,
trains of camels, white donkeys, and bullock carts. The syces
or running footmen of some Rajput noble cry for passage for
their master, who prances gravely in from the country on a
white horse, with green and gold saddle, armed to the teeth
with musket, sword, and dagger, or some groom of the Maharajah
comes along with a panther or leopard led by chains. The
houses are all rose-coloured, glowing in the bright sunlight
against the deep cobalt of the sky. On the roofs are gay
groups of women and children, clad in wondrous colours,
with flocks of pigeons, parrots, and crows perched on every
corner, or fluttering about the eaves. In the shops below every
possible handicraft is carried on, for nothing is done by
machinery in India. Here are women in bright red dresses,
'it 14
J:
II
364
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
grinding at the mill, singing as they work. Two men, all the
colours of the rainbow, come out of a dyer's shop to wave a
long piece of green or blue cloth in the warm sunlight. Men
squat on the side walk to be shaved, others are washing
themcelves at the gutter, with a bright brass basin full of
clear water. Cotton picking, wheat winnowing, copper smithing,
the potter's wheel, the spinning wheel, the gem grinder, the
gold and silver smith, the shoemaker, and fifty other trades,
all carried on with much clatter and noise, help the busy scene,
which, as a whole, forms a mass of moving colour and life
such as I have not seen equalled in all my travels.
Of course we paid a visit to the famous deserted city of
Amber, the ancient capital of Jeypore, eight miles away. We
drove out of the town past pretty gardens and handsome
mansions, the residences of Rajput nobles, and presently reached
a tank or lake of about 200 acres in area, in the centre of which
was an old ruined palace, with no approach except by boat.
Basking on the banks and small islands of this lake were a
number of enormous alligators, and others were seen slowly
swimming about with their ugly backs just above water. These
monsters are fed regularly, and it is a great sight to see them
swarming out of the water when their meal of dead horse is
brought to them.
Two miles further on we reached the bottom of the hill on
which Amber is situated, and here we found an enormous
elephant waiting to convey us the rest of the distance. It is not
possible to visit Amber without permission from the Maharajah ;
but it is always granted, and an elephant provided as conveyance.
In every book of travel which I have seen, and they are many,
the author, when he writes of Amber, invariably says, "The
Maharajah of Jeypore most courteously placed at my disposal a
magnificent elephant, gaily caparisoned, etc., etc., etc.," leading
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY,
36?
The
)Osal a
sading
the reader to suppose that his Highness had specially ; Jected
the great writer for exceptional honour. But while some arc
born to greatness other'' have greatness thrust upon them, and
in this case Cook's humblest tourist, equally with the dis-
tinguished author of the 'Light of Asia,' is provided with an
elephant. Ours was ten feet high, its speed two miles an hour.
The first step brought my stomach into my throat, the next my
throat Into my stomach ; going downhill they botxi got mixed.
We were grateful to the Maharajah, and tipped the Mahout, but
we walked back !
Amber is a strange place. The town is quite deserted,
except by a number of Fakirs or Hindoo ascetics, who have
taken possession of the empty houses. It was a weird-looking
place enough, and gave one the creeps to wander through
street after street, seeing no human being except some half-
cracked creature looking silently out of a window or over a roof.
There is nothing stranger in India than the way in which some
monarch, for reasons now forgotten or only guessed at, deserted
his splendid palace and well-built capital, taking not only his
court, but the entire population with him.
The palace at Amber calls for no special description. It is a
fine pile of buildings of the later period of Mussulman art ; its
situation, however, is extremely picturesque, being built along
the slopes of a fine hill, immediately over the lake, the summit
of the hill being crowned with a powerful fortress. The
surrounding hills, connected with strong walls, are each topped
with smaller castles. The old deserted garden of the palace,
stretching far out into the lake, is a place of rare beauty, and its
rich, dark green foliage throws up the whole facade of the great
range of buildings wonderfully. As we saw it, reproduced in
the mirror of the still lake, it made a picture not easily to be
forgotten.
366
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
It
ii
Amber was built by Man Singh in 1592, and is the finest ot
all the Rajput palaces.
From Jeypore we went on to Ajmere, spending a day in its
queer old streets and quaint bazaars. This town is the capital
of an isolated British district in the heart of Rajputana, with
an area of 2.700 square miles, and a population of 320,000 souls.
It is entirely surrounded by native states.
Ajmere is a great cotton market, and the transport trade of
Rajputana centres here. The city is surrounded by a stone
wall, with fine handsome gates. On the southern side of the
city is the Dargah, an object of veneration to all religions in
India. It marks the burial place of a famous saint called
Khwaja, who lived in the 13th century, and whose eldest lineal
descendant is the head of the shrine to-day. At the entrance
gate we had to put the shoes from off our feet, having taken
the precaution to bring thick woollen socks to put on instead,
to protect ourselves from the deadly cold marble floors. The
enclosure contains two or three mosques, the tomb of the saint,
the entrance to which is spanned by a silver arch, and a deep
tank or well cut in the solid rock, in which pilgrims perform
their ablutions.
On the slope of a hill just outside the town is an ancient Jain
temple, which was converted into a Mohammedan mosque by
Altamsh in two and a half days. It is the finest specimen of
early Mohammedan architecture extant, and is most elaborate
in its decoration, and delicately finished in all its details.
Outside the city, in a fine park, is the Mayo College, estab-
lished by the Earl of Mayo in 1870, and supported partly by
endowments given by the Prince of Rajputana, and partly by
an allowance from Government. Its object is to provide an
education in accordance with European ideas for the sons of
Rajput nobles.
f li
lt'1 i
I
I'll ' *
iiii
h 1,
u
J
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY.
369
A mile or two further out into the country is one of the
finest and most picturesque tanks in India, from which the city
of Ajmere derives its water supply. This tank is a lake six or
DARGAII, AJMERE.
seven miles in extent, surrounded by lofty hills. On Its banks
is situated the house and offices of the Resident, and an old
palace or summer-house of white marble, surrounded by beauti-
2 B
370
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
■1.1
iri
ful gardens, which commands a view of the whole tank and its
adjacent mountains. Ajmere is full of ancient houses, with fine
carved fronts, and gay busy bazaars, and with the exception of
Benares, is fuller of " subjects " for the painter than any other
town in India visited by us. We were sorry we had not more
time to explore the city and the historical neighbourhood in
which it is situated.
The next day we continued our journey to Ahmcdabad, a
thriving city of 120,000 population, which has played an impor-
tant part in the history of India. The town is full of beautiful
buildings, illustrating almost every kind of Moslem architecture,
and the houses are finely carved.
Ahmedabad has always been famous for its wood-carving,
and all the towns of Guzerat have many houses, the doors and
windows of which are made beautiful with this work.
This city was once the greatest and most splendid in Western
India, and 300 years ago had a population of about 900,000
souls ; it possesses to-day not more than 120,000. It presents an
imposing front to the Sabarmate River, a fine stream about 500
yards broad, being raised well above its left bank. Its fine old
walls enclose an area of about two square miles. They have 14
gates, and every 50 yards there is a tower and bastion. These
walls were built in the early part of the fifteenth century by
Ahmed Shah, the second Mussulman King of Guzerat, who
gave his name to the city.
An old native proverb says, "Ahmedabad hangs on three
threads — gold, silk and cotton," and these are to-day the main
staples of its trade. Silk and brocaded stuffs employ a large sec-
tion of the population, and much of the gold and silver thread
that is worked up into kinkobs and other fine brocades all over
India, is manufactured at Ahmedabad. In every street one sees
in the open shops families of weavers vv^orking up cotton cloth.
JEVPOkE TO LOAfL'AY.
37 i
The city Is full of beautiful buildings, and its architecture
has a special interest, illustrating the result of the contact of
I
I
K»wjei/jtL.
WINDOW AND BALCONY IN RANI SIPRl'S MOSQUE, AHMEDABAD.
Saracenic with Hindoo forms. Here the vrigorous aggressiveness
of Moslem art, which has all its own way at Agra, Delhi and
Amber, has been forced to submit itself to Hindoo and Jain
2 B 2
i
%n
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
influences, in which the latter predominates. Even the mosques
arc Hindoo in their details.
Our first visit was to see the famous windows of Sidi Said's
mosque in the citadel, now used as a public office. There are
five of these windows, and I suppose they are the most beautiful
specimens of carved and pierced marble work in the world.
"^
irin>Tirinn»TnniTiniwy!TnnrinriifiiTinonnon^
ijr^-~Y^iw^!f'"'^
SIDI SAIDS WINDOW, AHMEDABAD.
This illustration, drawn by Mr. Sheppard Dale from a photo-
graph, will convey some idea of the graceful elaborateness
of the finest of them. Of all the exquisite examples of marble
tracery which I have seen at Agra and Delhi, none are so
beautiful as this charming window.
The mosques of Ahmedabad are among the finest in the East,
though not remarkable for size. Those of greatest interest are
the Jumma, the Queen's, Ahmed Shah's, Said Alam's, and Rani
Sipri's.
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JEYPORE TO BOMBAY.
375
Rani Sipri was a daughtcr-in-lavv of Ahmed Shah, and her
mosque and tomb were built by herself and completed in the
year 143 1. They are singularly beautiful little buildings. The
mosque is 54 feet long, by 19 feet wide, with six double pillars
in front and single ones behind, all 10 feet high. The tomb is
36 feet square. On the opposite page is an illustration of the
tomb, which will furnish a better idea of the beauty and infinite
detail of its architecture than pages of description.
Another of the remarkable buildings at Ahmedabad is the
fine modern Jain temple, erected about 40 years ago by Hutti
Sing, a wealthy Jain merchant, at a cost of more than a million
rupees. It is full of marvellous detail, though the carving is very
inferior to that of the more ancient Jain temples. It is situated
in a large garden behind a fine mansion in which the Hutti Sing
family reside, and is entered by an archway in the house itself.
The temple stands in the middle of a great courtyard 1 50 feet
long and 106 feet wide, surrounded by a corridor of 56 arches
with elaborately carved pillars,
It was impossible for us, in the one day at our disposal, to
do more than glance at a few of the beautiful and interesting
buildings which abound at Ahmedabad, and which would occupy
a very pleasant week to see properly.
About seven miles from Ahmedabad is one of those splendid
freaks of extravagance so common to Oriental potentates, which
make it possible to believe any of the wildest stories of the
* Arabian Nights.' In the 1 5th century, Sultan Mahmoud Begada
desired a country villa. He proceeded to dig out a large lake
of 1 8 acres in extent, with 30 feet cf water, surrounded it with
splendid flights of steps, at the top of which rise a series of
palaces. Here the Sultan buried a favourite^adviser or Vizier,
in a tomb that would cost ;^ 50,000 to reproduce ; here he buried
his queen in equal magnificence, and provided a noble mau-
376
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
soleum for himself when his time came ; and behind t'nem all, in
a cloistered space of over an acre, he built a mosque only second
in pretensions to the Moti Musjid at Agra. All this ruined^
grandeur of Sarkhej stands solitary and forgotten, but in
wonderful preservation, the home of storks, crows, parrots, and
jackals, with trees and brushwood in its stately courtyards,
visited once in two or three months by some tourist who, like
ourselves, is a little more adventurous than the rest.
From Ahmedabad a night's journey brought us to our last
point of interest in India, the great port of Bombay, one of
the most magnificent harbours in the world, with unlimited
anchorage space and extensive docks and wharves. Bombay is
a much handsomer town than Calcutta. Its magnificent public
buildings are all grouped together along a fine esplanade, only a
broad expanse of grass lying between them and the ocean.
Behind them the town spreads itself, and behind the town
again lies the harbour, ten miles wide, dotted with beautiful
wooded islands, and backed by a noble range of mountains.
The human life of Bombay differs from that of every other
Indian city by the dominating element of the Parsees, who, by
their wonderful energy, enterprise and education, have become
the most important and powerful influence in the Bombay
Presidency. These people are the descendants of ancient
Persians who fled from their native land before the Mahomme-
dan conquerors of Persia, and who settl. \ at Surat 1,100 or
1,200 years ago. They now number in all about 70,000, the
great majority of whom reside in Bombay. They all speak
English fluently, which is carefully taught in their schools.
Their religion is pure theism, and the elements, fire especially,
are treated as visible representations of the Deity. The founder
of their religion was Zoroaster, whom tradition says was a
disciple of the Hebrew prophet Daniel, and it teaches a pure
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY,
in
and lofty morality, summed up in three precepts of two words
each, viz., good thoughts, good words, good deeds, of which the
Parsee constantly reminds himself by the triple coil of his white
cotton girdle, which never leaves him.
One of the leading peculiarities of the Parsee religion is the
method pursued for the disposal of the bodies of their dead.
No one should pass through Bombay without paying a visit
to the Parsee Dakhmas or Towers of Silence. These strange
towers, about 90 ft. in diameter and 15 ft. high, are built in
the midst of a beautiful garden on the top of Malabar Hill,
looking across the wide ocean towards the setting sun, and
surrounded by the villas and bungalows of the wealthy
merchants of Bombay
The garden is approached by a long private road, to which
all access is barred, except to Parsees, and those who, like
ourselves, have received permission from the Secretary of the
Parsee Society. This leads to a flight of steps, at the top
of which is the house of prayer, where the sacred fire is kept
burning with incense and sandal wood, and never allowed to
die down. We were not permitted to enter, but from its terrace
we obtain on the one side a glorious view of the whole city
of Bombay, the harbour beyond, and the magnificent ranges
of the Ghauts in the distance. On the other side is a lovely
garden sloping down to the ocean, glorious in parterres,
flowering shrubs and palms, with five low circular structures
of solid granite rising solerrinly out of the foliage. Ranged
round the summit of these towers, crowded closely together,
are rows of loathsome vultures, which, black against the sunset
sky, dominate the whole scene and seem to crowd out of view
all their beautiful surroundings. These birds were still and
silent, but when the gate is unlocked for a funeral, they begin
to stir and show signs of excitement, which increases as the
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procession winds slowly up the hill, followed by the mourners
reciting funeral prayers. After the mourners comes a man
leading a white dog, the emblem of faithfulness, and then come
a crowd of priests in pure white robes, with relations and friends
of the dead man, holding a handkerchief between them, in
token of sympathy and fellow-feeling. On reaching the House
of Prayer, the mourners enter, and chant prayers while the
corpse-bearers enter the Tower of Silence with the dead body,
'i!
THE CAVE TEMPLE OF ELEPHANTA.
which they expose naked on the platform which is erected
inside, but out of sight of all outsiders.
The moment they withdraw the rows of expectant vultures
drop silently down into the tower, and in ten minutes have
stripped every particle of flesh off the corpse, reducing it to a
bare skeleton before the mourners have finished their prayers.
The skeleton remains three or four weeks exposed to the
tropical sun, when the bones are reverently placed in a central
JEYPORE TO BOMBAY.
379
well within the tower, where Parsees of high and low degree
are left to turn into dust without distinction.
If time had permitted, we should have liked to have visited
some of the extraordinary cave temples, which are scattered
over the Bengal Presidency, but we could only visit those on
the island of Elephanta, about seven miles from Bombay, across
the beautiful bay. These temples are quarried out of the solid
rock, the columns supporting the roof being finely chiselled ;
against the walls are gigantic figures, the principal of which is
19 feet high. The sculpture has been much defaced by the
Portuguese, when in possession of Bombay, who brought cannon
into the cave, and fired them at the columns and images.
We stayed nearly a week in Bombay, which I employed
chiefly in discussing, with native gentlemen of education and
position, the many problems which this wonderful country
presents to the politician and social reformer. The gist of these
conversations I give in the following and concluding chapter
of this book.
38o
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CHAPTER XXIV.
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
Ill
India is almost entirely a rural and agricultural country,
and many of its populous towns are only vast aggregations
of villages, in the midst of good agricultural land, on which the
whole population are employed. In some parts of India the
population is crowded densely on insufficient land, and the
struggle for bare existence becomes terrible. With the least
drawback, such as a few inches more or less of rain, thousands
of the people die like flies, while serious cUmatic deficiencies
bring about those awful famines of which we have so often read.
In times of actual famine the Government can step in and feed
the people, but no Government can deal with the certain
degradation of physique and mental vigour which develops
itself in a people under-fed from the cradle to the grave. In
these districts the population shows a tendency to diminish
instead of increase. The facilities afforded by the extension of
railways drain off the more vigorous to thinly-peopled provinces,
and the tea plantations of Ceylon and Assam are worked by the
surplusage of Southern India and Bengal. Our new territory
of Upper Burmah, though laying new and costly burdens on
the Indian Exchequer, will afford fresh fields for emigration to
these over-stocked districts of India, and, if we can keep out
Chinese emigration, may compensate us in this way for the
cost and risk of its conquest. Railways have been known to
increase the population of sparsely populated but fertile dis-
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA. 381
tricts of India, formerly remote and difficult of access, to an
astonishing extent. The people, however, like the Irish at
home, cling with obstinate affection to their villages and bits
of poor land, in spite of misery and starvation, and this senti-
ment greatly increases the difficulty of solving one of the most
serious of the social problems of India. There is plenty of land
in the Indian peninsula for the whole of its population. We need
not wish for the diminution of the population, but rather that
some means may be found by which its present surplusage may
be more equally distributed over the whole area, both of British
India and the Feudatory provinces, which, lying interspersed
among British territory, have not much more than a third of
their population per acre.
The nationalities and race differences of India are as many
and various as those existing over the whole continent of
Europe. The Bengalee and the Sikh, the Mahratta and the
Tamil, the Rajpoot and the Burmese differ as widely in every
characteristic as do the Irishman and the German, the mercurial
Frenchman and the phlegmatic Turk, the stolid Scandinavian
and the hot-blooded Greek or Spaniard. In Europe, except
in one small corner of Turkey, the religion is all the same, one
form or another of Christianity. In India the Mohammedan,
the Sikh, the Hindoo, the Buddhist, the Jain, the Parsee, the
Brahmin, and the Christian range side by side all over the
country. It is therefore clear that 250,000,000 of people, spread
over an area of 1,900 miles long and wide, full of different nation-
alities, and conflicting religions and interests, conquered by a
strange and distant people of widely different civilization and
religion, governed and held down by less than 100,000 of their
conquerors, forms a country which furnishes to the politician
and sociologist a range of problems that have taxed in the
past, and will tax in the future, all the skill and ingenuity of
I!
rv
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the finest Civil Service in the world. My own position towards
them — dimly enlightened ignorance — can only present them to
you as they presented themselves to me when I found myself
face to face with them during the six weeks I was in the
country.
Undoubtedly the most urgent social problem, ever present
to English and Hindoo alike, is how to live at all, how
to procure that daily bread to which every human being has
a birthright. This problem is serious enough at home ; but in
India, as I have already explained, it overshadows the whole
country like a huge cloud, the horrid memory of past and the
dread of future famines being really the motive power of three-
fourths of the administrative action of the Government
Wherever I went in India the deepest impression made upon
me was the terrible and widespread poverty of the people. The
common idea amongst Englishmen is that India is a country of
vast wealth and unlimited natural resources. As a matter of
fact it is one of the poorest countries in the world. No doubt
amongst the Rajahs and Princes, the great landowners, and the
merchant class in Calcutta and Bombay there is great accumu-
lation of wealth that is continually in evidence with much show
and glitter. This is what is most familiar to the ordinary
Englishman, who reads of Rajpoot princes, encrusted with
diamonds and rubies from head to foot, visiting England with
great pomp and state, and who sees in the illustrated papers
pictures of durbars of the Governor-General or of the splendid
presents sent to the Queen by Rajahs in celebration of her
jubilee. The condition of the millions in India is the opposite
extreme, and there is no parallel at all in European nations to
the disproportionate distribution of wealth which prevails in
India and the East. There the poverty of the many is even
more extreme than the wealth of the few. In the towns, skilled
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
383
labour earns from is. gd. to 2s. id. per week ; ordinary labour,
is. 6d. \ in the villages still less. The great mass of the people
engaged in agriculture have to live entirely off the produce of
their heavily-taxed holdings, and it is, of course, difficult to form
any calculation of their average income.
An estimate was made a few years ago by a very able finance
minister, now our ambassador at Egypt, Sir Evelyn Baring,
placing the average annual income of the people of India at
a trifle under £2 per head. This estimate was checked by
Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, a distinguished native statistician, who
maintains that the average income does not reach more than
about 2 8 J. per head. We grumble enough about poverty and
bad trade in England, but the best authorities tell us that the
income of the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland is about
£Z0 per head, or something like twenty times as much as the
average income of India. The income tax returns show that in
India there is no well-to-do middle class such as we have in
England. In India this tax begins on incomes of £$0, and
only produces ;^200,ooo, affecting only 300,000 persons — a
remarkable illustration of the poverty of the country. In
England we commence at .^150, and it produces ;^i 2,000,000.
All my own observation confirms these estimates. I have
visited many of the villages, as well as some of the larger towns.
I found that the people, as a rule, lived only on the lowest
quality of cereals — rice, millet, sorghum, peas, beans, and
lentils, the finer grains, such as wheat aiid barley, being sold to
pay rent. A man or woman pays at most 2s. or 2s. 6d. for a
year's clothing, and in the north of India the suffering from cold
in winter is very great. The houses are small clay huts without
furniture, and very few families sit down to more than one meal
a day. It may be truthfully said that the great part of the
population of India live on the very edge of famine, and that a
384
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
year of drought, flood, blight, or locusts brings about the death
of millions of these poor miserable ill-fed folk. The terrible
famines which come upon vast districts of India are mainly due
to drought during one or more seasons. There is generally
some reserve stock in most farmers' hands that carry them over
a single bad year, though even then the pinch is felt seriously
by families dependent upon weekly wages. But two dry
seasons bring on universal starvation and the death of whole
communities, unless the Government steps in. In the Behar
district, in 1873-4, the people were only saved from perishing by
the expenditure of about seven millions sterling by the Govern-
ment on public works and the importation of a million tons of
rice. Tn jg^g-jr-S a terrible famine arose in the land. The
harvc i. was short in 1875. In 1876 the main food crop
perished throughout an immense tract of country, and prices at
once went up to famine rates. By the end of the year the
people were dying by thousands, and for nearly two years the
Government were engaged in one long struggle with famine.
Friends I have met in India have given me pitiful and heart-
breaking descriptions of the awful scenes they witnessed during
this terrible time. The Government had to spend about 12
millions sterling to feed the starving populace, for at one time,
in Madras alone, upwards of two millions and a half of»4)eople
were fed by the Government, two millions gratuitously. The
famine commissioners estimated that five and a quarter millions
of people were slain by this grievous famine, and, taking into
account the diminution of births, the population was reduced
by at least seven millions. Cholera alone swept away half a
million. The famines of the last 30 years have carried off over
12 millions of people. This chronic poverty, reducing the
stamina and working power of the vast body of the natives of
India, rendering them unable to resist small local or larger
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
385
general famines, is therefore one of the great social problems
with which its Government is always face to face. Much has
been done within the last ten years by means of improved
communication, increased irrigation work, and the migration
of population to lessen the risk and diminish the force of
famines.
These poor people of India arc probably the most overtaxed
people on earth. The greater portion of the Indian exchequer is
not revenue in the sense of taxation at all, but consists of re-
ceipts from State railways and irrigation works, and the large
revenues from the opium monopoly, which is really paid by
China and not India ; the revenues from intoxicating liquor are
also voluntary taxes, which no native need pay unless he likes,
though the Government, by the way in which they are stimu-
lating their revenue from this demoralising source, are undoubt-
edly doing much to increase the poverty and misery with which
they are waging a never-ending warfare. The actual revenue of
India, which is raised by taxation, is about ;^40,ooo,ooo, not
much more than half that raised in the United Kingdom from
one-fifth of the population. The burdens of taxation in India are
therefore only one-tenth per head of the amount raised in this
country. But it must be borne in mind that while the average
taxation per head is only one-tenth that of England, the average
income is only one-twentieth. The actual burden of taxation
therefore is just double that which we ourselves have to bear.
Half the taxed revenue of India is derived from land. The
State in India is virtually the landlord, and the British Govern-
ment carry on the same system of land tenure which they found
prevailing amongst the various native states when they con-
quered or annexed them. They have, however, abandoned the
ancient method which still prevails in some of the native states
of taking the rent in the shape of a certain share of the produce,
2 c
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A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
V
I. 'i
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which has the advantage of distributing the burden fairly on
good and bad harvests, the rent thus rising and falling with the
crop which the land produces. Instead of this a rent in money,
levied without regard to good or bad seasons, is exacted from
the tenants. The collection of this land tax or rent forms the
main work of Indian administration. The average rent is from
2s. to 3J". 6d per acre. This appears to us absurdly low, but
in face of the vast difference in values between England
and India it is really as high or even higher than rents at home,
and is equivalent to a rent of at least 25J. for the same class of
land in England. In many parts of India, however, the small
farmer is in much worse condition than those holding direct
from the State, In the old days of the East India Company
they were too much engrossed with conquest and aggression to
attend to the details of land revenue, and they farmed it out in
great districts to men who gave them a lump sum, and who then
got what profit they could out of the peasant. These men
gradually slipped into the position of landowners, and in Bengal
the Zemindar, as he is called, was raised in 1793 to the status of
a proprietor holding his land at a quit-rent payable to the State.
From time to time the hardships of the peasant cultivating
under the Zemindar have been guarded against by the legal
recognition of occupancy rights or fixity of tenures, but in vast
districts of India individual proprietary rights in the soil have
superseded the ancient State rights, and from all I could learn,
the peasant under the Zemindar has a much worse time of it all
round than the Ryot, who holds direct from the State.
The collection of a fixed rent, regardless of season, from an
ignorant and improvident peasantry, has led to the existence of
one of the great curses of India, the village money-lender, who
comes in to the aid of the Ryot when he cannot make up his
rent in poor years. Once in the clutches of the usurer, he never
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
387
gets out of them again, and I heard fabulous estimates of the
total aggregate indebtedness of the peasant to these village
money-lenders. Everywhere in India I heard from natives the
strongly expressed opinion that the only salvation for the
peasant lay in the Government collecting the revenue from land
in the shape of a share of the actual produce, rather than by a
fixed rent in money. But none of them could tell me how they
proposed to collect so great a revenue by such a cumbrous and
antiquated system over such an enormous area as British India.
The land tax of India is re-assessed every 30 years. It appears
to me no sensible relief to the grinding poverty of the peasant
is possible, except from some permanent reduction of the land
tax, and by the securing of fixity of tenure and a fair rent to
those under Zemindars with shorter periods of re-valuation.
The condition of these Zemindar tenants is much akin to
that of the Irish tenant farmer before the 1870 Land Act,
and in Bengal, owing to the rapid growth of population under
British rule, and the insurmountable objection to emigration
on the part of the Bengalee peasant, the Zemindars have been
able to rack-rent their miserable tenants, until their incomes
have grown to many times the amount they were when their
quit-rent to the State was fixed. The Indian Government
are not blind to this state of things, and the Bengal Ryots Act,
passed a year or two back, will confer fixity of tenure and tenant
right on some millions of people, small cultivators under
Zemindars. The overcrowding of these Zemindary districts
may be judged by the fact that out of ten millions of holdings
in Bengal, six millions pay a less rent than is. 6d. per annum
for their land, and that in some districts the population runs as
high as 500 to the square rnile. All the land is occupied, and
the population steadily increasing, so that the social problem of
how to provide land for the agrarian population of India, is one
2 c 2
Il*^
388
A TRIP ROUND THE WORLD.
that drives the Irish question into insignificance by comparison.
Yet these Indian Ryots are just as much our fellow subjects as
the farmers in the West of Ireland, and their patient endurance
surely deserves as much consideration from the Government of
India as the noisy clamour of the Irishman obtains from the
Government at Westminster.
I will now pass from the question of the poverty of the people
to that of education, which, in my opinion, after the necessities
of life, is the most urgent social question in any country. Public
instruction in India is directly organised by the State, assisted
by grants in aid from the Imperial revenue, under careful
inspection. A department of public instruction exists in every
province, under a director, with a staff of efficient inspectors. A
network of schools extends all over the country, beginning
with the indigenous village school, graduating upwards to the
highest colleges and the three great universities of Calcutta,
Madras, and Bombay. All receive pecuniary help from the
State, under the report of regular and well-organised inspection.
A series of scholarships stimulates the energies of the best
scholars and opens an easy path to the universities for the
children of the poor, along which a goodly number travel. There
are in all British India 141,000 schools of all sorts, of which
78,000 receive Government grants, with a grand total of students
of about 3 J millions. Ten years ago there were only 60,000
schools, with 1,800,000 scholars, so that the figures have more
than doubled in that period. It is quite probable that in twenty
or thirty years there may be as large a number of children in
school attendance, in proportion to population, in India as in
England. Everywhere, in my intercourse with natives, I found
an intense desire that education should be stimulated and made
universal. There are over 5000 students in training schools for
masters and mistresses, and the position of schoolmaster is a
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
389
very coveted one amongst the better class of Mahommedans and
Hindoos,
The three Universities of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay were
all incorporated thirty years ago on the model of London
University. They are examining bodies, giving no instruction,
and confer degrees in arts, law, medicine, and civil engineering.
There is a fourth university on a similar plan, but including the
teaching element, in Lahore, for the Punjab. Some idea of the
influence and power of these universities may be obtained from
the statistical abstract relating to British India published every
year. From that book I find that during the last ten years
70,CX50 students entered the three great universities, of whom
no less than 26,000 passed, 600 graduating in law, 1160 in
medicine, and 400 in civil engineering. These universities
are fed by over 100 colleges all over India. The colleges are
divided into two classes, those which specially teach the art
course of the universities and those which devote themselves
to medicine and other special branches of knowledge. Some
of these colleges are entirely supported by Government,
others only receive grants in aid, these latter being chiefly
missionary colleges. There are about 10,000 students in all
these colleges.
The colleges are recruited from the higher schools, of which at
least one, called the Zila or district school, is established at the
headquarters station of every district in India, and there are
many others, chiefly under missionary influence, which receive
grants in aid. In these schools English is not only taught, but
is the actual medium of instruction. All these schools educate
up to the standard of the entrance examination at the univer-
sities, and in them are usually trained the candidates who seek
employment in the many branches of Government service now
open to natives. There are about 600 of these schools, with an
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attendance of about 70,ocx) scholars. Below the high schools are
a series of middle schools spread all over India in the smaller
towns and large villages, which provide an education calculated
to supply the requirements of the lower middle classes. Some of
these teach English, others confine themselves to the vernacular.
They number about 4000, with an attendance of about 200,000
pupils. The lower or primary schools complete the system of
education in India. They are to be found almost everywhere,
and teach the rudiments of learning in the vernacular of the
district. These are almost all the outcome of the last fifteen or
twenty years, and their remarkable extension form the best
guarantee of and testimony to the success of that educational
system of India, which owes so much to the efforts of Sir George
Campbell and Sir Richard Temple, whose names are never
mentioned by educated natives without profound respect and
gratitude. Before Sir George Campbell's administration, the
primary inspected schools in Bengal numbered only 2451,
attended by 64,000 pupils. In 1885 they had increased to
63,000 schools, attended by 1,300,000 students. To have been
the means of increasing the school attendance of a great province
twenty-fold is an achievement of which any statesman may well
feel proud.
It is not possible to pass from this subject of education
without recognition of the enormous services rendered, especially
in the higher branches of education, by the various missionary
societies. There are various opinions, favourable and unfavour-
able, with regard to missionary successes in the conversion of
the heathen, but there can only be one opinion, and that a
favourable one, with regard to the educational work of the
missionary in India. There are now upwards of 200,000 pupils
in the various schools and colleges of Protestant missions, this
number having increased every ten years for the last forty
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
391
years, at the following rates : — 1851, 64,000 ; 1861, 82,000 ; 1871,
128,000 ; 1881, 196,000 ; 1888, 250,000 estimated. There would
be no female education at all in India but for the efforts of
devoted Christian women in connection with our missions.
They now maintain more than 1200 girls' day schools, and
the total number of female pupils under Protestant mission
teaching in India has increased from 1 1,000 in 185 1 to something
like 80,000 in 1888.
The whole future of India largely depends upon education.
The cultured natives who have passed through the schools and
colleges of India are already showing themselves keenly alive
to social reforms. The Brahmo-Somaj movement, of which the
well-known religious teacher, Keshub Chunder Sen, was the
founder, and which is an attempt to combine Christian morality
and teaching with the pure theism of the ancient Hindoo
religions, is stimulating a number of much needed changes in
the social habits and customs of the natives of India, in which
its adherents receive the help of many cultured Hindoos and
Mahommedans. These gentlemen advocate the abolition of
infant marriages, and the re-marriage of widows, with a view
to relieving those many millions of widows, whose life is a living
death, and whose husbands have died while they were babies.
They also advocate and obtain wholesome changes in pernicious
caste rules, encourage female education, oppose the extension of
the liquor traffic, and generally show a warm interest in social
reforms, which had no existence in native society thirty years
ago. The Government of India does not undertake the direct
instruction of the people. It simply stimulates and encourages
education by grants in aid to all voluntary schools, whether
originated by Mahommedans, Hindoos, Municipalities, European
missionaries, or any other agency that satisfies the standard
of efficiency. This wholesome rivalry is at the bottom of much
392
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of the stimulus which education has received in recent years, and
I hope that the nobler and higher teaching which is or ought
to be given in missionary schools may be widened until it
aiTects the whole future of education in India.
I found amongst educated natives a great demand for the
establishment of technical schools in all the large towns and
cities. At Jeypore, the capital of one of the native Rajpootana
States, I visited an admirable technical school, where instruction
was given in many of the native arts of India, and which
seems destined to rescue these arts from decay and extinction.
More than one native industry is commoting successiully with
English and European manufactures, and the leading cotton
spinners of Bombay, where there are now seventy or eighty
first-class mills, assured me that in ten or twenty years India
would manufacture for herself all that she now buys from
Manchester. These mills have already pretty well driven
Lancashire out of the China and Japan market for cotton
yarns, which form a solid portion of the cargoes of the
direct P. and O. line from Bombay to Hong Kong. The
banks of the Hooghly at Calcutta are black with the smoke
of jute mills, and there is no doubt that India is on the
road towards recovering by machinery the great hand-made
manufactures which Manchester in time past destroyed. No
jealousy of India's competition with England must stand in the
way of her C overnment doing everything practicable in the way
of technical education to enable India to recover her home
manufactures by adopting modern processes.
All this stimulated educational system is producing a fresh
social problem of steadily increasing intensity, which sooner or
later must be faced and grappled with. The British nation,
when they took over the government of India from John
Company, entered upon an ancient, primitive, but decaying
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
393
civilization, of which the reh'gion was the only vital remnant,
with no education of any value, except that which was identified
with the priestly caste alone. I have briefly described to you the
splendid system of higher education which we have established
under British rule during the last 30 years, and which is now
turning out every year io,CX)0 or 15,000 young men as highly
educated as English University graduates, many of whom visit
England and Scotland, acquiring British habits of thought and
criticism. These men find their way into the Indian Civil
Service, the learned professions, become schoolmasters, lawyers,
doctors, civil engineers, merchants, station masters, bank clerks,
and what not. They are settling down all over India,
rapidly creating an intelligent cultured native opinion, finding
expression in a widely read vernacular press, which criticises
and judges the actions of the Government, and discusses every
social problem affecting the welfare of the Indian people. They
all speak and understand English as well as we do, and in
my journey through India I constantly met with young Hindoos
content with salaries of 30^'. or 40J. a month, who were perfectly
familiar with Herbert Spencer, Mill, Carlyle, John Morley, and
all the English classics. All the time I have been in India I
have sought as much as possible the society of these educated
natives. I felt I could see enough of Anglo-Indian officials
at home, but that I might never have the opportunity of visiting
India again, where alone native opinion could be gathered up.
In the many interviews I had with educated natives, both
Hindoo, Mahommedan, and Brahmo-Somaj, I was deeply im-
pressed with their mental grip and great intellectual attainments.
There was no attempt to mislead, a total absence of prejudice,
and a tone of great moderation, with a desire to see both sides of
every question under discussion. I found intense loyalty to
British rule as the only Government possible to India, although
394
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ii
almost every native had plenty of hostile criticism as to the
methods and results of British administration.
In a very few years the educated native will become a tremen-
dous force in Indian society, and already he is knocking loudly
at the official door for some share in the responsible government
of his native land. How far this demand is to be met is a social
problem that is causing grave anxiety to successive Governors-
General, and that will have to be seriously faced before very
long. These educated natives have already learnt the power of
combination. Three years ago they formed themselves into a
powerful organisation, not unlike in its character and formation
our own Social Science Congress, which meets annually at some
great centre for conference on matters affecting the welfare of
native India. Three of these great representative congresses
have been held at Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, attended by
1 200 or 1400 of the picked natives of India, Hindoos, Mahom-
medans, Jains, Parsees, and Christians meeting together with
perfect harmony and great enthusiasm. The proceedings are
conducted in English, and although I have not had the oppor-
tunity of attending one of these congresses, I have carefully read
their proceedings, and, as far as possible, in my intercourse with
a great many natives who have been members of them, have
endeavoured to find out what are the hopes and wishes of this
united and representative body of educated Indians. I expect
to be present at the Allahabad congress this winter.
When India becomes generally educated, the national system
being based upon English ideas and English aspirations, it will
be impossible to deny to those who by education are fitted for
it, their share in the privileges and responsibilities of the Govern-
ment of the country. It cannot therefore be wondered at that
the few who have already reached that standard feel that at any
rate they ought to possess some direct means of making the
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
39S
opinions and convictions of India felt by the Government. This
important element in Indian society does not desire, as has been
often unjustly stated, the overthrow of British India ; they know
only too well that in the outburst of anarchy which would
follow such an event, they at any rate would be the first to be
crushed. What they wish is that the Government should be
more at touch with the people, and that the educated portion of
the native races should have some voice in determining the
policy of the Government, and above all should get a solid share
in the administration, and of all the posts and offices which could
be filled by natives as effectively and much more economically
than by English. India is virtually ruled by a British
Bureaucracy which is admittedly the finest civil service in the
world, appointed by a severe competitive examination. This
bureaucracy is directed by the Viceroy and local governors,
assisted by councils which they themselves select. An Indian
civil servant goes out to India for 25 years' service, four of which
are holiday, and at the end of that time, when he is in the prime
of life, retires with a minimum pension of about ^1000 a year.
This is, of ^necessity, a very costly civil service. Large salaries
have to be paid to induce the pick of young Englishmen to enter
for the competitive examinations, and the pension list, beginning
at so early a date, is, of course, exceptionally heavy. The
salaries and expenses of civil departments reach a total of 1 1
millions, of which less than two millions are paid to natives. Of
course, in the earlier days of British rule, before English
education had permeated the country, it was impossible to
govern according to Western ideas, except through the medium
of Englishmen. But natives now contend, and with some
reason, that they ought to be much more largely admitted into
the civil service, and if all the appointments which could be filled
by natives, without entrenching on the actual British administra-
396
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111 1 1
l;HI
;. ii
tion and government of the country, were so filled it would
effect a saving of some three or four millions sterling in the item
of salaries alone. .They have a further grievance in the fact that
the examination for the higher branches of the civil service is
conducted only in England, and that natives, unless they under-
take the risk and expense of a journey from India — which to the
pious Hindoo would involve the loss of caste — cannot enter the
higher civil service at all. They demand, in my opinion with
great justice, that a fair share of these higher appointments
should be allotted to natives, that the examination should take
place in India, and that the successful candidates only should be
expected to go to England for two years for study at one of
our national universities.
But the main reform on which these educated natives insist is
that the legislative councils of India, instead of being close
bodies of nominated and official members, shall be opened to a
certain number of elected representatives. They do not demand
that the whole, or even a majority, of these councils should be
elected. They are willing to leave the main power of govern-
ment and administration with the European Executive. They
would be content if one-third of the legislative councils could in
some way or other be elected by the natives, so that their views
could be stated publicly, the Budgets discussed, and the Govern-
ment interpellated on questions of executive administration.
This demand is the inevitable result of the spread of English
education, with its idea of liberty and political rights, ideas
fostered and encouraged to the utmost by a free native press, of
great editorial ability. It is a demand to which, sooner or later,
the Government will be compelled to yield. The main difficulty
is to find a constituency to elect. The mass of the people of
India have no more idea of representative government than
the inhabitants of a baby farm, and the educated demand for
SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN INDIA.
397
representative institutions only exists in the great centres of
population. I discussed this matter with a party of educated
gentlemen in Bombay, most of whom were members of the
Annual Congress already referred to, and they proposed that the
large municipalities like that of Bombay or Surat, the Bombay
Chamber of Commerce, the universities, an electoral college of
Mahommedans and another of Hindoos, might easily furnish a
constituency that would meet all the necessities of the situation.
I am, however, quite convinced that to satisfy in one way or
other this legitimate demand of the educated Hindoo for some
share in the government of his native land, would be of as great
advantage to British rule in India as it would be to these
educated natives and all they represent.
The natives of India are also very urgent in another demand,
which appears to me equally reasonable. The legislative
Councils of India are, of course, subordinate to the Indian
Council in India, presided over by the Secretary of State.
This home council consists of fifteen experts on Indian questions,
and is composed of retired Indian civil or military servants, who
have returned home. Their functions are to advise the Secretary
of State for India. The original draft of the Act creating this
council was drawn by Lord Beaconsfield, then Mr. Disraeli, who,
with great foresight, inserted a clause reserving four seats at this
council for natives of India. His colleagues, however, objected,
and it was struck out. Educated India anxiously demands that
this wise proposal shall be adopted to-day, and that four or five
natives, who have distinguished themselves in Indian adminis-
tration, and enjoy the confidence of their co-nationalists, shall be
added to the Indian Council as vacancies arise. These native
gentlemen are also very anxious to see some of their number
enter the House of Commons, and many of you are familiar with
the names of Lalmohun Ghose, Dadabhai Naoroji, and other
398
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native Indians, who have contested English constituencies, so far,
I regret to say, without success. Briefly, what educated India
desires is, representation in all the departments and governing
bodies which control the destinies of their country. If they had
fair play in the civil service, representation on their own
legislative councils, and on the Indian Council at home, and if it
were possible to induce some English constituency to accept one
of their number, they would be more than content, while the
advantage to Indian society, of being able to discuss every
grievance publicly in all the governing bodies which rule their
destinies, would be beyond all measure.
My visit to India has been shorter than I had intended,
but my holiday is curtailed by the intelligence that Parliament
is meeting earlier than usual, and I have had to hasten home.
India, however, is now so easy of access, that I have decided
to spend next winter there, and see it with greater leisure
and deliberation.
We left Bombay in the P. & O. steamer "Assam" on
Monday, January 19th, and after a pleasant and uneventful
passage, broken only by a three hours' stay at Aden, we
reached home by Brindisi on Sunday night, February 5th,
after an absence from England of five months, two weeks,
and three days.
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