Qass IJbSQg 
 
 Book 
 
 l ' =\0'^ 
 
 WALTER R. STEINER 
 COLLECTION 
 
FISCAR MARISON 
 
O'er Oceans and Continents 
 
 WITH THE SETTING SUN 
 
 BY 
 
 FISCAR MARISU^ f 
 
 o _ 
 
 FIRST SERIES 
 
 CHICAGO, SAN FRANCISCO, HAWAIIAN ISI<ANDS, 
 JAPAN, CHINA, THE PHILIPPINES. 
 
 Illustrated 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 ROBT. O. IvAW COMPANY 
 1908 
 
i 
 
 USsos 
 
 Copyright, 1908 
 By GE:0. J. BIvATTKR 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 BEQUEST or 
 
 DR. WAi Ee e. STEriiEK 
 
airs* & ita Publifatiutt. tljia JSank ia JSeaprnfuUg Bi^Hifatf 5. 
 ^lit Author 
 
 OHICAQO, MAROHj 1608. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER I 1 
 
 The Northwestern Flyer — Whirled Over the 
 
 Western Prairies — The Rocky Divide — Dropped 
 
 from the Snow of Winter into Beauties of 
 
 Spring — At the Golden Gate — Chinatown's Dens 
 
 and Dives. 
 
 CHAPTER II 20 
 
 Mai de Mer — A Light for the Revelation of 
 Gentiles — Interesting Company — A Trip to the 
 Pali Pass, Honolulu — Again Westward on the 
 Monster Waves — Into the Face of Storm — A 
 Day Blotted Out — Rolling and Tumbling On- 
 ^ ward — Japan in Sight. 
 
 CHAPTER III 45 
 
 Fujiyama in the Morning Sun — Through Yeddo 
 on the Jinrikisha — An Unexpected Arrival — 
 From Yokohama to Kioto — Through Central 
 Japan — On Board Again and Through the Island 
 Maze — Nagasaki: Stained by Martyrs' Blood. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 CHAPTER IV 91 
 
 In the Yellow Sea — Waiting for the Tide — A 
 
 City of Four Nations — A Night on the Streets 
 
 of Shanghai — Again on the Ocean — Hong Kong 
 
 — The Parting of Our Ways — A Flying Trip to 
 
 Canton — Under Portuguese Flag — On Victoria 
 
 Heights — All Aboard for Manila. 
 
 CHAPTER V 147 
 
 At the Edge of a Typhoon — Past Cavite to Ma- 
 nila — Quartered Near the Luneta — In Torrid 
 CHme — Peering into Friars' Cells — Amid the 
 Ruins of the War — Jolting Along a Filipino Rail- 
 road — Up the Pasig and the Inland Lakes — 
 Cascoes — Our Soldier Boys — A Visit to General 
 Otis and to the Archbishop Chapelle — Jesuit 
 Observatory — Roamings Through Manila — 
 Aboard the Palitana. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Mountain Desert, Nevada 
 
 Near Colfax, California 
 
 Honolulu Harbor 
 
 Mountains of Hawaii 
 
 Mount Fujiyama 
 
 Ride to Hotel, Yokohama 
 
 Railroad Station, Yokohama 
 
 Jinrikishas, Japan 
 
 Pigeon Temple, Tokio 
 
 On the Road to Kobe 
 
 Oldest Temple, Kioto 
 
 Japanese Aesculap Temple 
 
 New Year, Nagasaki Harbor 
 
 Martyrs' Memorial Church, Nagasaki 
 
 Opium Hulk, Shanghai 
 
 Chinese Fisherman 
 
 Father Kenelly, Missionary, Shanghai 
 
 Embarking, Orient 
 
 Historic Banyan, Jesuit College 
 
 Park, Macao 
 
 Pasig River at Harbor of Manila 
 
 Barn at Santa Ana, Where War Began 
 
 St. Sebastian, Steel Church, Manila 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION 
 
 The journey, which is traced in these pages, was 
 undertaken under peculiar circumstances and with 
 an ulterior object. The narrative is founded 
 entirely upon facts recorded en route. In its 
 general bearing it will no doubt be found to differ 
 materially from ordinary records of travel. 
 
 The second edition is published, not only because 
 the first has met a very favorable reception, but 
 for the purpose of further advancing the publication 
 of the English translation of the Spanish "Ciudad de 
 Dios," one of the most remarkable books in any 
 language. 
 
 In the hope that this book of travel will gain 
 friends both for the author and his English trans- 
 lation of Mary of Agreda's "Ciudad de Dios," 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 FiscAR Marison 
 March, 1908. 
 
 Vll 
 
THE INVITATION 
 
 'Tis proof of man's dominion 
 
 O'er all in mort-al ken, 
 That he should long to see the haunts 
 
 Of distant fellow-men. 
 
 Therefore, sweet friend, come haste with me 
 
 To board the waiting train: 
 Linked to the snorting iron horse 
 
 We'll scour the western plain. 
 
 And farther still, o'er ocean wave, 
 
 And continents we'll roam: 
 Like spirits reft of body's w^eight 
 
 We'll make the world our home. 
 
 THE DEPARTURE 
 
 Hark! ''All aboard!" — our train is now gliding 
 Out of the station, o'er meshes of siding, 
 
 On to the main track. 
 
 Gaining in speed; 
 
 Over the bridges. 
 
 Past lights of street. 
 Thundering through darkness, devouring its course 
 Through the great city on Michigan's shores. 
 
 viii 
 
THE DEPARTURE 
 
 ■ Avaunt ye, O night-brooding siletice and darkness, 
 Yield to the glare of the headlight's advances; 
 
 To piston-stroke 
 
 O'er gleaming rail, 
 
 Neath belching smoke 
 
 On sinuous trail, 
 Westward on snow-palled hillside and plain 
 Westward, ho! westward we speed on our train. 
 
 Through Illinois to the Father of Waters, 
 Rumbling past Iowa's corn-laden granaries; 
 
 Just tarrying enough 
 
 (One wee little hour) 
 
 On Omaha's bluff. 
 
 Then onward we scour 
 With wings of the winds, o'er the plains of the west, 
 Where roamed the wild buffalo in days of the past. 
 
 Climbing the foothills, then scaHng the mountains 
 To Sierra Nevada's snow-shimmering regions; 
 
 O'erleaping divides 
 
 Of sage-grown Utah, 
 
 Past flood-marked hillsides 
 
 Of dreary Nevada; 
 Whence raging, the Truckee tears down in its course 
 To ocean-belapped Californian shores. 
 
 Down from the snowfields and blizzards of winter, 
 
THE DEPARTURE 
 
 Into the bosom of springtime we enter. 
 
 Verdant the valleys, 
 
 Balmy the air, 
 
 Birds singing sweetly, 
 
 Life ever3nvhere. 
 The ocean is gilded by Sun's parting ray 
 As we hail San Francisco on Golden Gate bay. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Northwestern Flyer. — Whirled Over 
 THE Western Prairies. — The Rocky Divide. — 
 Dropped from the Snow of Winter into the 
 Beauties of Spring. — ^At the Golden Gate. — 
 Chinatown's Dens and Dives. — ^All Aboard 
 and Out to Sea. 
 
 Here we are, kind reader, hurrying through 
 the thronging crowds of passengers in the North- 
 western Depot of Chicago ready to start on our 
 journey westwards. Let us board one of these 
 palace sleeping cars, take possession of the palatial 
 berth already pointed out to us and compose 
 ourselves in perfect leisure in the cushioned seats; 
 for with the gliding hours of night we shall traverse 
 the vast regions of the continent. Even now we 
 hear the halting puff of our engine, we feel a gently 
 accelerated motion and we are started on our 
 breathless whirl to the Pacific Ocean. Like a vast 
 serpent the locomotive and its train of coaches 
 rumble into action, and, gaining headway, they 
 wind through the lighted city, past its limits, into 
 the wintry landscape, where the faintly gleaming 
 snow supports the brooding darkness. Far into 
 the gloomy night shoots the glare of the headlight, 
 
2 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 searching out the winding rails ahead and cutting 
 a passage through the darkness for our snorting 
 monster. Hundreds of living souls are linked to 
 its resistless course, as it sweeps with the noiseless 
 coaches over gentle slope and valley, through 
 towns and villages, to the banks of the Mississippi, 
 ever widening, with each nocturnal hour, the 
 distance between itself and the great city on the 
 lake. And when the golden rays of the morning 
 sun again have chased the gloom of night, our 
 train has already measured the breadth of the 
 great State of Illinois, cleared at a bound the 
 currents of the Mississippi, crossed Iowa, and is 
 now rumbling high over the muddy waters of the 
 Missouri into the City of Omaha. 
 
 Our train had been somewhat delayed by hot 
 boxes, but once out of Omaha, it again whirled 
 along, over the western prairies at an accelerated 
 speed. Not any more as it used to be some 2$ 
 years ago, when the journey to California con- 
 sumed a week. Very often in those times a num- 
 ber of travelers would make up a party for such 
 a trip. Each would engage to bring his^share of the 
 provisions, liquid and otherwise, sufficient for the 
 week and thus make the party independent of 
 the primitive restaurants on the way, securing 
 an enjoyable time together. But this good fellow- 
 ship and conviviality are of the past. One scarcely 
 
OVER THE WESTERN PRAIRIES 
 
 makes a superficial acquaintance with one or the 
 other traveler, before the end of the journey makes 
 a parting necessary. 
 
 On our fleeting course over the plains of Nebraska 
 the shallow bottoms of the Platte river often 
 stretched like a sandy desert parallel to the left 
 side of the railroad. Towards noon, after we had 
 passed Buffalo Bill's great ranch, the country 
 seemed to be but thinly settled. What immense 
 prairies lie spread out between the waters of the 
 Mississippi and the base of the Rockies and how 
 they have changed in comparatively few years! 
 I remember well these same prairies some thirty 
 years ago, unsettled for hundreds of miles, but en- 
 livened by vast herds of buffaloes roaming over the 
 grassy plains. The train that carried us from Denver 
 in 1872 was actually brought to a long stop by the 
 passing of an immense herd of these animals, and 
 rifles were busily phed in kilHng any number of them 
 for mere sport. No wonder the buffalo is extinct. 
 
 I invited a Japanese gentleman, who seemed at 
 a loss to find a place in the well filled car, to take 
 a seat beside me, and I was glad I had shown him 
 the kindness. His carte de visite showed the name 
 of K. Ishii, Kongo Kiu, Kin suke Chio, Tokio, 
 Japan, and he told me that he was on a tour of 
 inspection for his government. This I afterwards 
 found to be true, when I hunted up his uncle in 
 
4 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 Tokio. He confessed himself a Buddhist, but was 
 anxious to know more about the Christian rehgion, 
 in which I was only too glad to be of service to him 
 during the rest of our long journey. I made also 
 the acquaintance of a certain Rev. Cossum, a 
 Protestant missionary, who, with his wife and 
 three children, was on his way to China to spread 
 the light of the gospel among the heathens; but 
 of him more, later on at sea, where he contributed 
 his small mite toward varying the monotony of 
 steamboat life. 
 
 The next day, having passed Cheyenne during 
 the night, we were climbing the mountains. At 
 Castle Rock, Utah, an immense square boulder 
 lowers down upon the town from a neighboring 
 mountaintop like a vast fortification built in the 
 clouds. Soon afterwards we were rolling over the 
 desert mountain-plateau of northern Utah and 
 Nevada. Sinister and barren mountain forma- 
 tions, looming through the fog, rose like half- 
 formed monsters from the wastes of sandy soil, 
 as if they had been washed there by pristine floods. 
 Nothing grows here except sparse sage bushes and 
 parched bunches of grass. The country is prac- 
 tically uninhabited. There was little change of 
 scenery during that day. A railroad trip through 
 these regions certainly is apt to impress the mind 
 with the fact, that these western states are indeed 
 
THE ROCKY DIVIDE 
 
 vast domains, not so quickly traversed even by 
 speeding railroad trains. 
 
 The next morning found us in the Sierra Nevada 
 range, along the Truckee river. About noon we 
 came suddenly upon a small town in the midst of 
 an immense basin surrounded by pineclad moun- 
 tains. Brightly the pure white of the snow on 
 the mountain-declivities contrasted with the deep 
 green of the pine forests in the valleys and 
 on the slopes. We climbed the Sierra until we 
 reached the altitude of 8,000 feet. At Alta a 
 geyser could be seen shooting up a powerful stream 
 of water from a deep valley, high over the tall 
 pines that studded intervening hills. Leaving the 
 town of Truckee we came upon the great snowshed, 
 over 40 miles long and covering the tracks 2o 
 miles on each side of the divide. As the train 
 thundered through the dark curvings of the sheds, 
 the beautiful mountain scenery could be traced 
 through the cracks between the blackened boards, 
 Hke moving pictures seen through the slits of a 
 kinetoscope, while every now and then a wider 
 opening between the dark sheds afforded a more 
 comprehensive view. On the other side, in its 
 gradual descent, the train for a while Hterally hung 
 over the deep abyss of a valley, while round about, 
 snowy mountaintops reared their heads into the 
 clouds. Descending still farther down the Pacific 
 
6 O^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 slope, the country began to present the appearance 
 of spring. Everywhere the fields had been pre- 
 pared and the newly sown seeds were beginning to 
 sprout. Here and there many-colored blossoms 
 reflected the glad sunlight and the trees spread out 
 their verdure. From the snow and ice of winter we 
 had in a few hours dropped into the beauties of 
 spring. Who knows, but a blizzard might be 
 raging at this moment behind the mountains, 
 which we had just passed? 
 
 Unfortunately our train was much delayed by 
 wash-outs caused by the recent rains. On this 
 account we arrived in Sacramento at dusk and 
 darkness hid much of the beauties of the Sacra- 
 mento valley beyond. A few hours later the 
 smell of salt water heralded our approach to the 
 Pacific coast. It was ii o'clock before the ferry- 
 boat had brought us across the arm of the sea to 
 the great ferry station in San Francisco. I lodged 
 over night in the annex of the Palace Hotel, the 
 largest in the city. 
 
 Next morning I went to the Franciscan church 
 to celebrate mass and there met Father Maxi- 
 milian O.S.F., an old acquaintance. An hour 
 later I had the pleasure of meeting the five gentle- 
 men, who, according to a previous arrangement, 
 were to be my companions on the journey west- 
 ward. They were greatly surprised, that I should 
 
SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 have been able to accept the invitation and arrive 
 in time to begin the ocean trip with them. To- 
 gether we attended to the necessary arrangements 
 for our departure on the Gaelic on Saturday, Jan. 
 6. We still had a few days at our disposal to 
 take a closer look at San Francisco and its inter- 
 esting sights. 
 
 Our business calls took us past the United States 
 mint, the largest in the country. Here an old 
 soldier, with droll importance of manner, showed 
 us and a party of other visitors the place. There 
 are several vaults, carefully sealed up and con- 
 taining $25,000,000 in silver dollars. Most interest- 
 ing is the process of turning gold bulHon into 
 shining coin. The gold is melted into ingots large 
 enough to be rolled into strips five feet long, as 
 thick and as wide as the coins, into which it 
 is to be stamped. These are run through the 
 stamping machines, that will coin half a million 
 dollars worth of eagles in an hour. In another room 
 silver half-dollars were being stamped out in a 
 continual stream. A young man was standing 
 at the trough, into which they poured, arranging 
 them into rolls in the palm of his hand with clock- 
 like precision. He would grab the rolls thus 
 formed between his thumb and forefinger, count 
 them by one glance at the size of each roll, and 
 throw them aside clinking into a large box. 
 
8 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 The residence portion of San Francisco over- 
 looks the business section and the waters of the 
 Golden Gate: certainly a beautiful panorama. 
 Many very fine residences are built of wood on 
 account of the prevalence of earthquakes, as I 
 was told; but that reason seems to me to be some- 
 what strained. They are elegant and tasteful to 
 a high degree. Although we had made up our 
 minds to see Chinatown that night in the com- 
 pany of some friendly guides, I and one of my 
 friends spent a few hours there in the afternoon. 
 To us, at this stage of our journey, it seemed a 
 new and strange kind of world. Filth and dirt and 
 the fumes of opium were noticeable on all sides. 
 The streets are but narrow alleys, lined on both sides 
 with tumble-down shanties, houses of bad repute, 
 opium dens, shops with all kinds of Chinese trum- 
 peries. The smell of roasting meat, dried speci- 
 mens of the finny tribe stretched on pegs, and all 
 sorts of other dainties for the Chinese stomach, 
 filled the air. Numerous curio and junkshops, 
 and other resorts still more distinctly belonging to 
 the Chinese trade, were squeezed in between the 
 eating houses, opium joints or more pretentious 
 and familiar establishments. Up and down these 
 narrow streets wended a continual stream of pig- 
 tailed celestials in their nankeens, like a busy 
 swarm of ants. 
 
MOUNTAIN DESERT, NEVADA 
 
CHINESE SHOPS 
 
 The faces of the Chinese, for the most part, 
 show the sallow complexion consequent upon the 
 use of opium, or, may be, caused by other excesses. 
 I have no doubt, that mostly the degraded classes 
 of Chinamen seek the freedom of our western shores. 
 Even they, undoubtedly, expect to return to their 
 native China, in order to live there as lords on the 
 thousand dollars, which they may have saved 
 during their stay in this country. Now and then 
 the form of some even more degraded white man, 
 a victim of opium and vice, could be seen creeping 
 through the crowd of celestials or issuing from 
 some low dive. 
 
 The Chinese in San Francisco, though they cling 
 to their customs and dress so as to make that 
 portion of the city a Canton in miniature, are not 
 slow to understand the advantage of knowing 
 some English. The shopkeepers had no objection 
 to our looking around in their dingy and narrow 
 shops and tried to converse with us in English. 
 The owner of a tailorshop immediately came for- 
 ward with a dictionary, asking us the pronunciation 
 of some words. It was amusing to hear him try 
 to pronounce the word "return;" no matter how 
 strongly we made the R reverberate in his celestial 
 ear, his tongue could not produce a closer imitation 
 to it than an L: rrreturrrn was Htuln, for his ear 
 and tongue, and nothing else. In another shop a 
 
10 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 swarthy Asiatic showed us his mode of counting by 
 the finger board; simple numbers of any size were 
 added, multipHed and subtracted with Hghtning 
 speed, but fractions were a complete failure with 
 the machine. 
 
 On our way back to the hotel we entered what 
 we thought to be a Catholic church. As we 
 ascended the stairs, we heard a confused noise of 
 many voices issuing from the open doors, but no 
 sooner had we entered than it suddenly ceased. 
 The auditorium was filled by a congregation entirely 
 composed of men, but strange to say all eyes were 
 turned on us. A man rushed from the middle 
 aisle, stopping our farther progress and making 
 some request, which I finally understood to be, that 
 I should replace my hat. After some hesitation, 
 and noticing that all the men were also wearing 
 their hats, I complied and at once the spell was 
 broken. The confused mingling of voices was 
 resumed. We had dropped into the midst of an 
 orthodox Jewish congregation. Each man was 
 reading aloud from a book without any regard for 
 his neighbor. After some time the rabbi handed a 
 gilt cup to one of the men in the front part of the 
 synagogue, and that seemed to end the service. 
 Going out the usher explained, that all are required 
 to wear their hats in their temple, since they believe 
 that God is present no more in a synagogue built 
 
IN A JEWISH SYNAGOGUE 11 
 
 by the hands of man, than under the canopy of 
 heaven. Hence, why remove the hat on entering? 
 Quite a vaHd reason for a Jewish synagogue, but 
 worthless in regard to a Catholic church at least. 
 
 Through the kindness of the Paulist fathers we 
 secured Mr. Boland and another gentleman, both of 
 whom were connected with the detective force of 
 San Francisco, as our guides through the Chinese 
 quarters that same evening. We first dived 
 through some dark alleys and arrived in front of 
 what was ironically called "Palace hotel." It 
 might easily have served as a hotel at some time in 
 the past, for it is a large six-story building, almost 
 falling to pieces and rising like a giant over the small 
 shacks of surrounding shops. After descending 
 through a dark passage, we came into an open 
 courtyard, surrounded on its four sides by the grim 
 rear walls of the different wings of the building. 
 The darkness was faintly dispelled by a flickering 
 wood fire in the middle of the yard. A Chinese was 
 standing near it, holding a charred piece of meat, 
 which might have been that of a rat, over the 
 flames. His face seemed to wear a satisfied grin 
 at the prospects of enjoying his dainty titbit; but 
 perhaps that impression was caused only by the 
 fitful glare of the fire as it glanced to and fro on his 
 rugged face. The gloom hid the rest of the court- 
 yard and the surrounding walls, for not a light 
 
12 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 shone from the windows or doors of the "Palace 
 hotel." Yet our guides told us that all the six 
 stories swarmed with Chinese, who preferred to 
 sink into the stupor of their opium fumes in the 
 quiet of darkness. 
 
 Only from the rear a dim light shone as from 
 a dark cavern. We directed our steps towards it, 
 ducking beneath a rickety stairs and low doorway. 
 It was a small dingy room, more like a hole in the 
 ground, where we could scarcely stand upright. 
 Yet lying to the right and left in ragged bunks, 
 could be seen indistinct forms, like human cor- 
 morants, stupified with the fumes of opium. Before 
 us in the dim candle light squatted a Chinese, who 
 seemed to be the keeper of this particular den. He 
 was busy trying to light the opium pipe and his 
 trembling hand succeeded only with difficulty in 
 causing the tiny opium pellet to bubble up and 
 emit its noisome fumes. A white cat drowsily 
 turned its green eyes away from us, as it softly 
 glided into its master's lap in order to share with 
 him his pleasure. The opium is kept in tin capsules 
 and looks like dark carpenter's glue. The Chinese 
 extract a drop of it with a piece of wire and form 
 a small pellet. A light is then applied, causing 
 it to bubble and emit smoke, as it is inserted into 
 the bowl of the pipe and consumed. The smoke 
 is inhaled in the same way as Turks inhale tobacco 
 
OPIUM FIENDS 13 
 
 smoke, allowing it to fill the lungs. This causes 
 a stupor, in which the imagination or lower facul- 
 ties are excited. The use of reason, for the time 
 being, is almost lost and a state of sensual pleasure 
 is induced, similar to that of intoxication. As we 
 issued forth from the building, an emaciated white 
 man, who could scarcely creep, waylaid us in the 
 main entrance, asking in whining tones for some 
 money. In order to induce us to give more readily, 
 he produced a small syringe, and inserting the sharp 
 point into his bared arm, he forced morphine or 
 cocaine into the bulging veins. It was a dis- 
 gusting sight and he might as well have spared 
 himself the trouble, so far as we were concerned. 
 
 Not far from the "Palace hotel" was a many- 
 colored, three-story building, whence I had heard 
 the sounds of revelry already in the afternoon. 
 It seems the detectives had free admission every- 
 where in Chinatown, and we ascended up to the 
 third story, where a notorious highbinder was 
 giving a great feast. The extensive apartments 
 were filled with riotous Chinamen, apparently 
 more or less intoxicated. Some were dancing, 
 some in groups drawling forth their maudlin 
 songs, others gambling, and more were sitting at 
 different tables eating and drinking. Pandemonium 
 reigned in the well-lighted rooms, while a Chinese 
 band kept up an incessant and monotonous jangle 
 
14 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 of drums, tamtams, and other unmusical instru- 
 ments to heighten the effect. The highbinders 
 are a secret society for mutual defense, and for 
 vengeance on those who become the object of the 
 hatred of its members. A pair of highbinders' 
 knives were shown to us. Both knives fit into 
 one scabbard and are made for the right and for 
 the left hand. The highbinder grasps one in each 
 hand and hacks away at his victim from both sides. 
 Many of the desperate Chinese carry these knives 
 concealed about their person, though that is forbid- 
 den by the laws of the state under severe penalties. 
 We passed on to Murderers' alley, a notorious and 
 dangerous looking passage between the grimy walls 
 of low buildings, which aft'orded shelter for the 
 orgies of the murderers, gamblers, thieves and bad 
 women. A great part of this neighborhood had to 
 be closed up by the police on account of the fre- 
 quent crimes committed by its inmates. Around 
 the comer is the joss-house, or heathen temple 
 of the Chinese. It is full of trumpery and hideous 
 idols pertaining to Chinese worship. Incense 
 and sandalwood were burning before some of the 
 images. The whole appearance of the place is 
 hideous and bizarre in the extreme and oives evi- 
 dence of the perv^ersion of the Chinese mind in 
 regard to religion. There were some bonzes or 
 keepers, but their only object appears to be to 
 
LM\iAKKi::^J 
 
 obtain fees from the visitors. There does not 
 seem to be any real beHef in the sacredness of the 
 place. Laughing and joking about the hideous 
 gods were freely indulged in by those present, 
 without any remonstrance from the Chinese; nor 
 were we required to remove our hats on entering 
 the so-called temple. 
 
 Our guides introduced us also to one of the 
 respectable farniHes of Chinatown. A compara- 
 tively young woman vras the grandmother of a 
 numerous family. She seemed quite pleased with 
 our visit and chatted freely with one of the detec- 
 tives. The latter drew our attention to the small- 
 ness of her feet. They were not much larger, 
 nor of much different shape, than those of a goat 
 or sheep, so much had they been compressed in 
 her youth. She was evidently proud of their 
 small size, since that is a distinguishing mark of 
 the Chinese beauties. The strange sights of 
 Chinatown detained us till a late hour, which, 
 perhaps, would not have been so safe vvithout the 
 trustworthy gtiides, that accompanied us. 
 
 Saturday, the sixth of January, was the day 
 on which we were to embark on our voyage across 
 the Pacific. We had already shipped our baggage 
 aboard and made the necessary provisions in 
 regard to tickets, berths and minor details early 
 in the morning. The Steamer Gaehc, on which vre 
 
16 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 were to take passage, is one of the largest of the 
 Oriental and Occidental S. S. Company. She was 
 lying at her dock getting up steam, while throngs 
 of people with and without business were crowding 
 her decks and its approaches. Officials of the 
 ship urging onward the men, who were storing the 
 cargo; expressmen arriving with loads of trunks 
 and valises, hundreds of Chinese carrying their 
 baggage or loitering about in order to see ac- 
 quaintances depart with their savings for their 
 native land; well-dressed white passengers and 
 their friends standing around or moving up and 
 down over the different parts of the huge vessel; 
 all this formed a scene full of bustling life and 
 animation. The GaeHc was to leave at noon, but 
 she was kept waiting for the mails until two o'clock. 
 All the passengers had already gathered on her 
 decks and several warnings had been sounded by 
 the hoarse steamer whistle, before the great Hner 
 began to move slowly away from its swarming 
 docks. V. H. it seems, was the favored one of our 
 company of six, for some lady and gentlemen 
 friends had brought him several bouquets of flowers 
 and for a long time, as we moved steadily west- 
 wards, they could be seen standing in the bright 
 sunlight on the wharf, waving their white hand- 
 kerchiefs in prolonged farewell. But gradually 
 the wharf and its gaudily dressed crowds of men 
 
NEAR COLFAX, CAL, 
 
PRACTICAL HINTS 17 
 
 and women grew smaller and smaller in the widen- 
 ing distance, and we were cut off from friends and 
 homeland, rocking on the swelling billows of the 
 great Pacific ocean. 
 
 Practical Hints. At the end of each chapter 
 I shall try to give a few practical observations in 
 regard to traveling, which may be useful for those 
 who are interested in such matters. — Good com- 
 panionship on an extended journey is no doubt 
 very desirable. Yet on account of the differences 
 of opinion, which are certain to arise, it will scarcely 
 prove advisable to look for more than one or two 
 congenial companions. Traveling with a large 
 number under the leadership of a guide is not 
 objectionable, when the trip is short. But there 
 is always a certain conventionality or perfunc- 
 toriness, in that kind of travel, which will soon 
 lessen the interest of a long journey. Tickets and 
 routes should of course be determined upon before- 
 hand, yet always in such a way as to include much 
 freedom in regard to side trips and excursions. 
 As soon as you buy a round-trip ticket you are 
 bound by it and very often forced to omit the most 
 interesting diversions on your route. Agencies 
 are not very particular in disclosing any such dis- 
 advantages; they look to proceeds, not to your 
 tastes and inclinations. The less baggage you can 
 
18 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 get along with, the better. Gentlemen ought to 
 be able to do well enough with one or two strong 
 valises or handbags. It is better to rely on buying 
 necessary articles of wear en route, than carry 
 superfluous baggage of that kind. Those that 
 need not retrench any expense, can of course have 
 the best of accommodation everywhere on the 
 highroads of travel. But I would not envy them 
 the privilege very much. First class hotels are 
 to be found in every large city in both hemispheres. 
 But the very fact of their being first-class means, 
 that in the main they are alike, and the experiences 
 and the sights seen in them, as well as the people 
 which one meets there, differ very little from 
 what we are accustomed to at home. Why travel, 
 when we can only go through the same round of 
 experiences and associations as we are having at 
 home? As a general rule, the more expensive 
 the mode of travel, the less will be seen of the real 
 life of the countries which we visit, and the less 
 valuable will be the information gained. Nothing 
 is more worthless than the traveling of the ordinary 
 tourist on this very account. They lounge around 
 in first-class hotels or in the soft seats of carriages, 
 steamers and railroads, waste time in interminable 
 meals or in languid conversations with people of 
 their own class. All this they could do much more 
 conveniently at home and, after the first few days, 
 
PRACTICAL HINTS 19 
 
 they learn nothing new. To get the full benefit 
 of travel it is necessary to stand little upon cere- 
 mony, converse with people of all stations of life, 
 ride in all classes of conveyances, be ready for 
 exertions of all kinds and often prefer the ordinary 
 hostelries of the country to the first-class hotels. 
 Such a course will to a great extent prevent ennui, 
 which easily sets in after some weeks of continued 
 travel. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Mal de Mer. — ^A Light for the Revelation 
 OF Gentiles. — Interesting Company. — A 
 Trip to the Pali Pass in Honolulu. — ^Again 
 Westward on the Monster Waves. — Into 
 THE Face of a Storm. — A Day Blotted 
 Out. — Rolling and Tumbling Onward. — 
 Japan in Sight. 
 
 The city of San Francisco with its high buildings 
 on the bluffs, the Presidio, the cliffs and the 
 towering promontories of the Golden Gate soon 
 passed in panoramic view and gradually disap- 
 peared, as the "Gaelic" glided on into the vast 
 waters of the Pacific. Thousands of sea gulls 
 followed the ship and some of them were our com- 
 panions for many days. The Farellone Islands 
 remained in sight long after the mighty swells of 
 the Pacific had begun to make themselves felt. 
 
 Slowly but surely, like the forebodings of ill, 
 seasickness spread about on board. Many had 
 already retired to the privacy of their cabins to 
 hide their misery, among them some of my com- 
 panions. I had made up my mind to fight it from 
 the very beginning by remaining on deck as much 
 as possible and by seeking some kind of occupation. 
 
 20 
 
SHIPMATES 21 
 
 On the second day my cabin-mate M. wanted 
 to remain below, but yielded to my persistent 
 request to fight it all out on deck. But following 
 my advice he was troubled very little by the dis- 
 ease afterward. 
 
 He had become my room mate by mere acci- 
 dent. His baggage had been placed in my cabin 
 by some mistake of the purser. Circumstances 
 afterwards shaped things in such a way, that he 
 became my companion during the whole journey 
 around the globe until we again arrived in Chicago. 
 He had almost lost his hearing two years before and 
 now one of the objects of his trip was to consult 
 the most noted speciahst of Europe for the re- 
 covery of his hearing. As he seemed sociable, I 
 gradually became accustomed to the effort of 
 speaking very loud and I had some reason to hope, 
 that he would be thankful for the inconvenience 
 and sacrifices his infirmity and his inexperience 
 occasioned on this long journey. 
 
 There were 78 cabin passengers, i22 of the crew, 
 39 Japanese and 249 Chinese on board. All of the 
 second cabins were occupied by the Japanese, as 
 no white passengers would think of taking any- 
 thing less than first cabin on these boats. The 
 Chinese were all steerage passengers and mostly 
 occupied the lower deck. They were a motley 
 crowd in their nankeens, and gambUng all day. 
 
22 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 When the weather was fine, numbers of them were 
 squatting on their mats, with stacks of Mexican 
 silver dollars in front of them, ready to cast dice 
 with anyone. Their whole interest was centered on 
 the game; crowds were standing around the players, 
 some with woe-begone faces, having no doubt lost 
 all their savings and even the clothes on their 
 back. Some of the young white chaps, among the 
 first-class passengers, notably an Englishman, took 
 a hand in the games below and left many a silver 
 dollar with his Chinese brethren. On the third 
 day out, a huge wave struck the lower deck and 
 washed the Chinese gamblers and their improvised 
 gambling tables pellmell to one side of the deck. 
 
 It is a pleasure to stand at the railing or at the 
 stern of the vessel and watch the play of the 
 waters. How little is the individual, when his 
 works are compared with this mighty emanation 
 of the power of God! Men in our times are apt to 
 brag about subjecting to their use the powers of 
 nature. One of these chance waves, stirred by the 
 breeze, exerts more force in its resistless course 
 across the ocean than all the machinery of man 
 combined. Look at yon grey sea gull that has now 
 been following our vessel 1500 miles, all the way 
 from San Francisco. Is not that a more wonder- 
 ful feat than that this huge steamer should be 
 plowing through the waves so far? It needs none 
 
ON BOARD THE STEAMER 23 
 
 of the 1 22 men that serve the ship, none of the 
 thousands of tons of coal ; but still onward, veering 
 around in circles, now astern, now at the head of 
 the vessel, it follows and doubles the course of the 
 steamer on its tireless wings. 
 
 One of our party and myself are studying 
 Spanish for use in the Philippines or in Spain. 
 At times I am reading, at others I enjoy myself 
 playing chess. The ship's physician is quite an 
 expert at the game. Captain Thomas, who is on 
 his way to take charge of the Brooklyn in Hong 
 Kong, Mr. Vale, a lawyer going to Manila and 
 Mr. Anderson, traveHng in the interest of a Hong 
 Kong bank, were some of the other players. On 
 the voyage I came out second best in the number of 
 games won, the doctor still holding his own. There 
 were some others with whom I had more or less 
 acquaintance. Mr. Blom, a Swedish lecturer, who 
 intended to take views all around the world, 
 O'Shaughnessy, Kerns, Vincent, Bierce, who were 
 going to Honolulu, and Mr. Cossum, who was 
 bound for Hankow as a missionary, a light to the 
 gentiles, having as a helpmate his wife with three 
 little children. He was the same gentleman, that 
 I had seen in the sleeper on the way to the coast. 
 
 On the first Sunday aboard ship, while sitting on 
 the sunny side among a row of other passengers in 
 all stages of the dull feeHng of seasickness, I 
 
24 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 noticed next to me this tall, sallow man, fondling 
 an infant and every now and then trying also to 
 read out of a small red book. Wishing to be 
 sociable, I began a conversation, that soon turned 
 upon religion of which he seemed brim full. He 
 asked me, whether I knew anything of the book, 
 which he held in his hand. Of course, as it was 
 the New Testament, I had to plead guilty. But I 
 almost staggered him, when I asked him whether 
 he knew, that he had none else than the Catholic 
 church to thank for its preservation and for all 
 the benefits he derived therefrom? Who else but 
 the Catholic church preserved that book for the 
 convenience of the so-called reformers? This 
 brought out his prejudice in full force: he called 
 the Catholic church a harlot, fallen away from 
 Christ, guilty of the blood of 50,000,000 martyrs 
 through the inquisition and St, Bartholomew's day; 
 her popes, monsters of iniquity, her bishops and 
 priests everywhere lowering the standards of 
 morality by smoking, drinking and celibacy. 
 I laughed at his narrow-mindedness and made him 
 squirm, when I asked him to tell me in what 
 countries the inquisition held sway, and where and 
 when the massacre of St. Bartholomew took place, 
 for he did not know even that. It was new for him 
 to hear that both had a political origin, and that all 
 the victims of St. Bartholomew and the inquisition 
 
_^ RAMPANT BIGOTRY 25 
 
 suffered more on account of political intrigue than 
 on the score of religion, which cannot be said of 
 the victims of Protestant belief in witchcraft in the 
 American colonies. Besides, what monstrous exag- 
 gerations are not Protestants guilty of in regard to 
 these simple facts of Catholic history? 
 
 I asked him about his mission to the Chinese and 
 who authorized him to preach. He felt within him 
 the call of the holy spirit, he said. As for sectarian- 
 ism, he had done with that. He had joined the 
 only true and the real Catholic church two years 
 ago in Boston. It had already 500 members and 
 had separated itself from all the other sects. That 
 church, he said, had guaranteed him his expenses 
 for his missionary tour during the first year, after 
 that he would have to shift for himself. I asked 
 him how he expected to convert the Chinese and 
 whether he could reasonably hope to do much 
 work for others, since he was burdened with a wife 
 and three small children, and he answered: just by 
 living a sweet and godly Hfe with his wife and 
 family, he would convert the heathen. With what 
 a smack of the Hps and how often he used that 
 word "sweet." What these people meant by it, I 
 could never fully make out. I doubt whether any 
 of them make it out themselves. I told our friend 
 that probably there are thousands of Chinese 
 gentlemen living in the very district where he 
 
26 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 intended to shine as a model husband, who, as far as 
 the treatment of their wives was concerned, would 
 very likely outshine him in the eyes of those, who 
 would have a chance to make comparisons. For 
 that is quite a natural affair and something, in 
 which many a heathen is not inferior to the best of 
 Christians. The only one who could expect any 
 appreciable results in missionary work, was one 
 who would be unhampered by family ties and could 
 give his whole time and energy to preaching and 
 doing good to others. As for the call of the spirit 
 that he claimed to feel, there be spirits and spirits. 
 Not the least common of them was the spirit of 
 self-sufficient pride, which very often makes a man 
 believe he is the elect of God for great deeds, when 
 in reality God would be only too well satisfied with 
 ordinary results. What guarantee had he about 
 the origin of that feeling within him ? The Catholic 
 missionary was not sent out without having given 
 the most certain signs of being called to missionary 
 work. But my missionary friend merely repeated, 
 that he had always been a leader of men and now 
 felt the promptings of the spirit within him. 
 
 Then he related an incident, that had happened 
 to him in^Denver, to show how bigoted the Catholics 
 are. He was preaching, he said, two years ago in 
 that town at a street corner, and because he saw 
 some Irish listeners in the crowd, he thought it 
 
MISSIONARY WORK 27 
 
 would be appropriate to tell them of all the per- 
 versions of. the Catholic church and her priests. 
 But no sooner had he started on this subject, he 
 said, than they began to raise a disturbance and 
 threatened to tear him from his stand. ''And 
 what had you said about the church," I asked. 
 "Oh, no more than what I have told you and hun- 
 dreds of audiences during my missionary tour." 
 What could I do but smile at his simphcity, re- 
 marking: "Sure it is a pity you did not meet more 
 of the Irish. Perhaps you would be convinced 
 that it is not safe to slander even the CathoHc 
 church." However, as I thought the man, though 
 mistaken, was earnest in his views we parted in a 
 friendly manner. 
 
 A few days after he came to me, as if by stealth, 
 and handed me some yellow tracts on smoking, 
 alcohol and the last judgment. I read them and 
 began to pity those who rely on such stuff for doing 
 good. Smoking and drinking it seems, even 
 moderately, are represented as the sum total of 
 evil doing. I wonder how these ministers make 
 out even as well as they do, when they use moral 
 leverage of that kind. Later on he kept himself 
 in his cabin with his wife: we were probably too 
 ungodly for him. However, nobody had conversed 
 with him much except myself and one or two ladies. 
 Not all had the same curiosity about him, having 
 
28 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 probably met his kind before, whereas for me he 
 was somewhat of an amusement. Mixing freely 
 with the ship's company, I heard that there is a 
 prejudice against all missionaries of the Protestant 
 type, aild in his peculiar case, it was considered 
 little less than foolishness to drag a wife and three 
 small children along to China, where he is not 
 wanted and where those of his tribe, for the most 
 part, are patent failures. I was surprised to see 
 that this opinion was pretty well unanimous, both 
 among the Americans and the few English among 
 the passengers, who had been in heathen countries. 
 We had several more conversations during the 
 long voyage, both before and after we had passed 
 Honolulu. I must say of him, that he was an 
 earnest man, but so ridiculously prejudiced in 
 regard to the Catholic church, and so taken up 
 with his own preconceived ideas of righteousness, 
 that to reason with him was breath wasted. If 
 the missionaries are all of his calibre, the heathens 
 may rest secure: their idolatry will not be over- 
 thrown. 
 
 During many an interview I was struck by 
 the fairness of the American gentlemen in regard 
 to religious views; ever ready to listen to an argu- 
 ment and not rejecting any historical fact, as soon 
 as it was proved, though it might argue against 
 their position. At the same time, however, it is 
 
AMERICAN FAIRNESS 29 
 
 painful to notice, that they dread the subject of 
 religion, for fear of arousing a dispute. They act 
 like men who have laid religion aside as a conun- 
 drum, which cannot be solved and must be left 
 alone. Who can wonder at their behavior, when 
 they are surrounded during their whole life with 
 the warring strife of hundreds of sects, each one of 
 which half-heartedly claims to be infallible? 
 Rarely do they come in contact with the Catholic 
 church, so consistent in its claims at all times and 
 in all essential matters. Was it, perhaps, on this 
 account, that they readily entered into conver- 
 sation about religion, as soon as they understood, 
 that I was a Catholic priest? I certainly have 
 only the most pleasant recollection of the gentle- 
 men on the Gaelic; such congenial company I 
 was not to meet on the twenty odd steamers that 
 I had occasion to use on the rest of the journey. 
 
 Our voyage in the meanwhile was progressing 
 prosperously. It was an interesting sight on one 
 of the breezy mornings, as the sun rose over the 
 vast expanse of water, to see the Chinese sailors 
 unfurl the huge smoke-begrimed sails. Cheerily 
 the main sail, topsail and royal fluttered at first 
 to the breeze, as they were loosened, but soon 
 bellied to the wind, as the huge spars were drawn 
 apart. They unreefed also the fore-trisail, letting 
 it fall from the top along the grooved stays. The 
 
30 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 only sail not unreefed was the mizzen trisail and so 
 the great steamer now looked like an immense bird, 
 skimming over the ocean with huge dark wings. 
 Yet our naval captain, Thomas of the Brooklyn, 
 told me that all this spread of canvas would increase 
 the speed of the vessel perhaps no more than a 
 quarter of a knot an hour. 
 
 It was a glorious day on the ocean and the 
 sun held its sway over the endless expanse of blue 
 waters, until it sank in the west and yielded its 
 place to the silvery full moon. For a long time I 
 sat all alone in the stern of the vessel, watching 
 the glittering play of the gentle moonlight and the 
 twinkling of the stars on the dark blue and restless 
 waves of the mighty ocean. 
 
 On Saturday, the 13 th of January, early in the 
 morning, the engines ceased their seven days' 
 thumping and the anchor rumbled downward. 
 Of course we hurried to get upstairs. Our steamer 
 had arrived at Oahu, one of the Hawaiian Islands. 
 The slanting rays of the rising sun shone on the 
 dark green mountains and the winding coasts of 
 the island. About three miles over the water 
 lay Honolulu, nestling at the foot of two moun- 
 tains. The Hawaiians are scattered in a north- 
 westerly direction for about 300 miles from 155th 
 degree of longitude, or a point 1,800 miles west of 
 San Francisco. They are a solitary group in that 
 
HONOLULU HARBOR 
 
HONOLULU 31 
 
 wide waste of waters. The first one, Hawaii, is 
 by far the largest and Hes the farthest southeast ; 
 then follow in succession to the northwest: Maui, 
 Lanai Molokai (the leper island) and Oahu, where 
 we had arrived; then, i2o miles farther, Kauai 
 and Nohau. The population is scarcely 155,000. 
 Natives number 31,019. When Captain Cook dis- 
 covered the islands they numbered 420,000. These 
 islands are the only instance in history, where 
 Protestantism has to an appreciable extent sup- 
 planted heathenism. About one third of the 
 natives still claim to belong more or less firmly to 
 the different protestant sects or to mormonism. 
 Most of the rest are Catholics, though Protes- 
 tant missionaries had began their proselyting well- 
 nigh a century before any Catholic preist arrived 
 in the Hawaiian islands. 
 
 We were now anchored about two miles opposite 
 Honolulu, the principal city of the islands. The 
 scene was a beautiful one — the deep blue waters 
 of the Pacific, endlessly spreading out on the left 
 in front and in the rear, the furrowed tops of the 
 mountains rising to the right more than 6,000 feet 
 over the city on the sea shore, the green slopes 
 and sugar plantations toward the northwest, the 
 winding shores and promontories to the southeast 
 of the city: all this formed a varied and brilliant 
 picture as the morning sun rose higher and higher. 
 
32 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 Vast and darksome storm clouds enveloped the 
 two mountain tops in the immediate background 
 of the city. Far away, on the distant slopes, a 
 railroad train was puffing up a grade through the 
 green hills. Like an impatient monster, a great 
 sister steamboat was rising and falling on the 
 gentle ocean swell, a quarter of a mile to our left, 
 waiting for the tiny boat that had just parted 
 from our steamer's side to transfer our mail for 
 San Francisco. Small sails were wafted onward 
 in their several courses by the morning breeze and 
 from the city a naphtha launch was gracefully 
 curving toward us, bringing the quarantine doctor. 
 We were not certain whether any of the pas- 
 sengers, that intended to proceed to Yokohama, 
 would be allowed to land, for the bubonic plague 
 had lately broken out among the native population. 
 But the inspector Dr. Schultz soon rejoiced us with 
 the welcome news, that the plague was entirely 
 under control, and all that was required of any 
 intending visitors was, that they should keep out- 
 side the few quarantined squares of the city. So, 
 though our ferry was but an old scow, that had 
 laid fast to the sides of our steamer, it soon began 
 to fill with the merry crowds who wanted to spend 
 the day in Honolulu. Of course only first cabin 
 passengers were allowed to go and all, except one, 
 made use of the privilege. The ladies were decked 
 
A PLEASANT VISIT ASHORE 
 
 out in their summer clothes and looked their best. 
 The old tub. of a boat, with its open rusty engine 
 and boiler, presented a picturesque sight with so 
 many ladies and gentlemen, perched on and around 
 the baggage that encumbered its bottom. 
 
 We were nearly an hour in getting to Wilder's 
 Wharf and our party walked to the upper end of 
 King street, a Hvely thoroughfare with many fine 
 houses. After some delay we secured a spacious 
 carriage for lio.oo, in which six of us started for 
 the Pali cHff and pass. This noteworthy and 
 historical mountain scenery Ues between the two 
 peaks behind the city, where we had seen the storm 
 clouds hovering earlier in the morning. 
 
 Our driver took us at first through one of the 
 principal boulevards of the city. A good many 
 of the residences are modern and tasteful. They 
 are mostly built of California red wood, for there 
 is no native building timber on the islands. Cocoa, 
 royal palms, monkey palms, the wide-spreading 
 swamp oak, native oak, the mangol and a fine 
 species of locust, formed magnificent roofs of 
 fohage in this and most of the residence streets of 
 Honolulu. Flowers of many kinds were in their 
 January bloom, among them a large purple- 
 blossomed vine, which covered the largest trees 
 and made them look like huge bouquets. The sun 
 began to blaze down as on a hot July day in Chicago, 
 
34 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 but as we gradually ascended the gorge between 
 the green mountains on either side, the tempera- 
 ture grew quite chilly. A fine turnpike leads up 
 to the divide and it was just then being paved with 
 crushed lava stone. On each side of this turn- 
 pike a tree, resembling the poplar, covered whole 
 acres with a maze of inter-twining roots. The 
 quawa, a sweetish fruit, grows wild along the road. 
 The carriage was bringing us nearer and nearer to 
 the great black storm clouds, that usually hover 
 over the Pali pass or precipice. Four thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea the gradual ascent is 
 suddenly broken off by a precipice of several 
 thousand feet in depth. At the base of this sheer 
 descent a vast plain spreads out only a few feet 
 above the level of the ocean. As we stood there on 
 the brink of the precipice, we could trace the 
 curvings of the coast line on the other side of the 
 island by the w^hite breakers of the ocean, as they 
 rolled furiously against the beach. Fleeting 
 shadows of summer clouds spread over the plains 
 below, darkening in their passage the plantation 
 houses and the smiling fields of bananas and 
 sugarcane. Half the world seemed opened to us 
 between Diamond Head on the eastern extremity of 
 the island and the receding mountains of the 
 western coast. 
 
 In the beginning of the last century, King 
 
HAWAIIAN SCENERY 35 
 
 Kamehameha drove an invading enemy up to this 
 precipice, where we now stood, and, after de- 
 feating them here, hurled their broken ranks into 
 the depths below. At that time there was no 
 road leading beyond this ridge; now the turnpike 
 is cut into the rocky wall and winds down to the 
 plains beneath. This road was guarded by U. S. 
 soldiers, who were on quarantine duty, as some 
 cases of the plague had occurred on the plains. We 
 were not allowed to go farther. There was such a 
 strong wind blowing through this mountain pass, 
 that we had to be careful not to be blown over the 
 precipice. On the way down we procured from one 
 of the vineyards along the road some fresh grapes, 
 which were perfectly ripe, though we were now in 
 the middle of January. 
 
 Honolulu, in the opening of the gorge at the 
 edge of the ocean, lay like a fairy city far beneath 
 us, backed by a forest of masts and rigging. Before 
 leaving the carriage we drove through the prin- 
 cipal streets of the city and were charmed with the 
 beautiful residences almost concealed by the 
 luxurious tropical vegetation. What was form- 
 erly the king's palace is now occupied by the U. S. 
 administration building. The Union Presbyterian 
 and the native church have particularly fine loca- 
 tions. 
 
 The natives are a mixture of Chinese and Malays 
 
36 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 with a certain look of intelligence in their faces. 
 Their clothes did not suggest superfluity and most 
 of them go barefoot. They seem to be a phleg- 
 matic race, lovers of ease and voluptuousness. 
 The priests at the Catholic cathedral, belonging 
 to the French order of Picpus, told us, when we 
 called upon them after our drive, that over half 
 the population is Catholic, but that Christianity 
 sits but lightly upon them on account of their 
 sensuality. The Mormons are making quite an 
 inroad for the same reason. Fathers Burgermann 
 and Franks are now at Molokai, filling the place 
 of Father Damian. 
 
 Walking through the business portion of the 
 city, we saw the Kanak women in their loose 
 mother-hubbard dresses, sitting amid heaps of 
 bouquets, wreaths and flowers on the sidewalks, 
 not even stirring from their lounging attitude to 
 induce the passers-by to purchase. Several squares, 
 occupied mostly by the Chinese, were surrounded 
 by a cordon of native police to prevent entrance. 
 These were the infected quarters, which were to be 
 entirely torn down and burned the next day. The 
 same had already been done with another district 
 the week before. The postoffice, where we sent 
 home several postals, was yet a primitive affair: 
 no delivery, no receiving boxes in the streets. 
 Street cars, drawn by mules, took me from the 
 
GOODBYE TO HONO LULU 37 
 
 city out to Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head. 
 
 Diamond Head is a vast headland, picturesquely- 
 jutting out into the sea. The car-driver did not 
 spare the whip in order to mend the pace of the 
 stubborn mules and so there was over an hour's 
 waiting before the old scow was ready to return to 
 the Gaelic with its load of passengers and goods. 
 Some of the seventeen passengers that were to stay 
 in Honolulu, had come to bid us godspeed on our 
 voyage to Japan. Mr. Worms, a Frenchman and 
 Mr. Bierce, who had intended to stop in the Hawai- 
 ians, concluded to proceed on the voyage rather 
 than risk quarantine in Honolulu. Some of the 
 passengers looked downcast as we neared the 
 steamer, fearing no doubt, or already feeling, the 
 return of seasickness. 
 
 It was long past six o'clock, when, after un- 
 loading the new supply of fruits and provisions, 
 the old ferry was cast loose, our anchor weighed, 
 and the powerful engines again started on our 
 westward course to Japan. Cossum, the mis- 
 sionary, and his wife now sat at the same table with 
 our party. They certainly gave us a good example 
 in so far as they always bowed their heads and said 
 grace before meals. It was a pleasure after supper 
 to sit on deck, pondering over the day's sights and 
 watching the shores of the islands gradually disap- 
 pearing in the bright moonlight. 
 
38 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 Next morning as the sun was just rising over 
 the water's edge, the barren island of Tahura was 
 still visible in the receding rear. Numerous flying 
 fish were sporting over the crests of the waves and 
 schools of porpoises were tumbling at the prow. 
 How dreamily these Sundays pass on board the 
 steamer! Most people sat about on deck, if it 
 happened to be fair weather, listlessly reading a 
 book or dozing in their chairs. No games were 
 played, not even in the smoker, and I am afraid 
 they even thought it strange that I should play 
 chess with some of the gentlemen. At 10.30 the 
 Episcopalian service was held in the dining room. 
 It consisted merely in the reading of some Psalms 
 and the singing of one or two hymns. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon a Chinese died, 
 either of old age or opium. He was a dying man 
 when he came aboard, but all the Chinese, if it is 
 possible, return to die and be buried in China. 
 Several others died on the long voyage, for their 
 quarters in the steerage must have been very 
 unhealthy, and they did not even get a change of 
 air at Honolulu. The corpses were not thrown over- 
 board, but were hermetically sealed up in Chinese 
 coffins and reserved for burial in the celestial 
 kingdom. 
 
 Next day the sea was getting rough; showers 
 began to fall, the wind changed round in our face 
 
RACING'^ 39 
 
 and dark clouds covered the heavens. Towards 
 noon the stormy winds rose higher and with them 
 the waves. We were steaming right into the face of 
 the storm. Every now and then the steamer, 
 plowing through the rolling waves, shipped hun- 
 dreds of tons of sea, sometimes washing even over 
 the promenade deck. Monstrous it was to behold 
 a giant billow heave the bow of the mighty ship 
 from its watery bed and, as it rushed along, poise 
 her midway on her beam for a moment, until, 
 reaching the stern, it threw her rear into the air, 
 exposing the whirling screw. Every time this 
 happened the furious thumping of the engines in 
 her bowels would send a tremor through the ship 
 and set the propeller revolving at fearful speed. 
 The seamen call it '^'racing" and sometimes the 
 shafts break on account of the sudden change of 
 resistance. All steerage passengers were battened 
 down below deck and it must have been a miser- 
 able day for the Chinese and Japanese in their dark 
 and close quarters beneath the water line. Some of 
 the more timid passengers were in great fear for the 
 safety of the vessel, and many ladies sat about with 
 terror in their eyes. Supper and dinner table were 
 almost deserted, for seasickness held dismal sway. 
 Towards noon of the next day the waves had 
 subsided somewhat and the sun had dispersed the 
 storm-clouds. All faces were brightening up and in 
 
40 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 the afternoon the decks were again crowded with 
 cheery company. Bowling along merrily over 
 the crested billows at about three o'clock, our 
 ship was of a sudden struck by three monster 
 waves from the starboard or right side. All on 
 deck were caught unawares, and as the ship gave 
 a fearful lurch to port and back again, the ladies 
 and gentlemen were sent rolling with their chairs 
 helplessly back and forth, vainly trying to clutch 
 the railing or some other stable projection. I had 
 been writing some of these notes; but they were 
 then scattered all over deck, and it was only by 
 merest chance, that the wind did not take them 
 overboard. One bachelor kept tumbling about in 
 the merriest of tumbling matches with a young 
 lady. I don't know whether the lady enjoyed it, 
 but he himself was certainly all smiles, when we 
 all had finally recovered. Down on the lower 
 deck the Chinese had just been eating their din- 
 ner of rice and hash, when the monster wave 
 rose up and bounded over the sides of the vessel. 
 With one fell swoop it dashed the motley crowd 
 to port and washed them back to starboard over 
 the open hatches. Several were bleeding from 
 severe wounds and all were thoroughly drenched 
 with sea water. The invading flood merrily car- 
 ried the dinnerpots, chopsticks and rice of the 
 Chinese around the flooded deck for a while. 
 
MOUNTAINS OF HAWAII 
 
SEASICKNESS 41 
 
 It is curious how seasickness affects the smell; 
 I verily believe that during the time of seasickness 
 the finest perfume would have been intolerable to 
 me. As for the smells abounding on all kind of 
 vessel, I always found them unbearable during 
 seasickness. On all of the twenty-three vessels, 
 that I used on the trip, I made the same observa- 
 tion. 
 
 There was no such date as the i8th of January 
 for us, for on the 17th we passed the international 
 date line, which in this latitude is the i8oth degree 
 of longitude. We are gradually stealing a march 
 on the sun as we go round the earth — one hour in 
 every thousand miles westward. So at least one 
 day in our lives will not have to be accounted for 
 when the great judgment comes — there will be 
 plenty of reckoning for the other ones, I am afraid. 
 
 For Saturday, January 2o, I find the following 
 laconic record: No note; for Sunday, January 2i: 
 No notes; seasick. January 23: Weather is con- 
 tinuing windy, casting up an ugly sea. January 
 24: 6,000 miles west of San Francisco. Mr. B., 
 who seemed to have taken a fancy to me, handed 
 me a book on common-sense nutrition, by Fletcher 
 of Chicago. One of the suggestions in that book 
 I found valuable in my fight against seasickness, 
 though the author did not intend it for that pur- 
 pose. He maintained, that by continuing to mas- 
 
42 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 ticate the food long enough, a certain extra flavor 
 is brought out in all ordinary victuals, which en- 
 tirely satisfies the demands of taste and which is the 
 one intended by nature as a sign that the food is 
 ready for the stomach; before that peculiar flavor 
 is experienced, it is harmful to swallow any kind 
 of food. One small meal is then sufficient for each 
 day and the work of the bowels is reduced thereby 
 to a minimum. I found that by putting these sug- 
 gestions into practice I could sit down at table 
 with pleasure, even when suffering from seasickness. 
 Thursday, January 2$, opened up stormy and 
 full of mist; the ship rolled and tumbled through 
 the restless waves. In the afternoon the sun had 
 scattered the clouds and in the dim distance 
 gleamed the mountains of Japan. We were to 
 arrive at Yokohama in the morning and I had 
 already made up my mind to travel through Japan 
 by rail. The rest of our party would not yield 
 to my solicitation to do likewise; they intended 
 to return to the steamer on the same day and sail 
 on, fearing that they might miss the boat at 
 Kobe or Nagasaki. Mr. H. and Rev. S. intend 
 to remain in Yokohama for a time. As I could 
 induce none of them to venture the land trip with 
 me, I began to foresee, that they intended to pro- 
 ceed on the altogether safe and ordinary plan of 
 everyday tourists, rigidly sticking to the prescribed 
 
PRACTICAL HINTS 43 
 
 route of their round-trip ticket. Such limitation 
 would hardly suit me and I proposed rather to 
 travel alone. 
 
 Practical Hints. — ^To prevent ennui durirg a long 
 sea voyage, a course of reading or the study of one 
 of the modern languages is very useful. Of course 
 one or two traveling companions, or conversation 
 with new acquaintances on board, a game of chess 
 in the smoker or on deck, will do much toward 
 enlivening the time. There is no absolute cure of 
 seasickness for those that are subject to it; but it 
 would be a great mistake to remain in the cabin, 
 or much worse, to lie in one's bunk all day. To 
 resolutely despise the disagreeable feeling in the 
 head and stomach and to keep up interest in some 
 useful or pleasant pursuit, to eat little and com- 
 pletely masticate the food ; these are about the best 
 means of fighting the fell disease. Those of choleric 
 disposition are more subject to it than those of a 
 sanguine or melancholic disposition; the sickness 
 vanishes as soon as one reaches terra firma. 
 
 As for the route to be taken from the Pacific 
 coast to Japan : it is much better to go by way of 
 the Hawaiian islands, and those that have time 
 should spend a week or two there. The scenery 
 is charming and the sight of the crater of Kilauea 
 on the largest of the islands, is surely worth the 
 
44 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 trouble and expense. The stay on the islands will 
 also be a welcome interruption of the long voyage 
 of eighteen or nineteen days. On the steamers 
 leaving the American coast plenty of steamer 
 chairs are provided, so that it is hardly necessary 
 to take one along from San Francisco. This is 
 not the case in other parts of the world, and espe- 
 cially not on the English steamers. It is to be 
 hoped that the time will come, when competing 
 lines of other nationalities will teach the English 
 steamship companies to be more attentive to the 
 comforts of their passengers and provide deck 
 chairs for all. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Fujiyama in the Morning Sun. — ^Through Yeddo 
 
 ON THE JiNRIKISHA. ^An UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL. 
 
 From Yokohama to Kioto through Central 
 Japan. — On Board again and through the 
 Island Maze. — Nagasaki, Stained by Martyrs' 
 Blood. 
 
 Early in the morning the engines ceased their 
 thumping and everyone knew that we had arrived 
 at the Port of Yokohama. The GaeHc had an- 
 chored a few miles outside of the inner harbor in 
 order to wait for the Japanese health officials. They 
 arrived at 8:00 o'clock in a small launch, a fine 
 looking set of doctors, though small in stature, 
 dressed in dark blue uniforms with gold embroidery. 
 They examined only superficially the cabin pas- 
 sengers, but so much the more closely the Chinese 
 crew and steerage passengers. Lying on the mer- 
 chandise in the open hatches of the vessel were 
 seven sealed coffins, containing the harvest of death 
 among the Chinese during the twenty days' voyage. 
 
 The Gaelic slowly curved inward closer to the 
 city as soon as she was found free of the plague. 
 The most conspicuous sight many miles inward on 
 
 45 
 
46 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 the mainland, was the great cone of Mount Fuji- 
 yama, rising into the air in solitary splendor. The 
 ruddy rays of the morning sun tinged its snowy 
 top with crimson hue on one side, still leaving the 
 other side in the shade. Countless sampans, rough 
 unpainted boats, now began to swarm around the 
 Gaelic, as she anchored not far from the shore. 
 They were managed by nimble Japanese, scantily 
 clad, who propelled them along in the choppy 
 waves by sculling with one oar. All were eagerly 
 looking for a chance to take passengers ashore. 
 
 We were taken in charge by the steam launch 
 of the Oriental Hotel. As we passed the wharves 
 our attention was called to the appearance of clean- 
 liness and order on the German liners comparing 
 favorably with the untidiness of the French 
 steamers. Coming ashore, our party of six had 
 their first experience with the picturesque jinrikisha 
 of the Orient. They are small buggies, provided 
 with a double shaft and drawn by the lively coolies. 
 Merrily the six jinrikishas, each carrying one of us, 
 clattered in a row along the well paved streets of 
 Yokohama through the crisp morning air. V. H. 
 was in continual dread of losing his balance and 
 toppling out behind — no joke, he thought, with a 
 weight of 300 pounds, at such a speed over a hard 
 pavement. When we arrived at the Oriental Hotel, 
 he good-naturedly gave his coolie an extra reward 
 
MOUNT FUJIYAMA, JAPAN 
 
TOKIO 47 
 
 on account of his extra weight. We wrote a few 
 postals home and hurried to get the train for Tokio, 
 or Yeddo, the capital of Japan, only i8 miles dis- 
 tant from Yokohama. 
 
 Yokohama looks a good deal like a modern city, 
 especially near the harbor or the Bund, where the 
 Europeans dwell. The depot and the railroad is 
 equipped in European style and is managed almost 
 in the same way. The Japanese seem to do a great 
 deal of traveling, for the cars were always filled with 
 passengers. As they wear shoes with wooden soles, 
 there was a deafening clatter of the sandals on the 
 pavement, every time the train stopped. The 
 same clattering is heard on the streets wherever 
 there is a crowd. When we arrived in Tokio we 
 were at first at a loss where to begin our sightseeing. 
 I finally cut things short by jumping on one of the 
 horse cars going in the direction of the Kanon 
 temple. This is an ancient place of worship, sur- 
 rounded by gardens and shaded walks. Flocks of 
 tame pigeons were flying to and fro, or settled on 
 the ground before it, to pick the scattered grain. 
 The whole neighborhood had the appearance of a 
 country fair. Curious eyes followed all our motions 
 as we were the only foreigners on the ground. 
 Entering the temple we of course saw no reason to 
 appear more reverend than the natives themselves 
 and used the same freedom. Only a few poorly 
 
48 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 clad people were on their knees in front of the prin- 
 cipal idol. Numerous other images, some of them 
 most hideous, and protected by wire screens, stood 
 around. There were also huge chests as collection 
 boxes, the tops of which were provided with parallel 
 grating, much like the cattle guards on our railroad 
 tracks. In one of the shrines, a rooster and a hen, in 
 nothing differing from our ordinary fowls, shared 
 in the special privileges of the idols. The red- 
 headed rascal seemed to enjoy life behind his wire 
 screen: plenty to eat, the companionship of a 
 charming mate, worshipful esteem from the two- 
 legged animals outside, all this was quite enough to 
 make him strut up and down his roomy gilt cage, 
 satisfied with the world and casting knowing 
 glances at his partner in dignity or at the passer-by. 
 Some distance from this temple a great tower, 
 much like the Chinese pagodas, rises about 2oo 
 feet into the air. As it stands at one end of the 
 city, we could survey the vast sea of one-storied 
 houses, of which Tokio is mostly composed. The 
 city numbers 1,400,000 inhabitants, yet there are 
 no high dwelling houses. They are built of wood 
 and the roofs are of tile. The doors and windows 
 are generally neatly fitting frames, covered with 
 white paper instead of glass, to admit a subdued 
 light into the rooms, and sliding in grooves to admit 
 air when so required. From the top of the tower, in 
 
JINRIKISHAS 49 
 
 a wide circuit around Tokio, ranges of mountains 
 were visible. The neighborhood of the tower was 
 a gathering place for pleasure seekers ; booths of all 
 kinds lined the passages and about a dozen large 
 theaters in this neighborhood were giving perform- 
 ances. The front of these theaters is so arranged, 
 that large awnings or curtains can be raised, thus 
 exposing to view the interior. These curtains were 
 raised now and then for a few minutes, in order to 
 excite the curiosity of the passersby and induce 
 them to enter during the rest of the performances. 
 We stood for a while to witness the wonderful feats 
 of the Japanese acrobats, the fantastically dressed 
 men and women walking on spheres, and the harle- 
 quins at their antics. But, it seems legitimate 
 pleasures are only too often the inducement to 
 entice men to those of a forbidden kind; for the 
 neighborhood, to judge from outward appearances 
 of the houses, did not impress us as respectable. 
 
 As the rest of our party were already getting 
 anxious about missing the boat, though it was so 
 early in the afternoon, I left them to their haste 
 in order to shift at leisure for myself. I gave an 
 extremely alert jinrikisha, man to understand, that 
 I wanted to see Tokio and would gladly give him 
 an extra reward for lively service. Then he began 
 his breathless run, drawing me in his jinrikisha 
 through miles and miles of narrow streets. Every 
 
50 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 inhabitant here, as in other Japanese towns, seems 
 to have some kind of native merchandise for sale, 
 for there are endless rows of shops, where produce 
 or provisions, or such things as toys, household 
 utensils, tools, pottery or basket-work are exposed 
 for sale on the stand outside. Behind these wares 
 could be seen the owner, sometimes with his whole 
 family, sitting cross-legged on the raised platform. 
 As a general thing the paper shutters were open so as 
 to allow a view into the whole interior of the house. 
 It was a cold day and a cutting wind swept the 
 dust in volumes from the streets. The Japanese 
 in the stores were generally holding their hands 
 over their shibashis, or stoves, which were nothing 
 more than a sort of small bowl, on which glimmered 
 a few pieces of charcoal. The shibashis, however, 
 have this in their favor, that all the heat remains 
 in the room, whereas our stoves send most of the 
 heat up the chimney. It seems the Japanese do not 
 care about the cold as long as they can keep their 
 hands warm. I saw a man lighting a piece of punk, 
 inclose it in a tin box and store it away in his 
 pocket. Upon inquiry, I found that this was a 
 pocket stove, carried about for warming the hands. 
 Their clothing also is so loose, that half their person 
 is exposed to the wind. My nimble jinrikisha man 
 ran along the streets with his legs bare from the 
 knee down. 
 
THE RIDE TO THE HOTEL, YOKOHAMA 
 
HEIKIMO MiAMOTO 51 
 
 It is wonderful how enduring the jinrikisha men 
 are in dragging the cart with its passenger along on 
 a continual short trot. My man ran for miles with- 
 out stopping to take breath, and everywhere scores 
 of others were seen scurrying through the streets. 
 After making many turns in the endless streets, I 
 bethought myself of the card which K. Ishii had 
 given me on the train to San Francisco. I tried to 
 make the coolie understand that I wished to be 
 brought to the address marked thereon. As he 
 could not read himself, he would every little while 
 approach one of the diminutive police, and with an 
 obsequious doffing of his cone-shaped hat, hand 
 them the card for directions. They always 
 acknowledged his bow with a solemn nod, took the 
 card and in a low voice gave the necessary direc- 
 tions. They sent us to the opposite end of the city 
 and after many winding turns, we at last found the 
 place. 
 
 A Japanese woman came out and from her words 
 and gestures, after I had given her the card, I under- 
 stood that the family of Ishii had taken residence 
 in another quarter of the city. But my jinrikisha 
 man succeeded in hunting up Heikimo Miamoto, 
 the uncle of Ishii, who, in his capacity as an official 
 for foreign affairs of the Japanese government, 
 spoke French well and some English. Before 
 entering any Japanese dwelHng, you are expected 
 
52 O^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 to take off your shoes, and in accordance with this 
 requirement, a young woman, having brought Ishii's 
 card to an inner apartment, reappeared with some 
 Hght shppers in exchange for my shoes, before I 
 should step in from the porch. This ceremony is 
 easy enough for the Japanese, for their outdoor 
 shoes are merely wooden sandals, into which they 
 sHp the front part of their feet. With them it 
 means no more than to relinquish the hold, which 
 their toes have on the bands at the tips of the soles. 
 How they can manage to walk at any speed in their 
 primitive shoes, I could not understand. 
 
 Though everything indicated that Miamoto was 
 wealthy, his house was built as the others I had 
 seen, and the doors, windows and most of the par- 
 titions were merely paper paneled frames. I was 
 ushered into the room corresponding to the parlor, 
 furnished in the neat and cute style, peculiar to the 
 Japanese taste. Although the weather was below 
 the freezing point, there was no kind of heating 
 arrangement. I would have been well satisfied to 
 warm up a little at a cheery blaze. Miamoto soon 
 came in and very politely invited me to take a seat 
 on one of the stools. In manner and conversation, 
 during the half hour, which I could stay, he would 
 have done credit to any European host. He ordered 
 some tea to be brought, which we drank from tiny 
 cups, and seeing that I kept rubbing my hands, he 
 
JAPANESE HOSPITALITY 53 
 
 told the servant to bring a shibashi, a small pot on 
 a stand, containing some glimmering charcoal. 
 On these we lighted the exquisite cigarettes, which 
 he had likewise provided. We spoke in French most 
 of the time and he inquired very particularly about 
 Ihsii, his nephew. Before leaving, he gave me an 
 introduction to the Japanese commissioners at the 
 coming Exposition Universelle at Paris. 
 
 The long ride and the visit had consumed the 
 whole afternoon. It was quite dark when I got 
 to the Shimbashi station to take the train to Tokio. 
 My jinrikisha-runner was gladdened at being offered 
 double his ordinary fee for a day's run. At the 
 railroad station I fell in with a captain of the 
 Japanese army, who was so pleased with me, that 
 he insisted on my taking supper and a bottle of the 
 Kirin beer at his expense. I was surprised to hear 
 him speak German fluently. I had to promise to 
 correspond with him, when I should have returned 
 home. A huge porcelain pot of glowing charcoal 
 diffused a grateful warmth in the dining-room. 
 
 The cars were again crowded and I would have 
 certainly been brought far beyond Yokohama, if 
 one of the Japanese passengers had not awakened 
 me from my sleep in the well- warmed car. At the 
 Oriental hotel I had just finished my notes for the 
 day and was about to go to bed, when a loud 
 tapping at the door restrained me. It was V. H. 
 
54 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 who had gone back to the boat so early with the rest, 
 but had reconsidered the matter and was now 
 ready to accompany me through central Japan by 
 rail. Nothing could have pleased me better than 
 to have such a jolly companion on the trip. Before 
 going to bed he wanted me to accompany him to 
 the missionary fathers at the Catholic church, not 
 far away. Though it was a late hour, they re- 
 ceived us kindly, and I learnt from them that the 
 bonzes are fast losing their influence and power in 
 Japan on account of the vices in which they indulge, 
 and on account of the gradual education of the 
 people. The public processions of naked women, 
 formerly held as a part of the religious ceremonies, 
 by the bonzes are now forbidden. Sodomy, how- 
 ever, and other unnatural vices, though now more 
 concealed from public notice, are infecting the 
 private life of the heathen priests and people. This 
 is one of the reasons of the few conversions to 
 Christianity in Japan. The Catholic church, 
 though counting more converts than all the rest 
 together, is yet not making great headway. As 
 for Protestant Christianity: the Japanese cannot 
 understand a religion without fixed authority or 
 changeable tenets. The nation is in danger of 
 merging their ancient heathenism into the more 
 pernicious materialism and infidelity of modern life. 
 The "boys," as all servants are called in the 
 
RAILROAD STATION, YOKOHAMA 
 
IN THE MOUNTAINS 55 
 
 Orient, woke us promptly at 5 130 next morning, and 
 prepared some breakfast and train lunch, so that 
 we easily made the train for Kobe at 6:45. The 
 fare was only about seven yen, or $3.50 for a ride 
 of fourteen hours. There was a large crowd of 
 passengers, filling a long train of cars. At the 
 next station I found, that I had forgotten to leave 
 the key of my room in the Oriental hotel. One 
 of the station officials readily promised to have it 
 returned: the officials of the Japanese railroads 
 were everywhere remarkably polite and accommo- 
 dating, and many of them spoke some English or 
 French. 
 
 The rays of the morning sun began to touch the 
 tops of the distant hills as the train sped out of 
 Yokohama, toward the mountains. Mount Fuji- 
 yama stood out in lonely splendor, rising like an 
 immense sugarloaf from the rolling plains. Sud- 
 denly the ocean opened on our left, the sun's rays 
 tipping the rippling wavelets with molten gold. 
 The train passed through numerous towns and 
 villages, hoary with age. So close do they follow, 
 that in some parts of the road they are easily in 
 sight of each other. Every available spot along 
 the v/ay is utilized for the cultivation of rice, vege- 
 tables, grain and fruits; for Japan is a densely 
 populated country and there is no room to waste. 
 As the growing of rice requires submerged fields, 
 
56 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 every watercourse, and even every spring and 
 creek must serve for irrigation. Many large rivers 
 are thus depleted before they reach the sea, leaving 
 their white gravel bottoms exposed to view. Now 
 and then a farmer furrowing the ground with primi- 
 tive plough, or an ox-driver with clumsy, high- 
 wheeled cart, wending his way along the narrow 
 roads, could be seen from the speeding train. After 
 an hour or so we began to rumble through nujnerous 
 tunnels, for we were already climbing into moun- 
 tainous country. 
 
 At frequent intervals we passed ancient grave- 
 yards with moss-covered monuments. The en- 
 trances to them and also to many private residences 
 were spanned by torii, resembling the Greek letter 
 pi, and indicating the presence of a Shinto shrine. 
 Under shady trees, or on the summit of hills were 
 often seen the images of ancient deities, hideous 
 guardians of beautiful groves and shady dells. The 
 wells are furnished with the good old drawing-beams 
 balanced on a post. The bucket on one end is 
 lowered dangling from a rope into the well and 
 drawn out by pulling at the other end of the beam. 
 At Yamakita, in the midst of gaping defiles, we 
 took kodak views of a romantic mountain gorge. 
 The scenery here was beautiful: torrents rushed 
 along the valleys, or under the railroad bridges, 
 swelled by cascades and rills from the heights. The 
 
MOUNT FUJIYAMA 57 
 
 chill night had formed icicles along the edges of the 
 rivulets or on the moss-covered rocks, where small 
 cascades sickered down to the rushing brook below. 
 The sun, rising higher and peeping into the moun- 
 tain gorges, glittered from the frost-clad grass and 
 shrubbery. For many hours our train curved 
 around the vast base of Mount Fujiyama, tower- 
 ing in lonely majesty 12,365 feet above the rolling 
 plains. At first, from its northern approaches, the 
 mountain presented an entirely white snow-covered 
 surface, but gradually, as we circled round to the 
 south side, great black streaks and fissures began 
 to appear, running down from the summit of the 
 peak. The mountain is almost a perfect cone, 
 rising in beautiful and grand proportions to the 
 extinct crater above. It domineers the island far 
 and wide, undisputed monarch of central Japan. 
 We saw this beautiful mountain so often and under 
 so many different aspects, that V. H. and myself 
 gave it the title of "our friend.'* 
 
 The prices all over Japan are extremely low; 
 tea served in an earthen pot, one and one-half cents, 
 tea pot and cup thrown into the bargain; six 
 oranges, two cents ; twenty-five cigarettes, two and 
 one-half cents. The native products in proportion. 
 Some of our department stores go on the small- 
 profits-many-sales principle, on a few articles in 
 their lists; the Japs, it seems go in for small profits 
 
58 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 on all articles, and a sale at least once in a while. 
 The passengers bought lunches, packed in neat 
 wooden boxes, fqr two or three cents and ate them 
 on the train. I saw no restaurants along the road. 
 After we had finished our lunch from the hotel, 
 I invested in one of the lunches. It was filled with 
 rice, chopped meat, fish, eggs and pickles, all in a 
 jumble : one taste of the delicacy was enough for me. 
 The whole was so saturated with ill-smelling vine- 
 gar, that even hunger would not act as the pro- 
 verbial good cook. I asked one of the men to 
 show me the use of the chopsticks that go with the 
 box. I made but a poor novice in the great order 
 of chopstick manipulators, you may be sure. 
 They hold both the sticks between the thumb and 
 fore finger of one hand and by some almost im- 
 perceptible motion of these two fingers, they 
 manage to fish up small quantities of the food. 
 
 Nearly everybody smokes cigarettes, women in- 
 cluded. Some of the passengers would every now 
 and then haul out a tiny pipe, take a small pinch of 
 tobacco, about the size of a pea, from a tin box, 
 place it in the bowl, and lighting it for just one 
 whiff, would, after repeating this performance a 
 few times, replace the pipe in its case. It may be 
 that the tobacco was saturated with opium. The 
 women on the train and elsewhere looked clean and 
 tidy, wearing remarkable coiffures of hair. In 
 
JINRIKISHAS, JAPAN 
 
SKIRTING FUJIYAMA 59 
 
 addition to their own large growth of natural hair, 
 they very often wear artistic braids of false hair. 
 The Japanese seem to be naturallyinclined to civility 
 and modesty of behavior. The rough benches of 
 the cars that we occupied, were all day filled by 
 more or less richly dressed Japanese men and 
 women. A favorite way of sitting was in tailor 
 fashion, on crossed legs. Most of them were pro- 
 vided with blankets for bedding. Some of them 
 also used them to keep the feet warm, while others 
 placed their feet on the hot water or sand bottles, 
 which was the only means of warming furnished 
 on the train. A very babel of noise and confusion 
 received the rumbling train at the stations. The 
 clattering of wooden shoes, the varied sing-song of 
 peddlers selling beer, tea, tobacco, cigarettes, 
 matches, oranges, lunches and notions, the hurry- 
 ing of the nimble men and women, the low- voiced 
 directions of the conductors and station officials, 
 the slamming of the coup6 doors, soon became a 
 familiar experience. 
 
 About seventy miles after we had passed the 
 foot of Fujiyama, our train began to rumble over 
 trestles and embankments across an arm of the 
 ocean. We seemed to be skimming over the bosom 
 of the clear waters, stretching away on both sides 
 of us. This arm of the sea made a wide curve to 
 our right into the land up to the base of distant 
 
60 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 mountains. White sails gleamed here and there 
 in the sunlight and at a distance, a flock of wild 
 ducks floated on the blue waters. Then we met 
 the first and only sparsely settled district on our 
 way. No wonder: we had entered a sandy waste, 
 on which, nevertheless, the industrious people had 
 made many attempts at cultivation. About loo 
 miles to the right, the Kumaga Taki range reared 
 its broken crags to a height of over 9,000 feet into 
 the sky. We mistook it at first for "our friend" of 
 the forenoon, Fujiyama; for the road had made 
 many windings since. 
 
 Already the setting sun shone on the golden 
 dolphins of the great Nagoya castle, built upon a 
 vast foundation of huge rocks in a wide valley in 
 the foreground of Nagoya city. Having passed 
 this valley, dusky night gradually set in over the 
 country, gently blotting out the distant mountain 
 ranges; but we almost imagined ourselves at home 
 on an American train, when the electric lights of 
 Osaka, the great manufacturing town of Japan, 
 glimmered in the distance. Only it was hard to 
 keep up the illusion, when we looked around in the 
 car itself: only a kerosene lamp on one end dis- 
 pelled some of the darkness and on the wooden 
 benches sat and lay the dusky forms of the silent 
 passengers. We ourselves, wrapped in fall over- 
 coats, began to recline more than we sat upright, 
 
KOBE 61 
 
 using our small satchels for pillows and dividing 
 between us the heat of one of the sand bottles on 
 the floor. Many a quib and joke had we indulged 
 in, V. H. and I, that day; many a bantering com- 
 ment on the strange sights. I wondered what the 
 stolid Japanese thought of us. I noticed no unkind 
 look, nor any annoyance, but sometimes a merry 
 twinkle in their eyes, when we were particularly 
 exuberant. I shall remember that day as a pleasant 
 one and I regret that circumstances forked our 
 ways apart not long after in Hong Kong. 
 
 We arrived at Kobe, the great central harbor of 
 Japan, at 10:30 and had ourselves conveyed in the 
 jolly jinrikisha to the Oriental hotel. The wheels 
 of my jinrikisha clattered loosely on their axles as 
 the nimble cooHe ran through the dripping rain 
 over the pavement of the quiet and forsaken streets. 
 After writing several postals and letters, we turned 
 in for a rest. 
 
 The fourth Sunday of our journey was ushered in 
 by beautiful sunHght and we were up early to get 
 a chance for saying mass, if possible. After I had 
 in vain looked for a barber shop in the European 
 quarter of the town, a uniformed Japanese watch- 
 man at last brought me to a Chinese barber, who 
 cut my hair in approved style in just half the time 
 usually required by a Chicago artist. I had some 
 difficulty in making the policeman understand my 
 
62 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 wishes and it always seemed to me, that in the 
 Orient the natives are very slow in understanding 
 even the most evident signs. 
 
 Before breakfast we found the Catholic mission 
 and had an opportunity to say mass. Father Fage 
 of the "Missions Etrangeres" welcomed us and in- 
 vited us to stay a few days. After we had satisfied 
 our Sunday obligations, we were informed at the 
 wharf that the Gaelic would not be ready to depart 
 until next day. So we at once determined to visit 
 Kioto, the celebrated city of ancient temples and 
 the former capital of Japan. It is of equal note in 
 regard to the number and size of temples with 
 Nikko and is the great center of Buddhism in the 
 empire. Kobe, as a seaport, enjoys much inter- 
 course with Europeans. Hence many sights, espe- 
 cially in the resident portion of Kobe, were not un- 
 familiar. But we met a procession of Buddhist 
 priests coming down from the temples on the hill, 
 looking just as gloomy and somber as any of their 
 idols. I imagined that I could read the hatred of 
 foreigners on their faces. They certainly scanned 
 us two with no friendly look. A Salvation Army 
 corporal and an Episcopal minister also passed us 
 on the way. The trains and the station were full of 
 people and we heard the clap-clap of the sandaled 
 feet of the Japanese from afar. The fare to Kioto 
 and return, a total of ninety-four miles, cost only 
 
KIOTO 63 
 
 two yen, or one American dollar. Near Osaka, which 
 was cut up by many canals and the branching arms 
 of a large river, we saw whole acres of ground spread 
 with white muslin, bleaching in the sunlight on the 
 sandy riverbanks. The train sped along at the rate 
 of twenty-five miles an hour up a wide valley to- 
 ward the mountains, at the foot of which Kioto lies 
 concealed. It is a city of 400,000 inhabitants, and 
 the ancient Japanese life still prevails in its many 
 narrow streets and under its low, tiled roofs. Arriv- 
 ing, we at once hired a pair of jinrikishas to the 
 house of Father Aurientis, M. E., about a mile from 
 the depot. He lived twenty-one years in Japan 
 and built a fine chi-'-^-ch in the midst of this center 
 of heathendom, with what labors and sacrifices, 
 God only knows. He invited us in to his scantily 
 furnished Japanese dwelling and showed us the 
 curious remains of a garden, that had once sur- 
 rounded the house. Then he kindly offered to 
 accompany us around the city and show us as much 
 as possible during our stay. 
 
 At first we wound our way through the nearest 
 street, lined on both sides with continuous small 
 shops of cheap wares. We soon came to beautiful, 
 shaded walks up and along the spur of the moun- 
 tain, at the foot of which Kioto is spread out. Im- 
 mense camphor and orange trees and other ever- 
 greens overarch the ancient walks up the hill. One 
 
64 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 can give only a faint idea of the idyllic beauty of 
 the spacious temple grounds and the impression of 
 hoary age, which these old temples and residences 
 of the bonzes, in the midst of ever rejuvenated 
 vegetation, are bound to produce in the mind of 
 a stranger. While nature renews the life of the 
 trees and shrubbery, of flowers and sprouting grass 
 at each returning year, these buildings, reared with 
 wonderful skill and attention to detail, gather 
 within them and on their walls the hoariness of 
 centuries: fitting monuments of so conservative a 
 religious system as Buddhism and Shintoism. 
 
 The first temple on our way was that of the Korin. 
 We had to take off our shoes, as the Japanese are 
 accustomed to do even before entering private 
 houses, probably in order to save the mats and to 
 keep the floor clean. A solitary bonze was lying 
 on his face in front of the main idol. He was 
 mumbling prayers, while from the mysterious back- 
 ground behind, a muffled tom-tom resounded. The 
 father told us this adoration was continual. The 
 spacious sanctuary glittered in gilt decorations and 
 the figure of the Buddhist trinity, in gold and black 
 looked indeed fierce enough to impress the ignorant. 
 Scores of hideous minor idols filled out the rest of 
 the background and the other recesses of the temple. 
 The cattleguard collection boxes were not wanting ; 
 in some of these I saw much coin. A grand throne 
 
PIGEON TEMPLE, TOKIO 
 
ANCIENT TEMPLES 65 
 
 was built near the middle of the main shrine for the 
 high bonze on solemn occasions. A few country- 
 people were praying on their knees or prostrate on 
 their faces outside of the railing. Some of them 
 occasionally rang a bell or clapped their hands to 
 attract the attention of the stoical gods. They also 
 threw coins into the sanctuary before the main 
 shrine. 
 
 A short way up the hill is the largest bell in 
 Japan, weighing 150,000 pounds. It is of bronze, 
 fully six inches thick and its rim curves inward. 
 It gave an unclear sound, like that of the old fire- 
 bells in Chicago. Around the Korin there are other 
 temples, large and small, priests' houses, ancient 
 walks bedecked with moss, shaded paths and 
 beautiful groves covering the whole side of the 
 mountain spur. Paganism and its priests have held 
 undisputed sway for thousands of years in this spot. 
 The bounteous profusion of nature and the patient 
 skill of generations have united in making it a 
 romantic and interesting resort as well for the 
 pagan worshiper as for the inquisitive stranger. 
 Passing some more gardens, we came to the 
 Kromiju temple, built at the brink of a precipice 
 and part of it resting on piles, rising from the steep 
 incHne. From the platform built over these piles 
 the pagans, no longer than thirty years ago, were 
 wont to fling themselves into the precipice below 
 
66 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 as a sacrifice to the idols. It was the beHef, that 
 such a sacrifice would be followed by immediate 
 admission into the presence of the gods. 
 
 On one of the approaches to this temple, under a 
 canopy, stood a jocund, grinning god. All parts 
 of its corpulent body were rubbed quite glossy, 
 on account of the belief of the heathens, that any 
 ailment of the body would vanish as soon as the 
 corresponding part of this jolly god could be 
 touched. The artist could not have put a more 
 suitable expression on the fat face of the statue, 
 if he had really intended to ridicule the foolish 
 superstition of the devotees of this Japanese 
 Aesculap. Behind the temple, in a shady ravine, 
 three jets of water spring from the moss-covered 
 rock. Under these ice-cold streams the Japanese 
 stand for hours, in order to obtain some favors 
 from their gods. The colonnades, bridges and arches 
 around the temple of Kromiju, together with the 
 natural scenery environing it, form a scene of 
 weird beauty. 
 
 On leaving the temple grounds a thick bamboo 
 grove received us. Like vast candlesticks painted 
 green and thickly set they rose from the ground to 
 a height of at least 50 feet, the growth of perhaps 
 only one year, and forming a dense roof of deep- 
 green, oblong willow-like leaves high above the 
 ground. The bamboo, after it is seasoned, is 
 
PARIAHS 67 
 
 entirely incorruptible, for it contains no sap nor 
 admits any moisture after it is once thoroughly 
 dried. It is put to innumerable uses by the Orientals. 
 In this grove we met some pariahs, as their shaved 
 crowns indicated them to be. They lead a most 
 abject hfe, from which, according to the merciless 
 tenets of the Buddhist rehgion they can never 
 rise. It is considered a disgrace for any other 
 class of people to have any dealings with them. 
 Just on that account I tried to enter into some 
 communication with one of them at the moment 
 when one of the bonzes passed us. Besides the 
 scowl which the proud bonze meeted out to Father 
 Aurientis, it seemed as if the flare of anger loomed 
 up in his eyes, when he saw us holding communica- 
 tion with the pariahs. No wonder these bonzes 
 burn with subdued wrath at the encroachments of 
 civiHzation and Christendom, when they see the 
 wane of heathenism in the diminished influence 
 of their craft and in the dwindUng of the temple 
 treasuries. 
 
 From the hill on which we were standing. 
 Kioto could be seen spread out in the wide valley 
 plain. The Japanese cities present an intricate 
 maze of small houses and age- worn tile roofs, built 
 so closely and irregularly together, that from an 
 elevation one sees no traces of streets or their inter- 
 sections. Before altogether leaving the neighbor- 
 
68 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 hood, we visited another group of temples, where 
 an immense daibutsu, or image of Buddha from the 
 breast upwards rises seventy feet from its pedestal 
 under its airy roof. It is built of the same incor- 
 ruptible wood as most of the temples. This statue 
 must be extremely old. A stair leads up to the 
 vast head of the image, which of course we ascended. 
 Sandal wood burned before the statue, as is the case 
 with most of the statues of the gods in the temples. 
 Near this great daibutsu is another large bell which 
 we sounded by means of a beam that is suspended 
 near it like a battering ram. Deeply the great bell 
 vibrated and sent forth dismal notes over the 
 temple grounds and over the city below, like the 
 hideous growling of a demon at being disturbed 
 in his rest. Just on re-entering the residence 
 district of the city, we passed the Mimizuka mon- 
 ument, in which the ears of 200,000 Koreans, slain 
 in war, were interred as a trophy of the victory. 
 Each of us boarding a jinrikisha to go to the 
 other end of the city, we passed extensive gardens 
 and palaces, enclosed by high stone walls, where 
 bonzes live in luxury. They have many wives 
 and the high bonze has the privilege to choose a 
 new wife among the beauties of the city every 
 year. The Japanese, as long as they are heathens, 
 believe in the absolute authority of the bonzes and 
 this explains the fact that the Protestants have 
 
THE HONWAMIS 69 
 
 few proselytes in Japan: these people cannot under- 
 stand the utiHty of a religion in which there is no 
 show of authority, and especially one which dares 
 not proclaim to the world that its doctrines are 
 fixed and infallible. In this the Japanese are cer- 
 tainly far more consistent and logical than their 
 Caucasian brothers, so many of whom claim adher- 
 ence to churches that have not the courage of 
 conviction. How ridiculous, the Japanese say, to 
 beHeve in a messenger of God, who does not claim to 
 have an infallibly true message ! The only church 
 that somewhat appeals to their common sense 
 notions is the CathoHc; though on account of the 
 scarcity of missionaries and on account of the 
 mercurial and sensuous propensities of the Japan- 
 ese, the Catholic faith has not made any great con- 
 quests in the islands. 
 
 The Honwamis, the finest temples in Kioto 
 were recently constructed to replace the old Hon- 
 wamis, which had been destroyed by fire some 
 time ago. The enormous sum of 10,000,000 yen 
 equal to $5,000,000 in our money, was contributed 
 by the Japanese of all classes toward the building 
 of these two temples. We were told that only 
 about half of this sum was really expended on the 
 construction and adornment of the temples, as 
 the coffers of the collecting bonzes are very leaky. 
 It is an open secret, that fine temples in Japan are 
 
70 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 set afire, in order than an overflow might result into 
 the pockets of the fire fiends from the generous 
 golden streams of appropriations and popular con- 
 tributions for their rebuilding. 
 
 Entering the vast temple grounds through a 
 high portal, the exterior magnificence of the 
 temples at once convinced us that our guide had 
 not overstated the costs. From top to foundation 
 and on all the four sides, the walls consisted of ex- 
 quisitely carved woods and the gilding applied 
 here and there, brought the outHnes of the figures 
 into beautiful relief. Here as also eleswhere in the 
 Orient, I was amazed at the works of art created by 
 these so-called barbarous nations, the "burdens" 
 of which the white man is hypocritically exhorted 
 to "take up." What for? They in many ways 
 equal us and they certainly live a more contented 
 hfe than the supercivilized people of Europe. 
 Why do England and the other nations take up no 
 strange burdens, except those that promise aggran- 
 dizement and increase of trade? 
 
 Immense pillars of the incorruptible, smoothly 
 polished kayak wood support the richly carved 
 panels of the ceilings in both temples. Much of 
 the timber used in the construction was drawn 
 from the mountain heights by ropes made of the 
 hair of Japanese women, who thus offered their 
 coiffures in honor of the gods. The part intended 
 
PAGAN SPLENDORS 71 
 
 for public services was one mass of relief work in 
 gold, centering around the principal statues of the 
 Buddhist trinity. In the first of the temples these 
 statues were of polished black ebony on a gold 
 background. In the second and larger temple the 
 richness of the decorations in the principal sanc- 
 tuary beggars description. There were great 
 carvings above and around the grand idols, which 
 I saw equaled nowhere during the balance of my 
 long journey. 
 
 Behind the sanctuary are the mysterious apart- 
 ments of the priests, whence muffled sounds of tom- 
 tom and low chanting proceeded. No bloody 
 sacrifices are offered in these temples: the grim 
 idols must now be satisfied with offerings of rice and 
 other field products a few times a year. In the 
 larger temple a half score of country worshipers 
 were rocking to and fro on their knees, chanting in 
 mournful monotony: "have mercy on us," some- 
 times casting themselves on their faces or clapping 
 their hands, to attract the attention of the grin- 
 ning buddhas. What a piteous sight to see these 
 people sighing for relief from a pressing evil to 
 dead pieces of wood, carved into hideous contor- 
 tions. Magnificently the great polished pillars 
 aspire to the ceiling, ending in a graceful capital, 
 and making the splendid halls look more symmetri- 
 cal and spacious. The floor of the temple is covered 
 
72 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 with costly mats and is kept scrupulously clean : an 
 easy thing to do, since on the most solemn occa- 
 sions the vast halls scarcely draw a few hundred 
 people, and none of these are allowed to enter with 
 shoes on their feet. The scanty attendance even 
 on state occasions, is due to the fact that the 
 Japanese are imbibing only too zealously the 
 materialism and skepticism of their European 
 models. From the portico of the Honwami there 
 is a magnificent view over the houses of the city to 
 the group of temples already described. On the 
 green mountainside a white marble stairway could 
 be seen leading up from them to the mauso- 
 leum of the Emperor Kaiko, the first persecutor 
 of Christianity in Japan. 
 
 After drinking some Kirin beer (brewed in 
 Tokio) in a Japanese restaurant and thanking 
 Father Aurientis for his kind guidance, we took 
 the return train to Kobe. On the cars a rough 
 looking mountaineer persisted in keeping the 
 window open, in spite of the cold air and drizzling 
 rain that wafted in. I requested him to close it, but 
 received only a surly grunt in reply. More in 
 curiosity to see what he would do than for other 
 reasons, I then asked him to lend me the cloak in 
 which he was wrapped. But an angry scowl was 
 the answer. This was the only incivility I ex- 
 perienced in Japan. On the way I drew out my 
 
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES 73 
 
 rosary: three of the passengers seemed immediate- 
 ly to recognize it, and one of them asked me for 
 information about it. I told him to go to a Catholic 
 missionary, which he promised to do. The Bud- 
 dhists also used beads, containing loo counters for 
 hundred invocations, and afterwards on our 
 journey, it was a famiHar sight to see the 
 bonzes in India and Burma, the Parsees in Bom- 
 bay, the Mohammedans in Turkey and the Greeks 
 in Palestine and the neighboring countries, con- 
 ning their several kinds of beads on the streets, in 
 the stations, in the restaurants or on board ship. 
 Near Osaka a man entered with a number of 
 gaudy balls, like toy balloons. Being curious, I 
 took hold of one of them, but the slight pressure of 
 my fingers crushed in the thin film, for they proved 
 to be only pastry, used for preparing meat and 
 rice balls. The owner took the mishap good 
 naturedly, laughing with the rest of the company 
 and refusing payment for the damage. We arrived 
 in a drizzling rainstorm at the Oriental hotel, 
 where the passengers of the Gaelic were making 
 merry. Rev. B. and M. were among the hotel 
 guests: two of our party had staid in Yokohama 
 on account of the effects of the long sea voyage. 
 Of course V. H. and myself had much to relate 
 about our interesting trip through the country. 
 Instead of missing the boat, we had to wait another 
 
74 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 day, for the Gaelic would not attempt the dan- 
 gerous passage of the Inland sea in the present 
 stormy weather. Rev. B. and myself made use of 
 the invitation of the fathers at the CathoHc mission 
 and stayed over night at their residence. 
 
 Getting up early in the morning after a good 
 sleep and having said mass, we had a chat with 
 the good fathers. They are sent by the Institu- 
 tion of the Missions Etrang^res in Paris. Great 
 sacrifices must these men bring in order to con- 
 tinue their missionary labors in this country. No 
 contributions can be expected from the natives, 
 as the converts are almost exclusively the poor. 
 The missionaries manage to live on 500 francs, $100 
 a year, w^hich they get from the Propaganda. How 
 would Protestant missionaries of heathen countries 
 like missionary work at such a magnificent salary ? 
 Twelve hundred dollars a year, or 6,000 francs 
 with an increase of fifty dollars for each child 
 born to them on the mission, is paid to some of 
 the Protestant missionaries. Besides that, they 
 have not, as a rule, been required to undergo a 
 thorough classical and theological education of 
 ten or twelve years, as is the inexorable require- 
 ment for a Catholic missionary. The Catholic 
 priest would be foolish indeed to expect worldly 
 recompense in pagan lands. Protestant mission- 
 aries, especially Americans, find the heathen mis- 
 
ON THE ROAD TO KOBE 
 
MISSIONARIES 75 
 
 sions a much more profitable position than their 
 abilities can command at home. The fathers in- 
 vited me to stay with them and join the diocese, 
 though they knew that the CathoHc priest is not 
 at his own disposition, but depends on the orders 
 of his bishop. I told them it was not impossible 
 that I might return. They were Frenchmen, but 
 could speak some English. The Japanese they said, 
 could learn French more easily than English. We 
 left them a few mass-stipends, which they were 
 glad to accept. 
 
 As there was still time left before the Gaelic 
 would start off, the four of us had a walk through 
 the native bazaars of Kobe. The clean and tidy 
 shops were full of small articles, mostly cheap goods 
 for the simple needs of daily life. Yet one can 
 find many articles of European manufacture mixed 
 up with native products. The little Japanese 
 merchants are a dignified set; no shouting of 
 fakirs, as in India and Turkey, very nice in their 
 manners, quite polite and strictly honest in their 
 deahng, asking but one moderate price for their 
 wares. The launch of the Gaelic was already filled, 
 when I arrived, somewhat later than my com- 
 panions, at the wharf. So I boarded a sampan to 
 get to the Gaelic a half mile out in the harbor. 
 The Japanese boatman raised a ragged sail in order 
 to save rowing, but the brisk wind carried us against 
 
76 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 the jibboom of a schooner. Our boat lurched side- 
 ways, shipped the crest of a wave, and nearly jerked 
 us over the gunwales. Only a desperate grasp at the 
 bobstay-rope of the schooner saved us from a salt 
 bath. The accident occasioned an anxious quarter 
 of an hour to me, the reader may be sure. For 
 already I saw huge black clouds of smoke spouting 
 from the Gaelic's funnels and I heard the grating 
 of the anchor, as it was torn from its watery 
 grave. By dint of united effort and by cutting 
 some ropes, we managed to free the endangered 
 boat from its tangle and both anxiously pushing 
 onward with the oars, I arrived just in time to 
 grasp the ship's ladder as it was about to be drawn 
 up. Of course V. H. and the rest had a laugh 
 at my expense, since I had refused to return with 
 them on the steamer's launch. 
 
 Until now, at the urgent request of the other 
 members of the party, I had not worn the Roman 
 collar. I began to wear it, because it is much 
 more convenient than any other form of neckwear 
 and nobody on board ship seemed to take much 
 thought about it. As long as the Catholic priest 
 lives up to his calling, I see no reason for doing 
 without it even on a journey around the world. 
 
 Our gallant steamer now steered into the Seto 
 Uchi or Inland Sea of Japan ; but before going any 
 farther, a few general remarks about Japan may 
 
OLDEST TEMPLE, KIOTO 
 
SETO UCHI 77 
 
 not come amiss. Japan claims a written history 
 of more than 2,500 years, but the perfectly authen- 
 tic history dates back no farther than 1500 years, 
 i.e. to 400 of our reckoning. In 1871 the present 
 emperor abrogated the old feudal system and since 
 1890 a parhament shares the responsibihties of 
 the emperor, much on the same plan as in Germany. 
 It is entirely an island empire, ranging down in a 
 southwestern direction from the northernmost 
 island of Yezzo,*in about latitude 51, to Formosa, 
 latitude 22, between the 146th to the 119th degree 
 of longitude, a distance of more than 2,200 miles, 
 parallel to the coast of China. The larger islands 
 in their order southward are: Yezzo, Honda, the 
 largest, through which V. H. and I had taken our 
 railroad trip, Shikoku, Kiushu and Formosa, which 
 latter was ceded to Japan by the Chinese after the 
 war in 1895. Besides these, countless smaller 
 islands belong to the empire. 
 
 The whole group is an immense mountain range, 
 heaved up from the fathomless depths of the Pacific 
 ocean, rearing its heads above the waves and cul- 
 minating in the snowy cone of **our friend" Fujiya- 
 ma in Honda and of Mt. Morrison and Sylvia, 14,350 
 ft., in Formosa. Of course the climate varies from 
 the arctic cold of Yezzo to the tropical heat of 
 
 * Since the Russian- Japanese war, the south half of Sagalien 
 Island, opposite Vladivostok and several hundred miles north of 
 Yezzo, also belongs to Japan. 
 
7S O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 Formosa. Formosa, b}^ the bj^e, is our next door 
 neighbor now, only 2S0 miles to the north of Luzon, 
 the main Philippine. 
 
 The aborigines were the Ainu, but they have 
 yielded to the Malay invaders, except in the moun- 
 tains of Yezzo. The Japanese are of small stature, 
 extremely cleanly in their habits, naturally polite 
 in their manners and endowed with keen sense for 
 the artistic. The language of Japan is only slightly 
 related to the Chinese. There is complete religious 
 toleration, and heathenism, in the form of B\id- 
 dhism and Shintoism, does not enjoy any special 
 privilege; but of course Buddhism, on account of 
 its age and of the riches amassed in bygone cen- 
 turies, is by far the most important religious ele- 
 ment in the country. The Catholic religion re- 
 tains firm foothold in spite of poverty and of 
 former persecutions. The capital is Tokio, or 
 Yeddo. Kioto was the capital of the empire 
 before 1S6S, and is still the centre of Japanese 
 learning, and, as we have seen, of heathenism. 
 Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki are the principal 
 harbors. The population is about 47,000,000, mth 
 a tendency to rapid increase. Japan must find 
 new territory for the overflow of its population. 
 
 But to resume the narrative of our journey. 
 Our steamer pushed its prow into the maze of 
 islands, that dot the Inland sea, enclosed between 
 
iiHiii:;(, IS J A PAX j'.i 
 
 the two main islands of Honda and Shikoku. 
 The vessel was under the ^^^uidance of a s^jccial 
 pilot; for, to find and remenriloer the v/inding course 
 amid the hidden shoals and rocks betv/een the 
 ever narrov/ing and v/idening shores, could be 
 entrusted only to one v/ho had made of it a life's 
 study. New island groups v/ould rise ahead, as 
 those on our flanks glided by, or clusters of them 
 would dv/indle into the distance behind, v/hile 
 the snowcapped mountains of the mainland to our 
 right rose on the horizon. Not unfrequently high- 
 peaked islands shut off the immediate outlook to 
 the left. There was a continual change of beauti- 
 ful scenery, for the rugged shores and contours 
 of the islands are extremely diversified. Villages 
 nestling at the base of the steep cliffs or spreading 
 out on the sloping plains, showed by their fre- 
 quency the thick population of the islands. Occa- 
 sionally the sea would widen out and disclose a 
 panorama of islands and their towns and villages 
 circling round. At one time, without changing 
 position, V. H. and I counted seventeen towns in 
 full view. Numerous lighthouses and buoys give 
 friendly indication of the safest course for vessels. 
 What a region for the jolly pirates of old! In 
 former times no doubt, the broken shores and the 
 maze of islands afforded hiding places for many a 
 Chinese or Japanese junk, intent on nefarious pur- 
 
80 O^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 suits; nor are these waters entirely free from such 
 craft at present, of course confining themselves to 
 minor prey. Boats of all kinds, with large and 
 small sails, brigs, Chinese junks, Japanese sampans, 
 large and small, schooners, steamboats, and 
 especially fishing smacks of all sizes and preten- 
 sions, enliven these waters. Fishing is one of the 
 principal pursuits of the island population and 
 fish of all kinds abound in the inland seas of 
 Japan. There is a great demand for fish as food 
 among the Japanese ; hence fishing is a remunera- 
 tive occupation. 
 
 The captain of our steamer said that this is the 
 most trying part of the voyage from San Francisco 
 to Hong Kong, for the narrow channels, the in- 
 tricate windings of the course, the frequent fogs 
 and the numerous vessels make these 400 miles 
 very dangerous. The small craft plying in these 
 waters take little heed, and any injury from a large 
 steamer may entail lawsuits and heavy damages. 
 Once we were startled by a prolonged scream of the 
 steamer's whistle, a scurrying to and fro, a shout- 
 ing of commands and angry warning; a fishing 
 smack had put itself directly in our course, so that 
 only a hurried reversing of the engines saved it 
 from destruction. Our excellent pilot securely 
 directed the course of the vessel on this and the 
 following day, scarcely moderating the speed of 
 
JAPANESE AESCULAP TEMPLE, KIOTO 
 
SHIMONOSEKI 81 
 
 the steamer. At 6 p. m. the sinking sun tipped the 
 mountaintops of Shikoku to our left, and the west- 
 ern clouds above them, with rosy hue, while our 
 steamer majestically gHded over the placid, deep 
 green water to a lighthouse and a village on a small 
 island. Dusk soon began to settle over land and 
 sea and we heard the anchor thunder to the bottom. 
 Our pilot considered it safest to rest until the morn- 
 ing sun should again light up the devious course. 
 
 In the morning the vessel resumed its passage 
 in a particularly narrow channel, where islands of 
 all sizes were more numerous than ever. The sun 
 gradually rose behind us over a high bank of dark 
 clouds, as if fringed with molten gold. At first 
 V. H. and I, who had bestirred ourselves from soft 
 sleep thus early, took the whole mass of clouds for 
 mountains, but part of it soon melted away and 
 left a cragged wall of real mountains, seeming to 
 bar the rearward world. Towns continued to crop 
 up within sight and the islets assumed a more 
 mountainous character. The barren declivities 
 were made prolific by irrigation, wherever a spring 
 or watercourse afforded the opportunity. Terrace 
 after terrace was built to catch the dripping water 
 in its descent, until it would reach some town or 
 village or mingle with the lapping waves. 
 
 At about four o'clock all passengers flocked on 
 deck to see the narrows of Shimonoseki. Before 
 
82 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 US the greenish blue waters had bosomed out into 
 a wide basin. The slanting rays of the sun shone 
 on a row of red and white buoys, marking a mag- 
 nificent curve around a promontory to the left. 
 Around these our gallant steamer majestically swept, 
 until it headed for the narrow gateway of Shimo- 
 noseki between two towering mountains. Soon on 
 either side the gaping mouths of huge canons on 
 their embankments darkly frowned from right and 
 left, and as our ship entered the narrows, both shores 
 seemed threatening instantaneous destruction to 
 her panting hull. No hostile vessel surely could 
 pass these bristling forts; one volley would anni- 
 hilate a numerous fleet. The two mountains that 
 form as it were the gate posts of this passage, ap- 
 proach almost within a stone's throw of each other. 
 Beyond, the Japanese sea expands to the north. 
 Half concealed behind the left promontory, the 
 smoke of the manufacturing and mining town of 
 Moji, built within the last ten years, opens up to 
 view. As we steamed past the harbor of Moji, 
 we remarked the large number of vessels, the great 
 stores of coal and the warehouses along the docks. 
 A railroad train snaked along the side of the moun- 
 tain in the background and the smoke of mining and 
 manufacturing plants dimmed the evening air. 
 Nearby an ocean steamer was surrounded by hun- 
 dreds of Japanese men, women and children, carry- 
 
COALING 83 
 
 ing baskets of coal over her dark bulwarks. Ten 
 years ago Moji was only a fishing hamlet, but mining 
 has now developed it into a thriving city at the 
 gateway of the Inland sea. 
 
 Soon the open sea between the scattering islands 
 lay before us in the fast settling gloom. To the 
 right we still hugged the mainland of Honda for a 
 while, until the steamer turned to the left in order 
 to sail around the island of Kiushu to its great 
 southern port of Nagasaki. Later on, when we 
 had gained the open sea, mysterious fires loomed up 
 in the western horizon, illuminating the hovering 
 clouds. Concerning these fires a great deal of 
 guesswork was indulged in by the passengers, some 
 thinking it a volcano in action. But the captain 
 thought that they were probably forest fires, raging 
 on distant islands. 
 
 As early as three a. m. the thunder of the drop- 
 ping anchor awoke us. We had arrived at the 
 harbor of Nagasaki and at seven the passengers 
 were drummed up for quarantine inspection, but 
 this did not take place until 8:30, in spite of our 
 impatience at the oft repeated farce. When after- 
 wards we moved into the narrowing harbor of 
 Nagasaki, enclosed on three sides, the city pre- 
 sented a beautiful view. It stretches along the 
 foot of a mountain range, which circles around 
 the three sides of the harbor. The Bronze Horse 
 
84 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 temple, halfway up the mountain to the left, the 
 academy and churches on the mountain spur in the 
 center and the fine villas and residences on Venus 
 Hill to the right form salient points of the city 
 panorama. The bund, at the water's edge, 
 swarmed with busy people and the bay was alive 
 with boats of all kinds. A large Italian warship 
 was anchored among the numerous merchant ves- 
 sels. As it was new year's day for the Chinese and 
 Japanese, their junks and vessels were bedecked 
 with myriads of many colored streamers and flags 
 fluttering in the sunshine. When the Gaelic had 
 come to a full stop, several clumsy coal barges 
 were fastened to her sides. Miniature fleets of 
 sampans filled with men, women and children, 
 swarmed round to help in refilling the coal bunkers. 
 Soon hundreds of baskets of coal passed from hand 
 to hand over the high bulwarks of our steamer, and 
 in a few hours many tons of coal were stored away 
 in the hold. Those that had obtained employment 
 earned the magnificent sum of 2o sen, or lo cents, 
 but of course we must not get jealous; they had 
 earned their good fortune, because they had arrived 
 first, and had secured the job by having been more 
 alert. 
 
 Two of our party were bent on some separate 
 errand, while M. and myself took in some of the 
 sights of Nagasaki. Having first attended to mail 
 
MARY OF AGREDA 85 
 
 matters at the post office, we spent nearly two 
 hours in the narrow streets of the native quarters 
 beyond the bund. Most of the native shops were 
 closed to-day, on account of the new year festivity. 
 For the Japanese it is the beginning of the year 
 6539. According to the Roman Martyrology of the 
 Catholic Church, this year, A.D. 1900, would be 
 7100 since the creation of man, while the common 
 acceptation is 5900 since the creation of man. Ven. 
 Mary of Agreda,* in her revelations, reckons 5200 
 years from the beginning of our race to the advent 
 of Christ, which would make this year A.M. 7100. 
 At Hondaya's, one of the principal curio shops of 
 the town, we bought a few of the costly and artistic 
 Japanese goods, but his prices were considerably 
 higher than those of the shopkeepers of Yokohama. 
 Swarms of people were passing along the quaint 
 narrow streets toward different temples, especially 
 to the great Bronze Horse temple on the hill. 
 
 Thence we wandered up the ancient cemetery 
 which covers many acres of ground from the city 
 upward along the steep mountain side. It is 
 parcelled off into terraces, surrounded by crumbling 
 walls and full of mossgrown monuments covering 
 
 *Such Is the reckoning given in the "Ciudad de Dios," Mary 
 of Agreda's principal work. The main object of publishing "O'er 
 Oceans" is to introduce Fiscar Marison and the first English transla- 
 tion of "Ciudad" to the English-speaking public. The author is not 
 alone in considering it one of the most remarkable books in any 
 language and of all times. '^ 
 
86 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 the ashes of many generations. The monuments 
 were mostly in the shape of urns, before many of 
 which, vessels with water, paper flowers and glim- 
 mering punk had been placed by friends of "the 
 deceased. The bodies of the dead are cremated 
 on open fires and their ashes gathered for preserva- 
 tion in these urns. On the way up we met a woman 
 with two ragged children, very Hkely pariahs, who 
 plaintively asked for alms. How overjoyed she 
 was at our trifling gift ! She was dragging behind 
 her on a string a dead rat, for what purpose is hard 
 to tell, but we understood her to say that it was 
 intended for an offering to the gods in the temple. 
 Well, I don't suppose their gods are very particular 
 in regard to food! From a resting place near the 
 top of the mountain spur, there was a beautiful 
 view of Nagasaki and its mountain guarded harbor 
 below. 
 
 Descending, we mixed up with the nimble crowds 
 of Japanese.who were streaming to the Bronze Horse 
 temple. Soon we arrived at the base of a wide 
 stairs leading up to the mountain. A succession of 
 huge torii at the head of each stair-flight spanned 
 the passage upward to the entrance of the temple 
 grounds. Loudly the wooden sandals clattered 
 on the stone flags, as the crowds of natives ascended 
 and descended ; the torii or arches, the booths lining 
 the way, the temple buildings above were all 
 
NEW YEAR, NAGASAKI HARBOR 
 
BRONZE HORSE TEMPLE 87 
 
 gaudily decorated with flags and bunting. Some 
 of the Japanese were carrying garlands of flowers, 
 others a circular wreath made of wheat ears. There 
 is not much difference between the garments of 
 men and those of women ; the latter having sleeves 
 a little longer and they wear a different headgear. 
 The under garment is a long, gaudy shirt, the front 
 seams of which widely overlap each other and reach 
 below the calves. The bare limbs are often ex- 
 posed, as the seams of this under garment flap 
 apart. Over this they wear the kimono, a short 
 sort of jacket with wide sleeves, held around their 
 middle by a graceful girdle. 
 
 We ascended the stairs with the stream of 
 humanity. On the way up we had a regular Jap- 
 anese meal in one of the booths. A few cents pro- 
 cured us the services of a whole orchestra and the 
 music was not bad. The temple grounds are 
 guarded by two particularly monstrous images, 
 half man, half dragon, painted white and red. Be- 
 fore the entrance to the temple is the bronze statue 
 of a horse, sitting upon its haunches, which gives 
 the temple its name. From the open doors of the 
 temple sounded loud tomtoms and a melancholy 
 chant. Several natives were prostrate in front of 
 the sanctuary-railing, clapping their hands and 
 ringing a bell to attract the attention of the mon- 
 sters, that grinned down upon them from within 
 
88 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 the railing. It was quite amusing to see the bonze 
 crawl around in the sanctuary to pick up the coin 
 which people from outside threw over the railing. 
 Others of the worshipers dropped pennies into 
 the cattleguard chests. Looking into one of the 
 larger ones, I saw its bottom quite covered with 
 coin. This temple is frequented by the adherents 
 of the Shinto religion, a sort of sun worship of 
 Persian origin, which is not looked upon with favor 
 by the orthodox Buddhists. After stroUing through 
 the adjoining gardens, which must have been a 
 magnificent park once, and after paying a visit to 
 the museum, we returned just in time to catch the 
 steamer. 
 
 It was a beautiful sight that the evening sun 
 lit up as the steamer turned around and receded 
 from the mountain-girt Nagasaki city and bay 
 toward the expanding waters beyond. Three hun- 
 dred years ago twenty-six martyrs, crucified on 
 ^the mountain of the Bronze Horse temple, looked 
 down for three days from their crosses on this 
 scene; civilization, however, has wrought many 
 changes since. Immediately below the spot where 
 they suffered, now stands the Catholic cathedral, 
 which contains their relics. Many other martyrs 
 shed their blood for Christ in this part of 
 Japan, and not in vain, at least for this neigh- 
 borhood: for many Catholic Japanese reside in 
 
MARTYRS MEMORIAL CHURCH, NAGASAKI 
 
PRACTICAL HINTS 89 
 
 the surrounding countr}^ and on the islands here- 
 about. Several churches gleam white from the 
 hillsides of Nagasaki Bay and the islands around. 
 With the parting rays of the setting sun, we bade 
 farewell to romantic Nippon, the island empire 
 of the Mikado. 
 
 Practical Hints. — ^Persons traveling in the Orient 
 should not fail to visit Japan and allot a good share 
 of the time at their disposal to that wonderful 
 country. Where time and means need not be 
 stinted, no doubt a trip from the northernmost 
 island of Yezzo to the southernmost Formosa would 
 prove interesting all the way through. Railroads 
 span most of the distance, though the intervening 
 stretches of sea would have tc be crossed in native 
 junks, in which no special conveniences can be 
 looked for. This trip would especially recommend 
 itself to those who are going to Manila. But a few 
 days spent in the neighborhood of the main cities, 
 as we had done, will suffice to give a very fair idea 
 of the people and country. Central Japan is so 
 well governed, that no one need fear mixing with 
 the inhabitants and taking lodging with them. 
 The decimal system is introduced for money values ; 
 the lowest coin is a sen ; one hundred sens make one 
 yen, worth 50 cents. The yen looks much like 
 our silver dollar. The sea voyage from Kobe 
 
90 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 through the island sea and Shimonoseki strait, is 
 unique and should not be lightly missed. The 
 natives, especially those that have not come much 
 in contact with white men, are honest and one 
 need not be on one's guard so much in his pur- 
 chases as in the rest of the Orient. In regard to 
 buying curios and remembrances on an extended 
 trip it is well to remember, that the carrying of the 
 articles and the duty to be paid on them should be 
 taken more into consideration than the original 
 cost. Yet it would not do to leave important 
 places without some kind of memento. One 
 should always, however, prefer a memento that 
 can be used in daily life to a mere curio. Pictures 
 and photographs of remarkable places will be a 
 never failing source of pleasing recollections in 
 after years. A most valuable adjunct of the 
 traveler's outfit is a camera; but let him be sure 
 to get a small pocket kodak: larger ones will soon 
 become unbearably irksome and the consequence 
 will be, that few pictures will be taken. It is good 
 to be provided with an abundant stock of films, 
 as it may be impossible to get the right kind along 
 the road. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 In the Yellow Sea. — Waiting for the Tide. — ^A 
 City of Four Nations. — ^A Night on the 
 Streets of Shanghai. — ^Again on the Ocean. 
 — ^HoNG Kong. — ^The Parting of our Ways. — 
 A Flying Trip to Canton. — ^Under Portu- 
 guese Flag. — On Victoria Heights. — All 
 Aboard for Manila. 
 
 We were now under full headway crossing 
 the lower part of the Yellow Sea bounded by the 
 coasts of Japan, Corea and Central China. It 
 certainly merits its name, for the great rivers 
 Yangtse and Hoangho empty their vast yellow 
 floods into this sea. The Yangtse river, to the 
 mouth of which we were steaming, carries vast 
 quantities of clayey soil 150 miles out into the 
 ocean and forms immense sand bars in the bay of 
 Shanghai. We had to anchor about forty miles 
 out from Shanghai in order to wait until the fog 
 should disappear at high tide. This conjunction 
 of high tide and clear weather detained the 
 Gaehc for nearly two days. In the forenoon of 
 February 4th the steamer could proceed up the 
 mouth of the Yangtse to Woosong, about fourteen 
 miles from Shanghai roper. 
 
 91 
 
92 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 At noon the tug came alongside the vessel in 
 order to take the goods and the passengers up the 
 river to Shanghai. One can easily imagine that 
 we were impatient at the tedious delay, especially 
 as the tug tarried until three o'clock. But once 
 aboard, its twin screws pushed it rapidly up against 
 the mighty currents of the river. Rough looking 
 Chinese junks with fierce eyes painted on their prows 
 passed us here and there. The painted eyes are 
 missing on no Chinese boat, for the superstitious 
 sailors believe that they scare off the evil spirits of 
 the deep and besides, how can a boat find its way 
 without eyes of some kind? The crazy sails of 
 these junks are made of a bewildering patchwork 
 of rags, sewed together and fastened to great frames 
 of bamboo. On the sides of even the larger junks, 
 are fastened stationary flaps, resting on the water 
 like the wings of seals and preventing the craft from 
 upsetting in rough weather. The Chinese men and 
 women that manage these boats, and those that 
 had helped unload the goods from the Gaelic, 
 formed a collection of ragged humanity, seldom to 
 be met with anywhere. Having passed a number 
 of Chinese men-of-war, Shanghai came into view 
 in the distance. 
 
 Even after we had gone up stream fourteen miles 
 to Shanghai, the river banks were yet two miles 
 apart. The harbor of Shanghai is always full of 
 
OPIUM HULK, SHANGHAI 
 
OPIUM WAR 93 
 
 shipping, for it yields preeminence only to Liver- 
 pool and New York in the number of vessels an- 
 nually entering and leaving port. The most con- 
 spicuous of the vessels in the harbor was the opium 
 hulk, occupying its stationary position at the edge 
 of the water in full view of the grand palaces of the 
 English, French and American concessions. It 
 serves as a sort of custom house for the control of 
 the opium trade of China. Like a huge grey mon- 
 ster it stands a witness to the rapacity of the Eng- 
 lish, who in 1842 waged a fierce war with China in 
 order to force the Chinese government to withdraw 
 its prohibition against the importation of opium into 
 the empire. India was at that time, and is at 
 present, the principal producer of opium: if China 
 should remain closed to the deadly drug, it would 
 have meant the ruin of the English opium industry. 
 The physical and moral welfare of the Mongol race 
 and all their natural rights must of course yield to 
 the material welfare of their European merchant 
 brothers: the "white man's burden" must first of 
 all be a paying burden, or else it would become 
 unbearable, don't you know! 
 
 The English, French and the Americans have 
 concessions, that is, their own autonomous terri- 
 tories outside the old Shanghai walls, so that 
 Shanghai consists really of four different cities: 
 the old Shanghai or Chinese city; next to it, out- 
 
94 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 side the walls, the French, then the English and 
 American concessions. These concessions com- 
 prise only a small territory and they are built tip 
 and governed like a European or American city. 
 A beautiful boulevard circles along the waterfront, 
 skirting the fine palaces and business houses of 
 the concessions. Were it not for the numerous 
 Chinamen and the stately, tall Sikh guardsmen 
 on the streets, one would think that he is arriving 
 at some European port. 
 
 On disembarking, we passed along the fine boule- 
 vard from the English to the French concessions, 
 looking for the Jesuit college. But we arrived 
 instead at the procure of the "Missions Etrang^res" 
 and were well received by Father Beaublat. As 
 we had little time, he at once offered to accompany 
 us through the old Chinese quarters, an offer which 
 we gladly accepted. Accordingly, without taking 
 off his cassock, he led the way through a few blocks 
 to the old city wall, that still surrounds the Chinese 
 town of Shanghai and divides the French concession 
 from it. This wall is now crumbling with age and 
 neglect. The filthy moat is spanned by a dilapi- 
 dated bridge and over the ruinous gate frown two 
 rusty cannon mouths through the portholes. In- 
 side of the walls, the narrow streets received us: 
 they are only six or eight feet wide and hardly 
 merit the name of streets, being mere passages 
 
RAGGED MISERY 
 
 running irregularly between a maze of old shanties 
 and shops, roughly paved with cobble-stones and 
 indescribably filthy and dirty. Chinese men and 
 women of all ages and conditions thronged to and 
 fro. 
 
 The abject misery of some of the beggars was a 
 distressing spectacle. One of them was a leper 
 sitting in the sloppy dirt of the gutter, moaning 
 and swaying his head. Instead of eyeballs were 
 mere holes, from which ran the festering pus down 
 the haggard cheeks; instead of the nose protruded 
 the naked bones: leprosy had eaten away the sur- 
 rounding flesh. Pitifully he groaned at the passer- 
 by, Hfting up the sightless face and holding up an 
 old tin can for alms. At another corner, a man 
 paralyzed from the hips downward, trailed the 
 bare, helpless limbs along through the mud over 
 the cobblestones, dragging himself forward by the 
 help of his right arm and the upper part of his body, 
 while with the left hand he rattled a tin cup to 
 supplement his piteous groans for alms. Ragged 
 w^omen and children littered the streets or any 
 available nooks, loudly clamoring for help. They 
 received no notice from the scurrying crowd: 
 heathenism knows little of pity toward the poor 
 and helpless. 
 
 None of these beggars are allowed in any of the 
 concessions and no doubt the Chinese government 
 
96 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 would resent any interference of the white man in 
 the internal affairs of the old town. We could not 
 resist giving Chinese coins to some of the beggars; 
 but soon we were followed by a surging crowd of 
 poor, that frantically surrounded us. Father 
 Beaublat, after somewhat unceremoniously dis- 
 persing the clamoring mob, probably knowing 
 circumstances better, protested against any more 
 such experiments, as we would expose ourselves to 
 serious inconveniences and were wasting money 
 only on the undeserving and not on the real poor. 
 This last was indeed hard to believe! 
 
 No wagons, not even a rickshaw, can pass 
 through these narrow and crowded streets. We 
 met, however, one or two gorgeous palanquins, 
 within which the richly clad mandarins were being 
 carried along by four liveried servants. They 
 pushed ruthlessly through the crowds and the 
 common herd crushed themselves into corners as 
 they passed. Both sides of the straightened pas- 
 sages were lined with low huts, crumbling walls, 
 opium dens, eating houses, trinket shops, ill- 
 smelling kitchens, open bazaars, joss houses, 
 cobblers' booths, and shops of all trades, which 
 generally are open to view. The nauseating vic- 
 tuals are cooked on open fires, sending up odors of 
 roasting and broiling meats. All was life and ani- 
 mation, for the Chinese are no laggards at any of 
 
HEATHEN CELEBRATION 97 
 
 their callings, and least of all in business, be the 
 profits ever so small. Some were bartering at the 
 open booths, some were eating the indescribable 
 deHcacies with nimble chopsticks ; shopkeepers prais- 
 ing their wares, tradespeople with rude implements 
 at their work, the hastening crowds, the whining 
 beggars, all united to form a Babel of confusion. 
 We came to an old canal or arm of the river, 
 widening out into a brackish pool. The sewage 
 from the streets finds its way into it. Yet the 
 father told us that the Chinese use this water for 
 cooking and drinking purposes, as there are no 
 other pubHc provisions for water supply. The 
 streets were filled with the smell of opium, burn- 
 ing joss-sticks and the reeking garbage of the 
 streets. Everywhere also sounded the noise of 
 kettledrums, cymbals, tomtoms, loud talk and 
 laughter from the rear of houses and shops, for 
 they were still celebrating the new year and the 
 twenty-fifth anniversary of the accession of Quan- 
 hu to the throne, and would continue to celebrate 
 for a week or two. The louder the din of the cele- 
 bration, so much the more will the malicious 
 spirits be propitiated in the coming year. As for 
 dates in China, there are no reliable ones beyond 
 the fifth century before Christ. So at least the 
 well informed Jesuits, whom we afterwards had 
 the pleasure of meeting, informed us. 
 
98 O^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 After many turns in the narrow passages, we 
 entered a large complex of open courtyards, low- 
 roofed galleries around a dark temple building. 
 It contained a whole army of grinning idols, ranged 
 along the walls. The object of the temple was to 
 provide a special idol for each day and hour of 
 the year, in which any of their devotees should hap- 
 pen to be born. During these days of the new 
 year celebrations, each Chinaman is supposed to 
 make an offering to that particular god, which pre- 
 sides over the hour of his birth, if he would not 
 suffer for his neglect in the ensuing year. And 
 nearly every one of them had found some devotee 
 in that surging crowd. Surly bonzes, jugglers in 
 the open courts, venders of candles, fiitter-paper 
 and trinkets, mingled in the jostling mass of human- 
 ity and plied their trades. They surrounded even 
 us and Father Beaublat, asking our age, eager to 
 show us the particular god we ought to propitiate, 
 but still more eager to get some tips or to sell us 
 some of their articles of sacrifice. The hideous 
 array of gods were having a high time of it, to be 
 sure: for the burning candles, the glimmering punk 
 and sandalwood and the gold and silver glitter 
 around and before them, showed that without our 
 help they were sufficiently attended to, and besides 
 we thought that the grinning idols, which they 
 pointed out to us as our guardian deities, would 
 
JESUIT SEMINARY 99 
 
 very likely continue to grin their favors upon us 
 whether we made an offering or not. 
 
 We regretted very much that the father was in 
 such haste, as we should have liked very much to 
 spend more time in taking in the strange sights 
 around us. But they were familiar enough to him 
 and only disgusted him ; whereas our curiosity easily 
 overcame any feeling of disgust in us. So, on we has- 
 tened through more narrow and crowded streets to 
 the Jesuit establishment in the midst of Chinese 
 heathendom. They have a fine church here and 
 conduct several schools, one of them a sort of semi- 
 nary for native priests and catechists. We were 
 introduced to a company of about thirty Chinese 
 catechists. They receive careful training for three 
 years in this place and make an annual vow or 
 promise to assist in missionary labors among their 
 countrymen under supervision of the priests to 
 which they are sent. What a contrast: the jostHng 
 heathens outside and this band of young natives 
 with the fire of enthusiasm in their eyes, ready to 
 preach Christ! If an ocular proof of the benign 
 effects of Christ's truth were desired, a glance at 
 this band of catechists would be sufficient. Some 
 of them afterwards are ordained priests. There 
 are a few Chinese Jesuit priests in Shanghai and 
 one of them was introduced to us there. Without 
 native help of catechists little can be done in 
 heathen countries. 
 
100 O^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 The father, on account of pressing engagements, 
 now desired to turn homeward. He said that the 
 gates of the Chinese Shanghai are closed at a cer- 
 tain hour and would be open for no one either to 
 go out or in, which, for my part, I contemplated as 
 a situation not altogether undesirable. Before 
 passing out of the gate where we had entered, we 
 had a view from the top of its turret: the old wall 
 straggles around Chinese Shanghai in irregular 
 curves. It is wide enough to afford a passage for 
 a wagon all around the city. 
 
 Father Beaublat accompanied us to the Jesuit 
 church in the French concession, where Father 
 LeGall received us very kindly. I had expected to 
 meet Rev. Wm. Hornsby, S. J,, a former fellow- 
 student of mine. He had, however, been trans- 
 ferred to the Jesuit college at Macao. In the church 
 are separate divisions for the European and the 
 Chinese Catholics. After a visit to some acquaint- 
 ances of V. H. in the Belgian procure of the Ameri- 
 can concession, we engaged rooms in the Hotel des 
 Colonies. There we had excellent accommodations 
 for only two dollars Mexican or one dollar American 
 money. 
 
 After dinner we wanted to see the Chinese quar- 
 ters in the different concessions. Only the few 
 streets along the boulevard and quay are inhabited 
 by the white people, behind them are large settle- 
 
SHANGHAI FISHERMAN 
 
NIGHT IN SHANGHAI 101 
 
 ments of Chinese, though the territory belongs to 
 and is governed by the commissioners of the three 
 nations. Order and cleanliness is strictly main- 
 tained by an especially selected poHce force. The 
 tall and stately Sikhs, imported from the Punjab, 
 India, with swarthy features and long black hair 
 and beard, do most of the police duty. Again we 
 heard the din of tomtoms, drums and cymbals from 
 the interior of houses in dark streets and from the 
 open stores. In between, firearms and firecrackers 
 exploded, much Hke at our own Fourth of July cele- 
 brations. For two weeks the evil spirits are thus 
 belabored with ear-splitting noise in order to make 
 them propitious. I am incHned to believe, that if 
 the Chinese demons have any ear for music, they 
 will capitulate in much less time. 
 
 Inside of a large dry goods store, where we 
 bought some silk handkerchiefs for a trifle, a group 
 of Chinese sat on low stools with all the necessary 
 instruments of noise, merrily thumping away at 
 the drums, triangles, cymbals and sounding boards. 
 They had done good business in the past year and 
 therefore, so much the more, must the fickle gods be 
 kept in good humor. They charged a large dis- 
 count for our American gold and before handing out 
 the change in Mexican silver dollars, they carefully 
 marked them with a rubber stamp. It seems this 
 is necessary to make them passable. The Chinese 
 
102 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 really have no coin of their own, the currency in the 
 interior being lumps of silver, the value of which is 
 reckoned by weight in taels or pounds. For small 
 purchases they use roughly stamped pieces of brass, 
 perforated by square holes in the middle. Several 
 times I bought rolls of seventy or eighty of these 
 coins for five cents to give to the numerous beggars 
 and to children. I staked a few also at the fakir 
 stands, where crowds of Chinese stood around, 
 gambling for one or two of the brass coins at a time. 
 But my fakir got the best of me: no matter how the 
 dice would turn up, he claimed to be winner, while 
 my fortune was diminished in this transaction by at 
 least 3 J cents. At nine o'clock is the closing hour 
 for all street fakirs and the hour is enforced by the 
 police. There was no intoxicating drink to be had 
 among the Chinese, on account of its prohibition by 
 city ordinance. 
 
 I could not understand why V. H. and B. desired 
 to return to the hotel so early. Mr. M. and myself 
 preferred to see as much as possible of the strange 
 sights during the short time at our disposal. Re- 
 gardless of consequences or of the dangers, that 
 the others were conjuring up in their minds for 
 themselves and us, we started out to roam through 
 several miles of streets. 
 
 Not far off we saw a great crowd gathering in one 
 of the streets. From the centre of it loud shouting 
 
A RESCUE 103 
 
 and howling was heard. Curious to see what was 
 the matter, we elbowed our way to right and left 
 through the excited Chinese and at once became 
 the principal actors of a little tragic comedy. 
 In the flickering light of some torches stood a tall 
 Sikh policeman. His large black eyes flashed 
 angrily down upon a howling young Chinese, as he 
 listened to the wrathful expostulations of another 
 Chinaman accusing the youngster. The Sikh 
 had the long queue of the delinquent wound several 
 times around his left forearm and was giving it 
 a vicious jerk at each new accusation. In the 
 right hand he had a large billet of wood. Both 
 the Sikh and his victim immediately appealed to 
 us. They must have taken me for some high 
 official, perhaps on account of our unceremonious 
 intrusion or the Roman collar. The Sikh in broken 
 English tried to tell me, that the youngster had 
 thrown the billet of wood at the wrathful accuser 
 and therefore must be arrested. The sturdy 
 youngster, howling between the jerks of his queue 
 with which the Sikh emphasized his accusations, 
 in deadly fright held up to me a handful of cashes 
 as a bribe for my assistance. The affair was 
 ridiculous in the extreme: the savage Sikh, the 
 frightened youngster with the magnificent bribe 
 of about two cents in value, his frantic accuser 
 behind both and the surging crowd of Chinamen, 
 
104 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 whose eager faces were lighted up by the neighbor- 
 ing torch-Hght ; all were waiting for the decision of 
 a complete stranger. Of course I rose to the height 
 of the situation in the twinkling of an eye. It was 
 a glorious chance to play the judge once in my 
 life. The accuser had not deigned to make any 
 such magnificent offer as the accused. It would 
 be well to teach him a lesson. Besides he seemed 
 violent enough to have provoked the prank of the 
 youngster. As for the Sikh, he would have to 
 accept the decision of the mighty white man, that 
 had honored his bailiwick with a visit. "Stet pro 
 ratione voluntas." If the power of the white man 
 was to be shown, I must decide against the Sikh, 
 the accuser and the whole gathering of heathen 
 bystanders. I must let that gaping crowd of pig- 
 tails know, that even if the young stripling had 
 deserved death, he shall be free at the wave of my 
 hand. So accusing his opponent of having prob- 
 ably provoked the offense and unwinding the queue 
 of the whining criminal from the arm of the Sikh, 
 I set him free. Like a snake released in high 
 grass, the sturdy youngster suddenly dived be- 
 tween the legs of the bystanders and disappeared 
 in the darkness. He preferred, no doubt, the 
 aimless kicks of the crowd, through which he 
 squeezed his way, to the dreaded arrest and the 
 process of the law. After getting out of the dis- 
 
CHINESE BOWLERS 105 
 
 per sing crowds, when the dignity of supreme 
 arbiter was no longer necessary, M. and myself 
 did full justice to the humor of the situation in our 
 hilarious glosses and comments on the adventure. 
 
 It was a sad thing to notice how public vice 
 plumed its gayest feathers even in the concessions 
 in order to enticet he unwary. We passed nu- 
 merous places, brilliantly Hghted, where bevies of 
 Chinese girls, painted and in airy costumes (much 
 more so than in the vaudeville theaters and variety 
 shows of our own cities) , stood in the hall- ways, as 
 disgusting allurements. 
 
 We came to a place from which proceeded much 
 noise of merrymaking. We entered and found 
 groups of Chinamen sitting galore at all sorts of 
 games. One part of the establishment was por- 
 tioned off as a bowling alley. A few Chinese were 
 whooping and screeching with their thin voices, 
 whenever to their wonder the tiny ball stayed on 
 the alley long enough to knock over a pin or two at 
 the other end. Their surprise was justified: the 
 alley was so long, that its farther end almost disap- 
 peared in the distance; the balls were practical 
 solutions of the squared circle, only the square had 
 by far the best of it, and the listless muscles of the 
 Chinese gave but indifferent force to the tumbling 
 ball. 
 
 We joined in their game and I challenged the one 
 
106 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 who seemed their champion, by signs, that I 
 would play against him, the loser to pay the costs. 
 He readily consented, thinking, no doubt, that he 
 would easily beat the "foreign devil. ' ' But he soon 
 began to wear a long face, when, at the close, our 
 score had outgrown his own three or fourfold. 
 
 Later on we witnessed the closing scene in a 
 Chinese play in one of the theaters. The play is 
 almost all pantomime, except that a herald now 
 and then drawls out a sort of a singsong explana- 
 tion of what must have been unintelligible in the 
 tableaux even to the Chinese, The actors ap- 
 peared in fantastic apparel, grotesquely painted 
 and masked, with all sorts of spears, clubs and 
 other instruments. But there was an absence of 
 nude indecency, so common in the white man's 
 theaters. The audience hall was filled with specta- 
 tors sipping their tea during the play and uttering 
 a timid "ha ha" in approval, when particularly 
 pleased at the maneuvers on the stage. They do 
 not clap their hands. We attended to that. We 
 cheered too. Perhaps they thought we were 
 amateur players that had forgotten their paint. 
 
 Once, after the actor on the stage had reached a 
 climax of a demoniacal howling and screeching, 
 accompanied by a fiendish fortissimo of grimaces 
 and an earsplitting din of strident instruments, we 
 were found bravely helping out the best of their 
 
IN A THEATRE 107 
 
 actors by clapping our hands and shouting: "Hur- 
 rah, three cheers for the red, white and blue" at 
 the top of our voices. Our brave hurrahs at first 
 were lost in the "universal shout that tore the 
 welkin" above the stage, but the band of fiends 
 on the stage suddenly stopped and our solitary 
 cheers alone resounded as a finale through the hall. 
 
 Even the fantastic noise makers on the stage 
 turned their glaring masks upon us, like a pack of 
 native demons surprised at the presence of some 
 "foreign devils." As we occupied a place right in 
 front of the high stage, we attracted an amount of 
 attention, such as we could not hope to attract 
 very soon thereafter. 
 
 It was getting to be near twelve o'clock and 
 the life of the streets was beginning to subside. 
 We had carefully kept track of our wanderings 
 or we would surely not have found our way back 
 to the hotel. Even so we had to grope our way 
 through some entirely dark and lonely passages, 
 for no friendly light shines through any windows 
 in the Chinese quarters, simply because there are 
 no windows facing on the streets. Like on a Fourth 
 of July night in our country, now and then the soli- 
 tary detonation of a blunderbuss or a large fire- 
 cracker or the monotonous kettledrum sounded 
 from the mysterious darkness within the dwell- 
 ings. I found V. H. buried in one of the beds of 
 
108 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 the room, but kept anxiously awake by our pro- 
 longed absence. 
 
 The next day was the fifth Sunday of our jour- 
 ney. After having celebrated mass in the French 
 procure and taken a breakfast brought up by the 
 hotel servant to our room, we set out with Father 
 Stan. Kennelly, S. J., toward the landing place. 
 The Jesuit was dressed in the costume, and wore 
 the slim beard and dangling pigtail, of a mandarin. 
 According to his opinion (and he could well have 
 reliable judgment in such matters, having spent 
 twenty years in the interior) the Chinese are a 
 peaceful and docile people, much more so than the 
 Japanese. "War is foolish: why have the gods 
 given us speech, if not in order to settle our dif- 
 ferences, ' ' is their common saying. My experiences 
 were entirely in harmony with this sentiment. 
 They certainly never showed any quarrelsomeness 
 in their dealings with us, though on several occa- 
 sions we assumed rights which would have been 
 sufficiently dear to people of other nations to pick 
 a quarrel for. The Boxer trouble in Pekin was 
 brewing and broke out two months after our 
 visit to Shanghai. But from an impartial Chinese 
 standpoint, I cannot see anything unnatural in 
 those troubles: they are the logical consequence of 
 the behavior of the white man in China. 
 
 This might seem a hard saying to those who are 
 
A COMPARISON 109 
 
 SO much in favor of taking up the "white man's 
 burden." Let a fair minded man imagine himself 
 in the position of the Chinese. Theirs is a vast 
 empire. The United States for instance contains 
 3,622,088 square miles: China contains 4,268,800. 
 The Union claims 80,000,000 inhabitants, China, 
 383,000,000. Our history dates back 133 years, 
 the known history of China, according to positive 
 records, nearly twenty times that number of years, 
 namely 2,500 years, and the Chinese have been a 
 great nation 1000 years before that, at least it would 
 be hard to prove the contrary. Vast deeds of war 
 mark its bygone centuries, great emperors, states- 
 men and warriors shine on its historic pages. They 
 were far advanced in the arts of peace and war 
 long before any European nations had issued from 
 their barbaric state. If we are justified in feeling 
 proud of our country, why not they, with their 
 history and with the vastness of their empire? 
 What wonder if a million or two of these Chinese 
 should rise to drive out the foreign invaders, whose 
 presence is menacing the very existing of their 
 empire ? 
 
 The same swift tug that had taken us up the 
 river, now brought us back to the Gaelic, the huge 
 hulk of which we soon saw riding on the yellow tide. 
 The steamer during that and the next day held its 
 course over the turbulent waves of the Formosa 
 
no O'ER OCEANS AND CO NTINENTS 
 
 channel. Some of the crazy looking Chinese junks 
 are met far out on the sea and it is a wonder that 
 they are not swallowed up by the huge billov/s or 
 blown to pieces in the gale. One should think that 
 the next puff of wind would catch the unwieldy, 
 bamboo-ribbed sail of patched rags and stave the 
 helpless boat into the maw of the next approaching 
 wave. At a short distance off they become invisi- 
 ble behind the crest of the waves as they sink into 
 the trough of the sea. 
 
 On the second day after leaving Shanghai, at 
 five p. M., the Gaelic was picking its way through 
 the many islands up the Wyfong straits, from 
 whence Admiral Dewey swooped down on the 
 Manila harbor in May, 1899. Pretty soon Hong 
 Kong appeared behind the numerous shipping of 
 its beautiful harbor. There were twelve British 
 and five American warships in the bay, besides the 
 vessels representing numerous other nations. 
 Among the American ships of war was also the 
 Brooklyn, the former flagship of Schley. Captain 
 Thomas, with whom I had passed many a pleasant 
 hour in the smoker, was to assume command of 
 that vessel at his arrival. This is the western 
 terminus of the O & O. Steamship line, and our 
 coupons gave us passage board the P. & O. steamers 
 to Brindisi, by way of Singapore, Colombo, Calcutta, 
 Bombay and Suez canal. 
 
FATHER KENELLY, S. J., CHINESE MISSIONARY, SHANGHAI 
 
HONG KONG 111 
 
 Slowly the Gaelic entered the harbor and 
 dropped her anchor at nightfall about a mile from 
 shore. As darkness crept over the bay and over the 
 surrounding mountains, the brilliant electric lights 
 began to loom up, forming a complete circle a few 
 miles in diameter around the ship, for it seems the 
 whole bay is surrounded by thriving manufacturing 
 settlements on the encircling Chinese coasts and 
 islands. Hong Kong itself is built on the steep 
 side of Mount Victoria. Clusters of lights began to 
 blazon from the business quarters of Hong Kong 
 at the water's edge, and gradually all the way 
 up to the summit, 4,000 feet above the sea level. 
 Coming out on deck after supper, from the bright 
 dining room, I was wondering for quite a while at 
 the unusual position of what seemed the constellation 
 of Orion in the heavens, until the dark outlines of 
 Mount Victoria, appearing immediately above the 
 three brilliant lights, dispelled the illusion and 
 made me aware that I was not looking at that 
 constellation, but at the electric lights near the 
 towering summit of the mountain. 
 
 Differences of opinion arose as to the route which 
 we were to pursue on leaving Hong Kong. The 
 four of us had made up our minds to go to Manila 
 and get a glimpse of this new acquisition of the 
 United States. It was my opinion that we should, 
 if possible, first go to Canton, then return to Hong 
 
112 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 Kong and go to Manila, and from there take direct 
 shipment to Singapore. In that way we would 
 have time to see Canton before going, we would 
 have over a week more time in Manila and we 
 would save the return trip on the ocean from 
 Manila back to Hong Kong. I could not con- 
 vince the rest of the party of the advantage of this 
 change in the route of our round trip tickets. 
 They insisted on following it without deviation. 
 
 Early in the morning we hired a sampan and 
 together we left the Gaelic, which had been such 
 a pleasant home, to me at least, for the last five 
 weeks. It is certain that on no other of the 23 
 steamships, which I used on this journey so much 
 homelike comfort and attendance could be found. 
 We betook ourselves to the old cathedral in Hong 
 Kong, where the Italian fathers received us kindly 
 and readily consented to our saying Mass. The 
 church is high up on the mountainside, overlooking 
 the greater part of Hong Kong and its harbor. It 
 is built in renaissance style and is in many respects 
 a fine structure. It seems to antedate the Eng- 
 lish dominion on the island of Hong Kong by many 
 years. 
 
 As my companions would not listen to my sug- 
 gestions in regard to a change of route, I finally 
 determined to separate and make my way alone. 
 But at the last moment, just as we had finished 
 
DIFFERENCES 113 
 
 our dinner in one of the restaurants, M. changed 
 his mind. The others of the party had concerned 
 themselves very Httle about him during the pre- 
 ceding part of the voyage; I had grown used to 
 him as cabin-mate and had gladly put up with his 
 hard hearing. But there were several reasons for 
 my not urging him very strongly to come with me. 
 He had begun the journey with the others of the 
 party. There was a certain amount of risk that 
 I would not make Calcutta just as soon as the 
 others. There would be at least a small extra 
 outlay in fares. So after asking him once in the 
 course of the morning and receiving no assent from 
 him, I had made up my mind to go alone. But 
 after V. H. and B had definitely decided on fol- 
 lowing the route of their round-trip tickets, he 
 cast his lot with me of his own free choice, and I 
 was not unwiUing to act as his guide and com- 
 panion to Vienna. Later results soon showed that 
 we had taken by far the most advantageous and 
 the most expeditious route. We bade the rest of 
 our party farewell and procured our tickets for the 
 Manila steamer, "Esmeralda," which was to leave 
 on Friday, while they would have to depart for Ma- 
 nila the next day. 
 
 M. and myself determined to obtain a gHmpse 
 of the Chinese city of Canton and of the Portu- 
 guese town of Macao. The Fat Shan was to start 
 
114 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 Up the Pearl River in a few hours, so we procured 
 tickets for Canton on that steamer, and, until its 
 departure, strolled through the streets of Hong 
 Kong, at the same time attending to such business 
 as was necessary. The European portion of Hong 
 Kong, which is of course divided from the Chinese 
 quarters, differs little from a modern city with fine 
 streets, great business houses and residences, parks 
 and driveways. The residences of the Europeans 
 straggle up the side of Mount Victoria, whereas the 
 Chinese quarter, by far the more populous, stretches 
 away to the right along the wharfs and quays of the 
 bay. There are hardly any carriages to be seen, 
 the passenger traffic being carried on by the rick- 
 shaws. These latter are larger and clumsier than 
 the Japanese jinrikishas. We almost missed the 
 Fat Shan, which was ready to start out from its 
 wharf in the Chinese quarters. Being desirous to 
 see something of the native Chinese passengers, 
 we took our chances with them for that night's 
 trip in second class passage. 
 
 Hong Kong was gradually lost to view as the 
 great river boat picked its way between the islands 
 towards the mouth of the Takiang or Pearl River^ 
 The hills and mountains one by one gave way to 
 the low banks of the river and the scenery became 
 uninteresting. As it was getting dusk and quite 
 chilly above, we went belov/ where one-half of the 
 
ON THE FAT SHAN 115 
 
 boat was portioned off for second class. There 
 were no berths, but the Chinese were sitting and 
 lying in groups all over the spacious floor. Travelers 
 in the Orient always carry a supply of blankets and 
 mats, so that they can make themselves comfort- 
 able on any conveyances where there is room. 
 On this boat there were a number of groups, who 
 kept up their laughing and chatting until twelve 
 o'clock, playing cards or dominoes and smoking 
 opium the meanwhile. Men, women and children 
 lay indiscriminately around on the floor, seemingly 
 comfortable in spite of the hardness of the couch. 
 Some of them had brought their Chinese pillows 
 along. They are nothing else than a short billet 
 of wood shaped like a railroad rail, only a little 
 higher. This the Chinese do not place under their 
 heads, but under their necks, as they lie on their 
 backs, so that the head dangles over it without any 
 support: seems more like an instrument of torture 
 than an article of comfort. 
 
 A Parsee merchant, engaged in the commission 
 business, kept us awake a few hours, talking in 
 broken English of Canton and the silk business. 
 He knew a great deal of the Christian religion and 
 seemed to think that it was nothing else than an 
 offspring of the Zoroastrian doctrines. If what 
 he said is true, the Parsees, who are the followers 
 of Zoroaster, do not adore the sun or fire, but they 
 
116 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 only honor it as the most appropriate symbol of 
 the Almighty. He would not smoke and said, it is 
 a desecration of the fire which is holy. He wore 
 the peculiar Parsee cap, something like the head- 
 dress of the Jewish highpriests. I understood 
 that this sort of headgear is worn by the Parsees 
 on account of a promise, which they had made to 
 a king in the north of India at the time of their 
 forced emigration from Persia. The wearing of 
 this sort of a cap was made the condition under 
 which they should be allowed to settle in that part 
 of India. 
 
 We stretched ourselves on the hard benches and 
 took what sleep we could during the chilly hours of 
 the night. When the morning dawned, I thought 
 at first the boat had struck a sand bar, for it lay 
 motionless in the morning-fog between the low 
 banks of the river. However the cause of the delay 
 turned out to be something quite different. Al- 
 though this boat makes a few trips a week to Can- 
 ton, yet it cannot enter within its limits without a 
 special permit every time. The Chinese officials 
 kept us waiting for nearly an hour and a half. Then 
 the steamer slowly resumed its way for several 
 miles up the river, until it arrived in the very midst 
 of a wilderness of boats and sampans. 
 
 As soon as the owners of the sampans noticed 
 strangers on board, they crowded around with 
 
EMBARKING, ORIENT 
 
HOUSE BOATS 117 
 
 their boats to offer their services for a ride along 
 the river. We hired one that was occupied by a 
 whole family as oarsmen. The sampan is made of 
 rough unpainted boards, tapering out at the prow, 
 but square at the stern with two flaps on each side. 
 Ours was about eighteen feet long and in its middle 
 a mat was stretched over a half-round framework, 
 like the covering of our prairie schooners, giving 
 shelter against the sun's rays. The fore part and 
 the stern were decked over and formed sleeping 
 apartments, about i8 inches high, for the family of 
 the boat owners. By the time they die, they must, 
 no doubt, be well used to the narrow quarters of a 
 cofhn, for they spend their whole lives on these 
 boats. Among the 500,000 Cantonese that live 
 in these small houseboats, there are tens of thou- 
 sands of women, who probably never set their foot 
 on terra firma. The bosom of the broad river and 
 both banks are crowded with these boats, forming 
 three or four impenetrable rows on each side. As 
 soon as we had taken our places an old woman, who 
 must have been at least eighty years old, seized the^ 
 paddle in the rear and standing on the rude planks, 
 began to scull up stream to the right bank of the 
 river. Some of the small children helped along 
 at the side with other paddles, while the man at the 
 bows kept the sampan clear from the numerous 
 boats that swarmed up and down the river. As our 
 
118 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 time was limited, we had hired a guide by the name 
 of Wong a Yew, who ordered the boatman to bring 
 us to the most remarkable temple in Canton— the 
 temple of Honan. 
 
 Crowding in toward the shore between the hun- 
 dreds of moored boats, we arrived at the foot of the 
 stairs leading upward under the great torii of the 
 temple ground. Here thousands of years of 
 paganism had covered the spacious enclosure with 
 rambling groups of dark temples, large and small, 
 shrines, priests' houses, gardens, crematories, many 
 acres in extent. At the entrance stand in huge 
 grotesqueness the figures of the guardian gods of 
 the four winds. The grimaces on them are terrific 
 and the mustaches will outsweep that of any mimic 
 Napoleon or Polish nobleman. Passing on be- 
 neath magnificent camphor and banyan trees, we 
 peered into the dark halls of the main temple of the 
 three Buddhas, where their towering gilded figures 
 are surrounded by sixteen minor gods. 
 
 As regards artistic design and carving, they fall 
 short of the Japanese temples, but in regard to 
 grotesqueness, the Chinese statues and temples no 
 doubt outdo anything on the face of the earth. 
 On we passed through intricate passages, between 
 the bonzes' houses, under many vaulted doors to 
 the great Indian goddess. This had been brought 
 as a trophy to this place a thousand years ago and 
 
HON AN TEMPLE 119 
 
 placed on its high pedestal in the midst of a col- 
 lection of male gods. Ghastly it stared down from 
 a height of 40 feet, in barbaric splendor under the 
 vaults of the high, windowless building. It was 
 just now being repaired and regilded. Behind 
 these groups of temples were* spacious gardens, with 
 rows of shrubs and trees, skillfully trimmed to 
 represent different kinds of animals and men. The 
 ponds were overgrown with the lotus Hly, and, 
 circling around in the background, stood the 
 crematories and the monuments containing the 
 ashes of distinguished dead. The bodies of the 
 poorer Chinese are doubled up and pressed into 
 boxes in order to be cremated, this being appar- 
 ently the occupation of some of the bonzes living 
 on the temple grounds. 
 
 At this early hour, for it was not yet eight, we 
 met few people during our ramble. In the foggy 
 morning the whole caused an impression of hideous 
 decay and listlessness and at the same time we 
 wondered how the minds of men can be enthralled 
 by such a distortion of religion and worship for any 
 length of time. It seems to me a most evident proof 
 of the necessity of religion for the human being; 
 else certainly these people would rather do without 
 religion than cling so tenaciously to such ghastly 
 and monstrous aberrations of the mind. The guide 
 told us, that in later hours of the day these grounds 
 
120 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 swarmed with people, who come to worship before 
 the hideous idols. The grounds are a gathering 
 place for venders of small articles, for the loiterers 
 and the gossips. I saw no collection boxes like 
 those in the Japanese temples, but the revenues 
 must nevertheless be considerable, since one of the 
 richest bankers of Canton is the owner and the 
 chief bonze of one of the best kept temples in these 
 grounds. 
 
 Our guide, Wong a Yew, drummed out a bonze 
 who lived in one of a long row of houses connected 
 with the main temple. This bonze ushered us into 
 his parlor and offered us some sweetmeats in a very- 
 polite manner. His dwelling was comfortably 
 furnished, though he probably was not getting an 
 excessive rake-off from the temple revenues. Be- 
 fore we left the grounds, we were introduced also 
 to the above mentioned banker-bonze, who went 
 by the name of Ha-Ko. A large area was occupied 
 by his own private temple, summerhouses, gardens, 
 dwellings, wives' apartments and club rooms. The 
 gardens were artistically laid out. Many of the 
 seats and couches in the summerhouse were of in- 
 laid or enameled porcelain and bronze, to serve as 
 cool resting places in warm weather. The apart- 
 ments, which were delightfully airy, were furnished 
 with richest silk upholstered furniture, costly inlaid 
 tables and silk tapestry. He showed us also the 
 
CANTON STREETS 121 
 
 club, or meeting rooms of the bonzes. These were 
 near his own private dwelHng and were furnished 
 with richly decorated altars of gods, red silk 
 cushioned chairs and couches, lackered and gilt 
 woodwork. Ha-Ko's family belonged to the priestly 
 cast. Though it was not yet eight o'clock, he 
 nevertheless received us very politely and accom- 
 panied us on our tour of inspection. He kept shy, 
 however, of a long row of apartments, saying that 
 they were occupied by his selection of wives and 
 their attendants, and that the hour was too early 
 for seeing that part of his residence. With a few 
 changes in the arrangement and in the style of 
 furniture, Ha-Ko's establishment would easily have 
 been changed into a villa of some European nabob. 
 The streets of Canton seem to be kept rather 
 cleaner than is ordinary in Chinese cities ; but they 
 are just as narrow as those of Shanghai. The 
 streets not devoted to business are only narrow 
 lanes between two bare and high walls. The 
 Chinese are not prone to show their wealth in the 
 outward appearance of their city dwellings. Their 
 houses are shut in by high walls and the passerby 
 can judge of the wealth of the inhabitants only by 
 a ghmpse through the grated portals in the wall. 
 The decorated dwelling and the beautiful garden 
 will then easily convince him that the owner must 
 be wealthy. But by far the greater portion of the 
 
122 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 population is abjectly poor and their dwellings are 
 most miserable hovels, or, as we have seen, rude 
 sampans. Some of the main streets seem to be 
 swept and nicely cleaned, but the rough cobble- 
 stones are worn smooth by the swarms that scurry 
 along all day, eagerly intent on all sorts of business. 
 The booths and shops, especially those along the 
 streets bordering the river bank, are long rows of 
 open shanties, where each merchant piles up his 
 small stock of goods as much as possible in full 
 view, while he himself stands or sits amid his mer- 
 chandise, keenly watching for prospective buyers. 
 As a general rule, each one deals in one certain kind 
 of commodity, and this, no doubt, accounts for the 
 countless number of shops, which is much greater 
 than even the reported two millions of inhabitants 
 of Canton seem to warrant. As a general thing, the 
 stranger is not molested in Canton; the natives 
 passed us without much concern, only now and 
 then a concealed contempt might be noticed in the 
 faces of the well-to-do. As for the merchants, the 
 only gage by which they judge of the stranger, is 
 the amount of trade to be gotten out of him. The 
 Chinaman is the keenest tradesman wherever he is 
 found outside of China, and he is not backward in 
 this regard in his own country, you may be sure. 
 He is satisfied with small profits — ^wherever he can- 
 not get larger — ^but on the whole, I think that he is 
 
RELIGION 123 
 
 not apt to overcharge so much as the tradesmen in 
 India. Perhaps that is because the Chinaman is not 
 so bold and more poHtic in his demands. He 
 probably recognizes the fact that a little honesty 
 is good to cover up much cheating and lying. Thus, 
 while he does not make such occasional large profits 
 as his Indian brother, he makes a great many small 
 ones and some larger ones in between. The fact is, 
 that wherever he sets up his business, he is seen to 
 prosper sooner than any other tradesman. 
 
 The French Catholic missionaries have a flour- 
 ishing mission in Canton. The Cathedral is in the 
 Gothic style, almost the only European building 
 in Canton, of course exclusive of the European 
 settlement, on the other side of the Pearl river. 
 Missionary work in China is carried on with suc- 
 cess by the Catholics, for these missionaries sacri- 
 fice themselves entirely, identifying themselves 
 with the people and becoming in their dress and 
 habits to all intents and purposes a part of the 
 nation, in order to gain souls for Christ. 
 
 The Chinese are at the bottom more a nation of 
 materialists than of heathens; for the fusion of 
 Buddhism and Confucianism, which compose their 
 religions, is nothing else than a gross materialism 
 hidden beneath the cult of thousands of gods. 
 All their idols represent more or less the forces of 
 nature, which they try to make propitious to them 
 
124 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 by their religious observances. The idea of an all 
 powerful and supreme Ruler is almost entirely- 
 obscured beneath mere earthly conceptions and 
 aims. The after life of the soul has nothing of 
 spirituality and real immortality about it in their 
 estimation, and its happiness or unhappiness after 
 death is pictured to their minds under entirely 
 material colors. Hence it is not easy to convert 
 the Chinese; the Christian conceptions of the Al- 
 mighty and of the immortality of the soul are too 
 far above their way of thinking. The CathoHc 
 converts are mostly from the ranks of the poor and 
 lowly, and the missionaries must not only be able 
 to offer them the word of God, but also the pros- 
 pect of obtaining a living after conversion, if they 
 wish to have any success. 
 
 It is no joke for a Chinese malefactor, or even 
 for an innocent person, to be brought before the 
 tribunal of justice in China. Let him bring some 
 friend with him, who can "speak for him," for 
 otherwise he is delivered over to certain torture 
 or death. At his very entrance into the dingy 
 court rooms, fear will take possession of his heart. 
 At the farther end, on a raised platform, sits the 
 portly judge; no compassion in his broad face. 
 At each side are attendants; before him in front 
 of the platform, are the jailors and executioners. 
 They stand ready at the beck of the judge to 
 
CHINESE JUSTICE 125 
 
 apply all the instruments of torture that litter the 
 room. From the narrow passage one of the 
 trembling wretches is now brought in. On his 
 knees he crawls up toward the platform with head 
 bowed almost to the ground. 
 
 He is accused of being one of the river pirates. 
 The judge asks whether there is anyone to ''speak 
 for him." Nobody appears. Well, what has he 
 to say for himself? The victim sees his fate al- 
 ready sealed. If he pleads guilty, instant sentence 
 of death will fall from the lips of the judge; if he 
 denies his guilt, he will be torn to pieces by those 
 instruments of torture until he does plead guilty. 
 With chattering teeth and a blank stare he remains 
 mute. Terror has robbed him of speech. The 
 judge orders him to be stripped of his torn and thin 
 clothes up to the waist. At another sign from the 
 judge one of the jailors seizes a split bamboo rod 
 and lets the swishing strokes rain down on the bare 
 back. Each stroke makes a double welt across 
 the body. The moaning of the victim fills the hall 
 but he dares not utter a word during the pause 
 which the executioner makes in the flogging, for he 
 dreads immediate sentence of death, if he con- 
 fesses. Again the bamboo is applied, until the 
 back of the accused is one gashing wound, his 
 eyes bulge out and pain distorts every muscle of 
 his face. But fear still paralyzes the poor pirate. 
 
126 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 There are many others waiting, however, and the 
 judge will not waste time. He gives an angry- 
 order. A movable frame is brought into the middle 
 of the room, a little toward one side. Through a 
 hole in this frame about four feet from the floor, 
 the pigtail of the moaning victim is drawn, his head 
 is jerked up and the queue is securely fastened on 
 the other side. Then a tough cord is fastened to 
 each thumb and the ends of these cords are drawn 
 through other holes and are stretched out on the 
 frame. Like cords are tied to his toes and these 
 are also fastened through the movable wall about 
 a foot above the floor. Thus the victim of the law 
 hangs by his thumbs and by his hair on the un- 
 yielding boards, only his knees slightly touching 
 the floor. Facing the stern judge in this torturing 
 position, he is left to figure out for himself whether 
 it would not be better to speak and end the agony. 
 
 But even if he should wish to speak now he may 
 have to endure this torture for hours and days, 
 until it shall please the judge to hear him. Or if he 
 hesitates too long in spite of the pain, the judge 
 may at any moment order all the other instru- 
 ments of torture, that stand and hang around the 
 room to be put in requisition. No wonder that 
 many of the criminals submit stoically to the death 
 sentence for they know but too well, that justice 
 can substitute a slow, lingering death for the swift 
 
CANALS 127 
 
 one of the sword. It is better to be led out into 
 yonder courtyard and bow the head to one swift 
 stroke of the executioner's axe, than to be chained 
 to a stone flag and thrown into a dark vault without 
 power of moving hands or feet, or to have one's 
 head fastened in the square frame of the kang too 
 high to stand, except on the toes, and too low to 
 end life by hanging from the neck, or to be fastened 
 by hands, feet and neck in the stocks and left to die 
 a slow, lingering death. 
 
 Chinese justice is but the tyranny of hell, modeled 
 after the fierce cruelty of their merciless gods, 
 untempered with mercy. Woe to the victim that 
 falls into its clutches : unless he has money or friends, 
 his guilt is presumed, and he must prove his inno- 
 cence, else Chinese justice will glut itself with his 
 writhing torments. 
 
 Canton is cut up by numerous canals, connecting 
 with the Takiang river and through it, with the 
 whole of China. Trade with the interior is carried 
 on by houseboats of all sizes, and hundreds of thou- 
 sands of people, that make these boats their home, 
 ply up and down the canals and the river in the 
 neighborhood of Canton. A gorgeous flowerboat, 
 with double decks like a small river steamer, was 
 moving up stream, when, through the winding 
 streets, we again came to the banks of the river. 
 There are a great number of these boats, not only 
 
128 Q^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 for the sale of flowers, but as pleasure resorts, 
 where rich Chinese hold their receptions and par- 
 ties. When a Chinaman wants to entertain his 
 friends he hires one of these flowerboats for the 
 day or for the night. He sends out invitations 
 and at the appointed time he and his friends are 
 received in grand style by the boat owners. A 
 banquet is in readiness, the strains of music re- 
 sound, young maidens attired in rich and pleasing 
 costumes glide about, attending to the wants of 
 the guests, and in pleasant conversation the time 
 passes away, altogether free and untrammeled by 
 the restraints of home or family. 
 
 From Canton we wanted to take passage on a 
 small steamer to Macao, the Portuguese colony on 
 one of the mouths of the Takiang river. In order 
 to put us aboard the steamer a small house- 
 boat took us in charge. It was tenanted by about 
 eight or ten persons and the women did the sculling, 
 one of them with an infant lashed behind to her 
 shoulders. Just as we neared the boat, which 
 was to take us to Macao, a collision of two house- 
 boats occurred and a coolie dropped overboard. 
 Nobody seemed to mind it and the coolie had to 
 clamber up the side of his boat as best he could. 
 He simply took off the few dripping rags in full 
 view and probably got along with a minimum of 
 clothing for the rest of that day. 
 
IN THE STEERAGE 129 
 
 The covered deck in the rear of the steamboat, 
 where we had that day cast our lot with some 
 fifty celestials of the poorer class, presented a scene 
 distinctly Chinese. Each one, and we were no 
 exception, sought some place to sit or move about 
 among the bales of merchandise, that took in most 
 of the floor space. Groups of Chinese formed 
 themselves, squatting on the floor or on the pack- 
 ages of freight, or lying in the shelved bunks along 
 the sides. They all seemed a very quiet set, con- 
 versing only in low tones, or smoking opium in a 
 dark corner. Near us, seated on some packages, 
 were four Chinamen playing cards nearly all day 
 without uttering more than a few low monosyl- 
 lables at long intervals. Their cards were not wider 
 than perhaps half of an inch and about four inches 
 long. There were seventy-two of them, covered 
 with red and black spots from one to twelve, and 
 all were dealt out in rotation, one at a time, to 
 each of the players. The game seemed to consist 
 in eliminating certain kinds and being able to re- 
 tain others. Sometimes they would throw down 
 7 or 8 at a time. They dexterously held forty or 
 fifty cards, spread out in neat fan-like shape be- 
 tween two fingers. The grand stake was a "cash," 
 or one-twelfth of a cent, that is, one of the per- 
 forated brass coins. Stoically they played on, 
 having about them a circle of interested onlookers 
 
130 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 most of the time. What indifference to loss or 
 gain! Almost like that of their white brother 
 gamblers in Monte Carlo or some other dive. I 
 think one of them lost at least twenty or thirty of 
 those brass coins that day. Well, maybe he was 
 a millionaire, but he did not have the appearance 
 of one. 
 
 Of course we were scanned with curious eyes, 
 but in such a way that it was not irksome. A 
 small boy planted himself in front of us and watched 
 our every motion for some time. I gave him some 
 "cashes" and he scampered away to his father to 
 show him the present. But we had not bargained 
 for what happened next. The father came up from 
 the rear with a basket, that had the dirt of genera- 
 tions clinging to it. He began to spread out on a 
 box before us, its uninviting contents. I afterwards 
 found out, that they were new year's offerings, 
 brought from some temple in Canton, and that 
 they were intended as special gifts for his family at 
 home. He nearly emptied his precious store in his 
 eagerness to please us. But we were hard to please. 
 We looked too much on the outside of things. If 
 we could only bring ourselves to take a hearty bite 
 through the dirty crust of that riceball, we would 
 perhaps see that it tastes better than it looks. Or 
 what difference should it make to see that others, 
 perhaps mice or (who knows ?) perhaps the grinning 
 
A BANQUET 131 
 
 gods in that temple had nibbled at the pastry? 
 Or why did we only look at that greasy lump of 
 fish and meat? We probably missed our only 
 chance of tasting rat-meat, or snake-meat, as is fit 
 only for the gods! By the bye, anything would 
 be fit for the Chinese gods. That Chinaman must 
 have taken us for queer people. To look at such 
 a selection of viands, and scarcely taste them! 
 But we preferred to let him wonder, or to let him 
 think that we were far ahead of any of the bonzes 
 or Buddhist monks in matters of mortification and 
 abstinence. 
 
 A young Chinese, much more decent in appear- 
 ance than the rest, had been eyeing me very closely 
 as I said my office, and had scrutinized the gold 
 cross on my watchchain several times. He came 
 up after some time and taking hold of the cross, 
 asking me by the help of a few French words and 
 by making the sign of the cross, whether I was a 
 Catholic. I learned that he belonged to the large 
 congregation of Chinese Catholic in charge of the 
 priests of the Canton Cathedral. His name was 
 Ching Chu How and the difference between him 
 and his heathen companions, even as far as the 
 exterior is concerned, was clearly apparent. Chris- 
 tianity in these heathen countries is connected with 
 great sacrifices, and therefore true converts, if they 
 remain steadfast for any length of time, must cer- 
 
132 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 tainly practice all the Christian virtues from sincere 
 conviction. Nobody remains a sham Catholic 
 there for a long time ; it does not pay. The en- 
 nobling influences of divine faith therefore become 
 apparent in a short time in their whole bearing. In 
 the case of this young man it had given to his face 
 a certain refinement and nobleness, which I think 
 I would have noticed even if I had not been told, 
 that he was a Christian. He belonged to the same 
 poor class of people as those lying around, but 
 there was absent about his person the slovenliness, 
 the slinking secrecy, the signs of hidden vices and 
 indulgences so much in evidence on the counte- 
 nances of most of the others. For nearly the whole 
 day this young Chinese kept near us, though he 
 could speak but little with us, nor we with him, 
 except in signs. Even his mere presence was, to me 
 at least, a pleasure. 
 
 What we have seen of the Chinese so far im- 
 pressed us with their peaceable and unobtrusive 
 disposition and I am inclined to lay the blame for 
 the uprisings in the interior to the greed and 
 haughtiness of the Europeans, encroaching upon 
 the rights and territories of Chinese. It is no 
 doubt also a significant fact, that the white inhabi- 
 tants doing business or holding office in the Chinese 
 seaports and in India, freely accuse the Protestant 
 missionaries of insincerity, greediness and of calling 
 
CONVERTS 133 
 
 too much on the support of their governments in 
 order to push their indiscreet efforts at conversion. 
 How true this accusation is, we were not in a posi- 
 tion to ascertain. It is, however, well known that 
 the Protestant convert seldom leaves Buddhism or 
 Brahmanism in sincere conviction. As Protestant 
 missions are well supplied with money and in- 
 fluence, the natives very often forswear heathenism 
 merely for worldly advancement. 
 
 Even this, no doubt, is an improvement on his 
 former state, whenever it is lasting; but the 
 trouble is, that it is mostly only a temporary 
 change and has the effect of loosening the good 
 moral principles, which even Buddhism and Con- 
 fucianism, or even a worse form of heathenism, 
 indirectly inculcates in the human heart. As soon 
 as the material benefit accruing from the accept- 
 ance of the Christian faith ceases, those that are not 
 sincere converts fall away from all Christian re- 
 straint and are apt to be set adrift in regard to all 
 religious convictions. 
 
 It is the common complaint of business people 
 in the Orient that unfaithful converts to Chris- 
 tianity are far more perverse than the heathens 
 themselves. Of course, this, in itself, is not yet an 
 argument against all missionary work among the 
 heathens ; but it assumes a very discouraging aspect, 
 when the number of unfaithful converts far out- 
 
134 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 Strips the faithful ones, which is bound to be the 
 only result of buying converts in heathen countries. 
 It is on this account, that many practical business 
 men and clear-sighted white residents of these coun- 
 tries, though they themselves are good Christian 
 men, see no good in missionaries and, in fact, are 
 positively hostile toward the whole missionary 
 propaganda among heathen nations. We admit, 
 that they go too far in their wholesale condemna- 
 tion. This hostile spirit of white residents partly 
 extends also to the Catholic missionaries, though 
 the results of their labors are much more stable and 
 satisfactory. 
 
 At about four o'clock we came in sight of the 
 port of Macao and its yellow rows of buildings. 
 It is built on a spur of the mountain, which runs 
 into the ocean in the shape of a half moon. On the 
 highest hill, in the midst of the town, the charred 
 walls of the facade of the cathedral of St. Paul 
 stand forth. The sky glares through the Gothic 
 openings of the top windows of the facade, reveal- 
 ing from afar the architectural outhnes of the once 
 magnificent structure. These aspiring ruins are 
 an impressive reminder of the dire results of the 
 expulsion of the Jesuits and the destruction of 
 their missions through the machinations of Pombal 
 in 1773. 
 
 After leaving the steamer, a rickshaw took us up 
 
MACAO 135 
 
 the steeps incline of the crooked streets to the new 
 Jesuit college. Here I expected to meet the Rev. 
 W. H. , S. J. , a former fellow student at college. He 
 had not yet returned from his walk, but a Portu- 
 guese father, who had received us at the gate, 
 showed us through the college, the church and the 
 gardens. The college is built on a rocky plateau 
 and its long, vaulted corridors and rows of rooms and 
 study-halls could accommodate ten times the num- 
 ber of its present students and professors. Outside 
 in the gardens and playgrounds the small and large 
 students were making the chill air resound with 
 gleeful shouts and laughter, no less than our boys 
 are accustomed to do. They were mostly of 
 Portuguese descent and their behavior toward us 
 and the father was very polite and respectful. In 
 the garden is a banyan tree, the stem of which is 
 nearly ten feet in circumference, and it dates back 
 to the beginnings of the college. 
 
 Our Portuguese conductor offered to accompany 
 us on a rickshaw ride around Macao, a proposition 
 which we heartily endorsed. He spoke no Eng- 
 lish, but managed along with French. Down along 
 the esplanade skirting the harbor's edge, ran our 
 three cooHes with their rickshaws and afterwards 
 up to the parks on the plateau, which were very 
 tastefully laid out and well kept. Climbing up the 
 mountain side, we visited also the military hospital. 
 
136 O^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 On a still higher ledge stood the ancient lighthouse 
 and the beautiful chapel, said to have been built by 
 Vasco de Gama himself. From our elevated posi- 
 tion we could survey the whole city. Above the 
 rest of the buildings rose the churches of the Jesuits, 
 the Dominicans, Augustinians and the native or 
 Chinese Catholic church. Nearly all the Chinese 
 of this neighborhood have long ago been con- 
 verted to the Catholic faith and the Chinese 
 quarters differ little from the European portions of 
 the town. 
 
 On re-entering the university we were welcomed 
 by the kind voice of Father Hornsby, who with the 
 exception of a thin beard, had not altered in the 
 long years of sacrifice in a strange and inhospitable 
 country. He had lived in China all the time and 
 had only recently been transferred to Macao Uni- 
 versity, principally in order to teach English. I 
 passed a few pleasant hours with friend Hornsby. 
 We were, of course, invited to stay over night in the 
 college. It must have been a grand institution in 
 the prosperous days of Portuguese rule. Now, 
 however, its long-stretched corridors are almost 
 empty, and our footfalls in passing over the rough 
 floors as darkness set in, seemed but the faint echoes 
 of thousands of nimblefooted students of bygone 
 times. What massive walls, still covered with the 
 coarse plastering of 150 years ago! What rough 
 
HISTORIC BANYAN, JESUIT COLLEGE, MACAO 
 
JUSUIT COLLEGE 137 
 
 hewn door frames and panels, what antiquated, sim- 
 ple furniture in each room! At nine o'clock all life 
 had died away in the extensive building and its 
 inmates lay buried in sleep, until the shrieking gong 
 resounded at half past four in the morning and 
 roused the slumberers. No doubt for a few 
 hundred years, with the exception of the time 
 during which the order was suppressed, the gong 
 had sounded the same hours of retirement and 
 awakening. 
 
 After morning service, Father Hornsby was 
 again at our side. He showed us the cherished 
 relic of St. Francis Xavier: his arm encased in a 
 silver shrine, in one of the chapels of the institution. 
 Sancian, where the Saint ended his life, is one of 
 the neighboring islands. His body was taken to 
 Goa, while one of his arms remained here. 
 
 It was time to catch the Hung Shang for our 
 return to Hong Kong, and Father Hornsby insisted 
 on accompanying us to the wharf. On the way 
 down we visited an opium distillery. The dried 
 lotus plant is imported mostly from India in the 
 shape of compressed balls, about ten inches in 
 diameter. Along the walls of the factory, over 
 open fires, flat bottomed copper pans were half 
 filled with the dried lotus plants and water. This 
 mixture is boiled down to the consistency of syrup, 
 pressed through a strainer to separate the leaves 
 
138 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 and then hermetically sealed in metal boxes. 
 CooHes were tending to the fires and the boiHng 
 liquids, from which arose noisome fumes. The 
 whole establishment looked like an extensive black- 
 smith shop with many forges ablowing. 
 
 The wharf was crowded with people, for every- 
 where we noticed that the Orientals are great trav- 
 elers. A hearty shaking of hands, many friendly 
 adieus, and we were again on board the steamer. 
 As the boat moved away we saw the good priest 
 wending his way up the steep street to the univer- 
 sity, turning round once more to wave adieu. Will 
 he ever return homeward to see the friends of his 
 youth? He will, if the gentle call of his superiors 
 is wafted over watery wastes to his attentive ears. 
 
 As the vessel rounded the peninsula, on which 
 Macao is built, the morning sun shone brightly on 
 the receding panorama of light-colored buildings, 
 that rose in tiers up the hill sides. During our 
 passage to Hong Kong a pair of deckhands armed 
 with rifles paced up and down the deck of the 
 steamer. The captain bluntly answered to my 
 inquiry about them: "One never knows at what 
 moment some of these yellow-skins may rise to exe- 
 cute some devilish scheme or other." I conjec- 
 tured, that it must be a remnant of the precaution 
 against pirates of former times; or else it was 
 merely a piece of swaggering humbug of these Eng- 
 
HONG KONG AGAIN 139 
 
 lish invaders. The vessel picked its way between 
 headlands and islands scattered on all sides. 
 Heavy mists began to fall over the rugged main- 
 land, driven along and sometimes parted by the 
 gusts of wind. The fitful sunshine would now 
 and then light up the swiftly moving mists, that 
 looked hke white monsters playing hide and seek 
 among the hilltops. 
 
 At noon again the glorious surroundings of Hong 
 Kong city and harbor came into view. The wharf 
 where we landed was swarming with Chinese craft : 
 sampans, bamboo-ribbed sails, junks with grotesque 
 prows and larger vessels with huge eyes painted in 
 glaring colors on each side. After taking a few 
 snapshots with our camera, we started out on a 
 stroll through the Chinese quarters of Hong Kong. 
 It is, of course, under strict supervision of the Eng- 
 Hsh government and so the streets are kept in a 
 clean and sanitary condition. The buildings are a 
 continued row of four or five storied buildings with 
 pillared porches for each story and shops of all 
 kinds in the ground floor; they must have been 
 intended as a sort of compromise between Chinese 
 houses and modern business buildings on a small 
 scale. But the manners and habits of the Chinese 
 undergo Httle change in whatever houses they live, 
 or in whatever country. 
 
 The streets offered a busy scene: rickshaw men 
 
140 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 by the score, hurrying to and fro; cooHes under 
 their umbrella hats, staggering under the heavy 
 loads suspended on each side from their yokesticks ; 
 ox-teamsters, urging their patient beasts through 
 the streets. The shops presented a yet stranger 
 sight: naked coolies treading on the ends of beams 
 to raise the huge pounding-stones over grain pits; 
 whole families squatting in front of warehouses 
 sewing tea-sacks; cobblers pounding away at the 
 soles of queer-looking shoes ; rattan plaiters, almost 
 buried under the long bamboo-splits to make all 
 sorts of useful articles; junk-dealers, groping 
 around in their dark corners among their worthless 
 metal scraps; carpenters, most ridiculously (at least 
 to European eyes) drawing unwieldly saws toward 
 them through thick logs in order to cut out about 
 one decent board a day; opium-den keepers sitting 
 in more or less (especially less) luxurious offices to 
 await victims ; drygoods shops, with their owners 
 ready to count out yards and cash on the abacus 
 or counting frame; tobacco shops, with all sorts 
 of Chinese trifles to eke out the scanty stock of 
 unsmokeable (and it seemed, unsmoked) cigars 
 and cigarettes ; peddlers, with their wares suspend- 
 ed from the ends of the shoulderstick, repeating 
 their thin-voiced Chinese calls; barbers on the 
 street corners or in their open shops, standing in 
 front of their customers scratching off the scanty 
 
PUBLIC PARK, MACAO 
 
STREET SCENES 141 
 
 beards without soap, or plaiting the dangling queue. 
 
 My companion subjected himself to the tender 
 mercies of one of these barbers. Bolt upright the 
 little man had to sit on a stool without a back-rest. 
 Then, with a knife not larger than a small penknife, 
 and merely wetting the chin with some water, the 
 dexterous Chinaman began to scrape the cropping 
 beard. Soon the harvest was over, and it was a 
 good job as far as the face was concerned; but un- 
 fortunately M. stopped short and would not allow 
 the barber to attach one of their stock of queues. 
 The whole operation cost him, I believe, twelve 
 cashes, or about one and a half cents of our money. 
 But then you must consider that the Chinese 
 barber neither uses soap, nor did he draw any blood, 
 or try to entertain you by conversation. All these 
 things, of course, you are supposed to pay for in 
 civilized countries. The Chinese barbers seem to 
 think these additions unessential. Well, they are 
 a perverse set, I suppose. 
 
 If you want to cause a good-sized crowd to 
 gather in the twinkling of an eye in a Chinese 
 street, just throw down five cents worth of cashes 
 on the pavement. Like a shoal of minnows will 
 they gather and there will be an amusing scamble 
 of Chinese, young and old, to get in possession of 
 some of the filthy lucre. While sitting in one of the 
 shoe-shops in order to get some work done on our 
 
142 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 footwear, we tried the experiment and very soon 
 the street was completely blocked. But don't let 
 them find you out as the source of this money- 
 rain. Let them rather believe that it is dropping 
 from the clouds. In one unguarded moment they 
 saw us throw the miserable cashes and the conse- 
 quence was that the shop was for a time simply 
 blockaded and, after pressing through the crowds 
 at the door, though we almost ran along the streets, 
 we had a surging mob of Chinese following in our 
 wake for quite a while. 
 
 The cable cars, that run up to the top of Mt. 
 Victoria from the residence portion of Hong Kong 
 take a zigzag course through most charming scenery. 
 Very often a dizzy sensation seizes the passenger, 
 as he seems to be dragged up at an angle of 45 
 degrees and looks down the awful declivities. Turn 
 upon turn discloses a more charming and ever ex- 
 panding view of the city and its surroundings. 
 From the upper terminus there is still a mile of 
 carriage roads and foot paths to the summit, but 
 the vast expanse of scenery richly repays the 
 exertion of climbing the ascent. Beneath us, on 
 one side, lay Hong Kong and its blue harbor with 
 hundreds of vessels of all sizes. Our eyes swept 
 over the headlands, and island-gems of the circling 
 harbor still belonging to China, while to the south 
 we viewed a vast panorama of peaked islands 
 
ON THE ESMERALDA 143 
 
 and stretches of gleaming water between, and far 
 beyond, the rolHng billows of the Yellow Sea. The 
 slanting rays of the afternoon sun cast a mellow 
 light over the verdant peaks and the slowly heaving 
 ocean. 
 
 Down near the wharf, across from the palatial cus- 
 tom house lay the "Esmeralda," which was getting 
 up steam for the trip to Manila, and aboard of which 
 we had already stored our baggage. Even now it 
 was belching forth clouds of black smoke. As the 
 hour set for its departure was at hand, that rising 
 volume of smoke made us anxious lest we should 
 arrive too late to get aboard; our descent, and our 
 rickshaw- and sampan-ride to her deck, bore all the 
 symptoms of a stampede. The "Esmeralda" was 
 not a very large steamer, but the accommodations 
 were satisfactory. She is, of course, owned by the 
 English, as is nearly all shipping in those regions. 
 It is to be hoped that the Americans will soon 
 enter a wedge of competition in the passenger and 
 freight trade of these waters : many things will then 
 be more pleasantly arranged for the traveler and 
 the merchant as well. Our hurry was needless ; it 
 was hours before the "Esmeralda" weighed anchor 
 and slowly glided'past Hong Kong through a passage 
 between the islands opposite to that where we had 
 entered on the GaeHc, As darkness settled over 
 the waters, we reached the v/ide expanse of the 
 
144 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 ocean. Through the night our trusty boat swayed 
 over the mighty swells, and up from the bottomless 
 deep came the creeping fiend of seasickness, en- 
 thralling most of the few passengers in its sinister 
 numbness. The weather became wet and sultry. 
 A west wind began to sweep across our beam and 
 raised the surging waves, that ceaselessly tossed 
 the steamer from crested summit to deepening 
 water-trough through all the night. So we lay 
 helpless during the darksome hours, wedged in 
 our narrow bunks, lulled to fitful sleep by the 
 roaring of the sea and the creaking of the much- 
 strained ship timbers and the thumping of the 
 engines. 
 
 Practical Hints. — Those that have time and 
 money can extend their trip in China indefinitely 
 and they will find it interesting, as long as they 
 do not get tired of riding in a mule cart or crouching 
 under the low roofs of the river boats. One could 
 take the steamer from Shanghai to Taku and make 
 the short trip from there to Pekin by rail, then 
 from Pekin by mule cart to the Great Wall. He 
 could return to Shanghai by houseboat on the 
 Peiho and the Imperial canal and even vary this 
 trip by an excursion up the great Yellow or Hoang- 
 ho River. From Shanghai he could have a steam- 
 boat to Hankow on the other great river of China, 
 
PRACTICAL HINTS 145 
 
 the Yangtse Kiang, and farther, and if he wanted 
 to get a full dose of native travel, let him jolt down 
 on an ox or mule cart hundreds of miles from 
 Hankow to Canton. By the time he would get to 
 the latter city he would no doubt rank not only as 
 a common tourist, but as a great explorer, at least 
 great in the endurance of all kinds of hardships. 
 A great part of the time he would have to be satis- 
 fied with the fare of the natives, which to judge 
 from the samples that we were supposed to eat 
 would be probably just a trifle uninviting. How- 
 ever, even for this there is a relief also in China : to 
 hunger as a cook, I can give my best recommenda- 
 tions, as I had occasion for his services more than 
 once on the trip. 
 
 Differences of opinion in regard to the route to 
 be taken will infallibly arise where there are several 
 in a party. Therefore it is best not to count upon 
 the company of more than one or two. Where 
 parties travel under the leadership of a guide and 
 under contracts, as they do in the regular tourists' 
 excursions, of course there is no choice of com- 
 panions left to the individual, unless he prefers to 
 separate altogether. I can only say that in a great 
 many instances, he would do better to separate, 
 even at the loss of money paid in. It is more 
 satisfactory to follow your own inclinations at a 
 little extra cost, than to follow listlessly in the 
 regular routine of tourists' travel. 
 
146 O^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 As regards round trip tickets for long distances, 
 they can be had, no doubt, at reduced rates. How- 
 ever, the reduction in rates will not be equal to the 
 amount one can save by taking second or third 
 class tickets for those stretches of the journey, 
 where the differences in the classes is not so great, 
 or where second or third class is preferable for the 
 purpose of seeing something of the natives of the 
 country. If one has a round trip ticket and desires 
 to deviate from the prescribed route, let him take 
 care not to engage any berths beforehand on the 
 steamers and, if possible, retain the original coupons 
 which he has received at the starting point. It 
 will be much easier to get a refund for unused por- 
 tions of his tickets. As a general rule also it is 
 better to buy from the transportation companies' 
 offices direct, rather than to deal with secondary 
 agents. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 At the Edge of a Typhoon. — ^Past Cavite to 
 Manila. — Quartered near the Luneta. — ^In 
 Torrid Clime. — ^Peering into Friars' Cells. — 
 Amid the Ruins of the War. — Jolting along a 
 Filipino Railroad. — ^Up the Pasig and the 
 Inland Lakes.— Cascoes.— Our Soldier Boys. 
 — ^A visit to General Otis and Archbishop 
 Chapelle. — Jesuit Observatory. — Roamings 
 through Manila. — ^Aboard the Palitana. 
 
 The morning broke upon the storm-tossed sea, 
 cloudy and sultry. Like a nutshell the steamer 
 was hurled to and fro on the surging billows, for as 
 the captain told us, we were on the ragged edge of a 
 hurricane raging in its full force farther westward. 
 Wave upon wave came tumbling over the low 
 bulwarks of the steamer, which was heavily laden 
 with war supplies for the Philippines. Once 
 aboard, the wave would start to swish across the 
 deck as the vessel righted itself. Not finding 
 egress there in so short a time, back it would roll to 
 the side on which it had entered, just in time to 
 encounter another foaming billow swooping atop 
 of it over the side of the vessel and uniting with it 
 
 147 
 
148 OT.R OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 in its oft repeated course across the deck. And so 
 the angry play of the waves continued through the 
 day with ceaseless rush and deafening noise. 
 Listless, I lay on the soft cushions of the dining- 
 room seats, oppressed by fell seasickness. There 
 was no getting up and walking around on such a 
 frantic deck and with such a rebellious stomach. 
 My companion inquired sometimes, how I was 
 getting along; I answered with grim humor, that 
 there certainly was enough motion inside and out- 
 side of me to be "getting along" at a million miles 
 a minute. He merely smiled in approval; he 
 always smiled when he did not understand. I 
 like these deaf people, especially in the noise of a 
 storm at sea. You get a smile and an assent, 
 though your joke is as dense as ink and as bitter 
 as gall. 
 
 The waves continued unabated during the second 
 day and the weather was even more damp and 
 sultry than on the first. The dampness in these 
 latitudes is oppressive. You almost think that you 
 are breathing through a watersoaked sponge. At 
 the same time you cannot come to the full con- 
 viction that you are drowning, for, while you inhale 
 so much moisture, you feel the clammy perspiration 
 running out of your pores in a thousand streams. 
 The few passengers were all suffering in the same 
 way, if not in the same degree as myself. Mr. 
 
MANILA BAY 149 
 
 Havers, a drummer for the Rainier Brewing Co., 
 Seattle, Mr. Clark, representing a Hong Kong 
 merchant firm, and Mr. Nichols, sent by a Colorado 
 mining company to prospect on the Philippines were 
 about the only ones who were seen about on board 
 ship. 
 
 But on the third day, a Monday, the sun rose 
 over a placid sea and its glorious morning rays re- 
 vealed to our left the island of Corregidor and to 
 our right the jutting shores of Ternate of the main- 
 land. Ahead of us lay the vast bay of Manila, 
 while a faint smokiness in the sky indicated the site 
 of Manila itself. The opening between Corregidor 
 and the mainland, where alone warships can enter, 
 is only a narrow channel and it seems strange that 
 Dewey's ships should have passed here almost at 
 the cannon's mouth. Only the grossest negligence 
 on the one side, and the utmost daring on the other, 
 could make the passage at all possible. Further on, 
 to our right in the surf at the foot of the green hills 
 of Ternate, lay the sad wrecks of two recently 
 stranded vessels. The smooth waters of the bay 
 were dotted with the odd-shaped cascoes and 
 fishermen's boats. The steeples and wharfs of 
 Manila appeared after a few hours and our vessel 
 dropped her anchor about two miles from the 
 entrance to the Pasig. Several American trans- 
 ports and five or six U. S. warships rode on the 
 
150 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 gentle swell, while other vessels, in great number, 
 were loading or unloading around us. 
 
 All was life and animation, such as probably 
 these waters had never seen before. Three or four 
 miles to the right, the wall of Fort Cavite rose on 
 the low shores, while the spars and smokestacks of 
 the unfortunate sunken Spanish warships peered 
 above the bright sunlit waters in front of it. It 
 must have been just such a bright morning as this, 
 when Dewey and his gallant captains veered in 
 semi-circle up and down the stretch of water about 
 a mile to our right and ended Spanish possession 
 of Manila bay. Though there may be widely dif- 
 ferent opinions concerning the justice of the cause, 
 there can be no doubt about the magnificent cour- 
 age and heroism of the deed. That the Spanish 
 naval forces did not, or could not, make much show 
 of resistance, only influenced the final success of the 
 attack, but could not diminish the amount of cour- 
 age required in making the onslaught. According 
 to all appearances and according to careful com- 
 parison, the Spanish navy was superior to the 
 American and a policy of defense rather than of 
 attack would have been the course of ordinary 
 courage. Dewey therefore showed the courage 
 of heroes, not only in attempting to enter the bay, 
 but in beginning the attack, and bringing it to 
 so splendid a victory. 
 
DOCK LIFE 151 
 
 During the formalities imposed by the custom 
 regulations and the health department, which con- 
 sumed several hours, there was a pleasant inter- 
 change of opinion between the passengers on board, 
 something which had not been possible during 
 the rough weather on the two previous days. Most 
 of them had lived for some time on the island and 
 they were of opinion that the United States, after 
 matters had come to such a point, could do nothing 
 else than keep possession of the islands. They 
 however probably spoke merely from a business 
 standpoint, regardless of the right or wrong, or of 
 the inclination of the Filipinos themselves. A 
 guard of soldiers was left on board the "Esmeralda" 
 to see, that the regulations incident to military rule, 
 were not infringed upon. 
 
 Towards noon the tug brought us with our bag- 
 gage to the mouth of the Pasig and up along the 
 wharfs and warehouses to the U. S. customs build- 
 ing. Incredible bustle and action enlivened the 
 river banks. Countless vessels, tugs, cascoes and 
 sampans swarmed on the water; clumsy trucks, 
 oxcarts, drays, handcarts, Chinese cooHes and 
 malays, almost nak-ed, and here and there an 
 American giving orders, horses, mules and water- 
 buffaloes moved about among the heaps of mer- 
 chandise. The U. S. custom regulations were 
 more annoying and were enforced by a set of more 
 
152 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 inconsiderate officials, than those of any other 
 country. They rummaged through our hand- 
 bags in a most unpardonable way and triumphantly 
 appropriated an old pistol from one of my valises. 
 The whole proceeding was ludicrous and childish 
 and was attended to by a lot of fellows that would 
 disgrace any Turkish dougane. 
 
 Having been released from their importunities, 
 we proceeded along the river bank up to the bridge, 
 which connects the Escolta or main business street 
 of Manila with the fine driveway of the Luneta, 
 or spacious park curving along the beach of the bay. 
 At the bridge we hired an old-fashioned cabriolet 
 and drove along the Luneta to its farther end, 
 where we put up at the Grand Hotel in the Ermite 
 addition of Manila. This hotel must have formerly 
 been a villa, now appropriated for hotel purposes 
 by an irascible, yet cavalierly Australian. 
 
 We had scarcely been settled in our rooms when 
 we heard the voices of Rev. B. and V. H. sounding 
 up from below. In their company was Rev. Mc 
 Kinnon, the U. S. army chaplain, who now in- 
 vited us all to dinner at the hotel. He had his 
 rooms adjoining our own and he was just about to 
 take his two accidental acquaintances to the great 
 Jesuit observatory, before they would have to 
 leave on their return to Hong Kong. My views 
 as to routes, which entailed our separation, were 
 
PASIG RIVER AT MANILA HARBOR 
 
THE ESCOLTA 153 
 
 entirely vindicated. They had arrived only twenty- 
 four hours before us and would have to embark 
 today, if they did not wish to miss the P. & O. 
 steamer in Hong Kong. We would have nearly 
 a week in the Philippines and would very likely 
 overtake their boat in Singapore at hardly any 
 extra expense. 
 
 After dinner we made our preHminary tour of 
 inspection of the business part of Manila. A 
 cuchero took us along the walls and moat of the 
 old town to the Spanish bridge, built in 1626 by 
 Ninos de Tavola. On the other side of this bridge 
 begins the new addition of the last hundred years, 
 where the main business streets of Manila are 
 located. The Pasig river divides it from the old 
 walled town, which dates back over three centuries. 
 Though the sun burned fiercely down upon the 
 pavement, the streets were full of animation. 
 Spaniards, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Germans, 
 Americans, especially soldiers, mingled with the 
 Filipinos of allconditions and crowded up and down 
 the Escolta. This part of the city presents about 
 the same appearance as the business portions of 
 old European towns. Though there were no 
 strictly modern buildings, there was plenty of 
 modern business going on in the old buildings. 
 The Germans seemed to be holding the largest 
 share of the trade, but the English were also well 
 
154 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 represented. American firms had , already estab- 
 lished a number of branch houses. 
 
 The Americans have certainly given the saloon 
 trade an immense boom, and the old as well as the 
 new resorts of that kind were overcrowded. There 
 was one establishment on the Escolta, the San 
 Miquel, headquarters of the San Miquel brewery, 
 which did a rushing business. The San Miquel is 
 owned and managed by Bavarians and is the only 
 one in the island, as it retains from the former gov- 
 ernment the sole monopoly of brewing and selling 
 lager beer on tap. Its headquarters on the Escolta 
 were newly decorated and furnished in the most 
 sumptuous manner, as soon as the Americans made 
 their appearance. Two hundred American soldiers 
 were often seated at the small round tables, clam- 
 oring for the busy waiters. Not only was the drink 
 unadulterated and delightfully cool, but the rooms 
 themselves were a refuge against the beastly tor- 
 ridness outside. We laid in a stock of Manila 
 cigars, at prices ranging about half of those in the 
 States for the same quality of goods. But I could 
 never fancy the odd taste about these cigars. 
 
 Scarcely a quarter of a mile from the Escolta in 
 the new town the way leads over the bridge of 
 Nino to the walls of the old fortified town of 
 Manila. The walls and the moat of course are 
 falling into decay, for of what use are walls now 
 
THE MONKS 155 
 
 against modern cannon balls? The remains of 
 a drawbridge guarded by American soldiers, afford 
 access over the moat to the old city gate. Im- 
 mediately to the right, inside of the walls, part of 
 the great Dominican university was being used for 
 barracks and mihtary headquarters. The greater 
 portion however, of the Dominican establishment, 
 and the church, were still occupied by the monks 
 and students. I first entered the church, which is 
 built in the renaissance style peculiar to the eastern 
 colonies of Spain and Portugal. The portals are 
 remarkable for the exquisite carvings. Inside the 
 solemn stillness, the half-gloom of richly colored 
 windows, the artistic decorations, the costly 
 statues and altars are calculated to cast the charm 
 of true Catholic devotion over pious visitors. 
 
 Seeking for some one who could give me more 
 information, I passed through the sacristy in the 
 rear up a wide flight of stairs, leading into the uni- 
 versity convent. Some boys conducted me to the 
 room of the padre sacristano. He was sitting at 
 the open window of the spacious room, conversing 
 with two of his confreres. They were stoutly 
 built men in the white Dominican habit and their 
 dark complexion easily betrayed them as Span- 
 iards. They did not recognize me as a priest, 
 until I told them, and even then I somewhat 
 suspect, that they doubted, whether I was not 
 
156 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 after all a Protestant minister. I was dressed as 
 a traveler, though with my Roman collar, but 
 they do not seem to recognize that as a part of 
 the clerical dress. Nevertheless they made me 
 welcome, though I had intruded so unceremoni- 
 ously. With the help of the Spanish that I had 
 learnt and the smattering of English, that one of 
 them knew, we managed well enough. They began 
 to get curious in their questioning about the United 
 States, but showed no ill disposition towards the 
 change in government. As far as I could gather 
 from their conversation, they would be satisfied 
 with any arrangement which the new state of 
 affairs would necessitate in regard to their future. 
 I purposely mentioned the hostility of the 
 natives to their and other orders. But that did 
 not seem to cause them much concern. Most of 
 it is only an exaggerated report to begin with. If 
 their hostility could not be overcome, they said 
 they would seek refuge in Spain or some other 
 country and find plenty of work to do. In the 
 meantime they were trying to accustom them- 
 selves to the new state of affairs and they had even 
 now introduced the study of English as a regular 
 branch in the curriculum of the university. I 
 afterwards met several other monks who had 
 already learnt EngHsh very well. They invited 
 me to remain a few days and I would no doubt 
 
FALSE ACCUSATIONS 157 
 
 have been their guest during my stay in Manila, 
 if consideration for my companion had not pre- 
 cluded such a course. The friar showed me the 
 extensive college buildings and the church. Here 
 were abundant proofs of the good, which the monks 
 have done on the islands. For over 200 years 
 the youths of the islands have been educated in 
 these spacious halls. The black teak floor-deals 
 of the wide corridors and spacious rooms were 
 worn smooth by the feet of many generations of 
 young people, who have received training not 
 inferior to that of European countries. Hosts 
 of generous souls have occupied the cells and 
 issued forth from them in their errands of piety and 
 devotion for the welfare of the people among which 
 they had settled. In the church are works of high 
 art produced by the very natives whom they had 
 educated, and the church itself is a monument of 
 the zeal of the monks in the service of God. Surely 
 here the visitor finds no corroboration of the 
 exaggerated accusations and silly slanders which 
 envy has spread in America about the Philippine 
 monk. 
 
 Just one word about these accusations. It is 
 said, that the Filipinos are especially hostile to the 
 Dominicans, Augustinians and Recollects; that 
 they accuse them of exorbitant greed and laxity 
 in morals. It is a noted fact however, that not 
 
158 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 the best elements of the FiHpino people are the 
 originators of the accusations. People of the 
 stamp of Aguinaldo, rebels to the Spanish as well 
 as to the American government, and renegades to 
 their faith, are the loudest in their accusations. 
 Any sane person will at once see, that such persons 
 will make much of even ordinary lapses and will, 
 without regard to truth or justice, exaggerate the 
 real faults of those, that will not join in their 
 treason. Against their accusations, however, 
 stands the incontrovertible fact that the monks 
 have civilized the islands, have converted the people 
 to the faith and dotted the whole country with 
 churches and schools. If some abuses have crept 
 in, they are accidental and they cannot vitiate the 
 good already done. The monks are accused of 
 greediness, but by far the greater portion of their 
 temporal acquisitions are applied for the good of 
 religion. Their numerous and rich churches are 
 places of worship for the people ; their colleges and 
 schools serve to educate the young; their landed 
 possessions on the islands afford not only the funds 
 for the maintenance of the churches and schools, 
 but give employment and support to hundred 
 thousands of Filipinos, who would otherwise be 
 left to their own resources. Besides, even if the 
 monks were to use all their possessions merely for 
 selfish ends, wherein v/ould be the wrong? Were 
 
MONKS' WORK 159 
 
 they not the first settlers and the first civiHzers? 
 Who blames the great land owners of our country, 
 or of England, because they dare to hold their 
 possessions for their own use? 
 
 Wherein probably these monks made a mistake, 
 is in mixing themselves up too freely with the 
 Spanish government of the islands. In many of 
 the smaller places, where they were estabhshed 
 as parish priests, they had also the office of alcade, 
 attending to the administration of justice and 
 collection of taxes. Of course this is foreign to 
 their institute and they now pay the heavy penalty 
 of disaffection among a portion of the people. 
 But at the same time, in the beginning of the 
 civilization of the natives, this office in many places 
 almost naturally devolved upon the missionary. 
 If they would have withdrawn from such service, 
 when no longer necessary, no harm would have 
 come from it. The work of converting the natives 
 and of building churches had been so exclusively 
 done by them, that naturally the entire govern- 
 ment of church affairs was in their hands to the 
 exclusion of the secular clergy, the more so, since 
 the bishops all belonged to religious orders. Con- 
 sequently the native secular priests were mere 
 curates, depending for their positions upon the 
 monks. This is an abnormal condition of affairs 
 in the Catholic church and against the spirit of 
 
160 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 monasticism. When monks become ambitious 
 to govern and monasteries try to enrich themselves 
 through the incomes of the church, they are bound 
 to get into trouble much sooner than secular 
 priests. Their usefulness in a country is much im- 
 paired and some one, wicked and unjust enough, 
 will inevitably turn up to raise the storm that 
 sweeps them out of the country. God watches 
 over His chosen ones and will send the hurricane, 
 which transplants the good seed remaining in a re- 
 ligious order to other regions, where they will take 
 root and bring forth the fruits of eternal life in 
 new labors. Prosperity is the ruin of many a man ; 
 too much material prosperity is also the poisonous 
 leaven that destroys the usefulness of religious 
 orders and causes them to die a violent death in 
 some regions of the globe, in order that they may 
 rise with renewed life and vigor in other places and 
 times. This is probably what will happen with the 
 monks in the Philippines, and, as we have seen, 
 they are not unaware of the probable outcome. 
 
 Then, as to the accusations of immorality which 
 have been so boldly made it would be strange, if 
 among so great a number of men, one or the other 
 would not have fallen in the course of three cen- 
 turies. The cases are so few, that to make the 
 accusation of immorality against the whole order, 
 would be the grossest slander. Envy and hate 
 
PREPOSTEROUS SLANDERS 161 
 
 have magnified a hundred fold a few transgressions, 
 which perhaps have happened years ago and for 
 which the guilty ones have been severely discipHned. 
 The enemies of the faith pounce upon these exag- 
 gerated accusations, like vultures on the rotting 
 carcass, and hold a sumptuous feast of viHfication 
 and calumny, disgusting to every well-informed and 
 unprejudiced mind. 
 
 In short, if the full truth could be brought out, 
 I have no doubt that the religious orders in the 
 Philippines would soon stand before the world 
 as great benefactors through whom alone Chris- 
 tianity came to the natives and the advantages of 
 civiHzation. That in the course of several cen- 
 turies the persistent pioneers should grow rich 
 and influential, that they should make the mis- 
 take of interfering in the worldly government and 
 not yet have given up their hold on it, and that a 
 few instances of iUicit intercourse should occur, is 
 not surprising. They do not claim to be angels 
 yet, though they are, as a whole, striving to ap- 
 proach that state. We do not blame other men, 
 who accumulate possessions by honest exertions, 
 especially if they benefit the country thereby; we 
 do not kill off a whole stock of race horses because 
 one or two of that breed happened to stumble in 
 the last races over some obstruction on the race 
 track. Why should we then insist on just that 
 
162 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 kind of treatment for the monks in the Phihppines ? 
 Are they outlaws, to be condemned and shot at 
 sight ? We consider lynching a crime : the accused 
 gets no fair trial. The monks in the Philippines 
 get no trial at all. The criminal in the court of 
 law is presumed innocent until a specific crime is 
 proved against him, though he bears the worst of 
 records. The monk is presumed guilty of the most 
 abhorrent conduct and immediately condemned 
 on hearsay, though the proofs of a most excel- 
 lent public and private life speak loudly in his praise. 
 During my stay the soldiers frequently asked 
 whether peace would not be declared soon. They 
 were not doing much fighting and they were 
 getting tired of serving as police, guards, patrol- 
 men and in other positions of civil government. 
 No serious encounters had happened in the past 
 few weeks. The farmers in country districts 
 were resuming their work in the fields. The 
 Filipinos as a whole are of a peaceful disposition. 
 A few ring-leaders at the head of armed hands 
 may keep the interior of the country in alarm for 
 some time, yet they will no doubt submit after- 
 wards and be satisfied with American rule. How- 
 ever, after the insurrection has once been entirely 
 suppressed, it is an open question whether it would 
 not be better to give the islands their independence, 
 on the score both of utility and of justice. 
 
MOONLIGHT STROLL 163 
 
 In the evening Mr. Havers proposed a walk up 
 the Calle de Ermita, on which avenue our hotel is 
 situated. It was a beautiful moonlit night and 
 as we walked along, the aromatic scent of tropical 
 plants filled the gentle breezes. Farther up the 
 street we passed some beautiful residences and 
 clubhouses, surrounded by luxurious gardens 
 where the lights gleamed out from the dark foHage. 
 Returning on a neighboring and parallel street we 
 heard, now and then, light banter and soft strains 
 of music, proceeding from the trees and shrubbery 
 that surrounded these more modest dwellings of 
 natives. A patrol of American soldiers was met 
 at every block, singularly out of place on these 
 quiet and peaceful avenues. 
 
 We were late in going to rest, for the heat was 
 oppressive even in the night, and much more so for 
 people who had come from a country, where at this 
 time of the year they are accustomed to be kept 
 busy piUng coals upon the fires. The beds were 
 a sort of couch made of woven caning, with a few 
 sheets for covering. Posts at each corner of the 
 couch support the mosquito netting, that is sup- 
 posed to ward off the winged and blood-thirsty 
 musicians of the night. On account of their per- 
 sistent attacks and the sultry heat we had little 
 sleep, though all the windows and sHdes were open 
 Hke in a summer house and though we were well 
 tired out by the day's sight-seeing. 
 
164 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 Since 5 o'clock in the morning I had heard the 
 bell of San Jos^ church in the next block giving 
 the signals for the beginning of masses and calling 
 the faithful to attend the services. Father McKin- 
 non is quasi-rector of this church for the foreign 
 Catholics, while a Jesuit attends to the special 
 needs of the Filipinos of the parish. Every morn- 
 ing when I arrived to celebrate mass, I found quite 
 a number of the faithful devoutly kneeling on the 
 hard stone flags of the pavement, while a number 
 of retired or extern priests offered up the daily 
 sacrifice. The San ]os6 church, though once no 
 doubt a fine edifice, was much out of repair. 
 
 On one of the mornings a Filipino couple were 
 just getting married. They were kneeling in 
 front of the communion railing with their relatives 
 and friends. From the number of women present, 
 I conjectured, that here, just as in Chicago, a 
 marriage cereniony is sure to attract the women 
 in much greater number than the men. While the 
 priest was saying the prayers and witnessed their 
 marriage vows, a wreath of flowers was wound 
 around the bride and bridegroom, entwining them 
 both together, a beautiful symbol of the sacra- 
 mental bond, that from now on would unite them 
 forever in life and death. During low mass it is 
 the rule here to burn four candles, which in other 
 countries is a privilege of the bishops only. At the 
 
REV. McKINNON 165 
 
 church doors candles were bought by some of the 
 devout and seemingly well-to-do Filipinos; these 
 they lighted as they entered the church, and 
 moved on their knees from the rear of the church 
 over the stone floor to the communion raihng. 
 
 After Mass we procured a letter of recommenda- 
 tion from Rev. McKinnon to the captain in charge 
 of the railroad to Dagupan and easily obtained 
 permission to board the north-going train. The 
 railroad was still in the hands of the military and 
 was reserved exclusively for the use of soldiers 
 going and coming to Manila from outlying posts. 
 Several hundreds of them were on our train of 
 battered cars and we obtained seats in one of the 
 better coaches only by the courtesy of some of the 
 officers. The train was made up of third and fourth 
 class European coaches, that must have seen at 
 least forty years of hard service. Going out we 
 passed through a district, which seems to be the 
 native quarter of Manila. It swarmed with 
 Chinese, Malays, and Filipinos in all descriptions of 
 dress and undress. Most of the lower class of 
 laborers, carriers, draymen, freightmen, being 
 Chinese or Malay coolies, have merely a covering 
 around the middle, while the hot sun strikes down 
 mercilessly on the other parts of their dusky 
 bodies. The Filipinos mostly wear white duck, 
 and as a general thing the women are decently 
 
166 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 dressed. The houses in this part of town are but 
 mere huts made of bamboo and covered with 
 thatched roofs. 
 
 Along the road the signs of the late war or in- 
 surrection were everywhere evident. Especially 
 around the straggling towns that we passed after 
 we had left Manila, the remains of breastworks, 
 and battered walls of buildings, were frequent. 
 
 Nearly all the churches along the way were 
 blackened heaps of ruins. Every foot of ground 
 northward to Dagupan was obstinately contested 
 by the Filipino insurgents and they naturally en- 
 trenched themselves in the stronger buildings, 
 such as stationhouses, warehouses, factories and 
 churches. The fact, that they invariably set fire 
 to churches before they were forced to leave, speaks 
 very unfavorably for the leaders of the insurrec- 
 tion. The ravages of war were particularly fre- 
 quent around the towns of Calumpit, Giuciuto and 
 Malolos. We passed several sluggish rivers, among 
 which were the Bagbag and Rio Grande del Pan- 
 ango, across which General Funston is said to have 
 swum gun in hand. As a rule, the soldiers were 
 doing well, only a small percentage of the 65,000 
 then on the islands being troubled by the ordinary 
 complaints of dysentery, malaria or the dobe itch. 
 They are certainly well taken care of by Uncle Sam 
 and are abundantly supplied with all the neces- 
 
SAN FERNANDO 167 
 
 saries. Foreigners are surprised at the vast ex- 
 penditure which the Americans are making for 
 suppHes. On the whole the Americans seem to 
 make good soldiers, but they are too apt to indulge 
 in cursing and swearing and to treat the natives 
 with great disdain. 
 
 Browsing in the fields, we occasionally saw the 
 dark-colored caraboas, a kind of buffalo with huge 
 horns and considerably larger than our cattle. 
 They are mostly used for draft and field work and 
 serve also for food. They like pools of water and 
 once v/e saw a youngster standing on the back of 
 one of these animals, as it sank to the neck into a 
 muddy pool. The country through which we 
 passed is a marshy plain, stretching to the western 
 coast and is well adapted to the cultivation of rice. 
 On the higher patches occurred also banana and 
 cocoa plantations and some scattered localities 
 were covered with trees. Little life could be 
 noticed in the towns. At the stations the children 
 crowded around the train to sell lemonade and 
 other home-made drinks. The soldiers stationed 
 at the towns, crowded around the lumbering train 
 as it came to a halt and noisily greeted their com- 
 rades on the cars. 
 
 At about noon we reached San Fernando, one 
 of the larger towns along the road. Here some 
 of the officers and many of the soldiers left the 
 
168 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 train to go to their stations inland. The heat was 
 very oppressive and for a short time the canteen 
 near the station did a lively business. One of the 
 soldiers, who had served his term, had put up a 
 canvas covering and was selling out drinks at 
 25 cents a glass. A couple of coolies in the rear of 
 the shed were also kept busy in giving lunches. 
 The atmosphere was hazy and sultry and the 
 ground was parched with heat and drought. I 
 do not think many Americans would fancy staying 
 in this country a long time ; for, if this was the 
 temperature in February, what would it be in July 
 or August ? 
 
 The town of San Fernando lies somewhat to the 
 right of the railroad. There were substantial 
 buildings in the center of the town, such as the 
 alcalde's residence and other houses for the former 
 government officials. Now they are occupied by 
 the American army officers. The rest of the 
 town is composed of the airy bamboo huts and 
 small shops. Conspicuous in the middle of the 
 town were the ruins of a large church. It must 
 have been a beautiful church, but now only the 
 blackened walls were standing and the interior 
 was a mass of ruins. During the call which we 
 had made at the army headquarters in San Fer- 
 nando, the captain and the surgeon had told us, 
 that this church had been obstinately defended by 
 
RUINS 169 
 
 Aguinaldo and a band of Filipinos. Seeing, how- 
 ever, that he could not hold out much longer, 
 Aguinaldo, before leaving, gathered 83 of the Chi- 
 nese living in San Fernando and locked them in this 
 church. Then having placed a cordon of soldiers 
 around the building, he set fire to it and thus 
 cremated the unfortunate Chinese alive. The 
 Americans arrived too late to save either the 
 building or the Chinese. 
 
 This story seemed to us highly colored, but we 
 were told some remnants of the bones could easily 
 be found in the ruins, though the greater part of the 
 remains had been buried. This we found to be true, 
 and my companion has some of the bones of the 
 murdered Chinese in his possession to this day. 
 A spacious plaza opens up in front of the ruins and 
 several buildings formerly used for municipal and 
 government purposes surround the plaza. There 
 was no hfe in any of the streets, probably on 
 account of the great heat at noonday. A Fihpino 
 secular priest resided on the other side of a creek, 
 that intersects the town. Seeking for corrobora- 
 tion of the story about the Chinese, we called at his 
 modest residence. It seems he likewise had retired 
 for his siesta, for it was quite a while before he 
 made his appearance in the upper roora to which 
 the attendants had conducted us. His house was 
 airy enough, for it was built almost entirely of split 
 
170 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 bamboo and consisted of two stories. Even the 
 floors were made of the same material, the round 
 sides of the bamboos being turned upward. They 
 were worn quite smooth by the naked feet of the 
 inmates and there was not much need of sweeping 
 the floor, since the dust simply dropped below to 
 the next story. The lower story of the house was 
 almost entirely open. The priest wore a white 
 muslin cassock. He seemed to have about a score 
 of attendants, young and old, who swarmed around 
 the premises. Upon inquiry, he readily corrob- 
 orated the story about the burning of the Chinese, 
 which we had heard at headquarters. 
 
 Again we boarded the train, which passed 
 Fernando in the afternoon on its way from Dagu- 
 pan to Manila. It was made up of a much battered 
 set of cars, which originally had come from Eng- 
 land and no doubt had previously done service 
 there for many years. Outside they looked some- 
 thing like a smaller size of our cattle-cars, inside 
 they were partitioned off into coupes by seats 
 running transversely from side to side. There 
 was no upholstery, some of the windows were 
 battered in, doors slammed to and fro on single 
 hinges, blinds only half hung to their fastenings and 
 dirt and dust covered the seats and the floor. A 
 good many of the soldiers were standing in the 
 freight cars which made up the rest of the train. 
 
A WRECK 171 
 
 A veteran frame of junkiron did service as a loco- 
 motive, wheezing out puffs of steam as it started 
 and struggling laboriously along from station to 
 station. 
 
 Before we got back to Manila a heavy tropical 
 rain poured from the thick clouds. We had to 
 change our position continually in order not to 
 encounter the streams which poured through the 
 injured roof of the cars. The rain was not refresh- 
 ing, for it filled the atmosphere with dampness 
 without in the least abating the sultry temperature. 
 We were just wondering, how much longer it would 
 take us to get to Manila, when there was a sudden 
 crash, a dead stop and a jumbling of passengers, 
 who were knocked off their seats and spilled out at 
 the side doors. The throttle had refused to work 
 and the locomotive ran hopelessly into a freight 
 train ahead. Some of the soldiers were bleeding 
 from the effects of the collision, though we our- 
 selves had escaped unhurt. Like a veritable 
 cripple, the old engine stood with his nose pushed 
 into the rear end of a freight car. Fortunately the 
 collision happened on the outskirts of Manila, so 
 we simply performed the rest of our journey on 
 foot. The portion of the city which we had to 
 pass was swarming with natives who seemed to 
 have gathered for a fair or bazaar, which was held 
 under large wooden sheds. 
 
172 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 Being fatigued, we had more sleep this night, 
 though it was just as sultry. All the windows 
 and slides were kept open, and as I awoke several 
 times during the night a strange collection of 
 sounds broke the stillness of the night. From 
 the neighboring barracks, the creaking of old bed- 
 steads as the soldiers turned on their sleepless 
 couches; the tread of armed guards, or the low- 
 spoken commands of the sergeants as the watches 
 were changed; across the street, the hectic cough 
 of an old woman in the last stage of consumption; 
 in the yard beneath our window, the effusions of 
 lovelorn tomcats in the moonlight, interrupted 
 now and then by the rattling of beasts on their 
 chains in the stables on the ground floor, or by 
 the heartrending braying of a mule in the rear: 
 all united in weird concert through the small hours 
 of the night. The fatigue of the day, however, 
 very often proved stronger than this nocturnal 
 concert and would soon woo us again to sleep. 
 
 We had intended on the following morning to 
 take a trip up the Pasig River on one of the pas- 
 senger steamers, but when we arrived at the wharf 
 after our breakfast, all the regular boats had left; 
 our only chance now was to make the trip on one of 
 the government supply tugs that pass up and 
 down the river and ply on the series of lakes con- 
 nected with it and of which it is the outlet. We 
 
UP THE PASIG 173 
 
 applied to the captain of the port and on showing 
 the letter of Fr. McKinnon of yesterday, readily 
 obtained permission to make the trip on board the 
 tug "Diamond." 
 
 As there were two hours still to spare until 
 the "Diamond" would be ready to depart, we put 
 in the time strolling through the liveHest streets 
 of Manila. Soldiers were everywhere in evidence, 
 lounging in front of their barracks or drilling on 
 the plazas. Filipinos, Malays and Chinese swarmed 
 along the streets in the fresh morning sunlight. 
 Passing an old bridge, which leads over a canal of 
 the Pasig, we came upon a spacious plaza, at the 
 farther end of which stands one of the oldest 
 churches of new Manila. As we entered, a crowd 
 of beggars surrounded us, who were made glad with 
 a few pennies. Masses were still going on and 
 quite a number of people were kneeling on the 
 stone pavement, for there are no pews in these old 
 churches. 
 
 The tug "Diamond" was in charge of Captain 
 Campbell and manned by a Tagalo engineer and 
 fireman, a cabin boy and about a dozen of soldiers. 
 The boat was to bring a stock of provisions to dif- 
 ferent stations along the river and the lakes. After 
 passing under the old bridge of Ninos, the river 
 banks presented picturesque scenes, characteristic 
 of Manila. The freight is mostly carried by the 
 
174 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 cascoes, large boats, that are propelled by poles. 
 The coolies walk along a narrow platform on the 
 outside of the gunwales to the head of the casco, 
 and, having found bottom with their long 
 poles, begin to push the boat forward by walking 
 back, bracing themselves against the poles. Thus 
 they themselves remain stationary, while the boat 
 glides forward under their feet. When the boat has 
 moved its whole length of fifty or sixty feet, the 
 coolie pulls out his pole and returns to the head of 
 the boat to begin the operation anew. On the 
 rear end of the boat a roof of bamboo mats affords 
 shelter to the inhabitants of the casco against 
 sun and rain. A ridge pole also runs along the rest 
 of the boat, over which mats are spread for the 
 protection of the cargo. 
 
 We soon passed two more bridges, one of them 
 built entirely of iron and donated to the city by 
 the monks. In the outskirts of Manila, on the left 
 river bank, the San Miquel brewery is situated. 
 Connected with it are some fine villas and summer 
 houses, showing that brewing is a paying business 
 even at our antipodes. Now and then a boat party 
 would meet us, who seemed bent on pleasure, for 
 their boats were trimmed with flowers and the 
 Filipino men and women were gaily dressed. 
 Music with song and laughter resounded over the 
 placid waters of the widening stream, that now was 
 
RAVAGES OF WAR 175 
 
 bordered with green lawns and woodland. It must 
 have been washing day, for in the sheltered nooks 
 under the shady trees, women and girls with occa- 
 sional men were busy washing piles of cotton or 
 linens, for these materials are preferred by the 
 natives for garments of all kinds. They wash 
 their clothes by slapping them against a rock 
 or post, now and then dipping them into the 
 stream. The women had their dresses tucked up 
 while standing up to their knees in water and in 
 merry talk and laughter kept beating the different 
 articles of wear over the jutting rocks. Others 
 were on the lawn, spreading out the snow-white 
 linen to dry in the sun. 
 
 About noon we came to the small town of San 
 Pedro. Half of it was in ruins. The monastery 
 and the church on the hill were so battered, that 
 they are deserted and almost hidden by the tropical 
 vegetation that had sprung up around them. The 
 Tagalogs had made a very determined stand here 
 and had set fire to the monastery before they were 
 driven out. A little farther up the river a settle- 
 ment, that had contained some large buildings, 
 had been entirely burnt down; but so fast had it 
 been covered with the tropical vegetation, that 
 from the boat not a vestige of the ruins could be 
 seen. Here most of the soldiers and some pro- 
 visions were unloaded. The beef, which we had on 
 
176 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 board, had been imported from Sydney, Australia, 
 as there are hardly any cattle on the islands ex- 
 cept the caraboas or native buffaloes. Even 
 these are getting scarce, and besides, the Ameri- 
 cans do not like the meat of the caraboas on ac- 
 count of its peculiar taste. 
 
 The current of the river now became quite 
 swift as the Moriquino joins it from the left a half 
 mile farther up. We rounded the Pasig to the 
 north, where it widens out into the Laguna de Bay, 
 shallow and grown with wild lettuce at first, but 
 afterwards deepening and forming a series of lakes, 
 surrounded by picturesque mountains. In the 
 rainy season as much as 1 40 inches of rain falls and 
 these lakes are then raised to a much higher level, 
 flooding all the lowlands. At about three o'clock 
 a large casco full of half-clad natives was paddUng 
 across the lake a few miles ahead. To judge by 
 the hurry in which they tried to reach the left hand 
 shore and the anxious glances they cast our way, 
 they must have been on some nefarious errand. 
 Putting on more steam our tug almost headed them 
 off. But as we had only four soldiers on board we 
 of course could not think of capturing 30 or 40 of 
 the sinister looking Tagalogs. They could not 
 use their poles as the lake was far too deep, but they 
 nimbly pHed their paddles, that looked like long- 
 handled frying pans. No doubt they had weapons 
 
BARN AT SANTA ANA, WHERE WAR BEGAN. 
 CHAPLAIN m'kINNON IN FOREGROUND 
 
'INSURRECTOS" 177 
 
 concealed in the bottom of their boat and were 
 in communication with a band of insurgents in 
 the mountains. The sinewy form of the helms- 
 man at the stern was clearly outlined in the bright 
 sunshine as we passed about fifty yards astern. 
 Our captain shouted across the water "Muchos 
 insurrectos," which made them use their paddles 
 more nimbly than before. They evidently had 
 expected an attack, but as that was not the errand 
 of our little tug, they escaped with the scare 
 we had given them. Probably if they had known 
 how few persons we were, they might have turned 
 the tables and attacked us instead. 
 
 The American Trading company had bought up 
 nearly all the cascoes in the neighborhood of 
 Manila and was doing a lively trade in buying up 
 supplies from outlying settlements and bringing 
 merchandise in return. We met many of their 
 cascoes either going or coming from the different 
 stations on these lakes. Two large ones our tug 
 had taken in tow and our captain had good natured- 
 ly engaged to bring them to the foot of the towering 
 mountains, which soon appeared beyond a head- 
 land at the southern sweep of the lake. Though 
 the landing place did not seem far off, yet the extra 
 work of towing the heavily laden cascoes and a 
 stiff breeze in our face retarded our progress, so 
 that the sun was already hovering over the western 
 
178 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 horizon, when we were still many miles from the 
 shore. 
 
 As the sun sank over the western mountains, we 
 witnessed a most beautiful sunset. Streaks of 
 clouds rose above the mountains through the 
 mellow sky. Like heaps of molten gold they 
 flashed back the sun's rays, then assuming a rud- 
 dier hue as the sun sank lower, tinged the moun- 
 tains as with lurid fires. The intervening stretches 
 of sky assumed a greenish golden hue in the west, 
 while the cloud islands of the eastern heavens 
 turned a darker and darker red in the azure firma- 
 ment. Gradually the brilliant colors of the west 
 subsided, and the queen of night began to assume 
 her sway in the clear heavens. 
 
 As we neared the shore at the foot of the moun- 
 tain, there was a parley between the managers of 
 the cascoes and our captain, who seemed to be 
 unwilling to tow the cascoes any farther. But 
 the native boatmen were afraid of being turned 
 loose so far from shore and finally prevailed on 
 him to proceed somewhat farther; so, towing them 
 within half a mile of the landing place, he left them 
 to manage as best they might. Our tug, now freed 
 from its drag, bounded over the waves in an oppo- 
 site direction, around the headland, which we had 
 passed during the afternoon, and at about ten 
 o'clock at night we arrived opposite the town of 
 
A RESTLESS NIGHT 179 
 
 Morong, which lay about a mile away. The screw 
 ceased its churning and the captain shouted across 
 the water to some people shoreward, whom we 
 could not see in the darkness. At last he received 
 answer, and after awhile a casco came up to take our 
 four soldiers and the provisions ashore. 
 
 After about an hour, quiet reigned on our little 
 craft which was anchored in shallow water. The 
 captain offered us a place in the small cabin below, 
 but we preferred to lie on the open deck under some 
 canvas sheets, which had been used for covering 
 the provisions. It was lucky, that the captain 
 furnished us with a woolen blanket also, for it 
 turned decidedly chilly during the night. The stiff 
 canvas spread on the hard planks of the deck, did 
 not furnish an over-luxurious resting place and the 
 blanket was none too large for me and my com- 
 panion to huddle under. Besides all this, my com- 
 panion conscientiously furnished his usual install- 
 ment of stertorous music, which continued more or 
 less all night. He complained in the morning 
 that I was a restless bedfellow, for I had waked him 
 from sweet slumber innumerable times by my 
 nervous jerks with my elbow or my foot. Whether 
 I had done it consciously or unconsciously, was a 
 question, which I managed to give a wide berth. 
 Still these wakeful intermezzos were not of long 
 duration; the silence of the night, the rippling of 
 
180 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 the waves against the sides of the boat and the 
 fatigue of the day soon lulled us to sleep again. 
 
 Early in the bright breezy morning our boat 
 took aboard half a dozen soldiers and started on 
 its return trip. The different lakes and inlets are 
 enclosed by wooded hills and the sun sent its bril- 
 liant morning rays over the glittering water and 
 romantic landscape. The soldiers told us, that 
 two weeks ago the insurgents had made an attack 
 on Morong and killed two of their comrades. But 
 they seemed tired of being sent out in pursuit of 
 bands in the hills ten or fifteen miles off and find 
 not a trace of armed resistance on arriving. Some- 
 times in the night, fires were seen on the hill- 
 tops, which were thought to be signals between 
 different bands. But there was so little show of 
 armed resistance in the greater part of Luzon, that 
 most of the soldiers were anxious to be recalled for 
 more active duty somewhere else. The soldiers 
 gave witness to the morality of the native women: 
 they will not listen to any solicitation, and any 
 familiarity with them exposes the man to the risk 
 of being considered and followed by the woman 
 as her lawful husband afterwards. 
 
 Gregorio Guaghardo, the native engineer on 
 board our tug tells me, that most of the FiHpinos 
 go to school and can read and write Spanish. Nor 
 did we see anything in the appearance of the 
 
AN EXCURSION 181 
 
 Filipinos to make us doubt this. Of course in 
 Manila there are thousands of coolies from China 
 and from different countries of Oceanica, who are 
 only half civilized and do the lower class of work. 
 But it would be wrong to confound them with the 
 Filipinos, Luzon and most of the other islands 
 are long ago converted to the Christian religion. 
 The only exception is the Sulu group, which is 
 inhabited by Moriscos or Mahometans. Before 
 returning to our hotel, I hired a banco, or native 
 canoe, to make arrangement on the Palitana for our 
 voyage so Singapore. I found the time of her 
 departure suitable and the accommodations fairly 
 good. 
 
 For the afternoon Rev. McKinnon had hired a 
 carriage in which we were to take a drive around 
 the city. Our first stop was at the church of St. 
 Sebastian, on the right side of the river. It is 
 built entirely of iron, the different parts of which 
 were imported from Belgium. It is a large struc- 
 ture and not without architectural beauty. The 
 two towers rise nearly two hundred feet into the 
 air. Its great gothic windows are real works of 
 art in colored glass. A half mile farther on we 
 passed the palace of Montojo, the former Spanish 
 governor, and a sumptuous residence of Hop Sin, 
 a rich Chinaman. Here our way led across the iron 
 bridge called Puente de Ayala and built for the 
 
182 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 public by the religious orders. Near the bridge is 
 a large cigar factory, employing several hundred 
 men. 
 
 Across the river and in the outskirts of the 
 city we visited several institutions, over which 
 Fr. McKinnon had a sort of supervision and whose 
 interests he advanced with the new government. 
 At the orphan home of San Jose and the Escuela 
 di Misericordia we saw some remarkably fine needle 
 work and embroidery. The latter is an academy 
 conducted by the sisters of charity and the chapel 
 and other buildings, as well as the gardens around 
 it, gave witness of the former prosperity of the 
 institution. The insane asylum is also in charge of 
 sisters. In its chapel we were shown the places 
 where the bullets of the insurgents had pierced the 
 walls during the fight in this surburb of Manila. 
 
 We were getting into the Paco district, where the 
 fighting between the American soldiers and the 
 Filipinos inaugurated the late war. On both sides 
 of the road of Santa Ana, over which we were 
 passing, many ruins were seen as witnesses of the 
 war. At a distance from the road a solitary square 
 block-house marked the spot where over two 
 hundred were killed. While tending to the 
 wounded in this field, Chaplain McKinnon was 
 twice fired upon by the Filipinos, but he happily 
 escaped with a slight wound in the head. Even 
 
THE CEMETERY 183 
 
 here the insurgents were finally dislodged and 
 pursued step by step northward to Calucan, San 
 Fernando and Dagupan, disputing every foot of 
 the way. 
 
 Re-entering the city we drove along the smooth 
 parkway lined with fine residences. On this avenue 
 is also the old cemetery, surrounded by high walls. 
 They do not bury the dead in Manila, but place the 
 bodies in vaults, built into the walls; large enough 
 to hold the coffin. The opening of the vault is 
 sealed up with a stone flag. There are many of 
 these vaulted walls, which intersect the grounds 
 in symmetrical rows. The vaults are rented for the 
 space of five years. If at the end of that time a new 
 payment is made, the body is left undisturbed, for 
 another period of time; otherwise the bones are 
 taken out and thrown into the charnel yard, which 
 is an open enclosure behind the chapel. Going up 
 the steps to the top of the wall of this enclosure, 
 we saw heaps of human bones bleaching in the sun. 
 It is said that the American authorities are object- 
 ing to this practice for sanitary reasons. A num- 
 ber of the American officers, who met their death 
 in the fight with the insurgents are buried in a 
 beautiful plot of ground, forming part of this 
 cemetery. 
 
 We crossed new Manila to enter the old town 
 within the walls. This portion presents the scenes 
 
184 O^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 of a typical old Spanish city: decaying palaces, 
 convents, crumbling residences, narrow streets, 
 cobblestone pavements. Our carriage rattled on 
 in good style through the crooked streets to the old 
 cathedral. This is a venerable structure, mostly 
 in gothic style, though it has no real towers. It 
 abounds in artistic carvings inside and out, covers 
 a large area of ground and easily bears comparison 
 with some of the old cathedrals of Europe. Vast 
 marble pillars support the three naves of the 
 ceiling. A magnificent high altar rears its marble 
 turrets aloft in the transcept. In front of the 
 cathedral extends a spacious plaza, part of which 
 forms a small park. Facing this park to the right 
 is the palazzo de Justizia, which was then occu- 
 pied by General Otis and his staff as military 
 governor. 
 
 Father McKinnon had the kindness to procure 
 us an invitation for a formal visit to the governor. 
 We accordingly passed up the marble stairs to the 
 general's apartments. The sumptuous halls and 
 corridors and the richly decorated apartments 
 of this palace, show that the former lords of the 
 islands knew how to surround themselves with the 
 same pomp as is customary in their mother country. 
 General Otis asked me, whether I would not like 
 to stay in the islands, as there would be plenty 
 of work for Cathohc priests. I was not in a 
 
ST. SEBASTIAN, STEEL CHURCH IN MANILA 
 
VISITS 185 
 
 position, of course, to give a definite answer to the 
 proposition. I was told, that General Otis believed 
 in a policy of conciliation as most effectual in 
 bringing the Filipinos to subjection. Not far from 
 the plaza de Justizia is the residence of the Domini- 
 can archbishop of Manila, Nozaleda, whom we 
 also visited. This prelate seems a very mild- 
 mannered gentleman and is filled with the earnest 
 desire of settling the difficulties of the monks, 
 which their peculiar position on the islands has 
 brought about. He likewise invited me to re- 
 main and gave me all the faculties of the diocese 
 during my stay here. As it was already getting 
 dark, we drove back from here to our hotel, passing 
 the Luneta. 
 
 According to a previous arrangement we betook 
 ourselves on the next morning to the residence of 
 the apostolic delegate, Msr. Chappelle. We were 
 received by the private secretary, Steinmanns, and 
 conducted upstairs to his Excellency. He had 
 been apprised of our presence in Manila by Rev. B. 
 and V. H., who had visited him some days before. 
 
 In regard to the late war with Spain, he was of 
 opinion that the war was rather unfairly forced upon 
 Spain, and he had maintained that standpoint also 
 in presence of those that had been influential in 
 hastening on the war. Nevertheless he thought 
 that now, since the war was ended, the United 
 
186 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 States could not give up the islands either to Spain 
 or to the insurgents. When he was consulted by 
 the members of the peace commission in Paris, as 
 to what he thought the fairest course to pursue in 
 regard to the Philippines, he gave it as his opinion, 
 that the United States should not keep the islands 
 as spoils of war, but should buy them. 
 
 The interests of the Catholic church demanded 
 without doubt, that the islands be saved from the 
 hands of the insurgents. The leaders of that 
 movement were enemies of the priesthood and of 
 the CathoHc church, who would simply use their 
 power to confiscate all church property and in- 
 augurate a reign of terror. In this apprehension 
 Msr. Chappelle was entirely justified, as is proved 
 by the devastation of churches, of which the insur- 
 gents were guilty during the war and which I had 
 seen in so many places. There were other reasons 
 for favoring the retention of the Philippines by the 
 United States, at least for the present. The 
 Chinese empire would no doubt play an important 
 part in the history of the next few decades of years. 
 England, Russia, Germany, Japan, France, were 
 lying in wait for the spoils of that country. If the 
 United States were in possession of the Philippines, 
 so close to China, American interests could be safe- 
 guarded much more effectually. Why not keep 
 that advantage for the present ? General Otis had 
 
LOOTING 187 
 
 shown himself very well disposed toward the mis- 
 sion of the archbishop. The Filipinos are a docile 
 people, and as regards the difficulties concerning the 
 religious orders, his Excellency had hopes of a 
 satisfactory settlement. 
 
 The Americans have infused new life into Manila, 
 as was acknowledged not only by the old residents, 
 but was easily to be noticed everywhere on the 
 streets. The general feeHng in Manila is, that the 
 American occupation of the Philippines will be 
 beneficial. The sale of beer and liquor evidently 
 takes the lead in the business boom, but other 
 branches have their share. Fortunes have been 
 made by enterprising individuals, especially Ameri- 
 cans, by the sale of a single kind of commodity. 
 Of course a good deal of this boom is due to the 
 American soldiers, who spend their money very 
 freely. 
 
 I made it a point during my stay in Manila and 
 my excursions in the country to get as near as 
 possible to the truth of the accusations of church 
 looting by the American soldiers. I found very 
 little to confirm it and became quite convinced, 
 that nearly all the looting that was done, was per- 
 petrated by the insurgents. First of all the fact 
 that the heads of the insurgents were mostly 
 fallen-away Catholics and members of secret 
 societies, favors presumption against them. Then 
 
188 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 is it not probable, that those who almost invariably 
 set fire to churches before leaving, would not 
 hesitate to take out of them whatever seemed 
 valuable and portable? Only a few days ago the 
 trunk of Aguinaldo was found in one of the northern 
 towns. It contained a large number of precious 
 articles looted from different churches. When the 
 Americans entered a place, previously held by the 
 insurgents, they would find the sacred vestments 
 and other articles, that were of no value, scattered 
 about in the sacristy or sanctuary, whereas the 
 more precious vessels were generally missing. All 
 this must be no doubt sufiicient evidence to create 
 at least a presumption against the infidel bands, 
 that claimed to be fighting for the freedom of the 
 country. 
 
 I made a number of inquiries among the soldiers 
 and officers, whom I met during my stay. From 
 their uniform testimony it appears, that all reason- 
 able precautions were taken by the authorities, 
 to prevent the looting of Catholic churches. Cap- 
 tain Godfrey of the 22nd artillery and Lieutenant 
 Baldwin of the 32nd, told me on the train to 
 Fernando, that the first care of the officers in charge 
 on entering a town, was always to place a guard 
 at the church doors, who would be made respon- 
 sible for any looting. The soldiers, though some- 
 times hard pressed, were not allowed to camp in or 
 
INQUIRIES 189 
 
 around churches. A strict order had been passed 
 in San Fernando, that any sacred vessels in the 
 possession of any of the natives or of any other 
 person, should be seized and brought to head- 
 quarters to be turned over to the nearest priest. 
 
 In a conversation with Sergeant F. J. McCarthy 
 of Chicago, whom I met at San Miquel, he told me 
 that, probably, in the first weeks of the conflict 
 some of the soldiers from the Pacific states might 
 have taken sacred articles in a few instances. But 
 strict orders were immediately issued, prohibiting 
 such acts. He himself in one instance knocked 
 down one of his comrades, a renegade Catholic, 
 with the butt of his gun as he attempted to appro- 
 priate some valuables from the altar in a church. 
 For this act he was not only highly commended, 
 but promoted shortly afterwards, whereas the 
 looter was severely punished. In another place, 
 where the Americans had finally dislodged the 
 insurgents from a church, they found it pillaged 
 and denuded of all valuables. During the night 
 one of the American soldiers took a fancy to a 
 painting of the Madonna in the walls and he cut 
 out a portion of the painting. A strict search 
 resulted in the conviction of the guilty one. He 
 was sentenced to one year's imprisonment and a 
 fine of one hundred dollars. 
 
 Besides all this, I think a great deal of the noise 
 
190 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 was made about the amount of loot in the hands 
 of improper persons. Of course, I am aware that 
 the amount in suoh a thing is immaterial, since 
 even the smallest articles stolen from sacred places 
 constitutes a crime not to be tolerated in the eyes 
 of a Catholic. It will always be a sacrilege, even if 
 committed only once. But if the looting of churches 
 was carried on to such an extent as was asserted, 
 certainly many of the sacred articles should have 
 been found especially in Manila. For the soldiers 
 would naturally try and get rid of the burden as 
 soon as possible and sell it to the numerous Chinese 
 shops in Manila. Such however was not the case, 
 as I spent a whole forenoon trying to find church 
 loot in the second-hand stores and other shops 
 without finding even a trace. 
 
 In my walks around Manila the people did not 
 as a rule recognize me as a priest, though I wore 
 a Roman collar. The priests on the islands wear 
 the full tonsure and are dressed in their cassocks, 
 even when going out, but they do not wear Roman 
 collars. I had to assure the natives, with whom 
 I had any intercourse, that I was a Roman Catholic 
 priest. Some of them had already been ap- 
 proached by the ubiquitous Protestant ministers, 
 who had represented themselves as identical with 
 the Roman Catholic priests. They called them- 
 selves ministers of the "true Catholic church" in 
 
THE OBSERVATORY 191 
 
 order to impose on the simplicity of the Filipinos^ 
 who of course do not know anything of the warring 
 of the sects in other countries. 
 
 For the afternoon Fr. McKinnon had made an 
 appointment for us at the Jesuit college within 
 the old walls, but we had misunderstood him to 
 refer to the Jesuit college in the new town, not so 
 very far from our hotel, where also the renowned 
 observatory of Manila is located. Thither we 
 directed our cuchero to take us and we waited, in 
 vain of course, for the appearance of the army 
 chaplain. Father Doyle, one of the Jesuits, finally 
 started out to show us the different buildings, 
 without waiting any longer for Rev. McKinnon. 
 The observatory occupies a building apart from 
 the college and ranks among the best equipped 
 in the world. It has telephone and cable connec- 
 tions with foreign countries, which pay a stipu- 
 lated price for information of important changes 
 of the weather, especially such as have bearing on 
 navigation. Through all the stories iii the center of 
 the building a soHd column of masonry rises from 
 the ground. To this are attached the instruments 
 of observation in the different apartments. Es- 
 pecially remarkable were the several instruments 
 for observing the seismic disturbances, the ap- 
 proach of storms and typhoons on the seas, the 
 fall of rain, the changes of the weather and the 
 
192 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 velocity and direction of the winds. There is a 
 continual trembling of the earth on the island, a 
 fact which we could easily verify by a glance at 
 the instruments attached to the pillar. 
 
 For many years the records of the more notable 
 seismic disturbances were preserved on charts as 
 they had been traced by the faithful instruments. 
 They looked like outline drawings of icebergs. 
 In a separate portion of the observatory, under 
 its great movable cupola, were mounted the great 
 telescopes for astronomic observations. The sys- 
 tem of swivels and cogwheels, by which the instru- 
 ments are brought into position, is of the latest 
 and most improved make. There was also a 
 reminder of the late skirmishes in the shape of a 
 bullet, which had pierced the thick brick wall in 
 the tower, knocked off some of the plaster on the 
 inside and now peered insidiously from the wall in 
 which it was still imbedded. From the roof we had a 
 fine view of the Paco district, where the insurgents 
 began to fire on the Americans. While passing 
 through the extensive gardens, we were charmed 
 by the sweet clear voices of some 150 boys, who 
 were just then having their singing lesson in the 
 college. Coming back to our hotel we settled our 
 hotel bills, which we found quite reasonable, and 
 got ourselves ready for departure on the morrow. 
 J had bought a very light gray suit, as the Chicago 
 
THE PHILIPPINES 193 
 
 clothes were altogether unfit for wear in the tropical 
 climate. 
 
 In the morning Father McKinnon had the 
 kindness to see us off and he told the cuchero to 
 drive through the old town instead of the nearer 
 way over the Luneta. If the Spaniards had any 
 spirit in them, they could have easily held Manila 
 against the Americans by intrenching themselves 
 behind the strong wall of the old town. But it 
 seems the land force was in no better condition 
 or spirit for a fight than the sea forces. Near 
 the Escolta we bade farewell to Father McKinnon, 
 who had shown us many favors during our stay. 
 We had some delay before the departure of the 
 lighter for the Palitana, and therefore I appHed 
 at the custom house for the pistol, which I had 
 left there on landing. But it required some sharp 
 words and a threat of making complaint at head- 
 quarters, in order to bestir the snobbish officials 
 to procure it. The tug consumed nearly an hour 
 in clearing the tangle of cascoes and other shipping 
 on its way out to the Palitana. 
 
 It may not be amiss to give a short description 
 of the Philippines, since they now form part of 
 our dominions. About 1 200 islands belong to the 
 Philippine group, of which however only some 
 400 are permanently inhabited. The total area 
 is about 115,000 square miles, 112,000 of which ar§ 
 
194 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 contained in the eleven larger islands, Luzon con- 
 taining over 41,000 and Mindanao over 33,300. 
 The balance of the area is included in the islands 
 of Samar, Panay, Mindoro, Leyte, Negros, Cebu, 
 Boho, Palawan, Masbate, Catanduanes and the 
 rest of the numerous islands. Luzon contains most 
 of the inhabitants, nearly 5,000,000; Panay is next, 
 with over 1,200,000. The group ranges down from 
 within two hundred miles of Formosa 19 degrees 
 N. L., to the neighborhood of Borneo, 5 degrees N. 
 L., about a distance of 1350 miles in a southwesterly 
 direction. The original inhabitants seem to have 
 been Negritos, but they have almost disappeared 
 before the invading Malay races, the principal 
 of which are the Tagals and the Bisayans. Immi- 
 gration from China and the neighboring countries, 
 and also from Spain, gave rise however to a nu- 
 merous mixed population, especially in the sea- 
 coast towns. There are not over 500,000 Spaniards 
 on the islands. The islands are practically a 
 Catholic country and the monks have the credit 
 of having converted them to the Christian faith. 
 The Philippines were first discovered by Magel- 
 haens and on Matan, one of these islands, he met 
 his death in 1521. In 1564 Philip II sent a fleet 
 from South America and subjected the islands to 
 Spanish rule. The Dutch and the English later 
 on attempted to gain possession without success. 
 
THE INSURGENTS 195 
 
 The Philippines were ruled by a captain-general, 
 sent over from the home country. Each province 
 and larger island had its lieutenant-governor, who 
 were subject to the captain-general in impor- 
 tant matters. The provinces were divided into 
 townships, which elected a deputy governor, 
 who acted as mayor, judge and magistrate for 
 the township. It seems the monks have mixed 
 up a good deal in civil affairs and held offices in 
 some places, where there was no longer any excuse. 
 Thus it is quite natural, that they should get into 
 trouble. In the last few decades several insur- 
 rections against Spanish rule occurred, the last one 
 in 1896, headed by Aguinaldo. The measures 
 taken to suppress it proved ineffectual. When 
 Dewey swooped down from Hong Kong and de- 
 stroyed the Spanish fleet, Manila and the islands 
 passed into the hands of the Americans. How- 
 ever, the United States paid $20,000,000 for 
 "improvements" to Spain, not wishing to retain 
 the islands merely as a conquest. This was done 
 principally on the advice of Msgr. Chappelle. 
 
 The insurgents at the time of the occupation of 
 Manila united with the Americans, but soon after- 
 wards wantonly attacked the American soldiers. 
 There was no other course for the Americans than 
 to put down the insurgents with a strong hand 
 and the Filipinos are a great deal themselves to 
 
196 O^ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 blame for having spoiled their chances of inde- 
 pendent government. Aguinaldo and the other 
 leaders of the insurrection have proved themselves 
 to be a set of ambitious and faithless adventurers 
 and no doubt would have brought about a worse 
 state of affairs on the islands, than ever would 
 be possible under Spanish rule. I do not see 
 how Catholics can waste any sympathy on such 
 renegades to their faith as Aguinaldo. If such 
 people would ever have attained to power in the 
 Philippines, there would have been sHm chances 
 for the Catholic church. It is better to have 
 Protestant preachers invading the islands and do 
 what they can by persuasion, restrained by the 
 laws of U. S., than to put the supreme power of 
 government into an irresponsible and infidel 
 band of renegade insurgents. 
 
 On board the Palitana we found an assembly 
 of people hailing from many countries: Germans, 
 Poles, Russians, Scotch, English, Americans, oc- 
 cupying first and second cabin, mostly Filipinos 
 in the third class, and a swarming crowd of Chinese, 
 and Malays in fourth class. We had not been on 
 board an hour, when a fierce and angry clamor 
 arose on the deck on which the latter were huddled 
 together. Already blood was flowing and im- 
 mediately the several hundreds of the Malays 
 and Chinese formed into factions and murderous 
 
PRACTICAL HINTS 197 
 
 hatred shone from their eyes. Several times 
 during this voyage the fierce brawl was renewed and 
 could be quelled only with the utmost difficulty 
 by the officers of the ship. There is a bitter hatred 
 everywhere in the Orient against the Chinese, 
 especially against the traders and the coolies, and 
 fierce brawls must be expected, wherever they are 
 brought in close contact with Malays and where 
 there is a sprinkling of the proud Mahometans. 
 
 There were a number of sea captains in second 
 cabin, who had just sold their coasting vessels to 
 the American Trading company. The PaHtana 
 was surrounded by a score of lighters until late 
 in the afternoon to finish her cargo, although she 
 was advertised to leave at one o'clock. But 
 finally the word was given, the soldiers, who were 
 sent as a guard on board of every vessel during 
 its stay in the harbor, descended to their launch, 
 our anchor was weighed and the huge black hull 
 of the steamer moved onward to the entrance of 
 the bay at Corregidor. Before the sun had set, 
 the steeples of Manila had vanished from our view. 
 
 Practical Hints. — For Americans it would not do 
 of course, to miss a visit to the Philippines, if they 
 are in the neighborhood of China or Japan. There 
 are several lines of steamships from Hong Kong 
 running twice a week and the British India boats 
 run between Singapore and Manila. It is good 
 
198 O'ER OCEANS AND CONTINENTS 
 
 to provide light clothing, for the Philippines are 
 far within the tropics. It seems the route from 
 Hong Kong to Manila is more subject to stormy 
 weather, than that from Singapore to the same 
 town, for the former passes through a noted breed- 
 ing place of storms and typhoons. In accordance 
 with this, our passage from Hong Kong was 
 accompanied by very foul weather, whereas the 
 passage from Manila to Singapore was over a most 
 tranquil sea with the finest kind of weather. 
 Besides, if one intends to visit both Singapore and 
 Hong Kong, as is generally the case, the best plan 
 is not to take a return ticket to either of these 
 places, but simply to make the detour to Manila 
 on the route between the two. It will save time 
 and needless return trips over the sea. Of course 
 the most necessary and at the same time the most 
 difficult thing to do on this trip is to "keep cool." 
 
THE DELIGHT OF THE UNIVERSE 
 
 {Suggested by "Chtdad de Dios") 
 
 THE INVOCATION 
 
 Omnipotent, All-knowing, Uncompassed, 
 
 Inscrutable, Immense, Majestic, Vast 
 
 Eternal Essence, God, Creator! Hear 
 
 The prayer poured forth in lowly, awestruck fear, 
 
 By vilest dust of earth, by groveling worm, 
 
 That mutely rears from filth of sin its form 
 
 In dim presentiment of things divine 
 
 Which through life's gloom obscurely shine. 
 
 O show me Her, the beauteous Sovereign, 
 
 O'er all creation set as highest Queen; 
 
 Thy fairest Daughter; free from Adam's curse; 
 
 The crowning grace of all the Universe; 
 
 Who, God-o'ershadowed, free from touch of man, 
 
 Yet bore The Man, in whom our weal began. 
 
 My soul ! Desist ! How canst thou wing thy flight 
 In mortal coil, to such aspiring height? 
 In mortal coil? Yes, coil of flesh and bone, 
 (Though not like Hers, unstained,) from Adam 
 
 grown. 
 From Adam? — From him, who was the fountain- 
 spring 
 
 199 
 
200 "CIUDAD DE DIOS " 
 
 Of all our race on earth ? — Then let me sing, 
 
 Of Her, Delight of all the Universe, 
 
 Since She, untainted, sprang from self-same source ! 
 
 SUPPLICATION 
 
 Sovereign Lady, on suppliant knee 
 
 Look on thy slave seeking guerdon of Thee 
 
 Let but a ray of thy Wisdom illume 
 
 My spirit, that lingers in darkness and gloom. 
 
 The light of God's truth, piercing heaven and hell, 
 
 But faintly can gleam in what syllables spell. 
 
 Teach me, how God, the Creator of all, 
 
 Thee held intact from Adam's first fall 
 
 Clothed Thee in splendor, Creation's high Queen, 
 
 Set Thee as loadstar of all his vast reign, 
 
 ADMONITION 
 
 Sweet Reader! now, for heavenly things 
 
 Compose thy gentle soul, 
 While we God's veiled mysteries 
 
 Now tremblingly unroll. 
 
 To prophet, seer and mystic saint 
 
 Is given heavenly light: 
 We also shall God's guidance feel 
 
 In seeking truth and right. 
 
^^CIUDAD DE DIOS'^ 201 
 
 Forbear if staggers human tongue 
 
 At boundless mysteries ; 
 For words can only stammer forth 
 
 That which the spirit sees. 
 
 ETERNITY 
 
 Before all times, when the Divinity, 
 
 Yet motionless, had not embodied forth 
 
 Successive acts in number, time and space. 
 
 But rested, though progenitive in love, 
 
 In one enduring act, effect and cause, 
 
 All One ; where the Producer was Produced 
 
 In triune love by the Essential Act ; 
 
 Because the Act itself was Essence, and 
 
 The Essence, Act, which shall forever be 
 
 Unfathomed by angelic or the human mind: — 
 
 Ere yet the Eternal shadowed forth 
 
 Eternal Ages by creating time, 
 
 Past, present or the future: then, O Word, 
 
 Wast Thou, and Thou wast God, the Father's Word, 
 
 And with Him breathing forth the Holy Ghost, 
 
 Triune, distinct, yet consubstantial, 
 
 One God the Three, and Thou the Son of God. 
 
 Of Thee the loved Disciple, wrapt in God, 
 
 Hath said: "In the beginning was the Word: 
 
202 '^CIUDAD DE DIOS^^ 
 
 The Word was God." "AH things were made 
 
 through Him," 
 "Who was made flesh and dwelt among us men" 
 With glory crowned and full of grace and truth. 
 In the beginning Thou ? — ^Then unbegun, 
 Unbound by time, eternal, fore all else. 
 Existence pure, whence all beginning flows. 
 
 FiscAR Marison 
 
 AUTHOR'S ANNOUNCEMENT 
 
 Second Series will contain: 
 
 Singapore, Burmah, India, The Himalayas, 
 Goa, Egypt, Jaffa. 
 
 Third Series: 
 
 Jerusalem, Palestine in Bedouin Garb, Syria 
 and Islands of the Mediterranean, Constanti- 
 nople, Through Turkey, Greece, Corfu, Naples. 
 
 Fourth Series: 
 
 Ramblings through the European Countries 
 and an Excursion through North Africa. 
 
fcS&SLSS^S 
 
 \L02S 320 QIQ 2,