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ENGEAVEE FHOMA SPECL\L PHOTO GHAPH EXPEESSLYPOHTHIS'WDKK..
A.D.WOHTHINGTON & CO. .PUBLISHERS. HARTfORD , CQNiJ.

OUR JOURNEY
AKOUND THE WORLD
a[n 3;llustratrlr Ercortr of a fear's Erabel
OF FORTY THOUSAND JIII,ES THROUGH
INBIA, CHIXA, JAPAX, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, EGYPT, PAL
ESTINE, ' GREECE, TURKEY, ITALY, FRANCE, SPAIN, Etc.
BY
Eev. FRANCIS E. CLARK, D.D.
l^ireiScnl of tfjt Jinitrt Sacitts ot Cfjtistian lEnlicabot
WITH
GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN FAR OFF LANDS
^s SiZfXK t:i}roug|j a SEoman's %-^z%
BY
Mrs. Harriet E. Clark
WITH STEEL-PLATE POETEAITS, AND UPWARDS OF TWO HUNDRED CHOICE
ENGRAVINGS, MAINLY FROJI INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN
FEOM LIFE, .EEFEODUCED IN FACSIMILE BY EMINENT
AETISTS; AND A MAP SHOWING THE AUTHOE'S
JOUENEY AEOUND THE WOELD

SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION

HARTFORD, CONN.
A. D. WOETHINGTOX & CO., PUBLISHEES
1895

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894,
By A. D. WoRTHiNGTON & CoMPAirr,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington, D. C.

^0 TimbOm ft /nSaS Concern: — Notice is bereby given l^ the p^^^
sale of this book, "OUR JOUR!NE\ AROL^SD
THE WORLD," by subscription only, is protected by decisions of the United States Courts.
These decisions are by the U S. Circuit Court of Ohio, rendered by Judge Hammond, and by
the U. S. Circuit Court of Pennsylvania, rendered by Judge Butler, and are that " when a sub
scription book publishing house, in connection with the author, elects to sell a book purely
hy subscription find does so sell it^ through agents that are agents in the legal sense and jiot
inclepe?>(Xent purchasers of the books, the house and author are entitled to tbe protection of
the Courts against any bookseller who invades their rights by an attempt to buy and sell a
book 60 published and sold."
Hence, this is to notify booksellers and the public that all our agents are under contract,
as our agents, to sell this book by subscription only. They have no right whatever to sell it
in any other way, as books are furnished to them only for delivery to individual subscribers;
and any interference with our agents to induce them to sell contrary to their contract oblio:a-
tions and our rights, or any sale of this book by any one not an authorized agent will entitle
us to the protection of the Courts.
Notice is also hereby given that this copy of " OUR JOURNEY AROUND THE
WORLD " can be identified wherever found together with the name of the agent to whom the
publishers supplied it; and the detection of the person selling it to the trade, and the offer
ing of it lor sale by a bookseller will be sufficient justification for us to institute summary
proceedings against both bookseller and agent.
We trust tins notice will be received in the Idndly spirit in which it is given, a€ it is made
simply LO protect the author, ourselves, and our agents against infringements which rob us of
the legitimate f raits of our labor and investment
Ascnts and ail other persons are requested to inform us at once of the offering of this
booK, for sale by any bookseller, or by any person not our accredited agent. THE PUBLISHERS.

De&icatc& TO
Zbe jfatber anO /IBotbcr
WHO
FOLLOWED THIS JOURNEY
WITH
LOVING INTEREST AND EARNEST PRAYERS

HIS book is a record of a long
journey, such as, owing to the
peculiar circumstances attending
it, does not often fall to the lot of
man to make. The ordinary trip
around the world — a common
enough thing in these days —
largely follows certain well-de
fined routes of travel from Amer
ica to Japan, China, India, Egypt,
Palestine, and thence to America
again, via Europe. The traveler
necessarily is obliged to keep in these lanes of travel,
especially in the far East, and the objects he sees are largely
those which the guide-book and a paid conductor point out
to him.- In the journey described in these pages we were " per
sonally conducted" by kind friends, familiar residents of
¦every country which we visited. "We were able to see
phases of life and national characteristics usually denied the
hasty traveler, and we have tried to share them with our
readers, and in our tour to conduct them over the same
route made so pleasant for us. (vii)

Vlll PREFACE.
Some months before this journey began we received
numerous pressing and hearty invitations to visit Christian
Endeavor conventions in the different colonies of Australia.
These invitations were supplemented by many others
from missionaries and other residents in Japan, China, India,
Turkey, Spain, France, and England. It was to attend
these conventions and to visit these mission stations that the
journey was undertaken. At the same time, though the
conventions and other engagements were very numerous,
leisure was afforded between the meetings for sight-seeing,
which was made doubly valuable by our kind and generous
hosts who served so often as our guides, piloting us to the
very spots we wanted to visit, and showing us the oddities
and unique customs and ways of living which otherwise we
should have missed. They often took us into the homes of
the natives, and introduced us to their manner of domestic
life. To these hosts and guides, whose kindness, if space per
mitted, I should like to acknowledge in detail, and whose
names I should like to record in fuU, is due anything of
special or unique interest that may be found in these pages.
Little is said about the special object of the joui'ney, or
the scores of meetings we attended, or the many delightful
conventions in which we had part. The relation of the
journey to the Christian Endeavor movement has been dis
cussed in other publications, and this volume is distinctly a
book of travel.
Yet, though it contains little moralizing, it is devoutly
hoped that these pictures of life and scenes in many lands
may create a warm interest in the heart of everv reader in
the people to whom English-speaking missionaries have
gone, and in the noble work that these missionaries are
doing; and that these pictures may also illustrate the world-

PREFACE.

IX

wide brotherhood, and blessed international and interdenomi
national fellowship, of the Christian Endeavor movement.
It only remains to be said that the names of two of the
"pilgrims" may be found upon the title page, and that "the
little pilgrim " was a lad of thirteen, who, to say the least,
got quite as much fun out of the trip as did his father and
mother. As may be imagined, the journey was not, by any means,
a mere holiday trip, though the holiday side of it is usually
presented in these chapters.
A supplementary chapter will give members of En
deavor societies, and others particularly interested, some
knowledge of the results of the journey ; while the addi
tional chapters from the feminine pilgrim will show her sis
ters some glimpses of life in far-off lands, and tell how the
wide world looks through a woman's eyes.

K^^ii/(y*'i>C^ L^r C^fif^CyrC^

Shown in Red Lines on the Map.
FEOM Boston to New York ; thence to San Francisco ;
thence to Honolulu, Sandwich Islands ; thence to
Samoa, Navigator's Islands ; thence to Auckland,
New Zealand ; thence to Sydney, Australia ; thence by rail
to Melbourne and Adelaide, and return same way to Bris
bane ; from Brisbane by sea to Port Dar\vin ; thence to
Hong Kong ; thence by land to Canton, and return to Hong
Kong ; thence to Yokohama ; thence by rail to Tokio ;
thence by rail to Kioto and Kobe ; thence to Shanghai by
sea ; thence to Hong Kong again by water ; thence to Co
lombo, Ceylon, through the Straits of Sumatra ; thence to
Tuticorin, in Southern India ; thence by rail to Madras ;
thence by water to Calcutta ; thence overland across North
ern India, via Lucknow and Agra, to Bombay ; thence
across the Arabian Sea and through the Red Sea to Ismalia ;
thence by rail to Cairo ; thence by rail to Alexandria ;
thence by sea to Jaffa ; thence to Jerusalem and back to
Jaffa by rail ; thence by sea to Beyrout ; thence by sea to
Mersin ; thence overland through Turkey, through the
Cilician Gates, via Csesarea and Angora, to Constantinople ;
thence by water to Athens; thence by rail to Patras;
thence by water to Brindisi; thence by rail to Naples,
Eome, Grenoa, and Marseilles, to San Sebastian in Spain ;
thence to Paris, London, Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin;
thence to Liverpool ; thence to Queenstown ; thence to New
York.
(X)

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fgtB (TOorg. (Re^jrobuceb in Sacoimtfe 6g (gminenf (^rftBte.

Portrait op Rev. Fkaxcis E. Clark, D. D. (Suff Cbage), Frontispiece.
Eugraved on Steel by John J. Cade, from a Photograph taken expressly for this work. PAGE.
Ornamental Heading to Preface, . . . 7
Ornamental Initial Letter, . . . . 7
Engraved Autograph op Francis E. Clark, . . 9
The Steamship Makiposa, . .  9
Ornamental Headexg to Itinerary op the Author's Journey, 10
New Imperial Map op the "World (Suff Cb«ge\ ¦ • To face 10
Showing the Anthor^s " Journey Around the World " from the beginning to the
end. (Engraved and printed by W. & A. K. Johnston, Edinburgh, Scotland,
expressly for this work.)
Ornamental Heading to List op Illustrations, . . . .13
Ornamental Tail Piece,  ... 30
Ornamental Heading to Table op Contents, . . 31
Ornamental Heading, Chapter I, .... .37
Ornamental Initial Letter, . . . . . 37
Diagram op a Shupplb-Board, . . .... 46
Ornamental Tail Piece, .... ... 49
Ornamental Initl^^l Letter, .  50
Young Swimmers op Honolulu,  53
Samoan Girls Making Kava  63
All that Remains op the "Adlee,"  63
A Maori House  65
Maori Idols, . ...  66
Ornamental Tail Piece,  67
Ornamental Initial Letter,  68
(xiii)

XlV

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Male Aboriginal Australian,
Female Aboriginal Australian,
Aboriginal Method op Producing Fire,
In the Grounds op Government House, Sydney
In the Bush,
Ornamental Tail Piece, .
Ornamental Initial Letter,
In Adelaide,
Ornamental Tail Piece,
Ornamental Initial Letter,
Aboriginal Australian, .
In one op Melbourne's Parks,
Ready for the Descent into a Gold Mine
Ornamental Tail Piece,
Ornamental Initial Letter,
In a Corner op the Steerage Deck — Chinese Gambling on
Shipboard. (Stiff Cpdae. From an instantaneous photograph.)
' To face
Squatting on their haunches in a comer of the steerage deck was another
circle of Chinese Gamblers, throwing dice and playing cards with a dexterity
acquired only by long experience. They were smoking cigarettes, or curious
pipes with minute bowls, which when not in use they tucked behind their ears
until they desired another whiff.
Aboriginal Australian,
"Backy," "Backy," .
Ornamental Initial Letter,
A Young Citizen op Port Darwin,
A North Queensland Aboriginal,
Ornamental Initial Letter, .
A Chinese Forge, ... . ,
A Chinese Execution. (From an instantaneous photograph.)
Placing the Head op an Executed Criminal in a Basket.
{From an instantaneous photograph.) .
Taking a Condemned Pirate to the Place op Execution.
(Stiff Cbftflt. From an instantaneous photograph.) To face
Prisoners under sentence of death wear bamboo yokes when they are taken to
the place of execution. The head of the prisoner is placed between two rigid
bamboo bars, one in front, and the other at the back of the neck, while two
shorter bars rest across the shoulders and fasten the long side bars together.
The headsman accompanies the procession to the Held of execution holding his
keen blade aloft, followed by a crowd of spectators.
Coolies Pumping Water por Rice Fields,
Ornamental Tail Piece, .
Ornamental Initial Letter,
Pishing with Cormorants,
Prisoners in a Canton Jail,
Ornamental Tail Piece, .
Ornamental Initial Letter,

PAGE. 73 7374 77 838485 87 99
100104109111 114115

132

125
129131 135
136 148151155 156 156

159 163164169171 178 179

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XV
PAGE.
On the Pearl River, . . . . . 184
Orn.\mental Tail Piece, .... . . 190
Ornamental Initial Letter, .... ... 191
Dress op J.\panesb Women, showing the Obi, . . . 301
A Rukal Scene in Jap.\n, .... ... 303
A Tea Drinker's P.\radisb — Gathering the Crop on a Tea
Plantation. 305

Ornamental Tail Piece, . . 305
Ornamental Initl4.l Letter, . 306
In Winter Costume, . . 311
A Native J.\panese Grist Mill. 315

A Japanese Fruit Store, . . 316
Japanese Umbrella Makers, . 317
In a Japanese Barber Shop, . 319
The Villainous Daikon, . 223
The Baby in Japan. 325

A Japanese Peasant, .  236
A JiNEIKISHA, ....  338
Ornamental Initial Letter, . . . ... 230
Dignified Damsels at Tea,  231
A Japanese Ceremonial Tea — The Thirty-third Degree op
Exquisite Politeness. 336

In a Bamboo Forest, . . 339
Gathering the Tea Crop, 340
In the Land op the Japonica, . 343
Entrance to Nagata Temple, Kobe, 345
A Japanese Idol and Temple, . 346
A Buddhist Shrine, .... 348

XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE.
An Inland Village, ...  349
A Wayside Shrine,  . 250
A Japanese Farmer, . . . . . . 353
Japanese Acrobats, . . . . . 255
Ornamental Initial Letter,  357
A Chinese Rice Mill, . . . . 363
A Chinese Paper Mill, . . . . 265
"Hitting the Pipe," . . 267
Opium Fiends, .... . . 368
A Leper Girl op Shanghai, . . 270
A Juvenile Chinese Orchestra, 271
Ornamental Initial Letter, . . 279
Sacred White Oxen, . . . 280
The Bullock Cart, ... 282
The Famous Basket Trick, . . 287
Ornamental Initial Letter, ... . 294
Natives op Southern India, . . . 299
A Native Village of Southern India, . 301
Jewels op India, .... . 303
Grinding Curry, . . . 304
Ornamental Tail Piece,  . . 310
Ornamental Initial Letter,  311
A Band of Native Indian Jugglers and Snake Charmers.
(Suff Cbagc. From an instantaneous photograph.) . To face 817
" If this snake should bite you," said one of these gentry, at the same time
opening one of the baskets, "you will die in fifteen minutes. If this one
should bite you," opening another basket, " yon will die in ten minutes." Open
ing still another basket, he remarked coolly, " If he should bite yon, you will die
in five minutes," and still another basket was opened with the blood-curdling
announcement, " If this snake should bite you, you will die in one minute."
The Great Temple op Madura  318
The Painted Corridor in the Temple op Madura, . . . 319
The Sacred Tank op Madura  320
Interior op the Great Palace op Madura, . . . 821
The Sacred Bull op Siva, .... . . 323
Weavers in the Streets op Madras, . . . 338
Child on a Leap of the Victoria Reqia, . 329
The Popular Madras Hunt,  330
A Wedding Procession in India. (Suff Cbage. From an instan
taneous photograph.)  To face 330
Three silent treading, knock-kneed, ragged camels led the way, covered with
bright cloths and much tinsel. There seemed to be little life or merriment
about the procession, and I presume the poor young girl who was going to the
home of her aged husband, whom, perhaps, she has never seen, felt as melan
choly as the solemn procession seemed to indicate.
"Bratty" Making  333
Ornamental Initial Letter,  335
A Calcutta Barber Shop,  . . 339

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

xvn

383

A Hindu Fakir, .
A Long-Haired F.\kir,
The Burning G11.4.T, .
A Tower op Silence,
A Hindu Bride, .
A Zenana Carriage of Bombay,
Ornamental Tail Piece, .
Ornamental Initl\l Letter, .
A Native "Turnout,"
In the Monkey Temple, .
Mosque of the Great Imambara, Lucknow,
The Taj Mahal, ....
Ornamental Initial Letter,
In the Suez Canal, .
Donkey Boy of Ismalia, .
On the Banks op the Nile,
A Native Egyptl^n School. (Suff CCoge. F-om an instantane
ous photograph.)  To face
An Egyptian school is a curiosity. The pupils sit on the floor, study their
lessons aloud, rocking back and forth, and they make the schoolroom about as
noisy as a ward political meeting. I generally knew where a schoolroom was at
least half a minute before I reached its doors. The master squats on the floor,
or stands among fhis pupils, who are seated in rows or promiscuously scattered
through the rest of the apartment.
Water Carriers Filling their Goat-Skins, . ...
Ornamental Initial Letter, . . . ...
Before a Cairo Coffee House. (Suff Cpage. From an instanta
neous photograph.) ... . . . To face
The strange people, the curious costumes, the unfamOiar cries in the street,
the characteristic crowd of all sorts and conditions of men in front of eacti
coffee house, the strange manners and customs of the bazaar, all furnished ma
terial for many days of delight in the capital of Egypt.
Street Musicians and Dancers op Cairo 
Praying in the Streets of Cairo, ... ...
Latticed Windows, Cairo, ...
Sugak-Cane and Fruit Sellers op Cairo, ....
Shoe Peddler op Cairo, .... ...
A Bedouin Family on a Journey,  401
In the Bulak Museum, . . . . ^  404
Mummy over Three Thousand Yeaes Old, of Sethi I, Father
OP Rameses II, — THE Pharaoh who Oppressed the Chil
dren op Israel. (Suff CpAS^- From a special photograph.)
To face

390

390

393 394395397 399

409

Look into that glass case. There, in that royal gilded coffin, lies a shrunken,
withered mummy. The lower limi)8 are yet wrapped in the cerements of the
grave, but the naked skull is still perfect and visible. The long hooked Roman
nose, the deep sunken eyeballs, the heavy square jaw, tell of the warrior and the
tyrant. There is Moses' playfellow. For more than three thousand three hun
dred years he lay silent in the earth, until at last the mighty secret of his burial
place was discovered, his coffin was opened, and he was found to tell us the
story of the awful oppression and tyranny which he inaugurated so many centu
ries ago.

XVIU LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE.
Full Length View of Mummy op King Pharaoh, Rameses II,
{the Pharaoh of the Oppression,)  409
Where the Mummy op Pharaoh was Found, — Entrance to
THE Tomb  .... 411
Profile of King Pharaoh,  413
Front View of Pharaoh immediately after Unwinding the
Mummy,  413
Ornamental Tail Piece,  416
Ornamental Initial Letter,  417
The Great Pyramids  419
By the Roadside in Egypt, .  423
A Scene on the Nile, . .  426
The Flight Down the Pyramid, . . 431
The Sphinx, ....  433
Ornamental Tail Piece, . . . ... 434
Ornamental Initial Letter, . . ... 435
Abdallah, Our Dragoman, . . . . . 444
Ornamental Initial Letter, .... . . 447
Jerusalem and the Surrounding Country. (Suff CfJase. From
a special photograph.)  To face 448
There stands the city proudly on its hills as of yore. It has withstood the
decay of centuries, the tramp of conquering armies, and the destruction that
comes in the wake of war and pestilence and conquest. He must be dull indeed

who looks on Jerusalem for tne first time unmoved, as he remembers all that
has occurred within those time-stained walls.

455458468469470

Begging Dervishes, Jerusalem,
A Water Carrier, ....
Ornamental Tail Piece, .
Ornamental Initial Letter, .
A Street in Jerusalem, .
Absalom's Tomb, . . . 477
A Bedouin Dinner Party. (Suff CDage. F^om an instantaneous
photograph.)  To face 480
As we neared the village we passed a group of ragged, filthy, sore-eyed speci
mens of humanity, squatting on the ground near an old dilapidated tent where
they had been lazily basking in the sunshine. They were engaged in the inter
esting task of simultaneously extending their dirty hands into the one and only
dish that contained their food.
A Bedouin Woman,  . 483
Rachel's Tomb, . . . ... 484
A GlKL OF JUDEA, ... ... . 486
Ornamental Initial Letter, . . . . . 488
The Mosque of Omar, . .  491
Wailing Place op the Jews  501
Ornamental Initial Letter, .... ... 504
The Famous Cedars op Lebanon. (Suff Obage. From a special
photograph)  To face 506
The grove here shown is supposed to have furnished the timber for Solomon's
Temple, as recorded in the Old Testament. It is now called " The Grove of the
Lord," and in it are three hundred and ninety-three trees ; of these only twelve
are of any great size, and they have received the name of "The Twelve
Apostles " from a tradition that Christ once visited this spot with his Apostles,
Wiio planted their staves, which grew into these goodly cedars.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

XIX

Druse prom Mount Lebanon, 
OuE. Tubkish Passport, 
A Syrian Woman op the Lower Class,
A Syrian Wom.\n op the Better Class,
Our Life Preserver {Facsimile of our BouyouriAildou)
Ornamental Tail Piece, 
Ornamental Initial Letter, . . . .
A Ship of the Desert, . . ...
Native Khurds op Asia Minor 
A Syrian Poultry Seller,
An Exciting Moment — Oun Ride across Turkey in a Wagon.
(Suff ^ogc.)  To face
Sometimes the rickety wagon would sway perilously on the verge of a rocky
precipice. Often we would think that it was actually going over, and would
catch our breath as we expected to see wagon, horses, and driver tumble into the
terrible abyss. Then the driver would throw himself from side to side of the
wagon to keep it from toppling over, and the rest of us would throw our weight
on that side to prevent the threatened catastrophe.
MUSSELMAN AT PrAYER,
The Call of the Muezzin,
Ornamental Initial Letter, .
Mosque op El Azar, .
Sidewalk Merchants, Constantinople
St. Sophia, The Marvelous, .
A Whirling Dervish,
A Turkish Beauty, .
A Turkish Woman,
A Sultan's Tomb,
Ornamental Initial Letter,
Ornamental Initial Letter, .
Ornamental Tail Piece, .
Portrait op Mrs. Harriet E. Clark (Suff Cp«se),
Ornamental Heading to Introduction,
Ornamental Initial Letter to Introduction,
Engraved Autograph op Haeriet E. Clark,
Ornamental Initial Letter, .
Ornamental Tail Piece, .
Ornamental Initial Letter,
A Japanese Mother, .
A Japanese Maiden, .
Carriage Riding in Japan — A Jinrikisha Man est His Rain
Cloak. (Suff C&Cigc. From an instantaneous photogra/ph.) To face
Thus thatched, our jinrikisha man looked almost like an animated haystack.
Hie rain cloak covered him almost from head to heels. In the crowded streets
he was continually shouting at the top of his voice, " Hi-lii " which may be
translated into English, I suppose, as " Look out there," " Get out of the way,"
in order to clear a passage for our little procession.

PAGE. 509517530
531 532534535 539531534538

To face

543544 545
555 556
557559563565
566 568583590
593593
593 593595603603605
606

606

XX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Japanese Refreshments, .
Washing Day in Japan, .
Street Children of Japan,
Ornamental Tail Piece, .
Ornamental Initial Letter,
Colombo Children,
A Happy Mother,
Pitiful Little Creatures,
Ornamental Initial Letter,
Ornamental Tail Piece, .
Ornamental Initial Letter,
Good Night,

PAGE.
, 611612613
, 615
, 616
617618619635
635 636641

'^otal -tBumBer of Stlusixcdions, 220

CHAPTEE I.
OUR START — LIFE ON AN OCEAN STEAMER.
The Journey Begun — Daily Life on an Ocean Steamer — Always Journey
ing Homeward — Who is "We" — Taking the Reader into our Con
fidence — A Parting Look — "God be with You till We Meet Again"
— The "Mariposa" — Our Fellow Passengers — Gambling on Ship
board — Betting on the Day's Run — Where to read "Penny Dread
fuls " — Lord Blank and his Guardian — One Day on a Pacific Steamer
— A Flexible Bath-tub — Something of which there is Enough — At
the Dinner Table — Sighing for Home-made Bread and Butter —
Wanted, Milk from a Cow instead of from a Tin Can — Mrs. Bostonese
Brains — The Tramp, tramp, tramp of the Passengers — Ring-Toss and
Shuffle-Board — Sunday on the Ocean, ..... ... 37

CHAPTEE II.

ACROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN— SAMOA AND THE SAMOANS—
NEW ZEALAND'S RUGGED SHORES.
The Joys of Terra Firma — The Playground of America — Bewildering
Vegetation — Brown-skinned Divers — Rum and Missionaries — Ten to
One — The Future of the Hawaiian — Ous Departure — "Fire, Fire"
— Between the Flames and the Sea — An Exciting Race for Life —
The Navigators Islands — The First Glimpse — The Samoans as Nature
Made Them — Stalwart Oarsmen — On Shore Again — Costumes not
from Paris — Babies in Brown Coats — The Great Event of the Month
— A Splendid Race — The Sabbath Day Holy in Samoa — A Kingly
Romance — A Royal Salary — Tappa and Kava — An Appetizing Pro
cess — Farewell to the Oasis — An Awful Storm — A Mournful Spectre
— Our Frolicsome Companions — A Week without a Wednesday ^ — An
Exaggerated English Channel — New Zealand's Stern and Rugged
Shores — GooAhje Mariposa,  . . . 50
(xxi)

XXU CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE III.
OUR WELCOME TO A NEW CONTINENT- FIRST IMPRES
SIONS OF AUSTRALIA.
A New Continent — A Magnificent Harbor — Torres' Mistake — The
Flight of the Dove — "The Endeavor" — An Important Astronomi
cal Discovery — A Vast Noah's Ark — Great Grandfather Animals —
The Bushman and His Fate — What the Savage could not do — Un
certain Rain and Certain Drought — Australian Oddities — Confused
Trees — Topsy-Turvyness — Preconceived Notions — The Englishman
the World Over — The Evolution of the Yankee Drawl — Colonial
Days — ' ' The Great American Desert " — Mother and Daughter — How
the Old Lady Treats Her Child — English or American — Architectural
Differences — Big Names — ' ' Elevator " or " Lift " — " Barber's Shop "
"Tonsorial Palace" — American Inventions in Australia — The Home
of Anarchy and Unrest — Country Life versus City Life — The "Bluey"
and the ' ' Billy " — The ' ' Larrikin " — A "New Chum " — Modesty Be
coming a Literary New Chum, . . . . 68
CHAPTEE IV.
AUSTRALIA AND AUSTRALIANS — INTERESTING MATTERS
ABOUT A GREAT COUNTRY — ITS LIFE, ITS CUST03IS,
ITS SCENERY, AND ITS PEOPLE.
The Houses the People Live in — Stone Instead of Wood — An English
man's Castle — Plenty of Soil — " Strathroy " versus "1239 E. 341 St."
— "Bacchus, Cestus, Festus " — How They Travel — The Railways —
Inside the House — At the Dinner Table — A Pleasant Custom —
Scarcity of Cold Water — The Newspapers — Sometimes Dull but
Seldom Sensational — Some Budding Poets — Specimen of Obituary
Poetry — Outdoor Life — National Games — A Mighty Curse — The
Turf Adviser — The Totalisator — Church Life — Great Conventions —
The Singing — Cable Absurdities — A Mexican Invasion — Kissing his
Wife on the Street — Gum-chewing Girls — Chicago Girls and Boston
Maidens — Introducing Friends, ...... 85
CHAPTEE Y.
AUSTRALIA THROUGH AMERICAN EYES — OUR VISIT TO A
GOLD MINE — RISKING LIFE FOR A FRIEND.
An Early Definition — A " Personally Conducted " Trip — A Peaceful Land
— One of its Neighbors — Australia's Only Battle — The Eureka Stock
ade — Unwarlike Weapons — Hot, Hotter, Hottest — Summer the Pre-

CONTENTS. XXlll
vailing Season — Ragged and Tattered Trees — A Eucalyptus Country
— Many "Botany Bays" — Imported Pests — A Pugnacious Little
Briton — One of Australia's Expensive Problems — The Gentle, Peace-
loving Bear — The Kangaroo and the Emu — The Kangaroo's Small
Brother — The Laughing Jackass — A Land of Cities — Tales of Politi
cal Corruption ^ An Exploded Boom — Melbourne the Magnificent —
Sydney the Picturesque — Adelaide the Lovely — -Ballarat the Golden
— Down in a Gold Mine — Getting Ready to Descend — In Motley
Array — The Cage — Brave Women — United We Drop — Suppose! —
Everything but Gold — A Brave Miner — Risking Life for a Friend —
That Man was a Christian,  100

CHAPTEE YI.
THE CRUISE OF THE CHINGTU— AN INTERESTING VOYAGE
IN STRANGE COMPANY — IN THE GOLD FIELDS OF
AUSTRALIA.
Beginning Our Log-book — Mrs. Pilgrim's Resolve — The Chingtu — A
Unique and Unusual Journey — Our Steamer — Our Stewards —
"Loast Beef," " Olange Flittels" and "Lice Cakes" — Preparing for
Hot Weather — Our Fellow Passengers — Life in the Steerage — Mr.
Ai See and his Wives — -Mrs. AJi See Number One — Photographing
the Family — The Ruler of the Roost — The Black Fellows — Ce
lestials Returning Home — Taking Home Their Own Bones — The
Chinaman at Dinner — A Race of Squatters — The Fan-tan "Layout"
— Chinese Passion for Gambling — Within the Barrier Reef —"White
Man, He too Salt" — Glittering Gold Fields — How Gold was Discov
ered in Australia — Nash and His "Find" — "Welcome Strangers" —
Gold on Brogans — The Romance of the Morgan Mine — A Visit from a
Native Bushman — "Backy, Backy, Backy" — White Ant Hills —
Wrecked on a Coral Reef — Thursday Island,  115

CHAPTEE YII.
THROUGH LITTLE KNOWN COUNTRIES — LIFE IN THE MA
LAY ARCHIPELAGO — A BATTLE WITH A SNAKE.
All the Days of the Week — A Convenient Nomenclature — A Diet of Sea
Worms — Trade in Bloodsuckers — Reminiscences of My Boyhood — A
Hideous Delicacy — ^ The Pearl Fishery — ^ Plums in the Pudding — The
Pearl Diver's Equipment — A Short but not a Merry Life — A Baking
Day and Steamy Night — The Aborigines — In the Celebes Sea — The
Connecticut of the South Sea — The Nutmeg at Home — ^The Possibili
ties of a Ball of Twine — How the Bride Wore the Trousers — Euro-

XXIV CONTENTS.
pean Clothes and Civilization — A Snake Story — An Unwelcome
Guest — Dislodging his Serpentship — A Battle with a Python — The
Spicy Breezes — The Noble Work of the Missionary — How the Chief
Took the Census — At His Wit's End — A Shrewd Rajah — Some
Passengers — Some Members of the Feline Tribe — The Tale of Tor
toise-shell Tommy, ...   131
CHAPTEE YIII.
OUR ARRIVAL IN CHINA — UNFAMILIAR SIGHTS AND
NOVEL EXPERIENCES— CHINESE EXECUTIONS— CHINESE
FARMS AND FARMERS — DOMESTIC LIFE.
Cosmopolitan Hong Kong — The Cabmen of the Orient — A Ride in a
Sedan Chair — Uplifted in Spirit — Sidewalk Shops — Pennsylvania Oil
in China — Fairyland under the Lanterns — Incense Offerings to the
Gods — ¦ Novel Sights and Scenes — Oriental Sharpers — Unblushing
Swindlers — Toboggan Sliding — All Aboard for Canton — Justice
Swift and Severe — Executions in China — Heads Chopped off with
Neatness and Despatch — -The River God at the Prow — The Fatshan —
River Robbers and Pirates — A Floating Arsenal — The Rice Harvest —
Threshing Out the Rice — " Chinaman Makee Glow" — Three Crops in
a Season — Water Buffaloes — Christianity and Butter — Up the Pearl
River — Junks and Flower Boats, Sampans and Slipper Boats — The
High Road of Canton — A Novel Pontoon Bridge — A FamUy Kcture
— Cantonese Jade — Off in a Sampan, .  148
CHAPTEE IX.
IN CANTON THE CROWDED — CHINA AND THE CHINESE.
— CURIOUS SCENES AMONG A CURIOUS PEOPLE — IN
THE TEMPLE OF HORRORS.
Ah Cum, Jr. — A Courteous and Faithful Guide — Aimless Wandering —
The Birthday of the Fire God — Turning out for a Sedan chair — Close
Quarters — A City of Temples — Streets with Odd Names — "Lon
gevity Lane " — " Heavenly Peace Street " — A Changing Panorama —
Outrageous Odors — A Pestilenti.il Place without Pestilence — A Puz
zle for our Doctors — People who Never Heard of a Plumber — The
Live Fish Market — Candy Stands — How Much cau you Buy for a
Cash? — Going to Market in Corea — A Royal Present — Juvenile
Curiosity — That Little "Foreign Devil" — The Cat and Dog Meat
Store — The Original of the Willow Pattern — The Five Hundred
Buddhists — Marco Polo among the Gods — Lugubrious Buddhist
Priests — Worshiping the Gods of Good Luck and Prosperity —
Business-like Methods of Worship — The Temple of Horrors  A

CONTENTS. XXV
Necklace of Extracted Teeth — Some of the Tortures — Sawing a
Man in Two — Boiled in Oil — Punishments of the Buddhist Hell —
The Examination Hall — A Pathetic Spectacle  164

CHAPTEE X.
OUR JOURNEY UP THE GREAT RIVER— THE DAILY LIFE
OF A CHINAMAN IN HIS OWN COUNTRY — FAVORITE
FOOD AND QUEER DISHES.
An Excursion in a Flower Boat — "Rice Power" — The Stern- Wheeler
and its Motive Power — Sacrifices and Perils of the Missionary — A
Chinese Feast — Chop Sticks and How to Use Them — Lamb and Chest
nuts — Frogs' Legs and Onions — A Dissipated Prejudice — Shrimps
and Bamboo Root — Our Seventeen Courses — A Chinese Village — A
Village School and Schoolmaster — Studying Aloud — A Pot and its
Contents — How the Ashes of Grandfathers are saved in China — ' ' Fe,
Pi, Fo, Fum, I Smell the Blood of a Chinaman " — Seventeen Dollars
for a Child — A Fire-Cracker Factory — How Fire-Crackers are Made
— Cheap Wages and Cheap Living — A Chinese Flower Garden — A
Mandarin in His Blossom Gown — A Chinese Temple — Waking up
the God — Washstands for a God — Lack of Reverence — Fans for Sick
Relatives — The Voices of the Night — A Contrast,  179

CHAPTEE XL
OUR STAY IN CHARMING JAPAN— SOCIAL CUSTOMS — SOME
INTERESTING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES — LIFE AND
SCENES ON A TEA PLANTATION.
The Best Preparation for a New Land — A Terrible Typhoon — Personal
Experiences — "The Lord is Able to Give Thee Much More Than
This" — The Most Beautiful of Mountains — Fujiyama in Spotless
Ermine — "Fiery Jack" — Yokohama — The Rush of Jinrikishas —
The Capture of the Man-of- War's Men — Fun in the Custom House —
" Crossing the Palm " — A Lesson in Japanese Politeness — Bowing in
Japanese — The Shop-keeper's Salaam — The Maid Servant's Obeisance
Receiving Callers — A Hinge in the Spine — The Ohio Statesman's
Mistake — "My Fool of a Wife" — Japanese Railways — Our Fellow
Passengers — Progressive Japan — Telegraph Lines and Electric Lights
— Postal Delivery Six Times a Day — Protecting the Windows— The
Professor's Many Suits — The " Obi" — A Japanese Joseph — What we
Saw from the Car Window — A Tea Plantation — ' ' Father's Pride and
JMother's Joy " — Thatch-Roofed Farm Houses,  191

XXVI CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE XII.
A STROLL AMONG THE MIKADO'S SUBJECTS —EVERYDAY
LIFE IN A JAPANESE HOUSE.
Tokio, its Parks, its Temples, and its Palace — Its University — A Study
of Fish Parasites — What Missionaries have done — The Seismological
Department — An Artificial Earthquake — Exceptional Earthquake
Privileges — Wheat and ChaS — Canton and Tokio, or China versus
Japan — The Frenchman of the East — A Japanese House — No Doors,
No Windows, No Chimneys — A Walk in a Country Village — The
Country Bakery — A Rice Mill — Division of Labor — An Initiation into
the Art of Orange Eating — The Japanese Shoe Shop — The Villainous
Daikon — Prices in Japan — A Pot of Tea for Two Cents — A Japanese
Dinner in a Japanese Hotel — The Curious Crowds at the Window —
The Motormen of the East — The Hilarious Jinrikisha Men — The
Waitress and her Odd Position — Paying our Reckoning, 206
CHAPTEE XIII.
OUR EXPERIENCE AT A CEREMONIAL TEA — JAPANESE
SOCIAL LIFE — IN THE EMPEROR'S PALACE.
A Ceremonial Tea — "Past Masters" of Politeness — The Emperor's De
vice — A Dignified Function — A Contest in Politeness — AVhite and
Black Charcoal — With Measured Steps and Rhythmic Motion — BuOd-
ing the Fire — The Most Solemn Moment — Our Part in the Ceremony
— No Laughing Matter — Smacking Our Lips — From Tokio to Kioto
— The Garden of the World — Industrious and Careful Farmers —
Woman's Rights in Japan — One of Japan's Honored Names — !Mis-
sionary Life in the East — Flippant "Globe-trotters" — Cheating the
Gods — Stone Children with Red Bibs— Confucius's Chilly Cult — The
Temple of the Three Thousand Gods — Big Gods and Little Gods —
Rope Made of Human Hair — How Heavy Timbers were Lifted into
Place — Curious Sacrifice of Rehgious Devotees — In the Emperor's
Palace — Osaka, its Mint, its Castle, and its Fish-Market, . . . 330
CHAPTEE XIY.
OUR RETURN TO CHINA -THE SEAMY SIDE OF CHINESE
LIFE- OPIUM FIENDS AND FAN-TAN GAMBLERS — ODD
WAYS OF AN ODD PEOPLE — CURIOUS DISPOSAL OF
THE DEAD.
An Obstructing Bar — The Will of Heaven — Almond Eyes and Pigtails
— Noiseless John— How John Chinaman Treats Americans in Shanghai
— Colossal Conceit— The Future of the Celestial Empire — Shoes Two
Cents a Pair — A Cliinese Grocery Store — Dried Kidneys and Chickens'

CONTENTS. XXVll
Livers— Varnished Pig — Allowable Theft — A Chinese Rice Mill —
Arrested Development — How Chinese Paper is Made — Rice Paper —
How it is Produced — Woe-begonc, Emaciated Faces — The Seamy Side
of Chinese Life — ' ' Hitting the Pipe " — Opium Fiends —Fan-tan Gam
blers — Intense Excitement — Chinese Music — Unearthly Screeching —
Prolonged and Awful Caterwauling — In the Suburbs — Human Beasts
of Burden — China and Japan Agriculturally Considered — Rotation of
Crops — Novel Ice Harvesting — Fish Farming- An Odd Way of Fish
ing—The Old, Old Story of Mortality — A Great Funeral — Funeral
Baked Meats — Baby Towers of Shanghai,  357
CHAPTEE XY.
A. JOURNTEY THROUGH TROPIC SEAS — ARRIVAL IN INDIA-
NATIVE JUGGLERS, ACROBATS, AND BEGGARS.
A Delightful Voyage — Liquid Fire — The Sacred White Ox — The Gharri
— The "L Road" and the Bullock Bandy — Fan Palms of Singapore —
A Tree that Casts no Shadow — How the Bandy Driver Stimulates his
Steeds — An Effective Threat — Chewing a Bullock's Tail to make
him go — Picturesque Wharf Venders — "Papa Dive" — Scrambling for
Nickels — A Walk in Penang — Mangosteens and Jack-fruit — Assa-
foetida and Onions — The Indian Juggler — A Man with a Gizzard —
The Mango Tree Trick and the Girl in the Basket — The Last of the
Chinaman — Ceylon's Spicy Breezes — The Waggish Captain's Joke —
The Odors of Colombo — A Horrible Combination — The Catamaran —
The Two Instincts of the Singhalese — Persistent Shopkeepers — Be
sieged by Beggars — Baby Merchants and their Wares — The Cinna
mon Gardens — An Ancient Turtle — Brawny Barbarism and Miss
Nancyism, ... . .... .... . . 279
CHAPTEE XYI.
OUR EXPERIENCES IN SOUTHERN INDIA— LIFE IN A MIS
SIONARY BUNGALOW — A PICNIC IN THE JUNGLE.
A Journey with a Bad Reputation — Landing at Tuticorin — Railway
Traveling in India — A New Use for a Dirty Sock — Preparing for Hot
Weather — House Building in the Tropics — ' ' Give the Sun no Chance "
— Horses under Pith Hats — Barren India — On the Ragged Edge of
Famine — Gaunt Starvation — Disputing with the Ants — Buffaloes
and Long-legged Goats — A Sunset Scene — A Missionary Bungalow —
A Girls' Boarding School — How They Make up Their Beds — An In
ventory of a Maiden's Jewels — A Missionary's Manifold Labors — A
Picnic in the Jungle — The "Nine Lac Garden" — Serious Duties
Again — A Bicycle Story — The Good Devil and his Terrible Bell —
" Tell Me Your Name, Good Devil " — Bound in the Shackles of the
Caste System — A Brave Brahmin,  294

XXVIU CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE XYII.
SOME FAMOUS CITIES OF SOUTHERN INDIA — INDIAN
SNAKE CHARMERS, THIEVES AND ROBBERS — FAMOUS
IDOLS, TEMPLES AND PALACES.
A Fascinating Land — Gorgeous Heathenism — Tattoo Marks and Sacred
Ashes— A Man of the Thief Caste — A Robber Village — Calling the
Roll of Thieves — The Thief Middleman — The Women at the Well —
The Greasy Fakir- Paying Him for Drifting to Leeward — Blood
curdling Announcements — A Magnificent Temple— Twenty-five Mill
ions of Dollars — Dusty Gods and Goddesses — The Holy of Holies — A
Stone Bull in a Stone Bath Tub — The God's Bath — A Beautiful Pal
ace—The Temple of Tan j ore —Filthy Water as a Purifier of Sins —
The Last Rajah and His Wives — A Wedding Procession — The Kick
ing Capacities of an Old Smooth-Bore — Vellore and its Temple — Sus
pense and Terror — A Brave Rescue — The Gallant Horses — Tippoo
Sahib's Relatives — The Madras Hunt — The Punkah Wallah, . 311
CHAPTEE XYIII.
ON THE BANKS OF THE SACRED GANGES — HORRIBLE CUS
TOMS-FUNERAL RITES AND WEDDING CEREMONIES.
The Mouth of the Hoogly — A Precaution — From the Parisian to the
Pariah — The Great Banyan of the Geographies — Ten Thousand
Troops under its Shade — The Burning Ghat — A Sidewalk Barber's
Shop — A Ghastly Group — Innumerable Beggars — Religious Parasites
— The Old Fakir's Offering — The Bathers in the Ganges — A Devoted
Son — Dying at her Leisure — A Burning Ghat — Decorations after the
Bath — Burning the Dead — Hindu Theology — Towers of Silence —
Dreary Biers and Hungry Vultures — A Cannibal Feast — The Jews of
India — Why They Give their Bodies to the Vultures — The Bondage of
Caste — Paying Dear for his Dinners — A Venerable Bridegroom —
Match Makers in India — The Stars Favorable and Marriages Frequent
— A Wedding Procession — A Pathetic Mite of a Bride — A Matter-of-
fact Wooer  335
CHAPTEE XIX.
IN THE COUNTRY OP THE GREAT MUTINY — SO^HE PAGES
OF BLOODY HISTORY — HEROES AND HEROINES OF
INDIA — MEMORIES OF THE PAST.
Across Northern India by Rail — In an Indian Sleeping Car — Scenes from
our Car Window — Storks and Penguins, Monkeys and Jackals — "It
is a Beautiful Morning ; Come, Let Us Kill Something " — Defiling a

CONTENTS. XXIX
Peddler's Sweetmeats — A Work of Patience and Diplomacy — An
Every Day Conversation in India — The Mecca of the Brahmins — The
Monkey Temple — Cawnpore of Bloody Memory — An Awful Page of
History — The Angel of Remembrance — Memories of Lucknow —
The Gallant Lawrence — Havelock's Troops to the Rescue — The
Hero's Grave — The Cannon Ball that Robbed the Mother of Her Babe
— The City of the Taj Mahal — The Mogul's Promise and How He
Kept It — "In Memory of an Immortal Love" — -The Hand of the
Vandal — "Jane Higginbottom " in the Taj — How the Old King
Played Parchesi, ....  .... 353
CHAPTEE XX.
OUR VOYAGE ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN AND THROUGH
THE SUEZ CANAL — ARRIVAL IN EGYPT.
Some of our Fellow Passengers — Missionaries and Men of Mars — The
Little Athletes — Potato Races and Hurdle Jumping — The Red Sea —
A Glimpse of Sinai — "And a Half, Eight" — Waiting our Turn — A
Huge Jack o' Lantern — A Sight Long to be Remembered — A Stu
pendous Enterprise — A Great Waterway — Canal Diggers before De
Lesseps — In the Canal — Ismalia and her Donkeys — ' ' Yankee Doodle "
and "Washy Washington" — Undeniable Desert — A Woman with a
Supplementary Nose — Our First Glimpse of the Bedouin — A Family
of Arabs — The Land of Goshen — Pharaoh and his Prime Minister —
Bricks without Straw — The Fellahin and How They Live — Their
Superstitions — "O, Virgin Mary" — "The Sun Do Move" — The
Blessings Brought by John Bull — A Ghostly Reminder — How They
Carry the Babies — "Backsheesh, Backsheesh" — "Oh Sugar for a
Nail"— "God Will Make Them Light, Oh Lemons" — The Little
" Sons of the River,"  370
CHAPTEE XXI.
IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS — THE MOST WONDER
FUL MUSEUM IN THE WORLD — THE MUMMY OF PHA
RAOH THE OPPRESSOR, AND HOW THE BODY WAS DIS
COVERED—LOOKING INTO PHARAOH'S FACE.
Marvelous Cairo ^ — A Vivacious Traveler — Eyes wanted Before and Be
hind — A Labyrinth of Lanes — Fashion in a Fez — Madam Grundy in
Egypt — At the Sugar Cane Bazaar — A Glimpse of the Khedive — A
Boy in a Fez — A Ride to Heliopolis — The Plight into Egypt — The
Tree of the Virgin — How the Spider Outwitted Herod — Ancient On —
The Only Relic — Joseph's Father-in-Law — Where Joseph was Married
— How are the Mighty Fallen ! — The Most Wonderful Museum in the
World — A Room Full of Mummies — Sethi I and Rameses II — Moses'

XXX CONTENTS.
Playfellow — What the Bible says of Him — A Mummy over Three
Thousand Years Old — The Pharaoh of the Oppression — Where He
was Buried — The Location a Mighty Secret for Centuries — How the
Tomb was Discovered in 1881 — Unwinding the Mummy — How
Pharaoh Looked — Description o^ the Body — Its Identity Established
— Where is the Pharaoh of the Exodus ?  390

CHAPTEE XXII.
ON THE BANKS OP THE NILE— OUR CLIMB TO THE TOP
OF THE GREAT PYRAMIDS — BESET BY ARABS — A3IUS-
ING ADVENTURES AND EXPERIENCES.
An Ancient Proverb — Our First View of the Pyramids — Man-made
Mountains — Monuments Which Never Disappoint the Traveler —
Could They be Built To-day 1 — A Blow at the Conceit of the Nine
teenth Century — Comfort for the Optimist — Why the Pyramids were
Built and How — The Tombs of the Pharaohs — A Small Pyramid for a
Short Reign — A More Intimate Acquaintance — The Road to Cheops
— ' ' Mafish Backsheesh " — Unnecessary Attention — The Comanches of
the Desert — An Appeal to the Sheik — Getting Up-stairs — How the
Stout Lady Reached the Top — Desolation, Dearth, and Death — Life-
giving Father Nile — Beautiful Cairo — An Ancient Story of the Pyra
mids — Avaricious Arabs — Destroying the Pyramids — Looking Down
on Forty Centuries — A Ride on a Camel to the Sphinx — Boarding
the Ship of the Desert — The Ever-watchful One,  417

CHAPTEE XXIII.
ALL ABOARD FOR JERUSALEM — JOURNEYING THROUGH
THE HOLY LAND BEHIND A LOCOMOTIVE— SCENES AND
INCIDENTS BY THE WAY.
A Stormy Day in March — A Test for Brave Hearts and Strong Stom
achs — Throwing Up Jonah — Going Ashore at Jaffa — How We Got
Down the Ship's Side — Dumping Passengers in the Small Boat — Up
to the Ridge Pole and Down the Side of the Great Tent — A Terrible
Accident — -A Highwayman's Demand — " Your Money or Your Life"
— A Near Approach — Unspeakable Filth — The House of Simon the
Tanner — Simon's Vat — View from the Housetop — Our Rural Friend
from New York State — "Them Jimkirridges "— Through the Holy
Land Behind a Steam Engine — The Sentimental Man — The Reward of
Indulging a Sentiment — Our Dragoman — How Abdallah Caught the
Doctors Napping — When the Suu and the Moon Stood Still — The
Dapper Conductor in His Red Fez — The Rose of Sharon, . . . 485

CONTENTS. XXXI
CHAPTEE XXIY.
"JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM"— OUR SOJOURN IN THE LAND
OF SACRED STORY — INTERESTING SCENES AND TOUCH
ING MEMORIES.
The Brakeman's Announcement — Incongruous Modernism — Entering
Jerusalem — Thronging Emotions — " The Joy of the Whole Earth "^
A Walk within the Walls — The Modern City — A Pathetic Story —
Plunging into the Heart of the City — The Various Shops — Silverware
from Damascus — Shylock in Jerusalem — A Suggestion of White-Caps
— The Camel and His Sneering Underlip — Water-Carriers and their Goat
Skins — The Dignified Syrian — The Church of the Holy Sepulchre —
A Checkered History — The Short Triumph of the Crusaders — Tl^,e
Stone of Unction — A Touching Bible Story — Vulgar Facts — Measur
ing the Stone for Their Winding Sheet — Our Lord's Tomb — The Great
Unwashed — How Adam Came to Life — The Cleft in the Rock — An
Impressive Spectacle — A Disgraceful Easter Scene — An Awful Acci
dent,  447
CHAPTEE XXY.
FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OP OUR LORD — A MEMOR
ABLE WALK — LIFE AND SCENES IN THE HOLY CITY.
The Via Dolorosa — Fourteen Stations on the Way to the Cross — St. Veron
ica and Her Handkerchief — Some Touching Inscriptions — Outside the
Gates — Our Golgotha — "The Green Hill Far Away." — Gethsemane —
The Stone of Treason — A Wonderful View — Our Lord's Broken-
Hearted Lament — The Russian Tower — ^The Dead Sea — A Marvelous
Mirror — Absalom's Tomb — The Fate of an Unfilial Reprobate — The
cave of Adullam — Nebo and Its Lonely Grave — The Village of Mary and
Martha — The Greatest Miracle of the Ages — " Dis Way to de Tomb
of Lazaroos" — The Wretched Inhabitants of Modern Bethany — The
Tomb of Rachel — Where Our Lord was Born — The Marble Cradle —
An Impressive Sight — Wrangling Christians — Turkish Guards at Our
Lord's Cradle — A Sad Suggestion  469

CHAPTEE XXYI.
WITHIN AND AROUND "THE DOME OP THE ROCK "— CURIOUS
TRADITIONS AND PATHETIC SCENES.
The Mosque of Omar — A Rock of Wonderful Traditions — Abraham's
Sacrifice — Our Retinue — Mohammed's Broomstick Ride — The Wily
Jew and the Pilgrim — The Wise Judge — The Marvelous Iron Cham

XXXll CONTENTS.
of Justice' — A Wily Jew — Our Slippers and How We Kept Them On
— Our "Humbug" Sheik — The Great Rock — The Stone of Nails —
How the Devil Drew Them Out — An Easy Way of Buying Heaven —
A Rock Which Rests on Nothing — How Gabriel Held It Down — The
Way to Paradise — What the Pilgrim Found in the Well — Hairs from
the Beard of Mohammed — The Stables of Solomon — The Place of
Final Judgment — Startling and Curious Traditions — The Walling
Place — Real Grief — A Squalid Scene — The Old Pharisee and His
Lovelocks — A Sad Litany — A More Joyful Keynote — A Marvelous
Race,  488

CHAPTEE XXYII.
IN THE HOME OF SAINT PAUL — THE FAMOUS CEDARS OF
LEBANON — OUR EXPERIENCES IN THE LAND OF THE
SULTAN — AT THE MERCY OF INHOSPITABLE TURKS.
Embarking at Jaffa — Americans in Syria — Their Splendid CoEege — An
Interesting Room — The Beginning of Our Tribulations — A Turkish
Custom House — Forbidden Words — The Sapient Censor — A School
Boy's Composition and What Came of it — The Use of Ironclads
— An lU-Starred Rebellion — " No Mean City" — St. Paul's WeU —
Drawing Water from It — St. Paul's Tree — St. Paul's Institute —
Humble Streets — A Walk to the Vali's Palace — "Palace" or
"Sheds"? — In the Presence of His Excellency — "The Bouyou-
rouldou" — Official Handwriting — A Sunday in Adana — -A Living
Screen — A Congregation of Fezzes — Squatting on the Floor — Ho w to
Pack a Congregation — Turks and Armenians — "Is America on a
Hill ? " — Preparing for our Overland Journey,  504

CHAPTEE XXYIII.
A REMARKABLE JOURNEY ACROSS ASIA MINOR IN A SPRING
WAGON — THRILLING EXPERIENCES BY THE WAY— A
DANGEROUS RIDE.
An Imposing Cavalcade — Foolish "Franks"— An Arsenal of Archaic
Weapons — All, the Turk — Anastas, the Errand Boy — "Meat" —
Entrancing Scenery — Snow-capped Lebanon — The Road of Paul and
Cicero — Eloquent Ruins — Our Fellow Travelers — Caravans of Cam
els — The Patient Donkey — Pleasant Salutations — "Bereket Versin" —
"May the Almighty Cling to your Hand" — The Motto of tJie Spoons
-The Story of the Dervish — The Holy Ass — A Chip of the Old Block
— Keeping Off the "Evil Eye " — " You Dirty Brat " — A Fond Moth
er's Salutation — The Mother-in-Law in Turkey — A Typical Turkish

CONTENTS. XXXllI
Khan — Sharing a Bed with the Camels — Through the Cilician Gates
— The "Bad Five Miles" — How We Held the Wagon Crossing the
Taurus Mountains — In the Guest Room of Selim,  535

CHAPTEE XXIX.
ON TO THE GOLDEN HORN — CONTINUATION OF OUR JOUR
NEY IN A WAGON — WHIRLING AND HOWLING DER
VISHES—VEILED WOMEN OF TURKEY.
Watched by a Curious Crowd — A Broken-Hearted Wife — The Lamp-
Dealer's Suspicious Balls — A Genuine Turkish Bath — The Feast of
Ramidan — Waking Up to Eat — The Difference Between a Black
Thread and a White — Cross Officials — A Picked and Singed Turkey
— Carving Up Turkey — Angora Cats and Angora Goats — Tying Up
a Railway Train — Drawing Near to Constantinople — A Famous
CoUege — St. Sophia, the Marvelous — In the Hands of the Vandals
— The Covered Face — The Bloody Hand of the Conqueror — The
" Sweating Column" — The Whirling Dervishes — How They Whirl —
Treading on the Babies — A Strange Ceremony — How the Sultan Goes
to Mosque— Sanding the Road— A Mean-Faced Monarch — The Sultan's
Wives and Daughters — A Timid Tyrant — Rich Stores of Costly
Jewels — Beautiful Broussa — Tomb of Othman the Great, . . 545

CHAPTEE XXX.
THROUGH CLASSIC LANDS— PROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO
THE COAST OF SPAIN — UNDER BLUE ITALIAN SKIES —
ALONG OLD PATHS — HOMEWARD BOUND.
Off for Athens — On the Tchickatchoff — The Occident and the Orient —
The Sharp Line of Demarcation — Tenedos and Its Wooden Horse —
What Makes Athens Great To-day? — A Charming Journey — The
Ruined City and its Thrilling Story — The Romantic Way of Climbing
Vesuvius — The Lake of Fire and Brimstone — An Awful Accident
— Where the Christians Fought vrith Wild Beasts — Pisa and its Bell
Tower — The Campo Santo and its Sacred Soil — Lazy Venice and its
Gondolas — Genoa the Superb — All that We Found of Columbus — On
the Borders of Spain — A Royal Swimmer — Ambitious Spanish Girls —
Too Envious to be Courteous — A Memory of Lafayette — Washer
women Object to Modern Conveniences,  568

XXXIV

CONTENTS.

CHAPTEE XXXI.
OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF OUR JOURNEY — THE FAVORING
HAND OP PROVIDENCE — LOOKING BACKWARD — HAPPY
MEMORIES.
The Great Object of our Journey — Australian Conventions — Unbounded
Enthusiasm — The Y. P. S. C. E. Pennant — Happy Memories — In
Marvelous Japan — A " United Society " for China — Among the Hin
dus — Obstacles in Turkey — Forbidden Words — Arresting St. Paul
— Black-Eyed Spanish Endeavorers — Encouragement in Paris — Good
News from the Mother Land — Steady Growth of Endeavor Societies —
Impressions of Missionaries and Their Work — Cruel Misrepresentations
— Globe Trotters' Slanders — A Diversity of Gifts — What are the
Hardships of a Missionary to-day? — The Most Hopeful Feature of Mod
ern Civilization — The Anglo-Saxon Missionary and His Noble Work —
Saving the World through Jesus Christ,  583

2l8 Seen G^brougb a TKHoman's Egee.

Oiho/yviJf (2). ^/Co/rn^

CHAPTEE I.
A WOMAN'S LIFE AT SEA— HOUSEKEEPING IN A FLOATING
PRISON — LIFE UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS.
At Sea — Housekeeping on a Small Scale — Daily Life in a Floating
Prison — A Consoling Stewardess — Tea and Toast in a Stateroom—
A Bed that Never Kept StiE — Lucid Intervals — Jloving into a New
Home — Arranging our Belongings — Going to Housekeeping Eighteen
Times in One Year — The Back Yard of an Ocean Steamer — Sighing for
a Pine Stump — A Chinese Steward, A Malay Quartermaster, and an
English Captain — Life on the Chingtu — Vnk^x the Southern Cross —
A Velvet-footed Steward — Doleful versus Pleasant Memories, . . 593

CONTENTS. XXXV
CHAPTEE II.
AilONG THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF JAPAN — A JAPAN
ESE PRAYER JIEETING — NATIVE POLITENESS AND ETI
QUETTE—MY EXPERIENCE WITH CHOPSTICKS.
Compensations — The Brown Babies of India — The YeEow Babies of
Japan— Queensland Lucy — A Forlorn Little Black Girl — The Hottest
Place on Earth — Home Life in Japan — Going to Prayer Meeting in a
Jinrikisha — A Shuffling, Awkward Gait — Where We Left Our Shoes
— Japanese Etiquette — A Cordial Welcome — Bowing to the Floor
— ' ' Rock of Ages " in Japanese — An Interesting Meeting — Struggling
with a Foreign Language — ' ' Sayonara " to our Friends — Japanese
Refreshments — Eating Bean Soup with Chopsticks — A Difficult
Operation — Drinking Soup from a Bowl — Delusive Beans — New Use
for a Sleeve — A Japanese Pillow — The Professor of Flowers. —
Artistic Bouquets,  60S

CHAPTEE III.
AlVIONG THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF INDIA — NATIVE
DRESS AND ORNAMENTS — LIFE INSIDE A RICH HEATH
EN HOME — HEATHEN DOLLS, BRIDES, AND WIDOWS.
Children in Ceylon — Persistent Little Beggars — Curly-Headed Karo —
"My so Poor" — Pretty Brown Babies — Little Hands Stretched out
for Alms — Ceylon Dandies — Picturesque Waiters — A Race of Beg
gars — Tipping an Army of Attendants — Starting on a Journey at
Three o'clock in the Morning — A Wagon Ride of Seven Miles in the
Moonlight — Through the Streets of Vellore — Arrival at a Mission
Bungalow — A Native Girl's Boarding School — A Bridal Trousseau in
Red and Yellow — Life Inside a Heathen Home — Our Reception by the
"Bo" — -A Peep into the "Baboo's" Apartments — A Display of
Jewelry — An American Doll in India — A Heathen Doll — Mrs. Grundy
in a Zenana — Ten- Year-Old Brides — Child Widows,  616

CHAPTEE lY.
A WOMAN'S JOURNEY ACROSS TURKEY IN A WAGON — A
MEMORABLE NIGHT IN A TURKISH KHAN — TURKISH
VILLAGE LIFE — INTERESTING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES.
Learning by Experience — My Traveling Companions — "Coming out
Strong " — Mark Tapley's Opinion of the Sea — Our First Experiences in
a Turkish Custom House — Searching for Concealed Books and Papers

XXXVl

CONTENTS.

— A Novel Cavalcade — In a Turkish Khan — A Memorable Night —
Rooming with Donkeys, Camels, and Horses — Our Wash Basin —
Over the Taurus Mountains — An American Spring Wagon in Asia
Minor — A Dismal Prospect — Filth and Dirt Everywhere — Sickening
Sights in VElage Streets — Hobson's Choice — In a Native House —
Putting an Armenian Baby to Bed — A Cheerful Infant — A Peep into
Paradise — Dirty Turks — Eating out of the Same Dish with Them —
A Plague of Fleas — Some Pointed Questions,  625

CHAPTEE Y.
. GOOD-BYE.
"GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN."
The Departure from San Francisco — The Crowded Wharf — "All Ashore
that's Going Ashore" — The Song of Farewell — The Captain's Encour
agement — Good Cheer for All — A Never-to-be-forgotten Song — In
Moreton Bay — On Board the Chingtu — Our Friends on the Launch —
Chattering Chinese — A Voice from the Tarshaw — An Unappreciative
Listener — Another Precious Memory — ^At a RaEway Station in Oka-
yama — Japanese Courtesy — The Train Waits for the Song — In a
Chinese Schoolroom — The Lively Little Junior — The Dear Old Hymn
in Chinese — In a Little Hill Town of India — Departure in the Early
Morning — Surrounded by Ghosts — "God Be With You "in Hindu
Dialect — A Brown-faced Boy Choir — Sweet, Lingering Echoes ^ A
Blessed Memory of Friends in Distant Lands,  636

.»&s£&-

Si^S.l^

CHAPTEE I.
OUR STABT — LIFE ON AN OCEAN STEAMER.
The Journey Begun — Daily Life on an Ocean Steamer — Always Journey
ing Homeward — Who is "We" — Taking the Reader into our Con
fidence — A Parting Look — ' ' God be with You till We Meet Again "
— -The "Mariposa" — Our Fellow Passengers — Gambling on Ship
board — Betting on the Day's Run — Where to read "Penny Dread
fuls " — Lord Blank and his Guardian — One Day on a Pacific Steamer
— A Flexible Bath-tub — Something of which there is Enough — At
the Dinner Table — Sighing for Home-made Bread and Butter —
Wanted, Milk from a Cow instead of from a Tin Can — Mrs. Bostonese
Brains — The Tramp, tramp, tramp of the Passengers — Ring-Toss and
Shuffle-Board — Sunday on the Ocean.

astoto

HE traveler on his way around
the world is always journeying
homeward. Every revolution
of the car wheels, every vibra
tion of the steamer's propeller
brings him nearer to the point
of his departure. He has no
' weary miles of sea or land to
retrace. When deserts daunt
his spirits, and dreary wastes of
interminable, tumbling waves
oppress the very imagination,
they are sure to do before his journey ends, he can say
himself: "I shall not go this way again. I have but
keep on and the desired home haven will be reached."
I assure my readers that before the wide open doors of
3 (37)

38 "PERSONALLY CONDUCTED."
the Golden Gate had been left many days in the distance,
we had reason to summon all our philosophy and to extract
all the sunshine which we could obtain from such sentimen
tal cucumbers ; for, to make the best of it, there are, on such
a journey as this book relates, monotonous days and home
sick (not to say seasick) hours, and discomforts in abun
dance, to offset the new experiences, novel sensations, and
charming memory pictures which such a journey also affords.
But it shall be my object on this "personally conducted"
trip which I invite my readers to take with me, to elimi
nate from their journey just as many of these disagreeable
and monotonous features as possible, and to give them the
pleasures of travel without its discomforts; as many roses
and as few thorns as may be in my power to pluck.
The preface tells the reader of the chief object of this
journey ; and the purpose of this book is to take my friends
with me over sea and land and show them the objects and
the people, the customs and the manners, the homes, streets,
and native life that most interested me. How often have
I wished that these friends were with me as I have silently
called the roU of their names — hundreds and thousands
of them ; that some fabulously rich Count of Monte Cristo
might put a steamer or a whole fleet of steamers at our
disposal so that we could make the journey together. But
since that could not be, we will go together ia the pages of
this volume if they Avill kindly follow me.
"We started — but Avhere shall I say we started? From
Boston, where our trunks were first checked, or from Jersey
City, where hundreds of generous friends from New Jersey
and New York and Brooklyn gave us occasion to remember
the parting scene as long as we live; or from Chicago,
where equally warm welcomes and warm farewells were
extended; or from Denver, or Salt Lake City, or Santa

WHO IS "we." 39
Cruz, or San Jose, or Oakland, or San Francisco? If one
starts from the place where he leaves dear friends and
receives kind and affectionate adieus, then we started from
aU these places, and many others which it is impossible to
mention. However, since the trip across the American Continent
is a matter of daily occurrence to hundreds of travelers, and
siuce I need not weary you with such a twice-told tale, we
will start, dear reader, as, in fact, " we " actually started from
the Golden Gate on Friday — by no means an unlucky day,
let us hope.
The " we " is not altogether an editorial we, but refers,
when particular designation may be necessary, to the three
indi'viduals whom we will call the Pilgrim and Mrs. Pilgrim
and the Young Pilgrim, whose personality is explained a
little more fully in the preface.
This book is not to be a journal of what these pilgrims
did and said and how they felt and what kind of weather
they experienced, and how many times they paid tribute to
Neptune, and so forth. Such diaries are apt to become
egotistical and wearisome; but this shall be made up of
experiences and pictures which we would have live iu your
memories and ours.
It matters comparatively little whether the Pilgrim had
a fit of indigestion on the 20th of September, or whether
Mrs. Pilgrim had an attack of the blues (as though such a
thing were possible) on the 25th of November, or whether
the young Pilgrim caught the measles from a too close
inspection of the steerage ; such facts may have appropriate
place in a private diary, but only old Samuel Pepys could
make them interesting to other people.
But we shall take you all into our confidence in regard
to matters of common interest. We will, in other words,

40 FAREWELL TO THE GOLDEN WEST.
look for you through the most powerful field-glasses we can
command, at everything high and low, commonplace and
extraordinary, which we think would interest you. We ¦will
not merely gaze at the sun, moon, and stars, the lofty moun
tain peaks, and sublime characters which come within our
range. We will look for you at the common people and
their common ways ; at the little street gamin as well as the
lords and ladies of high degree ; at the trivial things which
many travelers think beneath their notice ; and especially
at the unusual and the uncommon which it is necessary to
travel ten thousand leagues of sea and land to view.
Now that we understand each other so fully, dear read
ers, let us take a parting look at " the land of the free and
the home of the brave," which we shall not see agaiu for
nearly a twelvemonth.
The steamship Mariposa is moAong away from her
San Francisco pier. The fluttering white handkerchiefs of
the crowd of Californian Endeavorers on the dock, whose
welcome has partaken of all the unbounded hospitality of
the Golden West, are growing dimmer every moment, their
" God be with you till we meet again " sounds fainter and
fainter, until at last they are lost to eye and ear, and with a
lump in our throats at the thought of the land and friends
Ave are leaving behind us, we turn to look at the good ship
which for nearly a month is to be our home, and at the
passengers Avho are to be our neighbors.
Not a matter of small moment is this of home and neiffh-
bors on such a voyage as that from San Francisco to Syd
ney. On a little run of five or six days on an ocean grey
hound across the Atlantic, it matters little, comparatively,
what are one's surroundings. One can misanthropically
take to his berth or shut himself up in his stateroom for
such a journey ; but Avhen it comes to the magnificent dis-

GAMBLING ON SHIPBOARD. 41
tances of the Pacific it is quite a different thing, and one
feels almost as much interest in his surroundings as a minis
ter in his new parish or a freshman in his neAV classmates.
All modern ocean steamers for passenger travel have
many things in common ; they are all long and narroAA', with
staterooms and dining saloon beloAV, and a promenade decli
or social haU. above. The Pacific liners, especially those for
the Australian ports, are built more for hot Aveather than
the Atlantic fleet, with the most desirable staterooms on
the upper deck, and with awnings to keep off the sun Avhich
on the North Atlantic is always more agreeable than other
wise. But let us look at our fellow passengers. As all Gaul
was divided into three parts, so all the passengers on an
ocean steamer may be divided into tAvo parts ; the gamblers
and the non-gamblers. I am sorry to say that on our steamer
the former outnumber the latter. Not that they are pro
fessional gamblers for the most part ; they Avould be shocked
at any such remote suggestion, but they help make up " the
pool," take a chance in the " Calcutta Sweep," and eagerly
scan the record of the ship's run each day to see Avhether
they have lost or won.
The moral sense, on the matter of gambling at least,
seems to be blunted on shipboard ; the sea air has a demoral
izing effect on the finer sensibilities. There is Lord  ,
for instance, who looks like a green country youth from the
backwoods of America, only that his clothes do not fit so
well as the average cowboy's fit him. One would think, to
look at his innocent face, that no guile lurked behind it, but
he spends day after day in the reeking atmosphere of the
smoking room, with his pile of money and " chips " before
him, as eager over the cards as though his life depended on
them. There, too, is Sir  , a great man in his own

43 REVELATIONS OF CHARACTER.
land, I understand, who, doubtless, poses every year at elec
tion time as a model of all the virtues, and an example to
all the youth. He can find nothing better to do than to bet
on every day's run, and to abet the young lord whose tem
porary guardian he is, and before whom he should set a
good example, in aU his gambling operations. There, too,
is Mrs.  , who doubtless, considers herself a perfect
lady. Alas, I beheve the register says she is from Boston !
She is eagerness itself to know whether her little venture ia
the Calcutta Sweep is like to yield her any dividends.
But there are some, I am glad to say, who have as much
principle on sea as on land; who are not tempted to lay
aside their ordinary morals because of the comparative
seclusion of an ocean steamer.
The fact is, a voyage of this sort brings out and accent
uates the traits which on shore are covered up by the
conventionalities of Ufe. An ocean trip is a kind of a
judgment day in its revelation of character. In this little
company of a few score of people is a little world with all
the hopes, fears, joys, and ambitions of the larger world
from which we have come. The gambler at heart, who on
shore has not a chance because of public opinion to risk a
nickel or turn up a card, is here a gambler in reality; the
tippler, who at home seldom takes a drink, here without any
reproach can have his bottle at every meal as well as be
tween meals; the impatient mother (we almost always find
one such) here has little to do save to scold her unfortunate
babies ; the devoted lover can hold his sweetheart's hand aU
day long; the flashy novel reader, Avith no bread and butter
to earn, can peruse his " penny dreadfuls " from morning to
night. The real lady and gentleman, I am glad to say, are also
on board, and their kindness and unassuming unselfishness

IN THE EARLY lAIORNING. 43
are also accentuated as they show us how, amid the trying
circumstances of life on shipboard, true courtesy can exist.
Perhaps you would lilce to know how we pass the day.
Sed iDW disce omnes (from one learn all) is a Eoman proverb
which appUes particularly to life on a Pacific Ocean steamer,
Avhere the monotony of daily life is scarcely ever broken
even by the unwelcome advent of a storm. Bright skies,
brisk but not violent trade Avinds, dancing white caps, and a
perpetual, long, nauseating swell, are the characteristics of
sea and sky, and one day is as much Uke another in all out
ward aspects as the proverbial two peas in a pod.
Before daylight we hear the deck hands washing off the
decks, for scrupulous neatness is one of the virtues of these
ocean steamers, then we know that there is time only to
stretch and yawn and coquette with Morpheus for a little
while before rising, for the early morning hours in these
tropical latitudes are the choicest of the day and we would
make the most of them.
At six will come the salt water plunge. A huge canvas
bath tub is arranged on the after-deck, well screened from
eyes polite by sail cloths ; and toward this novel bath may
be seen stealing in the early hours certain nondescript male
figures clad in Indian pajamas. A large hose brings the
water in great volume straight from the briny ocean to the
flexible bath, so that every fcAV minutes the water is
changed. Into this cool and Avholes®me tank we plunge,
while the undulating deck continually splashes the water of
our bath into the sea again. But there is plenty left. We
need not fear a famine of salt water, or be sparing of the
refreshing fluid. If there is one thing of which there is
enough in this world, it is the Pacific Ocean. We are glad
to make such good use of a little of it. After the bath we
dress for breakfast, promenade, read, Avrite, or watch the

44 APPALLING MONOTONY AT MEAL TIME.
ever restless ocean, as the mood seizes us, until the gong for
breakfast sounds.
The meals on shipboard are much like hotel meals on
shore ; the different steamer lines vary just as hotels vary,
some having a good, some a bad, and some an indifferent
cuisine; but even on the best of steamers an appalling
monotony comes to prevail after a little. The meals seem
to accentuate the sameness of the voyage. The fried sole
tastes like the mullet and the mullet like the cod ; the chops
and the steaks seem to be cut off of different sides of the
same animal, and to have been cooked in the same frying-
pan ; the tea and the coffee are often of the railroad eating-
house order, and, on the AA^hole, the less said about breakfast,
dinner, and supper at sea the better. Let the gourmand
and epicure beware of a long ocean voyage. Even the most
uncomplaining man may be excused for sighing for his
mother's home-made bread and butter, and for milk draAvn
from a cow instead of from a tin can.
Breakfast is soon over and then the passengers, except
those who find their pleasure in the smoking-room, stretch
out their steamer chairs and in turn stretch themselves out
on them, and the lazy life of a lazy day at sea begins.
" But Avhy do you not arouse yourseh^es to intellectual
activity?" I hear Mrs. Bostonese Brains inquire. "What
glorious hours to read! What high communion you may
have Avith Shakespeare and Milton, with Dante and Goethe !
What rare opportunities for writing and meditation and
communion with nature ! " " Ah, yes, my dear Mrs. Brains,
that all sounds very Avell on paper, and doubtless if this
were a Avork of fiction it Avould contain some rare passages
concerning the intellectual activity of its traveling hero and
heroine; how they learned three languages by the Meister-
schaft System and conquered the intricacies of the Inteo-ral

LAZY LIFE AT SEA. 45
Calculus, and became proficient in Astronomy and Theoso-
phy during a four Aveeks' voyage to Australia. But this is a
veracious chronicle of actual fact, and, if it is not very flat
tering to the A'oyagers to say it, it must be confessed that
there is very little stimulus to intellectual exertion on ship
board. Even the best sailors acknowledge this, and the
worst are too much occupied with agonized thoughts of their
stomachs to expend much on the cultivation of their minds.
So, instead of finding the deck transformed into a busy hive
of intellectual workers after breakfast, you will see a long
line of steamer chairs, each with its lolling occupant, who
looks as though the chief end of man was to pass away the
tune as comfortably and expeditiously as possible.
"Books and work and healthful play" are represented,
however, even on shipboard; the former, it must be con
fessed, mostly by volumes drawn from the Mariposa^s
library, which is significantly made up, nine parts of novels
and one part of books of travel. The "Avork" is repre
sented by th« crochet and embroidery of the ladies, and
"the play" by the two or three small boys Avhose natures
seem to be the same in mid-Pacific as anywhere else.
My young readers will like to know what games are in
vogue on shipboard. The standard games outside of the
smoking-room are ring-toss and shuffle-board. Eing-toss
is too familiar to need description, but shuffle-board seems to
belong peculiarly to the ship's deck, and furnishes excellent
exercise for those who have some little muscle at command.
The game requires not only considerable muscular
power, and hence furnishes good exercise, but gives oc
casion for much skill in knocking the opponent out, and
occupying the highest squares, for the motion of the ever-
undulating deck must be calculated, the roll to right or left
must be considered, and a light or heavy stroke with the

46

GAMES UPON DECK.

cue must be given, according as the vessel pitches backward
or forward. Four usually play the game, and the implements are six
black and six white disks of solid wood, about six inches in
diameter and an inch thick, and four crutch-hke cues or
sticks with which to push them along the deck. A space on
the deck is then marked off with chalk and numbered as
follows : The players stand some fif
teen feet from this chalk-hned
figure on the deck, place their
disks on a line and try to
shove them into the squares
marked AAdth the highest num
bers. The great object is to
shove the enemy out, and land
your own disk within the cov
eted square. At the end of
each bout the whites and
blacks reckon up their gains,
counting only the disks that
are wholly Avithin the squares
and not touching any line, and the side that obtains sixty-one
points first is the winner.
I do not know who the champion shuffle-board player of
the Avoiid may be, but he deserves to have his name in
scribed on the immortal roll of base ball and tennis cham
pions, who, I suppose, have made up then- minds that their
earthly fame, at least, is secure.
At two bells (one o'clock) usually comes lunch, and at
four bells (six o'clock) comes dinner. These are more or less
imposing formalities, the social customs on some steamers
requiring evening dress for dinner. After dinner come the

10 ON

8

1

6

3

5

7

4

9

2

10 OFF

SHUFFLE-BOAKD.

PLEASANT EVENING HOURS. 47
choice hours of all the day. The glaring tropical sun has
sunk to rest, the monotonous voice of the pool auctioneer is
stilled, the passengers become social and friendly. All
natm'e is aglow ; the phosphorescent gleam appears where-
ever the ship's prow parts the waves, the evening clouds
assume fantastic shapes on the western horizon, the rosy rays
of departing day foretell a bright to-morrow, one by one the
southern stars come out and twinkle down upon a thousand
dancing wavelets, which, like so many tiny mirrors, catch up
their broken light and send it heavenward again.
Back and forth, back and forth, over the unsteady
deck, tramp the passengers, taking their evening constitu
tionals, while the piano-girl thrums the keys inside the
social room, which is too warm in these latitudes to
attract many visitors. In this way the evening passes
until bedtime comes, early or late, while the good ship
plunges on and ever on into the darkness, and through
the inky waves with their silver edges. Thus one of the
prosaic twenty-five days between San Francisco and Sydney
is numbered with the past.
But one day of the week on sea, as on shore, is unlike
every other. Hard as men try to secularize it, desperate as
the efforts are to degrade it, on sea as on shore it is still
George Herbert's -.-^
" Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright ;
Bridal of earth and sky."
At least, such is it to the Christian heart. Whether the sun
shines, or the clouds lower, or the winds blow, it is still the
Sabbath, " bridal of earth and sky." Even the inveterate
gambler feels the difference. He dares not outrage the
sentiment of the day by rattling his poker chips, so he puffs
his cigar and sits around disconsolately on deck, complain
ing that Sunday is the dreariest day of all the week.

48 "there WAS NO MORE SEA.
The ship must plow on her way, the sailors and deck
hands and stcAvards must go through their daily routine of
work, but even they seem to feel a different atmosphere, and
some of them joiij the worshiping passengers, who, at
eleven o'clock, assemble in the social hall for divine service.
How different from our Sunday surroundings on shore!
This unsteady cabin for our sanctuarj^ a flag-draped shelf for
the pulpit, a few devout souls of different nationalities, and
creeds almost as various as the indiAdduals, for Avorshipers.
And yet there are some things that are ever the same. God
is here. The boundless sea and infinite sky only seem to
bring Him nearer. Christ is here, and " Jesus, Lover of my
Soul," and " Eock of Ages," never sounded more sweet on
land. The spirit of devotion is the same when accentuated
by the solemn requiem of the sea and the ceaseless swash of
the waves, as when borne aloft by the music of the deep-
toned organ.
What is the meaning of that text — " There was no more
sea"? Some of the homesick, seasick passengers would hke
to take it literally and believe that the Eevelator meant to
state a fact in the physical geography of heaven. But Avith
vision clarified by many days on the ocean wave, can we not
see other meanings in the familiar text? The sea is a
symbol of separation. In the fair country of Avhich John
wrote there Avill be no separation of friend from friend ; for
"there Avas no more sea."
The ocean is typical of isolation. On this long voyage
we have not seen a single sail for Aveeks on the far-off
horizon. We have been completely shut off from all man
kind. The redeemed soul in heaven can never be set apart
by himself. He is not shut u]i in solitary confinement.
There is no isolation of the " Saints in Light." " There was
no more sea."

ISOLATION — MYSTERY — DANGER.

49

The sea is symbolic of mystery. Straight on into the
unknown we have been plunging ever since leaving San
Francisco. Only ten or a dozen miles into the Avest toAvard
Avhich we are constantly hastening can Ave see from the
steamer's deck; all beyond the horizon is profoundest
mystery, typical of mysteries no less profound in science
and faith, which surround us on every hand. In the land of
which John Avrote all problems will be solved, all mysteries
will be cleared up. " There was no more sea."
The sea, to the landsman at least, will always mean
danger. Untfl he becomes accustomed to their baseless
terrors the fierce gale, the sudden hurricane, the treacherous
wave, all seem Avaiting to engulf him. To the ancients in
their little shallops these dangers must have been intensified
and quadrupled. But John in the Eevelation saw a
country where the inhabitants Avere never afraid — " There
was no more sea."
"Lord, bring us, when our voyage of life is ended, to
that blessed Land of Friendship supernal, of Knowledge un
bounded, of Security eternal," is our prayer on this Sabbath
on the sea.

CHAPTEE II.
ACROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN — WELCOME AUSTRALIA.
The Joys of Terra Firma — The Playground of America — Bewildering
Vegetation — Brown-skinned Divers — Rum and Missionaries — Ten to
One — The Future of the Hawaiian — Our Departure — "Fire, Fire"
— Between the Flames and the Sea — An Exciting Race for Lite —
The Navigators Islands — The First Glimpse — The Samoans as Nature
Made Them — Stalwart Oarsmen — On Shore Again — Costumes not
from Paris — Babies in Brown Coats — The Great Event of the Month
— A Splendid Race — The Sabbath Day Holy in Samoa — A Kingly
Romance — A Royal Salary — Tappa and Kava — An Appetizing Pro
cess — Farewell to the Oasis — An Awful Storm — A Mournful Spectre
— Our Frolicsome Companions — A Week without a Wednesday — An
Exaggerated English Channel — New Zealand's Stern and Rugged
Shores — Goodbye Mariposa.

HAT the green oases of the des
ert Avith their sweet fountains
and their sentinel palm trees are
to the traveler across the sandy
Sahara, such are two ports at
Avhich the Oceanic steamers call,
to the voyager on Pacific waters.
These two oases are Honolulu in
the SandAvich Islands, and Apia
in the Samoan group.
After only seven days on the wil
derness of Avaves we can truth
fully- say with Tennyson :
"We hav? had enough of action and of motion ; we
Rolled to starboard, roE'd to larboard, when the surge was seething free,
Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam fountains in the sea."
(50)

AN OASIS IN THE DESERT OF WATERS. 51
and now, very earl}" on the seventh morning after the " God
be Avith you " sounded in our ears from the San Francisco
pier, AA'^e see a faint cloud-like form in the dim horizon. Is it
a cloud or a mountain ? Is it a mist-bank or solid terra
firma? The strengthening daylight soon and joyously
resolves our doubts. That blue cloud-lflce mountain is land ;
solid, substantial, stable sofl ; good gritty ground, Avhich we
are eager to tread at the first possible moment.
We do not have long to wait, for soon the Ma/riposa
steams majestically into the harbor, dwarfing with her huge
bulk aU the little pigmy boats that come out to meet her,
and very quickly she is made fast to the Honolulu pier.
What a new world we are in ! How suddenly our green
oasis has risen out of the blue desert of the waters ! It can
not be that Ave are only 2,100 miles from San Francisco.
By aU the ordinary analogies of travel we have come, at
least, twenty millions of mfles. We could easily imagine
ourselves on a different planet.
The vegetation is strange, the people are unique, every
thing is different from the land we have left. The drive,
rush, and nervous haste of an American city has given way
to the languor and luxurious ease of a tropical pleasure
resort. As SAvitzerland is the summer playground of Europe, the
Sandwich Islands some day will become the summer and
winter playground alike of America, for, with its delicious
air and equable temperature, rarely too Avarm and never too
cool, all seasons are its own.
What magnificent palm trees are these of almost count
less varieties ! Cocoanut palms, tall and stately, with the
yelloAV nuts hiding far up under the tufted fronds ; date palms
Avith their clusters of golden fruit ; royal palms with their
weeping plumes and tassels; breadfruit trees, alligator

52

DIVING FOR A NICKEL.

pears, tamarinds, and feathery algeroba trees (on whose
" husks " the prodigal of the parable Avould fain have fed).
The variety is bewildering to a traveler from temperate
chmes. The people, too, always more interesting than trees or
vegetables, are as varied as the trees Avhich wave their
" fronded palms " above them. The little naked, brown-
skinned divers on the wharf attract our attention first.

YOUNG SWIMMERS OP HONOLULU.

They are all ready, like little lads of fairer skins, to pick up
an honest penny Avherever they can find it. So Ave toss a
nickel into the Avater and over they leap. A dozen brown
heads disappear beneath the waves, two dozen Avhitey-brown
soles appear Avriggling vigorously Avhere a second before
the heads appeared, a momentary but unseen struggle for
the coveted nickel takes place beneath the Avater, and then

VICES AND VIRTUES OF CIVILIZATION. 53
the little brown heads bob up serenely, and the broAvn hand
of the victorious urchin appears above the brine, holding up
the piece of money to shoAV that he is the winner, before he
deposits it in that ever ready bank — his mouth. Then,
Avith his companions, he is ready for another dive and
another struggle for the coveted piece of silver.
But we must not linger on the steamer or on the wharf,
for there are equally novel sights on shore. There is China
town Avith its swarming Celestials, Portuguese settlements
with their swarthy, gaily bedecked inhabitants, beautiful
American and English homes embowered in palms and trop
ical plants of all kinds, and the quarters of dusky natives in
scanty clothing and Avith gay AATeaths around their hats,
happy, improAddent, good-natured, and lazy.
The lover of the picturesque in human nature, as well as
in nature physical and geographical, can find enough to
interest him for many a day in Honolulu.
Are the natives destined to extinction? Ah, that is a
question that only time will solve. But, if they are, it must
be remembered that it avlII be due to civilization's Aaces and
not to civilization's Adrtues or Christ's religion.
When it is borne in mind that even before Capt. Cook's
advent, the islands and the islanders had passed the climax of
their glory as a race ; that they were engaged in destructiA^e
Avars with each other which were sometimes Avars of extermi
nation ; when we remember that probably ten ship loads of
rum have been sent out from Christian England and America
for CA'^ery missionary they have dispatched ; that it has taken
the Latin races eighteen centuries, and the Saxon races
nearly as long, to reach their present unstable Christian
equihbrium, and their still imperfect civilization; we are
surprised, not that the islanders are so imperfect and so
prone to fetishism and idolatry, but that in a few years

54 PROM HONOLULU TO APIA.
they have acquired so much of the Spirit of Him Avho Avas
pure and harmless and undefiled, and Avho went about doing
good. The missionary influence is still strong in this beauti
ful land, and it shows no signs of waning.
Many of the most beautiful residences are owned by
missionaries' sons, Avho are loyal to the faith of their .fathers,
and much of the business of the islands is in the hands of
these Christian men. They are influential in the haUs of
legislation and shape the affairs of government. So long as
such men are to the fore there is confident hope for this
lovely oasis of the Pacific Desert.
But the Mariposa^ s warning whistle sounds; we must
iasten to the wharf. As we stepped aboard, our friends,
according to the beautiful Hawaiian custom, covered us Avith
garlands of jasmine and sweet-scented leaA^es, and loaded us
with fruits and beautiful floAvers. The royal Hawaiian band
of forty pieces played "God Save the Queen" and "The
Star Spangled Banner," and Ave Avere off once more across
the Avatery waste, bound for another paradise of the Pacific
¦ — Samoa. At about equal distances are these two oases situated
betAveen San Francisco and Sydney, — Honolulu twenty-one
hundred miles from America, Apia twenty-one hundred
mfles, or seven days, further. But, though we ai-e sailing
•over summer seas and there is little to disturb the dreamv
monotony of this particular journey, let not the reader think
that the voyages are always uneventful.
Such was not the case on that voyage of the Xariposa,
when very early in the morning, so early in fact that only
the saflors of the morning watch heard it, the dreadful cry
of "Fire — fire" resounded throughout the ship, and, on
opening the hatch^vay, a dense volume of black smoke
poured up, stifling all Avho came too near. The hose Avas

AN AWFUL SECRET. 55
turned on, but the huge stream of Avater had no effect on
the burning flax Avhich composed the cargo. Then the
hatches Avere battened down, a small hole bored through
the partition, and a steam pipe turned in upon the fire, but
that was equally useless. Several men Avho went below to
hoist up the burning bales of flax were asphyxiated, and
Avith much exqrtion were brought back to life again. At
length the captain, seeing that nothing could prevafl,
stopped up every possible crevice leading to the cargo,
turned his vessel about, and steamed for Auckland, the
nearest port, more than three hundred mfles distant.
What can be more awful than a ship on fire in mid-
ocean? Between the two devouring elements, who can hope
to escape ? The unpitying fire within, the remorseless sea
without! For those Avho knew it, what an awful secret
must the knowledge of that smouldering cargo have been?
But few comparatively knew of the disaster. With rare
presence of mind Capt. Hayward and his officers kept the
matter to themselves. The good ship fairly seemed to leap
through the water. Never did she do better credit to her
buflders. She seemed to realize that she was racing for life.
The passengers — most of them — did not notice that she
had turned about and was headed west instead of east.
The captain suggested a concert in the evening to divert
attention, and it was carried out in the highest style of
nautical art. The aAvful secret was blazing in the hold,
and the teU-tale smoke sometimes escaped and Avreathed
itself above the deck. And stfll the Mariposa plowed on
and on and on, until at last the welcome headlands of
Auckland harbor loomed up and the wharf was safely
reached : the treacherous cargo was discharged, and two
hundred lives that hung on a thread so slender were
saved.

56 PALMS AND CORAL REEFS.
It was soon after noon on a gray and squally day that
we first caught sight of the hills that rise behind the toAvn
of Apia, and, after that, Avith the eagerness of landsmen
long at sea, we could not keep our eyes off the enchanting
spectacle. Little by little, the encircling bay of Apia Avith its
fringe of majestic pahns, its outer coral reef on which the
surf was dashing high, and its row of native huts interspersed
with a few European cottages, came into Ariew, and we feasted
our eyes to our iearts' content on this lovely shore. Imme
diately behind the viUage rises a conical hill, some six
or eight hundred feet high, and in front the shore is lapped
by the bright azure-tinted water, whose depths sparkle Avith
coral and sea anemones and bright-colored fish.
But we are still more interested in the Samoans than in
Samoa ; in men and women and boys and girls, than in ViiIIr
and palm trees and coral reefs and fishes. And here they
come : Samoans of both sexes and of aU ages, for the arrival
of the monthly mail steamer is a great event in Apia. Some
of them are in neatly painted white rowboats, but most of
them put off to meet us in their native dug-outs, long, shal
low, and exceedingly narrow boats that would tip over in a
twinkling, even though the oarsman's hair might be parted
in the middle, were it not for the inevitable outrider Avith
which they are aU rigged. This outrider consists of a long
piece of light cork-Hke wood, nearly the length of the canoe,
attached to it with braces at each end. In these light, frafl
canoes the natives ride in the greatest security and go
through the heaviest surf. What a picturesque sight it is !
There is a young girl Avith a bright shawl about her Avaist
sitting as composedly and as self -poised as a queen in her
little canoe, Avhfle around her feet is a wealth of cocoanuts,
mangoes, pineapples, and bananas, which she offers for sale
in a dignified Avay ; a Avhole bunch of the latter " for two

SAMOAN SURF BOATS AND BOATMEN. 57
bits " (tAventy-five cents). There is another large boat ap
proaching bearing some official from the island, and rowed
by half a dozen stalwart, bronze-colored natives, whose bare
skins, rubbed doAvn Avith abundant cocoanut oil, glisten in
the sunlight. Their muscles stand out like Avhipcord as
they roAv in perfect time and splendid form, the despair of
any Yale or Harvard creAv that might witness the sight.
There is another native boat loaded with fresh fish, neatly
bundled up in huge green leaves, while sparkling shells and
coral branches make up the rest of her little cargo. And here
is a native who somehow has scrambled aboard the Mariposa
in spite of the efforts of the crew to keep him off, and he
jabbers and, gesticulates at us in true hackman style. We
could not understand a word he said, but the unspoken
language of a cabman is the same the world over, so we
accepted his offer, which we understood was to take us
ashore for "two bits," the universal standard of value in
these regions. We crawled doAvn the ship's side by the
rope ladder, aided by two strong pair of arms, and were
soon landed at the little pier.
There a strange and novel sight, indeed, greeted our
eyes. The Avharf and the streets were swarming with
natives, young and old, in all kinds of costumes and in no
costumes at aU, who had come down to the water's edge to
see the great event of the month, the arrival of the mafl
steamer from America. If ever there was a picturesque
throng of people this was one. The Mother Hubbard dress
seemed to be the most popular for the women, and for some
of the men, too, for that matter, but as few could indulge in
such vanities as an everyday affair there were all kinds of
variations from the standard mode.
One man strutted proudly by with as much dignity as a
Beau Brummel or a Lord Chesterfield could assume, with a

58 STALWART AND GENTLE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE.
piece of the native tappa throAvn negligently across his
shoulders ; another stalked past with a bright red tablecloth
about his loins ; a group of young girls evidently just out
from the mission school, went tripping past arrayed in a
piece of white cloth, with a beautiful garland of flowers
across their shoulders, whfle babies were invariably arrayed
solely in the beautiful brown coat which nature first gave
them. The Samoans are a splendid race, physicaUy considered ;
the most stalwart, as weU as the most gentle of all the
South Sea Islanders. I did not see a single ugly or ma
lignant face during my stay at Apia. Homely features
there are as in every crowd, but few malevolent, Adcious,
sinister faces; smiling looks, unsuspicious maimers, intelli
gent and even courtly politeness I saw everywhere.
After seeing these men and women I could easfly believe
what had been told me — that all the natives were Chris
tians. About five thousand of them are Catholic, five
thousand more are Wesleyans, and the rest of the forty
thousand inhabitants are under the care of the London Mis
sionary Society, Avhich, through its excellent missionaries,
most admirably looks after their spiritual interests. "Oh,
but they are only nominal Christians," I can hear my skep
tical reader exclaim. Well, dear reader, if we may judge
them by their fruits their Christianity is not so "nominal"
as that of most of the people who live in New York and
Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. If our steamer had en
tered the harbor of Apia on a Sunday not a single canoe or
gaily decked native Avould have come out to Avelcome us.
Not a cocoanut or a bunch of bananas Avould haA^e been
offered for sale. All the canoes Avould have been hauled up
on the beach, high and dry, and at church time every man,
woman, and child in the place, barring the sick, Avould have

A COMPARISON IN FAA'OR OF THE SAMOANS. 59
been seen Avending their way to church. Not such a nom
inal religion is that which thus remembers the Sabbath day
to keep it holy.
If Ave should enter any one of these native huts at break
fast time we should see all the heads reverently boAved
whfle the DiA'ine Blessing was asked, and afterAvards all the
famfly Avould come together for morning prayers. If Ave
should live among them we should find them honest, gentle,
peaceable, kind-hearted, affectionate neighbors. Not merely
nominal Christian graces are these.
To be sure they have their faults. They are lazy and
improvident. The family tie is not observed as it should be,
and doubtless they have minor blemishes. But tell me, dear
Mrs. Beacon Street or Mr. Fifth Avenue, are you ready to
cast the first stone? The white light of Christianity has
been beating upon your head and the heads of your ances
tors for eighteen hundred years. It is but little more than
sixty years since the Sun of Eighteousness arose upon
Samoa. You, all your lives, have been inhaling the air of
Christlike devotion, which once made the martyrs strong to
do and dare for God. These people, until within sixty
years, haA^e Hved in the fetid atmosphere of heathenism.
For many generations your forefathers haA'e been growing
strong whfle feeding on the Bread of Life. Only one gener
ation-has passed away since the symbolic bread was broken
and the emblematic wine was first pourfed in Samoa. Who
a\t11 doubt the power of Christianity, or deride the value of
missionary labor after studying -the history of Samoa ? And
yet there are self-sufficient, purblind people who, with an air
of knowing aU about it, will tell you that the missionaries
have done more harm than good, that they are responsible
for the gradual extinction of the natives, and that when
converted, the natives are not Avorth the labor expended.

60 ROYAL VICISSITUDES.
One finds many men and women who talk in this way
on the very steamers which visit these islands, and among
those Avho actually see these transforming Avonders of Chris
tianity. I have always noticed, however, that the men Avho
talk thus spend most of their time in the smoking-room
playing poker or betting on the ship's run, whfle the women
who express such opinions seem to have no souls above the
fancy work or the pack of cards they hold in their hands.
I, for one, should be perfectly Avilling to set off Samoan
morality against theirs.
The Mariposa only remained in Apia long enough to
exchange mails and discharge a little freight, so we had but
one or two brief, delightful hours on shore. But these were
enough to flU us with a longing to spend as many weeks.
However, Ave had time to see the long straggling street ; the
new native church, a beautiful and commodious stone struct
ure; the consulates and land commissioners' offices of
the three powers, America, England, and Germany, that
really govern Samoa; the beautiful grounds and pleasant
buildings of the London Missionary Societj", and the royal
hut of King Malietoa surrounded by palm trees and luxuri
ant tropical plants of all kinds. This good King, like some
sovereigns of more extensive domains, has had his ups and
downs. Nearly twenty years ago he was elected King, and
for about ten years he reigned in tranquillity, protected by
treaties Avith Germanj'-, England, and the United States.
Then, however, OAA^ng to the interference of the Germans,
Avho had cast a covetous eye on Samoa, which TJncle Sam
was none too quick to see and to resent, feuds arose, a rival
claimant tried to seize the sceptre, and King Malietoa was
sent as an exfle to a distant island in the western Pacific.
But Germany's avaricious plans were frustrated, the spuri
ous claimant Avhom she had supported was defeated, and

CLOTH FROM MULBERRY BARK. 61
Malietoa was brought back and re-established on his throne,
which Avas then protected by the presence of a man-of-Avar
from the United States Navy. He is a good and thoughtful
Christian man, who sets a kingly example to all his people.
I am glad to hear that his salary has just been raised and
that he noAV receives the royal sum of one hundred dollars a
month. Whfle we were on shore a slight shower arose — a very
common occurrence in Apia — and as we were without
umbreUas or mackintoshes we sought shelter in a friendly
native hut, which consists simply of a thatched roof open on
every side to the Avinds of heaven. We were received with
the utmost politeness, and though there were no chairs or
lounges, and Ave were obliged either to stand or to sit on the
floor, we felt none the less welcome. Whfle thus taking
shelter we bought from one of the natives a large square of
tappa, the native cloth, which is ingeniously made of the
inner bark of a mulberry tree. This bark is first laid in the
bed of a running stream to soak. After a sufficient time the
pieces of bark are laid, layer by layer, upon a log, and
then beaten out to the width required by heavy wooden
mallets. When the strips have been beaten for some time
they become blended into one mass, which, by the addition
of fresh bark, can be increased in length and AN-idth as
required. In the beautiful museum at Honolulu the Curator has
arranged squares of this tappa, which are dyed in aU imagin
able beautiful colors, in a window through which the
western light shines. At a little distance one can hardly
believe that it is not delicate stained glass.
Another peculiar product of Samoa is kava, the South
Pacific native drink. Miss Emma A. Adams in her pleasant
little book about Fiji and Samoa tells how it is made:^

62

'WEAK TEA AND MEDICATED SOAPSUDS.

" Kava is prepared from the root of a species of pepper
tree, found on most of these groups. The shrub attains a
height of five or six feet, and has a pretty green foliage,
tinged with purple. The root, having been thoroughly
washed, is cut in small slices, which are distributed to young
persons with perfect teeth to be masticated, by which pro
cess they are reduced to a complete pulp. Mouthful after

fl«H*ilwr,,;.;'' ,r/l''Vi>™*k'i''

SAMOAN GIKLS MAKING KAVA.

mouthful of these little pulpy masses is thrown into a large
bowl, ceremoniously placed in front of the one who is to
serve the beverage, and Avater is then poured upon them.
The mass is noAV worked Avith the hand until all the strength
and virtue of the fibre is expressed, when it is deftly strained
aAvay with a bunch of long fibre from the inner bark of the
hibiscus, and the liquid is noAV ready for drinking. Its
appearance is like that of Aveak tea, its taste like that of
medicated soapsuds." Wfll you have a cup, my reader ?

THE FURY OF A TROPICAL STORM.

63

But our brief respite from the desert of the sea is nearly
over. Our hour in the Oasis is spent and the deep-toned
whistle of the Mariposa caUs us on board again.
Eeluctantly we tear ourselves aAvay from our brief
glimpse of paradise, but go we must. On the way back to
the steamer we pass the gaunt and mournful spectre of the
Adler, one of the unfortunate German men-of-Avar, which, in
the avrful gale of March 15, 1889, Avas lifted bodily from the
water and with great fury cast upon the top of the reef and

ALL THAT REMAINS OF THE " ADLEK."
turned over on her side. There she still lies, her poor ribs
exposed and bare, with the daylight shining through them
everywhere, an awful spectacle of the fury of a tropical
storm in this quiet bay. Near by, but under the waves, lies
her companion gunboat, the E'ber, and the two United States
steamers, Yam.dalia and Trenton., which were Avrecked and
utterly destroyed in the same fearful gale in which there
perished four American officers and forty-seven men, and
nine German officers and eighty-seven men. Nine hundred
men were saved from the Avrecked shipping in the harbor,
who were provided for with the utmost generosity and

64 BOUNDLESS SKIES AND ENDLESS SEAS.
humanity by the native Samoans and the foreign residents.
As the Mariposa steams out of the quiet coral reef with the
frail native boats dancing all about her, it is hard to realize
that this peaceful bay Avas ever the scene of such dcA^astating
fury. Now we may congratulate ourselves that we are more
than half way to Sydney, more than five thousand mfles
behind us, less than three thousand mfles before us. Bound
less skies above us, endless seas around us ; that is the
history of the next six days. Boundless skies flecked by
many a cloud and sometimes gray and angry AA-ith the Storm
King's wrath ; endless seas flecked by never a safl and dark
ened by no trafling steamers' smoke, for, saving the .Ajctic
and Antarctic seas, we are on the loneliest ocean of aU.
Only an occasional school of gamboling dolphins, " skip
jacks " the saflors appropriately call them, enliven the scene.
In the perfect abandon of good spirits they chase each other
through the water, tumble over each other, dive under each
other, and sometimes bear down upon the ship, leaping high
in the air and turning their yellow beUies to the sun for the
mere fun of the thing, as boys dive off a log one after the
other to work off their animal spirits. Then after chasing
the ship for a dozen miles or more they disappear as
suddenly as they came and leave us to the sole companion
ship of the mfld-eyed, curious albatross, which circles
around and around and around and sometimes falls behind
but ncA'er allows the steamer to get out of sight. The last
thing at night our albatrosses are there, sometimes foUoAv-
ing in our wake, sometimes circling over our very heads.
The first thing in the morning, hoAvever early we rise, there
they are again, the most graceful birds that fly, just lifting
their wings and steering their course and allowing the wind,
apparently, to do aU the Avork of flying for them.

SIX DAA'S MAKE ONE WEEK. 65
Thus convoyed Ave sailed on over the watery waste.
The necessities of longitudinal reckoning gave us one week
without a Wednesday. We went to bed one Tuesday night
and Avaked up on Thursday morning and yet we had only
slept our regulation eight hours. My readers, who Avfll
remember that we pass the 180° meridian of longitude
between Samoa and Auckland, will understand the reason

A MAORI HOUSE.

for this week with only six days in it. But this week was
quite long enough. We are very ready to spare one day out
of it, and very Avflling to welcome the bluff and rugged
shores of New Zealand on the sixth day out from Samoa.
This wonderful island, whose shores look not unlike the
rockbound coast of our own New England, deserves to have
a whole book devoted to it. Its wonderful natural re
sources, its curious vegetable and animal products, its war
like race of natives, the fierce Maoris, and its intrepid and
enterprising colonists, who have already made New Zealand

66

IN THE STREETS OF AUCKLAND.

one of the brightest jeAvels in Her Majesty's crown, tempt
the chronicler's pen to linger long. But we only had time
to see the fine, solidly buflt streets of Auckland, Avith its fine
business blocks, its handsome government buddings, and its
great tabernacle erected by Eev. Thomas Spurgeon, a son of

MAORI IDOLS.
the famous preacher; to receive a most hearty welcome
from Auckland's ministers, and lay Christian Avorkers, to
attend a thoroughly enthusiastic Christian Endeavor meet
ing m the Ponsonby Baptist Church, and then we were off
again; always off, for the restless Mariposa wfll never
be satisfied until she reaches her dock at Sydney.
Then came five days more of ocean traveling across the

SAFE AVITHIN THE HARBOR OF SYDNEY. 67
wide and turbulent channel that stretches between New
Zealand and Australia. This particular strip of Avater has
a very bad reputation. It is considered a kind of exagger
ated EngUsh Channel, and my readers who have experienced
the bitterness of that piece of salt water betAveen NcAvhaven
and Dieppe, or Dover and Calais, will understand all the
miseries which such a voyage implies. Think of spending
five days tossing about like an intoxicated cork on the
English Channel, and you will know something of what the
voyage betAveen Auckland and Sydney often is. But, fortu
nately, on this voyage Neptune did not seriously test our
courage or our seamanship. We had bright skies and com
paratively smooth seas, and on the morning of the fifth day
from Auckland and the twenty-fifth from San Francisco,
" land ahead " was the welcome cry ; Sydney Heads loomed
up in the distance ; Ave found our way through the narrow
channel which Capt. Cook so narrowly missed a hundred
years ago, and, after three and one-half weeks of rolling and
tossing and pitching and heaving on the vast Pacific, found
ourselves safe Avithin the splendid land-locked harbor of
Sydney, to which our good pflot had steered over 7,000 mfles
of trackless lonely waves.
Goodbye, Mariposa. Welcome, Australia.

CHAPTEE III.
A NEW CONTINENT — FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA..
A New Continent — A Magnificent Harbor — Torres' Mistake — The
Flight of the Dove — "The Endeavor" — An Important Astronomi
cal Discovery — A Vast Noah's Ark — Great Grandfather Animals —
The Bushman and His Fate — What the Savage could not do — Un
certain Rain and Certain Drought — Australian Oddities — Confused
Trees — Topsy-Turvyness — Preconceived Notions — The Englishman
the World Over — The Evolution of the Yankee Drawl — Colonial
Days — ' ' The Great American Desert " — Mother and Daughter — How
the Old Lady Treats Her ChEd — English or American — Architectural
Dififerences — Big Names — " Elevator " or " Lift " — " Barber's Shop "
"Tonsorial Palace" — American Inventions in Australia — The Home
of Anarchy and Unrest — Country Life versus City Life — The "Bluey"
and the ' ' BEly " — The ' ' Larrikin " — A "New Chum " — Modesty Be
coming a Literary New Chum.

TEAYELEE'S first impressions
of a new land, whfle not always
the most accurate, are usuaUy
the most vivid and interesting.
How many pulses have thriUed
with curiositA^ and pleasure as
they have seen the rough coast
of old Ireland for the first time
when approaching the Old World
from the New, for there in the
shadowy distance, somewhere be
hind the frowning cliffs of Erin,
lies all the mystery of antiquity, all the historic associations
of 2,000 years. In fact, the accumulation of d.OOO years of
history and civilization are represented by that little stormy
(68)

SYDNEY HEADLANDS AND HARBOR. 69
strip of Irish coast to the voyager from the land Avhich has
few monuments and no ruins, and only a brief history.
With every new land one approaches, these first impres
sions are renewed, and so Avhen the bluff lines of Sydney
Heads rear themselves on the horizon Ave eagerly crane our
necks and strain our eyes for a glimpse of the new Australian
continent which is about to open before us. We do not haves
to Avait long for a fuUer revelation of the fair vision, for
very soon after the headlands are sighted Ave steam in be
tAveen the two sentinels that guard the magnificent land
locked harbor of Sydney.
No wonder that the New South Welchmen are proud of
their harbor, " as proud as though they had scooped it out,
themselves," as some one has fll-naturedly remarked. It is
one of the harbors that cannot be overpraised. A smaU dic
tionary of adjectives might be emptied upon the description
and it would scarcely be overdone.
It has hundreds of miles of coast line, and on the map
looks hke a great octopus Avhich has been flattened out by
some tremendous kind of hydraulic pressure, Avhose arms
and tentacles run far up into the country, affording number
less beautiful bays and lovely retreats, which, in manjr
places, are as Avfld and rugged as Avhen Capt. Cook first.
safled by the narrow entrance ; for it is a singular fact that
this bold navigator, though he discovered Botany Bay only-
a few mfles distant, entirely passed by this most Avonderful
harbor, so straight and narrow is the way that leads to it
from the open sea.
In fact, the early navigators all seem to have had diffi
culty in flnding this great continent. One Avould think that
a magnificent stretch of land Avhich occupies so large a por
tion of the earth's surface could hav^e been easfly discovered.,
especially by those who are searching for it, but in those

70 SKILLFUL PILOTING OP TO-DAY.
days in the little shallops that were at the command of the
explorers, it Avas no easy thing to discover even such a vast
island as Australia.
To-day the navigator sets safl from San Francisco, 7,000
miles away, and, precisely on schedule time, to a single hour
probably, with trusty compass and skfllful pflot, he wfll steer
straight through the middle of the narrow passage that
leads to the city of Sydney. But 300 years ago, without
chart or pilot, it Avas a different thing to feel one's way
across these misty, unknown seas at the mercy of the uncer
tain sails and the certain gales of the Southern Pacffic.
Although it seems that he could not have missed the island
continent he was searching for, yet it is said that Torres, the
bold navigator, safled directly through the narrow strait
which now bears his name, and which separates Australia
from New Guinea, without knoAAdng that there was land on
either side ; certainly Avithout knowing that he was almost
within sight of one of the m'ghtiest divisions of the earth's
surface. He missed the glory by a hair's breadth, as it were,
of adding to his laurels and perhaps giving his name to a
continent. Other early navigators had the same difficulty in flnding
this elusive land. The Dutch in the Dreijfh^n, or Dove., a
little vessel Avhich stretched its Avings and flew away from
Holland in the year 1606, first saw the main land of Aus
tralia, but the Dutch had no use for it, and did not think it
worth Avhile to claim possession.
Perhaps from their standpoint of a home-land half sub
merged Avith Avater, they did not appreciate such a high and
dry continent as Australia proved to be. At any rate they
made no attempt to explore or colonize the land, and it Avas
left to Captain Cook, more than 150 years later, to make the
first discovery Avhich was really of value to the European

THE NOAH'S ARK OP THE NATURALIST. 71
world. He set safl in the little ship Endeavor ; suggestive
name that, considering the purpose which has taken the
writer of this chronicle to Australia. His principal purpose
was to make observations in regard to the transit of Yenus
which was not visible in the Western Hemisphere, but he
combined discovery with astronomy, and not only proved
from the transit of Yenus that the sun was something more
than ninety mfllions of mfles away from the earth, a dis
tance which, up to that time, had not been accurately meas
ured, but also proved that there was a vast unknown land in
in these southern seas waiting for the first occupant who
might raise the national flag and take possession in the
name of modern ciArflization and Christianity.
GeologicaUy, Australia is said to be one of the oldest
portions of the earth's surface, and in its physical aspects
and natural products it is extremely interesting to the nat-
urahst. In fact, it is a kind of Noah's Ark in which has
been preserved the animals and the plants which long ago
died out of Europe and America. The animals which in
the older world flourished in the secondary and tertiary
period, but which are now as extinct as the Dodo himself,
are stiU found in large numbers in this land. The kangaroo
and the Avallaby and all the allied races of marsupials which
once were common in Europe and America, are distinctive
and characteristic animals of Australia.
The reason, says the naturalist, for this strange surAdval
of these great-grandfather animals which long ago gave up
the ghost in Europe, is, that Australia has not been sub
jected to such fearful convulsions of nature as the rest of the
world. She has not been drowned out by the flood or
ground down by the glacier, or had aU her animal and vege
table life frozen up in a great ice age ; so these interesting
animals of a pre-historic period still live and flourish on her

72

NATURE HOSTILE TO THE SAVAGE.

vast inland plains.' Australia, however, could never become
a great and important factor in the world's progress without
the aid of civflized men. Her natural resources, though
great, required to be developed. The rainy seasons are
uncertain over a large portion of the continent, and the
droughts alone can be relied upon. They come Avith pro
voking regularity.

-^is-^S

MALE ABORIGnSTAL AUSTRALIAN.

The savage could not tickle this ground with a hoe and
expect it to smile with a harvest. He could not plant a
cocoanut tree and live under its shade and on its nuts all the
rest of his days. The arid sofl, the intense heat, and the
lack of moisture Avere against him, and as he could not cope
Avith these natural disadvantages Avithout the appliances of
civilization, the poor fellow became a very abject and
Avretched specimen of a human being ; not fierce and strong
like the North American Indian, not vigorous and Avaiiflce

THE AVHITE MAN'S PLOW AND SPADE. 73
like the Zulu, not gay and careless in the abundance of trop
ical bounty like the South Sea Islander; he degenerated
into a poor, miserable, abject bushman, who has already
been, for the most part, " civilized " off the face of the earth.
But poor as Avas the country for the untutored savage
Avhen the Avhite man came Avith his plow and his spade,
his steam drill and his locomotive, this neglected continent

FEMALE ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN.
became a new land and has yet a great place to ffll among
the nations of the earth. Civflized man Avith the history of
the ages behind him, was able to make the desert blossom as
the rose ; to store the water of the wet season for the exi
gencies of the dry ; to find in the nutritious buffalo grass the
best fodder in all the world for his sheep, and to discover in
the bowels of the earth the richest stores of gold that have
ever been unearthed since the days of King Solomon.

74 PERPLEXING TO STRANGERS.
Where savages could not live the Englishman has buflt some
of the most magnificent cities on the surface of the globe ;
where the poor bushmen grew thin and emaciated, with
scarcely strength or spirit left to spear a kangaroo, the Eng
lishman has grown stout and healthy, hearty and happy,
and is founding a new nation which will surely be in the
future ages the greater Britain.
When one first ' comes to Australia many things strike
him as being strange and out of place, but he soon begins to
ask whether possibly his notions
and ideas are not at fault, and
not the country, and whether he
is not carrying his traditional pre
judices around with him. Why,
for instance, should not the trees
put forth their buds and leaves
in September instead of in Aprfl ?
ABORIGINAL METHOD OF ^
PRODUCING FIRE. It looks ofld euough at first
when the traveler reaches Australian shores after the scorch
ing days of midsummer and the early breezes of faU have
begun to blow, to find that summer is not behind him but
before him, that it is not autumn, but spring ; that the trees,
instead of doffing their fall livery, are donning then* spring
dresses, and that all nature is waking up for a new year of
growth and actiAaty.
It is said that the trees that are transplanted from
Europe or North America, are themselves very much con
fused by this change in their surroundings ; that at first
they make a few feeble attempts to bud forth in May and
drop their leaves in October, but they soon accept the Aus
tralian seasons as they are made for them.
A most excellent thing it is for a man of unreasonable
prejudices and provincial proclivities, to take such a journey

AN OVERTURNING OF PRECONCEIVED IDEAS. 75
as this. -Ail his preconceived notions are knocked on the
head, so to speak. His ideas of Avhat is fit and proper for
Nature to do are completely upset, and if he is a wise man
he wfll begin to say, perhaps, after all, wisdom wiU not die
with me, possibly my ancestors did not know everything
there was to be known, and there may be new ways and
methods which are not to be despised simply because I Avas
not educated in them. I know of more than one good man
whose eminently respectable ideas I would like to have
turned topsy-turvy by some such transition from a northern
to a southern hemisphere of thought.
But it must be confessed that in other ways besides turn
ing the seasons end to end, Australia Avorks havoc with our
preconceived notions of things. The cherries, for instance,
instead of covering up their stones with a good layer of flesh,
wear their hearts upon their sleeves, so to speak, or at least,
bear their pits upon the outside, instead of beneath the skin,
as aU well-regulated cherries are supposed to do. The
Eucalyptus trees, and some other varieties, instead of shed
ding their leaves, have a strange fashion of shedding their
bark, and one sees great forests of them standing bare and
gaunt, Avith the bark falling off in shreds and ribbons whfle
they stretch their white arms heavenward, but their tops are
always covered Avith a duU green leaf which they never part
with under any circumstances.
Much of the Australian wood, instead of floating as all
weU-regulated wood should float Avhen thrown into the
water, sinks to the bottom. Many of the flowers cover the
outside of their petals with bright colors instead of the in
side, as modest EngHsh flowers almost always do, and there
are various anomalies of this sort, Avhich, however, are only
anomalies, I suppose, because of our imperfect and narrow
vision. I did not hear that water ran up hill in Australia, or

76 THE AGGRESSIVE ANGLO-SAXON.
that rain was dry and snow hot, but I should scarcely haA^e
been surprised to learn of such discrepancies before I went
away. After all, civilized human nature is very much the same,
however natural products and inanimate nature differs in
different parts of the world. Love and hate, joy and sor-
lovr, fear and hope, I find, are exactly the same at the
Antipodes as in the countries Avith Avhich I am famfliar.
Human nature does not differ in its characteristics by being
transplanted from one hemisphere to another. The Engflsh-
man is very much the same sort of a creature Avherever
he is found, Avhether transplanted to America to acquire the
alleged " Yankee draAvl " and the sharp features which I
must say I think exist largely in the humorist's novel, or
whether he crosses the southern seas to take up his abode in
Australasia; — he is the same sort of a being — resolute,
aggressive, pushing, fearless ; somethnes haughty and ajro-
gant in his treatment of inferior races, often prejudiced and
unjust in his judgment of others, but nevertheless a mighty
and potent factor in the world's civilization. Without him
what would be the vast prairies of America, or the mighty
sea-girt continent of Avhich I am Avriting ( If ever there was
a providential race raised up of God to do a particular work
in the world and exert a mighty civflizing agency, that race
is the Anglo-Saxon.
I feel that it is necessary to be cautious in recording my
impressions of the English race in Australia lest I lay myself
open to the same charges which I am tempted to bring
oftentimes against other hasty travelers Avho have skipped
through America at the rate of a mile a minute and then
made up their minds that they know all about it. My warm
American blood sometimes bofls with not a little indignation
as I hear our institutions slurred and our public men de-

IN THE A^A.NGUARD OF CIVILIZATION.

77

famed by those Avho knoAv nothing about either one or the
other. So I must be careful not to raise the blood of anyone
else to the boiling point with unfounded criticisms. Still, as
everyone must give his impressions, I Avould say that the
Colonies, so far as I have seen them and talked with repre
sentative Australians, strikes me as being in a period corre
sponding to the Colonial days of America before the glorious
era of 1776 dawned upon us.
Not that the Australian Colonies are 100 years behind

'^'^^^

IN THE GROUNDS OF GOATBRNMBNT HOUSE, SYDNEY.
the times by any means. They are fully abreast of the most
recent civilization. All the appliances and inventions and
elegancies of civilized life are found here, and I imagine that
a new invention of Edison, or a labor-saving contrivance of
McCormick, would be introduced quite as soon into these
progressive, go-ahead colonies as they would in any part of
-America, and far more rapidly than they would be likely to
be introduced into England. The fashions, too, are as recent,
for aught I know ; the store AidndoAvs are certainly as ele
gant, the streets of such cities as Melbourne are as wide,
and the public buildings as magniflcent as any that can be

78 VAST DESERTS AND UNWATERED PLAINS.
found in all the world. Yet I am reminded every day that in
some respects Australia is very much like North America
"In the good old Colony days
When we lived under the King."
The population of these Colonies is very nearly the same as
of the 13 original States that made up the Union in 1776,
something like three or four mfllions of people forming a
fringe of settlement along the seashore for thousands of
mfles. The far interior, for the most part, is a terra incog
nita., waiting for the hardy pioneer and the adventurous
settler. '
When I Avas a boy, and that is not so very many years
ago after all, the old geographies still had a tract of land
covering nearly the whole area west of the Mississippi,
labeled " The Great American Desert." Gradually this
great American Desert has grown smaUer by degrees and
beautifully less until it is now confined to a comparatively
narroAV strip of outlying plains, which themselves are not be
yond hope of ultimate redemption. So I have no doubt the
vast deserts and unwatered plains of the unexplored interior
of this mighty land will one of these days yield to the
prowess of the pioneer and the sturdy tofl of the settler untfl
aU Australia blossoms like the rose.
In its political features, too, the Australasian Colonies are
not at all unlike the American Colonies before the Eevolu-
tion. Jealous of their rights, thej'^ brook no interference
from the Mother Country to which they still owe allegiance.
If she should attempt to impose a tax on tea there would be
the greatest tea-party in Melbourne Harbor that was ever
seen. The Boston tea-party Avould scarcely be a circum
stance to this Australian " tea-meeting." If an obstinate
King George III Avas on the throne instead of her Gracious
Majesty ( " her Goodness-Gracious Majesty " some of the

AN INDULGENT MOTHER. 79
Australian papers call her) Queen Yictoria, it Avould not
be long, probably, before these Colonies Avould set up house
keeping for themselves, and cut themselves AvhoUy adrift
from Mother England, that keeps house at home. But, as it
is, they feel no pressure of maternal authority.
The old lady sometimes scolds, to be sure, and is some
times considered indifferent to her chfldren's welfare, but
she never attempts to "boss" them ("boss," by the Avay,
is as good Australian as it is American), and so the Colo
nies give a wflling, if not in all cases a very enthusiastic,
aUegiance to the Mother Land.
In the " good old Colony days," too, of which we sing, if
I read history aright, our different colonies were very jeal
ous of each other — each afraid that the other would gain
the advantage and obtain some predominant power.
History is repeating itself again in this Southern world.
Whether the principle of free trade or protection is the true
one I have no occasion to say in this chronicle, but it does
seem very strange that the Colonies should protect them
selves so zealously one against another. They are raising
their tariff duties higher and higher, I understand, not only
against aU the rest of the world, but against their sister
colonies. The oranges of New South Wales must be taxed
before they can come into Yictoria, and the rugs of New
Zealand must pay a heavy duty before they can be Avrapped
round Australian knees. It is as though New Hampshire
should protect herself against the dread incursions of Yer-
mont maple sugar, and Yermont should set up a barrier
against the exportation of New Hampshire granite, and
Florida should object to Maine ice unless it was duly taxed,
and Maine should retort by putting an impost on Florida
oranges. However, federation is in the air just as it was in
the North American air in the latter part of the last cen
tury.

80 A PROPHECY OF FEDERATION.
There is federation already in sentiment and purpose
against the aggression of all the rest of the world. There is
federation of Christian sentiment and religious purpose, and,
doubtless, before the 19th century comes to a close there wfll
be political federation, just as the close of the 18th century
marks the political federation which has ever since been
growing stronger and stronger between the states of the
American Union.
Another impression which I have received is that Aus
tralia is a mixture in about equal proportions of British
conservatism and American aggressiveness, a splendid mix
ture that, since both qualities are needed to make up the
ideal race, and either alone, though admirable in itself, can
be carried too far. Sydney is said to be very English, Mel
bourne very American, and I think there is some reason for
this distinction, which the Australians often comment upon
themselves. Sydney was settled 100 years ago, and its nar
row streets and crooked lanes remind me of the picturesque
city Avhich, like aU loyal Bostonians, I regard, of course, as
the "hub" of the Universe.
Melbourne, on the other hand, is a modern city buflt
within the last 50 years, and its wide streets and elegant
boulevards, its magnificent public bufldings, and extensive
stores, would lead one Avho Avas set doAvn in it Avith his eyes
blindfolded to imagine he was in any one of half a dozen of
our most wide-awake Avestern cities. To be sm'e he would
find it rather cleaner than most of them, and Avith no dense
pall of smoke hiding its beauties. He would heave a sigh
and wish that our streets might be as well paved and kept
as clean, but, Avith the exception of a fcAV minor matters of
this sort, he Avould be eminently at home in the beautiful
city of Melbourne.
In Sydney almost every house has its balcony, and this

JOHN BULL versus BROTHER JONATHAN. 81
is also a common method of architecture in Melbourne.
Houses in Australia are buflt for hot Aveather (throughout
the largest part of the American continent they are built for
cold Aveather) hence the slight differences of architecture
Avhich Ave notice.
There are, indeed, very many things that remind me of
the old country, but these are all balanced by Americanisms
which appear at every corner.
For instance, I have more than once seen the sign
"Mangling done here," Avhich always reminded me of the
unfortunate Mr. Mantalini. We should call the establish
ment a laundry, I suppose. The druggists are almost all
"chemists," and they have no extravagant marble fountain
Avith forty-tAvo different kinds of American drinks issuing
therefrom, in the front part of their stores. "Beef and
ham" shops I have often seen, but Avhy a man who seUs
ham should not also sell lamb or other butcher's meat I can
not quite determine.
The street cars are all "trams." The elevators are all
"lifts," and the railway cars are all "coaches." "Why is it
that you Americans ahvays give such a big name to every
thing," said an Australian gentleman to me the other day.
"Why do you caU a lift an 'elevator,' and why is your
'classroom' a 'recitation hall,' and Avhy is your barber's
shop usuafly a 'tonsorial palace'?" I am still pondering
these questions, and have not arrived as yet at any satisfac
tory answer.
But, if there is much that is English there is also as
much that is distinctively American about these colonies.
Upon a dozen articles of common use I have seen the name
"Salem, Mass.," or "Springfleld, Mass.," or "Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania," or "Chicago, Illinois." American books,
American watches and typeAvriters, American lamps and

82 AMERICAN INVENTIONS — "AMERICAN BARS."
bicycles, American incandescent lights and telephones, and
alas ! many " American bars " from which, as the signs tell
us, American drinks are dispensed, are to be seen every
where. I am not at all proud of this last Americanism, but
in many of the Continental cities of Europe the American
bar is the only American thing that you wiU see in all the
city. On the raflway between Sydney and Melbourne, PuU-
man cars of the very best construction are used, and on the
Melbourne streets the SAvift cable cars which I think must
have been made in Troy, New York, give one the impression
that he cannot be far from Kansas City, or Omaha, or San
Francisco. In one very important way, however, the Aus
tralian colonies differ from our early .Ajnerican colonies, and
that is in the predominance of the city life over the country
life. I should think that fully 50 per cent, of the people of
Australia live to-day in the cities, large or small ; nearly
one-half of the inhabitants of Yictoria are gathered together
along the beautiful streets of Melbourne. So in New South
Wales, Sydney absorbs a large proportion of the population,
whfle in South Australia, Adelaide is not only the capital
and metropolis, but the one center for a vast territory.
The rural population of America is in some sections
sadly on the wane. The great cities are great magnets
everywhere which draw the people from the country to
themselves. Until the poles of this magnet can be reversed
in some Avay, both in Australia and America, and the people
find that their happiness is not in the crowded streets of an
overpopulated city, but amid the peace and plenty of coun
try life, a great danger Avill always menace these two great
continents. Discontent, anarchy, and revolution, Avith afl
their hideous evils, are breathed in the great cities ; the fresh
country Avinds blow the cobwebs out of the brain, and dis-

FREE AND HAPPY COUNTRY LIFE.

83

content out of the heart. Until both Australia and America
become fllled with small landholders, each cultivating his
OAvn little piece of God's earth, the problems of their fu
ture destiny will not all be solved.
But, predominant as city life is in Australia, the influ-

IN THE BUSH.

ence of the early settler, the squatter, and the bushman is
stfll felt. Most of the distinctive Australian slang Avhich I
have heard can be traced back to these sources — thus the
"billabong" is the backAvater of a river; the "lagoon," we
should caU it at home. The " bluey " is the blanket of the
frontiersman in which he wraps himself at night and lies
down to sleep wherever he may be, under the sflent stars.

84

AUSTRALIAN SLANG.

The " billy " is the can in Avhich he cooks first his tea and
then his meat. We may be sure he relishes them both be
cause of the splendid appetite sauce Avhich Avas ahvays upon
his table. These terms have now degenerated to denote the
properties of the tramp, and the bundle Avhich he carries
upon his back is his " swag." The " larrikin " is the street
loafer, and a A^ery unpleasant type of street loafer he is, too,
as developed in these colonies. I, myself, am a " new
chum," as every new arrival is styled in Australian dialect ;
and, until I had been here at least five years, I could be
only a " new chum," corresponding to the " tenderfoot" of
our mining camps. It is surely becoming that a ncAv chum
should be careful in his commendations and modest in his
criticisms. Perhaps it is high time, therefore, that I should
bring this chapter to an end, before I commit the usual indis
cretion of a literary " new chum " in a strange land.

-^^

CHAPTEE lY.

AUSTRALIA AND AUSTRALIANS — LITTLE MATTERS ABOUT
A GREAT COUNTRY.
The Houses the People Live in — Stone Instead of Wood — An English
man's Castle — Plenty of SoE— " Strathroy " versus " 1329 E. 341 St."
— "Bacchus, Cestus, Festus" — How They Travel — The Railways —
Inside the House — At the Dinner Table — A Pleasant Custom —
Scarcity of Cold Water — The Newspapers — Sometimes Dull but
Seldom Sensational — Some Budding Poets — Specimen of Obituary
Poetry — Outdoor Life — National Games — A Mighty Curse — The-
Turf Adviser — The Totalisator — Church Life — Great Conventions —
The Singing — Cable Absurdities — A Mexican Invasion — Kissing his.
Wife on the Street — Gum-chewing Girls — Chicago Girls and Boston
Maidens — Introducing Friends. OME of the little things that seem
to me to be characteristic of
Austrahan life may seem hardly
worth mentioning in serious con
verse, and yet it is these little
matters that differentiate our
Australian cousins from their
American relatives.
In other lands it is easy to
paint the picture with broad
touches of the brush, but in a
country so much like our OAvn,
and among a people Avho, so far as aU outward characteristics
go, liv^e across the street, instead of across the Pacific ocean,.
we find peculiarities and differences only in minute things.
The house in which the Australian lives, for instance,
6 (85)

86 COMFORT IN SECLUSION.
though a most comfortable one, and often an elegant man
sion, is different in some slight particulars from that in
which his American relative Avould take up his abode. It is
almost invariably built of stone or brick, even in the coun
try, instead of wood; the reason being, I suppose, that
timber is scarce and high, comparatively speaking, and the
native woods do not easily lend themselves to the house-
buflder's art.
At any rate, one sees very few modern houses of the
style which make our suburban cities and country viUages
so bright and attractive, with their many colors and their
varied styles of architecture.
Many of the houses here, even of the better class, are one-
story bufldings, with bedrooms as well as parlors and din
ing-rooms on the ground floor, but they are high and com
modious apartments and doubtless haA^e some advantages in
this hot clunate over the many-storied structures with which
Ave are acquainted. Moreover, for every Australian his
house is his castle, and in this matter he shows his English
breeding and training. Lie shuts himself in from all the
world with high hedges and fences. The crusade for the
abolishment of fences and hedges, Avith which we are so
familiar, Avould meet with no favor in this land.
So it comes about that the streets of the suburban toAvns
have a more forbidding and unsocial aspect than our streets
at home. There is none of the park-like effect which is
given to a beautiful suburban toAvn, by removing all fences
and obstacles to the view, and alloAA-ing the premises of ad
joining neighbors to come together Avith only an imaginary
line between them. But after all Avhen vou once set behind
an Australian's fence or an Englishman's hedge, there is a joy
in the. sense of seclusion and quiet retirement which one can
iiardly experience in the open thoroughfare of an American

SP.A.CE ENOUGH AND TO SPARE.

87

town. You flnd, too, that what you took for exclusiveness
is only a national reserve and that the Avarmest kind of hos
pitality is extended to those who get behind these forbidding
fences. The Australian believes in having plenty of land about
him, and why shouldn't he ? If there is one thing of Avhich
there is enough in this great continent, it is Mother Earth.
Only a httle fringe of her sofl here as yet has been subdued.
No wonder that the Australian householder chooses to have

IN ADELAIDE.

a good generous quota for his house-lot and garden. The
result is that these cities spread out enormously, and Wash
ington must yield the palm of being considered " the city of
magnificent distances" to Melbourne and Sydney and Ad
elaide and BaUarat. In Melbourne, for instance, there seems
to be no residential portion of the city for the better classes
within less than three or four miles from Collins street, and
thousands of the business men live half a score of mfles or
more away from their offices.
When we get to their houses Ave flnd that each one has a
distinctive individuality of its own, which is very pleasing to
one accustomed to residences known only by an unsympa-

88 DISTINCTIVE NAMES.
thetic number. For instance, it is much more pleasing, in
my estimation, to live at "Strathroy," or "St. Kflda," or
" Haroldine," than to have your abode at " 1229 East 31st
street." How can chfldren ever have an affection for " No.
627"? How can the household gods ever be permanently
set up on a six-story flat in " 429^ A, 79th Avenue " ?
But to have a home of your own Avith its distinctive
name which is appropriated by no one else ! Ah ! there is
a sensation of homeliness comes over one when we but see
the name upon the gate post !
However, some of these names, I must say, strike me as
peculiar. In order to get a different home designation from
any one else, chfldren's names are sometimes used, and I
have seen " Emma House " and " Alice Terrace " and
" Maudina " and " Susana." One row of houses which I
have seen was named " Yoltaire," " Eousseau," and " Eenan."
How any builder could hope to let such houses to a Chris
tian, I do not understand.
Still another terrace of houses I have seen labeled
" Bacchus," " Cestus, " and " Festus." With all my love
for individuality and for distinctive names, I must say I
think that this is a little overdoing it. I should always feel
ashamed to live in a house that bore the name of the old
inebriate " Bacchus " ; and as for dating my letters from
" Festus," I Avould pay a largely increased rent rather than
submit to any such indignity.
I have found the modes of roadway traveling in Aus
tralia much like those to which Ave are accustomed, with the
exception that our friends here very much affect a certain
species of English trap Avhich I have never seen at home, in
which the driver has the best seat of aU, and the people
whom he drives, if there is more than one, get along: as best^
they can on a kind of jicrch with their backs to the horses,

A AVELL MANAGED RAILAVAY SYSTEM. 89
whfle they are careful to avoid the driver's reins which are
ahvays in close proximity to their ears. However, this trap
has the advantage of being roomy and easy to enter, and for
father and mother and a small family of children is just the
thing. The raflroads seem to me well managed and well
equipped. The road beds are splendidly ballasted, the sta
tions are substantial though not elegant, and everything
about the roUing stock is on a par Avith our first-class Amer
ican roads.
To be sure they cling to the old, exclusive, English com
partment system for the most part, but the cars are Avell
upholstered, and nearly all AA^ho can afford it seem to ride
first-class, whereas in England it is a common saying that
only lords, fools, and Americans ever patronize the first-class
raflway carriage. I have seen no third-class cars, and the
second-class are very comfortable, though far outnumbered
by the first-class compartments.
On some of the roads Pullman cars are in constant use.
On others, Mann boudoir cars are preferred. Grade cross
ings are aboHshed as far as possible, and more care is taken
of hfe and flmb than on our average railway lines. Here
one steps immediately from the platform into the car, in
stead of going up two or three steps as in our cars, and a
bell about the size of a dinner bell, vigorously rung,
announces the hour of departure.
To show how much custom has to do Avith our views of
the fltness of things, I Avas amused to hear an Australian
friend, who had been traveling in America, say that it
seemed strange to her to climb a short flight of stairs before
getting into our cars, and that it seemed preposterous for
the engineer to ring a bell as big as a church beU whenever
the train started. Well, I had always regarded the three

90 FOUR MEALS A DAY.
or four steps as the most natural means of getting into a
railway car myself, and as for the church-bell to which she
alluded, I had never regarded it in that preposterous light.
But I thought I would be careful after hearing her remark
about saying anything about the Australian raflway dinner
bell, or any other little peculiarities which struck me as
oddities. We have found now our Australian home and the means
of locomotion by Avhich we reach it. As we enter the aver
age home of the well-to-do, we find a large and commodious
parlor, a well-stocked library, a dining-room and a breakfast
room, which in the season (and almost every season in Aus
tralia is the season of flowers) are gay Avith blossoms from
the abundant garden.
The dining-room always interests the hungry traveler, so
we Avill enter it. A beautiful fashion, which I have never
seen practiced to the same extent elsewhere, is that of deco
rating the table, for it is typical of the Australian as of the
Englishman that he makes a good deal more of the dining
table than is usually done by the average American famfly.
He indulges in four meals instead of three, though the
late supper at night is often a very informal affair, and he
frequently finds room for a cup of tea between meals. As
for getting along on two meals a day, as some of our more
aesthetic New Englanders are accustomed to do, he Avould
spurn the idea. The center of the table is beautifuUy deco
rated Avith bright velvet or brilliant cloths of other kinds,
and is gay with flowers, and often in the evening Avith fairy
lamps, Avhich add to the brilliant effect. The average Aus
tralian does not indulge in so many hot biscuits, porterhouse
steaks, buckAvheat cakes, etc., as his friends across the sea,
but his table is ahvays abundantly and often laAishly spread
with cold meats, bread of dflferent kinds, pastries and pud-

GINGER ALE OR ICE AVATER. 91
dings, and " sAveets " under which generic term are grouped
marmalade and jam, jellies and syrups of various kinds.
Of course the teapot is there, occasionaUy the coffeepot,
very often the syphon of seltzer water and ginger ale, and,
most rarely of aU, the water pitcher. In fact, I think that
some of my Australian friends scarcely knoAV the taste of
unadulterated water, and, as for ice Avater, I imagine they
would abominate it as an invention of the arch enemy of
mankind. I have seen hands held up almost in horror at the
thought of the dreadful American practice of drinking ice
water on aU possible occasions, and under all circumstances,
and it seems to be a standing wonder with many, how any
of us manage to survive the period of infancy with all the
various iced drinks and the vast amount of plain water that
we make way with.
After breakfast we, of course, take up our morning paper,
and here it is, damp from the press. I must say, that to my
somewhat vitiated taste, perhaps, some of these dafly papers
seem extremely duU, but I am inclined to charge this im
pression to tAvo facts. In the first place, they contain almost
no American news, unless, possibly, John L. Sullivan, or
some such slugger, happens to have received an unmerciful
pounding (in which result we all devoutly rejoice). In the
second place, a stranger never knows where to look for what
he wants in an unaccustomed newspaper, so, though it may
contain many morsels which he would be glad to read, he is
apt to throw it aside impatiently with the reflection that it
is duU and stupid.
But if this charge can be preferred with some force,
there is something far worse than dullness, and that is the
outrageous sensationalism Avhich disgraces many of our own
papers. These papers are at least dignified, and, for the
most part, high in their moral tone. Some of the afternoon.

32 DULL BUT DIGNIFIED.
journals, to be sure, are imitating a bad American example,
and deal in "scare heads" and " penny -dreadful " stories,
but the leading papers are aU comparatively clean, if not
.aggressively on the side of religion and morals.
The Melbourne papers pay exceedingly Little attention to
religious matters, and seem to ape the " London Times " in
the sflent contempt that they visit upon anything or any
body that is not patronized by an earl or a lord at the very
least. Their snobbishness is often spoken of by the people
of Melbourne themselves, and it is not shared, I am glad to
say, to any extent by the leading papers of Adelaide or Syd
ney. These are quite as good as newspapers, and far better
as moral agencies in supportmg and advancing the great
irehgious movements of the day.
In addition to the column of births, marriages, and
•deaths, a " memorial " column is pubhshed in many of the
papers, and anybody can get his funereal lucubrations pub
lished at so much a line. I do not know but this is Avise
d'orethought on the part of the newspaper pubhshers. If
their subscribers work off their poetic afflatus in some dog-
-gerel verses concerning a deceased relative, they are not so
likely to deluge the editorial sanctum with poems on
¦" Spring," " Love," and such threadbare subjects. I think
some publisher could make his fortune by collecting the
-choicest of these verses under the title, " Funereal Poetet
AS She is Composed." Here is one that I haA^e found, and it
is quite equal to the average, neither better nor worse. I
^commend the use of the verb in the last line to all om" bud-
•ding poets. " Farewell, Mother ; we did not know thy worth,
But thou art gone, and now 'tis prized,
Thus angels walked unknown on earth,
But when they flew were recognized."

OUTDOOR LIFE. 93
Another one, for Avhich a friend of mine vouches, read as
follows : ' ' I heard that my Mother had met with a sprain,
I left Ballarat by the 4.50 train,
At Melbourne a cab took me quick to her side,
But when I got there, alas, she had died ! "
My friend suggests that no Avonder the good lady departed
this life before the arrival of a daughter who could perpe
trate such verse.
After the breakfast and the paper have been disposed of,
we will go out to see something of the national life, for
there is a vast amount of outdoor life in Australia; too
much, I am told by those who know it best, for the young
men and women, in consequence, often spend too little time
at home. The fine climate makes very much of outdoor life
possible and delightful ; and athletic sports have been
carried to an extent that is not known in America or in
England. This devotion to athleticism wfll, doubtless, pro
duce a fine race of men physically. May this development
not be gained at the expense of moral quahties which are
vastly more important.
As baseball is the national game in America, so football
is the great national game of Australia. To be sure, cricket
is played and famous elevens have beaten the best English
cricketers. Austrahan oarsmen are renowned throughout
the world, but f ootbaU is the national game pa/r excellence.
The betting on these games, and especiaUy the gambling
on the horse races, are the worst features of outdoor life in
Austraha. It seems to me that I never saw the gambling
spirit so rampant, even in England itself, as it is here. It
certainly has not taken hold of the better classes in America
as here. In some quarters there seems to be very little
•conscience about the matter. The races are patronized by

94 THE CURSE OP AUSTRALIAN YOUTH.
the governor-generals and the leading men in political Hfe,
and the protests which are raised by Christian people are
sneered at by many of the papers as the feeble attempt of
" sniveling parsons." A premier of one of the leading col
onies, himself not averse, as I found upon the steamer, to a
chance in the " Calcutta Sweep," assures me that the spirit
of gambling is the awful and growing curse of Australian
youth. This testimony, certainly, is not from an unduly
prejudiced source.
Not only do the wealthy classes and the bookmakers bet,
but the clerks and schoolboys and the ragged Httle boot
blacks themselves invest a shflHng in the sweep. Immense
prizes, sometimes as high as $50,000 each, tempt the cupidity
of rich and poor alike. In fact, these horse-races are simply
huge Louisiana lotteries legalized, and estabHshed in aU the
colonies, which must debauch the youth by the wholesale if
they are aUowed longer to exist.
I have seen a sign over a very respectable looking house
in Melbourne which read "Turf Adviser." It Avas not, as
the uninitiated might suppose, a landscape gardener's office,
or the establishment of one Avho gave instruction in regard
to a model lawn, but of one who professed to have some
special knowledge in regard to the races, and gave the
unwary a supposed "tip" as to the winning horse. Such
establishments, under one name or another, are very com
mon, and even in times of depression and suffering the horse
races and the bookmakers are the last to feel the pinch.
Every little toAvn has its own races and its own betting
establishments, and the Avork of the Devfl goes on in hun
dreds of different places at the same time.
A very long Australian Avord, and one which for
some time I could not understand the meaning of, is "total
isator." The papers are full of arguments for and against

VIGOROUS LIFE IN THE CHURCHES. 95
the "totalisator." The ministers denounce it from the
pulpits, and the religious press score it in their columns, for
it is simply a legalization of gambling, in which the govern
ment steps in and guarantees fair play ; that is, if there can
be such a thing as "fair play" in gambling. At least the
government guarantees that professional sharpers shall not
" fleece " the immature little gamblers, but that they shall
have an equal chance at the unrighteous winnings of the
lottery. But it is pleasant to turn from the horse race and the
gambling hell to the church ; and to record that the church
Hfe of AustraHa seems to me vigorous, genuine, and aggres
sive. Nowhere are earnest Christians more numerous ; no
where are the churches better managed or more liberally
sustained. Some of the metropoHtan churches are immense
establishments, with lecture roomfe and class rooms, large
Hbraries and parlors, and offices for all kinds of religious
and benevolent enterprises. Some of them are practically
theological seminaries as well, where the minister of the
church, Avith some assistance perhaps from brother ministers,
instructs young men for their future work.
The singing for the most part is magnificent. No thin
warbHng; no operatic airs; no display of organist and
choir, such as is sometimes so painfifl in churches on our
OAvn side of the Pacific ocean; but hearty, whole-souled,
devotional, congregational singing obtains everywhere.
The ministers, for the most part, are weU-educated and
able men, eloquent in defense of the truth, and outspoken
for all righteousness. Especially in connection with the
conventions for the Society of Christian Endeavor, which
it was my happy privilege to attend during almost every
day of my stay in Australia, was this devotional spirit most
delightfully prominent. Never have I seen greater en-

96 A BRIGHT OUTLOOK.
thusiasm or more intelligent piety ; or greater throngs, con
sidering the population to be drawn upon, or a more intense
interest in the practical phases of religious life. And among
all the happy weeks of my life I count those spent at the
Australian Christian Endeavor Convention among the
brightest and best.
I need not here repeat the story of these delightful gath
erings, which, in fact, occupied aU my time when in this
land. With strong religious fervor and outspoken devo
tion; with the vast material resources of the new continent
to draw upon; with the sturdy British character forming
the basis of the population, I cannot help feeHng that the
outlook for this fair land materiaUy, morafly, and spirituaUy
is as bright as for any country on all the face of the earth.
There is no spot on earth where democracy is more ram
pant than in Australia. With all the talk about "home"
{i. e. England) and all the sentimental love for the mother
country, a very sturdy independence is cultivated, and a
kind of indiAdduahsm which is said by those who know best
to tend to irreverence and disregard for authority. Young
Australia is complained of by old Australia for its precocity
and unpleasant development of beardless mannishness, just as
young America is often twitted with the same fault by its
elders. But I must say I have seen Httle of this priggish-
ness among young Australians, and I have met many of
them, and, as for young America, I tliink it has often been
sadly maligned in this same way.
For the secret baUot Ave have to thank Australia, for a
simpler way of registering our deeds, which it is hoped wfll
soon be universally adopted, and for other improvements in
municipal and civfl government which naturaUy have origin
ated with this fresh and independent people.
On the other hand, Australia has adopted many Ameri-

UNFAIR REPRESENTATIONS. 97
can ideas, and is very ready to credit every new invention
and bright idea as a " Yankee notion," in whatever corner of
the Avorld it may have originated. But there are still many
misunderstandings to be corrected and many prejudices to
be overcome. There is a great need of a better understanding between
these two EngHsh-speaking nations on both sides of the
Pacific ocean. They have far more in common than most
people beheve. To understand these common character
istics, one must be in sympathetic relations to each. The
newspapers on either side of the ocean seem to do their best
to give a distorted and unworthy picture of Hfe both in
AustraHa and America. In our American papers how little
do we see of real importance concerning the Australian
colonies ? In the Australian, one may search the cable mes
sages for weeks for information concerning America and
find Httle besides accounts of horrid murders, desperate
suicides, and brutal prize fights, with here and there a dis
torted poHtical item miscaUed "news."
It has been gravely said to me by a young Australian,
with an air of knoAving it aU, that no decent man went into
pontics in America. He had fvdl means of knowing what
he was talking about, he said, and he was assured that no
body but scoundrels and " scalliwags " ever ran for a poHti
cal office in the States. As I thought of our Christian gov
ernors and congressmen, senators and repi*esentatives whom
I know are devout men and supporters of their churches, I
could only smfle at his ignorant conceit.
And yet this young man doubtless represents many
whose views of American life have been altogether gained
through the opaque and distorting medium of the submarine
cable. One of the American consuls in Australia told me
that he was convinced that news was willfully distorted by

98 ABSURDITIES OF MISINFORMATION.
cable managers in Great Britain for political effect, to lead
the colonists to think that America is inhabited chiefly by
cut-throats and assassins. This I cannot believe, however,
though the kind of news that is most often cabled gives
some color to the supposition.
This same consul told me that on one occasion he saw a
cable dispatch saying " that the Mexican Garcia and the
black rascal Ormond, Avith a band of foUowers, had invaded
Missouri, and had captured and sacked the town of In
dependence." He could not beheve that this was true, since
the town in question was more than one thousand mfles
from the Mexican border and the bandits would have to go
through a thickly settled region to reach it. However, he
had no means of disproving the assertion, but a few days
after came the news that the telegraphic cipher had been
misinterpreted, and that it should have been iaterpreted to
mean that a certain horse owned by the Duke of Westmin
ster and the black flUy Ormond, had captured aU the sweep
stakes at a certain race in England. I do not suppose that
the cable dispatches are often quite so absurdly mistrans
lated as in this case, but it would be strange if there were
not numberless mistakes.
I remember searching all through the London Times on
one occasion, for news from my own country, and the only
bit of information I could find was to the effect that a man
had been arrested on the streets of Boston for kissing his
wife in pubHc. This absurd canard, the invention of an idle
reporter, was accepted by " The Thunderer " as a solemn
truth, and constituted the sole allowance of American news
for that day.
Said a young man to me, " I understand that all Ameri
can girls are given to chewing gum, and that they go around
spitting upon the streets promiscuously." He could hardly

HIS IDEAS OF AMERICAN GIRLS.

99

be convinced Avhen I told him that no American young lady
I had ever seen was guilty of the latter heinous offense
against good manners. He had probably seen some joke in
an American paper about girls chewing gum, and I suppose
that, from the same veracious source of information, he
would make up his mind that the Chicago young ladies all
Avear No. 14 boots ; and that every Boston girl is a spinster
in spectacles, Avith a Greek lexicon under one arm and a
Latin dictionary under the other. Yery likely the views
which our papers give of Austrahan life, whenever they
take the pains to give any (which I fear is not very often),
are equaUy distorted and fragmentary ; and if this chapter,
in regard to the little things in Austrahan life and customs
and manners, shaU serve to introduce to any of my Ameri
can friends the country which I have come so highly to
honor and respect, I shaU be exceedingly glad.

CHAPTEE Y.

AUSTRALIA THROUGH AMERICAN EYES.

An Early Definition — A " Personally Conducted " Trip — A Peaceful Land
— One of its Neighbors — Australia's Only Battle — The Eureka Stock
ade — Unwarlike Weapons — Hot, Hotter, Hottest — Summer the Pre
vailing Season — Ragged and Tattered Trees — A Eucalyptus Country
— Many "Botany Bays" — Imported Pests — A Pugnacious Little
Briton — One of Australia's Expensive Problems — The Gentle, Peace-
loving Bear — The Kangaroo and the Emu — The Kangaroo's Small
Brother — The Laughing Jackass — A Land of Cities — Tales of Politi
cal Corruption — An Exploded Boom — Melbourne the Magnificent —
Sydney the Picturesque — Adelaide the Lovely — Ballarat the Golden
— Down in a Gold Mine — Getting Ready to Descend — In Motley
Array — The Cage — Brave Women — United We Drop — Suppose! —
Everything but Gold — A Brave Miner — Risking Life for a Friend —
That Man was a Christian.

STOEY is current here in Aus
tralia that an American geogra
phy was once pubhshed which
contained this extraordinary piece
of information concerning this
vast continent. "AustraHa is a
place to which England sent her
convicts, some of Avhom have been
converted and haA'e become her
leading citizens." It was in this
same geography, doubtless, that
England was described as a
" small island off the coast of France."
Absurd as such a description seems after one has visited
these colonies with their thriving cities and busthng, cosmo
politan, modern life, Avhich, for energy and vigor, is not
(100)

A COUNTRY LITTLE KNOWN TO US. 101
surpassed anyAvhere in the Avorld, it is typical of a vast deal
of misinformation that prevafls on both sides of the Pacific
ocean concerning the great countries on the opposite shores.
Far too little of Australia is known in America, far too
Httle of America is known in Australia. These two peoples
of a common stock, a common language, and a common
destiny, should know each other as they have not as yet
begun to know each other ; and if these notes of a traveler
in AustraHa shall do anything toward introducing these two
branches of the English-speaking race to each other, the
author wfll feel (as authors are accustomed to say in pre
faces) that " his work has not been altogether in vain."
The area of Australia is almost exactly the same as of
the United States, exclusive of Alaska, and about three-
quarters as large as Europe. But do not be alarmed, dear
reader, for I am not going into weary particulars, historical,
geographical, biographical, or ethnological. I am only
going to teU you of those things Avhich impress a traveler in
a journey through this new land ; in fact, to take you with
me on a personaflj'^ conducted trip. You remember how this
great island looks upon the map. It is roughly heart-
shaped, but across the breadth of this heart is a journey of
2,300 mfles, whfle from the top to the bottom in its very
narrowest length it is over 1,000 mfles.
It is not a country of vast and stupendous mountains, or
mighty rivers, or belching volcanoes. It iS eminently a
peaceful, quiet, pastoral country. It has, to be sure, some
fine mountains, and one or two large rivers, and some mag
nificent scenery, but there is more scenery which a tourist
would seek in a single canton in Switzerland than in this
whole continent of the southern seas.
However, if Australia is not a Switzerland, it has a
Switzerland at its doors, for one of the Australasian colonies.

102 A WIDE DOORWAY.
New Zealand, can boast of as magnificent mountains and
glaciers, lakes and waterfaUs as Switzerland, and precipices
and fiords like those of Norway - I have said that this Aus
tralasian Switzerland was at the doors of Australia, and yet
it is a good wide doorway ; for 1,200 mfles of stormy ocean
rolls between these islands. However, this is a country of
magnificent distances and as New Zealand is the largest
neighbor of Australia we may be pardoned for thinking
of her as a near neighbor.
As is becoming a peaceful, pastoral country, the history
of this land since civflized man flrst came here to abide is
far from warlike. In fact there is no nation on the face of
the earth whose history has been so Httle stained Avith blood
as this land. I Adsited the only battle-ground on Austrahan
shores, the Eureka Stockade, so-caUed, near BaUarat. This
battle-ground is not a Waterloo or a Gettysburg, by any
means. It is simply the scene of a brisk sMrmish between
some riotous miners and the authorities, which resulted in
few fatalities on either side. Nevertheless an heroic monu
ment marks the spot, and some unwarlike cannon, which
probably could not be fired, show their muzzles from the
historic hillock. Except for this brief skirmish the history
of the country has been absolutely bloodless. The Austra
lians have no one to flght and no one to fear. No nation
would think of sending an armed force to these shores, and
even if sent it Avould be routed in even quicker time than the
Hessians who were sent to conquer the American colonies a
century ago.
What is the climate of this country, do you ask, my curi
ous reader? Well, you might as weU ask, "What is the
climate of the United States." You wiU have to come down
to particulars, and Ave shall ask you whether you desire to
knoAV about the temperature of Texas or of North Dakota, of

TALL AND TATTERED TREES. 108
Florida or of Maine. Here, too, there are all cHmates and
aU temperatures. South AustraHa is hot. New South Wales
is hotter, Queensland is hottest. Yictoria has a more tem
perate climate and so has Tasmania, Avhfle some parts of the
mountainous region of New Zealand are Arctic in their
temperature. But take AustraHa throughout, we may say that it is a
sunnier cHme and far more summer-Hke than the same area
of habitable North America. Summer is here the prevafl-
ing season, and when it is not summer time it is either late
in the spring or early hi the fall.
The vegetation of Australia seems to a stranger to be
rather meagre and monotonous ; not that anything wfll not
grow which is planted and well watered, but indigenous
trees are largely of the eucalyptus class, and though some
of these are the taUest trees in the world, and magnificent
specimens of treehood, yet, for the most part, they are
scraAvny and scraggy, and as they shed their bark, they
have a peculiarly ragged and unkempt look, like street
gamins whose clothes are hanging in tatters from their
Hmbs. The botanists tell us that there are 150 different
kinds of eucalyptus trees, most of which belong to AustraHa
alone. But, after aU, these are splendid trees for the country,
and are, like most other inventions of Mother Nature, exactly
adapted for the work which they have to do. They have
very long tap roots, which suck up the moisture from a
great depth, and their tough, leathery leaves fit them pecu*
harly for the dry cHmate. But though the eucalyptus is
more largely represented in the native forest than any other
tree, yet it is not fair to say that the vegetation as a whole
is of a dull, lifeless, and uninteresting character.
Nowhere have I seen such gorgeous flowers ; no land can

104

BRILLIANT FLOWERING PLANTS.

boast more magnificent gardens. Nature, seeming desirous
of compensating the country for the usual lack of variety in
deciduous trees, has fuUy made up for this loss in the shrubs
and flowering plants with which she has so plentifuUy car
peted the earth, especiaUy during the spring months, when
sufficient moisture makes the blossoms possible. "Botany

"TIE.
ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN.

Bay" may be found in many places along the shores of
AustraHa. The Wasatah is a most briUiant, showy, red
flower Avhich grows on a tall spike, whfle another famous
native of New South Wales is the modest flannel floA\'er, a
beautiful relative of the edelweiss of Switzerland, which it
much resembles.
Many of these brilliant floAvering plants are indigenous
and others have been imported, such as the gorgeous golden
gorze, and the equally golden cape-weed, Avhich, however
beautiful it looks when the sun shines upon it of a bright

CAPE-AVEED, SPARROAVS, AND RABBITS. 105
spring morning, is a pest as utterly detested by the farmers
as the Avhite Aveed in our northern meadows. By the way,
when aatU people learn to experiment less recklessly with
the products of other zones 'i When Avfll we learn the les
son, that for the most part, the trees and plants and birds
and insects Avhich God has settled in the land, are best
adapted to that country, and that Ave are running great
risks Avhen we try to naturalize other citizens that are for
eign to these climes ?
Not only has the cape-weed become an unutterable nui
sance, but the English sparrow is almost as great a pest in
Australia as in our own country. Why could Ave not have
been content to have left the chattering, mischievous, pug
nacious Httle bird at home, instead of spreading his ravages
through tAvo great continents. The gipsy moth seems to be
a very harmless insect Avhen you look at him Avith the dis
passionate eye of a naturalist, and yet what havoc he has
made, and how many thousands of doUars has his unfortu
nate advent cost the goodly State of Massachusetts !
Could anything be more harmless in appearance than
the timid rabbit, and yet the introduction of a few pair of
these " feeble folk," has cost these colonies mfllions of pounds,
and the end is not yet. Hoav to exterminate the pests the
colonists know not. They multiply faster than the hunter's
gun and the hunter's dog can extirpate them. A vast re
ward has been offered to anyone who shaU invent a poison
potent enough to rid the country of them, but the reward
has never been earned as yet. The only way to secure
immunity from them is to build a " rabbit fence " around
any particular field, sunk a foot or two below the surface of
the ground under which the rabbits will not burrow. But
to do this on any large scale is manifestly impossible, and
the reward aforementioned stfll awaits the inventive Pas-

106 RIDICULOUS ANIMALS.
teur or Edison, who may discover the deadly rabbit extermi
nator. I have said that the geological and political history of
Australia have been alike of a peaceful character, marked
by no great upheavals of nature or of man. This gentle
characteristic extends to the animal life of Australia as weU,
for there are no native animals of a fierce and savage nature,
no lions or panthers, no wfld cats or grizzly bears. The
kangaroo is the typical animal, and the emu is the typical
bird, and they are found one on either side of the New
South Wales coat of arms, whfle both are dignified by a
place on her postage stamps as well. There is, to be sure, a
native bear, called the koala, but it is a mfld and peace-
loving animal that climbs sluggishly about at night on trees,
in search of fruits and seeds.
The kangaroo is the typical Austrahan animal, beyond
aU others, and with his smaUer cousin, the waUaby, has
afforded me no end of amusement as I have seen them in
the well-kept zoological gardens of the country. With then-
puny little forelegs which seem so utterly inadequate to the
occasion, and which as often as they stand up on their hind
legs droop down in a helpless, lackadaisical way, they are
the very pictures of innocence and helplessness ; but I am
told that a blow from the hind leg of an " old man" kanga
roo, or even a stroke of its powerful tail is not to be des
pised, and when angry and fearful for their young, they
Avill fight in desperate fashion. The most stupid animal
whose acquaintance it was ever my pleasure to make, is the
wombat, a kind of dull, listless Avoodchuck, with a most
uninteresting countenance, who burroAvs in the ground like
his American cousin, but is not nearly so vix^acious and
enterprising. Among the birds is a very solemn-faced
creature called the laughing jackass, Avho looks as though he

A STUPID AND SARDONIC BIRD. 107
had not an idea in his head or a friend in the world, as he
sits perched all day immovable in his large cage in the
gardens. But I am told that when in his native haunts, he
is a different sort of a creature, and is gifted with a loud,
sardonic laugh, which -is very startHng as one passes his
haunts. For just as the traveler has got by his habitat, this
ironical, chuckling laugh bursts out as though some demon
was rejoicing over the traveler's progress to the City of
Destruction. Much of the human life of Australia, aside from the
Aborigines, is found in the large cities. In fact, far too large
a proportion, as I have already remarked, of our Austrahan
friends Hve in the cities, and too small a proportion for the
best and truest prosperity of the country cultivate the sofl.
This fact is acknowledged and mourned over by thoughtful
Australians everywhere. If Paris is France, much more is
Melbourne Yictoria, and Sydney is New South Wales, and
Adelaide is South Australia. In fact, not far from 50 per
cent, of the people live in cities, and nearly that percentage
of the whole population is found in these great leading cities
or their immediate environs.
The usual tales are told in the papers about political cor
ruption and incompetence of premier and councflors and
members of the Colonial ParHament. I have learned to put
very Httle confidence in these newspaporial wafls about the
decadence of legislation and legislators. I have heard so
many of them in my own country that I am inclined to dis
count those that I read in any other. Like the man who
was not frightened by ghosts because he had seen so many
of them, I am not greatly alarmed when I see the opposition
papers telling the country that it is going to rack and ruin
as fast as the other party can carry it.
However, there have doubtless been some sad revelations

108 AN INDOMITABLE PEOPLE.
of late in political life, and Yictoria especially is suffering
terribly from an exploded " boom." Three years since, so
the Yictorians tell me, it was supposed that the golden gates
of prosperity were wide open for all the colonies, and would
never be closed, and that all that any one had to do Avas to
enter in and help himself to as many mfllions as he was
smart .enough to grab. Eeal estate went up to a fabulous
price, wildcat schemes were entered into Avith a recklessness
worthy of South Sea Bubble years. Many men in each
large city were supposed to be veritable descendants of
Croesus and whatever they touched, it was thought, would
turn to shining gold. But the inevitable crash came which
always follows an extravagant boom, and for the last two
years Yictoria and New South Wales, especiaUy the former,
have been suffering sadly from the collapse.
However, this depression must be merely temporary.
With the magnificent country to be developed behind the
large cities, Avith an indomitable people, and EngHsh pluck
and perseverance to Avork upon, there is no doubt concern
ing the future history of these colonies. As it is, they
have made marvelous progress during the last forty years,
for it is only since gold was discovered in 1851 that the
great future of Australia has been assured. Within that
time Melbourne has grown from an insignificant vfllage
to a vast and beautiful city. The word "magnfficent" is
scarcely too large a Avord to be used in describhig this me
tropolis. Some of its streets are equal to the best that can
be found in Paris or London, New York or Phfladelphia,
and, take it throughout, it has a cleaner, fresher, and more
wholesome appearance than either of these cities. Its public
buildings are massive and imposing, its stores are spacious, and
much of the architecture of its principal thoroughfare. Col-
1ms street, can scarcely be matched elsewhere in the Avorld.

A CITY OF HOMES. 109
Sydney is not so Avell laid out as Melbourne, for, like
Topsy, it "just groAved" instead of being planned carefully
by architects and surveyors; but it is a more picturesque
city by reason of its irregularity, and in most respects fully
as interesting as Melbourne.
Adelaide combines city and country in a charming Avay,

IN ONE OF MELBOURNE S PARKS.

and is surrounded on all sides by a wide park fllled with
beautiful trees and brilHant shrubbery. Beyond this park-
enclosed area are the suburban cities and villas, and back of
aU is a lovely range of green hills that encircles the city
most lovingly round about. Adelaide seemed to me pre
eminently a city of homes, and the religious influences are
strong and abiding.
Another remarkable city that I A^sited is Ballarat, the
center of the gold-mining industries of Australia ; or at least

110 NOT A TYPICAL MINING TOWN.
one of the centers, for Bendigo, which I did not Adsit, is
equally famous in its way as a golden city.
All my preconceived notions of a mining town were
rudely destroyed by Ballarat, for, instead of belching chim
neys and barren hiUsides, bedraggled streets and dirty
houses, such as I have always associated in my imagination
Avith a mining town, I found here one of the handsomest of
modern cities with splendid streets, tree-Hned and statue-
adorned; fine public bufldings and business blocks, and a
charming residential quarter where some of the most reflned
and hospitable people on the face of the earth have their
homes. But despite these delightful surroundings, one sees
at a glance that Ballarat is a city of mines. Huge heaps of
yeUow earth, almost mountainous in their size, surround .the
city in every direction, and these show where the mines
have been and in many cases stfll are worked. From some
of these fabulous sums of gold have been extracted, and the
supply seems practicaUy inexhaustible, for, however far the
miners have gone, they have not found the end of the gold-
bearing quartz.
Let us go down together, dear reader, into this dark hole
in the ground, for Ave wfll never have a better opportunity
to see a gold mine. As we go into the office of the com
pany to don our underground costumes, we see a great pfle
of apparent golden ingots, — plaster representations of the
gold that has been taken out of this mine during the last
three or four years. These bars are piled up under a glass
case, and represent hundreds of thousands of dollars' Avorth
of yellow metal which has come out of this one hole in the
ground. But we wfll not linger on the surface, for here are the
clothes that Ave are to put on, a motley array of all sorts
and sizes : battered hats, ragged coats, trousers that reach

IN PICTURESQUE RAGS.

Ill

only half way below the knee, and boots hopelessly run
down at the heels ; but no matter, for we are not going into
poHte society for the next few hours.
So picturesque, however, is our rig, that we pause to have
our photographs taken before descending into the bowels of
Mother Earth. Then we find the entrance to the mine and
the cage waiting to carry us down. It is a pokerish looking

READY FOR THE DESCENT INTO A GOLD MINE.
hole, indeed, and requires some little nerve on the part of
the ladies of our party. But I have always noticed that a
genuine woman, though she may run from a snake, and pos
sible give a little scream at the sight of a mouse, always
braces up when her genuine courage is required. And first
of all, the ladies step upon the platform of the cage and
stow themselves away in the smaUest possible compass, four
going down at a time. A cord is passed around them, tying
them all together, so that not only united they stand, but
united they drop down into the lower regions which yawn

lia DARKNESS THAT MAY BE PELT.
beneath them. The signal is given and down we go. It is
an awful plunge into the depths of the earth. Light and
hope we seem to leave above us, and a pitchy blackness that
may be felt is all that seems to be below us. However, we
have not time for any very long-continued dismal reflections,
for in less than three minutes we are at the bottom of the
shaft, and picking our way gingerly over sharp pieces of
quartz, and through pools of muddy water, foUowing our
guide who goes before us with his flickering candle at
which we have all lighted our own torches.
If not heroic, there is something picturesque and weird
in the sight of a file of men and women stumbling along in
a narrow passage a thousand feet below the surface, Hghted
only by a few gleams that serve to make the darkness visi
ble. Even the stoutest hearted cannot help thinking:
" Suppose the fire damp should explode ! " " Suppose the
flood gate should give way and pour their whelming floods
of water into this hole while we are here ! " " Supposing
these wooden supports that waU us in should yield to the
tremendous pressure above them and collapse, who would
carry the tale of the imprisoned Yankees in a Ballarat gold
mine ? "
However, none of these things occur or are very likely to
occur, for the utmost precaution is taken, and I imagine that
life is quite as safe in this underground hole as it is on
Broadway or Washington street. After stumbling around
in the different passages for an hour or two, looking for
nuggets which never appear, and searching the waUs dfli-
gently for specks of gold Avhich we can neA^er see, we return
again to the shaft that wiU take us up to air and sunhght,
convinced that about the only thing one cannot flnd in a
gold mine is gold.
Yet all this innocent-looking white quartz which seems

" HEAVY TO GET AND LIGHT TO HOLD." 113
to contain not even a scintillation of the yelloAV metal, is
charged with it, and Avhen it is crushed, flooded with water,
and strained through blankets, and treated Avith quicksilver
whose deft flngers pick out every little particle of the pre
cious ore, it is found to be extremely rich in that commodity
for which so many men are wiUing to make slaves of them
selves aU their lives long.
The miners themselves, however, get no extravagant
wages; though they work in gold and for gold, they can
only dafly Hne their pockets with about $2.50 worth of the
metal for Avhich they delve. So true is it in gold mines as
in every other industry, and every other effort moral, spirit
ual, and material; "other men labor and we are entered
into their labors."
" That man must have been a Christian," said our guide,
as we were going up from the bottom of the mine to the
daylight again.
"What man?" we inquired.
"Why, the fellow that saved his chum's life in one of the
mines a Httle while ago."
" Tell us all about it," we said, and before we got up to
dayUght we had time to hear the brief and graphic story.
Two miners were recently going up the shaft together in a
bucket, when one of them accidentally fell off. They were
hurrying up to get out of the way of four charges of rend-
rock which had been put into the drflled holes to blast away
a portion of the waU of the mine. The fuse had been
Hghted, and these men, scrambling into the bucket, had
given the signal to be hoisted up, when, as I said, one of
them fell out. Quick as thought his brave companion gave
the signal to lower the bucket again.
It had gone some twenty or thirty feet only, and the
man who fell from it, though stunned and bruised, was not

114 A HERO OF THE MINE.
killed. His companion felt around in the awful darkness
for the charges of rendrock in order to pull them out and
prevent the explosion. He found three of them, but the
fourth he could not find in the darkness and confusion of the
moment. He had but a few seconds to work for the fuse
was burning toward the explosive Avith frightful rapidity.
Finding that he could not lay his hand upon the last
charge, he drcAV his senseless companion into a niche in the
rock, shielded him as far as possible from the flying frag
ments, and waited the dreadful moment of the explosion.
Was ever a man placed in a position of more aAvful ex
pectancy? Did ever a braver soul court death for the sake
of saving a feUow-man? The fearful explosion came. The
mine was fiUed with suffocating fumes, the rocks flew ia
every direction, but, strange to say, neither of these men
were kflled. They were bruised and cut, and much shaken
nervously, as can be imagined, but the brave deHverer was
able to crawl to the bucket again when the explosion was
over and to carry his wounded friend with him, and both
were hoisted into God's sunlight again.
With all our hearts we agree Avith our guide's remark:
" That man must have been a Christian ! "

CHAPTEE YI.

THE CRUISE OP THE CHINGTU— AN INTERESTING VOYAGE
IN STRANGE COMPANY — IN THE GOLD FIELDS OF
AUSTRALIA.
Beginning Our Log-book — Mrs. PUgrim's Resolve — The Chingtu — A
Unique and Unusual Journey — Our Steamer — Our Stewards —
"Loast Beef," "Olange Flittels" and "Lice Cakes" — Preparing for
Hot Weather — Our Fellow Passengers — Life in the Steerage — Mr.
Ah See and his Wives — Mrs. Ah See Number One — Photographing
the Family — The Ruler of the Roost — The Black FeEows — Ce
lestials Returning Home — Taking Home Their Own Bones — The
Chinaman at Dinner — A Race of Squatters ^ The Pan-tan "Layout"
— Chinese Passion for Gambling — Within the Barrier Reef — "White
Man, He too Salt" — Glittering Gold Fields — How Gold was Discov
ered in Australia — Nash and His "Find" — "Welcome Strangers" — •
Gold on Brogans — The Romance of the Morgan Mine — A Visit from a
Native Bushman — "Backy, Backy, Backy" — White Ant Hills.
|0 start fairly with our log-book
we must tell you that the
Chingtu safls from Melbourne to
Hong Kong, but that we did not
join her until she had plowed her
way for a thousand mfles along
the waters of the Australian
coast, and had reached Brisbane,
the capital of Queensland.
Mrs. Pflgrina had declared
that nothing would induce, her to
go a mfle by water that could be
traversed by land. So we had traveled by rafl from Ade
laide to Melbourne, from Melbourne to Sydney, from
Sydney to Brisbane, a long eighteen hundred mfles in all ;
had attended most enthusiastic and long-to-be-remembered (115)

116 NOT AN EVERY-DAY JOURNEY.
Christian Endeavor Conventions in all these cities ; and on
the afternoon of October 22 Avere ready to embark on the
trim and staunch Chingtu; "the magnificent steamer," as
the newspaper advertisements called her, of the China Navi
gation Company.
I should hardly term her "magnificent" but she Avas an
exceedingly comfortable vessel, and for three Aveeks afforded
us a very restful and pleasant home after the labors of six
weeks of continuous convention-going.
Now before us is a voyage worth taking indeed. None
of your every-day trips across the Atlantic that you can
make in the fraction of a week; none of your common
jaunts across the long ferry between San Francisco and
Hong Kong; but a unique and unusual journey is this
within the Great Barrier Eeef, and through the marvelous
Malay Archipelago, and the many seas and straits which
form the water-way between two of our five continents.
Here is a new sensation for the hlasi traveler ; a journey
at which every scribbling voyager from the time of Colum
bus has not had a hack. Here is a trip over unruffled
seas and on an even keel, such a trip as one frequently reads
about in fiaming descriptions of rival steamboat lines, but
very rarely experiences after one has taken passage on one
of the aforesaid rival steamships.
Before we get out of Moreton bay, into which the Bris
bane river debouches and Avhich is the point of our embarka
tion, let us take a look at the Chingtu, our floating home for
the next three weeks. It is a long, low-buflt, somewhat
rakish-looking steamer, Avith a huge black smoke-stack, a
large amount of aAvning to ward off the rays of the fierce
tropical sun, and large steerage accommodations for John
Chinaman, who ahvays extensively patronizes this line, as he
goes back and forth to and from his natiA^e land.

ON BOARD THE " CHINGTU." 117
Being built largely for freight, the first-class passenger
accommodations are somewhat limited, but they are quite
sufficient for the passenger traffic of this remote corner of
the world, and they make up in quality Avhat they lack in
quantity. Everything is exquisitely neat, the table is abun
dant and excellent, and the service of the Chinese stewards
leaves nothing to be desired. Quick, observant, quiet, cat-
Iflie in their tread, these China boys are the perfection of
ship serv^ants.
All our saflors, as weU as cooks, waiters, and steAvards
are Chinese or Malays, and even the librarian of the Chingtu
is " Number One Boy " as his fellow-stewards call him. At
the table the watchful "Boy" who is detailed to look after
our comfort stands at our elbow to replenish our tumbler, or
to fiU our teacup, or to pass us the toast Avhenever our empty
cup or plate suggests any lack, and gently to insinuate the
biU of fare under our nose when we pause for a moment in
om' gastronomic efforts.
Order for "loast beef" and "olange flittels" are continu-
aUy sent back to the cook in the galley, and I know of
a smaU boy who finds it very hard to repress a snicker Avhen
at the breakfast table the frequent order for "lice cakes"
is heard. In every way we are reminded that the ship is built for
tropical weather. The double awning over the promenade
deck, through which even the awful sun-glare of Northern
Australia flnds it hard to pierce ; the heavy Indian punkahs
over each table, which, during the meals, are sAVung by
invisible cooHes ; the hard beds on which are no blankets or
spreads or even sheets, all tell us to make up our minds for
hot weather. And well we may, for the cruise of the
Chingtu is almost wholly within the tropics.
The only drawback (and in this imperfect world there

118 THE AH SEES.
must be some drawback even to such a summer voyage as
this) is the continuous heat. Not that it is remarkably in
tense at any one moment, but it is so unremitting and ener
vating that one longs for an ice palace and a toboggan slide
many times every day. Eighty-five degrees in the morning,
and eighty-seven degrees at noon, and eighty-five degrees
again at sunset, and eighty-four degrees at midnight, when
continued day after day, are calculated to reduce the pity
one has always felt for the Esquimau in his snow hut.
Now let us take a look at our fellow passengers of the
Chingtu. Not the Europeans with their continental dress
and their chimney-pot hats and their calf -skin boots : we
Avill not waste our time upon such common people (by the
way, your point of view makes all the difference in the
world as to who the common people are), but we AviU look
on the afterdeck and on the poop for the second and third-
class passengers, if we would forage in fresh flelds and
human pastures new.
There on the poop deck we shall find Mr. Ah See Avith
his two Avives and his four chfldren ; the prosperous Chinese
merchant of Sydney, who has made his little pile in Aus
tralia, and is going home to spend it in Canton, where he
wiU be a great and wealthy man among his almond-eyed
confreres. Mr. Ah See is fat and good-natured, and seems very fond
of the four Httle Ah Sees, even though two of them are
girls. Like the model husband that he seems to be, he has
one of the chfldren in his arms most of the time, even
though he has tAvo Avives to care for them.
But "Tommy" and "Fleddy," and "Maly" and
" EHza " are all very nearly of an age, and are quite bright
and pert enough to do credit to their EngHsh names. Mrs.
Ah See Number One is a stout woman with a pleasanv,

119
motherly face, slant eyes, and two huge shell rings in her
ears, Avhfle her hair is done up in a most fearful and wonder
ful fashion, quite equal to the coiffure of an American belle
when chignons were in fashion a few years since.
She evidently " rules the roost " in the Ah See household,
Avhfle Mrs. Ah See Number Two is like an older daughter,
though more submissive and bidable than some elder daugh
ters whom I knoAV.
When I desire to take their pictures, Mrs. Number One
steps forward, takes little Eliza from Mrs. Number Tavo, who
is giving the baby her morning meal from the maternal
fount, and is ready to pose before the kodak in her appro
priate place as the rightful head of the famfly and the
mother of all the chfldren ; and, in a certain sense, of all
the other Avives as weU.
Here, also, are three " black fellows " among the third-
class passengers who are going to Port Darwin with a cattle-
drove, and from thence into the uninhabited Avflds of South
Australia. Quiet, stolid, undemonstrative fellows are these
" tame blacks," who seem to care for nothing but to be
stretched on the hatchway all day long, and to sit up long
enough to eat an enormous plate of beef and potatoes and
cabbage three times a day. Their skins are jet black ; such
a depth of lustrous blackness as I have never seen except in
Australian aborigines ; their eyes are as black as their skins,
and glow like two stars in a setting of alabaster ; whfle their
wooUy hair that stands up on end is as black as everything
else about them excepting the whites of their eyes.
Their faces are not vicious, however, and they make
faithful shepherds and herdsmen who wfll defend their mas
ters against their ferocious brethren, who stfll infest the
northern portion of Australia.
Interesting as are our second and third-class fellow pas-

120 OUR FRIENDS IN THE STEERAGE.
sengers, our friends in the steerage are more interesting stfll,
for here Ave have John Chinaman, in all his heathen unlove-
liness, to be sure, but at the same time, in all his picturesque
barbarity. Here are some flfty or sixty MongoHans going
back to China once more. More than Mecca to the Moham
medan, more than Paris to the Frenchman, more than
London to the cockney, is China to the Chinaman. His
cupidity will tempt him to go away, but nothing can per
suade him to stay away from his beloved land, and every
returning ship is loaded with returning Celestials. If, by
any mischance, he dies away from home, his bones are
never allowed to rest in peace except in the sofl of the Flow
ery Kingdom.
So it happens that many of our passengers on the
Chingtu are old men, decrepit and feeble, toothless and
almost blind, who are evidently taking their bones home for
burial, thus getting a last glimpse of their native land and
saving the expense of an embalming surgeon at the same
time. But others among our passengers are stalwart, lusty
young Celestials, with neatly-braided pig-tafls cofled under
their caps or thrust into a side-pocket of their white blouses.
It is an unending source of enjoyment to go into the
steerage at any hour of the daj^ or night, a fi'ee play-house,
where the actors are all entirely unconscious of histrionic
effort, and thus attain the perfection of good acting.
To go down the companion-Avav which separates the
cabin passengers from the steerage, is a swift descent from
Europe to China, and at meal-times the visit is always espe
cially interesting. In their very impromptu meals, first a
big wicker basket of rice, the great staple of Chinadom
everyAvhere, is brought in from the galley and set doAvn
anyAvhere on the steerage deck. Then a small dish of meat

RICE AND CHOPSTICKS. 121
soused in plenty of graA-y follows, then another dish of
bofled greens and a bottle of Chinese wine is set on the deck,
and dinner is served. A dozen bare-legged Chinamen, clad
in shiny black waterproof blouses, squat around these four
dishes and prepare for business. Each has a china bowl and
two chopsticks in his hand. First he fills his boAvl to the
brim with bofled rice, and then how he makes the chop.
sticks fly ! Putting the rim of the bowl close up to his lips,
he shovels his mouth fuU of rice with his rapid little sticks.
When it can hold no more he pauses for a moment for
breath and for mastication, and then picks up most dexter
ously a morsel of meat and a wad of greens which he crowds
into the interstices of the rice-fiUed cavern which he caUs his
mouth. After munching this mixture with evident satisfaction
for a minute or tAvo, he again raises the rice bowl to his lips,
crams the cavern again with the utmost alacrity, adds a
Httle spice in the way of meat and greens, and enjoys an
other rapturous period of mastication until that, too, is dis
posed of. It is wonderful how long these fellows can squat
on their haunches. A position which would cramp our mar
row bones in half a minute they wfll maintain throughout a
long meal, apparently with the utmost ease and composure.
Just beiyond the dinner party is a circle of gamblers
around the fan-tan " lay out " ; for John is an inveterate
gambler. He wfll work like a slave for years in some
foreign land, save and scrape and hoard and live on next to
nothing; and then gamble away all his little hoard on his
journey back to China. First, he wfll bet all his money,
then wager his clothes, and then his wife and chfldren,
whfle, if his soul were at his OAvn disposal, I have no doubt
he would wager that in his passion for gambling.
Squatting on their haunches in a corner of the steerage

122 WITHIN THE BARRIER REEF.
deck is another circle of Chinese gamblers, throwing dice
and playing cards, with a dexterity acquired only by long
experience. They are smoking cigarettes, or curious pipes
with minute bowls, Avhich when not in use they tuck behind
their ears, untfl they desire another whiff.
But it must not be thought that all the passengers of the
Chingtu are gamblers. A traveler in foreign lands is only
in duty bound to describe the unusual and picturesque, and
he need not waste his space upon the manly but everyday
officers of the Chingtu, or the very pleasant, but quite un-
noteworthy EngHshmen and Australians, Americans and
Germans and Frenchmen who make up her small first-lass
passenger Hst.
Now it is quite time that we turn our thoughts from the
little world of the Chvngtu to the larger world around us.
We were just steering out of Moreton bay, were we not,
when we went below to look at our strange assortment
of passengers? The water is smooth and glassy, and over just such an
unruffled sea the captain teUs we are likely to safl for more
than two weeks, for, during the first week, we shall keep
well within the Great Barrier reefs which effectuaUy prevent
the rude Atlantic waves from buffeting our progress; and
during the second week, the many islands off the coast of
Northern Australia and the Malay Archipelago act as break
waters for our course, so that, practicaUy, with the exception
of the last three days, the whole cruise of the Chingtu is
within landlocked seas. This assurance is a great dehght to
some of our company, for even the most indifferent saflor
cannot fail to enjoy such a trip as this.
Those sunbaked, blistered mountains on our left mark
the coast of Queensland, and what a tremendous colony it
is! More than five times the size of Great Britain and Ire-

IN A (,'ORNER 01' THE STEERAGE DECK — CHINESE OAMBLING ON SHIPBOARD. (From an instantaneous photograph.)
Squatting on their haunches in a corner of the steerage deck was another circle of Chinese Gamblers, throwing dice and playing cards
with a dexterity acquired only by long experience. They woio smoking cigarettes, or curious pipes with minute bowle, which when not in nse
they tucked behind their ears, until they desired another whifl.

AA^HITE MAN, HE TOO SALT.

125

land, the geographies tell us, and Ave can Avell imagine that
they are not exaggerating the truth, as Ave sail on, day after
day, day after day, in
vain effort to get bcA^ond
the northern point of
Cape York.
Far off yonder in
Northern Australia are
unexplored wflds and
savage black men, who
would not only take
pleasure, so our captain
teUs us, in flaying us
alive, but in eating a
good tender Yankee after
he has been weU flayed
and cooked. These blacks
prefer Chinamen, how
ever, so he assures us, to
Yankees or to people of
European extraction of any kind, for they are much
"fresher" says our epicurean aboriginal. "White man, he
too salt," is the verdict of this fastidious savage. Well, we
wiU rejoice in our saline characteristics, for if Ave should be
cast ashore on this inhospitable coast, salt, as is its nature,
may preserve us.
On the left or AustraUan side, as we steam northward,
headland succeeds headland; on the right, island succeeds
island, and so aU day long and all the days long, Ave glide on
with never enough of a pitch or a roll to disturb the most
sensitive stomach.
Early in its history the government of Queensland
offered rewards, varying from a thousand to five thousand

ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN.

126 CAPRICIOUS FORTUNE.
dollars for the discovery of payable gold fields. As can
easily be imagined, this offer, combined with the certain
Avealth which a great gold mine Avould assure, set many men
to searching Avith all their eyes over the hot plains of
Queensland. But fortune is proverbially capricious Avith
the gold seeker, and it so happened that not one of these
scientific gold hunters, but a poor vagabond, named Nash,
Avho toward the end of 1867 was Avandering about in an aim
less sort of Avay in the neighborhood of Gympie, about 130
mfles from Brisbane, found "an auriferous region of great
extent," as the Australian histories put it. In other Avords.
he had struck gold and struck it rich. In a day or two his
empty pockets were heavier by several thousand dollars
worth of gold than when he made his great "find." At first
he set to Avork to gather it all in for himself, but his gold
field was near a traveled road, and he was frequently
obliged to crouch among the bushes untfl the distant foot
steps told him that the departing traveler was far on his
way. Then he Avould go to work with feverish haste to
scrape together a fcAv more sliining flakes of the precious
metal. At length, however, he found that he could not keep his
precious gold field all to himself any longer, and, going to
the nearest town of Maryborough, he proclaimed his discov
ery, and received his reward.
As can easily be imagined, a rush at once took place to
Gympie, and one of the early gold birds found a most re
markable Avorm very near the surface of the ground, in the
shape of a nugget of pure gold that weighed nearly a hun
dred pounds.
Even this nugget, however, is eclipsed by several that
have been found in the colony of Victoria, such as the
"Welcome Stranger," found in ISGO, Avhich actually

AVELCOME NUGGETS FOR AVEARY MINERS. 127
weighed in the scales 190 pounds, and Avas Avorth about
forty thousand doUars. Besides the " Welcome Stranger "
Avas the " Welcome " nugget, found in 185S, and only smaller
by sis pounds than the great golden lump I have already
described, whfle stfll another, found in 1853, Aveighed almost
132 pounds.
" Welcome strangers," indeed, were aU these nuggets to
the weary and often discouraged miners, But those discov
eries were made in the golden age of Australian gold min
ing. A friend of mine Avho lived in Ballarat during this
golden age, teUs me that frequently, when a boy, he has
borrowed the muddy boots of the miners after their return
from a day's work in the alluvial gold fields, for the sake of
scraping the mud off their dirty brogans ; and that he has
frequently scraped five shiUings Avorth of gold from a single
pair of boots.
He Avas an honest, truthful man, moreover, who told me
this story, and he would not be guflty of presuming on the
guUibflity of a credulous Yankee. So my readers may
accept his astounding story as absolute truth.
But to return to the Queensland gold flelds. The
romance of the Morgan mine eclipses aU the rest. In 1858,
a young squatter bought from the government a section of
640 acres near Kockhampton. When he came to "squat,"
however, he found that his selection was a barren, rocky hiU,
and that it was quite useless for agricultural purposes. So
he thought himself very lucky when he found three brothers
named Morgan, who would take his unprofitable purchase
off his hands for about three thousand doUars. Hugging his
precious three thousand doUars, he left that part of the coun
try forever, shaking its unproductive dust from his feet.
But the Morgan brothers found, that though they could
not raise cabbages among the dirty gray rocks of their new

128 A PARCHED AND HOWLING WILDERNESS.
purchase, they could get out of them something vastly more
valuable, for in every cart load of the rock there was more
than one hundred dollars' worth of gold ; in fact, they found
that they had on their hands the richest gold mine ever dis
covered in the history of the world.
A year or two after this the hill was sold for forty mil
lions of doUars, and already dividends to the amount of
nearly flfty mfllions of doUars have been paid by the Mor
gan mine, and stfll there are " mfllions in it."
But to skip from shore to sea again. As the Chimgtu
makes her slow and tortuous way along the coast, avoiding
sunken reefs, dodging islands, and threading intricate pas
sages, we see very little of human Hfe except that which our
polyglot and cosmopoHtan passenger Hst contains. For hun
dreds of mfles there is no white settlement, only a parched
and howling wilderness, into which it is not safe for a white
man to penetrate unless Avith a strong guard. Here and
there a bush-fire shows us the location of a native encamp
ment, and once we descried on the water horizon a black
speck which seemed to be moving nearer. Anything
unusual at sea attracts attention, and it was not long before
half a dozen opera glasses were trained upon the spot. The
speck soon resolved itself into a native canoe, and the canoe
was seen to contain four naked blacks. Their craft was
simply a hoUowed-out log pointed at the ends, with a long
outrider which prevented it from rolling over as it certainly
would have done otherwise. As the blacks came nearer, we
saw that they were bearing doAvn upon our ship and pad
dling Avith aU then- might. When they got within ear shot
they aU lifted up their voices and cried : " backy," " backy,"
" backy " (tobacco).
But the Chingtu majesticaUy kept on her way. The pit
iful cry, " backy," " backy," " backy," became fainter and

THE CONQUERING ANGLO-SAXON.

129

fainter, the log canoe faded into a speck again, and the speck
vanished altogether.
What a perfect type, I said to myself, of the vanishing
bushmen in the presence of the majestic Avhite race. What

"'BACKY," "BACKT."

the feeble Httle dug-out is to the fuU-powered ocean steamer,
so is the remnant of this aboriginal nation to the aU-conquer-
ing whites. As the Chingtu contemptuously leaves the
canoe in the distance without even slackening speed to listen
to the appeal of its occupants, so the contemptuous English-
speaking races in aU parts of the world leave their colored
brethren behind or spurn them from their presence. As
" backy " was the one corrupted English word which these
black feUows seemed to know, so the vices of the dominant
race first become known and assimflated. As the canoe van
ished into the hazy distance whfle the Chingtu held strongly
on her appointed cruise, so the black races are disappearing.

130 THROUGH ALBANY PASS.
whfle the Anglo-Saxons keep steadily on their way, conquer
ing and to conquer.
But while we are musing about these black fellows, the
Chingtu has been ploAving her serpentine way along the
much-indented coast of this huge colony.
We have left the sandy reach where Capt. Cook more
than a hundred years ago beached his famous ship, the
Endeavor, which had been sadly disabled in trying to find
an entrance through the Barrier Eeef ; we have steamed for
a whole week since leaAdng Brisbane, along these unending
shores ; and now, just seven days from the start, the Chingtu
cleaves her way through Albany Pass, a narrow strait
between two verdure-clad islands, at the very tip end of
Northern Australia.
On either hand as we went through Albany Pass, we
saw hundreds of -curious red mounds, which at first we took
for decaying tree stumps, so regular and symmetrical were
they. But on examining them more closely through our
glasses we found that they were white ant hflls, and a most
singular appearance they gave the land, as though it had
been hastfly cleared by settlers who had left the stumps
about four feet high to rot away at their leisure.
Soon after passing through Albany strait, the gaunt,
spectral yards of a four-masted, square-rigged ship appeared
on the horizon, fixed and motionless as they have been for
five years past, ever since the good ship Volga struck on the
coral reef and sunk in a few fathoms of water, leaving her
yards and masts above the Avaves, a sad monument to the
power of the unseen foe beneath.
Then a fcAV more hours of safling and Ave drop anchor in
the roadstead of Thursday Island at the northern extremity
of Cape York, and at this safe anchorage, the flrst part of
the cruise of the Chiiuifu has come to an end.

CHAPTEE YII.
THE CRUISE OF THE CSZZVGTf^. — CONTINUED.
All the Days of the Week — A Convenient Nomenclature — A Diet of Sea
Worms — Trade in Bloodsuckers — Reminiscences of My Boyhood — A
Hideous Delicacy — The Pearl Fishery — Plums in the Pudding — The
Pearl Diver's Equipment — A Short but not a Merry Life — A Baking
Day and Steamy Night — The Aborigines — In the Celebes Sea — The
Connecticut of the South Sea — The Nutmeg at Home — The Possibili
ties of a Ball of Twine — How the Bride Wore the Trousers — Euro
pean Clothes and Civilization — A Snake . Story — An Unwelcome
Guest — Dislodging his Serpentship — A Battle with a Python — The
Spicy Breezes — The Noble Work of the Missionary — How the Chief
Took the Census — At His Wit's End — A Shrewd Rajah — Some
Passengers — Some Members of the Feline Tribe — The Tale of Tor
toise-shell Tommy.

^HUESDAY ISLAND is the only
island in the little archipelago tO'
the north of AustraHa that con
tains any considerable settlement
of Europeans, but the other days
of the week are not neglected by
any means, for there is Friday
Island and Saturday Island, Sun
day Island and Monday Island,
Tuesday Island and Wednesday
Island; and the Chingtu steams
by nearly all of them in going in
or out of Thursday Island harbor.
A convenient method of nomenclature this, which we
would commend to geographers Avho have lands to name, if
there remain any new lands to be discovered. Then, when
(131)

132 NAMING COUNTRIES FROM THE CALENDAR.
the days of the week have been exhausted, they would find
an almost unfading source of supply in the days of the
month, as, for instance, the " Fifth of November," and the
" Twenty -third of July," and " January Eighteenth."
Then the hours of the day might be resorted to, and we
should read upon our maps " Four O'clock Island," and
" Midnight Bay," and " Six-thirty Eiver." What a pity
this picturesque system suggested by Thursday and her sis
ter islands was not thought of before we had disfigured our
maps with so many Smithtowns and BrownsviUes and Jones-
ports, and Clark counties !
Soon the Chingtu is not only anchored, but made doubly
secure by being tied up to an old hulk which is anchored in
the roadstead for a sort of cargo-receiving ship ; and by the
kind thoughtfulness of friends in Sydney, who had "Avired"
that we were coming, we are taken ashore by the agent of
the chief mercantile house of the place, and are shown
everything that the resources of Thursday Island have to
offer. What are the great staple exports of Thursday Island,
my readers? If I should give you twenty or a hundred
and twenty guesses, you would not solve the conundrum.
Not gold or sflver, or tin or copper, or wool or mutton, or
wheat or corn, or machinery or cotton goods, or sugar or
spice, or rice or Yankee notions, but — do you give it up ?
Beche de mer and mother-of-pearl ; or, in other Avords, sea
worms and oyster shells.
The Beche de mer is a long, slimy, nasty (in the Ameri
can, not the English, sense of the Avord) slug, which looks
for all the world like an exaggerated leech — the loathsome
bloodsucker that used to fasten itself on my legs when I was
a small boy and " Avent in SAvimming," as smaU boys love to
do. But the Chinese consider this hideous slue: a great deh-

THE PEARL FISHERIES AND DIALERS. 133
cacy, and a very large commerce in it has sprung up, for
noAvhere does it groAV so fat and luscious as on the Aus
tralian coast and the adjacent islands.
There are various kinds of Beche de mer, which experts
distinguish as white, red, black, etc.; and it brings from
§150.00 to $750.00 a ton. Just now, I believe, the red
species of hideousness is most affected by Chinese gour
mands. I saAv tons of these slugs dried and baled, and
waiting for transportation to the Flowery Kingdom.
" Dried fish " is the euphonious but commonplace name by
Avhich this article of export is known in Thursday Island.
But the pearl fishery is, after aU, the largest industry,
important as is the Beche de mer trade. Three hundred
smaU boats are engaged in the pearl fisheries, and very
profitable they often prove to their owners, for not only is
there a steady demand for the mother-of-pearl shell, but
single perfect pearls are sometimes found Avorth from $1,000
to §3,000 ; so that always there is the excitement of possible
sudden wealth connected with this pursuit.
But the mother-of-pearl is the staple of trade, the pearls
themselves being only the plums that are found in the pud
dine at rare intervals. Of these sheUs there seems to be
an inexhaustible supply, and though the three hundred ves
sels engaged in the trade bring almost countless tons to the
surface, there are stfll countless tons to be won from the
ocean's depths.
Our own vessel adds to her cargo more than seventy
tons of sheUs, which will eventually reach Birmmgham and
Sheffield, to be made up into knife-handles and card-cases,
inlaid cabinets, and other articles of vertu.
The pearl diver's equipment is a most ungainly and curi
ous affair, for the shells are found in water many fathoms
deep, and the heaviest of Avoolen clothes are used to protect

134 ACROSS THE GULF TO PORT DARWIN.
the diver from the pressure of the water, while the shoes
Avith leaden soles which he uses to sink him to the bottom
weigh fully ten pounds each, and the helmet which he dons
weighs as much as both his shoes put together.
But, even Avith the best of diAdng gear and the most ap
proved appliances, the diver's life is short and risky. He
seldom is able to follow this pursuit more than five or six
years, and no divers reach old age.
Thursday Island is a place of great expectations rather
than of vast performances. Though at present there is
only a single row of straggling shops, Avith a few pleasant
bungalows behind them, and a pathetic Httle " School of
Arts," which contains tAvo pictures, a few dilapidated curios,
and a small library, it expects to be a great metropolis one
of these days ; and, in fact, has an exceUent location as
caUing port for steamers going to various parts of the world.
Our cargo of mother-of-pearl is soon safely stowed away
in the hold, the Chingtu weighs anchor again, and we are
on our course once more, across the great Gulf of Carpen
taria and the southern portion of the Arafura Sea, about
eight hundred miles, as the croAv flies, to Port Darwin, the
northern capital of North Australia.
If Thursday Island has its greatness in the future, Port
Darwin has had its day in the past. Great dreams Avere in
dulged in by its inhabitants in early days. A raflroad was
to connect it with Adelaide across the Avhole length of the
continent of Australia. All European steamers Avould make
it their port, instead of going around the stormy southern
coast. Passengers and mails Avould be transhipped hence to
all parts of the Avorld. Its early-discovered gold mine
would make everybody rich, and Palmerston, situated at the
head of the Port, Avould be one of the great commercial
capitals of the world.

A DISCOURAGED RAILROAD.

135

But this dream has not materialized. The railroad
across the continent has not been buflt nor is it likely to be
built. The only raflroad of Avhich Port Darwin boasts is a
discouraged sort of an affair, that runs a hundred miles into
the interior and then stops, not because it has reached an

A TOITNG CITIZEN OP PORT DAKWIN.

important terminus, but because it has not energy to go any
further. It cost a frightful amount of money, on which the
South Austrahan people stiU have to pay interest, for it is
a government affair, as aU Australian railroads are. The
two trains a day have dwindled doAvn to two a week, and it
bids fair soon to rival the famous " tri-weekly " road, whose
president explained the title by saying that he sent a traia
down the Hne one week and tried to get it back the next.
The gold mines could not be worked at a profit by
Europeans, and have all fallen into the hands of Chinamen,

136

BAKED AND BOILED.

and the five or six thousand Englishmen and Austrahans
Avho used to walk the fine, broad streets of Palmerston, and
live in its pleasant houses, have dwindled to a few hundreds,
Avho grumble at the government and shake their heads

A NORTH QUEENSLAND ABORIGIN-AL.
dismally, saying that Port Darwin's golden opportunity has
gone by, never to return.
If it is always as hot in Port DarAA^in as on baking
day and the steamy night that the Chingtu lay at her
Avharf, while Ave were her passengers, I do not Avonder that
Europeans who object to being both baked and boiled in the
same twenty-four hours refuse to make it their home.
The climate, however, seems exactly to suit the Aborigi
nal Australians Avho are found here in large numbers. Tall

SAILING OVER TROPIC SEAS. 137
men with long, thin legs, intensely black skins, and wiry
crinkly hair, tall women equally black and equally thin, and
absolutely naked little boys, perched on their mother's necks
or trotting by their mother's side, as happy as boys of a
cloudier clime, are seen everyAvhere.
A few hours of intensely hot daylight and a long, in
sufferably hot night were quite enough of Port DarAvin for
us, and glad Ave were to hear the Captain's order the next
morning to " cast off the bow Hne " and get under way.
For the next twenty-three hundred mfles the cruise of
the Chingtu is between tropic islands and across tropic seas ;
the Arafura and the Banda and the Celebes and the Sulu
and the China seas, one after the other f oUoAving each other
in quick succession.
A most lovely safl it is, and one that would be taken far
oftener than it is by pleasure seekers if its joys Avere known.
Scarcely a day of rough weather need be apprehended untfl
the China sea is reached, and a most wonderful series of
archipelagos is passed, any one of Avhich might weU delay
a naturaUst or ethnologist for years had he the time to
spare. Our course at first lies among the Austro-Malayan group
whose forests contain many of the typical Eucalyptus trees,
and whose birds and insects are nearly allied to those of the
great Australian continent which once doubtless extended
much further north than it does at present.
After we get into the Celebes sea we have touched the
borders of the Indo-Malayan region where the islands are
less affected by the blasting hot winds that cross the seas
after sweeping over the Austrahan deserts, and where the
birds and beasts, the trees and flowers, are more allied to
those of India.
Some of these islands are of vast extent. If you should

138 DUTCH MONOPOLY OF NUTMEGS.
draw a map of Borneo, for instance, you would find that
it was not unlike in shape the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, but vastly larger, for you could set
England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales inside of Borneo, and
have a great rim of green trees and verdure hundreds of
mfles wide surrounding that mighty little kingdom.
New Guinea is probably stfli larger than Borneo, though
its irregular coasts and unexplored territory make it difficult
to tell to a certainty.
Many of these islands are under Dutch control, and very
good masters on the whole do Dutchmen make. It would
be difficult to know what the doughty little kingdom behind
the dikes would do were it not for these spice islands of the
South seas, where it coins gold out of nutmegs and cloves,
cinnamon and allspice.
The island of Banda is the greatest nutmeg region of the
world, barring Connecticut, and many years ago the Dutch
attempted to secure a monoply of this product by cutting
down the nutmeg trees on the other islands where they
grew naturally, in order that they might be confined to
Banda, where the monopoly could be protected.
Nutmeg trees are very symmetrical in shape, Avith bright
glossy leaA^es. They grow to a height of twenty or thirty
feet, bearing small yellow flowers. The fruit looks much
like a peach in size and color. When it is ripe it splits open
and shows a dark broAvn nut within. Stfll, we have not got
to the nutmeg itself. The fruit is Hke a nest of Chinese
boxes, for within the thin hard shell which is noAV disclosed
is the nutmeg of commerce.
Towards evening of the third day fi'om Port Darwin we
passed between the great islands of Ceram on one side and
Bouro on the other. Nestling in the lee of Ceram is the
little island of Amboyna, Avhich contains one of the oldest

THE MALAYAN AND THE PAPUAN. 139
European settlements in the South seas. Here the Dutch
governor is Lord of all he surveys, and is only disturbed
in his solitude by a few vessels that come on their spice-
laden errands once or tAvice a year.
The inhabitants of these islands may, in a general way,
be divided into tAvo great types, the Malayan and the
Papuan. A rough classification gives the eastern islands to
the Papuan races; the western, Avhich lie nearer to China
and India, to the Malayan races. The Malay has been
described as of "short stature, brown-skinned, straight-
haired, beardless, and smooth-bodied. The Papuan is taUer,
is black-skinned, frizzly-haired, branded, and hairy-bodied.
The former is broad-faced, has a small nose, and flat eye
brows ; the latter is long-faced, has a large and prominent
nose and flat eye-broAvs. The Malay is bashful, cold, un
demonstrative, and quiet; the Papuan is bold, impetuous,
excitable, and noisy. The former is grave and seldom
laughs ; the latter is joyous and laughter-loving — the one
conceals his emotions, the other displays them."
Perhaps this epigrammatic description by one who spent
many years among these islands wfll serve to introduce our
neighbors on either side of the Chingtu to my readers,
better than any words of mine.
There is little need to describe the clothes of either of
these neighbors, for they seldom consult Paris modes or New
York tailors. A friend of mine who once lived in New
Guinea was consulted by a tailor of London as to whether
there would not be a good opening for a man of his craft in
that great island. My friend replied that a ball of twine
would afford ample clothing for half a century for all the
natives on the island, and he could scarcely encourage the
knight of the goose and the shears to remove from the
Capitol of cockneydom.

140 EXTRAORDINARY HEADGEAR.
The story is told of a bridegroom Avho Avas presented on
his wedding-day with a pair of European trousers. In the
exuberance of his early love, he presented them to his bride,
Avho appeared at the wedding ceremony, heated and per
spiring, Avith the trousers drawn on as far as possible over
her head, whfle the legs hung down Hke two huge, hoUow
tails, on either side.
For my part I do not see the necessary connection of
European clothes and European civilization. The nations
can be civilized and christianized just as quickly, I believe,
while aUoAved to wear their native costume, a loose piece
of cloth tucked about the waist, as when arrayed in " boiled
shirts " and swallow-tailed coats.
The only grotesque and ridiculous natives I have seen,
are those Avho ape European costumes and try to combine in
, a most laughable way New York and South Sea Island
fashions. The islands between which we are continually passing,
and Avhose sides we almost graze at times, abound in bright
plumaged birds, parrots and paroquets, lyre birds and birds
of paradise of every imaginable lovely hue.
Beasts of prey are not very common, though tigers and
orang-outangs are found in some of the large islands, and
huge crocodiles abound in many of them. Snakes, however,
are numerous and venomous, and a sharp lookout must he
kept by the traveler, lest that innocent-looking fallen limb,
on which he is about to put his foot, proves to be a huge
python or boa constrictor.
A famous naturalist tells a gruesome story about a great
snake Avhich he found in the thatched roof directlj' over his
head one morning as he awoke. He had heard a rusthng
noise the night before but paid little attention to it. The
next morning, however, the cause of the noise was revealed.

A SNAKE STORY. 141
for, " looking more careful!}^," he says, " I could see yellow
and black marks and thought it must be a tortoise shell put
up there out of the Avay between the ridge-pole and the roof.
Continuing to gaze, it suddenly resolved itself into a large
snake, compactly coiled up in a knot; and I could detect his
head and his bright eyes in the very center of the folds.
" A python had climbed up one of the posts of the house ;
had made his way under the thatch within a yard of my
head, and taken up a comfortable position in the roof, and I
had slept soundly aU night, directly under him.
"I caUed to my two native 'boys' who were skinning
birds below, and said, 'Here's a big snake in the roof; but
as soon as I had shown it to them they rushed out of the
house and begged me to come out at once.
"Finding they were too much alarmed to do anything,
we called some of the laborers in the plantation, and soon
had half-a-dozen men in consultation. One of these said he
would get him out, and went to work in a business-like way.
" He made a strong noose of rattan, and with a long pole
poked at the snake, which then began sloAvly to uncoil itself.
He then managed to get the noose over its head, and slip
ping it well over its body began to drag the animal down.
" There was a great scuffle as the snake coiled round the
chains and posts to resist his enemy, but at length the man
caught hold of his tafl, rushed out of the house so quickly
that the creature seemed quite confounded, and tried to
strike its head against a tree. He missed it, hoAvever, and
let go, and the snake got under a dead trunk near by. It
was again poked out, and again the man caught hold of its
tail, and running aAvay quickly dashed its head fvith a swing
against a tree, and it was then easily kflled with a hatchet.
"It was about tAvelve feet long and very thick, quite
capable of swalloAving a dog or chfld."

142 "WHERE EVERY PROSPECT PLEASES.
But this python was only a baby compared with another
which this same veracious naturalist saw a little later, which
was not less than twenty feet long, and fully able to tackle
an ox or a horse if it got the chance.
It Avould scarcely be proper to safl through this serpent-
infested region Avithout teUing at least one snake story, but
the above, vouched for by the highest authority, wfll per
haps suffice.
After a tAventy-four hours' run across a comparatively
open piece of water we passed between the Spanish convict
island of Mandanao on one side, and Basilan on the other.
On the other side of this passage we found the open waters
of the Sulu sea awaiting us, and then, coasting up the long
shore of the Philippine islands, Ave have come at length out
into the rough Avaters of the China sea, and are striking
across this much-dreaded passage to the port of Hong Kong.
All these islands which Ave pass are famous for their
spic}'^ tropical products.
"The spicy breezes" blow soft not only over Ceylon's
isle, but across Ceram and Bouro, Banda and Amboyna,
Mandanao and Basilan.
Every prospect pleases and even man is by no means as
vfle as he Avas a hundred years ago, for the missionary is
abroad in most of these islands, the natives have responded
most readily to his kindly touch, and, in many cases, whole
islands are Christianized and are occupied by respectable,
God-fearing, church-going races. Even the degradation
which usually follows in the Avake of commerce has not been
entirely able to drag down these simple natives to the level
of their Avhite conquerors, and the most godless trader Avho
knows what he is talking about can sometimes be found Avho
Avfll acknowledge that the missionary has transformed many
a barbarous tribe of cannibals into an intelligent people,

AVHAT CHRISTIANITY HAS DONE. 143
Hving in orderly villages ; in pleasant, whitewashed houses,
Avith flowering Amines groAving over the cool verandas.
Moreover, in some places good roads and careful cultivation
of the sofl are found, all due to races that have emerged
from the loAvest barbarism Avithin the memory of living
men. I Avould like to take some of the shalloAV worldlings
whom I haA^e seen elevate their tip-tilted noses at missions,
and whom I have heard sneer at every effort to make the
heathen better, I would Hke to take them, I say, to some
of the beautiful, orderly vfllages of Celebes, and stop their
profane Ups Avith a sight of Avhat Christianity actually has
done and is doing for these savages. I am doubtful if even
this vision would do much good. Such men and women are
too densely wrapped up in their impenetrable conceit to be
disturbed by facts or flgures, or convinced even by that
which their own eyes might observe. They Avould not be
heve " though one rose from the dead."
Most of these islands, though nominally under the pro
tection and control of different European powers, to which
they are obliged to pay some smaU tribute, are stfll practi
caUy under the power of these native chiefs and princes, some
of whose dynasties run back for many generations.
A good story is told by the naturalist Wallace of the
Avay in which one of these native chiefs took the census of
his unsuspecting subjects.
It seems that this chief or Eajah relied for his revenues
upon the rice tax which each one of his people in all the
vfllages of his domain was supposed to pay into his treasury
every year. But he soon became convinced that his under
officers were not treating him fairly, and that a good deal of
the rice which ought to have found its way into the treasury
of the Eajah was stopped on the way, either by the Kapala

144 COMMUNING WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE VOLCANO.
Kampong, the head man of the viUage, or by the Waidono
who is over the district, or by the Gustis or head chief, who
received the rice from the Waidono.
But the Eajah could not prove the peculations, because
he did not know how many people there were in his domain,
and he could not tell how many people there were unless he
took a census, and he could not take a census without putting
all the under officers on their guard, for they would be sure to
make the number of people in their districts correspond with
the amount of rice which they turned over to His Majesty.
So his problem Avas to take a census without having the
people who were enumerated knoAV anything about it.
The poor Eajah was at his wit's end. He smoked and
chewed betel nut all day long, and stfll was no nearer to
the desired solution. At length, however, a bright idea
struck him. He would go up into the great mountain of
Lombock that belched out fire and vapor, and consult the
deity of the mountain, for it was in the old days of heathen
superstition and heathen worship. The awe-struck people
followed him part way up the volcano, and then they dared
to go no further. But the Eajah pressed on up into the
region of perpetual smoke, and here he stayed for a long
while, communing Avith the Great Spirit of the mountain.
When his people Avho were Avaiting about the base of the
mountain began to be thoroughly uneasy about their chief,
he appeared again among them, and told them in solemn
tones that the Great Spirit had revealed to him that a time
of terrible pestilence Avas coming, and that the only way to
avert the pestilence Avas to make tAvelve sacred krisses or
daggers, to be sent, in case of need, to the plague-stricken
viUages. Moreover, these krisses must be of a peculiar kind,
made of a great number of needles, each needle represent
ing one man or woman or chfld in his domain.

THE TELLTALE NEEDLES. 145
There must be no mistake, either, in the number of
needles, for, if there was, the krisses would not avail, and
the plague could not be averted.
So the Gusti and the Waidonos and the Kapala Kam-
pongs Avent to work very busily to collect in their different
viUages a needle from every man, woman, and child in all
of Lombock, and they were very careful not to make any
mistake, for fear the kris would not Avork properly. At
length the needles were aU collected, and were welded into
bright, shining daggers before the Eajah's own eyes, and
then carefully wrapped in silk and laid away for use against
the time of pestflence.
The pestflence did not come, however, but the time of
the rice harvest did come ; and when only a small quantity
of rice was presented by any Gustis, the Eajah mildly re
marked that " there were five thousand needles sent from
your province, and it ought to yield far more rice than
this." Then the Gustis said the same thing to his Waidonos,
and the Waidonos repeated the remark to the Kapala Kam-
pongs ; and the result Avas that the foUowing year the Eajah
had four times as much rice as ever before, and he was able
to give aU his wives beautiful earrings, and to buy many
more black horses from the white-skinned Dutchmen than
ever in the past — aU by reason of the remarkable interview
he had with the Great Spirit in the mountain that sent out
fire and smoke.
I have spoken already of the human passengers of the
Chingtu — the Chinamen, and Malays, Jews, Christians, and
Bushmen. Besides these, we have some dumb passengers
who are quite as interesting in their way. Among them a
flock of merino sheep that were unceremoniously tied to
gether by their four legs and bundled overboard into a
Hghter at Thursday Island ; a dog whose master, the cattle-

146 OUR DUMB PASSENGERS.
drover, was taking into the bush to herd sheep and fight
the Blacks.
But, poor fellow, he scarcely held up his head after com
ing aboard. A kick or bruise of some kind just before em
barkation had injured him internaUy. He bore his pain,
Avhich was evidently intense, Avithout a whimper or a groan
for seven days, and on the eighth day turned his patient,
affectionate eyes upon his master Avith a look of trustful love
for the last time — and died.
" I can't bear to go aft any more where my poor dog
lay," said the cattle-drover, and I didn't wonder.
Besides the dog and sheep, Ave had, at the beginning, sev
eral specimens of the feline tribe. Two or three forlorn
little kittens haunted the steerage belonging to the China
men. For two or three days they prowled disconsolately
about, evidently aware of the fate that awaited them, and
then they mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace behind.
The gastronomic Chinaman could, perhaps, have explained
their disappearance, for aU is soup that comes to his pot.
But besides these wretched, woe-begone little kittens, we
had on board a magnificent, stately, tortoise-sheU cat, as
handsome a pussy as ever trod a ship's quarter deck. He
would Avatch the second-class passengers at their meals in a
very dignified way, and Avould even accept a gratuity from
their hands in the shape of a savory titbit, once in a whfle.
He would jump through our extended arms, and do every
trick that a well-educated pussy is supposed to know. One
evening the northeast monsoon Avas bloAving a stiff gale, and
had spattered up the salt spray untfl eveiy rail was wet and
slippery. Tommy Avas unusually frisky. He jumped from
spar to hatchway, ran up the rigging, and worked off his
high spirits in every way knoAvn to a cat. But, alas ! he
jumped once too often, for leaping from the hatch to the

A TRAGEDY ON ELECTION DAY. 147
guard rafl, he lost his balance, claAved for a moment help
lessly at the Avet, slippery Avood, and fell off into the engulf
ing sea.
It is hoped that some passing shark cut short his misery,
and that he was not obliged to struggle for hours Avith the
waves, drowning by inches.
That day was Election day in the United States. The
mighty quadrennial struggle between the two great parties
was being decided as the hours Avent by. To the English
men, Australians, and Chinese, who made up our passenger
list, this struggle was absolutely uninteresting. Though it
affects the lives of nearly seventy mfllions of people, it did
not create as much excitement as the death of a tortoise-shell
cat. Such is the relative importance of an event. So de
pendent is it on geography and ethnography.
Our captain had a vague idea that one or the other of
the leading candidates had before been nominated for elec
tion. When I explained that one of the candidates was then
president, and the other had held that office, he was quite
amazed, but remarked : " Oh, well, hit wont make much
hodds, I suppose, they're both proper rascals."
I resented the imputation against these excellent and
honorable men with the utmost warmth, and yet it is of
little use to wax hot, for the ingrained and unremovable
British opinion of American politics is, that all our politicians
are rogues and knaves. I scarcely wonder at this, for the
British press does its utmost to foster this impression, and
our own sensational journals, with their scurrilous attacks
on pubHc men, only strengthens the same impression.
Three days more with this gentle monsoon blowing
across the wide China Sea will bring us to Hong Kong, and
then the cruise of the Chingtu will be ended.

CHAPTEE VIII.
FIRST GLIMPSES OF THE CELESTIAL EMPIRE.
Cosmopolitan Hong Kong — The Cabmen of the Orient — A Ride in a
Sedan Chair — Uplifted in Spirit — Sidewalk Shops — Pennsylvania Oil
in China — Fairyland under the Lanterns — Incense Offerings to the
Gods — Novel Sights and Scenes — Oriental Sharpers — Unblushing
Swindlers — Toboggan Sliding — All Aboard for Canton — Justice
Swift and Severe — Executions in China — Heads Chopped off with
Neatness and Despatch — The River God at the Prow — The Fatshan —
River Robbers and Pira!tes — A Floating Arsenal — The Rice Harvest —
Threshing Out the Rice — " Chinaman Makee Glow" — Three Crops in
a Season — Water Buffaloes — Christianity and Butter — Up the Pearl
River — Junks and Flower Boats, Sampans and Slipper Boats — The
High Road of Canton — A Novel Pontoon Bridge — A Family Picture
— Cantonese Jade — Off in a Sampan.

HST as the sun was setting after
a gray and turbulent day, the
Chingtu reached the outer har
bor of Hong Kong. The waning
Hght held out barely long enough
to discover our anchorage ground.
What a sight was the first glimpse
of life in Asia! On the Hong
Kong shore Avere thousands of
twinlding lights, reaching far up
the hfllside. The magnificent
warehouses and residences of the
foreign merchants give it the appearance of a modern city, as
indeed it is, but, together Avith this modern and cosmopolitan
air is mingled the antiquity of the far East. On every side
were Chinese junks, Avhose style is the same as in the days of
(148)

ASIATIC SIGHTS AND SOUNDS. 149
the Mayflower, of the Pinta, and the Nina; the same
in fact as Avhen the Eoman gaUej^s vexed the Avaters of
the Mediterranean.
Little boats, too, sampans and still smaUer row-boats,
swarmed about the Chingtu. As it was now growing
dark they Avere all fllumined with Chinese lanterns of every
variety of style and shape, and yells and cries, and invita
tions from the occupants to take their boat to the shore,
reminded us of the vociferous cabbies at the Grand Central
Station in New York. But there was little else to remind
us of New York. We had indeed reached the Orient.
Taking a steam-launch sent out by the Hong Kong
Hotel we were soon on shore. Then aU the sights and
sounds, to say nothing of the smells, reminded us that we
were on Asiatic soil. A crowd of jinrikisha and sedan chair
men besieged us on every side. A throng of half-naked
coolies jabbered and crowded and fought with each other
and insisted on being our porters. But, though it required
some rough usage on the part of the hotel porters, Ave at last
escaped their clutches and reached the hotel, which is but
a few steps from the landing. A European hotel, however,
was altogether too commonplace an affair to engage our
attention for any length of time, and after we had taken
a hastj'' dinner we were soon upon the street again.
Wfll you not go out with us while we view these unac
customed sights ?
Now again as we step out of the hotel door, there is a
great hubbub and huUaballoo, for scores of chair-men and
jinrikisha-men rush upon us as their right and lawful prey.
Let us take a chair this evening since it is more in accord
ance with the genius of the country. The jinrikisha is a
Japanese institution and a very recent importation into
China, and we wiU patronize home industries.

150 THE BURDEN BEARERS.
So, with many polite gestures and genuflections on the
part of our bearers, we crawl into one of the little boxes>
take our seats, and are immediately hoisted upon the
shoulders of three stalwart coolies, tAvo in front and one be
hind. The skin on their accustomed necks is hardened and
caUoused by many such loads which they have borne, and at
flrst a feeling of great compassion and pity for them arises
in our hearts, as though we were treating human beings as
we would treat a horse or an ox. We almost feel as though
we ought to step down from our exalted position and apolo
gize to the bearers for loading them down as we would
" dumb, driven cattle." But, after all, the sensible traveler
reasons with himself, this is an honorable and reputable way
of earning a living. No opprobrium or disgrace attaches to
the palanquin-man. He would bear the people of his own
race and station in society as quickly as he would bear the
Emperor, and would have no sense of degradation. It
affords a great multitude, who perhaps would otherwise
starve, an excellent living. So we wiU dismiss our scruples
and enjoy the novel sights around us.
Then, perhaps, so sharp are the revulsions of feeling in
weak human nature, one begins to have a wealthy and
lordly feeling, as though he were being borne through the
streets on the shoulders of an admiring croAvd because of
some great achievement. However, the throngs are not
very demonstrative in their admiration, for they take no
more notice of you than a New York crowd Avould take of a
Broadway street-car. In fact, we who are perched up in
these chairs are far more interested in the crowds beneath
than they are in us, for foreigners are no novelty in Hong
Kong. Let us go down to the Chinese quarter and get out of
this humdrum European life as soon as possible. It does

OUT-OF-DOOR AVOCATIONS.

151

not take us long to do this, for there are only eight thou
sand foreigners in the city and some tAvo hundred thousand
natives. Everything is of interest to our unaccustomed eyes.
But Ave must record our impressions quickly before custom
dulls the edge of amazement, or it Avill seem as though Ave

A CHINESE FORGB.

had always lived in the midst of these sights, and shall not
be able to describe them with any vividness to our friends at
home. The first thing that strikes us as strange is, that every
thing is done out-of-doors. The shoemaker cobbles his
shoes ; the fish merchant peddles his fish ; the cabinet-maker
fits together his chest of drawers; the tailor shoves his
needle; the carpenter draAvs his plane (toward himself in
genuine Chinese style), but all upon the sidcAvalk as it
seems. There are, to be sure, small recesses Avhich are
10

152 LANTERNS AND INCENSE.
called stores and shops, but they are very diminutive and
scarcely seem necessary to the carrying on of business.
Over every shop door hangs a paper lantern, some of
them huge affairs as big as small baUoons, others more mod
est in size, while here and there one sees a Aoilgar kerosene
lamp. It is said that the oil weUs of Pennsylvania are driv
ing the old-fashioned lanterns out of the market. All who
desire picturesqueness of effect wfll certainly regret this, for
there is nothing which gives the streets such a charming,
fairy-like effect as the Chinese lanterns, painted in every hue
of the rainbow, and tAvisted into every conceivable shape.
Not only has every shop its lantern, but every shop has
its shrine as well, and the smell of burning incense pervades
the air wherever we go. This is rather fortunate, perhaps,
for it obscures certain other odors which are not so pleasant.
If you look closely, even in the darkness of this first even
ing's ride, you wiU see a stick of incense burning beside
every doorway, the Httle spot of fire at the end glowing hke
a tiny jewel in the night. These are all offered to the gods
of prosperity and good luck in the hope that the business
ventures carried on within wfll turn out successfuUy.
But after all, novel as are the sights about Hong Kong,
it is one of the least interesting cities, in many respects, in
all China. It is too much Europeanized to afford a true idea
of the way in which the natives live and conduct their busi
ness. It has all the vices of a city in the far East, and not
all its virtues by any means. Everything is frightfuUy dear
at the European stores, and in this free-trade possession of
Great Britain, the shop-keepers AviU unblushingly charge you
four or flve times as much as an article is worth anywhere
else. The hotel-keepers will fleece you out of your last
dollar if they can. Photographers wiU charge you as much
for a single picture as Avould buy a dozen better ones in

ASCENT OF A'ICTORIA PEAK. 153
Japan ; and your morning paper, Avhich will cost you ten
cents, AviU not contain a farthing's worth of news. Nothing
more barren and meager and utterly uninteresting than the
Hong Kong newspaper has it been my lot to find in any
part of the civflized or uncivilized world. Society is decid
edly " fast," as in aU such foreign settlements, and were it not
for the saving salt of missionary life and influence, I am told
by those who know. Hong Kong, and Yokohama in Japan,
and other such treaty ports, might easily out-rank Sodom
and Gomorrah and the Cities of the Plain.
There is one place, however, which we must visit before
leaving Hong Kong for the far more interesting city of
Canton, and that is Yictoria Peak, which towers up for a
thousand feet or more directly behind the city. This is a
beautiful, conical mountain, exceedingly steep and precipi
tous, but the way up has been made easy by a cog-wheel
raflroad, which affords, certainly, the most abrupt climb
Avith which I am acquainted. Far steeper than the Eigi or
the Mt. Washington raflroad or Pike's Peak is the raflroad
that cHmbs Yictoria Peak. Nervous women sometimes
grow quite hysterical as the train begins to move up an
incline steeper than the roof of a house. But the raflway is
managed with great skill and with every precaution to insure
safety, and there has never been here any loss of Hfe, so far
as I know.
As one climbs this famous mountain, a magilificent pano
rama unfolds before him, of city and sea, of embracing
mountains and yet higher distant peaks. Every view is a
little more entrancing than the last, untfl one stands at the
very summit. Then, on every hand, is a landscape which
one can expect to see but seldom in a lifetime. Such a vast
and stupendous combination of ocean and mountain is almost
worth a stormy journey across the Pacific to behold.

154 BY BOAT TO CANTON.
We have reached the spot near the top where the rafl
road stops, and where our foot-journey begins, unless we
choose to take a sedan-chair, which, for thirty cents, wiU
carry us to the topmost point. We refused, however, to be
borne up this magnificent mountain in any such ignominious
way. The chair is all very well for level ground, or for get
ting through the crowded streets; but the true mountain
climber would feel ashamed of himself to be borne aloft on
men's shoulders up these rugged paths as long as he has two
good legs to carry him. The road, though very steep, is
well made, and affords so many exquisite views from every
angle and turn of the twenty minutes' cHmb to the peak
that it is a continual delight.
But the wind is blowing shrewdly from the top, and we
do not linger long, even though the view is entrancing ; but
soon descend, take the train once more, and in eight min
utes slip down this tremendous toboggan-slide on to level
ground again.
To-morrow morning we Avill take the river-boat for Can
ton, a journey of about one hundred mfles, and one which
affords us vast delight.. The steamers on the Pearl Eiver
are excellent side-Avheel boats, not unlike the best river-boats
in America, officered by Europeans, though manned by
Chinese crews. There are some things about them, how
ever, which Avould remind us that Ave are stfll in China. At
the prow is a large image which I took for a figure-head, but
was soon informed that it was the river-god, who must be
propitiated even by this modern steamship company; so
they had placed his obese flgure in a little shrine at the
very proAv of the Fatshan.
Looking Avithin the cabin, too, we see a stack of rifles,
and are assured by the Captain that they are necessary in
case the boat should be attacked by the river pirates — a not

FLOATING ARSENALS.

155

inconceivable impossibility. A fcAV months ago one of these
steamers Avas captured by a SAvarm of these robbers, who
had come aboard as second-class passengers. The officers
were overpowered, and the passengers were shut up in a
tight and close cabin, where they barely had air enough to

A CHINESE EXECUTION.
(From an instantaneous photograph.)
keep them alive, whfle their pocketbooks were rifled and the
steamer plundered by these systematic knaves of every pos
sible thing of value. Then they took themselves off, mak
ing sure that they should not be pursued until they had
gotten well out of the way. Chinese passengers are not
now aUowed in the first cabin, and every steamer goes weU
armed with a small arsenal of modern weapons.

156

CHINESE EXECUTION.

Swift justice is dealt out to Chinese criminals, and only
a short time elapses after sentence before the head of the
condemned person is severed from the body by a smgle
stroke of the executioner's keen sword.
Prisoners under sentence of death wear bamboo yokes
when they are taken to the place of execution. The head

PLACING THE HEAD OF AN EXECUTED CRIMINAL IN A BASKET.
(From an instantaneous photograph.)
of the prisoner is placed between two rigid bamboo bars,
one in front and the other at the back of the neck, while
two shorter bars rest across the shouldere and fasten the
long side bars together. The headsman accompanies the
procession to the field of execution, holding his blade aloft,
followed by a crowd of spectators. The execution is pubhc,
and generally takes place in an open field accessible to all.

TAKING A CONDEMNED PIRATE TO THE PLACE OF EXECUTION. {From an instantaneous pkotograp7i-)
PriHoners under sentence of death wear bamboo yokes when they are taken to the place of execution. The head of the 'prisoner is placed between
two rigid bamboo bars, one in front, and the other at the back of the neck, while two shorter bars rest across the shoulders and fasten the ion^ side

UP THE PEARL RIVER.

159

The prisoner kneels, bends forAvard a trifle, bows his head,
and in an instant all is over.
The safl up the river is a most interesting one, following
the Avindings of the great stream, Avhich sometimes broadens
out into a lake miles upon mfles in extent, and sometimes

COOLIES PUMPING WATER FOR RICE FIELDS.
narrows again with frowning peaks close overhead. Every
where are the swarming viUages — thirty thousand, I am.
told, in a single province — each one occupied by from one
to ten thousand people.
The rice crop was just being cut as we sailed up this
noble river, and doAvn to the very verge hung the ripened
grain on heavy stalks. This Avas the second crop of the

160 PRIMITIVE METHOD OP HARVESTING.
year, and laborers, men and women, were busy everywhere
harvesting it — just as for three thousand years past, per
haps, their ancestors had harvested a simflar crop. After
cutting the rice-straw near the ground Avith a small sickle
and piling it in heaps, the}^ grasp a good-sized handful of
the grain and thresh out the rice by the simple process of
beating the heads over the edge of a stone or a piece of
board armed Avith iron teeth. A little screen keeps the rice
from flying far in any direction, and on both sides we
could see hundreds of these little screens and these primitive
harvesters gathering the great staple crop of China.
Wonderful gardeners are these Cantonese in any part of
the Avorld. Whether in America or AustraHa, the Sandivich
Islands or on their own native heath, they can coax the
ground to yield to them what she Avould never give up
to the more civilized races, who, perhaps, look down on
them as ignorant barbarians. Even in tropical AustraHa, in
the dryest of the dry seasons, they can make things grow if
only water can be had with which to drench the sofl. " Me
no likee lain," said a Chinaman to me ; " lainey time anyone
laise things ; dly time only Chinaman makee glow."
But here along the banks of the great river they find
not only plenty of Avater, but a most fertfle sofl, and any
Chinaman who does not get at least three crops off of every
inch of land Avhich he possesses is thoroughly ashamed of
himself. Tavo crops of rice and one of vegetables is the
regulation thing, Avhile some farmers force even four crops
every year from the same piece of ground.
Another interesting feature of the landscape is the huge
water-buffaloes Avhich love to AvalloAv along the banks of the
river. They look more like the rhinoceros than like the
buffalo of our plains, Avith thick Avolts of hairy skin hanging
on their sides and logs. HoAvcver, they are a very useful

AT THE AVHARF IN CANTON. 161
animal, though rather hideous in appearance. They are
employed in ploAving and Avorking the rice fields, and afford
an excellent mflk which is used by the foreign residents of
Canton and vicinity, Avhere there are no cows. The Chinese
themselves, however, after they are weaned, have no use for
food of this sort, and look upon the rest of us, I suppose, as
poor " milk-sops "' for demanding it on our tables morning,
noon, and night.
Nor can they understand how we find it difficult to
exist without butter and cheese. A recently converted
Chinaman, explaining to his neighbors the joys of Christian
ity, said to them, " Now Christianity is not like butter, for
you have to learn to like that before you can eat it. It is
horrid tasting stuff when you first try it, and you can only
endure it after a good many efforts. But Christianity is
something that you do not have to learn to like. It is just
as good the fu'st time you taste it as it is the last." A good
hint here for pubHc speakers to adapt their iUustrations to
the people who listen to them.
But all this time we are safling up the great Pearl river,
with its interminable rice fields and its clustering vfllages
nestling behind them at the base of the mountains.
At last the Fatshan reaches her wharf in Canton, and
we find ourselves at once in one of the strangest and most
remarkable cities on the face of the earth. Around us are
swarming junks and flower-boats, sampans and slipper-boats
of all sizes, as thickly as their struggling owners can crowd
about the Fatshan.
They row and pole, and hook on to their neighbors and
grab our steamer's chains in their mad and eager scramble
to get some passengers or freight for other parts of the city;
for this great river is the high road for all Canton. Fully
seventy-five thousand people live in these boats on the river

162 HOME LIFE ON A SAMPAN.
at Canton alone all the year round. The number is usually
put much higher, but I am assured that this is a very mod
erate estimate.
As the steamer is being tied up to her dock let us peer
over into one of these little boats that is struggling to get
near us. It is like a thousand others that are Avedged
so closely together that one could easfly walk for mfles over
their little roofed decks without getting his feet wet. It
seems like a continuous pontoon bridge, though none of the
boats are tied together, and all are struggHng to move in
some direction and for some purpose.
But look down into this particular sampan which we
have chosen to interview. A brawny woman wields a long,
heavy oar in front. She is evidently captain, first oflicer,
and cook, as well as chief engineer of the Httle craft. On
her back is strapped a baby whose Httle head bobs and
sways with every motion that its mother makes in scuUing
the boat. The handle of the huge sweep which she uses just
escapes the top of his bald little head. Her glossy black
hair is done up with great skill and neatness into the shape
of a " tea-pot handle," as a little boy by my side declares.
Through this tea-pot handle is stuck a green jade pin, and in
both ears are huge jade earrings. No woman in Canton
seems too poor to afford these precious jewels. Of all the
thousands of women of high grade and low whom I have
seen in Canton, I scarcely remember one without the na
tional jade ornaments.
On the stern of this little craft are four chfldren, one boy
of eight years of age, aa^Ho, manly little fellow that he is,
assists his mother with an oar three times as long as him.
self. Another boy of four is feeding with kernels of rice
some chickens Avhich are tied by the leg to one side of the
boat. StiU another little olive branch that can just toddle.

CLOSE QUARTERS.

163

and is possibly tAvo years old, is tied by a string to the roof
of the deck, Avhich alloAvs him to go to the very edge of the
boat, but insures his being pulled in if he should happen to
fall overboard. In the stern of the boat also are aU the
cuHnary arrangements for the family ; all the pots and
kettles and crockery ware and chop-sticks that are needed
for a famfly of six. Behind the kitchen is the shrine, and as
the door is open we can get a peep within at the gflded god,
who is sitting complacently on his haunches, Avhile two
sticks of incense are burning before him.
In the center of the boat, covered with a low roof, are
seats on two sides for five or six passengers, for it is the bus
iness of this famfly, whfle the husband is at work on shore,
to get aU the passengers it can and to eke out their living in
this way. I must fall back on a general reputation which I
trust I have for sobriety and truthfulness when I tell you
that this boat by actual measurement is only fourteen feet
long and four feet wide in the widest part. Even this
sampan is larger than many others which crowd about our
steamer's side, but it looks so clean and roomy, the children
look so good natured, and the mother smfles so pleasantly,
that we wfll take this boat and give the woman ten cents (a
liberal sum) to take us to our friends some two mfles up the
river.

CHAPTEE IX.
IN CANTON THE CROWDED — CHINA AND THE CHINESE.
— CURIOUS SCENES AMONG A CURIOUS PEOPLE — IN
THE TEMPLE OF HORRORS.
Ah Cum, Jr. — A Courteous and Faithful Guide ^ Aimless Wandering —
The Birthday of the Fire God — Turning out for a Sedan chair — Close
Quarters — A City of Temples — Streets with Odd Names — "Lon
gevity Lane " — " Heavenly Peace Street " — A Changing Panorama —
Outrageous Odors — A Pestilential Place without Pestilence — A Puz
zle for our Doctors — People who Never Heard of a Plumber — The
Live Fish Market — Candy Stands — How Much can you Buy for a
Cash ? — Going to Market in Corea — A Royal Present — Juvenile
Curiosity — That Little "Foreign Devil" — The Cat and Dog Meat
Store — The Original of the Willow Pattern — The Five Hundred
Buddhists — Worshiping the Gods of Good Luck and Prosperity —
Business-like Methods of Worship — The Temple of Horrors — A
Necklace of Teeth — Some of the Tortures — Sawing a Man in Two —
Boiled in Oil — Punishments of the Buddhist Hell.

,E Avere exceeding fortunate, on our
arrival at Canton, in finduig the
best guide it has ever been our
good fortune to secure, llr. Ah
Cum, Jr., deserves to have his
name embalmed in history. Just
before our visit a famous Ameri
can traveler had visited the same
city, and he A\Tote hi the guide's
book, a la Isaac Walton : " Doubt
less God could make a better
guide than Ah Cum, Jr., but
doubtless he never did." We feel like endorsing this com
mendation to the fullest extent after spending a few hours
in Ah Cum's society. He not only kncAv everything in
Canton, but could speak intelligent English to explain to us
(164)

AN ENDLESS ARCADE. 165
what we saw. He knew how to keep the land sharks who
snap at every innocent traveler away from us, and though
he doubtless piloted us to stores which paid him a good
commission, he would not let us pay more than tAvice what
a thing was worth, even to his friends.
As we take this journey through Canton's crowded
streets, the three pflgrims require sedan chairs, with another
one for Ah Cum, Jr. ; but in the train of this short proces
sion we can take a hundred thousand of you just as well,
without crowding anyone. At first we say to Ah Cum
that we do not wish to go anyAA^here in particular ; " just
take us through the streets ; let us see how the people live,
how they buy and seU and get gain ; let us see hoAv they
pound their meal, and sell their fish, and make their shoes,
and shave their heads, and paint their pictures, and do their
ivory work, and fashion their jewelry, and turn out their
pottery." It is not necessary to stop and go inside of any
buflding to see aU of these things, for, as in all Chinese
cities, these handicrafts are carried on in shops out of which
the front has been completely taken. There is a rear waU
to these shops and two side waUs, but no front Avail in
the daytime ; and passing through the streets of Canton
seems Hke going through a never-ending arcade. The streets
are so narrow and so covered overhead with awnings and
immense signs that one can scarcely realize that he is in
the open air. The dim Hght streams down frdm above, mel
lowing and tempering even the most hideous things, while
the gay costumes and fabrics, and gold-lettered signs, give a
hoHday air to the whole city.
Moreover, it is the birthday of the Fire God when we
chance to go through the city, and the people are celebrat
ing his nativity with an unceasing fusilade of firecrackers.
Whole bunches of the snappiest kind of crackers are thrown

166 CIVIL ENGINEERING.
recklessly into the streets under the very feet of our coohe
bearers, which make them dance and caper, though they
take it all very good-naturedly. Each of us on this journey
has three bearers, tAvo in front and one behind; and the
streets are so narrow that it is with the greatest difficulty
that two chairs can pass each other. Indeed, when two
chairs approach from opposite directions a catastrophe seems
unavoidable, but somehow or other it is always avoided.
The people flatten themselves against the walls on either
side, taking up as few cubical inches as possible ; and at
length, oftentimes with a good deal of turning and tAvisting
and engineering, the chairs coming from opposite directions
pass one another.
Canton contains about one miUion people, so conservative
writers say, though the number is placed by many at a far
larger flgure. As the more accurate census of later years
is taken, the population of China is dwindUng somewhat,
and the enormous figures that were believed by our fore
fathers are scarcely borne out by the enumerators. Peking
is not so enormously large as has been supposed, whfle
Canton, which used to be said in many quarters to have
two mfllions of inhabitants, is found to have only about
one milHon. However, this is quite enough for the area
that is inhabited.
If ever people were packed together Hke sardines in a
box, or peas in a pod, it is in this same city of Canton.
No superfluous room, as I have said, is taken up by the
streets, and this city Avhich, if it was spread out like
Washington or Melbourne, or even NeAv York, would re
quire a wall something like one hundred miles in length,
is encompassed by a Avail less than six mfles in circuit.
This wall was built in the eleventh century, and was
finished as it noAv stands more than five hundred years

A CURIOUSLY CHANGING PANORAMA. 167
ago. In it are sixteen gates, besides tAVO water gates.
Canton became a port of foreign commerce more than a
thousand years ago, but it was not untfl 1637 that a fleet
of English vessels entered the river. Since then the trade
has largely been in the hands of the English, who seem,
in whatever part of the world they go, to get their full
share of the good things of this Hfe.
There are 125 temples in the city of Canton, and every
little shop has its altar, before which the dafly incense is
burned. I am told that more is spent for incense and
candles at these altars than is given for foreign missions for
the whole world by the great Congregational and Presby
terian boards of the United States.
Some of the streets through which we pass have odd
names ; for instance, one of them is " Longevity Lane " ;
another, " Heavenly Peace street," whfle " High street " and
" Market street " sound very familiar. I wish in our own
country we might have more streets of " Benevolence and
Love." We will at least pass through this street in Canton,
even though it belies its names.
We shall never get accustomed to this constantly chang
ing panorama ; these odd people ; these queer costumes ;
these strange sights; these outrageous odors! Cologne
itself, with all its seventy smeUs, cannot for a moment
compare with Canton.
It is a wonder that the people are not exferminated by
typhoid fever and diphtheria. There is no drainage to
speak of, and what little there is lies immediately below the
flagstones over which we pass, and is very rarely, if ever,
flushed by running water. Strange to say, however, we are
told that the rate of mortality is not especially high in Can
ton ; that there are many old people in the city and tba.t it is
not often Adsited by any sweeping pestilence. What will

168 IGNORANT OF DRAINS AND CUT-OFFS.
our doctors and sanitary engineers and plumbers, who make
life miserable for the householder, say to this ?
If ever we have a Httle scarlet rash in the house among
the chfldren, or if the doctor can discover a white patch in
our throats, he at once declares that the plumbing is out of
order and the Health Department compels us to rip up the
floors and discover the cause of the affiiction in some hidden
and undiscoverable lead pipe. The plumber is caUed in and
he declares that his rival who plumbed the house was a per
fect idiot and knew nothing about sanitary engineering.
That means a bfll of several hundred doUars for the most im
proved style of pipes and traps and drains, and, as likely as
not, the next year scarlet fever attacks another chfld and
a white patch appears on the other side of our throats. Yet
these benighted people of Canton, who never heard of a
plumber, who know not hoAv to bufld a decent drain, and
are not initiated into the mysteries of patent traps, cut-offs,
and counter vents, live on century after century in their Hi-
drained, foul-odored city, in blissful ignorance of what they
escape by not being sufficiently civilized.
Some of the shops AA'hich interest us most as we pass
along the streets are the fish markets. The fish are aU
brought to the market alive and Avriggling. When a cus
tomer comes along, he picks out the fish Avhich he fancies in
the tank ; the dealer dextrously captures him with a net,
splits and beheads him in sight of the customer who goes on
his Avay rejoicing, knoAving that at least he wiU have fresh
fish for dinner.
The many little candy stands and booths for seUing nuts
and cakes also interest us. There is a kind of soft yellow
cake made of beans Avhich is greatly affected by the lower
class of Chinese, and Avhich always has a Chinese character
stamped on the top ; there are peanut A^enders on whose

CHEAP FOR ' ' CASH.

169

trays are arranged little piles of peanuts Avhich are Avorth
one " cash " (one-tenth of a cent) each, Avhile other dealers
confine their attention to betel nuts, of Avhich they carry
a stock in trade consisting of half a dozen nuts cut into
quarters, Avith some pungent leaves to Avrap them in before

FISHING WITH CORMORANTS.

they are masticated. In other places we find row after
roAv of toy shops and little earthenware establishments,
Avhere the largest thing of value will cost about one cent.
In fact, it Avould be interesting to see how many things
on the streets of Canton could *be bought for a cash. A
collection of such articles would fiU a cabinet with rare
curiosities. But let not any foreigner think he could make
such purchases. The thrifty Chinese dealer is sure that the
said foreigner's pockets are lined with gold and will charge
him at least ten times the true value of any article desired.
He can only get what he wants at a reasonable price by
sending a Chinaman for it and paying him a commission for
buying in the cheapest market.
In the large stores the "cash" is not very much used,
but small silver pieces, pennies and huge, dirty, ragged bank
biUs ; but the street venders and cheap Jacks on the side-
11

170 A COW-LOAD OF COINS.
Avalk trade, for the most part, in cash alone, and one needs
to carry an extra sedan chaif to hold his money if he
expects to make many purchases with these cumbrous coins.
The small coinage, hoAvever, is not so large here as it is
in Corea, or at least the precious metals are more used. I
am told that in Corea the purchaser Avho goes to market
drives a cow before him to carry his cash, and if he expects
to make any considerable purchases, he must load two cows
Avith the necessary money. The cows carry his coins, but
he can carry his purchases home in his hands.
The royal family of Corea, it is said, desired to make a
missionary a present on the occasion of his marriage, since
the missionary had been serviceable to the emperor's wife
Avhen ill. What Avas the missionary's surprise to find six
coolies come to his house each loaded down with a huge
chest of money Avhich Avas aU they could stagger under.
When he came to count his treasure, he found that his pres
ent Avas a generous donation of $300, all in copper cash.
As we go along the streets in our sedan chairs, we excite
a great deal of comment and amused attention from the
passers by and from the store-keepers as weU. The httle
Pilgrim, especially, attracts the notice of aU the boys and
girls in Canton. When they catch sight of him in his chair,
they chuckle and giggle and point their flngers at hun, and
laugh as if he Avas the funniest object they ever beheld. A
little imp Avith a long queue AviU scuttle into the house as we
go by, and call his father and mother, his uncles and aunts,
and his brothers and sisters and cousins, to look at that
strange cavalcade, and especially at that little "foreign
devil," as he persists in calling the juvenile Pilgrim.
One Avould suppose that foreigners Avere so numerous in
the vicinity of Canton, they Avould excite no interest, but, as
a matter of fact, comparatively few of them are seen on the

AMUSING CURIOSITIES.

171

streets of the native city. Ladies are an especial curiosity,
and American boys are evidently most amusing and long-to-
be-remembered creatures. It is very probable that some of
those slant-eyed Httle Celestials are still talking about that
small boy in the Boston High School cap, and those absurd
short trousers and long stockings, and that queer American
z'eefer, Avho once passed through their streets.

PRISONERS IN A CANTON JAIL.

There are a few " show places " in Canton, as there are
in every city, which the traveler must not neglect, though I
must say that I always prefer flrst to get an idea of the way
the common people live, rather than to be dragged from
temple to pagoda, and from pagoda to university by the
eager and loquacious guide. But that is one of Ah Cum's
good points. He is Avilling that you should see Avhat you
Avant to see, and wfll not insist upon your seeing only Avhat
he considers wonderful. He lets us have our fUl of Canton-

172 GRANDMOTHER'S BLUE CHINA.
ese sights and sounds and odors; he is AviUing that we
should gratify our curiosity by looking into very humble
and insigniflcant shops. He is not ashamed of us if we stop
to glance at the street peddler, and he does not frown upon
us with righteous indignation even when Ave look into the
cat and dog meat store. Here is one poor pussy, stiff and
cold, and singed of aU her hair, aAvaiting a customer. A
poor puppy that has departed this life, looks ghastly since he
has been dressed and trussed like a pig. In another part of
the store, a Avicker basket contains another specimen of the
feline race, which. Ah Cum says, wfll be sacrificed at noon,
at which time we shall see a great many more cats and dogs
if we happen to pass that way.
First in viewing Canton's famous sights, let us go into
the Guild HaU of the tea merchants. It is a very old
affair, and the carving and terra cotta work is exceedingly
flne ; but Ave are especially interested in a little garden
behind the Guild Hall, for, from this garden the famous
willoAv pattern Avas copied, which is found upon the blue
china ware of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers.
The original tree which gave it its name has died, but the
other features are the same which have been perpetuated so
many scores of mfllions of times, on the plates and cups and
saucers and teapots and teacups, Avhich, in the olden time,
were treasured by the mothers and handed down to the
daughters with such scrupulous care.
From the Guild Hall let us go into the temple of the five
hundred Buddhists. This is a large buflding around the
walls of which are arranged in tAvo roAvs great gilt images
of Buddhist ancestral divinities, five hundred of them in aU.
Every face has a distinct individuality of its oavu, and they
all have long ears that reach doAvn almost to their shoulders,
like a turkey's dewlaps. These long ears mdicate longevity;

FIVE HUNDRED ANCESTRAL GODS. 173
What surprised us most of all, Avas to find Marco Polo in
this galaxy. This famous traveler has been admitted to the
company of the gods, and he Avas honored Avith a stick of
burning incense on the day Ave Avere in the temple, Avhich Avas
more than coifld be said for most of them. I think if I
had intended to burn any incense in that temple, I should
have put my stick in the little sand box before Marco Polo
also. It is not certain that the features of this image resem
ble this first globe-trotter's, for whom it is supposed to stand,
but it is probably quite as authentic as many of the pictures
and statues of the famous men of antiquity.
One other old feUow among the gods also attracted my
attention. He had eyebrows that reached almost down to
his chin, and from all that I could gather, he Avas famous
chiefly for his eyebroAvs, which haye never been duplicated
since. In the middle aisle of the hall of the five hundred Bud
dhist gods is a fine bronze pagoda, in which are three great
bronze images. While Ave were in the temple a service was
going on, and four priests Avere marching around the bronze
images, beating their tomtoms and chanting in a most dole
ful and lugubrious tone of voice. Among all the dispirited
fellows I ever saw these priests Avould carry off the palm.
They had a Httle curiosity about us, who were the only vis
itors to the temple at the time, but no interest in the service
that they were performing. They must beat their tomtoms
so many times ; they must wail out their hideous chant so
many times more, but they evidently considered it a most
unpleasant job, and desired to get through it with as little
expenditure of nervous energy as possible. I shall never
forget the faces of two of those priests, so utterly dispirited
were they, so completely and profoundly indifferent to what
they were doing !

174 THE SORDID SPIRIT OF BUDDHISM.
It seems to me that the sight was representative of the
decadence of the Buddhist religion everywhere. Whatever
it may have been in the past, it certainly has little hold on
the affections of the people to-day. The idols are worshiped
with no thought of love or real reverence but with the hope
of gain. The incense is burned and the prayers are offered
for the sake of good luck, and there is no more sense of
reverence or worship, or affectionate recognition of a higher
power on the part of these devotees, so far as I could learn,
than there is in the hearts of those at home, who, partly
for fun and partly because of their superstition, hang out the
horseshoe over the front door, or insist on seeing the moon
over their right shoulder when she first appears. Worship
appears to be universal in such a city as Canton. Every
store, every house, and every boat has its god, its shrine,
and its incense ; yet it is simply the god of Good Luck who
is worshiped ; only the deity of Prosperity who is invoked.
Let us go to another temple before we get through Avith
Canton. This shall be the "Temple of Horrors," which,
singularly enough, is situated on the street of '¦ Benevolence
and Love." It is the most popular temple in the city,
whether because of the horrors which are artisticafly ar
ranged at each side or because of the fortune tellers, ped
dlers, gamblers, and quacks who have their stalls there, I am
not able to say. This seems to be the favorite resort of the
dentists also, for I saw several of their ilk Avith long strmgs
of extracted molars and grinders at least thirty feet in
length, which looked like ghastly necklaces. There were a
few people paying their vows to the idols, but the one who
interested me most Avas a woman of hie-h caste who toddled
in on the tiniest of tiny feet. If her feet were small she
made up for it at the other end of her person, for her hair
was dressed in the latest and extremest stvle, ornamented

IN THE HEIGHT OF THE FASHION. 175
with all kinds of rich and costly ornaments. Her face was
painted in most brilHant colors and there was a patch of
brflliant carmine on her lower lip. Her clothing was silk of
various bright colors, and she Avas evidently gotten up Avith
out regard to expense. On her tiny toes she could not walk
alone, but had a servant on each side to steady her as she
went up the steps. She appeared as indifferent to the god
who was grinning from the rear end of the temple as any of
the rest, but cooUy sent one of her servants to light some in
cense and place the bundle of sticks in the sand box beneath
the god's nose. Then she got a slip referring to a number,
which number the priest consulted and gave her the proph
ecy which she sought. The priestly oracle frequently
couches his words in very ambiguous phrases which will
answer for one thing about as well as another ; but after
getting her sHp of paper which told her fortune, she toddled
off once more, evidently well pleased with the news she had
received, whfle the priests were equal] y satisfled Avith the
sflver bits which had come into their till.
Everything about these temples is dirty and disorderly.
There is no obeisance or indications of reverence on the
part of the worshipers. They bustle around in the most
business-Hke way, buy their incense, light it, place it in the
proper receptacle, and then go off perfectly satisfied that
they have done their duty. In all the smaUer temples
which I saw in China, the same disregard, indifference, and
irreverence were exhibited. The priests looked utterly
weary and dispirited and evidently thought life was not
Avorth living. The Avorshipers only sought good fortune
and success in business. The temples were often littered
and dirty, and priest and worshiper alike were only con
cerned with what they could get out of the imposture.
This temple is caUed the Temple of Horrors because of some

17G THE BUDDHIST HADES.
wax-work-like shoAVS on either side of the entrance which
leads up to it. I think Madame Tussaud must have gotten
the idea of her underground Temple of Horrors in London
from this temple in Canton, her's, to be sure, being rather
more artistic and realistic. But this show has the advantage
of being older, and the figures quite as true to life.
In one of the little apartments two fiends are seen saw
ing a man in two from his head to his feet. The poor man
who is being thus treated is inclosed betAveen two boards,
but he is turned sideways to the audience so that it can see
the saAV going through him. In another apartment transmi
gration is shown, and a man is being turned into a woH, the
creature as he appears being half man and half wolf. In
still another section of this famous museum is a man
strapped to the ground with the soles of his feet uppermost,
Avhile a hideous devil with a grin on his face bastinadoes
him. Still another poor felloAv has a red-hot beU coming
doAvn over his shrinking body Avhich, CAddently, wfll soon be
reduced to a cinder, while another one is being bofled in oil.
These are the punishments of the Buddhist hell.
Another of the show places of Canton which we wish to
see is the Examination Hall. Here every three years the
examination of candidates for the second Hterary degree is
held. AU the students of the flrst degree in the whole
proAance are required to compete at this examination, and I
imagine it is the most extensive "exam" that is held in any
portion of the Avorld. As Ave enter the Examination Hall,
Ave see on either side roAvs and roAvs of little ceUs Avhich ex
tend back from the main passagOAvay, seventy -five or a htm-
dred of them in a row. These cells are 5j^ feet long and
3^ feet Avide, and number 11,616 ; but CA^en this enormous
number is not enough for all the candidates, and additional
ceUs Avere furnished at the last triennial examination.

THE GREAT TRIENNIAL EXA.AIINATION. 177
In these narrow closets the candidate for the second de
gree is imprisoned. He is given a chair and a diminutive
table : a little earthen braiser Avith a fcAv coals in it on
which he can cook his rice and make his tea, and for three
days he is not alloAved to leave his cell except to go into the
narrow passage which runs beside it. He must haA^e no
communication Avith any other student, and if he is caught
with another man's essay or cheating in any way, he may
lose his head, for aught I know. At any rate the punish
ment Avould be very severe. The examination begins on the
eighth day of the eighth moon and occupies three sessions of
three days each. The same text is given to all at daylight,.
and the essays must be handed in on the following morning.
Out of these 12,000 or more candidates, how many do you
suppose pass the final examination? Only 130 on the
average. The rest of the poor fellows Avho have used their
time and brains for nothing are doomed to disappointment,
but they can try for the degree again at the end of another
three years if they choose, and again and again, and the
most pathetic spectacle is to see old men of sixty and
seventy years Avho have tried to pass the examination every
three years since they were twenty, still hoping against
hope. Those who pass, however, are weU taken care of, for
they are booked for promotion in civil offices, and are
always required to go to Peking to compete for the third
degree. If one passes this third degree, he is honored by aU
his relatives and by the whole clan. I have seen many
a pole with fluttering flags set up in Chinese vfllages, indi
cating that the family which lives about that pole has a
scholar of high rank among them, one who has passed an
examination for the second or third degree.
But what an absurd and useless waste of energy is re-

178

A WASTE OF ENERGY.

quired to pass this examination? Nothing of modern
science is demanded, nothing of modern Hterature, nothing
that wfll improve the body or the soul, or that AviU add to
the sum total of the world's knowledge ; but simply an essay
on some text of Confucius. This is the only door of en
trance to civil service promotion in China. This kind of
civil service reform certainly needs itself to be reformed.
Another interesting place in Canton is the Five-Storied
Pagoda. Stricldy speaking, it is not a pagoda at aU, but
looks more like a great brick barn. There are flve stories to
it, however, and from the topmost platform a magnificent
view of the city, the great river, and the hflls beyond can
be seen. These hflls are flUed A\dth graves of a semicircular
shape, and from this place the tomb of a relative of Ma-
hommed, who died in the seventh century, is visible.
Perhaps we have seen enough for one morning, and after
paying our bearers about twenty-five cents each for their
services and our guide a reasonable sum for his time, we Avifl
find our way back to our friends, with most vivid recoUec-
tions of a morning in Canton.

CHAPTEE X.
OUR JOURNEY UP THE GREAT RIVER.
An Excursion in a Flower Boat — "Rice Power" — The Stern- Wheeler
and its Motive Power — Sacrifices and Perils of the Missionary — A
Chinese Feast — Chop Sticks and How to Use Them — Lamb and Chest
nuts — Frogs' Legs and Onions — A Dissipated Prejudice — Shrimps
and Bamboo Root — Our Seventeen Courses — A Chinese Village — A
Village School and Schoolmaster — Studying Aloud — A Pot and its
Contents — How the Ashes of Grandfathers are saved in China — " Fe,
Fi, Fo, Fum, I Smell the Blood of a Chinaman" — ^ Seventeen Dollars
for a Child — A Fire-Cracker Factory — How Fire-Crackers are Made
— Cheap Wages and Cheap Living — A Chinese Flower Garden — A
Mandarin in His Blossom Gown — A Common Temple — Waking up
the God — Washstands for a God — Lack of Reverence — Fans for Sick
Relatives — The Voices of the Night — A Contrast.

^OST visitors to Canton conflne their
attention to the great city itself,
and think they have seen it aU
when they have visited the Exam
ination HaU, the Temple of the
Five Hundred Gods, the silk-
weaving establishments, and the
Five-Storied Pagoda; but to me
these were not the most interest
ing of the sights of this marvel
ous province, teeming with more
population than any other equal
section of the globe. It was our good fortune to be guests
in a delightful missionary home whfle in Canton, and to
see not only these stock sights, but to get some glimpses of
Chinese Hfe which not one visitor in a hundred is likely to

see.

(179)

180 RICE POWER NAVIGATION.
One day we had an excursion up the great Pearl Eiver
in a Chinese house boat. This was a most unique experi
ence. The boat was a great lumbering ark of an affair,
fitted up with kitchen and sitting-room, AA'hfle the stained-
glass windows, ebony and marble furniture, and tinkling
chandeliers gave it quite a gorgeous appearance. Slowly
and wearisomely the coolies made their way up the river
just as their ancestors had done for a thousand years past.
Our boat, like all the other thousands on the river, was pro
pelled by " rice power," as one of our friends said. Steam
power has not yet been introduced on the Pearl Eiver,
except for a few steam launches. Electric power is still un-
unknoAvn, but " rice power," exerted through the muscles of
men and women, is stiU the propeUing force on the Canton
•or Pearl Eiver.
Every now and then a splashing stern- wheel boat would
pass us. At first it appeared almost Hke a Mississippi Eiver
steamer of rude design, with water fiying from the paddle
wheel behind, but on looking more closely, we could see that
the machinery was worked by sixteen cooHes, who constantly
shuffied through their monotonous round like poor horses in
a treadmiU. But even this is an invention of very late years,
and is considered a great innovation by most of the inhabit
ants. A long sweep fastened to a short staple in the bow
of the boat is still the ordinary means of propulsion.
Every foAV minutes our coolies would stop to refresh
themselves with a cup of tea, or a whiff or tAvo from their
pipes, which, by the Avay, only hold a pinch of tobacco.
They all seemed to be very good-tempered and able-bodied
fellows. One or tAvo of them had brawny arms that would
rejoice the heart of a pugilist. Past the rice fields, past vil
lages, past toiling coolies endlessly pumping Avater for irri
gation, past luxuriant gardens where every square inch of

COURAGE AND SELF-SACRIFICE. 181
sofl is cultivated, Ave sloAvly made our Avay. Some of my
missionary friends spend much of their time in the villages
hundreds of mfles up the river, for this is a great Avater Avay
which branches out in every direction and affords access to
the very heart of this great province. I would Hke to intro
duce the scoffers at missionary work to these self-sacrificing
men and Avomen Avho have left their home and friends
behind them, and are spending their lives in the foul atmos
phere of a pagan country, not for a feAV short weeks or
months, but for a lifetime, in order to win some of these
people to Christ.
Many a time have these missionaries taken their lives
in their hands. Though there is now but little danger in
most of the vfllages there are some which it is not safe for
them to visit. Many times have some of them been stoned
out of the vfllages where they attempted to preach the Gos
pel, but they stfll persevered and are satisfied that the time
AviU come when this marvelous people, Avho have retained
their ancient civilization for so many centuries, wfll be
equaUy stable in their new Christian civilization.
At length, in the course of this novel picnic, dinner time
comes and my friends have promised me a genuine Chinese
feast. Let us sit down together to this feast. We are not
aUowed to have knives and forks or spoons, but simply
chop sticks and a little porcelain ladle, with which we help
ourselves out of the common dish in the middle of the
table. Would you learn hoAv to use these chop sticks ?
then follow these directions implicitly. Put the lower stick
across the thumb, holding it flrmly between the thumb
and flrst flnger. Place the second chop stick over this,
allowing it to be flexible and to wriggle as you desire it.
After considerable practice you may be able to convey a
piece of fish from the central dish to your mouth AAathout a
13

183 A GENUINE CHINESE FEAST.
catastrophe on the way. The great secret of eating with
chop sticks is to keep the lower stick stiff and inflexible; but
a foreigner's muscles being fll-trained, it is apt to waver and
slip, which is fatal to all successful efforts.
After waiting a considerable time for the dignffied cooks
to make ready, oranges and bananas are brought on for the
first course. These required no great skfll, for we are
allowed to take them in our hands and eat them as at any
other time. But now comes a difficult task. A soup Avith
mushrooms, melons, rice, and barley, is next brought on and
placed in a bowl in the center of the table. Each one takes
his Httle porcelain ladle and dips for himself in the common
bowl, whfle the larger particles of mushrooms and melons he
must flsh out with his chop sticks. The third course is
bofled chicken stuffed with chestnuts and rice. This is so
completely cooked that the least little touch with the chop
sticks breaks it into pieces, and we each fish out for ourselves
what we can from the common dish. When secured it is
most toothsome and savory, I assure you.
Stuffed pigeons constitute the fourth course. They are
somewhat like the chickens, only dressed in a different way.
Fish wrapped in something that resembles a sausage skin
constitutes the fifth course, and a very good course it is.
The sixth course is lamb and chestnuts; seventh course,
matai, a vegetable that is crisp and very pleasant to the
taste. Duck and ham furnish the eighth course, and Avith
each new dish our plates are changed, though we are al
lowed to retain the same chop sticks. Frogs' legs stewed in
onions are then placed upon the table.
Some of the ladies of the party told the Chinese servants
to be sure and let them know when the frogs appeared that
they might decline that course ; but when they thought to
mention the matter, they Avere poHtely informed that the

SEVENTEEN COURSES. 183
frogs had already been eaten, and they remembered, Avhen
it was too late to remedy it, that they had enjoyed that
course better than any other. Thus our prejudices are dissi
pated, sometimes unconsciously. But Avhy frogs should be
any more distasteful than turtles or oysters or fish, I have
never been able to determine.
The tenth course is rice, just simple, unadulterated boiled
rice. Why it should be thus honored in the middle of the
feast, I am not aware. This is followed hj a course of
shrimps stewed with onions and bamboo root, which is very
palatable. The twelfth course is pickles ; the thirteenth,
bananas ; the fourteenth, another mushroom soup ; the flf-
teenth, a kind of a dish made of shrimps, pork, and other
meat mixed and bofled together. The sixteenth is sponge
cake, and the seventeenth mandarin oranges. By this time
you can imagine that the capacities of the missionaries were
sorely taxed, and even the gastronomic capabflities of their
guests Avere tried to the utmost extent. However, this Avas
not aU, for in order to do fuU justice to the Chinese feast, we
must not forget that we are in the land of tea, and in a little
while, dainty and deUcate cups of it are brought on to con
clude the banquet.
A little way back from the river are many Chinese
Adllages which for the most part are embowered in trees.
The tfled roofs look so much like the surface of the ground
that it is difficult at a little distance to find where the viUage
begins and the fields leave off. If we get into the village,
however, Ave shaU find it teeming with life.
On this trip up the Pearl river we have an excellent
opportunity to visit one of these Aollages. In the missionary
district which is covered by one of my friends Avho is in the
boat Avith us, are thirty thousand of these villages. Of
course he could not preach in aU of them in one year or

184

STREETS SPANNED BY AN UMBRELLA.

in a hundred years, but they are all open to his ministra
tions. From a distance these villages look somewhat pictur
esque, but the enchantment vanishes on nearer approach. If
the streets of Hong Kong are narrow and the streets of
Canton narroAver, the streets of these vfllages should be

ON THE PEARL RIVER.

compared in the superlative degree, for indeed they are the
narroAvest of aU. Two people can scarcely walk abreast in
many of them. I had in my hand Avhen A'isiting one of
them, an ordinary umbrella Avhich exactly spanned the dis
tance from wall to AA^all in many streets, whfle the Avidest
ones Avere about six inches wider than the length of my
umbrella. The pavement is broken and shattered and horri
ble fllth is everyAvhere.
As we passed along the street in the village, we heard a
great noise of voices reciting in a humdrum, sing-song Avay,
something Avhich Avas of course unintelligible to us.
" That is a school," saiil my friend ; " let us look in." So
Ave unceremoniously entered, Avhich Ave found Ave Avere at

A PRIMARY SCHOOL. 185
perfect liberty to do, and saw twenty little urchins who, at
the top of their voices, Avere shouting some sentences from
Confucius. The schoolmaster did not appear at flrst, but
after we had been standing looking in at the door for a
moment, flnding from the slight cessation of noise, which
was due to curiosity of the students who could not recite
and look at us at the same time, that there was something
going on, he came out of the back room of the school bufld
ing. He was very polite and courteous and invited us to come
in and take a seat. He explained to us that the pupils
learned the words, but that they had no idea of their mean
ing. After thej'' had thoroughly committed them, he in
terpreted the meaning of the passage, and then gave them
a new one to learn. They cannot do this sflently, however,
but the louder they shout the quiclcer they seem to learn
their lessons. Most of the schoolmasters throughout the
empire are those who have passed the flrst examination, but
are among the vast majority of those who have not passed
the second and who, in all probabflity, never wfll. It is for
tunate that some occupation is open to them, though the
teacher of the common school is not a very exalted person
age in China.
"What does that large earthen pot contain?" I said to
my friend as Ave came out of the school. " Oh, that is the
ancestral jar, containing the ashes of the grandfathers of the
people who Hve in this house," he said.
Thus we made our way through this crowded little
viUage. The women came to the door of their little hovels
to stare at us, the children scuttled away as though we were
the arch enemies of mankind. Doubtless many of them
have been taught by then- parents to believe that foreigners
AviU make away with aU of them if they can only get their

186 FOREIGN OGRES.
hands upon them. Every foreigner, in the estimation of the
lower orders of Chinese, is a great ogre who is constantly
saying, when he comes into a Chinese viUage,
" Fe, fi, fo, fum,
" I smell the blood of a Chinaman,"
and these little folks had evidently been taught to keep out
of harm's way.
When the heathen Chinese Avish to damage the reputa
tion of the missionary, they persuade their simple-minded
countrymen that the missionaries wish the eyes and hair
and livers of their children to make up into medicine, and
that they must not send their chfldren to the mission
schools. A friend of mine took a poor Httle chfld, whose
mother had died and whose father was a Avorthless scamp,
m order that she might bring up this child in a decent way.
For several months she watched over it carefuUy, and gave
it the best of Chinese nurses, but one sad day for the baby
the wretched father happened around, caught up the chfld,
carried it off, and sold it for $17, in order to satisfy one of
his creditors. The selling of chfldren is a very common
thing among the loAver class of the Chinese, and infanticide
is still practiced in some of the provinces to a frightful ex
tent. No wonder, with such Bluebeard-Hke stories for nur
sery tales, that the little slant-eyed urchins got out of our
way as rapidly as they could.
On our way from the village Ave passed a flrecracker fac
tory, in Avhich I am sure the boys of America wfll be inter
ested. In the rear room of the factory were piles of coarse
brown paper. By a very simple process this paper is made
into tubes of the right size for different kinds of firecrackers,
Avhile in still another room a dozen men and girls were
putting in the poAvder, tamping in the brick dust on top, and
making a great clatter about it with their little mallets.

CHINESE CHEAP LABOR. J.87
Most of this Avork is done by hand, though some rude
machinery is used. It has been a mystery to me, ever
since the first Fourth of July that I can remember, hoAv flre-
crackers coifld be made and sent over to America to be sold
for five cents a bunch. The mystery is scarcely diminished
Avhen we see the Avork performed, and note that so much of
it is hand labor. I suppose the real explanation lies in the
cheapness of labor. Wages, I am told, do not average more
than ten cents per day, equivalent to seven cents of our
money ; but even on this the coolies can supply themselves
with scanty food and sufficient clothing for this climate, and,
perhaps, lay by a few doUars for the rainy day Avhich people
in China, as weU as in America, are always fearing.
The real secret of Chinese cheap labor is Chinese cheap
hving. Hotels in China which charge $4.00 a day for their
guests and $1.00 a day for European servants will board
Chinese servants for twenty cents a day, and then make
money. I cannot say, however, that this poor and monoto
nous Hfe, as it doubtless is, has any deteriorating effect,
physicaUy, on the Chinese. They seem usuaUy to be strong
and healthy, and unless addicted to opium smoking, as many
of them are, they are often fine specimens of a vigorous
physical manhood. How a coolie can support life, and do
the tremendously hard labor which is expected of him six
teen hours out of the twenty-four, on a little rice and flsh,
surpasses the foreigner's comprehension ; and yet that it can
be done is proved by the hundred of millions of robust peo
ple in aU parts of the Chinese Empire.
On our way from the village we went into a Chinese
flowei" garden. These abound in the Adcinity of Canton, and
are reaUy very beautiful. Everything is on a diminutive
scale. Flowering shrubs, orange trees, lemon trees, azalias,
and chrysanthemums are all of the dAvarf variety. Many

188 BLOSSOMING MANDARINS.
orange trees groAving in pots are loaded with Httle oranges
no larger than the end of one's thumb. But the most curi
ous thing about these flower gardens is the shapes into
which the shrubs are trained. On many branches we found
huge goggle eyes pinned, whfle from the loAver branches
porcelain hands reach out to us in a ghostly way. Below
the hands were often a pair of porcelain feet resting on the
soil. We found that in this way was constructed the skele
ton of a floral mandarin, who, after a few weeks, as the
blossoms opened on the branches, would be clothed in a
gorgeous dress of white or red or yellow bloom. Some of
the mandarins had already blossomed out, and their heads
and hands and porcelain feet appeared from a beautiful
dress of living green and brflliant flowers. There were also
in this garden Hons and unicorns, foxes and buffaloes, Avith
flowery skins, and goggle eyes of porcelain. The whole
effect was very curious.
A Chinese mandarin clothed in flowers, or a Hon or uni
corn in the same beautiful dress, if displayed in a New
York florist's window, would attract such a crowd that the
police would have to clear the way. There were many
other beautiful things in this garden, fountains and arch
ways, bridges over little streams, and floAvery pagodas, mak
ing it as picturesque and beautiful a place as could be found
in our most extensive establishments in England or America.
As we came out of the garden Ave passed along the bor
ders of canals and roads lined Avith orange and lemon trees
and the beautiful carambola, Avith its three-cornered yeflow
fruit as large as an apple hanging in rich profusion from its
branches. The carambolas Avere just ripe at the time of
our visit to Canton, and the deep yelloAv, luscious fruit shin
ing through the green leaves made as pretty an orchard
effect as one would wish to see.

THE GRIMY GODS OF CHINA. 189
On our way back to our missionary home, we stepped
into one of the common temples, not a great, gorgeous
temple such as we liaA^e seen in Canton, but a more modest,
suburban shrine. A beautiful grove of trees surrounded it,
but within the temple Avas the same squalor and dirt, indif
ference and irreverence, that we have seen elsewhere.
There was, to be sure, a gong to be rung, and a big drum to
be beaten in order to wake up the god, and by his side were
many votive offerings. In one temple that Ave visited, the
god had been favored with several washstands fitted up with
copper basins. From the looks of his time-begrimed face
we thought he needed to use these presents. Another god
had several suits of clothing presented to him. These hung
on a chair near by, though from their appearance we judged
that he had never put them on. Stfll another had a hand
some sedan chair among his gifts, so that he could take a
ride if he wished.
The god of medicine is assiduously fanned by many of
his worshipers, and these fans are taken home to be used by
his friends in fanning their sick relatives, thus bringing the
breath of the god near to them.
That such an inteUigent, practical, sensible people, as the
Chinese undoubtedly are in many ways, should stfll adhere
to these absurd and sflly superstitions, can only be accounted
for by the fact that few of them have ever heard of any
thing better, and that the religion of Christ in this vast
empire has yet had time to make but Httle headway.
Soon we are again at the kind home Avhich opens to us its
hospitable doors after a most delightful day on the river and
in the country, tired enough, as Ave thought, to go to bed
and sleep soundly in spite of the voices of the night, which
are not so poetical as in some sections of the globe. Yet we
hear until well on towards midnight the clanging of the

190 IN THE NIGHT WATCHES.
gongs from the Buddhist temples on either side of our
friend's home, alternating Avith the beating of cymbals, for
this has been a high day and the god must be Avorshiped far
into the night.
Every now and then a louder bang indicates the report
of a gun, AA'hich we are told is flred by the watchman on his
rounds to let the thieves know that he is in their vicinity and
that they had better keep out of his way, a very convenient
thing for the thieves, as it seems to us. Thus, with the bang
of gun and beat of drum, and clash of cymbals, our senses
grow drowsy as we recaU to mind the events of the day that
has passed, and we thank God for a religion that appeals to
the head as well as to the heart, to the conscience and not to
superstition, to the love of God and not to an undeflned fear
of evil, to the desire for holiness and not to the hope of gain.
These are the lessons which the tom-toms and the fire-crack
ers, the gongs and the drums of the Buddhist temples, teach
us in the watches of the night.

CHAPTEE XI.
OUR STAY IN CHARMING JAPAN— SOCIAL CUSTOMS — SOME
INTERESTING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES — LIFE AND
SCENES ON A TEA PLANTATION.
The Best Preparation for a New Land — A Terrible Typhoon — Personal
Experiences — ' ' The Lord is Able to Give Thee Much More Than
This" — The Most Beautiful of Mountains — Fujiyama in Spotless
Ermine — ' ' Fiery Jack " — Yokohama — The Rush of Jinrikishas —
The Capture of the Man-of -War's Men — Fun in the Custom House —
" Crossing the Palm " ¦ — A Lesson in Japanese Politeness — Bowing in
Japanese — The Shop-keeper's Salaam — The Maid Servant's Obeisance
— Receiving Callers — A Hinge in the Spine — The Ohio Statesman's
Mistake — "My Fool of a Wife" — Japanese Railways — Our Fellow
Passengers — Progressive Japan — Telegraph Lines and Electric Lights
— Postal Delivery Six Times a Day — Protecting the Windows — The
Professor's Many Suits — The " Obi" — A Japanese Joseph — What we
Saw from the Car Window — A Tea Plantation.

OTHING so well prepares the trav
eler for an introduction to any
new land as a long and stormy
journey thitherward by sea. Even
the desert of Sahara would be
welcome under such circum
stances; how much more the
beautiful shores of smiling Japan.
So far as preyious preparation
is concerned, we were made
amply ready by the long and
stormy voyage from Hong Kong.
Earely has so much tempestuous discomfort been com
pressed into the seven days between Hong Kong and
Yokohama. As we neared the coast of Japan, a fearful typhoon
(191)

192 THROUGH THE CENTER OP THE TYPHOON.
which had been following in our wake for several days,
making only a little more rapid time than the steamer itself,
overtook us. The barometer dropped to the loAvest point
ever known in these latitudes, and about ten o'clock on the
night of November 23d, the wind began to blow with " ty
phoon force." For several days before, the wind had been
" blowing a gale," according to the captain's log book, but
on this night the demons of the air seemed to take to them
selves seventy times seven spirits worse than the first, and
the way they shrieked and howled and screamed through
the rigging wfll never be forgotten by the passengers of the
Peru. Hoping the storm might blow by, Captain Ward at
first " hove to," to speak after the manner of saflors, but,
fearing that we might drift upon the rocks of the Loochoo
Islands, he soon put on all steam again, and drove his good
ship directly through the center of the typhoon, in order to
get sufficient sea room.
As is well known, a typhoon is a circular storm of Hm-
ited extent, which revolves about a comparatively calm area.
After plowing our way through the eastern edge of the
typhoon for some two hours, we struck the calmer center,
and for a little while the passengers congratulated them
selves that the storm was over. But, alas ! our congratula
tions were premature, for, after half an hour of comparative
quiet, the Peru dashed into the western edge of the cyclone,
and aU the demons in the rigging began to scream and howl
and shriek Avith redoubled fury. For two hours more it Avas
with the greatest difficulty that we kept in our berths, hold
ing to the storm braces Avith both hands, and thus prevent
ing ourselves from being pitched headlong into the mass of
trunks and rugs, tumblers and Avater bottles, hairbrushes
and life preservers, Avhich Avere jumbled together in inde
scribable confusion upon the state-room floor.

FUJIYAMA, THE BEAUTIFUL. 193
As the gray dawn began to show in Avhat part of the
state-room the AvindoAv Avas situated, the Avind somewhat
moderated, but the Avaves Avere as high as ever. Beaching
down into the confused mass of debris which lay on the
state-room floor, Mrs. Pilgrim picked up one of the calen
dars Avhich our thoughtful friends at home had given us, Avith
the f oUoAving cheering message for November tAventy-f ourth
(Thanksgiving day, by the Avay), " The Lord is able to give
thee much more than this."
Never did that promise from Holy Writ have such a sin
ister significance before. However, as the storm cleared
away and the sun appeared later in the day, and as the
waves somewhat moderated, though still " mountainous,"
according to the log book of the Peru, we felt the promise
Avas not so inappropriate after all, and there Avere many
things to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day, even
though the roUing, pitching dinner table did prevent our
doing full justice to the Thanksgiving turkey and cranberry
sauce. After this experience, it can readily be seen that we
eagerly awaited the first gUmpse of the lovely shores of
Japan. Early on the morning of November twenty -sixth, they
broke upon us. There was Fujiyama, the most beautiful
mountain in the world, which figures on innumerable screens
and fans and teacups, rising before us in all his regal
splendor. No wonder that the Japanese love their sacred
mountain ; a far more dull and phlegmatic people would have
their veins stirred by such a sight.
This first view of Fujiyama which we enjoyed was per
haps the best that could be obtained. The early snow of
approaching winter clothed him in a spotless ermine mantle
to his very feet. Every part of this most symmetrical and

194 OUR WELCOME TO JAPAN.
lovely cone was of dazzling whiteness, and, as the Eastern
sun arose, a rosy tinge spread its glow from the topmost
crater to the lowest fringe of the glistening garment.
On the other side of the steamer a volcano Avas puffing
out huge volumes of smoke. " Fiery Jack " the sailors called
it. On both sides the carefuUy cultivated fields of this park
like fairy land came down close to the water's edge. Little
saflboats and Japanese junks danced about us on every side.
Everything on sea and shore looked its brightest and best.
The terrors of the stormy passage were forgotten, and we
felt that nature conspired with the experiences of the past
few days to make our welcome to Japan most bright and
memorable. A few hours later and the Peru dropped her anchor
in Yokohama harbor, and we gladly exchanged the deck of
the ship for more substantial terra fi/rma.
Yokohama, with its large English concession, its substan
tial warehouses, and its harbor full of the vessels of aU
nations, is not a typical Japanese city, and yet there are
many things to interest the traveler, who has not as yet been
sated Avith the temples and palaces, the picturesque vfllages
and beautiful natural scenery of fair Japan.
For instance, as we stepped ashore from the steam launch
a whole army of jinrildsha men came after us, each insisting
that we should patronize his particular baby carriage. But
first our baggage had to be passed through the Custom
House, and Ave were obliged for a time to disappoint our
eager friends, who served as hackmen and horses combined.
While Ave Avere undergoing the tiying ordeal of a Custom
House inspection some flfty sailors from a British man-of-
war rowed ashore. Then what rushing and jamming and
pushing and shouting there Avas on the part of the jinrikisha
men! The eager cabmen at Forty-second street station.

CURIOUS OFFICIALS. 195
New York, are not to be compareil to their brethren of
Yokohama. Tavo jinrikisha men pitched upon each jolly
tar and bore him away bodily to one of the little carriages
in waiting, and in less time than it takes to tell the story
every saflor Avas bundled into a jinrikisha and whisked
aAvay ; Ave fear to no very reputable abiding place, for land-
sharks abound in Yokohama as in every seaport, and the
jinrikisha men have the reputation of being subsidized by the
worst of them.
Going through the Custom House is oftentimes a serious
matter in Japan, not that the duties are very high, but the
Custom House officials' curiosity is very great. Anything
done up in a bundle seemed to excite their suspicion at once,
and they took a boyish delight in finding out that one pack
age contained a few Avorthless seashells, another a set of
chess men, each one of Avhich had to be taken from its box
and examined separately, and stfll another, a double Chinese
sword, Avhich one official took from its sheath and made
playful lunges at all the others who surrounded him.
However, a little harmless curiosity on the part of these
youthful inspectors is a venial fault compared with the rude
ness and corruption of many of our customs officials at
home. One can afford to spend a little time at the Custom
House whfle the inmost recesses of his trunks are being ran
sacked, if only he is treated with politeness meauAvhile,
and is not brazenly asked to "to cross the palm" of the official,
as I have been invited to do ere this in New York city.
Now that we have actually set foot on Japanese sofl, we
may as weU take a lesson in Japanese politeness, for from
the lowest porter to the emperor himself this is an ingrained
characteristic, and unless Ave are careful, our brusque and
prompt western way may shock this courtliest of aU
peoples.

196 A LESSON IN POLITENESS.
Even the Custom House officials bow low when we
present our keys and request them to examine our trunks,
and the jinrikisha men almost bend themselves to the dust
before us in their polite entreaties that Ave favor them with
our patronage.
As Ave go up the street, if Ave step into a Japanese store
to buy so much as a sheet of paper, Ave are greeted with
a low salaam by the proprietor, who deems it quite awkward
to go directly to business without a few poUte preliminary
genuflections. When we reach our boarding-house a smiling man-ser
vant stands upon the piazza to take our baggage Avith the
most gracious bow, and the door is opened by a maid-ser
vant who almost touches the floor with her forehead, so low
is her obeisance as she admits us Avithin the penetralia.
When Ave go upon the platform to make an address our
audience often rises and boAvs, and when we begin to speak
it is the proper thing to make as low a salute as our Ameri
can stiffness and previous training wiU allow. Upon this
the audience all bow most graciously once more. At the
conclusion of the address the speaker bows again, and the
audience returns the salute.
But it is when Ave receive callers that the most trying
politeness is expected. The caller bows and Ave bow, and
then the caller boAvs again and Ave bow still lower. Again,
our Japanese visitor bends his body in a third genuflection,
and we follow suit, doing our best to bow in Japanese if we
cannot speak Japanese.
If Ave Avere Avell trained Ave should not lift up our stooping
figure until our visitor had begun to raise himself from his
salutatory ])osture, and Ave furtively glance out of the corners
of our eyes to see if he is not almost through Avith his bow
ing. Sometimes a peculiar little gutteral grunt indicates

GENUFLECTIONS AND CIRCUMLOCUTIONS. 197
that the visitor has finished his genuflections, and that we
can raise our OAvn bodies to an upright posture with pro
priety. I very much fear that I have many times broken
aU the laAvs in the Japanese code of propriety and courtesy,
but I trust I shall be forgiven, and that my rudeness wiil be
charged to a lack of early training, and to my imperfect
western notions of civflity.
One important factor in the Japanese obeisance is to get
the hinge in the right part of your anatomy. The brusque
Yankee and stiff EngHshman bow simply with their heads
and the hinge they use is at the top of their spinal columns,
but no such indifferent bobbing of the head will satisfy the
Japanese demands. One must put the hinge lower down, at
the base of his spinal column, and bow with his whole body
instead of the top of his head. A few days of practice will
make one fairly proficient in this superficial part of the
Japanese code of etiquette.
But not only is their politeness a matter of bows and
genuflections ; it is as fully indicated in their language.
There is a polite language which is quite different from that
used on ordinary occasions, and cannot even be understood
by those famiUar only with the colloquial tongue. Even the
humblest people use the politest circumlocutions on every
possible occasion.
For instance, when we knock at the door, the person
inside cries out " Ohairi," which means, " We welcome your
honorable return." When one greets a friend on the street
he says, " Ohayo," which means literally, " Honorable
early " ; or if translated into Irish it would be : " The top o'
the mornin' to yez ! "
It is said an Ohio statesman was once sent to a certain
port in Japan as consul. As he landed on the shores of the
country which was to be his home he heard one and another

198 BY RAIL TO TOKIO.
say in very good English as he thought, Ohio (Ohayo). " I
declare," said this son of the Buckeye state, "I knew they
were a well educated people in this land, but I didn't suppose
they knew the very state I came from."
A friend of mine teUs me that his Japanese servant came
to him one day and said, as he bowed low to the floor, "Wifl
my most worthy master suffer his most humble servant to
visit the honorable bath that he may wash his fllthy body?"
It is needless to say that after such a poHte request permis
sion was at once granted.
Japanese politeness consists not only in loading the per
sons spoken to with aU kinds of compHmentary adjectives,
but also in depreciating one's self. Such a coUoquy as this is
often heard in Japanese highways :
"How is your honorable wife this morning?"
"I thank you, honorable sir, my fool of a Avife is very
well this morning."
And yet the second speaker may be a most loving and
exemplary husband ; he only wishes to be properly poHte in
depreciating his own.
There is not very much to detain one in Yokohama, and
we will soon take the train for Tokio, distant one hour by
rail. There seems to be an incongruity between the rush
ing, bustling life of a raflway station, and the Oriental
throngs that crowd it. The Avooden clogs, worn by men,
women, and children, clatter on the stone floor of the station
like so many castanets and make almost a deafening sound.
Instead of spruce business men and " taflor-made girls," such
as one is accustomed to see thronging our raflway cars at
home, people clad in practically the same garb Avhich was in
fashion a thousand years ago, step into these most modern of
all vehicles to be whiried away as fast as steam can carry
them. Something seems to be out of place; whether the

PROGRESSIVE MODERN JAPAN. 199
Japanese costume and wooden clogs, or our nineteenth cen
tury mode of locomotion, I shall not pretend to say.
However, there seems to be no thought of incongruity on
the part of our fellow passengers, for the Japanese have
taken to raflroads and steamships, to telephones and electric
hghts, as though they were to the manner born.
The modern Japanese is nothing if not progressive.
Every new invention, every latest labor-saving contrivance,
he is ready to examine and adopt if it commends itself to
his judgment. WeU-appointed raflroads connect one end of
Japan with another. A perfect network of telegraph wires
connect aU leading cities. Incandescent electric lights often
flash from the most humble stores and dwellings. In the
leading cities the postman delivers his message six times a
day, and wherever we go we find that Japan's senses are all
alert to the first intimations of progress in any direction.
In some respects the Japanese raihvay system is even
better than ours. At least, more care is taken of life and
limb, no grade crossings are aUoAved at stations, and fatal
accidents are of very rare occurrence.
The cars are mostly after the English pattern, and di
vided into first, second, and third-class compartments. The
first-class compartments are very rarely used in Japan, even
by "lords, fools, and Americans." In fact, after riding
many hundred mfles on Japanese raflroads, I remember to
have seen but a single occupant of a first-class carriage.
The second-class is used somewhat sparingly, whfle the third-
class on every train is crowded with vivacious Japanese
travelers. As glass is a modern invention which, strangely enough,
has not been largely introduced into country districts, Jap
anese Avindows generally being made of rice paper, the glass
car windows in third-class compartments are crossed with

200 OUR FELLOW PASSENGERS.
lines of Avhite paint, so that native travelers from the rural
districts, who never saw glass before, may not unwittingly
put their heads through the windows. The bflls of the Im
perial Eailway Company for broken glass became so large
that at last this device for showing the rural passenger that
there was something between him and the outside world
was adopted.
If you please, my readers, Ave will take a second-class
car to Tokio, and, without being rude, we can furtively ex
amine our fellow passengers and their attire. After a feAv
days we shall become so accustomed to the national dress
it wfll be difficult for us to describe it ; so we must make
the most of our flrst impressions.
On the seat in front of us is a Japanese gentleman in
European clothes, but his fll-fitting coat and shabby Derby
hat are not nearly so picturesque as the garments of the
friend by his side. Not being a woman or a man mflUner, I
cannot describe these garments with very good effect, but
must content myself with saying that our Japanese-clad fel
low passenger wears tight-fitting trousers, nearly hidden by
a loose upper garment coming nearly to his feet, and bound
about the waist by a kind of scarf.
In fact, our friend on the opposite seat, since it is cold
weather, seems to wear several upper garments, for this is a
way the Japanese have of keeping Avarm. They do not
bufld flres or introduce steam heat, or even close their Avin-
dows and doors, but they add one garment to another, untfl
it is difficult to teU how large the kernel under the many
husks may be. The story is told of a professor in a famous
school Avho had the reputation of Avearing more clothes than
any other man on the faculty. The students, exaggerating
the truth, as students Avill, circulated the story that he com
monly wore thirty-one suits of clothes. A friend of mine

SUPERFLUOUS COATS.

201

made bold to approach him on the subject, telling him the
story that Avas circulating among the students, Avhereupon
he gravely replied that he could not account for such a
report, as he had never, to his ImoAAdedge, Avorn more than
thirteen suits at one time, unless the students had transposed
the figures (31 for 13), and so the mistake had arisen.
But the gentleman in front of us in the car probably
wears not more than half a dozen garments on this journey,
and makes up for his superfluous coats by wearing nothing

DRESS OF JAPANESE WOMEN, SHOWING THE OBI.
on his head. On entering the car he slips off his wooden
shoes very easfly, as they are only held on his feet by a cord
passing between his big toe and the next one ; then, putting
his stocking feet on the foot-warmer filled with hot Avater,
the only method of heating these cars, he settles himself
comfortably for his journey.
Not far from the gentleman opposite sits his wife. Her
garments are, of course, quite beyond my powers of descrip
tion. It is only necessary to say that they are loose, flow
ing, and graceful, and that on her back is a curious affair
13

202

AN INDICATION OF RANK.

caUed an " obi," or sash, on which she greatly prides her
self. It is made of finest sflk, and her rank in society is
very largely indicated by the obi which she wears. Her
head, too, is bare, though her profusion of black hair is so
fantastically arranged that she does not need any other
head-gear. On her feet are the same kind of clumsy wooden
shoes her husband wears.
BetAveen them is their little chfld, the joy and pride.

A RURAL SCENE IN JAPAN.

doubtless, of the father's and mother's heart. He is arrayed
in a most gorgeous suit, a miniature reproduction of his
mother's, only in brighter colors. Joseph himself was not
more favored when a boy than this little Japanese lad.
But the objects of special interest are not all within the
car Avindows, by any means. We never get tired of the
ever-changing panorama Avithout, made up of mountain and
meadoAv, forest trees and cultivated fields, bright costumes
and quaint cottages, and many a scene of rustic comfort and
content.

A TEA DRINKER'S PARADISE - OATnERING THE CROP ON A TEA PLANTATION. (From an instantaneous photograph.)
The long rows of tea plants look like the bunches of box with which the borders of old-fashionacl llowcr gardens were once made, only the
tea plants are much larger. When the crop is matured the tea garden is full of pickers, native men and women in bright costumes worklns
side by side. ^

A CHARMING PANORAMA. 205
One of the most interesting sights is a tea plantation.
Many of these we skirt in our railway journeys in Japan.
The long roAV of tea plants look Hke the bunches of box Avith
which the borders of old-fashioned flower gardens were once
made, only the tea plants are much larger. When the crop is
matured the tea garden is full of pickers, native men and
women, in bright costumes, working side by side, their gay
attire contrasting prettfly with the fresh green of the tea
leaves. These bright beings, who, we fear, are not as radi
ant as they look, stop their work as the train rumbles by, to
gaze after the retreating cars, stirred by the same wonder
which a rushing raflway train always excites in every part
of the world, however common the sight may be.
Thus we journey on, stopping at picturesque little vfl
lages, with thatch-roofed cottages ; past mfles and miles
of fields cultivated with most accurate nicety, every one
looking like a market garden in the suburbs of a great city ;
past beautiful bamboo forests ; past shrines and large tem
ples and emblems of Buddhist worship, set up, as in the days
of old, " under every green tree " ; past beautiful hiUs and
fertfle vaUeys, winding rivers and canals teeming with life.
untfl, all too soon, so interesting is this brief journey, the
cars roU into the station of the great city of Tokio — the
largest in aU the realm, the capital of the kingdom, the Mi
kado's city of the Mikado's empire.

CHAPTEE XII.
THE MIKADO'S CITY AND THE MIKADO'S SUBJECTS.
Tokio, its Parks, its Temples, and its Palace — Its University — A Study
of Fish Parasites — What Missionaries have done — The Seismological
Department — An Artificial Earthquake — Exceptional Earthquake
Privileges — Wlieat and ChafE — Canton and Tokio, or China versus
Japan — The Frenchman of the East — A Japanese House — No Doors,
No Windows, No Chimneys — A Walk in a Country Village — The
Country Bakery — A Rice Mill — Division of Labor — An Initiation into
the Art of Orange Eating — The Japanese Shoe Shop — The Villainous
Daikon — Prices in Japan — A Pot of Tea for Two Cents — A Japanese
Dinner in a Japanese Hotel — The Curious Crowds at the Window —
Character Studies — The Motormen of the East — Surprising Endurance
— The Hilarious Jinrikisha Men — The Waitress and her Odd Position
— Paying our Reckoning.

|AMOUS and imposing as are its
many "Hons," the one thing that
impressed me most strongly in
Toldo was the Imperial Univer
sity. To find in this Oriental
land a university in many re
spects the peer of Cambridge or
Oxford, Heidelberg or Harvard,
is a surprise to most people who
considered themselves tolerably
well versed in Japanese affairs.
The buildings of the Imperial
University, to be sure, are not equal to the venerable pfles
which lend their ancient charm to an English or German
University toAvn ; but even in buildings and equipment the
Imperial University of Japan is not far behind many vener-
(206)

A SCIENTIST S AMBITION. 207
able schools of other lands. But Avhen one comes to examine
the work in biology, chemistry, the science of engineering,
and other departments of learning leading to practical re
sults, he finds this is not a Avhit behind the great schools of
the world.
In the biological department we saw a graduate student
famous the world over for his studies of fish parasites. For
years he has been making microscopic examinations of these
minute enemies which prey upon the finny tribe, and his re
searches have provoked the favorable comment of scientific
men in aU parts of the world. As I approached his labora
tory he had just discovered a new parasite, which he showed
me with considerable satisfaction, imprisoned as it was
between the glasses of his sHde. He expects to devote his
Hfe to the study of fish parasites, though he is gradually
coming to the belief that his ambition has taken too wide a
range, and that he ought to devote himself to the parasites
of marine fish altogether.
As he is now a very young man, with doubtless forty or
fifty years of hard work before him, I should think that he
might before he dies make considerable progress in the pur
suit of his favorite study, if he conflnes himself to a suffi
ciently narrow range. I sincerely hope that my friend of
the Imperial University will not have the same cause for re
gret as the famous Greek student of the dative case, who
reproached himself on his death-bed that he had taken so
large a subject and had not devoted himself altogether to
the dative case of the Greek article. This example does not
stand alone. In other departments also the same careful
and highly specialized work is accomplished.
In the early days the University was manned largely by
foreign professors, and the chief credit for its establishment
and progress is due largely to Christian missionaries, as was

208 EARTHQUAKE PRIVILEGES.
the case with almost every high grade college in the far
East. In Japan especial honor is due to Dr. Yerbeck of the
Dutch Eeformed Board, who, in the beginning, more than
any other man influenced the government in the estabUsh-
ment and development of the university idea. Of late
years, however, as in all other departments, the government
is bringing the Imperial University and aU lower schools
more and more under the control of Japanese teachers.
"Japan for the Japanese," is the cry of recent days, and
foreign teachers are largely being discharged and then-
places fiUed by native Japanese, even in the teaching of the
EngHsh language itself. While wiUing to adopt everything
that they think is best in modern civilization, the Japanese
are evidently bound to be free from dependence on foreign
ers at the earliest possible moment.
As one walks through the halls, enters the spacious
Hbrary, and views the splendid equipment of the engineering
department of the university, he stands amazed at the
modern progress of this ancient nation. There is no phase
of scientific thought famfliar to the Western world which is
not almost equally familiar to this Island Empire of the
Orient. Every latest contrivance, every labor-saving ma
chine is examined and appropriated if considered worthy.
In the Seismological department of the university are prob
ably the most accurate and delicate instruments for comput
ing the direction and vibration of earthquakes to be found in
the world. The professor in this department set the delicate
clock-like machinery in motion for us, thus producing a
miniature artificial earthquake that we might see hoAV the
nicely adjusted machines, Avith their automatic fingers,
marked the slightest vibration in the earth's crust. Tokio,
by the Avay, is a very favorable place for such a department
of study, for scores of times a year it thrflls and quakes with

THE CROWN OF JAPAN'S CIVILIZATION. 209
subterranean movements. In fact its earthquake opportu
nities are unique and exceptional.
The contrast between the Chinese and Japanese is dis
cerned by no one more plainly than by him who travels
direct from Canton to Tokio. In the former city is repre
sented the old educational system of the Orient, in the
dreary examination hall, with its eleven hundred cells, empty
and deserted, except for nine days, in the course of three
years. The supreme test of scholarship during those nine
days of examination is, as I have already stated, the ability
to write an essay on some text of Confucius ; the sole stand
ard for civfl service promotion, a good literary style, and
aptness to write some incomprehensible pages upon an un
fathomable subject. No languages are studied there, no In
ductive Phflosophy, no Chemistry, Biology, Geology, Botany,
no engineering or mining departments, no instruction in
ship-buflding or architecture ; but one dreary monotonous
grind on Confucius and Confucianism. The old sage stfll
dominates every man, woman, and chfld in China, except
the few who are emancipated by the religion of Christ.
In Japan how different ! Here are railroads and steam
boats, the latest electrical inventions, and most modern theo
ries of ship-buflding and mining, agriculture and the me
chanic arts, and the crown of all this modern civilization is
the Imperial University of Tokio. Here Confucius takes
the back seat, and Galileo and Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton
and Herschel, Huxley and Darwin come to the front.
Perhaps this sudden advance in modern civilization is
not altogether an unmixed good. Doubtless many evils
have foUowed in the train of this nineteenth century civfliz-
ation which has swept with such a conquering march over
the empire of Japan. Doubtless there has been much chaff
mixed with the wheat, and sometimes, in all probability, the

210 THE FRENCHMAN OF THE OLD WORLD.
wheat has been thrown aAvay, and the chaff of false phfl
osophy and materialism retained. Nevertheless, the con
trast between the thousand-year-old Examination Hall of
Canton and the Imperial University of Tokio reveals the
inherent difference between the tAvo great nations of the
Orient. English-speaking people are too apt to lump
Orientals together, and to see but little difference between
the almond-eyed nations of the Avorld.
An American religious paper once gravely announced
that " Eev. Mr. So-and-So Avas about to start as a missionary
to China and Japan," as though either of these nations were
not quite enough to tax the powers of the average Ameri
can missionary. As a matter of fact, there is far more dif
ference between the Chinese and Japanese than between the
Englishman and Frenchman, or the German and Eussian.
The Japanese is the Frenchman of the Old World, as has
often been remarked ; volatfle, mercurial, easflj^ moved to
adopt a new plan, but often fickle in his rentention of it, he
is endowed with the strong points, and doubtless many of
the weaknesses, of the Celtic nations of Europe. To watch
the development of this noAv France in these Eastern seas
will be a most interesting study for the future ethnologist.
In one respect, however, Japan is different from France,
for it possesses no vast capital of overAvhelming importance,
like Paris. If " Paris is France," Tokio, though the most
important city, is by no means Japan.
A few days after our arrival in Yokohama we took a
journey into rural Japan. Here in the countiy districts we
find the Japanese at home. He has adopted no foreign cos
tume, and put on no Parisian airs. He has the telegraph
and electric light, to be sure, and in many places the rafl
road train ; but in all essential particulars the Japan of to
day is the Japan of a thousand years ago.

A VILLAGE STREET.

211

Let me take you on a Avalk this bright, crisp December
morning through a vfllage street in Japan — such a village
street as I have seen a hundred times during my brief stay
in that fair land. The village boasts no bufldings of archi-

IN WINTER COSTUME.

tectural pretentions, unless, perhaps, it contains an old
palace of Daimio times. Even if it does, the palace is
probably deserted and falling into ruin, though its massive
wafls, wide water-flUed moats, and pagoda-like stories stfll
teU of its former magnificence in feudal times.

212 HOUSEKEEPING MADE EASY.
As for the rest of the vfllage, the houses generally are
very humble and unpretentious, usuaUy one-story high, Avith
a heavy thatched or tiled roof, and defended from the
weather by thin paper screens. A modem writer has said
that " Japanese houses have no walls, no windows, and no
chimneys." Take away these essentials, and one may wefl
ask what would be left but a huge dry-goods box. This,
however, is somewhat of an exaggeration, for the movable
rice paper screens answer very well for partition walls, and
the rice paper screens themselves, though opaque, answer for
windows, through which a " dim religious Hght " manages
to find its way. As for the chimneys, what need is there
of them when the stoves contain no blaze and no smoke, but
simply a little handful of coals in the middle of a bed of
sand ? If we get a glimpse into one of the Japanese houses
we are passing, we shall see very little furniture ; two or
three warm quilts for each person, a smaU flat cushion on
which he may sit, two or three " hibachis " or flre boxes, a
few little tables not more than six inches high, and some
lamps, cups, bowls, tubs, and saucepans complete the house
hold furniture. One Avill see no chairs, knives, forks, or
spoons, no carpets nor rugs, no pictures on the walls. How
ever, there are some very good substitutes for all these neces
sary articles. The screens are often beautifully painted, and
scrolls on the walls, changed often, add life and color to the
room. There are no chairs, to be sure, but what does one
want of a chair when he can sit on the soles of his feet ?
And as for knives, forks, and spoons, chopsticks are quite as
handy Avhen one knows how to use them, and far less trou
blesome. What Avould not our American housewives, Avho
are " cumbered Avith much serving," and groAv prematurely
old with much dish-Avashing, give for these neat and inex
pensive substitutes for table cutlery !

A NATIVE JAPANESE GRIST MILL. (Fi-om an instantaneous photograpti.)
One coolie threshes the rice straw over the iron teeth of a primitive flail which looks like a carpenter's wooden horse, while another win
nows the grain by pouring it over a rude sieve, allowing the wind to blow away the chaff ; while still another coolie grinds the rice In a mill
laboriously turned by hand.

215
We may not linger too long at the open doorAvay of this
Japanese house lest we be deemed impolite even by these
people, who themselves have more than their fair share of
"Yankee curiosity," so we will pass on to have a look at
some of the stores, Avhich are open to the inspection of the
passer-by. There are no show windows, for the whole store
is one show windoAV with all its goods on exhibition. Here
is a bakery, for instance, with many kinds of thin, tempting-
looking wafers, and much gaudy candy, which one finds, on
investigation, has for its largest component rice flour with a
very small modicum of sugar. There are bushel baskets
fuU of roUs and Httle loaves with variegated streaks of green
and red running through them. If we should go a little
ways into the country we should find the rice fiour mill
where the chief ingredient of these showy little cakes Avas
made. Here, imder the same projecting roof, one coolie
threshes the rice straw over the iron teeth of a primitive flail,
which looks like a carpenter's wooden horse, while another
winnows the grain by pouring it over a rude sieve, allowing
the wind to blow away the chaff, while stfll another coolie
grinds the rice in a mfll laboriously turned by hand. Next
to the bakery comes a fruit store, perhaps, where one sees
tempting pfles of "kid glove" oranges, great, luscious, rosy
persimmons, yeUow loquots, and piles of little oranges not
bigger than the end of one's thumb.
But my readers wfll pardon a digression here, for while
looking at these tempting piles of Japanese fruit, I will
initiate him into the process of eating a Japanese orange.
Every nation has its peculiar method of extracting the juices
of this tempting fruit. Perhaps nations might be classifled
according to their ways of eating oranges. The American,
at least the hotel-patronizing American, cuts his "Florida"
in two in the middle, scoops out the rich juice with his

216

THE POLITE ART OF ORANGE EATING.

orange spoon, and accomplishes his task deftly and neatly.
The Australian cuts into eight sections the product of his
semi-tropical groves and is thus able to eat his breakfast
fruit Avith great expedition. The small boy of all nations
bores a hole in the end of his orange and unceremoniously
sucks its contents, leaving the fair looking skin dry and
juiceless. The Japanese orange, hoAvever, may be eaten hke
a grape, as it naturally faUs apart into a dozen different

A JAPANESE FRUIT STORE.

wedge-shaped segments. The expert grasps the thin end of
the wedge firmly between his thumb and first finger, presses
the juicy section, held perpendicularly and not horizontally,
between his teeth, and thus in the twinkling of an eye
extracts all the sweetness from the skin of one section.
Thus he treats section after section of his orange, eating
them as rapidly as so many Hamburg grapes. In fact, an
expert "orangeman" Avill make nothing of getting through

CLOGS AND STRAAV SANDALS.

217

six specimens of this luscious Japanese fruit Avhile the aver
age American is toilsomely digging out the pulp from a
single native of the orange groves of Florida or California.
Just beyond the fruit store is a barber shop, for hair cut
ting and shaving is a great business in Japan. As in the
other stores, everything is open to the daylight, there are no
screens, no windoAvs, no partitions. The shop is simply a
recess from the sidewalk where the barber and his customer
are sitting, Avhfle other customers are waiting the familiar
"next."

JAPANESE UMBRELLA MAKER.

Then comes a shoe store, perhaps, but vve see no " Oxford
ties" or top boots, "Dongolas" or russet tennis shoes dis
played; but instead we see rows upon rows of heavy
Avooden clogs, mud shoes on wooden stilts three or four
inches high, and long festoons of straw sandals hanging
from the cefling. These sandals are nothing but soles, for
there is no need of an upper to protect the foot, but simply a
strap passing between the big toe and its next neighbor, by

218 BY MARKET AND WORKSHOP.
which the sandal is dexterously held in place. Perhaps the
shoe dealer also trades in stockings and Ave find a large
assortment of curious foot-wear made of cloth and not knit
like the stockings of foreigners, but sewed together Avith
a compartment especially made for the big toe by itself to
fit the shoes and sandals already described. Next to the
shoe store is an umbreUa factory, and near by is a vegetable
market. Here we find a very good supply of the vegetables
of the season. Sweet potatoes are common and cheap, sold
not only raw but also at almost every street corner, smoking
hot from the pot or nicely browned from the brazier. Pars
nips and cabbage, onions and celery, spinach and lettuce
also find a place in these stores.
Everywhere one sees pfles of the succulent "daikon";
along the raflroad stations, in the flelds, borne upon the stag
gering shoulders of men and women, loaded upon buflock
carts, strung upon great ropes and stretched between trees
and posts to dry, cut up and spread upon the house roofs for
desiccation, until one is tempted after all these sights to call
Japan, not the land of the chrysanthemum, but the country
of the daikon. Of course, the green grocer whose store we
are inspecting has a large assortment of this favorite vegeta
ble on hand. The daikon is a sort of radish, and is of two
varieties, one very long, sometimes nearly two feet in length
and six inches through, while the other specimen looks Hke a
turnip of gigantic proportions. Hoav it tastes we shaU find
out Avhen we come to eat our dinner at a Japanese hotel.
As we pass another open recess in the street we see a
potter at work with his wheel ; still another alcove shows
an umbrella-maker ; a third reveals a rake-maker plying his
task with strips of stiff bamboo for the rakes' teeth, Avhile a
fourth is busy making the lanterns Avhich form such a pictur
esque and striking feature of night life in Japan.

THE PARADISE OF LEAN POCKETBOOKS.

219

Let us stop and make a fcAV purchases as we pass some
of these odd and tempting stores. Your pockets and mine,
my reader, are not very large, perhaps, but Japan is the par
adise of lean pocketbooks. For instance, we Avill take home
to show our friends the foot gear of this interesting people,
one pair of straw sandals, one of Avooden shoes, and stfll
another of high clogs for muddy weather, and three pairs of
stockings to go Avith our shoes. Our purchases make quite

IN A JAPANESE BARBER SHOP.

a formidable looking bundle, and we fear we may not have
change enough to pay for our curiosities. But we are quite
reUeved to flnd that aU our goods come to only seventeen
sen, five rin, something less than 12i cents.
Everywhere in Japan, except on the foreign concessions,
these cheap prices prevail. For instance, at the railroad sta
tion I purchased an earthen teapot, holding at least a quart
of hot tea and with a cup thrown in, for the extravagant
price of three sen, or about tAvo cents, United States currency.

220 A DOZEN ORANGES FOR ONE SEN.
Desiring to have some unnecessary hirsute appendages
removed, I was told that the price of hair cutting in the
Japanese saloon where I proposed to go was two sen, and ff
I wanted to be shaved, I must deplete my pocket book to
the extent of one sen more, or something like six and one-
half mills for a clean shave. If, however, I desired the
barber to come to my house to perform his task, I would be
obliged to pay him the enormous sum of six sen (United
States money about four cents) for his extra trouble.
The jinriksha man will run for a good hour tofling up
steep hills and over rough roads, and at the end of the five-
mfle journey, with the sweat pouring down his back, wifl
bow his most gracious thanks if presented Avith the value of
a ten-cent piece. One feels that he is taking advantage of an
innocent and unsuspecting youth when he first pays such a
trifling sum for such a large service, but these jinriksha men,
like their brethren of the horsey fraternity aU over the
world, have their eye teeth cut, and it is more likely that he
has taken you in to the extent of a few rin, than that he is
in any way underpaid.
At one time I handed a raflway platform peddler a cop
per sen (less than one cent), and with various motions gave
him to understand I desired the value of the coin in the
oranges which he held in his tray, whereupon he passed into
the car window orange after orange imtfl a round dozen lay
on the seat beside me. Had I been aware that I was
making so large a purchase I would have invested but half
the sum at one time. It must be confessed, however, that
the oranges were not very large, and a hungry little boy by
my side soon disposed of the Avhole purchase.
Now, if Ave have sufficiently explored our vfllage street,
let us go into a Japanese hotel and have dinner, for sight
seeing is hungry Avork. We Avill leave our shoes at the door.

DINNER AT A TOY HOTEL. 221
for it would be almost profanity to bring our muddy foot
wear into this immaculate little toy hotel.
The floor is covered with soft, heavy matting, as spotless
as table damask, and three or four hibachis are set around in
different parts of the room to take the chfll from the frosty
atmosphere, which the paper screens very freely admit.
But stfll Ave are cold, in spite of the few little pfles of glow
ing charcoal, and our host opens another screen door, show
ing his Tcotatsu, simply a square hole in the middle of the
room, filled with sand, upon which is a little larger pfle of
gloAving charcoal. Over this hole is spread a large, thick
quflt or "y^fton," and under this futon we all stick our feet,
and the genial warmth from the kotatsu being aU econo
mized, our lower extremities are soon quite warm, whfle we
hold our hands over the hibachis, and so are soon glowing
Avith warmth at both extremities, whatever may be true of
the rest of our bodies.
Whfle we have been getting warm, dinner has been cook
ing, and now a Japanese damsel brings it in on red lacquer
trays. This solemn proceeding is preceded by a very low
bow, the waitress faUing on her knees and touching the mat
ting with her forehead before each one of us. Then she
presents the cHnner tray as though making an offering to the
gods. In the tray is a bowl of steaming rice " without any
trimmings," as one of our party remarked ; fl.o sugar, salt, or
condiments of any kind being eaten with the rice, except
such as we flnd in the bowl of thin soup accompanying it.
In this soup is a Httle wad of bofled spinach, several large
mushrooms, and a slice of an indescribable mixture made of
flsh and eggs, which is not altogether unpalatable if one has
courage to investigate it.
Besides the soup and rice, the tray contains a large cup
14-

222 AN EXECRABLE PICKLE.
of lima beans, hard and unsavory, a saucer of fish Avith a
little "soi" by its side, and the inevitable daikon. This
daikon is not the radish in its first estate, fresh from the
dcAvy fields, but a most execrable kind of fermented pickle.
It looks white and fair enough to tempt the most dehcate
appetite, but its taste wofuUy belies its toothsome appear
ance. Some one has described it as a cross between spofled
sauerkraut and decayed Limburger cheese, and perhaps

THE VILLAINOUS DAIKON.

there is no better description, on the whole, for this most
vfllainous of vegetables.
However, when the gourmand of our OAvn country eats
his "high game" and "Avoodcock trail," and rejoices in
his sauerkraut and Limburger, who shall say the Japa
nese partiality for pickled daikon is more absurd than the
gastronomic whims of the American or European epicure?
However, the most "difficult" appetite need not go unsatis
fied even in a Japanese hotel, for the oranges are delicious,
and the tea is always hot and good even if minus milk and
sugar.

THE BAHY IN JAPAN. (From an Uisiaidaneous pliotograph.)
Sometimes the baby has another doll baby on its back, and I have actually seen a small doll on the big doll's bafk, a big doll on the small
boy's back, and a small Voy on his big brother's back : four generations, as it were, togetber.

INTERESTING TO OUTSIDERS. 225
While Ave are eating our dinner in this toy tea-house
a group of inquiring urchins gathers at the Avindow outside.
If they are interested in us, we are quite as much interested
in them, and extract no less fun from the inspection than
they do themselves. As in most such croAvds in every land,
the "small boy" predominates. Very often he has a
smaller boy upon his back, for children are put to work
early in this land. The little felloAv on his brother's back,
though but a few months old, is quite content with his
elevated position, and evidently has a mfld curiosity in re
gard to the foreigners who are making such awkward work
with their chop-sticks.
Sometimes the baby has another doll baby on his back,
and I have actually seen a small doll on the big doll's back,
the big doU on the small boy's back, and the small boy on
his big brother's back; four generations, as it Avere, to
gether. But curiosity is not confined to the smaU fry altogether.
Their fathers and mothers look in upon us Avith wondering
eyes ; the street peddler draAvs near and forgets to haA\"k his
wares for a few moments; the sword juggler who per
ambulates the street with loud cries and extravagant antics
for the sake of drawing a crowd to his entertainment, seems
more interested in these strange people who have descended
upon his native vfllage than in his own performance.
By stopping to gaze upon us one curiosity monger at
tracts another until the Avhole doorway is fUled, and we
begin to feel ourselves the observed of all observers. How
ever, it is a very good-natured inspection, and as I have said,
we repay it with interest. For every dirty-faced little street
gamin, and every scald-headed baby (for many of them, I
am sorry to say, have some sort of scalp disease), every bare
headed, open-eyed bumpkin, every black-toothed married

226

BEGGARS AND MOTOR-MEN.

woman, and every sweet-faced "musmee" (for there are
many pretty girls among them) is an especial study.
In this throng at the hotel doorway (if it is proper to
¦»peak of a doorway when the whole side of the house is one
great doorway) we are likely to get a gUmpse of a Buddhist
priest with his queer head
gear and closely shaven head.
Yery likely he is a beggar
priest with a Httle gong
which he continually beats,
and a big receptacle for the
offerings of the faithful.
Other beggars wear a pecu
liar kind of hat hke an in
verted bushel basket, which
comes down over the head
almost to the shoulders.
We also have among our
auditors several bare-legged
jinrikisha men, with their red
blankets wrapped around
their shoulders, giving a
touch of color to the scene,
and leading one to think for an instant, as he glances out upon
the crowd, that he is on an Indian reservation in the far
West. These jinrikisha men deserve a whole chapter to
themselves, for they form a very large section of the popu
lation, besides furnishing a very important convenience to
the traveling public. They are the hack men and motor-
men, the horse-car drivers, and horses and electric motors
combined, of the far East. The jinrikisha was invented
twenty-flve years ago, by a Baptist missionary, though the
date and title to the invention is disputed by some.

¦.¦\\Vi

A JAPANESE PEASANT.

AN EXAGGERATED BABY CARRIAGE. 227
It seems strange that this inventive and progressive
people did not find such an important and convenient means
of conveyance long before, for horses are almost unknown in
Japan, except in the army, mules are entirely a minus quan
tity, and cows do not afford a very sAvift or delightful
means of travel. The roads, moreover, are exceUent
throughout the empire, and are just fitted for these light
and tiny one-man vehicles. Within a twelve-month after its
introduction the jinrikisha had become common in the large
cities of Japan, and within two years its use became uni
versal. After getting along for five thousand years under a
single dynasty without any such convenient mode of loco
motion, the nation was evidently ripe for the introduction
of this exaggerated baby carriage. As mushrooms spring
up in a night where the evening before there was no sign of
a groAving fungus, so the jinrikisha has suddenly appeared in
aU parts of Japan, and with it came the jinrikisha-man, who
is noAV an institution that could not possibly be dispensed
Avith. Just as there are cabs and cabs, elegant landaus, and rus
tic herdics, brightly-polished hansoms and disreputable four
wheelers, so there are jinrikishas and jinrikishas. Get into
one of the better class, with a strong man to pull it and a
good road to travel over, and one is as comfortable as in an
easy chair wheeled over a parlor carpet. But get a rattlety-
bang affair such as one sometimes flnds, with a low back
that cuts the spine in two, rattUng wheels and a semi-defunct
man to pull it, and the sensation of jinrikisha riding is any
thing but agreeable. However, most of these men are
strong, quick, and polite. They wfll tuck you into their
little vehicle with the red blanket around your feet, and
start off as merrfly as if going to their own wedding. Espe-
ciaUv Avhen several are hired at the same time for the same

228

HILARIOUS JINRIKISHA MEN.

journey, they seem to take genuine delight in their work. I
have seen ten of these men, two in a jinrikisha, hired by a
party of flve, Avhen roads were rough and time limited,
scamper along the road Avith the utmost glee, as boys just
let out of school go home for a long hoHday. They would
crack jokes one to another, laugh uproariously, and then
subside into a steady jog trot and monotonous low chant,
which, beginning Avith the head man, woifld be passed back

A jmRIKISHA.

to the next, by him to the next, and so on untfl the last man
in the procession took up the strain and passed it forward
along the line.
Their endurance is perfectly wonderful. Many a time
have I seen them trot off, a good hour at a time, up hifl and
down dale, pulling their lieaAy loads Avithout a single breath
ing spell, whfle at the end of the journey I do not remember
to have seen one exhausted or " Avinded." Hoav would it do
for our college athletes to take lessons in training from
these Japanese jinrikisha men ? A missionary friend of mine

A CONVENIENT POSITION FOR THE WAITRESS. 229
tells me that on one occasion, when pressed for time, his jin
rikisha-man made seventy -five miles in one day over a road
far from the best, and Avas by no means utterly exhausted at
the end of the day. On the following day he Avas quite
fresh and ready for another long pull. This journey, though
of course exceptional, is by no means unexampled, while
forty or fifty mfles is not an unusual day's work, and may
be kept up many days in succession by these hardy little
runners. But our jinrikisha men have quite run away Avith us from
that dinner we were describing. By this time we must be
considered to have flnished our Japanese meal, drained the
last cup of weak tea, and ready to leave mine host. Whfle
we have been eating, our Japanese waitress, in her spotless
white stockings, has been sitting in the very middle of the
table, or rather, of the dining-room floor, which serves as
our table, so that she may conveniently hand us any edibles
that may be out of our reach. The vision suggested to my
readers by this description of a great, strapping, awkward
Irish Biddy planting herself in the middle of the dining
table, and passing the viands to the different guests, is su
premely ludicrous ; but not in the least incongruous is the
picture of this delicate and deft Japanese maiden squatting
on her white soles within the inmost circle of guests, that she
might hand the desired dishes to any one in need.
Now we will pay our small reckoning, put on our shoes
again, make a low salaam to the honorable tavern keeper
and his wife and all his servants and waitresses, and find our
way through the dense crowd of curiosity-seekers to the rafl
way station.

CHAPTEE XIII.
OUR EXPERIENCE AT A CEREMONIAL TEA — THE THIRTY-
THIRD DEGREE OF EXQUISITE POLITENESS — JAPANESE
SOCIAL LIFE- IN THE EMPEROR'S PALACE.
A Ceremonial Tea — "Past Masters "of Politeness — The Emperor's De
vice — A Dignified Function — A Contest in Politeness — White and
Black Charcoal — With Measured Steps and Rhythmic Motion — Build
ing the Fire — ¦ The Most Solemn Moment — Our Part in the Ceremony
— No Laughing Matter — Smacking Our Lips — Prom Tokio to Kioto
— The Garden of the World — Industrious and Careful Farmers —
Woman's Rights in Japan — One of Japan's Honored Names — Mis
sionary Life in the East — Flippant "Globe-trotters" — Cheating the
Gods — Stone Children with Red Bibs — Confucius's Chilly Cult — The
Temple of the Three Thousand Gods — Big Gods and Little Gods —
Rope Made of Human Hair — How Heavy Timbers were Lifted into
Place — Curious Sacrifice of Religious Devotees — In the Emperor's
Palace — Osaka, its Mint, its Castle, and its Fish-Market.

EFOEE we leave the fascinating
empire of the Mikado we must
all attend "a Ceremonial Tea."
It is not the good fortune of every
traveler in Japan to become ac
quainted with this unique national
custom, but it is weU worth the
time it takes to see the acme of
etiquette, the thirty-third degree
of exquisite politeness, formality,
and ceremony, in Avhich the Jap
anese are " Past Masters." Pro
fessors of the art of giving ceremonial teas stfll exist in
Japan, though I understand the professors and the teas
themselves are not such every-day matters as they used to
be, for most Japanese in these stirring days have not time
(330)

ORIGIN OF THE CEREMONIAL TEA.

231

to devote the hours and hours necessary to imbibing a cup
of tea in the most approved and correct manner.
This custom is said to have been introduced by Hideyoshi,
the great conqueror of Corea, Avho, after his armies had re
turned triumphant, felt obliged to provide some occupation
for his soldiers which should take their time and remove
their thoughts from warlike scenes. So, shrewd man that
he was, he centered their minds upon pouring and imbib
ing the " cup that cheers," feeling sure that any one whose

DIGNIFIED DAMSELS AT TEA.

attention was taken up for five hours at a stretch by the
delicate and intricate ceremonies centering around a tea
pot would have no room for bloodthirsty thoughts or over
leaping ambitions.
For three hundred years the Ceremonial Tea has been an
institution of Japanese life, and ceremonial tea-making is
taught in the modern schools of the government, as it is
thought to give dignity and grace and a kind of solemn les
son in etiquette to aU who study its intricacies. When we
asked the aged professor who had been a teacher of the art
all her Hfe, and who poured for us the ceremonial cup, how

232 PRELIMINARY COURTESIES.
long it took to become perfect in her profession, she told us
that a bright scholar studying one hour a day for three
years continuously might become fairly proficient ; but she
emphasized the word "fairly" to show that only a very com
parative degree of proficiency was attainable by any such
short apprenticeship.
But now for the tea. There Avere five of us favored Avith
the ceremony in the old Daimio city of Okyama. After
carefully removing our shoes, we stepped reverently upon
the straw matting of the professor's Httle toy house, which,
by the way, was a perfect specimen of the average Japanese
abode. I said stepped, but it would be more proper to say
kneeled, for we were told that it would be almost profane
to come into the room in our usual upright position. So we
left our shoes on the ground below and kneeled up into the
first floor sitting-room of our hostess' apartments. Here we
saw a gray-haired old lady awaiting us with SAveet serenity
and great dignity of mien. She also was upon her hands
and knees, and she bowed very low before us, whfle her
pathetic gray hairs swept the matting at our feet. We were
not to be outdone in politeness, however, so putting our
hands before us on the matting, we bowed low untfl the very
crowns of our heads rested on the soft matting of the floor.
After remaining in that position as long as Ave thought
strict etiquette required, we rose to our feet, and foUowed
our hostess up the steep and narrow stairs to the room above,
the room sacred to the ceremonial tea.
In this room a flre was gloAving in the kotatsu, and the
steaming eartjien jar of hot water looked altogether cheer
ful and home-like as it bubbled and simmered above the coals.
This pre-arrangement, hoAvever, Avas only a concession to
our Western spirit of haste, for our ceremonial professor
had been told we had but one hour at om' disposal, and the

STATELY AND DIGNIFIED CEREMONIES. 233
tea must be made and served in that short space of time, or
not at all. Otherwise, she Avould have kindled the fire
before us, and have placed everj^ drop of Avater in the honor
able pot, which is the true and ancient Avay to prepare for a
ceremonial tea.
Motioning us to take our seats upon the mats provided,
she set about her task in the most serenely grave and digni
fied fashion. First she entered the screen door with a little
bronze dish filled with charcoal, some sticks being painted
white, whfle others were left the natural color of the coal.
When she reached the door she turned around and very
gravely puUed the door partlj'' to with one hand, transferred
the charcoal dish to the other hand and pulled the door a
little farther with the hand thus left free, then changed
hands once more, and flnally shut the door with the hand
first in use. Then, with six short and measured steps, only
six and no more, she made her way to the fire-hole in the
floor. Then turning around, with solemn precision, she
dropped upon her white stocking soles, and with the utmost
reverence and care deposited the charcoal in front of her.
Taking from a large basket by her side a pair of curious
black tongs, sloAvly and with the gravest dignity she placed
two black and two white pieces of charcoal on the glowing
coals. Then, though there was not a particle of dust to be
seen, she took two turkey feathers and slowly and with
rhythmic motions brushed the black polished edge of the
kotatsu. With a speciaUy dedicated spoon she then took the
saucer of damp ashes and sprinkled them all about the glow
ing coals, that the fire might not spread. As I write this
description the words naturally used seem to imply some
thing of hurry and undignified haste. The very word
" sprinkle " from its sound seems to imply a hasty and flip
pant action, but I beg my readers to understand it was any-

234 A SOLEMN MOMENT.
thing but this. SIoav and moderate, dignified and rhythmic,
was every motion of her hand and spoon and tongs, and as
the damp ashes dropped upon the hot sand they seemed to
partake of the spirit of the occasion, and to fall in a very
dignified and methodical manner. Then, Avith the same slow
and solemn movement she rose to her feet, and grasping the
chosen vessel with the utmost tenderness, taking six meas
ured steps to the door, no more and no less, she set down the
bronze dish and opening the door, first with one hand and
then Avith the other, and then with the first again, and bow
ing her gray hairs to the floor, she glided out into the next
room. In rising from the floor she must get upon her left foot
flrst, and it would be an unpardonable breach of etiquette to
put her right foot forward before the left had preceded it.
In the same way, with slow and measured half-dozen
steps, she brought in tAvo cups, and then a slop-bowl, and
then a little bamboo dipper with which to fiU her hot water
pot, and last of all the sacred lacquer box containing the
powdered flowers of the tea plant. This was, possibly, the
most solemn moment of the whole ceremouA'. Even with
fifty years' experience our hostess evidently found it difficult
to live up to her lacquer tea box. Taking from her girdle a
red silk napkin, she smoothed and folded it Avith extremest
care, tenderly and seriously, and then dusted the top of the
tea box, on which there had been before not the sHghtest
suspicion of dust ; then unfolding it again in another peculiar
manner, which took months of constant practice to learn to
perfection, she laid the cloth aside.
Following this came another serious ceremony. Taking
a bamboo dipper carefully in both hands, she placed it in
just the right position on the teacup, the handle resting on
the floor. Then, with her other hand again grasping the

NO CAUSE FOR LEVITY. 335
handle of the dipper, Avith dignified reverence she poured
a smaU amount of water into the teacup. Into this half
a teaspoonful of the powdered tea floAver was put, and
stirred in Avith a long bamboo whisk which looked not unlike
an egg-beater. Then with slow and measured tread she approached the
first guest in the row, and, sweeping the soft matting with
her white hair, she placed the cup before the honored guest.
Do not suppose that anything was done except with the ut
most precision and care. It is impossible, since life is short,
to describe the preciseness, suavity, and dignified solemnity
Avith which every movement was performed. Not a smfle
passed over lier weather-beaten features. Every act was no
less serious than a religious rite to her.
However much cause for levity her guests may have
found, our hostess herself was evidently performing a duty
which admitted of no frivolity. Worldly chatter seemed
out of place. Laughter which came into our hearts died
aAvay before it rose to the lips; and every smfle was
smoothed out before the dignified procedure of our cere
monious host.
Then came our part, which was, alas ! performed so much
more aAvkwardly than hers. A native Japanese lad}'^, hoAV-
ever, was present to coach us, and under her direction we
first touched the matting with our foreheads ; then solemnly
raising the cup, touched it to our brows first and next to our
lips. We Avere told it was good form to drain the cup in
three swallows, drawing in the breath after each swalloAv
and smacking the lips loudly to show our appreciation of the
delicious nectar. After the last SAvallow a pecuHar noise
must be made by draAving in the breath Avith the pursed up
lips ; a noise for which I have often heard children reproved
by their elders Avhen discovered making it at the dinner

236 THE ORDEAL OVER.
table. I have forgotten to say, however, that before raising
the cup to our lips it was necessary to put it in the palm of
the left hand, while the right lovingly clasped the cup, then
it must be turned half way around, after which it might be
sloAvly raised to the lips.
After drinking, the outside of the cup must be wiped
with the thumb, while the inside of the cup must be simi
larly wiped with the forefinger. Then it must be turned
half way round on the palm once more, and reverently set
down on the matting.
In the same way tea was prepared for each one of the
five guests, every one of whom must go through exactly the
same motions, or be forever disgraced in the eyes of our
hostess. Then taking up the dipper and ladle, tea caddy, slop
bowl and cups, fire tongs and bronze charcoal basket, one by
one, she carried them into the next room, pacing most sol
emnly each time over the six steps between the fire hole and
the door; opening the door in the same way Avith both
hands, and then coming back to say "Adieu" to her guests.
By this time our hostess had relaxed a Httle ; a weight
was evidently off her mind ; she had gone through a severe
ordeal once more and had acquitted herself most creditably.
Her teacups had no reason to be ashamed of her, and she
even smiled a dignified smfle, and condescended to chat
most graciously. We could not, however, remain for any
gossip, but pressing our croAvns to the matting once more,
with many a bow and genuflection, Ave backed out of the
presence of etiquette personified, put on our shoes, bobbed
through the loAV Japanese door, and were able to stand erect
and take a good informal breath of fresh air, thanking God
that no such thing as ceremonial tea existed in the world
of nature into which we had emerged.

A JAPANESE CEREMONIAL TEA — THE THIRTY-THIRD DEGREE OF EXQUISITE POLITENESS.
{From an instantaneous pfiotograpfi.)
For three hundred years the " Ceremonial Tea " has been on institution of Japanese life, and ceremonial tea making is taught in the
modern schools of the government, as it Is thonght to give dignity and grace and a kind of solemn lesson in etiquette. It is impossible to
descrihe the preciseness, enavlty, and dignified solemnit? with which every movement is performed.

INDUSTRIOUS AND HAPPY FARMERS.

239

The journey from Tokio to Kioto, from the modern
secular capital to the ancient sacred capital of Japan, was a
most delightful one. Such a panorama of mountain and
valley, seashore and bluff, beautifully cultivated rice fields
and garden spots, forests of bamboo, orange groves, and tea
plantations, mulberry bushes and persimmon orchards, rice
fields and vegetable gardens, would be hard to find in any
other section of the globe. England and France with their
careful culture are not so thoroughly tilled as the arable

IN A BAMBOO FORBST.

portions of Japan, and even little Belgium, with its teeming
population, does not seem as thoroughly subdued as the cul
tivated parts of the Mikado's empire. On these little islands,
only one-ninth part of which has yet been brought under
cultivation, very much of Avhose area is bare rock and moun
tain crag which can never be tilled, thirty-seven miUions of
people flnd room for existence. While a few discontented
peasants in Ireland are always in a state of famine and
appealing to the sympathy of the civilized world with their
woes and lamentations, ten times as many contented, indus
trious, and happy farmers and trades-people make a living in
Japan and never send to America doleful tales of want and
woe.

240 JAPANESE VILLAGES.
By a very careful system of storage of water and irrigar
tion most of the cultivated regions of Japan are beyond the
reach of drought, and where the American farmer would
starve, and the English grumble, and the Irish get up a riot,
the Japanese farmer wfll live in comfort and plenty. To
be sure, his wants are simple, but he is quite able to
supply those wants. One sees few gaunt, hungry beggars
in the large cities of Japan, fewer stfll in the country dis
tricts. Beggars there are, to be sure, but most of them are
fat and rosy, and by no means unhappy looking or lone-

GATHERING THE TEA CROP.

some, for usually they resemble the famous famfly of
martyrs in having nine small children and one at the breast.
As one rides along the raflAvay between Tokio and Kioto
he passes innumerable small villages, all buflt on the same
principle. The houses with thatched or tfled roofs, pictur
esquely turned up at the end, oftentimes a large Buddhist
temple, frequently a number of shrines, and a street of
stores, such as I have described in a previous chapter, make
up the village.
In the fields Ave see Avomen working side by side with
the men, and often on the streets Ave see them pulHng heavy
loads of rice or vegetables. But after all their lot is no

GROVES AND GARDENS. 241
more unenviable than that of peasant Avomen on the con
tinent of Europe, and I am told that these fleld women,
though they work hard and apparently toil from morning
tfll night, have far more freedom and influence in their OAvn
homes than the women of the richer classes, and their lot is
quite as easy to be borne.
The flelds are small, and divided from one another by
low embankments Avith narrow ditches between, but all
under the most exquisite culture, with furrows straight and
even, and no inch of soil wasted. The liquid manure stored
at every fleld's corner is malodorous, to be sure, but without
it the Japanese farmers could not exist, and what they can
endure year in and year out, surely the passing traveler can
whiff without murmuring. Under almost every green tree
and clump of bushes stands a Buddhist shrine, while the
bamboo groves with their straight and slim fish-pole-like
stems and feathery tops, make pleasant and picturesque
additions to the landscape.
Soon after leaving Yokohama by rafl, beautiful "Fuji"
towers into view, quite as lovely when vicAved from the
shore as from the sea. Symmetrical and lordly beyond all
description, it must be seen to be appreciated. Neither
glowing words, nor even the most faithful canvas can do
justice to it. For many miles it dominates the landscape,
and it is several hours after it flrst comes into view before
we get the last glimpse of this glorious mountain.
As we approached Kioto the beautiful gardens of azalias,
japonicas, and chrysanthemums for which it is noted, be
came numerous, and though at the time of our visit they
were not in their glory, we could get some conception of
Avhat they must be when every spray is a nodding plume of
flowers. Kioto is noted for its temples, its ancient palace, and to
15

242 KIOTO'S MAGNIFICENT UNIVERSITY.
aU Christian hearts, for its splendid Christian university, the
Doshisha. If this were the only monument of Christian
missions in all the world, it Avould be a satisfactory proof
that they are not a faflure. Here on the sofl of Japan,
reared within a quarter of a century, we flnd a university of
which any state in the Union might be justly proud. Here
are taught not only the classics and sciences, but phflosophy
of the most pronounced Christian type, theology, and medi
cine in connection with a splendidly appointed hospital.

IN THE LAND OP THE JAPONICA.

The hundreds of young men who assemble at morning
prayers would do credit to Dartmouth or OberHn, and in afl
respects this university not only accomplishes the prime
object of its estabUshment, the formation of Christian char
acter, but is fuUy abreast of the times, and is second in popu
larity and influence among the Japanese themselves only to
the Imperial University of Tokio itself.
The founding of this school is due very largely to the
talents and influence of Joseph Neesima, whose name is a
household word among Christian people on both sides of the
Pacific ocean. Ilis lamented death did not weaken the

THE INFLUENCE OP THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY. 243
prestige or power of the university, but he flnds a worthy
successor in President Kozaki, the former pastor of a lead
ing Congregational church in Tokio. Most of the professors
in the uniA'ersity are Japanese, though eminent scholars
from among the missionaries have from the flrst given to
the school the best features of an Occidental University.
Any candid and inteUigent traveler, whether a profess
edly religious man or not, can but note and give due credit
to the mighty power which has wrought for the regenera
tion and civflization of these Eastern nations. To hear the
iflppant commentaries of the average " globe-trotter," as I
have before remarked, often makes one's blood bofl with in
dignation. A man who goes no farther than Yokohama or
Kobe, who sees the missionaries living in good houses, and
having servants to wait on them, immediately writes home
to the papers that the missionaries are living in luxury and
doing no good, and that their influence is not appreciably
felt in the empire. Such a man is no more a fit judge of
that concerning which he writes so fluently than the keeper
of a Chinese josshouse in San Francisco is fltted to write of
the influence of the Sunday-School movement, or a citizen of
the South Sea islands of the spread of temperance sentiment
in New England.
More than aU other influences together has the Christian
missionary moulded and directed the new civflization of
Japan. Commercial treaties could never have Avrought the
change. Open ports for trade in rice, tea, and lacquer ware
could never have sent the new blood of Western civilization
bounding through the veins of old Japan. But the mission
ary and the Bible, and everything for which the missionary
and the Bible stand, have in less than a generation accom-
phshed what centuries of mere commercial intercourse with
other nations could never have brought about.

244 NOT TRUTH, BUT SENSATIONALISM.
I have met missionaries of almost every denominational
board in Japan, and in not a single instance have I found
them other than devoted, consecrated men and women, who
have dedicated their lives completely and forever to the lift
ing up of this people and the glory of God. I have seen in
our dailj'^ papers strictures and criticisms upon the mission
aries Avhich a single half day's investigation would prove
false. But these flippant penny-a-liners, who AATite their
first impressions for the daily papers, never stop to investi
gate. The truth is not what they are after, but a sensation,
and my readers may set down any such fll-natured remarks
which they may read in the future about missionaries and
their work, as the result of ignorance and maUciousness.
The temples of Kioto are very numerous and exceedingly
beautiful. Of these perhaps the Kyonizu Sanjusangendo
and Hongwanji temples are the most famous.
The Kyonizu temple is buflt on enormous pfles, and on
one side is raised scores of feet from the ground. It is ap
proached by a long flight of stone steps, and as we went up
the steps Ave were approached, not only by numerous beg
gars, but also by many money changers, who offered to
change our sens into rins. As a sen is worth less than a
cent and a rin less than a mifl, it is evident that the ostenta
tious worshiper Avho AA'ishes to make his charity rattle loudly
in the temple treasury, can get a great deal of credit for Hb-
eral gift-giving out of a very few pennies. There are, more
over, debased iron coins, a hundred of Avhich equal one son,
and these are very popular at the entrance of some temples.
After all, this is the same principle by which light weight
and punched and clipped silver coins flnd their Avay into con
tribution boxes at home, and I have sometimes heard it
rumored that buttons in America answer the same purpose
as iron rins in Japan ; they make as much noise as gold.

A FAMOUS TEMPLE. 245
As we go up the steps of the Kyonizu temple, we see at
regular intervals stone lanterns, into which candles are
thrust to Hght the pflgrim on his toilsome way, and every
noAV and then Ave pass a medicine god whose features are
worn smooth by the devout worshipers, who have rubbed
their hands over the parts of the idol's body in Avhich the
diseases of their afliicted friends were located, in order that
they might carry the healing touch home Avith them.
Eye diseases and rheumatism seem to be the prevailing

ENTRANCE TO NASATA TEMPLE, KOBE.
distempers in this part of Japan, for the feyes of some of
these old gods are completely scratched out, and their knees
and thighs worn smooth by centuries of ceaseless rubbing.
Nothing is more pathetic among all the superstitions of
heathendom than these efforts on behalf of invalid friends,
so impotent and yet so touching, showing that whether in
Christian light or heathen darkness, the heart's affection is
the same the world over.
Another most pathetic sight in the Kyonizu temple is the
corner devoted to images of chfldren. Hundreds and hun-

246 SUPERSTITION RATHER THAN DEVOTION.
dreds of these little stone images are ranged in rows, with
little red bibs about ^eir necks, votive offerings, we are told,
to the god of the temple, in behalf of chfldren sick at home.
The red bibs indicate, if I am not mistaken, that the chfldren
recovered, and are put on as thank offerings over the Httle
stone image when the child gets weU.
These temples and this idol worship, however interesting
to the casual observer, seem to take very Httle hold of the
national Hfe. Little true devotion is apparent in China or

A JAPANESE IDOL AND TEMPLE.

Japan, the prevalent skepticism having in many places taken
the place of the old-time reverence for Buddha and the lesser
duties. The gods seem to be worshiped more often as a matter of
gain, as a superstitious offering to good luck and prosperity,
and even while they are worshiped they are laughed at, I
am told, by the more intelligent Japanese, just as the super
stitious Christian will often refuse to eat with tAvelve others
at table, will fret if he sees the moon over his left shoulder,
or breaks a looking-glass, laughing at the same time at his

A TEMPLE CROWDED WITH GODS. 347
own superstitious fears. Doubtless, Avith many people, the
worship of these heathen deities is a most serious and heart
felt affair, and is to them far more than a superstition to be
sneered at. Japan is not now a land under the absolute
dominion of either Shintoism or Buddhism ; the real conflict
of Christianity is not Avith the false religions of the East, but
the skepticism of the West, not with Confucius and his
" chflly cult," but Avith the infidelity of Paine and Voltaire,
Kosseau and Eenan.
The Sanjusangendo temple is interesting chiefly because
of the great number of deities packed aAvay beneath its roof.
It is sometimes called the temple of the three thousand gods,
at other times of the thirty -three thousand, whfle it is some
times even known as the abode of the three hundred and
thirty-three thousand, three hundred and thirty-three, all
depending upon how one counts the gods.
Inside are long, long rows of large flgures, some thousand
in all, if I counted correctly, each with many hands, and a
multitude of smaller gods springing from the heads and
fingers, whfle in the center is a huge Buddha with a hundred
hands each covered with a multitude of smaller deities.
Counting aU the gods, large and small, there are certainly
over three thousand, and as certainly less than three hundred
and thirty-three thousand, but what the exact number may
be, an arithmetician must decide.
Back of this temple is an interesting spot where, in the
early days, the stalwart youth of Japan practiced archery,
the great feat being to send an arrow in a horizontal line,
without too much elevation, the entire length of the temple.
The whole temple roof and the space under the eaves were
formerly shot thick Avith arrow heads which had strayed
from the mark; but these are now mostly removed by relic
hunters, and we saw but few still sticking in the roof.

248

SKILLFUL WOOD CARVERS.

Perhaps the most interesting temple in Kioto, all things
considered, is the Hongwangi. It is asserted by some
recent Avriters that no new Buddhist temples are being buflt,
and that the old ones are tumbUng into decay. The Hong
wangi temple, hoAvever, disputes this assertion, for it is stfll
incomplete, and Avas begun only a fcAv years since. It is
erected by one of the most liberal sects of the Buddhists, for
the Buddhists, like the Christians, are divided into many
sects and parties, Avhich regard each other Avith far more

A BUDDHIST SHRINE.

rancor than Christian denominations ever felt one for
another. In this new temple are some of the flnest speci
mens of Japanese Avood carving to be found in any part of
the Empire. Birds and flsh and flowers and foliage of
exquisite Avorkmanship abound, though often hidden under
the eaves, Avhere they are seen Avith the utmost difficulty.
One of the most interesting sights about this temple is
the great coils of rope, made of human hair, AA'ith Avhich the
heavy beams Avere hoisted into their places. This hair Avas
contributed as the offering of thousands and thousands

ROPES MADE OF HUMAN HAIR.

249

of devoted women and girls, and after being used to hoist
the beams and rafters into their places is preserved in these
great cofls, six inches through and thousands of feet in
length, for the veneration of future devotees. The most
pathetic of these coils were made of gray hair, evidently the
contribution of old grandams whose faith had survived the
weary years that had whitened their locks.

AN INLAND vn,LAGE.

The pfllars of this temple are made of the beautiful
KeyaTii wood, the most famous building material in aU
Japan. These pfllars are immensely tall and straight, often
three or four feet in diameter, and beautifully polished.
There is an interesting history connected with one of the
most elegant of these pfllars. The tree grew in an inland
vfllage and was the pride and delight of all the villagers.
The priests wanted it for the new temple, but could not

250

A SELF-SACRIFICING DEVOTEE.

obtain it for love or money, until one devoted Buddhist, for
the sake of rendering it worthless where it stood, hung him
self from its branches, thus making it accursed and at the
disposal of whoever desired to cut it doAvn. In consequence
of the self-sacrifice of that devotee the Hongwangi temple
rejoices to-day in its most beautiful piUar.
I The priests
have a fashion
of saying that
these pillars
were not hauled
to the temple,
but made their
own way thith-
erward, the
facts being that
the people of
one viUage, in
their enthusias
tic fervor, Avould
haul the log to
the nearest vfl
lage, they to the
next, and so on,
until at last it
reached Kioto,
and was estab
lished in its place among the stately columns of the
Hongwangi temple.
Another of the lions of Kioto is the royal palace, Avhere,
until twenty-five years ago, for a full mfllennium abode His
Imperial Majesty, the Mikado of Japan. Not that he and
his ancestors occupied this particular palace, for the build-

A WAYSIDE SHRINE.

AN AMUSING NOTICE. 251
ings were often destroyed by earthquake and flre, but
were as often rebuilt in the same fashion as of old ; and
as one enters he can see to-day how the Mikados lived a
thousand years ago.
After having received a special permit, we awaited in
the cold vestibule the pleasure of our guides, who are ncA^er
in any hurry in Japan to do the honors of their show places.
Whfle waiting we had ample time to read the notice which
in English and Japanese confronts every visitor. Here it is :

VISITORS WHO HAVE BEEN AUTHORIZED TO VISIT THE
IMPERIAL PALACE MUST BEFORE ENTERING PRESENT AT THE
ENTRANCE THEIR VISITING CARDS AND REQUEST TO BE CON
DUCTED INTO THE PALACE. ALSO SIGN THEIR NAMES, GIVING
FULL INFORMATION AS TO OFFICIAL AND DIGNITARY TITLES.
VISITORS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WEAR BOOTS OR SHOES IN
THE PALACE. VISITORS SHOULD LEAVE THEIR OVERCOAT,
MITTEN, STICK, WALKING STICK, CANE, OR WHATEVER THEY
TAKE WITH THEM EITHER TO THE ATTENDANT OR TO THE
SERVANT OF THE PALACE BEFORE THEY ENTER THE PALACE."

Not being encumbered with any " mitten " we only took
off our shoes, deposited them at the door, and left our " stick,
walking-stick, and cane," aU combined in one, with the
attendant, and entered within the royal precincts.
Though one would not wish to miss the sight, I must
admit there was exceedingly little to see. After living a
thousand years in such a draughty suite of rooms, I do not
wonder the Mikados were ready to move to Tokio, though I
do not know that their present abode is superior to the old
palace. Cold corridor succeeded cold corridor, and room
after room, each as bare of furniture as the other; no
pictures nor bric-a-brac, no cozy homelike fireside, no shelf
of weU-worn books, no rocking-chair for the old grand-

252 IN A JAPANESE ROYAL PALACE.
mother, or high-chair for the baby, no bed or lounge or rug
or hassock to give them a habitable look. Every room and
hall and corridor is covered with matting of exactly the
same pattern, in strips exactly three feet wide by exactly six
feet long, and bound with red or blue braid. To be sure,
there were finely-painted screens in almost every room,
which would have been the envy of aU connoisseurs in
Japanese art. In one room, too, was the throne, which was
a very uncomfortable but highly carved and gflded piece of
the modern cabinet-maker's art, whfle before it were three
loAv stools on which the maces, wands, and other insignia of
olfice Avere laid.
In the imperial study were beautiful screens decorated
on all sides with wild geese in fuU flight. Whether this
indicated that the study of Confucius which formerly occu
pied the young Mikados in this room was a "wfld goose
chase," or not, I am not sure. Yery likely, however, the
young Mikados of old Avere of the same opinion as Solomon
and the modern school boy that "much study is a weariness
unto the flesh." Who can teU how many successive Mikados
have Avhiled away the tedious hours by watching the wfld
geese flying about the room on these screens?
The Emperor's bedroom, like aU the other rooms except
the throne-room, was entirely bare and empty of cA-erything
that could be caUed furniture. In one corner Avas a square,
six or eight feet across, made of cement, on which dirt was
sprinkled every morning, so that the Emperor might wor
ship the shades of his ancestors on the soil (as his religion
demanded), without leaving his OAAm bedroom. Thus, even
before the days of cushioned pcAvs and high-priced choirs,
was worship made as easy as possible for those who can
afford it.
In the great open square, around Avhich the royal rooms

THE LEGEND OP A CHERRY TREE.

253

are buflt, Avere some feeble attempts at landscape gardening.
A little stream and rockery and a fcAv clumps of bamboos
are maintained there, just as they have been for hundreds of
years. Near the Emperor's bedroom Avas a cherry tree, the
progenitors of which Avere planted by a great Mikado hun
dreds of years ago, and
when that rotted away
a plum tree took its
place; then another
cherry tree succeeded
by another plum tree ;
but always in that par
ticular spot there has
been for ten hundred
and thirty-tAvo years a
fruit tree for successive
Mikados to gaze upon.
This dynasty of the
Japanese Mikados is
the oldest ruling house
in aU the world. For
twenty-flve hundred
years the same famfly
has occupied the
throne. Before Eng
land, or France, or Ger
many, or Russia Avere
so much as dreamed
of, Japan's Emperor held royal sway. When the Greeks
were at the height of their poAver the present reigning fam
fly of Japan had begun to bear sAvay. The present Mikado,
if I am not mistaken, is the one hundred and twenty-fifth
who has occupied the throne in direct succession. How

A JAPANESE PARMER.

254 TEMPTING THE TOURIST'S PURSE.
does that strike you, 0 ye aristocrats, who can trace your
lineage back at most for a fcAV paltry centuries, or perhaps
for only a few scores of years ? Ye are parvenues, indeed,
beside the royal famfly of Japan, even though ye came over
with William the Conqueror himself.
Nagoya is a seat of manufacture of much of the flnest
ware exported from Japan, and the beautiful conceits and
unexpected forms into which cups and teapots, bowls and
plates are cast, makes them the despair of the connoisseur in
china. Each noAV article seems loveHer than the last, and
tempts the lean purse to open once more, even though the
vision of a long voyage and imperious Custom House
officials at the end teach caution and economy.
The ravages of the great earthquake of 1891 are now
pretty well repaired, but cracks and huge fissures in mud
walls, buildings, and even in the ground itself remam to
show the havoc wrought by the wrestling of the subter
ranean demons.
The most beautiful castle in existence in Japan is found
in Nagoya. It is used now for barracks for the Imperial
troops, and is surmounted by tAvo huge golden dolphins
whose scales are made of large Japanese golden coins. The
whole value of the dolphins is not less than $180,000. One
of them was once on exhibition at a great European ex
position. It was wrecked and lost on the way home, in the
Bay of Biscay, and great was the rejoicing on the part of
aU loyal Japanese, when a famous diver fished it from its
watery bed (for which the dolphin evidently had an affinity),
and it was perched once more, high and dry, upon the pm-
nacle of the Nagoya castle.
In some of these busy towns through which we pass, we
are very likely to find that some gala day is being cele
brated, and that half the inhabitants are gathered in the

JAPANESE JUGGLERS AND ACROBATS.

255

pubHc square to watch the jugglers and acrobats, Avho, on
high ladders, balanced in the most ticklish fashion, are
dancing and turning somersaults and standing on their
heads and cavorting around generally, yet ahvays landing
right side up on their feet when the show is over.
Osaka is famous for its castle, too, and also for its mint,
an institution carried on upon the most approved modern
plans, and which turns out as finely finished and beautiful
coins as are made by any country in the world. What inter
ested me most in Osaka was, perhaps, the fish market. This

JAPANESE ACROBATS.
I went to see early in the morning, and if there is any
variety of the finny tribe which was not on sale in the
Osaka fish market that morning, I should like to see it. It
is said that two hundred species of edible flsh are found off
the Japan coast, and not one of them, I am convinced, was
missing from that Eastern BflUngsgate. Blue fish and green
fish, red fish and yeUow fish, and fish combining aU the
colors of the rainbow, long fish and short fish, fat fish and
lean fish, thin fish and stout fish, abounded in every staU.
Squids and cuttle fish, devfl fish and skates were found, and
every variety of octopus, especially that with the long, jeUy-

256 IN A JAPANESE FISH MARKET.
like, cruel tentacles, Avhich, if they get hold of a man under
water, would evidently hold him fast untfl the life blood was
sucked dry.
Besides these were sculpins and spine fish, eels, big and
little, sea snails and suckers, and all kinds of blche de mer.
Dolphins, too, seemed to play a prominent part in this fish
market, and the great red chunks of meat cut out of them
and exposed for sale gave the stalls the appearance of a
butcher's shop where Texas beef AA^as the staple article. It
was most interesting to watch the way in which the fish
were auctioned off. The auctioneer wfll present a tray of
cuttle fish or squids, for instance, praising them up in true
auctioneer style, and knock it off to the highest bidder aU in
a quarter of a minute, for he has a hundred trays to dispose
of, and cannot dAvell long on any one lot. His shrfll voice,
added to the shouts of the fishermen and the objurgations of
the buyers, always inseparable, as it would seem, from Bfl
Ungsgate, whether in Japan or England, made a pandemo
nium not soon to be forgotten.
We take off our hats and make our best salaams to the
receding shores of these lovely islands which we have so
much enjoyed Arisiting. We can only pray that as Japan
grows great in material affairs, as it surely wfll as it adopts
the civilization of Western nations, it may also adopt the re-
Hgion and the Bible which alone have made those nations
truly great.

CHAPTER XIY.

OUR RETURN TO CHINA — THE SEAMY SIDE OF CHINESE
LIFE — OPIUM FIENDS AND FAN-TAN GAMBLERS — ODD
AYAYS OF AN ODD PEOPLE — DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.
An Obstructing Bar — The Will of Heaven — Almond Eyes and Pigtails
' ¦ — Noiseless John — How John Chinaman Treats Americans in Shanghai
— Colossal Conceit — The Future of the Celestial Empire — Shoes Two
Cents a Pair — A Chinese Grocery Store — Dried Kidneys and Chiclsens'
Livers — Varnished Pig — Allowable Theft — A Chinese Rice Mill —
Arrested Development — How Chinese Paper is Made — Rice Paper —
How it is Produced — Woe-begone, Emaciated Faces — The Seamy Side
of Chinese Life — ' ' Hitting the Pipe " — Opium Fiends — Fan-tan Gam
blers — Intense Excitement — Chinese Music — Unearthly Screeching — ¦
Prolonged and Awful Caterwauling — Human Beasts of Burden —
China and Japan Agriculturally Considered — Rotation of Crops —
Novel Ice Harvesting — Fish Farming — An Odd Way of Fishing —
A Great Funeral — Funeral Baked Meats — Baby Towers of Shanghai.
N the day after Christmas, the
steamer Yokohama Maru Avhich
bore us from the beautiful shores
of Japan, steamed up to her
dock in Shanghai, and Ave found
ourselves once more in CMna.
Shanghai is probably the
greatest commercial port of the
far East. Yessels bearing the
flags of every nation discharge
I ^^^^^^^^'" jK>- their cargoes at her Avarehouse
doors. At least, they do this
figuratively speaking, and would be glad to do it literally,
were it not for the obstructing bar near the mouth of the
Yang-tse-Kiang river.
This bar the Chinese government alloAvs to flU up with
16 (257)

258 VELVET-FOOTED CHINAMEN.
silt from the upper river, and never makes any effort to re
move it, or to form a new channel, as might easfly be done.
" It is the will of heaven," say these fatalistic Celestials;
" we will not interfere."
I strongly suspect, however, that it is the wfll of the high
Chinese authorities as weU, who are not at aU averse to
keeping the "foreign devfls " out of their territory even at
the expense of ruining their best seaport.
Be that as it may, the port of Shanghai is already inac
cessible to the largest vessels, and even moderate-sized
steamers sometimes must wait for days before they can cross
the bar at Woosung, where aU the large steamers take on
and discharge their cargo.
Shanghai consists of three cities united by contiguity
and commercial interests ; the American and English con
cessions which are under one municipal government, the
French concession which is a municipality by itself, and the
native city, enclosed by a high waU, into whose narrow
streets are crowded hundreds of thousands of human beings.
Do not suppose, however, that English, American, and
French Shanghai are largely inhabited by Englishmen,
Americans, and Frenchmen. A few people of these nation
alities there are, a fcAV thousands among hundreds of thou
sands, but to search for a foreigner even in many parts of
the foreign concessions, is Hke looking for the traditional
needle in the hay-moAv.
Everywhere are almond eyes and pig-tafls ; long, flapping
blouses, loose, baggy drawers, and thick felt sHppers, whose
wearers seem to steal along like cats, so noiselessly they go.
Especially is this noticeable to those Avho come from Japan,
where the noisy wooden shoes clatter over the hard roads
and across the asphalt platforms of the railway stations like
ten thousand castanets, each playing a different tune.

AN EYE TO BUSINESS. 259
To be sure, there are some fine foreign business blocks in
Shanghai, and two or three conspicuous churches ; and the
bund or water front, Avith its beautiful botanical garden and
substantial banks, warehouses, and residences, it would be
difficult to surpass in any city ; but, after all, the prevafling
impression of Shanghai is of a huge ChinatoAvn with a smaU
admixture of San Francisco. In fact, the tables are quite
turned on the metropoHs of our Pacific coast. Here China
ver-y evidently bears sway, and the little handful of Ameri
cans must say " By your leave."
However, in spite of the general shabby treatment
accorded to John in the United States, there seems to be no
antipathy to Americans in Shanghai. The average John
Chinaman is too shrewd to cut off his nose to spite his face,
and he knows that the presence of Englishmen, Americans,
and Frenchmen means trade and commerce, cash for his tfll,
jinrikisha money, and small change generally, which other-
Avise he must go without.
Moreover, so far as Americans go, he knows that whfle
he has ample reason to resent their presence in his native
land, he has far greater cause to abominate other foreigners
who have imposed stfll heavier burdens upon his patient
shoulders. So, instead of beginning his warfare upon
brother Jonathan, he wfll begin with Johnny Bull or
Johnny Crapaud, as undoubtedly his worst enemies.
Untfl within a few years, Americans have stood highest
in the estimation of the Chinamen. Of late years, not
unnaturally, their stock has declined in the Chinese market,
and now the Germans (perhaps because they have had fewer
opportunities to abuse China) are the favorite people through
out the Celestial Empire.
What the future of China wfll be, is yet an unsolved
mystery. That she should always maintain her stolid indif-

260 UNRESPONSIVE CHINA.
f erence to Western civilization seems impossible. In spite of
her impenetrable husk of prejudice and self-satisfied conceit,
her settled conviction that her ways are the best ways, and
that no untutored barbarian can teach her anything, it
seems to me that the rushing, seething, nineteenth century
life which is continually beating against her shores must
eventually make an impression. Sooner or later the instincts
that are being aAvakened in the breasts of aU the rest of
mankind for a larger, freer, better life wiU find a response in
the heart of Chinadom as AveU.
But I am convinced that there is only one touch that can
awaken the unresponsive heart of China, and that is the
touch of Christ's hand.
Commerce has been knocking at her doors for nearly a
thousand years, and has not aroused her from her lethargy.
Foreign cannon have thundered at the gates of aU her chief
cities and they have not awakened her. Foreign inventions
and labor saving contrivances; rafl ways and steamboats,
electric lights and modern conveniences, have been presented
to her in vain ; and aU have fafled to shame her out of her
stolid self-conceit. She has gone back to her wheelbarrow
and her sedan-chair, her paper lantern and her clumsy junk,
convinced that " we are the people and wisdom Avfll die with
us," and that the paltry inventions of " foreign devfls " are
not worth copying.
What chance then is there for such a nation except that
which lies in the arousing of her dormant spiritual energies ?
This is the mission of the missionaries of the Cross. Already
many of them tell me that they see indications of a "break" in
this benumbing national self-sufficiency, and when the break
does come, Avhat a torrent of spiritual activity may we not
hope to see. To be sure this good day may not come in
this generation or the next, but some day I believe the holes

A WALKING SHOE SHOP. 261
already made in the dike of prejudice Avill widen until the
whole nation is flooded Avith the life-giving Avaters of the
Gospel. Let us take a walk this brisk December morning through
the crowded streets of Shanghai. Until the edge of novelty
is duUed every common shop is filled with marvels. He
who only looks for the treasures of the Orient in the ex
pensive curio stores, Avhich abound at the seaports, wfll miss
most of them. To be sure he Avill there find exquisite
carved ivory and lacquer ware, marvelously beautiful
bronzes, flgures in wood that are almost beyond price, and
pieces of china and porcelain of fabulous cost. Nearly aU
these treasures, or their duplicates, he could flnd in almost
any large American city. But the treasures Ave look for are
found in every common shop and home in China, and really
represent Oriental life and Avays.
Here, for instance, comes a man bending under the
weight of two hundred pairs of shoes, made of honest,
undisguised rice straw ; uppers, soles, shoe-strings and all, of
braided rice straw. Wishing to take home a pair as a
souvenir of the Shanghai shoe dealer, we inquire the price,
and, after not a little difficulty with his language and he
with ours, flnd that his charge is thirty " cash," about two
American cents per pair. Thinking this is not extravagant
we purchase a pair, but flnd out afterwards from our friends
that we have been sadly overreached, and that his price to a
Chinaman would not have been over fifteen or tAventy cash,
or a trifle over one cent a pair.
But here is a store from which, though it is interesting,
we can take no souvenirs home, for it is a provision store,
and the greasy, unwholesome looking provender exposed for
sale would, we fear, turn the stomachs of our more fastidious
friends.

263 DRIED KIDNEYS AND VARNISHED PIG.
In the nest store are many festoons of chickens' Hvers,
dried and strung like huge iU-shaped beads. Other strings
of dried kidneys hang from the cefling, and many long
rosaries of skinny chickens' legs tied together and hung up
in loops, like great, uncanny necklaces, dangle from the
roof. In these provision stores are also seen suspended from
the roof, as our grandmothers suspended dried apples and
pumpkins, strings of ducks, split open and pressed flat as
pancakes in the drying process. Here, too, are greasy look
ing sausages, each one on a Httle stick of its own, and near
the doorway is usuaUy a pig, varnished and roasted Avhole,
untfl he is of a most delicious-looking brown.
If the porker tastes as he looks, I do not wonder that he
is a favorite article of consumption among the foUowers of
Confucius. The proprietor of the proAdsion store sits in front
behind a little railed-in desk, and seems in no hurry for cus
tomers. In fact, it is quite your oAvn matter whether you
buy or not, and he often affects supreme indifference as
though he was beyond the mercenary considerations of trade.
Before him is an abacus, and great strings of copper cash
coiled one over the other, — twenty pounds weight or more.
But do not think that this indifferent shopkeeper is not
shrewd at a bargain. American though you may be, with
generations of bargaining blood in your veins, he is a match
for you. Look out for him if j^ou have any transactions to
make, for his code of morals does not demand any flne de
gree of scrupulosity. He Avill not cheat you A^ery much, but
a little sharp practice he Avill regard quite within the estab
Hshed limits of legitimate trade. In fact, petty peculation is
such a recognized custom, that if a serA^ant does not steal
more than a certain per cent, of his master's substance, he
is never even threatened Avith the laAV.

A NOVEL PLEA.

2G3

I was told that a certain master, new to the country,
having detected his servant in a small dishonesty, brought
him before the court. Whereupon the servant admitted his
guflt but claimed and prov^ed that his peculations had not
amounted to more than flfteen per cent, of his wages. Upon
this astounding plea of comparative innocence, the judge
fuUy acquitted him without even a reprimand.

A CHINESE RICE MILL.

As we continue our walk through Shanghai, we come to
a miller's establishment next door to our provision dealer.
Here are a dozen men working in a treadmill, which raises,
as they tread their monotonous round, a row of huge mal
lets. These mallets, poised high in air, descend into a stone
well, partly fllled Avith unhusked rice or paddy. After being
pounded by these mallets for a sufficient time, the grain is
separated from the chaff and is then taken out and winnowed
by hand. There are other kinds of rice mills, but even the

264 HOAV PAPER IS MADE IN CHINA.
commonest processes are yet very jirimitive in this great
empire of the East.
AU China seems to furnish an example of arrested devel
opment. Before any other nation, doubtless, China used
paper and gunpoAvder, movable types, and the mariner's
compass, but she has never improved upon her first rough
draughts. As she made these articles a thousand years ago
she makes them now. With most nations a new invention
of any kind is only a beginning of inventions. A great dis
covery in physics or chemistry in other nations only sets
men's minds on the alert for other discoveries and improve
ments in the same line. Outside of China no invention is
complete at first. The perfect machine is the product of
many minds and of much experimenting. In the middle
kingdom, however, a machine once invented is invented for
aU time. No improvements appear, no rivals set their Avits
at work to find a better and cheaper way to produce the
same result. When once a method is pointed out, it is hni-
tated by unreasoning generations for countless future years.
For instance, a well-informed Avriter who spent many
years in China in the consular service of Great Britain, tells
us of the present-day process of making the ordinary Chi
nese paper. " There is an entire absence of machinery," he
says, " for washing and, shredding rags ; there are no troughs
of pulp, chemicals for bleaching, resin for watering, vrire
molds for receiving, and drums for firming the paper as it
comes from the pulp troughs. Bamboo stems' and paddy
straw are steeped with lime in deep concrete pits in the open
air, and aUowed to soak for months. When nothing but the
fibre remains, it is taken out and rolled Avith a heavy stone
roUer in a stone well until all the Hme has been removed.
A small quantity of the fibre is placed in a stone trough fuU
of water and the Avhole stirred up. A close bamboo mold is

IN A CHINESE PAPER MILL.

265

then passed through the mixed fibre and Avater, and the film
which adheres to it emerges as a sheet of paper which is
stuck up to dry on the Avails of a room kept at a high tem
perature. The sheets are afterAvards coUected and made up
into bundles for market."

A CHINESE PAPER MILL.

Contrast this primitive method of paper making with the
miUs of New England. Yet, in the idea of paper making,
China had the start of us by a round dozen of centuries.
The most beautiful paper which I saw in China is the so-
caUed rice paper ; a soft, delicate, velvety substance, which
takes colors to perfection, and which is very much in demand

266 A CURIOUS PROCESS.
for the brilliant water-color paintings in which the Chinese
are so expert.
I often wondered how this paper was made, so different
is it from any other similar product I have ever seen, and
have only just learned that it is not paper at aU, but the
pith of a large-leaved, bush-like plant, which grows luxu
riantly in the province of Kuei-chow. My informant was
invited to visit a worker in pith after night-faU. Although
somewhat surprised at the hour named he accepted the in
vitation. On his arrival he was ushered into a badly lighted
room where a man was sitting with his tools before him.
These consisted of a smooth stone about a foot square and
an inch and a half thick, and a large knife or hatchet with a
short wooden handle. The blade was about a foot long,
two inches broad and nearly half an inch thick at the back.
It was sharp as a razor. Placing a piece of round pith on
the stone and his left hand on the top, he roUed the pith
backwards and forwards for a moment imtfl he got it into
the required position. Then, seizing the knife with his right
hand, he held the edge of the blade, after a feint or two,
close to the pith, which he kept rolHng to the left Avith his
left hand untfl nothing remained to roU; for the pith had,
by the application of the knife, been pared into a square,
white sheet of uniform thickness.
The process seemed so easy that the visitor determined
to try it himself, and, posing as a professional worker, he
succeeded in hacking the pith and in nearly maiming him
self for life. He was convinced that a keen eye and a
steady, experienced hand were needed for the work. For
this reason these sheets of pith are manufactured only at
night Avhen the city is asleep and the makers are not liable
to be disturbed.
As Ave make our way through the crowded city Ave see-

IN AN OPIUM DEN.

367

woe-begone, emaciated faces Avhich indicate more surely
than the red nose of the drunkard, the victim of the opium
habit. One who has lived any length of time in China can
tell an " opium flend " at a glance, and even to the stranger
the olfactory organs give immediate and conclusive proof of
one's approach to an opium den. In fact the prevafling
odor of China, the one that lingers longest in the tourist's
memory, is the sickening stench of the opium pipe that
seems to be wafted along every street and aUey and court.
In the center of a circle of depraved Celestials, swarthy.

" HITTING THE PIPE."
half-naked barbarians, assembled in a fllthy den, is a dim oil
lamp, with a smoky chimney. One of the Chinamen has an
opium pipe with a very large stem (so large that he has to
distend his mouth to the widest capacity to take it in) and a
very smaU aperture in the boAvl. With a long knitting
needle he takes from a little jar a wad of sticky opium
about the size of a pea. This he melts over the flame, and
then, after rolling it about on the bowl of the pipe for
several minutes, he inserts it deftly in the little hole.
Then he Hes down at full length, puts the orifice contain
ing the opium over the flame, and for two blissful moments

268

OPIUM FIENDS AND FAN-TAN GAMBLERS.

draws in the smoke, swallowing it and exhaling it through
the nose.
Not more than three or at the most four whiffs of smoke
seem to be contained in the pipe without reloading, but
when these whiffs have been exhausted the almond eyes
close with a sleepy animal-like content, the pipe is taken
by some other " opium flend," and the same slow process of

OPIUM FIENDS.

preparation, followed by the three whiffs of Nirvana, fol
lows, and so on around the circle.
Gambling is another besetting sin of John Chinaman.
It is a Aveird and uncanny sight to Avatch a group of fan-tan
gamblers in their dark den. Four lanterns containing
smoky candles, and placed one at each corner of a strip of
matting, serve to illuminate the scene. Around this are
huddled a motley crowd of slant-eyed Mongolians, mostly
possessing only one garment, either a loose shirt or a very

HOW PAN-TAN IN PLAYED. 269
baggy pair of trousers, but v^ery seldom a combination of
these useful habfliments. Either one or the other is full
dress for a fan-tan gambler.
The banker's assistant, or whatever he may be called (I
must confess to a sad lack in the way of fan-tan nomen
clature), takes a heaping handful of Chinese pennies called
cash (little brass pieces Avith a square hole in the center
and worth about a tenth of a cent apiece), puts them down
in the center of the square of matting, and places on top
what looks Hke a big brass paper-Aveight.
Then with a sharp-pointed stick he picks the pennies
away in Httle pfles of four. Until he takes the brass weight
off of the central pile any one in the circle is at liberty to
bet, by putting his on the center, corner, or edge of a square
of cloth. If there proves to be an even number of fours in
the pfle of pennies, one position wins ; if one, two, or three
more than an even number of fours, some other position on
the cloth wins.
After the weight is removed there is no more betting.
Then the excitement grows intense. Every squatting flgure
leans forward breathlessly over the matting. All have eyes
only for the counter, who, vrith his pointed Avand, is pulHng
away the Httle quartettes of cash, slowly and deliberately
from the big pile. Gradually the pile lessens ; tAventy only
are left, a dozen, eight, four, none, and then it is more than
likely the banker rakes all the sflver and gold of the
gamblers into his capacious tfll. For in fan-tan as in
gambUng of a higher degree, the lambs get fleeced very
systematicaUy, and are only allowed to win often enough
to whet their appetite for the fatal table.
Victims of loathsome skin diseases are frequently met
Avith in our walk, and even those who are suffering from a
mfld kind of leprosy, which, however is not considered con-

^70

SOME CHINESE PRESCRIPTIONS.

tagious. Where there is disease to be combatted there are, of
course, doctors to ply their remedies ; and, very likely, we
shall meet more than one of these wise looking disciples of
Galen, with finger nafls some six or eight inches long —
most inconvenient digits, one
would think, with which to
feel the pulse.
If we faU sick in China
may we be spared the added
torture of a Chinese doctor!
Sharks' eyes, powdered chick
ens' Hvers, and the last hairs
on a rat's tafl are some of
the favorite elements in their
materia medica, I understand.
An unearthly screeching
and unholy saAving away upon
some dreadf ifl stringed instru
ment not far off proclaims that
some of the Celestials are mu-
sicaUy incHned; and, sure
enough, we soon stumble upon
a group surrounding the min
strel, who is playing upon an
instrument that resembles a double-headed hammer with two
strings stretched from the head to the handle.
The head of the hammer is made of parchment, and from
this undeveloped kind of a fiddle he tortures such awful
music as was never heard on sea or land. If the instru
mental part of the concert is hideous, the vocal accompani
ment is still more appalling. It cannot be represented in
EngHsh characters, but a faint attempt is something as
follows : " Kyu, kyi, kyui, yi, ya." Imagine all the tom-

A LEPER GIRL OP SHANGHAI.

STREET SCENES IN SHANGHAI.

271

cats you ever heard pooling their issues to make night
hideous from a neighbor's roof, and you Avill have some
idea of the prolonged and awful caterwauling which John
Chinaman caUs "music."
It is difficult to know Avhen to stop in our walk or in our
description of it. The streets go on for mfles and mfles ; one

A JUVENILE CHINESB ORCHESTRA.
street succeeds another in interminable succession; flsh
dealers and green grocers ; crockery stores and Avood carv
ers ; quflt makers (for quflt making is a great industry in
Shanghai) ; undertakers, with piles of huge, clumsy coffins
in their warehouse ; these, to say nothing of restaurants and
barber shops, and other trades and callings, would fUl this
volume, should I attempt to describe a Chinese street as I
have seen it.

273 HUMAN BEASTS OF BURDEN.
As we are obliged resolutely to turn our faces homeward
from our Avalk in the streets when duty caUs to other things,
so I must resolutely turn my attention and yours, dear
reader, to other things than these very commonplace, but
very interesting, streets of Shanghai.
Let us visit the country suburbs of this great city, and
see what odd sights are visible there. The flrst cause for
wonderment is, perhaps, the immense loads which the
coolies bear. Scores of them are coming to market this
early morning with a long pole over their shoulders, from
each end of Avhich is suspended a great basket of produce.
It is surprising what tremendous loads these human
beasts of burden can stagger under. Many a time have I
seen a coolie with a basket of green vegetables holding not
less than three bushels, or more than an ordinary flour
barrel, suspended from each end of his shoulder pole.
Sometimes his basket contains eggs, which are scarcely less
heavy. Let my readers think of raising two barrels of eggs
to their shoulders and trotting off AAith them at a Uvely
pace and they will have some idea of the burdens imposed
on these two-legged horses.
But the most unpleasant and ubiquitous of all are the
men carrying liquid manure. Whole processions of these
human night-carts do we meet Avith their two odoriferous
buckets, holding nearly a barrel each, balanced on brawny
shoulders. We need not complain, however, of the passmg
whiff, if the coolies can spend their lives amid such stenches,
and we are the less disposed to complain AA^hen we remember
that it is OAving to this careful fertilizing and minute cultiva
tion of the soil that the hundreds of mfllions of China are
kept on the existence side of the starvation point.
At this time of year (late December) everything in an
agricultural line is at its worst, and Ave must make aUow-

CHINESE FARMS AND FARMERS. 273
ances for the bleakness of the season, for there is "an eager
and a nipping air " in Shanghai as well as in Yermont and
Michigan at this time of year. The traveler, coining from
Japan, is struck by the fact that the cultivation of the soil is
much less careful and systematic in China than in the
Mikado's empire. In Japan every square inch is utilized,
the furrows are as straight as mathematical precision can
make them ; every corner and edging is carefully trimmed
and squared, until the whole country looks like one great,
carefuUy-tended, kitchen garden.
About Shanghai, however, there is more slovenliness
visible, less care in little things, more ragged edges and
fewer kitchen-garden effects. Nevertheless, the average
Chinaman, in spite of the lack of picturesqueness in his
fields, is a famous farmer, and if Horace Greeley's dictum is
true, and if that man deserves well of the world who makes
two blades of grass grow where only one grew before, then
John Chinaman should have a high meed of praise.
He has learned to perfection the system of rotation of
crops, and in many places, as I have before remarked, he
would be ashamed not to get three if not four crops out of
the sofl every twelve months. Moreover, if he cannot get
one crop he wfll take another ; he is not particular so long
as it brings rice to his chop-sticks.
Look over yonder this frosty December morning, and
you wiU see twenty men wading out into a shallow pond
which is covered with ice of the thickness of window glass.
They seem to be whipping the surface of the pond with long-
bamboo poles and then raking something toward them with
long bamboo rakes. For a time these strange antics puzzle
us. The men cannot be fishing, neither can they be thrash
ing the surface of the pond for fun. Chinamen do not take
their sport in any such athletic way. They need all their
17

274 THRIFTY JOHN.
muscle and energy for the stern realities of life, and have no
superfluous vital energies to expend on out-door games.
What, then, can they be doing ? A nearer inspection re
solves the mystery and shows that they are gathering one of
their yearly crops — the ice harvest. The ice dealers of the
Kennebec and the Penobscot would laugh at the very idea of
such ice gathering. What ! they would say, store such ten
uous coldness as that ! Harvest ice no thicker than your
finger nail ! You might as well scrape the rime off of the
window pane for next summer's consumption or brush the
hoar frost from the grass for use next July.
But John Chinaman knows what he is about, and, not
deterred by any contemptuous remarks which his visitors may
make, he goes right on thrashing the thinly-coated water
AAdth his long bamboos, raking his brittle harvest together,
and storing it in great straw-thatched ice houses. Then he
salts it aU doAvn, literally, not figuratively, and thus freezes
it ancAV into a solid compact mass ; and, though his ice is not
good for drinking purposes, he has a product that answers
ver}^ Avell for refrigerating uses, and which lasts far into the
long hot months of the coming summer.
But this is only one crop that the thrifty Celestial ob
tains from the same patch of sofl, for before he flooded it
Avith water for his ice crop, he had taken a harvest of rice
and one of vegetables, and very Hkely one of fish, from the
same two-acre field.
" A fish crop from a temporary pond which only covers
the soil for a quarter part of the year," you say ; " why, it
is impossible ! " Not at all, my reader, and this is the way
it is done. The ova are hatched in a sluggish stream or
ditch near by, and Avhen the flsh haA'e attained an inch or
two in length, the fleld is flooded and the small fry are
turned loose into it to feed as best they may in the sub-

CANNY FISHERMEN. 375
merged rice stubble. The fast-groAving fish soon attain an
eatable size (about six inches in length) and the canny China
man may then be seen wading into the Avater which comes
half-Avay to his knees, armed with a fish pole and a bottom
less bamboo basket Avith a hole in the top.
But the fish pole is not for the purjjose of catching fish,
as might naturaUy be supposed, at least, not in the ordinary
Avay, nor is the basket to hold the finny captives, since it is
open at both ends. But this is the modus operandi. With
his pole he thrashes the Avater, and Avhen he sees a sudden
gleam and something dart into the black mud, he quickly
caps the spot with his bottomless basket, and putting his
hand through the hole in the top, he gropes around in the
mud untfl he flnds the imprisoned flsh. This he transfers to
another basket which is slung on his back, and then goes on
thrashing the mud and water until he sees once more the
sflver gleam of a fish darting into the mud.
It wfll be strange if, on this walk through Shanghai's
streets and suburbs, we do not see at least one of the sad
processions which, in every part of the world, teU the old, old
story of mortaHty and decay. I saw many of these funeral
corteges in China, but none that interested me more than
one I met in Shanghai.
A wealthy resident had lost his only daughter, and he
Avas determined to shoAV her every token of barbaric honor.
He was evidently intent on having what our Hibernian
friends would caU " an fligint funeral." Long before the
mourners came out of the house were the preparations begun,
and bearer after bearer arrived, each bringing some contri
bution to the solemn occasion. First came two coolies carry
ing the inevitable roast pig, varnished and crisp and brown,
his ears and tafl decorated with red and white and silver em
blems. Then came two others bearing a dressed kid, un-

276 A CHINESE FUNERAL.
cooked and standing in a most pathetic attitude Avith his
mouth open and head hanging down to his knees. FoUoAving
the bearers of the kid were others carrying Httle platforms
covered with rice, vegetables, and sAveetmeats, whfle on the
sweets were toy butterflies and dragon flies, emblematic of
the soul which had taken its flight.
Then other palanquins came upon the scene. In one were
two huge paper images which Avere to be burned at the
grave, and through whose ascending smoke the soul might
flnd its way above this sordid, cloudy world. Another palan
quin contained the ancestral tablets ; and stiU another, a
great string of mock money, made of paper in the form of gold
and sflver ingots for the spirit's use. These, I was told, were
to be burned to propitiate the gods, and that the deceased
might have some change for her long journey. At last, after
much delay, the coffin, preceded by six Buddhist priests in
flaming yeUow robes, was brought out of the house of mourn
ing. It was quite different from our coffins or caskets, and
tapered gradually from the head to the feet, looking not un
like the mummy caskets Avhich one sees in the British museum.
Over the coffin a brflliant canopy in red and gold cloth was
then raised, and on the canopy a paper stork at least three
feet in height, was fastened. Usually, a paper cock has this
post of honor, I am told, but on this occasion it was an unmis
takable life-size stork. Then came out the famflA" friends, and
a truly pitiable sight they presented, for grief is the same in
all lands. The grotesqueness of the surroundings could not
altogether disguise the sorrow, though of course, I am not
prepared to say that the excessive Aveeping and Availing and
agonized outcries were all of genuine grief. But Avho will
dare say that they were not !
The father of the damsel came flrst, almost bent to the
ground by his sorrow, whfle on either side he was supported

STRANGE FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 277
by a mute, who Avas arrayed, like the father, in sackcloth
and white linen. Then came the mother likewise supported,
followed by the brothers all bent double with their sorrow,
groaning and weeping and wringing their hands. Thus the
pitiful procession moved along, the roast pig and the un
cooked kid, the vegetables and the sweetmeats, the paper
images and the flesh-and-blood mourners, the mock money
and the narrow house Avith its lonely occupant, surmounted
by the many-colored paper stork; all moved slowly on,
foflowed by the more distant mourners in jinrikishas.
How unspeakably sad is such a sight! Mortality un-
cheered by any true hope of immortaUty ! Death irradiated
by no reasonable assurance of life! The grave with the
stone stfll at its dismal entrance, not yet rolled aAvay.
No wonder, O father and mother, that ye are bowed
down with grief even to the ground ! No wonder that ye
weep and wafl as those without hope !
At the grave the paper images and the mock money are
burned, and the paper stork reduced to ashes. Some por
tions of the food are left at the grave for the dead to feed
upon, but most of it is eaten by the survivors, who remark
as they masticate the generous provisions, " How strange it
is that this pork has no taste ! " " How singular that the
spirits should have taken all the goodness out of these vege
tables ! " " The departed have evidently been helping them
selves to these sweets, for there is no taste left in them."
However, in spite of the assumed tastelessness of the
funeral baked meats, which is always remarked upon, the
mourners manage to make a very good meal upon the crisp
roast pork and toothsome confections. Oftentimes the
bodies of the dead are kept for months, hermetically sealed,
in the house of the relatives, and in the neighborhood of
Shanghai the body is ahvays buried only where the priests

278 THE BABY TOWERS OF SHANGHAI.
indicate. There seem to be no cemeteries set apart for the
dead, but the whole vicinity of Shanghai is one vast grave
yard. On this walk into the country, which we have been
taking together this December morning, we have seen scores
and hundreds of little mounds unmarked except by a slight
sweU in the uneven sofl, each of which teUs where many
bodies have been deposited. Scores of coflins, too, are seen,
either carelessly set down by the roadside, or half buried
under a few spadesfull of sofl in the fields near by.
But the most pathetic sight in the neighborhood of
Shanghai is the baby towers, into which are unceremo
niously thrust the bodies of chfldren who die before they
have attained their first birthday. According to the Chinese
idea they have no souls before they cut their first teeth. It
matters little, therefore, what becomes of these tiny, soul
less waifs, and so they are thrown, almost before the Hfe is
out of their little bodies, into these dismal, eyeless towers,
which here and there dot the horizon. When the tower is
filled to the roof, the Httle bones are shoveled out as imcere-
moniously as they were thrown in, and another lot of infant
bodies ffll the horrid cavity.
What else could be expected with Chinese views of
infant life? What respect is due a souUess infant? Hoav
different this treatment from that of Him Avho took Httle
children up in his arms and blessed them, who said : " Suffer
the little chfldren to come unto me, and forbid them not, for
of such is the Kingdom of Heaven."

CHAPTER XY.
A JOURNEY THROUGH TROPIC SEAS.
A Delightful Voyage — Liquid Fire — The Sacred White Ox — The Gharri
— The "L Road" and the Bullock Bandy — Fan Palms of Singapore —
A Tree that Casts no Shadow — How the Bandy Driver Stimulates his
Steeds — An Effective Threat — Chewing a Bullock's Tail to make
him go — Picturesque Wharf Venders — ' ' Papa Dive "— Scrambling for
Nickels — A Walk in Penang — Mangosteens and Jack-f ruit — Assa-
fcEtida and Onions — The Indian Juggler — A Man with a Gizzard —
The Mango Tree Trick and the Girl in the Basket — The Last of the
Chinaman — Ceylon's Spicy Breezes — The Waggish Captain's Joke —
The Odors of Colombo — A Horrible Combination — The Catamaran —
The Two Instincts of the Singhalese — Persistent Shopkeepers — Be
sieged by Beggars — Baby Merchants and their Wares- The Cinna
mon Gardens — An Ancient Turtle — Brawny Barbarism and Miss
Nancyism.

iHE journey from Hong Kong to
Colombo occupies about thirteen
days over tropic seas. The flrst
few days from Hong Kong, with
the northwest monsoon blowing
half a gale, are apt to be rather
uncomfortable for lovers of
terra firma; but, as we travel
southward, the weather grows
gentler, the sea grows smoother,
and before we reach Singapore
we vote this journey to be one of
the most deUghtful on any ocean. There are usually few
signs of life at sea, but on this voyage flying flsh flit from
wavelet to wavelet, and at night the phophorescent animal-
cula turn all the surrounding ocean into waves of liquid fire
(2Y9)

280

THE SACRED WHITE OX OF INDIA.

as our good ship plows it's Avay through this briUiant but
harmless flame.
Occasionally a passing steamer causes all the passengers
to unstrap their fleld glasses and level them at the distant
stranger. Occasionally, also, a helpless safling vessel is seen
in the distance, in a dead calm, with flapping safls and
drooping pennant; its crew devoutly wishing, doubtless, for
the aid of steam, which carries us so swiftly along.
Singapore, in the Straits Settlements, is the flrst stopping
place for steamers bound for India, and here we have our

SACRED WHITE OXEN.

introduction to Indian life. Here for the first time we see
the typical white oxen with humps on their backs, just
behind their necks, and with gafly painted horns, one red
and one blue; a sight which becomes very famfliar after a
few days in India, for the ox is not only sacred in this land,
but is also the indispensable beast of burden. Here, too, we
are flrst introduced to the universal Indian vehicle, the
gharri. Nothing is more indicative of the character of a people
than the vehicles in Avhich they ride. We are tempted to
perpetrate a second-hand aphorism to the effect that if you
will shoAv us the carriages in which a people ride aa^o wifl tell

A TREE THAT CASTS NO SHADOAV. 281
you the character of the people Avho ride in them. The " L
road" and electric street car are as typical of the hurrying,
impatient xlmerican character as the ram-shackle bullock
bandy is of the careless, easy, happy-go-lucky Hindu of
Southern India.
In Japan the universal jinrikisha is always with us at
every railway station and in almost every country village
throughout the empire. In Hong Kong the sedan chair
bears the traveler aloft above the heads of the flocking
throng. In Shanghai the wheelbarroAV, with its large cen
tral wheel and its seat on either side for two persons, shoAvs
the highest aspiration of the average Chinaman, so far as
locomotion goes. But in Singapore and throughout India,
the gharri is the common carriage for the better classes. It
is not a bad one either, for a hot country, Avith its double
roof, and latticed, movable blinds on all sides, which admit
the air and exclude the sun. It seems to be, on the whole,
the best pubHc carriage that can be devised.
In Singapore, however, jinrikishas are also used and are
most gorgeously painted with huge gold Chinese flgures on
their broad backs.
The most interesting drive is to the Botanical Gardens,
which are extensive and Avell worth visiting, especially for
their beautiful fan palms, whose leaves radiate from a com
mon center, forming a huge representation of our common
palm-leaf fan, with a great trunk for the handle and the
branching leaves for the fan. It Avould take a giant, to
be sure, to wield such a fan, but the representation is com"
plete on a colossal scale.
When these palms are planted at different angles they
form a very picturesque addition to the landscape of a
garden. Looked at edgewise the tree is almost as thin as a
sheet of paper and can hardly cast a shadow in the brightest

282

CHEWING A bullock's TAIL.

sunHght, but looked at from the front or from behind, the
huge spreading fan presents a perfect shield to all within its
shade. Here, in Singapore, too, we see the great straw-thatched
bandy with patient bullocks hitched to it; and in this
bandy, when gharris were not to be had, we have been more
than once glad to ride, shielded as we were from the hot
Indian sun, and getting over the road, not at lightning

^3^^^? ^^

THE BULLOCK CART.

speed, but at the rate of three or four mfles an hour, which
is very good trotting for these little animals.
The bandy driver usuaUy stimulates the speed of his
bullocks not only by judicious application of a short stick,
but more often by twisting their tafls, in a way that seemed
to us most cruel and inhuman ; while one driver, who could
not get sufficient speed out of his boAdne steeds, in his de
spair actually grasped the tail of one of them in his teeth
and began to cheAv it vigorously as "a discourager of hes
itancy" on the road. We Avere obliged more than once
to threaten our bandy-drivers and "gharriwaUahs'" with the
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, unless
they desisted from their practices.

AT THE AVHARF AT SINGAPORE. 283
Whether our threats Avere understood or not, or whether
"the society with the long name" is known in Singapore I
am not sure, but in every case our vigorous protest seemed
to have its desired effect, and the poor animals trotted along
without so much applied stimulus from the outside.
But more interesting to us than the busy streets of Singa
pore with their squalid inhabitants, or even beautiful botan
ical gardens, were the crowds of young adventurers that
swarmed to the wharf with various wares and temptations
for our pocketbooks.
Here were boats loaded with most curious and beautiful
shells, lovely nautUus shells, huge, flat, pearly mussel shells
(so thin it seemed impossible for any living animal to flnd a
home between the two discs), crinkly, curly, spiral shells of
every hue and possible curve. From other boats great
branches of coral, red, white, and pink, tempted the pur
chaser. Stfll other men, with gaudy turbans and brflliant
cloths round their waists, offered for sale parrots of even
more gaudy plumage than themselves ; whfle others came
down to the wharf with great baskets of delicious pine
apples, for the straits are the very home of the " pine," and
nowhere else is it found of finer flavor or of larger size.
In the water about the steamer were scores of naked
boys ready to dive for a piece of money which the amused
traveler might throw them. Every grown-up stranger to
them is either " papa " or " mamma," acc<irding to the sex of
the person addressed ; whfle all European boys are yclept
" CharUe " by them, however they were christened by their
parents. So, as we three pflgrims looked over the side of
the vessel, scores of vigorous voices would cry out, " Papa
dive," "Papa dive," "Mamma dive," "Mamma dive,"
"Charlie dive," "Charlie dive." This did not mean that
the pflgrims should take headers into the water, as the im-

284 A SCRAMBLE UNDER WATER.
perative mood seemed to indicate, but that these brown-
skinned natives in the boats Avould exhibit their powers if
only the inducement of a flve-cent bit was thrown into the
water. As at Honolulu and other places where we have
watched the performance, when the little silver piece began
to flutter doAvn beneath the waves, what a commotion there
was among the twenty boats ! TavIco twenty supple, clean
limbed little fellows would jump into the water, their wrig
gling toes and the white soles of their feet would appear for
a moment above the waves, Avhfle underneath the disturbed
waters would prove that they were grabbing and scrambling
after the silver bit. Soon one brown hand would appear
above the surface followed by another and another, untfl
gradually the whole upper surface was broAvn with hands
and heads, and, puffing and blowing, the whole Httle regiment
of divers would come bobbing to the top ; the strongest and
most expert usually haAong the sflver piece safely tucked
away in his cheek.
In the meantime, their little dug-out canoes would, very
Hkely, float off to quite a distance, some of them would fiU
with water, others would disappear in different directions ;
but they would soon collect their property, get into their
several canoes, bale them out Avith a quick, dexterous motion
of the foot, which shoveled out sufficient water to keep
them from sinking, and then their occupants Avere ready for
another dive, if " Papa," or " Mamma," or " Charlie " would
only favor them with a five-cent piece.
Two days after leaving Singapore we reached Penang,
and as we looked out of our cabin porthole early in the
morning, we found our steamer at anchor and surrounded by
gaily painted sampans ; red and Avhite and blue of the most
vivid hues were the prevailing colors.
"Mahommed Baboo" had his name painted in flaring

A MOST HORRIBLE COMBINATION. 285
letters on one of these briUiant boats, and for the sake of his
name, perhaps, more than for any other reason (it sounded
so distinctly Oriental), Ave chose his sampan and were rowed
ashore for the modest sum of five cents each.
Penang is an uninteresting place, and its few sights
scarcely pay for the necessary walk in the hot sun. Such
gorgeous costumes as one here sees, such Oriental disregard
of any costume at all, Avould be startling in any other port
of the world, though here these scanty garments seem by
no means so inappropriate as in cooler latitudes.
The fruit stores are filled with strange products which
look very odd to our unaccustomed eyes. We indulged in
some of them, and found, that while a few were delicious,
others required a long course of education in order to appre
ciate them. The mangosteen, for instance, a fruit about the
size of an apple, with a dull, reddish color, is most spicy and
fragrant and refreshing. One never is obliged to lea/rn to
Hke the mangosteen.
The jack fruit, on the other hand, which our loquacious
guide persuaded us to buy, asserting that it was most deli
cious, proved to be a most horrible combination of bad onions
and assafoetida. After hanging a specimen of this fruit up
in our stateroom for an hour of two, the cabin became
utterly uninhabitable for several hours, untfl it had been
fumigated and opened in all directions to the breezes of
heaven. We are told by old inhabitants of the country,
however, that our guide was not far wrong, that the jack-
fruit is really by no means so bad as its odor indicates.
However, we were satisfied with what one of our senses told
us concerning it, and we did not attempt to find out whether
it tasted as badly as it smeUed.
Here in Penang, too, we saw our first Indian juggler.
He came aboard the ship whfle she was lying at anchor, and

286 THE UNCANNY INDIAN JUGGLER.
performed all his stock of tricks, which are decidedly inter
esting when first viewed, but which became somewhat stale
when, one after another, a dozen jugglers did exactly the
same tricks in the same way ; each one talking cheap-jack
patter to attract or distract the attention of the spectators.
In spite, however, of the sameness of his tricks, the
Indian juggler is a very clever fellow. He wfll cause a Httle
pebble to make its way under a brass cup, without hands,
when he is apparently six feet aAvay, and when the spectator
is wflling to take his oath that the cup is absolutely empty.
He wifl pick another pebble out of your shoe or a large stone
out of your pocket, though you are very confident you are
not carrying a smaU quarry about your person. He wifl
show you an innocent Httle ball of yarn in his hands, as big
as a large bullet, and after speaking to the baU for a moment,
it will be transformed into a little paroquet, which opens its
biU and squeaks and makes a " salaam " at the command of
its master. He will put an egg shell in a Httle cloth bag, slap the bag
around in the most vicious manner on the deck, against his
own shins, or on a projecting spar, wfll then take the bag
in both hands and wring it so vigorously that you are sm"e
that not even a fly could live within its folds; then coolly
opening the mouth of the bag, the egg shell, unharmed
and sound, wfll roU out upon the deck at your feet.
He will open his mouth and take out one pebble after
another, until you are convinced that he has a gizzard like a
turkey's, and that he keeps a store of stones for digestive
purposes in his gullet, for they all seem to come up from the
depths of his throat. One, two, three, four, up to nine of
these pebbles he Avill disgorge, and then, with a convulsive
effort by which he seems to be throwing up his Adam's
apple itself, will come, one after the other, four large stones

FOLLOWERS OF THE "BLACK ART.

287

as big as hens' eggs, which he wfll add to the pfle of the
smaller stones at his feet.
Before your very eyes he wfll plant a dry, withered
mango-stone. After pronouncing a few conjurer's incanta
tions over this stone, and passing a handkerchief over it, you
find, to your surprise, that it has sprouted into a little mango
tree with four tiny leaves. Another incantation and the
tree has grown into a sizeable bush with three or four

THE FAMOUS BASKET TRICK.

branches ; stfll another spell is pronounced and the bush has
become a tree, from which he will pluck and hand you a ripe
and luscious mango, even if it be not in the mango season.
The "basket trick" is also a favorite with these foUowers
of the " black art." A young girl, often a very pretty girl,
is tied together with long, stout ropes, which seem to be
knotted most securely. The girl is then crowded into a
Avicker basket, larger at the bottom but growing smaUer
towards the top, where the hole is just large enough to

288 THE FAMOUS BASKET TRICK.
admit her body. Then the conjurer takes an ugly-looking
sword, which is, however, probably far more harmless than
it appears, and deliberately jabs right and left, up and down,
backwards and forwards, into the basket. Through the center
and out at every side the sword is seen to stick, whfle one is
willing to aver, by all that is true, that it is impossible for
the sword to escape the body of the imprisoned girl. Most
recklessly the juggler lunges at the basket. For the sake
of heightening the effect, the girl emits timid little squeals
once in a while, and sometimes red fluid, that looks like
blood, pours from the side of the basket. But, a few mo
ments after, the girl, who has apparently been stabbed in a
hundred places, steps forth from her prison-house smfling,
unbound, and unharmed.
Five days from Penang brings us to Colombo, where we
have our first glimpse of genuine Indian life. Hitherto, the
ubiquitous Chinaman has been before us everj^where. He
has monopoHzed the markets, crowded out the natives,
trundled the jinrikisha, and cheated us with bare-faced impu
dence. But before getting to Colombo he seems to stop
short, and there we see only the natives of the soil. To be
sure there are many people from the mainland of India, who
have come to the more fertfle island of Ceylon to flnd work
when their crops have failed. But the Singhalese and the
natives of Southern India speak the same language, and
resemble one another very much in customs and costumes.
The glorious missionary hymn, Avhich every young Chris
tian learns as soon as he knows the Lord's Prayer, has
thrown a peculiar halo of romance around this beautiful
island of the coral seas, and more romantic day dreams have
centred here than upon any other spot on the face of the
earth. One is quite prepared to detect the " spicy breezes "
long before he sights the palm-girt shores of Ceylon.

CEYLON'S FRAGRANT ISLE. 389
A waggish captain of • whom we have heard, taking
advantage of this universal expectation born of the old
hymn, whfle the passengers were at "tiffin," smeared the
rafl of the upper deck with oil of cloves and cinnamon. Just
as the vessel neared the land, the passengers came up from
their lunch one after another ; the spicy odors were strong
and pungent, and were cited by the captain as proof positive
that the breeze was blowing "soft o'er Ceylon's isle." It
was not tiU he reached Calcutta that he explained the little
joke, and dispelled the romantic notions of fair Ceylon.
One is sure to beUeve, when he flrst lands at Colombo,
that the breezes are anything but spicy, for all sorts of
odors which make up the usual smeUs of a large seaport city
greet one as he steps ashore. Moreover, if one penetrates
far into the native town, he will be stfll more convinced that
there are other odors besides those of clove and cinnamon
which are wafted abroad in Ceylon.
As every place has its characteristic vehicle, so every sea
port has its characteristic native boat. The slipper boat of
Canton gives way in Kobe to the larger and clumsier lighter
of Japan. This in turn is displaced by the gorgeously
painted sampan of Penang, while in Colombo none of these
styles of boat buflding are seen, but a curious double-keeled
catamaran, with large out-riders, and so narroAV that a
passenger can barely squeeze his two legs between the sides
of the very rakish-looking little craft. However, the cata
maran is by no means so insecure as it appears, but, owing
to the large out-rider, it is able to brave almost any sea
in safety. The harbor of Colombo, though protected by a long and
expensive breakwater, is not, by any means, a quiet haven,
and such boats as these are the only ones, besides the steam
tugs, that wfll He in the turbulent surf that sometimes breaks
18

290 THE SWARMING STREETS.
on the shore. We were seized -upon as we stood upon the
deck of the Malwa by half a score of importunate boatmen,
and were almost pulled limb from limb in their anxiety to
secure us for their little craft. At last, asserting our right
to OAvnership in our beleaguered persons, we transferred our
selves and our baggage to the least importunate of our
boatmen and were rowed safely to the pier.
Here, again, the struggle to possess us and our baggage
was renewed. Bandymen and cooHes, hotel runners and
guides, besiege us from every quarter, jabbering and puUing
and jostUng and pushing, with aU the importunate imperti
nence of cab drivers at Niagara in the olden time. Again
we are compelled to assert our claim to our own personahty,
and, after seeing our baggage duly instaUed in a buflock
bandy, we walk on behind after the custom of travelers in
Colombo, untfl we reached our roomy and comfortable hotel
Even the walk to the hotel reveals a conglomerate
picturesqueness in the swarming streets, which promises wefl
for the interest of our stay in Colombo. Here are white-
turbaned Hindus, with long white cloths over their shoulders
and round their loins ; Brahmins with Httle spots of sacred
yellow ashes on their foreheads ; Sivites with three vertical
lines, two white and one red, to indicate that they are wor
shipers of Siva, the cruel goddess; and many other Hindus
A\ith different lines and spots of sacred ashes to show the
particular brand of their heathenism. Here, too, Mahom-
medans in red fezzes and Parsees in high glazed hats mingle
Avith the throng, and here and there a European, shaded by
an immense pith helmet, Avhich often comes down over his
features Hke a mushroom over a diminutiA^e toad. Naked
children, many of them Avith beautiful black eyes and be
witching curly hair, swarm everywhere. Before they are
able to speak they learn to hold out their little hands in

BESIEGED BY BEGGARS. 391
beggary, for tAvo instincts seem to have been fully developed
among the inhabitants of Colombo — the commercial in
stinct and the faculty for begging. Beggars swarm every
where, with all sorts of claims on human sympathy, revolt
ing and disgusting enough oftentimes, thrusting their de
formities and loathsome diseases into your very face and
eyes in order that they might excite your pity.
Of aU traders that I have ever seen, the Colombo shop
keeper is most persistent, vivacious, and vigorous. Certain
lines of business seem to be overstocked in this little city,
especiaUy the trade in precious stones, — moonstones, sap
phires, and rubies. It is safe to say that every second man
whom we meet on the street has his pocket full of precious
stones, either real or imitation, most likely the latter, which
he is bound you should buy, if his eloquent persistency can
induce you to part with your rupees. From every shop
door and window comes the beseeching invitation, "Lady
buy"; "Master come in" ; " Master look, just look, need not
buy"; "Do come, master"; " Mamma, please look here."
Every few steps a proprietor of a jewelry bazaar wfll rush
out at you with a handful of moonstones and sapphires,
which he Avfll insist on your taking. If you assert you have
no money to spare, he wiU teU you that he wfll trust you,
and that you can take the jewels home with you to America,
and send him the money when you are convinced of their
value. Such conflding trust in human nature I have not
seen elsewhere, and when I asked for the reason of this con
fidence in a passing traveler, I AA'as assured that the dealers
could wefl afford to take the risk involved in the offer, and
that, though they occasionally lost their jeAvels, they made up
for it amply by the enormous price which they obtained
from other people for comparatively worthless stones.
Even the children scarcely out of babyhood acquire the

293 A MANIA FOR TRADING.
mania for trading, and they wfll run by the side of your
gharri by the half hour Avith bouquets of bright-colored
flowers and canes and every imaginable trinket, Avith which
they think they can beguile the unwary traveler. H you
refuse to buy they wfll throw the bouquet into the carriage
at you, crying out in their chUdish treble : " Take it, master,
it's yours"; "It's a gift, mamma." H, however, you take
them at their word and actuaUy accept the bouquet as a
gift, they will follow you weeping and wafling and beseech
ing you to pay them for it, and make your life miserable
until you either throw back the worthless Httle bunch of
flowers or give them a half anna as its price.
The Cinnamon Gardens just outside the busy streets of
Colombo are by no means as impressive and as beautiful as
their romantic name indicates to foreign ears, for the cinna
mon bush is rather a scraggy shrub, without any special
characteristics in outward appearance to distinguish it from
a hundred other bushes in the jungle. As one crushes the
leaves in his hands, however, or scrapes the tender bark
from the branch, the delicious odor of the cassia plant is per
ceived, and one is tempted to buy all the gnarled and ugly
sticks which are for sale, for the sake of the spicy fragrance.
Here, too, every tropical fruit grows with the utmost
luxuriance. Unlike Southern India, Ceylon is frequently
visited by refreshing showers which wash Nature's face and
keep it always smfling. Long rows of cocoanut, bread-fruit,
and jack-fruit trees Ime the country roads, and some mag
nificent views tempt one to linger beneath their shade.
A few miles from Colombo is a fine estate, noted among
other things for its ancient turtle, Avhich is knoAvn to be at
least 400 years old ; since it has been upon the title deeds of
that property for that length of time. It lies in a little
pool of fresh Avater in a valley near the seashore, and never

AN ANCIENT AND HONORABLE TURTLE. 39.3
attempts to wander aAvay to greener fields and pastures
ncAV. In the hot Aveather, hoAvever, the pool dries up, and
then his turtleship every morning marches majestically up
to the bungalow to have cold Avater thrown over his parched
and dusty carapace. When he has been sufficiently re
freshed Avith many buckets of Avater he goes back to his
vaUey again, untfl he is ready for another refreshing
shower bath. •
As in other Eastern countries, everything here is done out
of doors. In Colombo the fruit stores and shoe shops, the
barber, cabinet makers, and jewelry dealers all do their
trading and bargaining and mechanical work with as fcAv
partitions between them and the general pubHc as possible.
EA^erywhere we meet semi-naked cooHes carrying huge
baskets of vegetables and other provisions, dry goods and
hardware, and every article known to commerce, upon their
stalwart shoulders. Loads which would crush an average
European to the ground they hoist to their shoulders or lift
to their heads, and trot off with them as though burdened
only with a feather duster.
The Singhalese men wear high torcoise-shell combs,
which give them a very odd appearance. To see a stalwart,
muscular man with a little girl's tortoise-shell comb perched
on the top of his head is a combination of brawny barba
rism and Miss Nancyism, which is very amusing.
But we have lingered as long as our journey wiU permit
amid the soft breezes of Ceylon, and must take the steamer
across the turbulent strait that separates us from the main
land of India.

CHAPTER XYI.

IN SOUTHERN INDIA.

Journey with a Bad Reputation — Landing at Tuticorin — Railway
Traveling in India — A New Use for a Dirty Sock — Preparing lor Hot
Weather — House Building in the Tropics — " Give the Sun no Chance "
— Horses under Pith Hats — Barren India — On the Ragged Edge of
Famine — Gaunt Starvation — Disputing with the Ants — Buffaloes
and Long-legged Goats — A Sunset Scene — A Missionary Bungalow —
A Girls' Boarding School — How They Make up Their Beds — An In
ventory of a Maiden's Jewels — A Missionary's Manifold Labors — A
Picnic in the Jungle — The "Nine Lac Garden" — Serious Duties
Again — A Bicycle Story — The Good Devil and his Terrible Bell —
" Tell Me Your Name, Good Devil " — Bound in the Shackles of the
Caste System — Encouragement for the Future — A Brave Brahmin.

HE journey from Colombo to Tuti
corin has anything but an envia
ble reputation, but it is like some
people whose reputation is worse
than their actual character, or
who at least have lucid intervals
Avhen their better natures pre
vafl. We found the short journey
of a day and a night between
the tAVO ports very pleasant and
restfifl. The British India
steamer was large and com
fortable ; the sea was smooth and smfling ; and even the
dreaded landing at Tuticorin, which had been pictured to us
as a most harrowing experience, was by no means as bad as
we expected.
(394)

RAILWAY TRAVEL IN INDIA. 395
On all this southern coast of India there is not a good
harbor, and Tuticorin, like the great capital of Madras, is sit
uated on the stormy, surf-beaten shore of the open ocean.
At Tuticorin passengers are taken ashore by a small,
puffing, bobbing tug-boat, whose gyrations often try even
the strongest stomach. Calm as Avas the day on which
we landed, the little steamer which came to take us off
jumped and bumped against her larger sister, and threatened
to tear away the gangway which had been let down for us
to descend. However, by skillful manoeuvring, we got away
from the great ship's side without any serious damage, and,
in course of time, we landed at the tiny wharf which ran out
from the shore.
Tuticorin is a long, low, rambling, native town, contain
ing about twenty European inhabitants. It does not invite
the traveler to linger long in its hot and dusty streets. We
found our way to the raflway station and were soon aboard
the train for Madura, the largest city of Southern India.
Raflway traveling in Southern India has some pecuHari-
ties Avhich distinguish it from travel in other parts of the
world. The distances are long, the trains are slow, and
much of the journey must be done at night, so that every
first and second-class car has a sleeping compartment. But
do not imagine for a moment, my reader, that a Pullman or
Wagner have cast their inventive spell over the Indian rail
ways. Far from it, as you wfll flnd before you have spent a
night on one of them. There are two tiers of berths on each
side of each compartment running lengthwise with the car,
and sometimes three tiers, and on these narrow shelves one
must curl up, providing his own blankets and pillows, and
thus pass as comfortable a night as circumstances will permit.
Many travelers take their own servants with them, who
make up their beds and look after their baggage, and even

296 A NEW WAY TO MAKE COFFEE.
provide them with lunches from the capacious hampers,
which are usually taken along on such journeys. A servant
is not necessary, however, but is often felt to be rather in
the way by those who are accustomed to wait upon them
selves. There are occasional eating houses provided at the
stations along the route, and any number of cooHes may be
hired at a moment's notice, who, for a quarter of an anna,
or one cent, will carry your baggage for any reasonable
distance. The ideas of some of these native servants who are picked
up by the round-the-world traveler, as to the proprieties of
civilized life, are sometimes startling. To this, that traveler
will testify who woke up one morning and looked aghast as
he saw his servant straining his morning coffee through one
of his socks which had been discarded the night before.
Springing from his berth the traveler cried out : " What are
you doing, you rascal, what are you straining that coffee
through ? " " Oh, master, master," repHed the terrified ser
vant, " it is not master's clean stocking, it is master's dirty
stocking. Coolie wfll not use master's clean stocking for
coffee." The master, however, was hardly reassured by this
information, and lost his appetite for his usual morning
beverage, as can be easily imagined.
These raihvay cars, like everything else in India, are buflt
for hot weather which, in the southern part of the continent
at least, prevafls for eleven months in the j'ear. So every
one prepares for the hot weather, and the people suffer as
little, I imagine, from the extreme heat as inhabitants of a
northern clime suffer from extreme cold. The pity that is
lavished upon dwellers in the tropics on account of the heat
they endure and on the inhabitants of Arctic regions on
account of the cold they suffer, is largely misplaced, as these
inhabitants themselves would assert.

"GIVE THE SUN NO CHANCE." 29?
As I said, in India even the railway cars are built for hot
weather. The double roof keeps the sun from beating
directly upon the passengers; the Avide, projecting blinds
ward off his beams from the windows, which are often made
of smoked glass, the better to protect the traveler : the seats
are not upholstered in plush and Avoolen, but in cool leather
or stfll cooler straAv, and often at the stations Avater by the
bucketful is thrown over the top of the cars and allowed to
trickle doAvn their sides that evaporation may keep the occu
pants cooler.
This regard for the season, too, regulates the building of
the houses, which for the most part are high-posted dwell
ings of one story, with ample verandas, and Avide doors
which are seldom closed, day or night. A screen with a
wide space at the top and bottom of the dbors affords
ample privacy, and in every way air is encouraged to circu
late above and below, and Avherever a breath of wind can be
prevafled upon to blow.
The airy costumes of the people emphasize the fact that
they live in the tropics, whfle foreigners usually provide
themselves with huge pith hats, which, though far from
comely, protect the sensitive skull of the European from the
burning rays of the sun.
" Give the sun no chance," is one of the proverbs on
every person's tongue. If he once shoots his rays upon you,
so that you are even partly stricken by them, it is very diffi ¦
cult ever after to Hve in India. Even horses in many cities
are protected by pith helmets. At the best, these poor
creatures do but little work when compared with their
Northern brethren. Eight or ten mfles a day for a horse,
unless he be one of the hardy native ponies, is considered a
sufficient daily task for these tropical latitudes. Men and
women, too, learn to take Hfe more easfly here than in the

298 ON THE VERGE OF FAMINE.
North. Early morning tea, often in bed, a late breakfast,
with a nap in the middle of the day, and dinner towards
sunset, is the usual routine of family Hfe. Work, both in
tellectual and physical, must be done in the cool of the day ;
exercise must be taken Avhen the sun is sinking below the
horizon, or not at all.
Southern India was much more barren and desert-Hke
than we had supposed. "India's coral strand" had always
been pictured to our imagination as clothed in living green
and begirt Avith waving palm trees. When we saw it vegeta
tion was as withered and much of the land was as parched as
the desert of Sahara itself. Gaunt, bleak mountains rose in
the distance, and as we came nearer we could see that they
were treeless and pastureless ; no gurgling brooks ran doAvn
their thirsty' sides, no growth of spruce and hemlock, pine or
fir, which make our American hflls so beautiful, clothed
their ragged spurs, but, arid and bare, they stood out in the
blazing sunlight, the bleached monuments of many cen
turies of drought.
Many dry seasons have succeeded one another in some
parts of Southern India, and in not a few places the people,
always on the verge of famine, had crossed the terribly nar-
roAv Hne which separates them from poverty or actual
starvation. In many places in the flelds we could see men and
women digging eagerly for dry roots, which in times Avhen
the crops fail and dire necessity urges, are used for food, but
which are, at the best, very coarse and distasteful fare. In
other places aa'c could see old Avomen crouching over and
hobbling along the road, picking up, grain by grain, a few
scattered kernels of rice which had fallen from the scanty
sheaves which the men had borne along: before them. A
missionary friend told me that he had more than once seen

ROBBING THE ANTS OF THEIR STORES.

299

the people scratching in the ant-hills for grain hidden by the
industrious insects for future use, so reduced and poverty-
stricken are the masses of the people.
The government had started relief-works in some parts
of India, anticipating a famine, and the missionaries were
busy, even in the early spring, in distributing what they
could afford, to keep their people from actual starvation.

NATIVES OP SOUTHERN INDIA.

The price of rice, which in seasons of plenty goes as low as
sixteen measures to the rupee, now has gone up to flve and six
measures to the rupee, and it can be imagined how little the
people whose crops have failed get for the few "pice" they
have at their disposal for their daily rations. Those who
Hve in more favored lands, where famine is unknown and
the rains never fafl, can scarcely comprehend what it is to
see the gaunt form of Famine stalking along the highway.

300 SEEN FROM THE CAR WINDOW.
Scenes from the car window, however, are not altogether
sad and gloomy. The raflway stations are alive with dusky
people in many colored garments. Even the dry fields seem
to afford some nourishment for the hump-backed cows, and
the smooth-haired, rhinoceros-Uke buffaloes; whfle great
herds of long-legged goats, which appear to be walking on
stilts, show the sky line plainly beneath their beUies, as one
looks out upon the flelds where they are grazing in every
direction. The goatherds, as in Scripture times, are watching over
their flocks, and sometimes, as they go on before to better
pastures, they are foUowed by long Hues of their gaunt
flocks marching in single flle a quarter of a mfle long, over
the dry and dusty fields.
Here and there we pass tanks and reservoirs of water
which are not entirely dry. OccasionaUy we see treadmill
bullocks, hitched to long ropes by which water is raised
from the depths below and poured into the open ditches,
whence it is conveyed to the few rice fields which the inhab
itants are stfll trying to cultivate.
As the day goes on the evening coolness steals over us,
and with the setting sun the most delightful period of the
Indian day approaches. The Avhole western sky is suffused
with brilliant light; a delicate pink above shades off into
vivid crimson and purple near the horizon. Not a particle
of vapor is in the air, and the clear, transparent sky above,
unflecked Avith clouds, is made strangely luminous by the
briUiancy of the departing "King of Day." Lower and
lower sinks the sun, and the glories above the horizon be
come less pronounced but more delicate in their tone, while
even now is rising the fuU, sflvery moon. At least, on this
journey to Madura she rose as the sun went down and
flooded the plains Avith her mellow light.

A missionary's bungalow.

301

And now everything is glorifled; the squaUd hovels of
the pariahs are touched with silver ; the rugged outlines of
the hflls are softened and meUowed ; the dry and parched
rice flelds, which would bear not even a cupful of precious
grain for their cultivators, look, under this sflvery radiance,
hke the favored gardens of the gods, and everything is
changed from the harsh brilliance of sunlight to the mellow
glories of the evening.
A journey of two hours after sunset brought us to some

A NATIVE VILLAGE OF SOUTHERN INDIA.
dear friends in the first missionary bungalow which it was
our privflege to visit in India.
Imagine a long, low buflding with wide verandas, sup
ported by large pfllars. The out-lying buildings are quite
impressive, not by reason of their magnificence or architec
tural beauty, but because of their extent, for the sleeping
rooms must be large and airy to be in anywise tolerable in
the hot season, and the missionary is often expected to enter
tain guests, which compels him to have a house of generous
size. The irreverent globe-trotter who goes home to deride

302 THE dispensary AND BOARDING SCHOOL.
missionary life, and to tell about the luxury and extrava
gance of missionaries' homes, is frequently very glad to take
shelter beneath this hospitable roof when he finds himself in
an Indian city with no other place in which to spend the
night than the indifferent traveler's bungalow.
A little away from the first bungalow, into which we
were introduced to missionary life, stands another house,
that of the medical missionary. Here, tens of thousands of
suffering natives every year obtain medicine or surgical
treatment which restores them to health and strength.
There is no more powerful auxiliary of missionary effort
than the surgeon's knife, and the weU-stocked dispensary.
On either side of the central bungalow are the teachers'
houses, where the unmarried ladies of the mission have their
abode, and near by is the dormitory for the girls' boarding
school. We flnd no dainty, carpeted, and curtained bou
doirs such as Yassar, Smith, and WeUesley can boast, but a
low shed-like buflding, which affords shelter and the few
necessary conveniences to the girls who are here obtaining
an education. No four-posted, spring beds, AAath hair mattresses, are
required for these damsels, for, if we look closely, AA"e shall
see the beds for flfty of them rolled up and stuck into a Httle
case like an umbreUa rack. Each maiden has one mat for
her bed, and aU she has to do when bedtime comes is to
unroll her mat, spread it on the floor, and go quietly off to
the Land of Nod. What a saving, this, of chambermaids
and household annoyances, to be thus independent of sheets
and blankets and spring mattresses 1 And here are the girls
themselves in their schoolroom, gathered for evening pray
ers, a hundred bright-eyed, earnest, intelligent damsels,
many of them exceedingly pretty, and showing in their
faces their capacity for intellectual discipline. To be sure,

A SCHOOLGIRL S JEWELS.

303

their clothes and their ornaments look strange to unaccus
tomed eyes. A long piece of brilliant cloth affords ample
clothing to answer all the demands not only of decency, but
modesty. The ears of many of them are full of jeAvels from
the upper to the loAver rim.
Let us take an inventory of the jcAvels Avhich bedeck one
of these Httle maidens.
On her wrists are seven bracelets, on each ankle three
more tinkUng sflver
circlets, her nose is
pierced with rings
and is glowing with
sparkHng. jeAvels,
which are probably
paste, but in any
event are most pre
cious in the eyes of
this unsophisticated
damsel, whfle in her
ears are no less than
five rings, some of
them of enormous f//il^i/

size. Some of these
girls have their ears
not only pierced, but
slit open so Avidely that three or four fingers of one's hand
might easfly be thrust into them, and heav^y peAvter bangles
dangle from them, resting oftentimes upon their shoulders.
The Christian girls, however, eschew these ornaments
more and more as they are brought under missionary in
fluence, and not a few of them have had their ears sewed up
again, as they have learned to appreciate the barbarity of
their ornaments. In another part of the mission compound

JE-WELS OP INDIA.

304

AN INEXPENSIVE EDUCATION.

is a row of little cell-like rooms, where the girls retire every
morning and evening for private devotions, not being able to
have much privacy in the common sleeping room. Their
bill-of-fare is not the elaborate menu of a girls' college at'
home, of which the comic papers are so fond of making fun,
but is a very simple one, consisting largely of rice and grain
and curry. The girls grind their OAvn grain in primitive
stone mflls, such as were used in Bible times; whfle the
curry, which is made
of various ingredi
ents, peppers, saffron,
cardamon seeds, co
coanut, etc., mixed
together, is roUed un
der a heavy stone in
much the same way,
and thus prepared for
aL table use. As can be
^" imagined, their sim
ple living, which sat-
isfles every want and
is all that they are
accustomed to, costs
exceedingly little.
Twelve dollars a year wfll support one of these dainty
maidens, or one of her brothers in the boys' school, in
another part of this same missionary compound. What do
you think of that, O students of Yale and HarA^ard. The
twelve dollars would be considered by most of you a scanty
supply for the expenses of one Aveck, to say nothing of the
other flfty-one in the year.
About the Avails of this mission bungaloAV lizards are
craAvling, deftly catching the flies and mosquitoes, proving

GRINDING CURRY.

BISHOP, PASTOR, TEACHER, PHYSICIAN. 305
themselves very good insect exterminators. On this account
they are often Avelcomed by the inhabitants, and live for
months and years in the same room Avithout being disturbed.
Crows, Avith slate-colored necks, go hopping about every
where, so tame and audacious that they will fly into the very
dining-room and pick the food off of the tables. In the open
compound the white bullocks, which are used to draw the
missionaries' bandies, are grazing, and before the door
beautiful floAvers and groups of bright-leaved plants are
growing. Altogether it is a very comfortable and pretty picture
which the missionary bungalow presents to the visitor's eyes.
If he stays long enough to get into the missionary spirit he
wiU see the vast amount of hard, self-sacrificing work which
is accomplished every day, — a work which, though its results
seem smaU and meagre at times, is laying the foundation for
a great Christian empire in India, — a work which will bear
fruit a hundredfold in this world and a thousand times a
hundredfold in the world to come.
To attempt to relate the manifold work of the mission
ary's most interesting and varied labors would be impossible
in this connection. He is not the pastor of a single flock, as
is the minister at home, but rather the bishop of a district
containing hundreds of thousands, or perhaps miUions of
souls. Under him are catechists, pastors, Bible women, and
helpers of both sexes; schools for boys and schools for girls;
reHef work for those who are in du-e poverty, and hospitals
where thousands of out-patients and hundreds of in-patients
are treated every year.
But it must not be thought by any of my readers that
the missionary is so whoUy given over to the affairs of the
other world, that he has no regard for the good thmgs of
this Hfe. He is not by any means an ascetic if he is a true
19

306 PESTS OP THE JUNGLE.
missionary of Christ, for his Master set him no such ex
ample. His mission in part is to live among the people as a
man among men ; to show them by example what a Chris
tian home may be, and to elevate them to his oavu standard
as far as he may be able.
There is much hearty good cheer and feUowship in these
stations, especially when missionaries come together for the
annual meeting, from their different fields of labor. It AA^as
our privilege to be present at some of these annual meetings
of different missions in India, and to know something of the
good cheer as well as of the hard work of missionary Hfe.
A missionary picnic in the jungles of Southern India AviU
long live in our memories as a pleasant picture. The jungle
is not always an impenetrable tangle of tropical shrubs and
climbing creepers, as perhaps many of my readers imagine,
but is a common name often given to the forest land of India,
and is sometimes a delightful place for a holiday excursion,
as in this case. Though, to be sure, one must keep a bright
eye out for cobras and other venomous snakes, and he need
not travel far from any city of Southern India to flnd the
dreaded cheetah or panther of the jungle.
This particular picnic which I have in mind was in the
"Nine Lac Garden," as it is called. A "lac" is a hundred
thousand, and the "Nine Lac Garden" was the garden
of nine hundred thousand trees, planted by the prince of
Arcot many years ago. The reckless prince squandered his
patrimony, and lost the Nine Lac Garden AAith the rest
of his property, and now all his nine hundred thousand
cocoanut trees and palmyra palms, mangoes, tamarinds, and
guavas, have passed into the hands of aliens. It stfll affords,
however, as delightful a place as ever for a summer hoHday.
Here, under the spreading banyan trees, were laid the
snowy Avhite tablecloths, Avhile the bachelor missionaries, by

PICNICKING IN INDIA. 30?
whom the picnic Avas given, exercised their skfll in providing
many toothsome dishes; ending the entertainment Avith a
grand surprise, Avhich Avas no other than some bricks of ice
cream from Madras. To be eating various kinds of ice
cream on a hot February day in the jungle of Southern
India, did not at aU correspond with our preconceived ideas
of Hfe in the forests of India, but raflAvays and express
messengers and telegraphic communication have made it
possible to have aU the necessities and many of the luxuries
of ciA-flized Hfe in regions where a few years ago they were
unheard of. After an hour or two of hearty good cheer, we
took our places in our gharris once more, and were driven
back to one of the serious duties of missionary life — a meet
ing for the educated Hindus, in a village near by. Thus
the day was ended as it had begun, and was continued in
earnest effort for the people round about, as every day is
spent by our missionary friends. The picnic was an episode
and breathing spell, as necessary and deserved as a parson's
hohday at home, or a student's outing after a long term of
study. Thus we rode back to meetings and services with which
afl our days in India were fiUed; some in open carriages,
some in buUock bandies, and some of the missionaries on
their favorite steed, the bicycle.
Many amusing stories are told of the effect upon cred
ulous natives of the flrst appearance of a missionary upon
his wheel.
As one of the missionaries was riding along at night
on his high wheel, he met a Hindu, who, in the gloom
of the evening, could see only his high-perched form sup
ported, apparently, by nothing, moving at a tremendous
pace over the macadamized road. As the missionary ap
proached he rang his bell that the Hindu might get out of

308 AN AMUSING STORY.
the way. This completely paralyzed the poor feUow, and
falling upon his knees he cried out : " Oh ! good devfl, good
devfl, teU me your name, teU me your name, good devfl.
Oh ! Oh ! ! Oh ! ! ! I never did you any harm, good devil.
Go away, go away ! Oh! Oh!! Oh!!!" Then he began to
scream and run, and just kept ahead of the wheel in what
seemed to him its demoniacal course. Seeing that he could
not gain on the "good devfl," and hearing the terrible bell
sounding in his ears and proclaiming his destruction, as it
doubtless did to his excited imagination, he broke inconti
nently across the fields and ran with aU his might to the
nearest vfllage, to tell how he had been chased by an evil
spirit, who was sounding the very tomtom of Hades in his
ears. No wonder that such a sight thus affected his un
tutored imagination.
The morning of the day on which we enjoyed this unique
picnic in the Indian jungle had been spent in visiting mission
ary schools, dispensaries, hospitals, and evangelistic work.
And the evening concluded, as I have said, with a meeting
of educated Hindus.
This movement among the educated classes of India is
most interesting and hopeful. Though few of the higher
castes are as yet directly connected Avith the Christian
church, the leaven of the Gospel is evidently working among
them. For the most part they are very friendly to the mis
sionaries, and open to their influence in social and educa
tional matters, whfle in efforts for the temperance cause, the
Brahmins, who by religion and heritage are strict teetotalers,
work together with the missionaries for the uplifting of their
fellow men.
In some places the missionaries have established lyceums
and debating societies, and in connection Avith these, high
caste people are brought, to some extent at least, under

A DARING BRAHMIN. 309
the influence of the Gospel of Christ. As yet the great
masses of Hindus are bound hand and foot by the fetters
of then- caste system, which is more inexorable than any
other social system that ever existed, probably, in the
history of the world. But it is interesting to notice that
these shackles are giving way.
In one of the vfllages of Southern India, a Brahmin, who
had become convinced of the degrading and benumbing
influences of his people's prejudices, recently advertised pub
licly m the papers, that he Avould accept the invitation of
any cleanly vegetarian of a lower caste Avho should invite
him to dine with him. This was a challenge throAvn in the
very teeth of pubHc opinion. Not long after it was accepted,
and a low-class Hindu gave an invitation to the Brah
min to dine with him at his house in Madras. True to his
word the Brahmin accepted the invitation, and on his next
visit to Madras, where his profession as a lawyer frequently
caUed him, he dined Avith this man of lower caste, not
secretly, but in the most public way, giving notice in the
papers that he would do so, and inviting other Brahmins to
see that he dared to resist the crushing force of public
opinion. Of course, he was read out of their synagogues, his wife
and aU his famfly connections left him, as he kncAv they
would; even his cook refused longer to prepare his food.
For tAVO weeks he was actually obliged to live on milk and
plantains, which require no cooking.
But his courageous example is infectious, and two other
brave Brahmins in his native city have given notice that they
are Avilling to dine with him whenever he returns to his
home, though they know it means to them loss of caste,
social ostracism, and public disgrace in the eyes of all their
old companions. It means that their wives will leave them,

310 THE BATTLE AGAINST CASTE BEGUN.
their cooks will desert them, and they will be practicaUy
outcast Avanderers on the face of the earth. Nevertheless,
there are some of these men who are wiUing to endure
this obloquy for the sake of freeing their nation from the
galling chains which enslave her.
In one of these public meetings for educated Hindus of
which I have spoken, I have heard a Brahmin denounce the
caste system with all the flre and fervency and elevation of
sentiment that a devout Christian missionary could use.
The same man, Nayna Sastri, a lawyer of Cuddapa, who
risked his aU in dining with a lower caste famfly, has since
issued several Social Reform pamphlets, which are wefl
worth perusal by Englishmen and Hindus alike, for the
sake of the high moral sentiments which they inculcate.
All honor to such brave men wherever we find them.
The martyr spirit is not yet dead in the world. There are
some among the Brahmins who wfll not bow the knee to
the Baal of caste. Thank God for the courageous and heroic
spirits of India. May their number multiply.

CHAPTER XYII.
FAMOUS CITIES OF SOUTHERN INDIA.
A Fascinating Land — Gorgeous Heathenism — Tattoo Marks and Sacred
Ashes — A Man of the Thief Caste — A Robber Village — Calling the
Roll of Thieves — The Thief Middleman — The Women at the Well —
The Greasy Fakir — Paying Him for Drifting to Leeward — Blood
curdling Announcements — A magniflcent Temple — Twenty-flve Mill
ions of Dollars — Dusty Gods and Goddesses — The Holy of Holies — A
Stone Bull in a Stone Bath Tub — The God's Bath — A Beautiful Pal
ace — The Temple of Tanjore — Filthy Water as a Purifier of Sins —
The Last Rajah and His Wives — A Wedding Procession — The Kick
ing Capacities of an Old Smooth-Bore — Vellore and its Temple — Sus
pense and Terror — A Brave Rescue — The Gallant Horses — Tippoo
Sahib's Relatives — The Madras Hunt — The Punkah Wallah.

IYEN the mpst vigorous traveler
would find it difficult to explore
every interesting city of this mar
velously fascinating land of India.
I must be content to take my
readers to a few of the places
which have most interested me.
Not ahvays are they the "show
places " of India, or thosQ over
which the traveler always goes
into raptures ; these places you
will find described in scores of
books of travel, and I may well leave them to those who are
most impressed by their wonders and beauties, while I de
scribe those which have most strongly appealed to me.
The city of Madura, to my mind, is one of the most inter-
(311)

312 THE SIGN UPON THE FOREHEAD.
esting cities in all India. Here we flnd the people in all the
gorgeousness of their native costumes, splendidly bejeweled,
and bedecked, and becrimsoned with the gay cloths which
they wear in most picturesque fashion. Here, too, the deg
radation of heathen worship is seen as perhaps noAvhere else
in India. In the North, Brahminism seems to be a more refined
and occult religion than in the South. In the South the
religious doctrines appeal to the senses, and the magnificent
temples and innumerable gods which are everywhere wor
shiped, tell of centuries of idolatry and superstition.
As one walks along the street, he is struck not only by
the costumes, but by the tattoo marks and by the signs on
the foreheads of the people whom he meets, Avhich teU of
the god they worship and of the caste to which they belong.
Each morning they smear their foreheads with sacred ashes
in red or white or blue, and sometimes with a combination
of all the colors. Many wear a single spot just above the
bridge of the nose. Others bedeck themselves with three
lines running from their eyebrows to their hair, whfle the
foreheads of others are decorated transversely from temple
to temple with the sacred ashes mingled with ofl. One who
has lived long in the country and has become expert in the
signs on the forehead, can tell at a glance to what great
caste each man belongs, though it is impossible to distinguish
the minor castes, as they are almost numberless.
As I was sitting in a mission bungaloAv one day, a bright,
intelligent Hindu entered the door, and spoke to the mis
sionary in charge in regard to some church work Avhich had
been committed to him. As he went out, my friend said to
me, " That man belongs to the thief caste." I was quite sur
prised at this piece of information, for the man appeared to
me to be a very respectable citizen, and he was clad in

A CONVERTED THIEF. 313
snow-white cloth and spotless turban. Instead of playing
the thief on this occasion he made me a most respectful
" salaam," as he came into the room, laying the flat of his
hand against his forehead, and then very courteously stated
his business, not attempting to deprive me or my friend of
any of our possessions.
Before he departed he placed a little lime, the symbol of
friendship and good wfll, in the palm of my hand and then re-
spectfuUy retired. " That man belongs to the robber caste,"
said my friend. " What do you mean by that ? " I asked.
" Just what I say," he replied. " He is a Christian man
now, and since his conversion he has had nothing of the thief
in his nature, having put aside the ' Avorks of darkness.'
But it is none the less true that he belongs to the thief caste
and Hves in the vfllage where all the inhabitants belong to
the same caste. Some years since we established a mission
for them in that viUage, a number have left their thieving
practices, but the great majority of the inhabitants stiU con
tinue in their former CAdl ways. The reputation of this vil
lage is so bad, that every night at midnight the police call
the roll of every adult male citizen, and every man of them
must ansAver to his name at the roll call, and shoAV that he
is in his OAvn proper habitation at the hour of midnight.
But they are wfly fellows," continued my friend, " and as
soon as the police inspection is over and they have ansAvered
to their names, they are off on their marauding expeditions
once more."
" Nearly every native house in Madura pays tribute to
this caste," he went on to say. " They go around at stated
intervals, demanding a rupee or some small piece of money.
If the tax is not paid by the household on whom the demand
is made, soon it is found that a cow is missing, or a bullock
is hamstrung, or that in some way their property has suf-

314 PAYING TRIBUTE TO ROBBERS.
fered damage." " But why do they not apply to the poHce ? "
I asked. " Oh ! " said my friend, " the police are oftentimes
corrupt and in league with the robbers themselves, and it is
more trouble and annoyance to seek the aid of the police, or
to go to law about their loss, than it is to pay the smaU trib
ute demanded by the thieves. When anything is missing,
the natives go to the middlemen who abound in these vil
lages of the thief caste, and for one-third of the actual price of
the missing article they buy it back. For instance, if a cow
valued at thirty rupees is stolen, the owner knows that ten
rupees ransom money paid to the middleman wfll secure
the cow. To apply to the police and go through the tedious
operations of law in getting back their property, would cost
so much more, that the middleman's services are usually
employed, demoralizing as the effect must be upon the peo
ple who are subject to such extortions."
One of the characteristic sights of Madura, as of all other
cities of Southern India, is that of the women at the weU
with bright brass water jars, which they are fiUing at the
public fountain, and which they then carry home on their
heads or in a basket of braided rope.
How often this scene has reminded us of our Master's
conversation with the woman of Samaria as he met her
draAving water for her famfly needs, in just the same way so
many hundreds of years ago.
Another common sight is that of the reUgious mendicants
or fakirs, who adopt every conceivable method of attracting
attention. Here is one with long hair, Avhose greasy, dirty ringlets-
reach to his very toes. Another with tflthy, matted hair
thrusts himself upon you hoping that his very offensiveness
Avill lead you to buy him ofl and pay him for getting well to
the lecAvard.

A BAND OP NATIVE INDIAN .lUGGLERS AND SNAKE cnAKMERS. (From an instantaneous pliotograph.)
" If this snake should bite you," said one of these gentry, at the same time opening one of the baskets, "you will die in flfteen minutes.
" If this one should bite you," opening another basket, " you will die in ten minutes." Opening still another basket, he remarked coolly, " If
he should bite you, yon will die in five minutes," and still another basket was opened with the blood-curdling announcement, " If this snake
should bite you, yon will die In one minute."

SNAKE CHARMERS OF INDIA. 317
Here is another with a tomtom and a curious one-
stringed flddle, making what he calls music, but what any
other person Avould call the essence of hideous noise. Here
is a snake charmer with a basket of Avriggling, writhing, red-
tongued reptiles on his head. He will sometimes open this
in close proximity to your very eyes, and you involuntarily
start back amazed and disgusted at the contents of his
basket. "If this snake should bite you," said one of these gentry,
at the same time opening one of the baskets, "you Avill die
in fifteen minutes. If this one should bite you," opening
another basket, "you wfll die in ten minutes." Opening
stfll another basket, he remarked coolly, "If he should bite
you, you wiU die in five minutes," and still another basket
was opened with the blood-curdling announcement, "If this
one should bite you, you will die in one minute." By this
time my friend had gotten almost out of sight and hearing,
for he did not care to try any experiments in the interests of
science. The temple of Madura is probably the most magnificent
in Southern IncHa, as it is certainly the largest which can be
found in any part of this land of temples. It is impossible
to describe the thousands and thousands of sculptured pillars,
the beautiful tessellated pavements, the painted ceflings, and
the rich ornamental stone-work which abounds everywhere.
The mind is confused by the very richness and gorgeousness of
the effect, whfle at the same time one is tempted to laugh at
the grotesqueness and weep over the indecency of many of
the flgures.
The great towers or gopurams of this temple are coA^ered
with most elaborate flgures in stone. This mighty monu
ment of heathenism is said to have cost flve miUions of
pounds sterling, or twenty-five millions of doUars. The outer

318 GRIMY GODS AND THEIR GRIMY WORSHIPERS.

court of the temple is occupied by those who buy and sell
and get gain, as the Jews of old plied theu- business m the

t-«i

#-3

temple courts of Je
rusalem. But there
is no occasion for a
divine reformer with
a scourge of smaU
cords to drive out
these traffickers, for
the worship that
goes on within the
Holy of HoHes is
more degrading than
the business of the
outer corridors. It
contains no spiritual
element. Yarious
gods and goddesses
are seen in dusty Ht
tle niches, dripping
with ofl and grease,
and fllthy with the
dust of ages, whfle
before them is some
times prostrated a de
vout worshiper al
most as filthy and as
greasy as the gods
themselves. But for the most
part I saAv little re
spect paid to the temple or the gods of the temple by the
people Avho were roaming through its aisles. If they re-

-rr"" fin" .v.V
»'. ',Jl<il '• Milt I If * t

THE GREAT TEMPLE OP MADURA.

A CHARACTERISTIC DIVINITY.

319

garded the place as sacred, they kept their opinions very
much to themselves, for it seemed to have little more sanc
tity for those whose religion was here embodied, than it
had for us of Western education who regarded it as repre
senting gross superstitions and abominable idolatry.
In the very Holy of Holies, where the chief god has his
habitation, no stranger is allowed to go, but as Ave Avandered

THE PAINTED CORRIDOR IN THE TEMPLE OF MADURA.

about the temple the High Priest, Avith a numerous retinue
before and behind, passed on into this holy place.
In the center of the temple is a stone bull, which is the
characteristic divinity of Southern India. This particular
buU sits in a stone bath tub, which was buflt around him at
the time of the last great famine in 1877, in the hope, I
suppose, that if he sat in the water himself he would cause
the rains to descend upon the parched fields over which he
presided as the tutelary divinity. His tub has remained

320

AN idol's YEARLY OUTING.

there ever since, though when I saw it it was very dry and
dusty. In another part of Madura is a vast sacred tank, which
holds a large . amount of water. In the middle of this
artificial lake is a beautiful little island containing a most
elaborate and costly temple. To this temple, once a year,
over the green and slimy waters of the tank, the chief god
of the Madura temple is carried in great state on a raft.
This great event causes a vast commotion among the people,
who fiock to see the god take his yearly airing, his ride on
a, raft to the temple and, if I mistake not, his bath in the

THE SACRED TANK OF MADURA.

sacred tank. Certainly all the gods that I saw in the
Madura temple looked as if they were sadly in need of at
least an annual bath.
The palace of Madura is another buflding remarkable
for its architectural grandeur and imposing effect. It rivals,
in my opinion, the Yatican of Home. In fact, I have rarely
seen in any land a buflding which so impressed me with its
lofty arches and its noble Byzantine columns.
It is supposed that a Mahommedan architect must have
designed this building for the immensely wealthy rajah
who erected the temple and the palace. Now, however,
even the memory of the architect, who, in his way, must
have been a prince of the guild, has passed aAvay. The

THE TEMPLE AT TANJORE.

321

palace is no longer in the hands of the family that built it,
but is occupied by the British government for its court
rooms and offices, and for this purpose it affords a most
admirable building. The old harem of the king is now one
of the high courts of the Madura district, a far worthier use

INTERIOR OF THE GREAT PALACE OF MADURA.
to put the apartment to than that for which it was origin
ally designed.
Another interesting city of Southern India is Tanjore.
Here, too, the temple is the great attraction of the place,
though not so vast and elaborate as the temple of Madura.
It stands by itself and impresses the observer by its solitary '
magniflcence more than the swanning towers and endless

322 A STATELY TOWER.
pfllars and corridors of the Madura temple. The central
tower of this temple is 280 feet high, and covers the holy
of holies in which is the chief idol. This central tower is to
my mind, the most magnificent piece of architecture which
I have seen in Southern India. Next to the Taj Mahal, per
haps, it wfll take the palm from aU other architectural
wonders of the empire. So symmetrical is it, that its
shadow at noon does not project beyond its base, and the
tradition is, as our guide told us in his broken EngHsh, that
"it never cast a shadoAv," but this perpetual miracle is not
borne out by the facts of the case.
At the top of the tower is a huge dome, a soUd granite
block. How it could ever be placed in such a position is
beyond my conception. Tradition says that an inclined
plane flve mfles in length was buflt, up which the stone
was rolled by forced labor. Everything about this gopuram
from base to pinnacle is of granite, sculptured in the most
elaborate way, with figures of men, animals, gods, and
demons. One of these figures is sometimes called "John
Bright." It represents a man of European type of counte
nance, with an unmistakable EngHsh hat on his head. The
tradition for many years before the British occupancy was
that men with such features and such "tfles" on their heads
would sometime conquer and bear sway over India.
Some have supposed that this figure represents the
famous traveler, Marco Polo. We found Marco Polo among
the five hundred Buddhists' effigies in the great temple of
Canton. Here we find his possible effigy in Southern India.
These traditions show at least how this enterprising traveler
affected the imagination of many nations.
Of course we saw here the famous Nandi, the sacred
bull of Siva, in this temple as in others. This buU is the
biggest and most remarkable of all his stony companions.

NANDI, THE SACRED BULL.

323

He is sixteen feet long and tAvelve feet high, and is sculpt
ured from a singie block of syenite. He is daily anointed
with ou, and, as the dust accumulates upon his back, he
is anythmg but a pleasant and wholesome object to look
upon. The huge stone from which he is carved weighs hun
dreds of tons and must have been brought at least four
hundred mfles, for there is no stone of this description
within this distance from Tanjore.
A sculptured water-spout in another part of the temple.

¦¦iii[i[flulnBniifU]imii*«.>lniMiaiiiiinRiiitfy[WiiuiB]aTiHh«u«Hi»iiiiiCTiimLii[riin^iinaM»|iiii|Tfl fi nrntt^.
THE SACRED BULL OF SIVA.
brings the greasy water which is poured over the principal
idol which has his habitation in the most hidden recesses of
the temple visited only by the high priests, out to the light
of day, and this water is eagerly caught and drank by hun
dreds of devout worshipers. Loathsome and impure as it
looks, this water is supposed to purify them from all their
sins. One would rather suppose that it would breed all
sorts of noxious disease.
There are other interesting sights in Tanjore besides the
temple. The palace of the former king of Tanjore is weU
worth visiting. Bather a dilapidated affair it is at present,
ac

324 A DILAPIDATED PALACE AND USELESS GUN.
and even in its best estate it must have been somewhat
tawdry in its decorations, but it is vast in its circumference
and substantial in its architecture, and not unimposing.
Here, to this day (though the last rajah died thirty-seven
years ago), stfll live some of his many wives and concubines.
The wives stfll have a monthly allowance of eight hundred
rupees from the old estate, and the concubines a grant of
two hundred rupees a month.
We saw the place where the women were conflned,
though we did not see the aged matrons themselves. One
of them, formerly the chief wife, is now about sixty years of
age, and the younger ones, who as mere chfldren were
betrothed to the rajah, may still have many years to Hve,
though their husband has been dead for nearly two scores
of summers. The father of the last rajah was a noted man
in Tanjore; a man of great strength of character and
abflity, which was not inherited by his son. This old rajah
was a friend of the celebrated EngHsh missionary, Schwartz,
who is buried in an old church near by, and who, more than
. almost any other man of his time, furthered the establish
ment of the English government and of EngHsh civflization
in the land to which he had devoted his life.
Our vivacious guide, anxious to please and to earn his
salary of a rupee for his day's work, then took us to the big
gun of Tanjore. It is a monster, indeed, but about as useless
as any Quaker gun that was ever bored out of a big cotton-
wood. This cannon is more than tAventy-four feet long,
made with huge rings of iron welded together with brass.
Its circumference is more than ten feet and its bore two feet
two inches. In all its history it was never flred but once,
and then so frightened were the gunners and so convinced
were they of the kicking capacities of their old smooth-bore,
that they laid a train of poAvder two mfles long, which took

THE SCENE OF A FAMOUS MUTINY. 325
forty minutes to burn to the gun. That was the first and
last time that the ancient cannon AA^as used. Since then it
has been worshiped as a god in times of peril. It now
brings to the guides and its keeper some small revenue as an
object which every traveler must see, and is probably quite
as useful as ever it was in its peaceful and uneventful life.
Another interesting town of Southern India is YeUore.
It is probably Httle vdsited by the average traveler, but as a
city of missionary work it is of decided interest, and also for
its historic associations, Avhich are well worth recording.
Here, also, is found a famous old temple, now entirely
deserted save by owls and bats, its sflence never broken by
the footfaU of a single worshiper. But most interesting to
me was the old fort of YeUore, which was the scene, many
years ago, of one of the mutinous uprisings of Southern
India. The English officers and their wives who were sta
tioned here were surprised and overpowered, and confined in
the narrow room over the gateway of the fort. Here they
waited their expected doom in fear and trembling. Their
captors, however, before putting them to death could not re
strain their desire to sack the fort and make way with the
gastronomic dainties which they found therein. Whfle they
were rioting amid the unaccustomed luxuries of the officers'
quarters, one of the beleaguered prisoners was let down over
the wall, and, making his way stealthily frqm the fortress,
ran with all his might to the nearest garrison, which was
stationed at Eanipet, some fourteen mfles away. It was a
long, hard road, but the man was running for his life and for
the lives of aU his companions, and, breathless and excited,
he at last reached the garrison at Kanipet. In a few seconds
the troops were all in their saddles, gaUoping as fast as their
steeds could carry them to the rescue of their companions.
YeUore was fourteen miles away ; the road was by no means

326 THE WELCOME SOUND OF TRAMPLING HOOFS.
an easy one ; the bed of a sandy river a mfle and a half in
width must be crossed ; the sand was ankle deep, and was
very difficult for the horses. But the good steeds and their
riders pressed on, for they knew that a minute of delay
might mean death to aU their friends at YeUore. The be
leaguered prisoners in the room over the gateway counted
the slow minutes as they dragged on. They knew that soon
the rioters would be satiated with their plunder, and would
return to massacre them in their cell-like prison. They
could not count upon many minutes of respite. They heard
their keepers discussing how they should be put to death.
They knew they Avere about to fall upon them and cut them
to pieces without mercy, when, in the far distance, they
thought they heard the hoofs of advancing horses. Nearer
and nearer came the rescuing troops. The sound of tramping
feet was never more grateful to strained and wearied ears.
At last the horsemen were seen gaUoping along the road which
led to the castle gate. They pressed into the courtyard and
cut to pieces the mutineers who were about to crimson their
blades with the blood of their officers. Scarcelj" a man
among the mutineers was left to teU the tale, but the officers
and their wives in the room OA'^er the gateway' were saved ; and,
as they looked at their watches to see hoAv long the rescuing
troops had been in coming to their relief, it was found that it
was just flfty minutes from the time that they vaulted into
the saddle at Eanipet to the moment that they were at the
gates of the castle of YeUore. They had ridden fourteen
miles, a Avide river bed had been crossed, their companions
rescued, and their enemies put to flight all within an hour.
No Avonder that a full share of praise was bestowed upon the
gallant horses, panting and reeking with their hard gallop
across the hot plains under the broiling sun of India.
As I look upon this fortress, Avhich now is quite deserted

THE CRUMBLING FORT OF ARCOT. 327
of all its troops, and saAv the Avide moat around it, Avhich
formerly was filled with hungry alligators Avho snapped up
any besieger aa'Ho attempted thus to get within the castle
gateway, the whole scene seemed to pass before me, and I
could almost see the strained and eager faces of the beleag
uered famiUes looking through the barred gateAvay. I
could almost hear the Avild tramp of the rescuing troops.
To this day, the relatives of Tippoo Sahib, the famous
mutineer, though he Avas not implicated in the outrage I
have described, are conflned in the jafl within the confines
of this old castle.
Another most interesting town of this region is the
famous old capital of Arcot. Noav it is a decadent city and
the fort itself, so bravely captured and held by Clive, is
quite deserted and is crumbling to ruins. The massive
masonry of the old fort, which looks as though it was built
for all the centuries, is gnawed in many places by the re
morseless tooth of time. But it stfll shows in its massive
ruggedness what it must have been in the middle of the
eighteenth century, when it was taken by the brave young
clerk from Madras, who afterwards became Lord Clive, the
man who established British supremacy throughout India.
CHve seems to have had the faculty possessed by Napo
leon and Alexander, of inspiring unbounded confldence in
those under his command. Even the native troops acknowl
edged this mighty supremacy, and were ready to lay down
their Hves to obey his slightest behest. When besieged and
sorely pressed by the French, and when famine stared them
in the face, the natives came to him, inspired with his own
valor, and said, " Do not surrender ; we wfll live on the very
water in which the rice is cooked, while the English soldiers
eat the rice, if you will but hold the fort against our com
mon enemy."

328

ON A SURF-BEATEN SHORE.

Such valor and leadership would prevafl anywhere. No
wonder that by such men as Clive and Warren Hastings,
and the great men who have succeeded them, the English
government is estabHshed so strongly throughout this mighty
empire. The paramount importance of individual leadership
was never more distinctly shown than ui the history of the
British occupancy of India. That one great leader is worth

WEAATERS IN THE STREETS OP MADRAS.
a hundred thousand men, is a lesson that may be read upon
every page of India's history.
The place from which most travelers in Southern India
embark for the North is the city of Madras ; a great metrop
olis with nearly a million of inhabitants, situated on the
Avind-swept and wave-beaten Coromandel coast. Untfl re
cently there has not been even a breakwater to partially
defend the surf-washed shore. With the greatest difficulty

A DIFFICULT LANDING PLACE.

329

at times vessels are loaded and unloaded even with the
breakwater, which now defends the artificial harbor to some
extent. The surf beats upon the shore most violently when
the Avind is in certain quarters. The travelers who are
about to embark are stfll borne upon the brawny shoulders
of coolies, and deposited in deep native boats, which are
composed of planks bound together with thongs and caulked
Avith cocoanut fibre, in Avhich no nails or rivets are used,

CHILD ON A LEAP OF THE VICTORIA REGIA.
since they would soon be wrenched out of their places by
the bufletings of the heavy surf.
Some beautiful government buildings there are in
Madras; the law courts being especially flne. This bufld
ing, designed after the architecture of a Mahommedan
mosque, is crowded with minarets and domes projecting
from every angle. But this splendid structure, and a few
others like it, only emphasizes and makes more marked the
squalor of the native section. However, the climate is not
severe. Little shelter and less energy are required in order
to Hve ; the wants of the people are few, and perhaps they

330

LIFE IN THE STREETS OF MADRAS.

are as happy as their more favored companions in other
cities and climes.
Here in the tanks and reservoirs are found not only the
sacred lotus flowers with their broad leaves, but the Yic
toria Eegia, many of which are quite strong and large
enough to hold a child three to four years of age. A little
brown-faced baby, when weighed, tipped the scales at just
twenty-eight and a half pounds, and the leaf upon which he
sat hardly shipped a cupful of Avater under his weight.

THE POPULAR SIADR.'VS HUNT.

In the streets of Madras as in aU these Eastern cities
may be seen every possible occupation going on before the
face and eyes of the world. Here are the weavers and the
carpenters and the shoemakers and the barbers, and every
where the inevitable throng of loafers.
It is not at all uncommon to see a row of old men and
women, and younger ones, too, for that matter, sitting in
the glaring sunlight engaged in "the Madras hunt," Avhere
the unhappy hunting grounds are each other's heads.
One day a Avedding procession passed by. Three sflent-

lip

¦asg s

2 5 S. O
E 2 =: 3

?t's §

n ;; 2
m ? I
°l I

2 &

05 —

BRATTY MAKERS AND "PUNKAH-WALLAHS.

333

treading, knock-kneed, ragged camels led the Avay, covered
with bright cloths and much tinsel. There seemed to be
little merriment or life about the procession, and I presume
the poor young girl who AA^as going to the home of her aged
husband, Avhom perhaps she had never seen, felt as melan
choly as the solemn procession seemed to indicate.
The extreme pov
erty of the people is
perhaps nowhere more ^
indicated than by the
Avomen whose business w
it is to pick up every |^^'
particle of manure from ^
the streets, and to make- ',
it into flat cakes (" Brat
ty" as it is caUed),
which they dry upon
the sides of the walls
of the houses. Then it
is picked off and sold
for fuel. Hundreds of
these women with high-
pfled baskets of this
fuel are met with every
where as one goes about
the streets.
The "punkah-wallah," too, or the man who pulls the
huge fans with which every office, dining-room, parlor, and
church is provided, is a weU-known character in Madras, as
in aU Southern India. I must say I have seen days in New
York and Boston when a punkah was as necessary as it
even is in hot Madras. This occupation often descends from
father to son, for many generations, and the true punkah-

' BRATTY MAKING.

334 EXTREMES OF SOCIAL LIFE.
wallah by instinct and training becomes so expert that
tying the string to his toe, he wfll go to sleep and stfll keep
jerking away at the cord to fan the hot brows of the Euro
peans within, who may be dining, or reading, or writing, or
sleeping, as the case may be.
In the streets of Madras I have frequently seen the
women and dogs lying together in the glaring bright sun
light, one apparently as happy and as unconscious of degra
dation as the other.
On the other hand, many among these people are well
educated, and bright and intellectual. The magnificent law
courts are crowded with native laAvyers, who are as fine
a body of men in their gowns and wigs as can be met Avith
in any hall of justice in the world. .
Nowhere does one meet with greater extremes of social
life. Nowhere is there greater need or greater scope for the
life-giving religion of Christ than in this swarming city of
India. Here, in Madras, I am glad to say there is much
missionary activity. In some parts of the Presidency the
Telugu people are flocking to the standard of the Cross
by tens of thousands, and it seems to be only a question
of time when the waUs of caste prejudice shall be broken
down and when the empire of India shaU take its place
a,mong the great Christian empires of the world.

CHAPTEE XYIIL
PEN PICTURES FROM NORTHERN INDIA.
The Mouth of the Hoogly — A Precaution — From the Parisian to the
Pariah — The Great Banyan of the Geographies — Ten Thousand
Troops under its Shade — The Burning Ghat — A Sidewalk Barber's
Shop — A Ghastly Group — Innumerable Beggars — Religious Parasites
— The Old Fakir's Offering — The Bathers in the Ganges — A Devoted
Son — Dying at her Leisure — A Burning Ghat — Decorations after the
Bath — Burning the Dead — Hindu Theology — To-wers of Silence —
Dreary Biers and Hungry Vultures — A Cannibal Feast — The Jews of
India — Why They Give their Bodies to the Vultures — The Bondage of
Caste — Paying Dear for his Dinners — A Venerable Bridegroom —
Match Makers in India — The Stars Favorable and Marriages Frequent
— A Wedding Procession — A Pathetic Mite of a Bride — A Matter-of-
fact Wooer.

EOM Madras to Calcutta the voy
age is comparatively uninteresting
untfl one draws near to the great
poHtical Capital of India. As we
near the mouth of the Hoogly
river, one of the great Deltas of the
Ganges, which pours its muddy
waters into the Bay of Bengal, for
many mfles the eye can foUow the
distinct line of demarkation be
tween the fresh water of the sacred
river and the salt water of the bay.
After a Httle the low line of palm trees on one side
shows that we have entered the vast and capacious mouth of
the Hoogly, which of all rivers is most difficult of navigation
on account of its shifting sands and its treacherous shoals.
( 335 )

.336 THE MOTLEY POPULATION OF CALCUTTA.
Whfle the passengers were at "tiffin" the stewards closed
all the ports of the vessel, and when we asked the reason for
this summary shutting off of our supply of fresh air, the
captain informed us that Ave would have a better chance of
¦escape if the vessel should strike a sandbank and keel over, as
more than one vessel had been known to do.
A distressing disaster of this kind occurred not many
months since when all the passengers Avere below, either
in their cabins or the public saloon, and many of them were
drowned like rats in their holes.
However, a good Providence favored us, no accident or
delay occurred, and, on the morning of the 3d day after
leaAdng Madras, the " Chusan^^ steamed up to her dock in
the busy port of Calcutta.
This city is one of the most interesting in aU the East,
interesting not solely or chiefly on account of its splendid
government bufldings or flne warehouses or expensive docks,
but more especially to the traveler because of its conglomerate
population of every shade and color, every nationahty and
costume on the face of the earth, from the Parisian-clad
European to the Pariah in all his squalid nakedness.
In some particulars the zoological gardens in Calcutta are
quite beyond any of their European rivals ; the collection of
parrots, for instance, is surprisingly large, their plumage
most gaudy ; and the pigeons, some of them as large as
Guinea hens, with tufted crests and fan-like topknots, were
the most unique I have ever seen.
The botanical gardens are even larger and finer than the
zoological. The most interesting feature here is the great
banyan, which is said to be the model from which the
banyan of the old geographies Avas drawn. It is stated that
10,000 troops can be mustered under the shade of this tree.
How many hundreds of thousands of school boys and school

THE BANYAN OP OUR SCHOOL DAYS. 337
girls have in imagination gathered beneath its umbrageous
shade it would be impossible to reckon.
But here it stands just as it looked in the geography of
our school days, Avith its drooping pendants, which, after a
time, take root and develop into huge trunks, only to send
out other pendants, which, in turn, develop into other trunks,
and so on, ad infinitum. There seems to be no limit to the
groAvth of a well-developed and carefully cultured banyan
tree. TheoreticaUy, at least, it might cover a province or a
nation, or grow indefinitely until it reached a climate or a
sofl in which it could no longer flourish.
The " burning ghat " is another famous place in the en
virons of Calcutta. This is a huge, one-storied, shed-like
buflding, in which the bodies of deceased Hindus are
burned. As this particular " ghat " is situated on the banks
of the sacred Ganges it is a very famous one, and the flres
within are perpetually kept burning.
Let us take a drive there this bright February morning.
Our Httle party Avfll just fill a gharri, one of the character
istic vehicles of this Eastern land. We will put up the
bUnds on every side so that we can look out in every direc
tion, and miss none of the sights and bits of scenery which
are sure to greet our eyes.
The sun has just risen, for the early morning is the best
time to visit the ghat. The poorer part of the native popula
tion is shaking itself awake after the slumbers of the night.
It does not take the poor people of Calcutta long to make
their toflets. Their mats are spread in little recesses from
the sidewalks which they call their homes, and all that is
necessary for them to do in the morning, is to straighten up
from their recumbent position, roll up their mats, wash
their faces at the nearest fountain or public faucet, or, in
default of one of these, at the nearest pool of stagnant water

338

ON THE WAY TO THE BURNING GHAT.

or mud puddle. They seemed to take great pains with their
teeth, and we see scores of them this early morning brushing
and washing their mouths most assiduously; the bright,
brass water jars near by holding the Httle water that is nec
essary for this internal ablution.
Even at this early morning hour, Calcutta's swarming
myriads are beginning their dafly tofl. Shop doors are
opening, early birds are looking for the unwary worms, and
the bustle and hum of life begins. Here, for instance, quite

A CALCUTTA BABBER SHOP.

on the sidewalk, a Hindu barber, in white cloth and turban,
is sitting on his haunches, assiduously scraping off the hirsute
growth of another Hindu who, during the operation, gazes
on his own homely face in a glass which he himself holds.
Could a more uncomfortable barber's chair be imagined I
As we draw near to the sacred Ganges, the crowd of pfl
grims that is also Avending its way thither grows larger,
more cosmopolitan and more interesting. Here are Hindus
from every part of India and of every conceivable caste.
Here are fakirs Avhose holiness and sanctity are measured by

A PARADISE OF TRAMPS AND MENDICANTS.

339

the length of their hair, and apparently, by the thickness of
the coat of dirt upon their vfle bodies ; and here also are
many common people representing all classes and conditions
of Hindus. In one place beside the road is a curious group
gathered around a pile of sacred ashes. They look pecu-
Harly ghastly in the bright sunlight of the early morning, for
they have anointed themselves
with ofl from top to toe, and
have then besmeared themselves
with the ashes. A singularly
gray and grizzly look is given to
them by this operation. StiU
others have gone down to the
waters of the sacred stream
which flows near by, and have
covered themselves over, from
the croAvns of their heads to
the soles of their feet, with the
sHme and mud from the river's
banks. By the side of the road
are numberless beggars with
Httle pfles of rice before them.
This has been given them by
the devotees who have just
bathed in the Ganges, for it is
considered a pecuHarly meritorious act to give something in
charity after the morning bath in the holy waters. Of
course beggars take advantage of such generosity, and swarm
in almost innumerable throngs to this spot, which may be
considered the very paradise of tramps and mendicants.
It also goes without saying that the superstition of the
people is taken full advantage of by the religious parasites
who live on the fears of the ignorant.

A HINDU FAKIR.

340

HOW TO OFFER A GIFT TO THE GANGES.

Here is an old fakir with long, ropy hair and a thick
crust of dirt on legs and arms, and hairy breast, who has a
Httle shrine in which are three brass gods. We try to buy
one of the gods to take home to our friends as a sample of
what is actually worshiped on the banks of the Ganges, but
the wily old fellow teUs us that these gods have been conse
crated and that they are not for sale,
but that if we wiU go to the bazaar
we can get images just Hke them for
a few annas apiece. He further
intimates that if we wish to make
an offering to the gods, he wfll not
object. " But what would you do with a
rupee, if we should give it to you ? "
we asked. "Why, I woifld make
an offering of it to the Ganges," he
replied. "But you do not mean
that you Avould throw good sflver
into that muddy river? "No," he
replied, "I Avould buy rice with it
and eat the rice, but I would throw
some grains of it in the river and
thus dedicate your rupee." Perhaps
the man's honesty demanded a re
ward, but it was very evident, even if he had not told us so,
that the offering to the Ganges Avould be made m a meta
phorical and Pickwickian sense.
Beside this old fakir Avas a poor feUoAV Avho was born
without arms ; next to him, a man Avith his legs cut off above
the knees ; a Avoman came next with a puny, shivering, sickly
baby in her arms ; all appeaUng to the generosity and com
passion of the devotees, who, as they passed by, were very

A LONG HAIRED FAKIR.

BATHING IN THE SACRED STREAM. 341
likely to throw them a quarter of an anna piece or at least a
handful of rice.
As we look toward the river, we see it thronged with
bathers, men and women alike, in scant bathing clothes,
dipping and splashing and sousing the sacred water over
their bodies with great abandon. After a few moments in
the water they come up to the bank to dry themselves in
the sun, and put on dry clothes, a very easy process of dress
ing, where the only garment consists of a single strip of
cloth, whfle some of the poorer ones walk off to their homes,
dripping and shivering with their wet wrappings clinging to
their Hmbs. ,
One old woman whom we saw thus journeying home
ward, her dripping cloth marking every footstep, shivered in
the cold morning air as though stricken with palsy. Poor
old devotee! I fear that she wiU not stand many such
baths even in the sacred Ganges, for, as she trudges off to
her home in her dripping garments, her consumptive cough
and emaciated body teU us that she is near her end. Perhaps
the next tune she comes she Avfll be brought by her chfldren
to breathe her last gasp on the holy bank, for it is thought
to be a very meritorious thing to die on these sacred shores.
Just before the breath is thought to be about to leave the
body, dying Hindus are often brought hither. Sometimes,
however, there is miscalculation, and the person is not so
near his end as is supposed. In such circumstances it is
said, though I cannot vouch for the truth of the story, that
the mouth of the dying person is flUed Avith sacred mud, and
the end is thus hastened ; for it is not within the bounds of
custom (and custom here is as the laws of the Medes and
Persians) for a person who has once been brought to the
banks of the Ganges to be taken home again, however long
he may obstinately persist in living.
21

342 DECORATING AFTER THE BATH.
One devoted son of whom I have heard, has buflt a Httle
house for his mother, Avhom some years ago he brought to
the river's bank on the supposition that she Avas about to
give up the ghost. She did not die, however, as Avas ex
pected, but persisted in getting better ; so there was nothing
for this filial son to do, as she could not be taken back to her
house again, but to build a little house for her on the banks
of the river, where she might wait her end and die at her
leisure. At one place which we pass, a wealthy Hindu, as an act
of religious merit, has built a " bathing ghat." As we look
into this ghat or bath house,, which is open to aU sight-seers,
as well as to the four winds of heaven, being simply a
covered shed with a tesseUated stone pavement, we see the
pilgrims who have just bathed in the river receiving their
morning shampoo.
Men who understand the business are rubbing and knead
ing the bathers most assiduously, after which they are
anointed with oil, their eyebroAvs and finger nafls are
stained with the proper pigment, and sacred ashes in red and
white and yellow are mixed with oil and rubbed upon their
foreheads in a most artistic way, in lines and curies and
little spots, which often have the effect of a coarse kind of
tattoo. But all this time Ave have been drawing near the " house
of burning," though our progress has been slow on account
of the number of interesting sights on every hand which
claim our attention.
Here is the famous ghat at last. After being conducted
through one or Iavo small ante-rooms Ave come to a large,
shed-like building Avhich opens upon the Ganges on one side,
while the side next to the public road is entirely closed to
view. There is no roof to intercept the passage of the

THE BURNING GHAT.

313

smoke from the burning bodies to the stars. In the soil
around Avhich the Avails of the enclosure are built are eigh
teen hoUoAV places about six feet long and two feet wide.
Here the bodies are laid ; Avood and straAv is piled around,
over and under them ; the nearest relative lights the flre ;
the poor, human clay, deserted of its spiritual tenant, is
Avrapt in flames, and in about tAvo hours nothing is left but

THE BURNING GHAT.

a Httle pfle of ashes, Avhich is carefully sAvept up and thrown
into the sacred waters which floAv near by.
Poor people who cannot afford to burn their relatives
light a little wisp of straw, blacken their faces with it, and
throw the bodies unceremoniously into the Ganges. For
merly it Avas said that travelers up the river met many of
these deserted human tenements floating doAvn the stream.
Now, I think, the practice is forbidden by law, and the
sight of floating bodies is uncommon, but by no means
unknown.

344 PAYING FOR THE REPOSE OP THE DEPARTED.
On the day of our visit to the burning ghat there was
but one body undergoing cremation, and that the body of a
little chfld. The morning before, however, the attendant
told us that no less than eleven of the eighteen ghastly fire
places were fllled with burning bodies at one time, and an
average of twenty each day are brought to this particular
ghat for cremation.
Hindu theology says that after the body has been burned,
the parts all are joined once more and must march through
a river of mire and blood, but if the friends of the dead man
will give the Brahmin a cow, his journey wfll be much
easier ; this is certainly a very convenient doctrine for the
Brahmin priest to promulgate.
After the dead man gets beyond this unpleasant spot he
must walk over ground like fiery hot copper, and if a pair of
shoes is donated to the priest it would be more pleasant for
the departed spirit. Next the spirit comes to a road fuU of
spikes, and if the friends wfll only give the Brahmin a bed
spread, the spirit need not lie upon the spikes. By this time
the priest is pretty well fltted out, and the departed spirit is
aUowed to get along as best it can. Thus do these mercen
ary reHgionists prey upon the fears and superstitions of their
ignorant foUowers. What a contrast this to the unselfish
invitation, " Come unto Me and I wiU give you rest."
If, now, in imagination, we pass over the 1,500 mfles of
mountain and valley and spreading plain that stretch be
tween Calcutta and the commercial capital of India,
Bombay, we shall find stfll another very pecuHar process of
disposing of the dead, for in Bombay are 80,000 Parsees,
who neither bury nor burn, but expose their dead on towers
built on hifl tops, caUed " Towers of Sflence." The Towers
of Silence in Bombay number flve, and are situated in the
midst of a beautiful garden. It is a most impressive and

THE TOWERS OF SILENCE.

345

solemn place, and, though exceedingly revolting in some of
its particulars to the Western mind, is nevertheless a place
of intense interest.
After death the body of the Parsee is taken to the lowest
floor of the house in AA'hich the dead person was born. There
the priests pray for the soul that has left the body, and a
dog is brought in to look at the corpse. Afterwards it is
Avrapped in a sheet, laid on an iron bier, and carried to one
of the Towers of Sflence. The friends foUow on foot, as no
carriages are aUowed at a Parsee funeral. The mourners

A TOWER OP SILENCE.

are aU dressed in white and walk in pairs, each pair holding
a white handkerchief between them.
The largest tower of sflence in Bombay is a round bufld
ing, in which are 72 spaces for the bodies of men next to the
waU, just below the spaces for the men are 72 more small
places for the bodies of women, and, below them, 72 stfll
smaUer grooves for the bodies of children. Between the
spaces for the men, women, and chfldren, are little footpaths.
On these dreary biers are laid the dead bodies of the de
parted, and, before the attendant Parsees have left the
sflent tower, the hungry vultures, which are always sitting

34G THE FEAST OF THE VULTURES.
like horrid Harpies on the edge of the tower, swoop down
and tear the flesh from the bones and fly back to their fllthy
perches. Thus they dispute for the last morsel of the dead
body until only the bleaching bones remain. After the
skeleton of the dead man has been left for some three or
four Aveeks on the toAver, the bones are thrown into a AveU
in the middle of the toAver, Avhere they decompose after a
while into lime, and are washed out by the descending rains,
and are thus flnally disposed of. There is something pecu
Harly disgusting to many minds about such a disposal of the
dead, but, from a sanitary point of view, the physicians say
that it is not by any means the worst of methods.
On the day of our A'isit fuUy one hundred of the thou
sand vultures which are said to haunt the towers of sflenc^
were sitting in a dreadfully suggestive way on the edge of
their stone parapets, waiting for the horrible feast which
would be spread for them before the day Avas over.
There are many things of living, healthful interest in this
great city of Bombay. The streets are wide in some por
tions of the city, and lined Avith really magnificent bufld
ings. As one drives along the street he sees not only
Hindus of every caste and condition of life, but Parsees with
their curious glazed caps, Jains with their two-cornered
turbans, and Arabians in voluminous garments with cofls of
camel's hair around their heads.
Brilliant colors, too, abound everywhere, — red, and
green, and blue; Avhile the higher class women in their
graceful, transparent, silken robes, interAvoA^en Avith delicate
figures in subdued colors, add a very picturesque element to
the crowded streets.
The Mohammedans are of course very numerous. It is
said that there are more Mohammedans in Bombay than in
any other city in the Avorld.

A POLYGLOT POPULATION. 347
Of all this polyglot population, the Parsees are the
most interesting. Many of them are Avell-to-do and some
of them are very wealthv. Their cast of countenance is
decidedly Jewish, and their long aquiline noses and shrewd
business features would not look out of place in the Jewish
quarters of Amsterdam or Frankfort. Their great teacher
was Zoroaster, who Hved 1,200 years before Christ, and their
religion has few of the revolting, idolatrous elements which
characterize the mass of heathen religions.
They are sometimes caUed flre- worshipers, which is not,
however, a correct designation. In worshiping God they
say one ought to look at some of the wonderful things that
He has made, such as the sun, the moon, the water, or flre,
not that these elements are gods but in them they see God
revealed. This idea lies at the root of their burial practices. They
cannot put the bodies in the ground according to their
notions, or else the earth Avould be defiled. They cannot
burn them, for flre is a sacred element. They cannot throw
them into the river, for the water would be desecrated, but
the vultures, being unclean birds, can dispose of the dead
bodies without defiling land or water, fire or earth.
If one walks in the beautiful Yictoria Gardens towards
sundown, he Avfll see the greatest variety of Eastern peoples
to be found on any spot on the face of the earth. Accord
ing to the latest census, in Bombay alone, sixty-one different
languages are spoken, and the castes are almost innumer
able. The distinctions of caste are giving Avay to some
extent in Bombay as in other parts of India, but very, very
slowly, and among the great masses of population it is still
considered a most disgraceful and outrageous thing to lose
one's caste.
A mother will turn her child out of doors if he eats a

348 THE RIGORS OF CASTE.
particle of food that is prepared by a woman of lower caste.
A woman will desert her husband whom she suspects, not of
marital unfaithfulness, but of ha\dng dined with some one
of lower rank than himself. Even the cooks in the kitchen
wiU shake the dust from off their feet and indignantly 1/^ave
the service of him who has in any way broken his caste and
defiled himself by forgetting the strict ceremonial observ
ance which the bondage of the ages has imposed.
Here is a pai"agraph which I have just cHpped from an
Allahabad paper. " In order to be aUowed the privileges of
the caste to which he belongs, a young Bengalee barrister,
who had just returned from England, performed the other
day an exceedingly unpleasant Prayaschitta ceremony, in
the presence of pundits and many Hindu gentlemen. It is a
distinctive feature of the Hindus of the present day that
they are not reluctant to re-admit into their fold those
whom they regard as social sinners of the blackest dye.
But how that barrister's English friends would have stared,
if, while he was eating his dinners in London, he had told
them what he would have to eat on his return home."
What this ceremony of regaining caste is, is not to be
explained here. It would not be possible to enter into
details for they are not for ears polite, and Ave wfll only say
that this young barrister had to eat the vflest compound
which can be possibly imagined, to pay for the gay dinners
of which he had partaken in the land across the sea.
Here is another paragraph from one of these progressive
papers, which shows the impatience of modern Hindu Iffe
with the ceremonial shackles of the past : " He is aged 82
and he is to marry a girl of the same sect, aged 10. They
are both Madhwas, and the holy rite of matrimony aatU be
performed at Madras ; yet people say we live in a progress
ive age!"

MATCH-MAKING AS A PROFESSION.

349

Though the bridegroom is not often so old as the vener
able party here alluded to, the bride is often quite as young,
and frequently^much younger than the ten-year-old girl who
was sold into matrimonial slavery at Madras. The usual
age for a man to marry is sixteen or seventeen, the frequent
age for a girl, eight or nine. Not uncommonly she is

A HINDU BRIDE.

married when three or four years of age» though she does
not go to Hve at once in her husband's house.
The business of the match-makers in India is not a secret
and clandestine affair as in America, nor are match-makers
looked upon as meddlers with other people's business, but it
is an open, honorable, and avowed occupation.
These match-makers spend their time in going about
arranging for marriages. When they have found a boy and
a girl that they think will make a good couple, they go to

350 A AVEDDING PROCESSION.
the parents and talk the matter over, praising up the little
girl to the parents of the boy, and lauding the beauty and
the wealth and the good disposition of the boy to the girl's
parents. Of course their descriptions are taken with a grain
of salt, and the matchmakers' glowing accounts are not
altogether trusted, but they are usually the intermediaries
through whom the youthful pair are brought together.
When we were in Bombqy, the stars were favorable, and
the priests proclaimed that for many months to come there
would not be such desirable heavenly auspices for connubial
bliss. On this account weddings were very frequent, and we
could scarcely go along any of the croAvded streets where
Hindus most do congregate without seeing one or more
Avedding processions.
They were most gorgeous affairs. First would come a
brass band blaring with its trumpets and beating its cymbals
and drums. Then would come the famfly friends of the bride
and bridegroom arrayed in all their finery of bright-colored
silks; their arms, wrists, noses, and ears bedecked with
chains and bracelets, jewels, and rings, large and smaU, of
most elaborate designs. Then frequently we would see the
bridegroom trying to look grave and dignified Avith all the
burden of his sixteen years resting heavfly upon his
shoulders. Often he would be decked and garlanded with
flowers and chains and jcAvels so that his ^ace was scarcely
visible. Sometimes a companion would walk by his side
solemnly fanning him.
The bridegroom is usually perched upon a high horse,
and if the later stages of the Avedding have been reached
the little bride is often seen behind her husband. Frequently
she is a tiny, pathetic little mite indeed. She ought to be in
the nursery playing Avith her dolls, or in the kindergarten
learning her A B C's, but instead of this the responsibilities

EXPENSIVE CEREMONIES.

351

of Avomanhood have been thrust on her in her infancy, and
she is borne off to her husband's house to live the stupid,
uneventful life of the zenana.
The Avedding ceremonies last many days, and are accom
panied by great expense to the father and mother of the
bride at whose house they take place. Oftentimes the poor
man wiU spend his last rupee, mortgage his property, and go
in debt for years to come for the sake of giving his daughter
a proper wedding feast.
Though he lives in rags, dirt, and poverty, the little girl

A ZENANA CARRIAGE OF BOMBAY.

must for once be decked in sflks and jewels before she is
carried off to her husband's home. The missionary is fre
quently caUed upon to act as matchmaker between the
Christian boys and girls. One of my friends was recently
asked by a promising young man to speak to a girl of whom
he had heard good reports as likely to make a suitable wife.
He had never seen her but once in his life, and then at a
distance. The missionary undertook the delicate matter, but the
girl refused the offer point-blank. The ardent swain, how
ever, was by no means discouraged, for when my friend told

353 MAKING THE BEST OF IT.
him of his fortune, he remarked that he was glad to know
of the matter without any unnecessary delay, since he
already had another damsel in mind for the position, to
whom he hoped the missionary would make his next appHca-
tion. No doubt final success smfled upon this persistent
though somewhat nonchalant lover.
These matchmakers' marriages do not ahvays turn out as
unhappfly as might be supposed, by any means. The young
couple, thus brought together, make the best of their circum
stances and of each other. The husband is usuaUy affection
ate, and the wife, from the very force of circumstances, faith
ful. If love's passionate young dream is not experienced,
neither is the frequent disillusionment and reaction of mar
ried life in more northern oHmes, and it is pleasant to beheve
as we leave this subject that behind the waUs of many of the
poor mud huts of India, as everywhere else in this old world,
is much conjugal felicity, parental affection, and filial
devotion.

CHAPTEE XIX.
IN THE COUNTRY OF THE GREAT MUTINY.
Across Northern India by Rail — In an Indian Sleeping Car — Scenes from
our Car Window — Storks and Penguins, Monkeys and Jackals — "It
is a Beautiful Morning ; Come, Let Us Kill Something " — Defiling a
Peddler's Sweetmeats — A Work of Patience and Diplomacy — An
Every Day Conversation in India — The Mecca of the Brahmins — The
Monkey Temple — Cawnpore of Bloody Memory — An Awful Page of
History — The Angel of Remembrance — Memories of Lucknow —
The Gallant Lawrence — Havelock's Troops to the Rescue — The
Hero's Grave — The Cannon Ball that Robbed the Mother of Her Babe
— The City of the Taj Mahal — The Mogul's Promise and How He
Kept It — "In Memory of an Immortal Love" — The Hand of the
Vandal — "Jane Higginbottom" in the Taj — How the Old King
Played Parchesi.

^EOM Calcutta to Bombay, as the
crow flies, is not much more than
a thousand mfles, but by the way
that most travelers journey it is
fully tAvice that distance, since a
considerable detour must be made
to take in the historic cities of
Benares, Allahabad, Lucknow,
Cawnpore, and Agra.
It is a journey weU worth tak
ing, I assure you, dear reader, for
it leaves upon the memory of
every traveler indeUble photographs of marvelous temples
and incomparable mausoleums; of fortresses and battle
grounds, made sacred by the blood of heroic men and
women; besides many more peaceful pictures of smiHng
(353)

354 THE RAILWAYS OF NORTHERN INDIA.
fields and thronging villages, and gaily dressed crowds of
people that are constantly moving in a kaleidoscopic way
across our picture.
The raflAA^ay train in Avhich we set forth, Hke all Indian
raflway trains, is divided into first, second, and third-class
compartments, with an intermediate class corresponding to
the third-class, for European travelers only. The fares are
exceedingly cheap except in the first-class compartments, and
even there they are not extravagant according to our West
ern notions. Tickets in the third-class carriages cost less
than one-half cent a mile, in the second-class about one cent
a mile, and in the flrst-class about Iavo cents for the same
distance. As a result of these fares, the third-class carriages
are always crowded with native travelers ; the second-class
are sparingly used by Europeans, and the first-class compart
ments are run at a dead loss to the raflway company. You
need not expect any remarkably luxurious accommodation
even in the flrst-class cars, as we warned you when Avriting
of railway travel in Southern India, No deft porters make
up our sleeping berths for us ; no luxurious arm chairs invite
rest and repose ; no nickel-plated lavatories and toflet rooms
fltted up with all kinds of Yankee contrivances need we
expect. If Ave take our OAAm servant, as many travelers in
India do, he Avill spread our blankets and quflts, which we
must carry AAdth us, upon the seats AA'hen night comes, and
arrange our pillows as comfortably as may be. He wifl
then seek his own place in a third-class carriage while we
betake ourselves to the Land of Nod as quickly as possible,
for the dull and smoky lamps afford no' inducement to sit up
to read after the evening lamps of the sk}" haA'e been set
agloAV. Whfle daylight lasts, hoAvever, there is plenty to attract
us in the varied scenery through Avhich we are continually

BEAUTIFUL AND FEARLESS AVILD BIRDS. 355
passing. Yfllage succeeds village, a curious throng at one
station is succeedeil bv a more curious throne:, as it seems to
us, at the next station, and all is life and bustle Avherever
the train stops.
Looking from the car windoAv one sees more Avild birds
and beasts in an hour Avhen passing over the plains of North
ern India than he Avould see in tAventy-four hours in Amer
ica. The Hindu regard for life has caused birds and beasts to
multiply and abound everywhere. Saucy croAvs with grey
necks, and bright, bead-like eyes, Avill almost pluck food out
of your very hands as you are eating your midday lunch ;
green parrots by the hundred Avill scream at you from the
telegraph wires ; owls will hoot from their undisturbed
perch on the top of the telegraph poles ; beautiful birds in
blue and crimson plumage wfll flutter about the branches
wherever a tree is to be seen ; great, red-headed storks,
standing almost as high as a man, wiU unblinkingly contem
plate the rushing train as they stand upon one foot gazing
after us ; solemn penguins with heavy biUs and huge pouches
beneath, AviU watch us from the bogs in which they are get
ting their noonday meals ; herds of spotted deer will scamper
away as the train approaches ; jackals Avfll sneak out of
sight, and monkeys will grin and chatter at us from the
overhanging branches ; Avhile the familiar and impudent
blackbirds and jackdaws wfll perch on the horns of the goats
and cattle as Ave rush by the pastures, so sure are they, after
centuries of protection, that they will not be disturbed.
What a pity it is that in America every cruel schoolboy,
before he reaches the age of mercy and humanity, is allowed
to have his rifle and shotgun to pop away at the poor, harm
less creatures which God has made, driving them into the
solitary Avilderness Avhere alone they can expect to rear their
young in safety and peace.

356

AN EDUCATION IN CRUELTY.

" It is a beautiful morning ; come, let us kfll something,"
is the sarcastic Frenchman's comment on the average
" shooting " Englishman ; a comment which wfll apply as
well to the average American, I am sorry to say. Some
thing besides game laws and legislative enactments are
necessary to preserve the sylvan life of our woods and flelds.
Better is the superstitious dread of the Hindu in regard to
life-taking than the indifferent cruelty of the Anglo-Saxon.
When we stop at the stations and show ourselves on the

A NATIVE "TURN-OUT."
platform, a motley throng gathers about us. Here is the
fruit vendor with his yellow bananas, his loose-jacket
oranges, his guavas which require a considerable course of
education before one can enjoy them. Our taste is educated
up to bananas and oranges and Ave can buy as many as
we please for a quarter of an anna, or about half a cent
apiece. Here comes some other railway vendors, with trays full
of cakes and sAveets of a very doubtful and curious character
to our unaccustomed eyes.

AN UNFLATTERING ESTIMATE. 357
The peddler sets them doAvn from his head, Avhere he
alAvays carries them, as every other bundle is carried in
India, and we are about to take one of them from his tray
to see what it is, when AAdth a gesture of horror, he prevents
us from doing so, and insists upon our pointing to what we
want from a respectful distance. We soon learn that we
should defile aU his tray-full of goods by so much as touch
ing one of his sweetmeats with our little finger, so polluted
are we in his Hindu eyes; and yet the same peddler is
doubtless a sweaty, dirty, ragged, and generally disreputable
fellow, who, from his appearance, has not had a decent bath
for a year.
It raises our Yankee ire somewhat to be regarded as
an unclean pariah by this dirty specimen of humanity, but
we submit to the inevitable, point to the particular goods
that we want, pay for them with a few small copper coins,
and take our place once more in our carriage to enjoy our
unaccustomed feast.
Besides these peddlers of fruits and sweets, every large
station abounds with venders of more substantial wares;
brass-work from Benares, inlaid marble curios from Agra,
curiously painted metal plates and cups from Moradabad,
and clay figures of all kinds and shapes and sizes from
Lucknow. To buy any article in India is a work of patience and
diplomacy, on the part of both buyer and seller. In this
land I have often thought of Solomon's description of the
purchaser : " It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer, but
when he is gone his way, then he boasteth." Here is the
conversation that is usuaUy preliminary to a purchase in
India. "How much for this clay figure?" asks the buyer.
" One rupee," answers the seller.
" Too much," is the invariable reply of the buyer ; and so
23

358 DRIVING A BARGAIN.
it is, for the seller always asks at least three or four times
as much as he expects to take.
"How much wfll you give then?" asks the merchant.
"Two annas" (one eighth of a rupee), says the prospect
ive buyer, thinking he wfll be sure to make his offer low
enough. With a gesture of surprise and almost indignation the
vender repudiates the offer, as much as to say : " This is
simply outrageous. Do you insult a man by offering him
one-eighth of what a thing is worth ? However, seeing that
it is you, and since I regard you as a very good friend, I
Avill throw off a little something; you may have it for
twelve annas."
"No, no," says the buyer, "I wiU give you two annas,
take it or leave it as you choose."
"What a hard-hearted, cruel indiAddual you are," the
merchant by every look and gesture seems to say; "you
would rob the dead of their grave clothes, you would take
the orphan's last crust of bread out of his very mouth ; but,
seeing I want to make a sale, I AviU let you have the image
for eight annas."
Again the buyer shakes his head resolutely: "Two
annas, only two annas."
"Well, you may haA'e it for four," says the seUer, but
another resolute shake of the head sends him off for a few
minutes. He has no idea of leaving, however ; you may count on
seeing him back almost instantly, Avith an expression of
injured innocence on his face, especiaUy if there are other
peddlers near by, saying by his looks: "Well, rob me if you
will, take the last anna from a poor starAdng merchant, but
if you will only give tAvo annas for this beautiful image,
why, here it is, take it, it is yours."

THE HINDU'S HOLY CITY.

359

Then very likely he goes off, chuckling over his bargain,
having obtained twice as much from the unsuspecting trav
eler as the thing Avas really worth.
Begufled by such varied scenes as here described the
time passes rapidly away untfl Ave come to the end of the
flrst stage of our pflgrimage, the sacred city of Benares,

.ta

IN THE MONKEY TEMPLE.
Avhich is also the end of their journey for many other pfl
grims beside ourselves.
This city on the banks of the Ganges is to the Hindu the
hoUest place in aU the world, and the Holy of Holies is the
weU full of dead floAvers and rice and Ganges water, which
is worth to the devout Hindu any amount of money per tea-
spoonful, so sacred is it in his eyes.
The Hindus think that Benares is 80,000 steps nearer
heaven than any other place, and it is the Mecca of every
devout Brahmin. Here, besides the Golden Temple, is the

360 AT THE MINGLING OF THE SACRED STREAMS.
great Monkey Temple, where scores of monkeys are con
tinually running in and out. Here, too, is the Cow Temple,
which is only less sacred than the abode of the monkeys.
Not many mfles beyond Benares is the great city of
Allahabad, a very important place in Central India. When
the Hindu pilgrim first comes to AUahabad, we are told,
he sits down on the bank of the Ganges and has his head
shaved, holding it over the waters so that every hair may
fall into the river, and he beUeves that for every hair he
shall get a miUion years in heaven. So if a man is only rich
enough to take the journey to Allahabad, and has a good
head of hair to spare, he is sure of a very considerable time
in Paradise. The view from the port of AUahabad is most
extensive and interesting. Just beyond the fort is the
juncture of the two sacred rivers, the Ganges and the
Jumna. The Ganges flows down dark and muddy, the
Jumna bright and sparkling, and here where they mingle
their water is the place of places for aU Hindus, the most
sacred, except Benares, in aU the world.
Here Brahmin priests and fakirs have buflt their huts.
Here the barbers ply their trade in order that the hairs may
fall into the sacred stream and thus secure an eternity of
bliss. Here, at the junction of the two rivers, on the vast
plain which, in the wet season, is swept by the rushing water,
and which is left bare Avhen the dry season returns, a great
fair is annually held. Once in six years it is of larger pro
portions than on other years, and fully a million people, it is
said, are sometimes encamped on the banks of these sacred
rivers. Here, superstition, ignorance, and ancestral traditions
combine to fleece the pilgrims of their money, and to give to
them for their hard cash unsubstantial promises of bliss in
the Brahmin's heaven. AUahabad, also, is a great military

THE MUTINY AT CAAVNPORE. 301
station for English and native soldiers, and here, best of all,
the American missionaries, both of the Presbyterian and
Methodist boards, have flourishing and important schools
and churches.
But our journey is a long one, and Ave must hurry on
untfl we reach Cawnpore, a name forever associated Avith
hideous deeds of cruelty and acts of highest heroism. Not
only have EngHshmen an historic interest in this city, but
Americans as aa'cU have part in the traditions of the place,
for four American missionaries with their wives and their
chfldren were among the flrst to suffer martvrdom in the
great mutiny.
As we recaU the aAvful story of the mutiny, it wfl' be
remembered that for many days the little British garrison
had defended the helpless women and chfldren who had
taken refuge within the fort, with great bravery and de
termination. But there was no great general to direct
operations at Cawnpore. Individual courage abounded, but
the directing mind was absent. The besiegers pressed more
and more closely, untfl, at last, the garrison capitulated
under promise of safe conduct for aU the men, women, and
chfldren to Allahabad.
But the treacherous vfllainy of the bloodthirsty Nana
Sahib was not then knoAvn ; his promises were believed, the
fort was surrendered, and the men, women, and children em
barked on boats for passage to AUahabad. No sooner were
they weU aboard before orders came from Nana to flre on
the boats and to burn the straw thatch with which they
were covered.
A murderous volley was poured upon the unprotected
boats, and of aU the hundreds of soldiers and civilians Avho
made up their human freight, only four escaped by SAvimming
and diving and dodging the buUets untfl they reached the

362 THE HOUSE OF MASSACRE.
opposite shore. At this juncture orders came from Nana
Sahib to save the women and children aHve, after afl the
men had been killed.
The women were crowded together in a little buflding,
afterAvards known as the "House of Massacre." Two hun
dred and one were thrown into two rooms, twenty feet by ten
in dimensions. Here they were kept in mortal and momen
tary terror of their lives for a few days, untfl at last the
Nana, hearing that Havelock was on his way to the rescue,
and thinking that he would not be so eager to make the
attack if he knew that aU were dead whom he had come to
rescue, sent his soldiers to murder the women who were
confined in their narrow quarters.
The soldiers would not obey his orders, and then the
bloodthirsty wretch sent five professional butchers with
knives and hatchets to kfll these frail and beautiful EngHsh
women and their lovely daughters. It took the butchers an
hour and a half to flnish their horrid task, and for each
woman kflled they received one rupee. Then when the
awful massacre was completed and the clotted blood, ankle
deep in the House of Massacre, began to ooze out imder the
doorsills, the bodies were rudely dragged out of the door
and thrown into a well near by.
From some of the bodies the breath of life had not yet
departed, but all were ruthlessly thrown into the horrible
pit. What a contrast to these scenes of blood and carnage
is the peaceful Cawnpore of to-day! No rude alarms of
raging foes to-day disturb the silence of the beautiful garden
which surrounds the spot Avhere the House of Massacre once
stood, and the well hard by into Avhich the bodies were
thrown. Around the Avell is a tasteful stone enclosure
several feet high, through which one enters by an iron gate
way into the precincts of this most melancholy and pathetic

THE ANGEL OF REMEMBRANCE. 363
of all spots in India. Over the well rises a beautiful white
marble angel with outstretched wings, bearing in either '
hand a triumphant palm branch, — a beautiful design most
beautifuUy executed.
Around the mouth of the old well, beneath the marble
angel, is the inscription in old English characters :
"SactcO to tbe ^emorg of tbe ©rcat dompang ot Cbriettan ipeo=
pie, CbfcflB TMlomen an& Cbfl&ren, Crucllg ^assacreO IRear tbis
Spot bg tbe TRebel IRana Sabib an& ttbrown, tbe Dslnfl wttb tbe
2)ea0, Into tbe TRUell JBeneatb, on tbe I5tb Dag of Julg, IS57."
In the beautiful Memorial church which marks the spot
where the heaviest fighting occurred before the capitulation
of the fort, are many inscriptions which stirred my soul as I
read them with the memory of the horrible butchery, per
petrated so near, fresh in mind. One of these inscriptions on
a tablet reared by a widow in memory of her husband who
had here lost his life, is : " Yengeance is mine, I wiU repay,
saith the Lord." Another : " We reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed." Stfll another, most appro
priate and touching of aU: "These are they Avhich have
come out of great tribulation."
Only about forty mfles from Cawnpore is the stfll more
famous city of Lucknow, for here were gathered together in
the "Eesidency," which was hastfly fortifled at the begin
ning of the mutiny by Sir Henry LawrencCj no less than
2,242 persons, men, women, and chfldren. Here for eighty-
seven days, by a smaU handful of troops as compared with
the tens of thousands who besieged them, they were de
fended, untfl the brave General Havelock, with his " Saints,"
who could always be relied upon for bravery in action and
clemency in victory, reUeved the place and rescued their
countrymen.

364 THE RESTING-PLACE OF HEROES.
Soon after the investment of the city by the mutineers,
the brave Lawrence, who divides Avith Havelock the honors
of Lucknow, was struck by a shell, and, after two days of
suffering, during which he directed and advised and inspired
his troops, he died, crying out : " Never surrender. Eemem-
ber CaAvnpore. Save the women and chfldren." Here, the
scene of his heroism, is Lawrence's fitting monument with
the world-famed inscription upon it :
"Ibere Uee one
¦Wnbo trleO to Do bis ftutg."
Never did man better deserve this simple but compre
hensive eulogy. His dying directions were carried out to
the letter ; the brave spirit which left his body on July 4,
1857, seemed to find a dwelling-place in every common
soldier during the awful months of the siege.
General Havelock's troops, which at first came to raise
the siege, were themselves invested and beleaguered by the
rebel Sahib's scores of thousands; but at last Sir CoHn
Campbell, with a stfll larger force, came to the rescue of the
rescuers, and, under Havelock's supervision, the women and
children Avere all conveyed in safety from their long im
prisonment and taken to AUahabad.
Only a few days after the successful completion of this
bravest rescue in the annals of history, the noble Havelock,
yielding to mortal iUness Avhich had come to him in the per
formance of his duty, was laid low, and he is buried, not in
Westminster Abbey, as his bravery and devotion deserve,
but in a lonely grave some three miles from the Eesidency
which he rescued and defended.
Seldom have I been more deeply moved than Avhen visit-
uig this scene of heroic and pathetic memory. The Eesi
dency is now a mass of ruins situated in the midst of beauti
ful gardens; but avoII preserved ruins they are, for great

THE RUINED RESIDENCY.

365

pains are taken by the English government to mark and pro
tect every reminder of the defense and relief of Lucknow.
Beautiful vines and creepers, all ablaze with blossoms,
cover the ruined walls of the Eesidency. Here is the spot,
we said to ourselves, Avhere men and women of the same
flesh and blood as ourselves, for weary day after weary day,
heard the whiz of buUet and the shriek of whirring shell.
Here was the banqueting hall transformed into a hospital,
where hundreds of poor fellows AAdth mangled limbs, bleed-

MOSQUB OP THE GREAT IMAMBARA, LUCKNOW.
ing and dying, were brought to spend their last weary days
under the brofling sun of tropical India.
Here most interesting of all is the " Tyekhana," where
the women were imprisoned during the siege. This is an
underground cellar with lofty walls, which was deemed the
safest place in any part of the Eesidency. Two hundred
and ninety-nine women were crowded into this one cellar for
many dreadful weeks. The flerceness of the siege and the
way in which every exposed portion Avas battered by the
sharpshooters of the Eebel Army, are Avell indicated in this

366 SUFFERINGS OF IMPRISONED WOMEN.
room of suffering and death. Only three or four very small
Avindows at the top of this room admit the Hght and air.
They all slope upwards and are overshaded by the projecting
buildings overhead, so that it seems impossible for a buUet
or a cannon-ball to flnd its way within this secure retreat.
However, the battered walls shoAV that many and many a
shell exploded within the cellar.
One hole is pointed out to us by the guide (an old sol
dier, by the way, who came to the rescue Avith Havelock's
army), made by a cannon-ball which swept a baby out of its
mother's arm without injuring the mother, whfle it pinned
the bleeding, mangled remains of the Httle one against the
wall near which the mother was leaning, spattering afl the
walls, as weU as the mother's breast, with the baby's gore.
No wonder that the legends of the place go on to say that
the mother went insane.
Another hole in the waU is shown us, made by a cannon-
ball which whizzed so near a woman's ear that she feU dead,
kflled by fright, though unharmed by so much as a scratch
from the ball.
During this dreadful siege, eight or ten babies were born
in the Tyekhana, most of whom, strange to say, Hved to the
estate of manhood and AA'omanhood. To scores of the brave
men who defended the Eesidency during that awful siege, as
well as to Sir Henry Lawrence and Gen. Havelock, may be
appHed the thriUing verses :
" Here rest thee, Christian warriors, rest from thy two-fold strife ;
The battle-fleld of India, the battle-field of life."
While of the two great generals and commanders who He
interred near by may be sung with full assurance of faith :
" The gallant chiefs of gallant men are more than conquerors now.''
One more city Ave must visit before we end this most

THE PERFECTION OF ARCHITECTURAL ART. 367
interesting and memorable journey — the city of the Taj
Mahal — a city justly famous for the one perfect Avork of
architectural art in all the Avorld.
Agra, the city of the Taj, Hes about a day's journey from
Lucknow. Its chief gem is the one buflding that never dis
appoints the traveler ; the one glorious pfle that fulfills every
anticipation. The Taj bursts upon the beAvildered view as a
thing of beauty and remains a joy forever. It is not a tem
ple, as many people suppose, but a mausoleum buflt by the
great Mogul, Shah Jehan, over his beautiful Empress
" Moom-taj," who, by her beauty, her grace, her inteUectual
abflity, and her winning ways, had obtained such power over
the Emperor, that when she came to die she made him prom
ise that he would not marry again, and that he would build
the most beautiful tomb in the world over her remains to
perpetuate her name.
She died in 1631, and immediately the bereaved Mogul
set about the task of f ulfiUing his promise, and of buflding
the wonderful tomb which is known by all the world as the
" Taj Mahal." It is situated in the midst of a beautiful gar
den of palms and banyan trees, flowering shrubs and bril
Hant creepers, fountains and marble tanks fuU of gold flsh.
On three sides are huge mosque-Hke gateways of brown
sandstone inlaid with marble, so that one does not see the
glories of the Taj untfl he enters through .these massive lofty
portals, and the magniflcent buflding breaks at once upon
his gaze. As the traveler beholds it flrst against the intense
blue of the Indian sky, the white dome seems to be soaring
into the sky, so Hght and airy is the substantial architecture.
We were struck dumb by the beautiful spectacle, and
dropping upon a marble seat at the very entrance of the
gardens, we feasted our eyes upon this most splendid of
bufldings. As we enter the mausoleum, astonishment at the

368

MARVELOUS DECORATIONS.

magnificence and beauty of the building gives place to
amazement at the delicate work which is inwrought in every
part of the structure. Polished marble and precious stones
of every description abound and are wrought into the white
marble both Avithout and within. On the Empress's tomb,
worked into flgures of flowers, are all kinds of precious
stones, bloodstones and agates, jasper and turquoise and

THE TAJ MAHAL.

lapis lazuli of fabulous cost. In one flower alone, in an
obscure corner of the tomb, are thirty-five specimens of
brilliant carnelian ; in another leaf forming a single petal of
a carnation are twenty-three different stones. In stifl
another flower are 300 different jewels formed into an exqui
site rose.
But the hand of the vandal had not been AA-ithheld even
from this most exquisite production of the ages. Some of
these jeAveled flowers have been picked to pieces, and the

DESECRATED BY TOURISTS. 369
precious stones of Avhich they were made carried away ;
whfle on the small crystal windows the tourist has frequently
cut his commonplace name. Here Ave find that " W. C.
Smith " and " Jane Higginbottom " have tried to immortal
ize themselves. I wish that I could hold them up to perpet
ual ignominy for their vandalism.
Before we leave Agra one more place claims our atten
tion, the palace where the beautiful queen lived. It was
built by her husband's grandfather, but largely beautifled by
her own taste and her husband's generosity. The private
rooms of the queen are embelHshed in the same way as her
tomb. Her bathroom is caUed the " room of mirrors," and
is ornamented Avith thousands of tiny looking-glasses. In
the niches of the walls were placed fairy lamps over which
water flowed in an iUuminated stream to the bath beneath.
In another part of the palace is the place where the king
played parchesi with his twenty-four wives, sitting in the
middle square himself, whfle each of his wives in a different
colored costume, occupied one of the twenty-four squares of the
tesselated pavement, and moved backward and forward as
he commanded, untfl at last she got into the " home circle "
which surrounded his august majesty. From this royal
model has come the game so popular with the children of
America. In stfll another part of the palace we saw the
raised dais from which the king and his beautiful queen
looked over the parapet into the valley beneath, where the
elephants and tigers were compelled to flght for their delec
tation. Those were barbaric days in which the palace and
the Taj were built.
But we must not Hnger. Our time for the wonders of
Northern India is exhausted, and we must hurry on to the
seaport of Bombay, carrying with us throughout all our lives
enduring memories of the exquisite "Jewel of Agra."

CHAPTEE XX.

ACROSS THE INDIAN OCEAN — THROUGH THE GREAT
DITCH.
Some of our Fellow Passengers — Missionaries and Men of Mars — The
Little Athletes — Potato Races and Hurdle Jumping — The Red Sea —
A Glimpse of Sinai — "And a Half, Eight" — Waiting our Turn — A
Huge Jack o' Lantern — A Sight Long to be Remembered — A Stu
pendous Enterprise — A Tarnished Name — Canal Diggers before De
Lesseps — In the Canal — Ismalia and her Donkeys — ' ' Yankee Doodle "
and "Washy Washington" — Undeniable Desert — A Woman with a
Supplementary Nose — Our First Glimpse of the Bedouin — A Family
of Arabs — The Land of Goshen — Pharaoh and his Prime Minister —
Bricks without Straw — The Fellahin and How They Live — Their
Superstitions — "O, Virgin Mary" — "The Sun Do Move" — The
Blessings Brought by John Bull — A Ghostly Reminder — How They
Carry the Babies — "Backsheesh, Backsheesh" — "Oh Sugar for a
Nail"— "God Will Make Them Light, Oh Lemons" — The Little
" Sons of the River." IE who makes the voyage across
the Indian Ocean from Bombay
to Ismalia has nothing of ocean
horrors to dread, at least in the
month of February, when it was
our good fortune to make the
journey. The majestic steamer
sailed steadfly on, day after day,
over rippling blue seas, whfle at
night she seemed to be cutting
her Avay through Avavelets of
molten sflA^er, so bright is the
phosphorescence of these Eastern waters. Even the poorest
saflor suffered no qualms of seasickness, and men, women,
and children all enjoyed themselves in their OAvn Avay, as
their tastes and habits dictated.
(370)

A FROLIC ON DECK. 371
Among our passengers were many oificers of the English
army, who were going home on a^ furlough, and AA'hose ev
ident delight at the thought of seeing the green fields and
cooling fogs of old England, after years on the arid plains of
India, was as keen and fresh as that of a schoolboy on his
way home for his Christmas holidays. Among the passen
gers, also, were many faithful missionaries, Avhose service is
far more arduous and far less remunerative than the work
of the men of Mars. These brave soldiers, too, deserve an
occasional hoHday, and some of them, worn and Avearied
and quite broken in health, after years of service, were going
back for a short period of rest to their homes in America
and England.
It so happened that among these missionary and mflitary
famflies Avere many children of all ages and sizes, and a very
happy day was given them when we all arranged for a
series of races between the little folks, with bright rupees
for prize money. There were straightaway races round the
deck, in which an eager-faced little girl, not more than five
years old, won most triumphantly, passing the line red-
cheeked and panting, but full of gladness that she had
beaten her older brothers and sisters, even though she was
given a long start at the beginning. Then there were three-
legged contests and potato races, marvelous juvenile feats in
hurdle-jumping, and aU kinds of games for all ages to partici
pate in. A brave major, Avith battle-scars seaming his face,
was the starter, a warlike captain was the time-keeper, and
a heroic missionary was the judge; and it is strongly sus
pected that the Avarriors and the missionaries enjoyed the
afternoon quite as much as the children themselves.
After four or five days of smooth seas and pleasant
weather the Victoria entered the Eed Sea, which is so wide
in many parts that the sensation is not that of sailing

372 THROUGH THE RED SEA.
through a narrow canal with land on either side, as one
Avould think when studying the map, but, for the most part,
one imagines that he is on the boundless, shoreless sea. To
be sure, once in a while, we see some bold promontory in
the distance or some toAvering mountain looming up on the
hazy horizon, and occasionaUy we pass near a rocky, surf-
beaten island ; but, until the steamer reaches the narroAv
Gulf of Suez, at the northern end of the Eed Sea, there is
but little difference between one's sensations here and upon
the broadest ocean. In fact, the north Avind, which often
draws through this channel between the mountains quite
flercely, frequently makes the sea rougher than the surface
of the neighboring Indian ocean.
As we approached Suez the eyes of aU the passengers
were strained to catch sight of Mount Sinai, that mountain
which more than any other on the earth's surface has
affected the destinies of mankind ; but it is very rarely that
one gets even a glimpse of the Mountain of the Law, for
only on the clearest day, when the air is absolutely trans
parent, can it be seen from the steamer's deck. This condi
tion rarely prevails in these latitudes, and the captain of our
steamer told me that only on three occasions, although he
had safled up and down the shores of the Eed Sea for half
his lifetime, has he caught a glimpse of the mountain that
once quaked and smoked with fire and brimstone.
Toward evening of a beautiful bright day in February
we approached the low shores of Suez, and could descry the
magnificent embankment which indicates the entrance to the
Suez canal, that marvel of modern engineering skfll. The
channel by Avhich the approach is made to the canal is nar-
roAV, the currents are treacherous, and the Avater on either
hand is shalloAv, so that great care must be taken by the
larger steamers in approaching the entrance. For some

REA'ELATIONS OF THE SEARCHLIGHT. 373
time before we anchored, waiting for our turn, the quarter
master on either side of our steamer was casting the lead,
and singing out in musical accents to the pilot on the bridge
the depth of Avater beneath our keel. One quartermaster
would cry out, "And a half, eight." The next instant the
quartermaster on the other side would respond, "And a half,
seven," showing that the Avater was rapidly growing shallow
and a fathom less Avas between us and the bottom than a
moment before. Then the first quartermaster would chant,
"And a quarter, seven," while the one on the other side, in
a kind of antiphonal response would answer: "And three
quarters, six."
Thus we felt our way along, avoiding the shoals and the
sandbanks, and then had to cast anchor for several hours,
waiting for our turn to come to enter the great ditch.
Night came on, and the stars came out, but even the stars
were paled by the brilliant electric searchlight from the
tower at the entrance of the canal, which swept around in
every direction, bringing out every yardarm, safl, smokestack,
and huge trumpet-Hke ventflator on the vessels about us, in
startHng reUef . Suddenly, as we were gazing out into the
darkness, thinking that no object was within the range of
our vision, the great fan-like wave of Hght would sweep
towards us and rest for an. instant upon a full rigged vessel,
Avhich would seem to start out of the blackness Hke a ghostly
visitor. For an instant the light would play over its huge
bulk Hke a vast enveloping jack-o'-lantern, and then would
sweep on to reveal other objects beyond.
It was a sight long to be remembered and worthy even
of the marvelous days of the Pharaohs themselves, who were
supposed to be versed in aU the occult wonders of mystic
lore. This ghastly white light, sweeping about, apparently
at its own pleasure, seemingly undirected and erratic in its
23

374 UNION OF THE RED SEA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN.

movements, ferreting out all things AAdthin its range, glorify
ing the floating seaweed and the flotsam and jetsam borne
by the tide, as well as the huge man-of-war and IcAdathan
merchant ship ; this modern miracle, I believe, would have
astounded the miracle-workers of old with aU their Egyptian
learning. The 16th of November, 1869, was a day long to be re
membered in the history of the world, for that day Avitnessed
the wedding festiAdties of the Eed Sea and the Mediterranean.

IN THE SUEZ CANAL.

On that day was inaugurated the vast enterprise of which
the ages had dreamed and which the ingenuity and persever
ance of the great French engineer had made possible.
Nearly one hundred miUion dollars had the canal cost ; and
it is said that the Khedive spent no less than tAventy miUions
of dollars in the ceremonies of the inauguration.
It will be readfly seen of Avhat inestimable value the
canal is to the commercial Avorld, Avhen we remember that it
reduces the distance from London to Bombay from 12,500
to 7,000 mfles, a saving of nearly one-half. From London

THE FIRST WATERWAY BETWEEN THE TAVO OCEANS. 375
to Hong Kong the distance is over 15,000 miles by the Cape
of Good Hope, and only 11,000 miles by the canal ; Avhile
from Marseilles to Bombay, the distance by the Cape is over
12,000 mfles, hj the canal only 5,000, a saving of nearly
sixty per cent. But not only is the canal a stupendous and
successful enterprise from a commercial point of view, but it
is as successful flnancially as in every other aspect. The
toUs amount to many mfllions of doUars every year, and are
constantly increasing.
But it must not be thought that in the nineteenth cen
tury was flrst conceived the project of a waterway between
the two oceans, or that De Lesseps' fertfle brain was the first
to evolve this gigantic scheme. From the very earliest
days there was an overland route between the Mediterra
nean and the Eed Sea, but it is said that Sethi I, the great
prince of the nineteenth Egyptian dynasty, desirous of trans
porting his navies from one sea to the other, built the first
canal. A representation of his time on the wall of the ban
quet hall of Karnac, tells us that on his victorious return
from Egypt the conqueror traversed a canal, swarming with
crocodfles and defended by bastions.
But Father Time has a great fashion of defacing and de
stroying the mighty works of man. If with his tooth he
can gnaw away the pyramids, he has little difficulty in fill
ing up a ditch, hoAvever vast it may be, or however impor
tant to the commerce of the world. And so it came about,
as the centuries went on, and lesser men occupied the throne
of the Pharaohs, and the people relapsed into commercial in
difference, that this canal was obUterated, and even its
course cannot be discovered to-day.
But eight hundred years after the Pharaoh who built the
first canal, came Pharaoh Nekho, who was very desirous for
the welfare of his country. He began to construct a canal

376 ANCIENT CANALS, EGYPTIAN, PERSIAN, AND ROMAN.
between the Nfle and the Eed Sea, and it is said that no less
than 120,000 Egyptians perished whfle engaged in this work.
It was afterwards abandoned, because the oracle told Pha
raoh that the barbarians alone would profit by the work.
However, the work already accomplished, and the lives
lost, did not go altogether for nothing, for the canal Avas
completed by Darius, the great founder of the Persian
Empire, the same Darius of whom we read in the Book of
Daniel, who has left in many ways the impress of his mighty
personality upon the world.
Even as late as the century immediately before the
Christian. era, there is no doubt that the remains of this old
canal were stfll found, for history tells us that after the battle
of Actium, Cleopatra made an effort to convey her ships
across the Isthmus of Suez, in order to escape with her treas
ures from Octavius. If there had been no canal, she would
not have been foolish enough to try to transport her ships
over the land, though it is probable, as the historians teU us,
that the canal was in a very dflapidated condition.
AfterAvards, it is said that the Eomans, and later stfll, the
Arabs, reconstructed the old canal or dug a new one; but the
only thing that seems to be certain about this vast hole in
the ground is, that it became unserviceable after the eighth
century, and for a thousand years the merchants toilsomely
sent their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, untfl De
Lesseps proved the feasibflity of the present canal, the possi
bility of its construction, and with unbounded faith and
energy overcame the countless obstacles Avhich lay between
him and triumphant success.
But during all this time our vessel has been anchored
near the entrance of the canal, waiting for the signal to be
given that the channel is clear, and that it is our turn to
enter. At last it comes, and, weighing anchor, stealthfly

THROUGH THE GREAT DITCH.

377

and sloAvly, the great ship SAvings within the breakAvater
Avhich defends the mouth of the canal, and very sloAvly feels
its Avay between the sandy banks that stretch away on either
side. The great ditch is tAventy-flve feet Avide at the bot
tom, while on the surface it is much wider, and sometimes
stretches out into broad natural lakes, which saved the con
structors of the canal much digging on their Avay from sea
to sea. There is very little of special interest in the journey
to Ismalia.
It takes
about eight
hours time,
so slowly do
the steamers
proceed, lest
the wash of
waves which
they create
should de
stroy the
banks. But
at last in the
early morn
ing Hght, the
little modern
toAvn where
Ave are to leave our floating home comes in sight, and a
steam launch soon bears us to the shore.
There is almost nothing to see in Ismalia except the
donkeys and the donkey boys. The latter are ubiquitous
and most persistent. They meet you at the landing; they
thrust their donkey in your face and eyes as soon as you
step ashore. They plant him before you, broadside on, to

DONKEY BOT OF ISMALIA.

378 "YANKEE DOODLE" AND " WASHY-WASHINGTON."
bar your further progress, unless you mount and ride.
They sound his praises in every note of the gamut. After
all other recommendations fafl, they plead with you to take
him because of his "lovely black eyes." One boy even rec
ommended his donkey to us as a "riglar masher." If they
suspect you of being an American, they wfll cry out, " Take
my donkey. Master," "My donkey is Yankee Doodle," "My
donkey's name is Washington," while one boy gravely as
sured us, thinking that he surely woifld secure our patronage
thereby, that his animal rejoiced in the name of "Washy-
Washington." We tarry in Ismalia no longer than is absolutely nec
essary, for stranger sights lure us on to the City of the
Califs. Taking the railway at Ismalia, a journey of a few hours
brings us to the ancient city of Cairo. The first part of the
AVay lies through the desert, and a most uncompromising
and undeniable desert it is. The yeUow sand hems in the
narroAV raihvay track on every side, and there is scarcely a
green thing far or near to refresh the eyes. StiU, barren as
is the country, its people are of never-faiHng interest.
Every raihvay station is bright with the colors of the curious
costumes of men and women. Here is an orange seUer, for
instance, with her face entirely coA^ered by a hideous black
veil, Avith only a slit large enough for two piercing black
eyes to shine through. Over her nose is a curious brass
contrivance like a great supplementary nose, Avhich seems to
attach the veil to the upper part of the headdress. Here is
another Avoman Avitli a heavy Avater jar on her head, Avhich
she carries, standing proudly erect, in a Avay that shows
that she has been used to such burdens from her earliest
girlhood. At another station Ave see a Avhole family of
Arabs squatting upon the platform, the Avomen veiled as

GREEN FIELDS AND AVAVING PALMS.

379

those we have already described, though the little girls are
aUowed to go with uncovered faces. For the most part,
they are a stupid, degraded lot of human beings, Avith noth
ing of aspiration in their eyes, and no desire to be anything
but the hewers of wood and the draAvers of water which
they and their ancestors have been for so many centuries.
After a few mfles of this desert journey, we grow rather
Hstless and indifferent to that which may be seen outside the

ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE.

car window, but suddenly we are aroused from our indiffer
ence by an entrancing sight of green fields and fertile gar
dens and waving palm trees. It is as though we had come
into a fairy land, out of a very prosaic workaday Avorld.
And indeed we have entered fairy land, and the magician
that works the wonder is none other than old Father Nile.
He sends out his life-giving waters, and Avhatever he touches
springs into new life and blossoms like the rose. The line of
demarcation betAveen the desert and the well-favored lands

380 IN THE LAND OF JOSEPH AND MOSES.
of the Nfle is clear and distinct ; one moment the train is in
the arid purgatory of the desert, the next it is in the smfling
paradise of the oasis.
And this flrst fertile tract to which Ave have come is none
other than the Goshen of the Bible. No wonder that the
aged Jacob rejoiced when his long pilgrimage AA'as over and
he entered into this fair land. We can understand better
than ever before the great power that Joseph must have en
joyed to be able to secure this goodly land for his father and
his unbrotherly brothers.
Off in the distance, but a little way from the raflway
track, are the fields Avhere the Israelites made bricks without
straw, and perhaps our eye rests upon the very place where
Moses, rendered indignant beyond the power of control at
the cruelties which were heaped upon his suffering feUow
countrymen, slew' the Egyptian, and became an exfle from
the court where he might have reigned as a prince, " choos
ing rather to suffer aflliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Our hearts throb
within us as we look out on these historic sights, and realize
that these were the same sandy plains, the same green fields,
watered then as now, "with the tears of the Nile," whfle the
same cloudless Egyptian sky bent over them as over us.
Out here rode in majestic state the famous Prime Minister
of the Pharaohs, the young man who, by his oavu virtue and
force of character, raised himself from the position of a
captive peasant to a prince of the realm. These roads, too,
Avere trodden by the feet of Aaron, the High Priest, by
Miriam, the tuneful singer; and along these same highAA'ays
rumbled the chariot Avheels of the great Pharaohs, Avho, as
world-conquering rulers, have never been equaled by Greek
or Eoman, Turk or Briton.
We see very little, hoAvever, to remind us of the magnifi-

A NATIVE E(!YPTIAN SCHOOL. {From an instantamoHS i^hotograph .)
All Egypliaii school is a cnrioBity. 'I'lu! pnpilh sit on the lloor, study their lessons aloud, rocking back and forth, and fhoy moke the schoolroom
ahout as noiny an a ward political meeting. I generally knew where a schoolroom was at least half a minute beforo I reached its doors. The master
squatfl on the lloor, or BtandH among his pupils, wlio are seated in rows or promiscuously scattered through the rest of the apartment.

THE EGYPTIANS OF TO-DAY. 383
cence of the Pharaohs, or of the state in Avhich Joseph trav
eled in those early days. Most of the viUages which Ave
pass are mean coUections of wretched mud houses. Their
four walls rise scarcely higher than the head of a man, and
except for an occasional mosque, with its slender minaret,
there is no attempt at architectural beauty or embellishment
of auA' kind. Most of the loAver classes who swarm at the
raflway stations, and whom we see from the car windows,
wear around their necks charms, written on paper, and sevni
up in leather. They are ignorant and superstitious to the
last degree, and not only protect themselves, but their cattle
in the same way. Every man, as he passes a saint's tomb, it
is said, mumbles a prayer without stopping, and, saints'
tombs being very numerous, a mumbled prayer is always on
his Ups. Some of the great saints are appealed to on every
possible occasion. If a man sneezes, or is afflicted Avith the
hiccoughs, or turns his ankle in the streets, he adjures his
favorite saint. Even if his legs are stiff as he rises from his
seat, he exclaims, " 0 Yirgin Mary ! " Their ignorance is
beyond aU comprehension, the education even of the upper
classes being confined to the narrow limits of the Koran.
Not one of them can be convinced that the earth is not flat,
whfle they agree thoroughly with Parson Jasper in his dic
tum that " the sun do move."
An Egyptian school is a curiosity. The pupils sit on the
floor, study their lessons aloud, rocking back and forth, and
they make the schoolroom about as noisy as a ward political
meeting. I generally knew where a schoolroom was at least
half a minute before I reached its doors. The master squats
on the floor, or stands among his pupfls, who are seated in
rows or promiscuously scattered through the apartment.
Their lessons are given to them upon slates or large cards,
and they sit rocking back and forth and studying aloud.

384 THE DESPISED EUROPEANS.
A learned priest, which means a man learned in the mys
teries of the Koran, indignantly walked out of an examina
tion hall in Cairo recently, when told that the scholars were
there taught that the earth was round. No such heresy
would he allow to have place even for a moment in his the
ology. Every other man is to a Mohammedan an infldel ;
and not only an infldel, but a miserable and despicable infl
del, at that, who deserves stoning and torture and death,
though the laws unjustly interfere in his behalf. Even the
children will greet the Europeans on the street with the
exclamation : " Ya Nusrani ! " (O Nazarene). The donkey
boy calls out to his ass, as he prods him Avith a sharp stick :
" Go along, you son of a pig, get on, you son of a Nazarene ! "
It is said by those who have lived long in Egj^t, that the
centuries of oppression under hard task masters, and the
subserviency to a false and degrading religion, have not only
dulled the moral and inteUectual faculties of the Egyptians,
but have deadened even their physical senses as weU. A
traveler and resident for ten years in Egypt says that the
sense of pain is very small among the lower classes, that their
olfactory nerves are also extremely dull, that they cannot
distinguish one person from another by his footsteps, and
not easily by his voice, and that they never hear a sUght or
distant sound, or notice a Avhisper.
In the interior of the poor houses, whose outer waUs we
see from the train, is no furniture worthy of the name. A
few mats, a sheepskin, a basket or two, kettles for heating
water, and a small array of wooden dishes, is all that we
find within the hut, and this hut is shared by the hens and
the ducks, the goats, and the sheep of the establishment, as
Avell as by the human inhabitants, AA^hfle the coavs and buffa
loes would have no hesitation in pushing their way Avithin
the doors, were they wide enough to receive them.

FOOD OF THE LOWER CLASSES. 385
Almost the only food of the laboring classes is a kind of
bread made of sorghum flour or of Indian corn, Avheaten
bread being eaten only by the Avealthy classes. For supper,
however, we are told, even the poorest cause a hot repast to
be prepared. This usually consists of a highly salted sauce
made of onions and butter, or, in the poorer houses, of butter
and linseed ofl.
Around the Ioav table the various members of the family
sit, whfle each member dips his piece of bread, held in his
fingers, into this common famfly sauce. In addition to this,
buffaloes' and goats' milk, and in the summer, cucumbers and
pumpkins are the only addition. Of course, this meagre bill
of fare and this wretched manner of life applies to the
lower classes only. There is an aristocracy in Egj^pt, as
there is everywhere else, that clothes itself in purple and flne
linen and Hves upon the fat of the land. But the poverty of
the masses is almost beyond description.
Poor as it is, the common people of Egypt were probably
never so weU off as they are to-day. From the time of the
IsraeHtes they have lived the lives of serfs. Oppressed by
the original Pharaohs, doubly oppressed by each succeeding
dynasty, their lives held cheaper than the very dirt of the
street, hundreds of thousands of them sacrificed in the dig
ging of every great canal and the building of every gigantic
pyramid ; it is only within the memory of the present gener
ation that attention has been called to the wretched con
dition of the Fellahin, and that anything has been done for
their reUef. Since the English have acquired a dominating
control in Egypt, their beneflcent rule has been felt as in
other Eastern lands. Order has come out of chaos, justice
has succeeded to tyranny, and theoreticaUy, at least, the
tiUer of the sofl can assert his rights as AveU as the proudest
descendant of the Pharaohs. As a matter of fact, there

386 DISTINGUISHING COLOR OF THE TURBAN.
is doubtless still very much of oppression and iniquitous
taxation, for the work of centuries cannot be undone in a
moment, or the rights of a people secured by a single decree.
However, Egypt is on the high road to recovery. Every
succeeding year sees a better state of affairs in the land of
the Nile, and the common people, at least, should devoutly
give thanks for the interference of John BuU and his red
coats. But among our fellow-passengers are many others be
sides the Fellahin of the Nfle. There are grave Mohamme
dan dignitaries. Some of these Moslems wear green
turbans, showing that they are descendants of the great
prophet himself, for no others are aUoAved to wear this
color. The scholars wear a broad, evenly-folded turban of a
light color, and it is said that the orthodox length of a
believer's turban is seven times that of his head, being
equivalent to the whole length of his body, in order that the
turban may afterwards be used as the wearer's winding-
sheet, and that this thought may famfliarize him with the
prospect of death.
The Copts, some of whom we also see among our feUow-
passengers, or among the loungers at the raflway station,
wear a dark blue turban, and the Jews a turban of yeUoAV,
since these were the colors decreed in the fourteenth cen
tury. One of the most characteristic things of any country is
the way in which the children are carried. As maA' well be
beUeved, such luxuries as baby carriages are unknown in the
East. In China and Japan the babies are strapped upon
the backs of their mothers ; in India they are carried upon
their thighs; while in Egypt they are perched upon their
mother's shoulders, the little legs hanging down before and
behind, Avhile they lean over on their mother's head, and

CLAIMANTS FOR CHARITY. 387
frequently go to sleep in this seemingly uncomfortable
position. Of course beggars are very common. You cannot step
off the raflway trains, or into the mosques, or turn the
corner of the streets, without being besieged by some new
claimant for charity. Thin, scrawny, diseased hands are
thrust into your face at every turn, and your loathing re
pugnance is more often excited than pity, by the horrible
specimens of humanity that dog every footstep. Men with
noses and chins eaten away by cancer, with eyes sealed and
corroded by countless sores, with finger joints tAvisted and
gnarled by rheumatism, or Avith handless stumps gradually
being eaten away by leprosy, confront us at every turn untfl
one has to harden himself against these sights, or else flee
incontinently within doors, and lock himself away from all
his feUow-men.
Instead of poHtely saying good morning to the passing
stranger, the beggar cries out to every European, "Back
sheesh, backsheesh ! " (A gift, a gift.) The wise traveler
responds to aU such salutations, " Ma flsh, ma fish ! " (I have
nothing for you). Or, if he wishes to vary the formula, he
wfll say, " AUah yatik " (May God give thee). This often
answers in place of backsheesh, and the beggar wfll go away
quite as contented as if he had received what he asked for.
A very common sight in the great citjes, as weU as in the
smaUer towns, is the water carrier with his goat-skin of
water, which looks like the great bloated carcass of an
animal carried on his back. He stfll plies his trade in the
city of Cairo, although the city is AveU supplied with water
from the new water-works. Stfll, he passes along the street,
Avith his heavy goat-skin on his shoulders, crying out at the
top of his lungs, " Ya auwad Allah ! " (May God recompense
me). Nevertheless, notwithstanding his pious cry, he wfll

388 DISPENSING THE DRINK OFFERING.
be very much disappointed if any one took a draft from his
goat-skin and left all the recompense to Allah.
On feast days, especially the birthdays of the saints,
pious Moslems, desirous of securing an easy entrance into
paradise, frequently hire one of these water carriers to
supply all comers with water gratuitously. Then the water
carrier shouts in a loud tone, "Sebfl Allah ya' atshan ya
moyeh ! " In this way he invites aU to drink freely, but he
is very careful to turn to his employer, who usuaUy stands

WATER-CAERIERS PILLING THEIR GOAT SKINS.
near him with a good deal of ostentation, saying, " God for
give thy sins, oh dispenser of the drink offering, God have
mercy on thy parents ! " To which they who are partaking
of the water reply, " Amen. God have mercy on them and
on us." After numerous blessings of a similar kind have
been interchanged, the sakka hands the last cup of water
to his employer with the words : " The remainder for the
liberal men, and paradise for the confessor of the unity. God
bless thee, thou dispenser of the drink offering."

STREET CRIES OF THE ORIENT. 389
Many of the other cries that one hears in the street or in
the raihvay station are equally curious. The cry of the
orange merchant and the itinerant flsh peddler at home are
quite uninteUigible, though spoken in one's own language,
and it can easily be imagined that the street cries of Egypt are
quite beyond the comprehension of the passing tourist. So,
Avithout shame, we must confess that we have consulted our
guide book at this point for the interpretation of these cries.
There is a man with a thin jeUy made of starch and
sugar. He is crying out, " O sugar for a nail, O confec
tion ! " which uninteUigible cry indicates that he is wiUing
to barter his jeUy for a nafl or piece of old iron.
There is a vender of lemons, who calls out to us as we
pass by, " God Avfll make them light, O lemons 1 " We turn
to Baedeker to flnd that he means to say, in his highly
figurative and poetic language, that God will help him to
sell his lemons, and thus make his baskets light.
Another long cry of twenty syllables rings out on the air,
which, being interpreted, reads as follows : " Help, 0 help,
the lupins of Embabeh are better than almonds! O hoAv
sweet is the little son of the river ! " This cry, too, must be
interpreted, when we find that it means that the peas which
this vender has to sell require to be soaked in river water
some time before they are boilecL On this account they are
caUed " Sons of the river," and their praises are thus sung
by this poetical chfld of the desert.
By these various sights and sounds and cries of street
vender and beggar, we are welcomed to Cairo, the magic
city of the Orient, and flnd ourselves in the country of the
Arabian nights, the capital city of the Cailifs.

CHAPTEE XXI.
IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS — THE MOST WONDER
FUL MUSEUM IN THE WORLD — THE MUMMY OF PHA
RAOH THE OPPRESSOR, AND HOW THE BODY WAS DIS
COVERED—LOOKING INTO PHARAOH'S FACE.
Marvelous Cairo — A Vivacious Traveler — Eyes ¦wanted Before and Be
hind — Fashion in a Fez — Madam Grundy in Egypt — At the Sugar
Cane Bazaar — A Glimpse of the Khedive — A Boy in a Fez — The
Flight into Egypt — The Tree of the Virgin — Hovr the Spider Out
witted Herod — The Only Relic — Joseph's Father-in-Law — Where
Joseph was Married — The Most Wonderful Museum in the World —
A Room Full of Mummies — Moses' Playfellow — What the Bible says
of Him — A Mummy over Three Thousand Years Old — The Pharaoh
of the Oppression — Where He was Buried — The Location a Mighty
Secret for Centuries — How the Tomb was Discovered — Unwinding
the Mummy — How Pharaoh Looked — Description of the Body — Its
Identity Established — Where is the Pharaoh of the Exodus ?

E who travels around the world
is apt to become somewhat sated
with wonders before he reaches
Egypt. The glories of Japan,
the wonders of China, the ancient
magnificence of India, in some
degree exhaust his capacity for
sight-seeing; his mind becomes
glutted with marvelous memo
ries, and it requires a place of
unusual interest to arouse his
somewhat flagging enthusiasm.
But Cairo is such a place. Coming to it from the East
or the West, its strange charm is always felt. No traveler
can be so blasi as not to acknowledge the magic of this mar
velous city. The strange people, the curious costumes, the
(390)

ISJOI'ORE A CAIIil) COFFEE IIOir.SR. (From an ins/nntanemis photograph.)
The KtraiiRe jx-oplc, the ciirioim contiimtw, tlio uiifainiliiu- cvica in tlic Btioel, tlio chnracli-riBlic crowd of all sorts and conditions of men in
front of each coflee honsc, the strange manners and customs of the bazaar, all furnished material for many days of delight in the capital of Egypt.

IN THE STREETS OF CAIRO.

393

mingling of the Occident and the Orient, the unfamfliar
cries in the street, the characteristic crowd of all sorts and
conditions of men in front of each coffee house, the strange
manners and customs of the bazaar, all furnish material
for days of delight in the capital of Egypt. Before we go

- -'I (Jz -'/C-

STREET MUSICIANS AND DANCERS OF CAIRO.
»
out of the city to see the more marvelous wonders beyond —
the pyramids and the sphinx, which alone of all the crea
tions of man have defled the ravages of centuries — let us
spend a little whfle within the city itself.
Cairo has been compared by a vivacious writer to a
mosaic of the most fantastic and bizarre description, in which
aU nations, customs, and epochs are represented, a living
museum of all imaginable and unimaginable phases of exist-
24

394

VIGOROUS AIDS TO LOCOMOTION.

ence, of reflnement and degeneracy, of civflization and bar
barism, of knowledge and ignorance, of paganism, Christian
ity, and Mohammedanism. " In the boulevards of Paris,
and on London bridge," says one, " I saw but the shadow,
and at Alexandria heard only the prelude of the babel of
Cairo, to AA'hich the Koman or
Yenetian carnival is tame and
commonplace." In order to enjoy these
things thoroughly, one desires
eyes behind as weU as before,
and the steady power of forc
ing one's way possessed by the
camel. However, as a camel
is a bulk too huge for these
narrow streets, we Avfll hire a
donkey, with which, and the
help of a vigorous and viva
cious boy behind to prod him
with a sharp stick, and tAvist
his tail occasionaUy (a means
of urging to locomotion which
we cannot altogether prevent,
although we are sure that the
Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals would dis
approve), we can manage to get through the croAvd.
The experience of the traveler, Goltz, is so graphicaUj-
told, and so true to the experience of manA' another traveler
in Cairo, that I cannot help quoting a paragraph from his
pleasant description. " Having carefully learned the ex
pressions ' ana' a Aviz humar ' (I Avant a donkey) and ' bikan
kirsh deh ' (how many piasters ?), I yielded to the temptations

PRATING IN THE STREETS OP CAIRO.

THE DONKEY BOYS OF CAIRO.

3!)5

of plunging recldessly into the thick of Arabian life, its con
versation and its equestrianism. I therefore pronounced the
mystic words with the satisfaction of a child Avhich utters
articulate expressions for the flrst time, Avhen I Avas instantly
so perfectly understood by a score of donkey boys that they
afl offered me their donkeys at once ; though perhaps they
would have done so had I

not spoken at all. I felt
Hke a magician who has
succeeded in discovering-
an effectual formula of
conjuration. After this
display of my abilities, I
vaulted into the saddle
with as much ease and
assurance as if Cairo had
been my home. The don
key boy then probably
asked me ' Where to ? '
whereupon, feeHng that
my stock of Arabic phrases
and cabalistic f ormluee Avas
nearly exhausted, I replied
in a very abbreviated
form: ^Kullo, Kullo'
(everything), meaning
that I wanted to see everything. The donkey boy then
nodded to this, 'AU right, I understand,' and I now felt
perfect confidence in my powers of speech.
" My donkey now set off at a gallop and plunged into
the midst of a labyrinth of lanes full of riders and walkers,
but where I Avas going, or how far, or why, I was unable to
teU. That, however, was precisely the joke of the thing."

LATTICED WINDOWS — CAIRO.

396 FASHIONS IN FEZZES.
It is altogether probable, hoAvever, that our Avide-aAvake
traveler found himself before long in the bazaars, for the
donkey boys have a secret understanding with the proprie
tors of these bazaars that they shall bring every unsuspect
ing traveler within their web as soon as possible. So pictur
esque is the sight that the traveler is usually quite ready to
be caught, even though it means that he will be despofled of
a fcAV francs, and have very little to show for them.
We passed through one street which seemed to be very
largely given up to the fez makers. Here is the universal head
covering of the Turk in all stages of manufacture. New
fezzes are being shaped, and old fezzes are being re-ironed,
just as silk hats are put into good condition in the hat shops
of other countries. A truncated cone of brass is the mould
on which the fez is built, and since scarcely any other kind
of head gear is used in this or any other part of the Moham
medan world, it wfll be seen that these little factories trans
act a very large business. In fact, the fez is the sign of
national subjection to the Turk, and Christians and Jews in
Turkish lands were originally obliged to wear it, if I mistake
not, on pain of being treated as heretics and traitors. In
these days the servitude expressed by the fez is largely for
gotten, and in church and on the street, in the mosque and
in the parlors, in the raflway train and on the house-top,
wherever one sees a subject of the Sultan, or anyone belong
ing to a tributary nation, he will, doubtless, see his head
covered with the red, conical cap, Avith the black tassel hang
ing down behind.
It Avould seem that there could not be much difference in
fezzes, that there Avas very little scope for the fashionable
hatters in this style of head gear ; but human nature is very
much the same in all lands, and there is a chance for Dame
Fashion to exercise her powers, and for Madame Grundy to

A CHANCE FOR MADAME GRUNDY.

39?

make her remarks eAi-en upon fezzes. To the unpracticed
eye they all look alike, but some are a little higher than
others, as Ave shall flnd if Ave look closely ; some are of a
darker shade of red ; others come more nearly to a point at
the top ; and just as one funereal silk hat differs from an-

SUGAE-CANB AND FRUIT SELLERS OP CAIRO.
Other funereal silk hat in its solemn lines of ugliness, so one
fez differs from another, and the changing fashion makes the
fez-makers' business good.
Beyond this fez merchant is the sugar-cane bazaar, where,
leaning up against the sides of the building, we see stacks of
tafl canes from which jointed sections are cut off for any

398 A PEEP AT THE KHEDIVE.
passing customer. The smaU boy, as can be easfly imagined,
especially enjoys this succulent, sugary product, and he may
be seen at almost any of these numberless staUs trying to
get the very largest possible piece of sugar-cane for the
smallest possible piece of money.
A veiled beauty (we wfll give her the benefit of the
doubt), with numerous strings of huge beads around her
neck, is Avaiting on the smaU boy, and very likely in the
foreground is a thick-Hpped, wooUy-pated Nubian, who in
his rags and dirt will lie out in the sun aU day long, with
never a thought that it is uncomfortably warm.
As we were looking in at one of these shops, we saw an
unusual commotion taking place in the street beyond us.
People were hurrying to shop doors, and scurrying from the
side streets to the corner of the larger thoroughfare, as
though some unusual sight was about to be exhibited. We
could not understand the meaning of the commotion untfl
our donkey boy pulled us excitedly by the sleeve, and, point
ing to the street, said something about the Khedive, which
gave us to understand that this youthful successor of the
Pharaohs was about to pass.
Our surmise concerning the donkey boy's information
was correct, and very soon four or flve soldiers dashed by,
foUowed by an open carriage draAvn by a span of splendid
horses. In this carriage were tAvo men of very ordinary ap
pearance, one much older than the other. Both wore red
fezzes of the ordinary type, but otherAvise Avere dressed as
European gentlemen. The younger of these two was the
boyish Khedive of Egypt, the ruler whose predecessors flve
thousand years ago built the pyramids and dug the ancient-
canals, and erected the most magnificent monuments which
the world has ever seen, monmnents Avhich even time and
vandalism cannot destroy.

A STROLL THROUGH THE BAZAARS.

399

Going on from this bazaar, from whose doorway we have
watched the passing of the Khedive, we soon enter a perfect
labyrinth of passageways, lined on every hand with little
staUs AA'here every imaginable article, and a good many
things which untfl recently have been unimaginable to us,
are sold: brass ware and silver fllagree Avork, amber and
sandal wood, fish and vegetables,
fruit and statuettes, donkey beUs
and evil-eye beads for the camels,
cakes and sugar for the boys, fod
der for the donkeys, saddles for
the horses, vefls for the women,
earrings and gewgaws for the
Arabs of the desert, and every
thing which Eastern and Western
ideas have rendered necessary.
Many of these bazaars open out
of passageways that are entirely
covered overhead, and are dark,
gloomy recesses into which a ray
of sunlight never struggles. Still,
dirty and dark, vermin-infested
and beggar-haunted as they are,
they are extremely interesting,
and in their mazes any one who
delights in the study of human nature can lose himself for
days at a time, but never lose his interest in the strange
sights around him.
Before leaving this fascinating city there are three ex
cursions which we must make, — one to Heliopolis where
Joseph lived, another to the marvelous museums of Bulak,
the most remarkable depository of antiquities in all the
world, and the third to the pyramids of Gizeh.

SHOE PEDDLER OF CAIRO.

400 TRADITIONS OF THE PAST.
We can visit Heliopolis in a single half day. A pleasant
road, winding oftentimes between gardens of oranges and
lemons, and shaded much of the Avay by these fragrant
trees, takes us to this famous City of the Sun. On the way
we pass the village of Matariyeh. Here is the tree and well
of the Yirgin. My readers, Avho are acquainted Avith their
New Testament history, will remember that the mother of
our Lord, to escape the cruel persecutions of Herod, fled into
Egypt with the child Jesus and her husband Joseph. The
pathetic picture which is so common in Christian art of the
Flight into Egypt, has done scarcely less than the Bible
itself to impress this scene upon the imagination of the
world. Those who haA^e once seen this picture, or any of
the innumerable copies of it, wfll never forget the sweet
face of the Yirgin Mother, as she rides along the dusty road,
bearing the infant Jesus in her arms, whfle the dignified and
manly Joseph Avalks by their side.
A modern traveler has said that if Joseph and Mary
were modern Bedouins, Joseph would be riding the ass,
while Mary would walk and carry the chfld. But we are
glad to believe that Joseph and Mary had very Httle in
common with the modern Bedouin, and that the western
ideas of respect to motherhood and womankind prevailed in
that journey undertaken so long ago to the land of Egypt.
In this little village to which we have come, tradition says
the virgin and child once rested, and the tree under which
she rested — a large, spreading sycamore, Avith decayed
trunk and gnarled limbs— is still pointed out. Of course,
even the most credulous know that this particular tree must
have been planted many centuries after that famous journey
was undertaken ; but it is very certain that a most ancient
tradition connects the Holy Family with this very spot, and
though it is knoAvn that this tree was not planted until 1672,

AN INTERESTING TREE AND ITS STORY.

401

and that its predecessor died in 1665, it is not by any means
impossible that near this spot came the Blessed Mother and
the Holy Child, with their stahvart protector, from the land
of Judea.

A BEDOUIN FAMILY ON A JOURNEY.

The water for the garden in which the tree is planted
comes from a shallow pool near by, and, as .we visited the
spot, a blindfolded ox was pacing his weary round, raising
the water by a series of endless buckets, which poured
their contents into the ditches that irrigated the garden.
Unlike most of the water in this vicinity, which is brackish,

402 A spider's veil and what IT CONCEALED.
the water from this reservoir is sweet and good for drinking,
and before we left the garden we took a draught from the
same pool at which the Yirgin and her husband may have
quenched their thirst eighteen hundred years ago.
Tradition has been busy with this place, as with every
other that is connected with the Holy Famfly, and one
pretty legend tells us that when persecution was rife, the
mother concealed herself with the child in the hoUow trunk
of the tree which stood on this spot, and that a spider wove
its web so closely across the opening that no lynx-eyed per
secutor could see the mother and the chfld beneath the
spider's vefl.
Half a mfle beyond this garden we see aU that is left of
th^ famous Heliopolis, or the City of the Sun. This is the
place which the Bible calls On, and here we are told that
Pharaoh gave Joseph the daughter of a priest of HeUopoHs
in marriage. In early days the Temple of the Sun at HeUo
poHs was the most famous sacred place in aU Egypt, and was
the scene of the most notable ceremonies connected with the
worship of the sun. No less than 12,913 priests and officials
were connected with this temple, it is said. As one thinks
of the former magniflcence of this spot and contrasts it with
its present decay, he realizes how absolutely Time destroys
the mightiest works of man.
Few places have been so utterly wiped out of existence.
All that is left now of this famous temple is a single
obelisk, and even that is not impressive, for it is half
buried in the accumulated mud and sofl of the centuries,
which have been deposited around it. On tAvo sides the bees
have built their cells in the deep-cut hieroglyphics, so as to
flU them up completely and obliterate the characters, and
the only signs of life about this temple, Avhich once swarmed
with thousands of priests and myriads of worshipers, are two

THE RAVAGES OF TIME. 403
or three bUnd, lame, halt, and loathsome beggars, who limp
after one at every step, and hold out fllthy hands, distorted
and twisted by disease, for backsheesh.
Companion obelisks to the one which stands here have
been taken by successive conquerors of Egypt to grace their
capitals, and this alone is left to teU the tale of the glory of
Heliopolis. On this obeUsk, doubtless, Joseph looked;
beneath the shadows of this monument and its tall com
panions he led the Mother and Chfld. To the temple, which
stood on this spot in its more than royal magnificence, came
the Pharaohs, one after another. Every Pharaoh considered
himseh' the human embodiment of the sun, and it is only
natural that he should have brought offerings worthy of a
Pharaoh to this magniflcent temple, to increase Avith every
reign of every dynasty its growing magniflcence.
There is to-day in the National Museum at London a
papyrus which gives a marvelous list of presents donated to
this temple by Eameses III alone. But now, for more than
two thousand years, HeUopoHs has been but a name. Even
the famous university which once flourished here, though es
tablished long after the temple had ceased to exist, and only a
hundred years before the time of Christ, is utterly obliterated.
Nations have come and gone, kingdoms have waxed and
waned, steadfly the star of empire has moved westward, but
this one lonely monolith remains, half imbedded in mud,
not even respected by the bees themselves, resorted to by
only a few tourists, on whom beggars fatten — this only
remains of the magniflcent City of the Sun.
Our next excursion shall be to the Bulak Museum. As a
rule, the traveler finds a museum a tiresome weariness to the
flesh, unless he is engaged in some particular branch of
research and desires to make use of the treasures which the
museum contains, in his particular investigations ; he is apt

404

A WONDERFUL MUSEUM.

to wander through the endless corridors in a stupid and per
functory way, casting a glance to the right and the left, for
the sake of performing his duty, and being able to say that
he has " done " the museum. Eye and brain, as weU as feet
become tired, the conflned atmosphere at last becomes unen
durable, and one vows that he wfll see no more curiosities
" while the world standeth," if they are to be bought at the
¦expense of such utter weariness and ennui. Then, as one

IN THE BULAK MUSEUM.

emerges into the open air, he has a dim remembrance of a
tomb here and a scarabeus there, of a collection of arrow
heads over yonder, of a case of butterflies on the north waU,
and another of ancient coins on the south wall. But where
the butterflies flrst flew, or where the coins passed current,
or who occupied the tombs, or at Avhom the arrow heads
were pointed — of these detafls he is apt to have a very
mixed and hazy idea.
But the museum at Bulak is not an ordinary museum by
any means. The most Avearied and travel-hardened tourist

ANCIENT TREASURES, ANTIQUITIES, AND MUMMIES. 405
finds here enough treasures to keep his mind alert, and to
drive the weariness from his brain and his feet.
We did not linger, hoAvever, for many minutes over the
bronze cats and jackals, the ibises in copper, or the shrine of
Osiris. We did not take any great joy in the sight of the
green porcelain deity in the shape of a distorted child stand
ing upon two crocodfles and strangling tAvo snakes, neither
did we go into raptures over the dog-faced ape, the emblem
of the god Thoth, or even over the golden diadems and
chains and alabaster vases, and granite hawks with human
heads, for we Avere anxious to spend all the time at our dis
posal in the apartment of the royal mummies.
Untfl within the memory of many of my youngest read
ers, the existence of these mummies Avas not suspected by
the civflized Avorld. The Arabs, to be sure, knew of them,
but as the royal tombs furnished them with a perfect mine
of curios, seals, coins, statuettes, and rolls of papyrus, they
carefuUy concealed their knoAvledge from investigating trav
elers. At last the antiquities AA'ere found, and treasures
such as the world had not believed to exist, were unearthed.
As we enter the museum Ave see several mummies and coffins
belonging to priests and kings and princes of the twenty-flrst
dynasty. But this was an inglorious dynasty, so history
teUs us. The priest-kings were unable to enforce their
claims, and they are particularly interesting to us only on
account of their connection with Solomon ; for it Avas Avith
this dynasty that Solomon made affinity, and took Pha
raoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David.
It was a Pharaoh of this dynasty, too, that took Gezer
and burned it Avith flre, and slew the Canaanites that
dwelt in the city, and gave it for a present to his daughter,
Solomon's wife, as we are told in the ninth chapter of
I Kings. In the time of these Pharaohs, Solomon had

406 A ROOM FULL OF ROYAL MUMMIES.
horses and linen yarn brought out of Egypt. We are told
that an Egyptian chariot in those days cost 650 shekels of
sflver, and a horse 150 shekels.
As we pass on further into this most interesting funereal
apartment, we flnd priests and kings of older dynasties.
Here is the coffin of Thothmes III. These were more glori
ous Pharaohs than their successors. They flourished more
than 3,500 years ago, extended their conquests as far as the
Tigris, exacted heavy tributes from the nations whom they
vanquished, and embelHshed Thebes, their capital, with mag
niflcent edffices.
But most interesting of all in this marvelous room are
the coffins and the mummies of Sethi I and his son Eameses
II, for these are the " Pharaohs of the Oppression," whose
cruel story is told to us so graphically in the Book of Exodus.
Sethi, it is known, caused his son Eameses to be educated
with the other young Egyptian nobles, and it is altogether
probable that one of these Egyptian nobles was Moses, the
great Lawgiver of Israel. Hoav Pharaoh's daughter found
him as she went to bathe in the Nfle ; how, by the sister's
gentle ruse, the chfld's mother was caUed to be the nurse,
we all remember. Who has not felt glad Avhen the princess
said to the anxious mother : " Take this child and nurse it for
me, and I will give thee thy wages." Never Avas such a
congenial task given to a nurse before ! " And the woman
took the child and nursed it, and the child grew, and she
brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her
son, and she called his name Moses, and she said : Because I
drcAV him out of the Avater." Noav, after reading this brief
Biblical story, let us turn to our museum again. Look into
that glass case. There, in that royal gilded coffin, lies a
shrunken, Avithered mumniA'. The lower limbs are yet
wrapped in the cerements of the grave, but the skull is ex-

MUMMY OVER THREE THOUSAND TEARS OLD, OF SETHI I, FATHER OF RAMESES 11,- THE PHARAOH WHO
OPPRESSED TUB CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.
(From a special photograph.)
Look into that glass case. There, in that royal gilded coffin, lies a shrunken, withered mummy. The lower limbs are yet wrapned in the
cerements of the grave, but the naked skull is still perfect and visible. The long hooked Eomannose, the deep sunken eyS the heavv
square jaw, tell of the warrior and the tyrant. There is Moses's playfellow. For more than three thousand three hundred yeMB he liv silent in
the earth, until at last the mighty secret of his burial place was discovered, his coilln was opened, and he was f(>und to tell us the story of
the awful oppreasion and tyranny which he Inaueurated so many centuries ago. ¦- , y u lu u,.,, no m,, niory oi

MUMMY OF MOSES'S PLAYFELLOW.

409

'eA

posed and stfll perfect. The long, hooked, Eoman nose, the
deep-sunken eyeballs, the heavy, square jaw, tell of the war
rior and the tyrant. There is Moses's playfellow.
For more than three thousand years
he lay silent in the earth, until at last the
spade of the antiquarian broke into his
dark resting place, his coffin Avas opened,
and he was found to tell us Avith his flrm, ¦¦
determined lips, the story of the aAvful
oppression and tyranny which he inaugu
rated so many centuries ago.
' "Eameses II, the " Pharaoh of the Op
pression," died about 3,300 years ago. His
body was embalmed, placed on board the
royal barge, and floated up the Nile to
the Theban City of the Dead, where it
was laid to rest in the great sarcophagus
which had been cut from the limestone
of Biban-el-Mulouk. The location of the
tomb was weU known then, because it had
been the habit of the monarch to visit
it frequently during its excavation, but
for centuries the exact spot remained a
mighty secret.
" According to custom, after the burial
the doorway to the tomb was Availed up i^^/^^
and so disguised by rocks and sand as "^^^^ ^^^'^^^ ^^'^
'^ -^ OF MUMMY OF KING
to make it impossible for any but the pharaoh.rameses ii.
priests to discover its whereabouts. It (The pharaoh of the op-
was not until 1881 that the real hiding *" °
place was discovered. For a number t)f years the officials of
the Bulak Museum had seen funeral offerings, and other
antiquities, brought from Thebes by returning tourists, which
' Edward L. Wilson in The Century,

m

m

410 FINDING THE MUMMY OF PHARAOH.
they knew belonged to the dynasty of Eameses II, of his
father Sethi I, and of his grandfather Eameses I. The
clear-headed officials argued that the mummies of those
royal personages must have been discovered by some one.
The Director-General of the Museum at once organized a
detective force to help him discover the hiding-place.
" Arrest after arrest was made among the natives, and
the bastinado was applied to many a caUoused sole which
had never felt either shoe or sandal. Early in 1881 circum
stantial evidence pointed to an Arab named Ahmed Abd-er-
Easoul as the one Avho knew more than he would tell. He
Avas arrested and confined in prison for many months, mean
time sufferuig the bastinado repeatedly. FinaUy his brother
made a clean breast of the Avhole affair, and was induced to
conduct the Curator of the Museum to the hiding-place so
long looked for.
" Up the slope of a western mountain a huge isolated
rock was found. Behind this a spot was reached where the
stones appeared to have been arranged 'by hand' rather
than scattered by some upheaval of nature. Arabs were
employed to remove the loose stones from the weU into
which they had been thrown. When the bottom of the
shaft was reached a subterranean passage was found which
ran westward about twenty-four feet, and then turned
directly northward, continuing into the heart of the moun
tain for about two hundred feet. This passage terminated
in a mortuary chamber about thirteen by tAventy-three feet
in extent, and six feet in height.
"There was found the mummy of Eameses II, the
Pharaoh of • the Oppression, and his identity Avas subse
quently established bayond question. In the same chamber
Avere found nearly forty other mummies of kings, queens,
princes, and priests.

HOW PHARAOH LOOKED.

411

"The following June the mummy of Eameses II Avas
released from its bandages. After the unfolding of the
mummy the mercfless camera was turned upon it, and in
that sort of picture, which is notorious for never flattering
nor ever detracting.

we have a proof of
the very original
himself, enabling all
to 'see how Pha
raoh looked.' No
doubt exists about
the genuineness of
the mummy, for, in
black ink, written
upon the mummy
case by the high
priest and King Pin-
otem, is the record
testifying to the
identity of the royal
contents. The cov
erings were all re
moved by the care
ful hands of one of
the professors of the
Bulak Museum, in the presence of the Khedive and other
distinguished persons."
The head is long, and small in proportion to the body.
The top of the skull is quite bare. On the temples there are a
few sparse hairs, but at the poll the hair is quite thick. White
at the time of death, they have been dyed a light yeUoAv by
the spices used in embalming. The forehead is low and nar
row ; the eyebrows are thick and white ; the eyes are small
25

WHERE THE MUMMY OF PHARAOH WAS POUND.
ENTRANCE TO THE TOMB.

412

DESCRIPTION OF THE MUMMY OF PHARAOH.

and close together ; the nose is long, arched, and thin, and
slightly crushed at the tip by the pressure of the bandages.
The temples are sunken; the cheek-bones very prominent;
the ears round, and pierced like those of a woman for the

PROFILE OP KING PHARAOH, EAMESES n.
(The Pharaoh of the Oppression.)
wearing of ear-rings. The jaAv-bone is massive and strong ;
the mouth small, and Avhen flrst exposed was fuU of some
kind of black paste. This paste being partly removed dis
closed much worn teeth, which, however, are Avhite and
well preserved. The mustache and beard are white and
thin. They seem to have been kept shaven during life, but

LOOKING INTO PHARAOH'S FACE.

413

were probably allowed to grow during the king's last fllness,
or they may have groAvn after death. The skin is of earthy
brown, spotted Avith black. Finally, it may be said, the face
of the mummy gives a fair idea of the face of the living
king. The expression is umntellectual, perhaps sHghtly

FRONT VIEW OF PHARAOH IMMEDIATELY AFTEE UNWINDING THE MUMMY.
(From a special photograph.)
animal ; but even under the somewhat grotesque disguise of
mummification, there is plainly to be seen an air of sovereign
majesty, of resolve, and of pride. The rest of the body is as
weU preserved as the head ; but, in consequence of the reduc
tion of the tissues, its external aspect is less lifelike. The
neck is no thicker than the vertebral column. The chest is
broad ; the shoulders are square ; the arms are crossed upon

414 A WICKED RECORD.
the breast ; the hands are small and dyed with henna. The
legs and thighs are fleshless ; the feet are long, slender,
somewhat flat-soled, and dyed, like the hands, Avith henna.
The corpse is that of an old man, but of a vigorous and
robust old man. We know, indeed, that Eameses II reigned
for sixty-seven years, and that he must have been nearly one
hundred years old when he died.
He had his good points, to be sure, had Eameses the
Great. He exhibited great zeal as a buflder, as a patron of
art and of sciences, and erected monuments of victory in
various parts of Egypt. But his monuments have aU crum
bled, his bufldings are leveled Avith the ground, the arts and
sciences which he encouraged are outgroAvn, and have been
succeeded by nobler arts and sciences. But the one thing
that he wfll be known for in aU the future history of the
world, is that which is recorded of him in the first Book of
Exodus. Surely, it is true, in this case, that " the evfl that
men do lives after them, whfle the good is oft interred Avith
their bones."
" And the chfldren of Israel Avere fruitful, and increased
abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty ;
and the land Avas fllled with them.
" Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which
knew not Joseph.
" And he said unto his people. Behold, the people of the
children of Israel are more and mightier than we ;
" Come on, let us deal wisely vAdth them, lest they multi
ply, and it come to pass, that, when there faUeth out any
war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us,
and so get them up out of the land.
" Therefore, they did set over them task-masters to afflict
them Avith their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh
treasure cities, Pithom and Eaamses.

HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN. 415
" But the more they afflicted them, the more they multi
plied and grew. And they grieved because of the children
of Israel. " And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve
Avith rigour ;
" And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in
mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the
field ; aU their service, wherein they made them serve, was
with rigour.
" And Pharaoh charged aU his people, saying. Every son
that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter
ye shaU save aUve."
A sad record, surely, is this for any man to leave after
him, and yet we can believe it of this old Pharaoh, as we
see him grim and determined even in death, lying in his
coffin, which is exposed to the curious gaze of every sight
seer. None so poor now as to do reverence to this ancient
ruler of the world. He, at whose beck kings raUied to his
standards, or concluded peace at his command, Hes there, a
mere spectacle for every curiosity monger. The poorest
vagabond of the realm can now criticise his hooked nose and
his retreating forehead, and his long and scrawny neck with
impunity. The one on whom kings dared not look without
trembHng, is now known only as a persecutor and oppressor,
who is hated and despised by Jews and Christians alike,
though he has lain in his coffin for more than three thou
sand years. The old rule is forgotten, and no good and
only evfl is spoken of this man who has been so long dead.
Near by is the coffin and the mummy of his father, Sethi
I, who also shows in the very contour of his head that he
was a Pharaoh born to rule. And here is the scriptural
account of the end of this man whose mummy we see before

416 WHERE IS THE PHARAOH OF THE EXODUS ?
us. " And it came to pass in the process of time, that the
king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by rea
son of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up
unto God, and God heard their groaning, and God remem
bered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with
Jacob, and God looked upon the chfldren of Israel, and God
had respect unto them."
We know the tragic history that foUowed, the groanings,
the oppression, the plague, the deliverance, the passage of
the Eed Sea, the overwhelming of Pharaoh and his chariots
in the waves. The Pharaoh of the oppression Hes before us
in the museum of Bulak ; but the Pharaoh of the Exodus,
whom the Bible declares found a watery grave under the
Eed Sea's waves, has never been found among the royal
mummies of Egypt.

CHAPTEE XXII.
ON THE BANKS OF THE NILE — OUR CLIMB TO THE TOP
OF THE GREAT PYRAMIDS — BESET BY ARABS — AMUS
ING ADVENTURES AND EXPERIENCES.
An Ancient Proverb — Our First View of the Pyramids — Man-made
Mountains — Monuments Which Never Disappoint the Traveler —
Could They be Built To-day ? — A Blow at the Conceit of the Nine
teenth Century — Comfort for the Optimist — Why the Pyramids were
Built and How — The Tombs of the Pharaohs — A Small Pyramid for a
Short Reign — A More Intimate Acquaintance — The Road to Cheops
— ' ' Mafish Backsheesh " — Unnecessary Attention — The Comanches of
the Desert — An Appeal to the Sheik — Getting Up-stairs — How the
Stout Lady Reached the Top — Desolation, Dearth, and Death — Life-
giving Father Nile — Beautiful Cairo — An Ancient Story of the Pyra
mids — Avaricious Arabs — Destroying the Pyramids — Looking Down
on Forty Centuries — A Ride on a Camel to the Sphinx.

iVEEYTHING fears time, but time
fears the pyramids," is an old
Arabian proverb that has been
current in the Land of the Pyra
mids for more than seven hundred
years. Our flrst glimpse of these
time-feared monuments was from
the railAvay train as we ap
proached Cairo. We knew that
somewhere off in the distance,
out of the sandy desert, arose
these marvelous monuments of a
past age, and for some time before the domes and minarets
of Cairo appeared in sight, we strained our eyes to get the
flrst glimpse of them.
At length a bend in the road brought them into view,
(417)

418 ONE OF THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD.
somewhat dwarfed by distance, to be sure, but unmistakably
the pyramids of picture-book and fancy, of boyhood's
dream and manhood's anticipation. They are so unique and
unapproached by any otljier species of architecture, so easfly
represented, and so readfly compassed by the imagination
that one thinks he is seeing old, famfliar friends, as they flrst
loom up on the horizon. The pyramids of the old geogra
phies and of more modern photographs are here before us,
in solid, substantial stone. They look as we thought they
'looked. They do not surprise us by their vastness on the
one hand, nor disappoint us by their insignificance as com
pared with previous anticipations, on the other.
For almost every other famous sight one is somewhat
unprepared, however famfliar he may be with pictures and
descriptions and measurements. The Taj Mahal of India,
for instance, goes beyond the greatest expectations. No
photograph can tell the traveler of its graceful lines, its
aspiring minarets, its dazzling white marble, or its incrusta
tions of precious stones. The temples of Southern India are
only feebly portrayed by photographs. Of the Colosseum,
one can get but a sectional and partial view, and one has to
stand within its vast sweep of stones to appreciate its magni
tude. Saint Peter's disappoints most travelers by its seem
ing want of size, as compared with his great expectations.
But for the pyramids one is well prepared. Not that they
do not grow on the imagination. Almost every stupendous
work of architecture does thus improve upon acquaintance.
The mind must have some time to adjust itself to its propor
tions, and the longer one gazes upon the pyramids, and the
nearer he approaches their towering bulk, the more im
pressed is he Avith these wonders of the ancient and modern
world, the more he marvels hoAV they could possibly be
built in rude ages Avhen labor-saving machinery Avas compar-

TIME-DEFl'^ING MONUMENTS.

419

atively unknoAvn, the more he begins to suspect that, after
all, these ages which could have built the pyramids were not
so rude as his modern conceit is prone to suppose.
It is doubtful if they could be built to-day with all the
appliances that modern invention has rendered famfliar,
with the aid of steam and electricity, and every contrivance
which the ingenuity of four thousand years has been able to
supply. It is doubtful if those vast blocks of stone could be

THE GREAT PYRAMIDS.
quarried or transported, or raised to their present position,
or laid so accurately, by any master mason of to-day.
When we think that the building of the pyramids was
only an index to the civiHzation of the centuries that saw
them erected, our inflated notions concerning the importance
of the nineteenth century in the roll of the ages grows
somcAvhat smaller. The pyramids are like isolated peaks in
some vast sea, which stfll remain above the surface to tell of
the mighty continents which have been submerged. Every
thing perishable has been swept away, cities and farms,
canals and roadways, the accumulations of centuries of

430 WHY WERE THE PYRAMIDS BUILT ?
wealth, the arts and sciences of the ages long gone by, are
all buried under the sand of the desert. The pyramids
alone remain to tell us what the world then was, and to
dwarf the pigmy products and enterprises of the present
day. Surely there is a laAv of degeneration, as well as a law
of evolution at work in the Avorld. In some respects the
world is going backward instead of forAvard.
In some particulars, we cannot equal our great-great-
great ancestors who flourished in Moses' time, but the op
timist may well believe, — and there is nothing to dispel the
pleasant thought, — that if in material grandeur we cannot
compete with the ages of the past, in moral and spiritual
matters this old world never attained such an eminence as
since the time when the light from the face of Christ shone
upon her. If we build no pyramids in these days, we do
build hospitals and colleges and orphan asylums on a vast
scale. If there are no magnificent palaces of the Pharaohs,
there are innumerable temples consecrated to the relief of
suffering and the uplifting of humanity. If we can erect no
Cheops in these days, it is at least true that we do not sacri
fice the lives of a hundred thousand peasants every year in
the erection of a senseless funereal monument, buflt to
gratify individual vanity ; for it is very certain that the pyr
amids of Gizeh, and all the other pyramids that have made
the land of Egypt famous, are simply funereal monuments,
huge tombs for the kings ; and, though some fanciful writers
have professed to flnd in them the embodiment of aU the
sciences, the standards of weights and measures, and even a
prophecy of the birth of Christ, these theories have very
little weight among scholars of the present day, and it is
generally believed that these huge monuments AA'ere simply
receptacles for the mummies of the Pharaohs Avho buflt
them.

MISERY VENDERS AND VILE IMPOSTORS. 421
Each succeeding Pharaoh began work on his OAvn tomb
as soon as he ascended the throne. At first the monument
which he built over his sarcophagus was comparatively
small, and if he died after a short reign, it remained a small
and insigniflcant pyramid. This accounts for the smaller
pyramids which dot the desert. If, hoAvever, his reign was
longer, he added one course of stone to another, building
always from the outside, and in such a Avay that the pyr
amid would be complete in itself Avhenever he might die,
after the course of stone which had been begun was finished.
Every succeeding incrustation of stones was, of course, a
larger and more stupendous undertaking than the last, and
it was only the Pharaohs who lived to the greatest age who
could construct such monuments as Cheops and Cephron.
But we have lingered quite too long already in the dis
tance. It can be imagined that an excursion to the pyra
mids was one of the very first pleasures that we enjoyed in
Cairo. We could not see those giants looming up in the
distance without desiring more intimate acquaintance, and
so, taking a carriage at our hotel, a drive of an hour and
a half brought us to their very base. We had heard har
rowing tales of the importunate beggar, and so we had
practiced, before leaving the hotel, and on the route, the im
portant phrase, " Mafish backsheesh," which was all we knew
and all we needed to know of Arabic. At the same time we
steeled our hearts against all kinds of miseries and persistent
pleadings, comforting ourselves in our hardheartedness with
the fact that aU our friends and aU our guide books told us
that these misery-venders were mostly impostors, and that it
was the most mistaken kind of charity to heed their im
portunate cries ; that some of them were very well-to-do in
the world, and were better able to give backsheesh to their
victims than was the average traveler to give it to them.

432

NEARING THE PYRAMIDS.

The road from Cairo to Cheops is, for this desert land, a
very pleasant road, being broad and well made, and Hned
with trees on either side. The pyramids occupy a low
plateau about fifteen hundred yards square ; and a con
siderable ascent leads from the level road to the foot of the
great pyramid.

BY THE ROADSIDE IN EGYPT.

Long before we reach this spot, hoAvever, our troubles
with the Bedouins begin. For rods they run along beside
the carriage, some on tAvo legs, some on one, and some on
three or four ; for crutches and canes are part of the stock in
trade of these beggars, Avith all kinds of deformities and
diseases — the more disgusting and loathsome, the larger is

BESET BY BEGGARS. 423
their capital. In some places they even strew unnecessary
sand and gravel before the horses for the alleged purpose of
making it more easy for them to ascend the hill, but for the
real purpose of having a pretext for maldng some exorbitant
demand on the traveler. However, we are able to resist
these importunities, and it is only when the carriage actually
stops, and we are obliged to dismount, that matters become
serious. Here we are surrounded apparently by aU the
Bedouins of the desert, congregated together for the purpose
of boosting our precious selves up the pyramid. They sur
round us like a tribe of hostfle Comanches on the war-path.
They gesticulate and scream, seize us by the arm, and
apparently intend to capture us by main force, whfle they
try to frighten off aU other claimants for the booty.
At length, however, our manhood asserts itself, and our
womanhood too, for that matter — for it must be remem
bered that there is a feminine pilgrim in this party — and
summoning aU our Arabic, in the most impressive tones we
can summon, and with gestures that are meant to be as
emphatic as their own, we cry out, "Iscut walla maflsh
backsheesh ! " (Be quiet or you shaU have no fee.) What we
lack in accuracy of pronunciation, we make up in vigor of
expression. At any rate the Arabs seem to understand us,
and, faUing back a step or two, there is a temporary lull in
the babel. We then appeal to the old Sheik, Avho stands in
the thick of the crowd, a venerable, white-bearded old man,
trying to bring some Httle order out of the chaos, and he
assigns to each of us two swarthy, half-naked Bedouins, to
take us by either arm, whfle he tells us that we can have
another, without extra charge, to push behind if Ave desire.
The huge blocks of stone which form the outer coating
of Cheops are usually more than three feet in height, while
some of them reach nearly to the chin of a full groAvn man.

424 A HARD EARNED VICTORY.
It will be seen that it is Avith no mincing step that one can
mount these enormous stones. But somehow or other one
course* after another is surmounted, a little hollow wiU afford
a place for the toe, the muscular Bedouin wfll climb like a
cat, and, reaching down, will lift one to his height, while his
companion below pushes one upAA^ard. Then, foUoAving
along this course for a few yards, we flnd a place where it is
possible to mount to the next course of stones, and then to
the next, and so on untfl we stand on the very summit.
The day that we ascended was honored by the ascent of
an enormously stout lady, who, though she started some
time before we did, was soon overtaken. In spite of her
" too, too solid flesh," her spirit was brave and resolute, and
she had determined to conquer the pyramid and stand on its
apex. Most tourists would have been discouraged from the
attempt by so much superfluous avoirdupois, but not so with
our fair and fat excursionist. Her courage was evidently
quite as large as her body, and though she puffed and
panted, and caused all her numerous retainers to puff and
pant in sympathy, yet she persevered. Lighter and more
agile tourists started long after she began the ascent, caught
up with her and passed her almost at a gaUop, but she stfll
puffed and panted on. As many Bedouins pulled in front as
could get hold of a finger or an arm — as many more pushed
behind, and at last mind triumphed over matter, and our
Amazon stood upon the peak, and was able to wave her
handkerchief in triumph to her timid friends beloAV who had
not dared to make the ascent.
It must not be thought, however, that cA^en the most
agile tourist bounds like a young gazelle from one course of
stones to another, without stopping untfl he stands upon the
top. Though our guides are in a hurry to get up and get
down again, we are in no haste, and we insist upon sitting

VIEAV FROJI THE TOP OF THE PYRAMIDS. 425
down to rest wherever we choose, for the view is growing
more and more superb the higher Ave ascend.
The yellow sand of the desert lies beneath us like a vast,
silent, petrified sea, lapping the very feet of the pyramids.
On the plateau near by are two other huge pyramids, while
one or two little ones — the chfldren of the famfly — lie at
our feet. Near by, too, is the incomprehensible Sphinx, the
Avonder and mystery of the ages, calm and resolute and
sflent, yet smiling stfll, though sadly battered and mutflated
by the vandal hands of iconoclasts.
In every direction except one, as far as the eye can reach,
is a scene of absolute desolation and death. Interminable
reaches of yeUow sand, no oasis, no green ribbon of a grass-
like stream, no solitary palm tree waving its fronds in the
air — the most mournful country upon which the sun of
heaven shines. In the far distance, to the south, rise the
pyramids of Abusir and Saccara, where were made some
wonderful "finds" of hidden treasures. But these monu
ments of dead kings only seem to emphasize the desolation
of the landscape. The only object which breaks its mo
notony are these majestic tombs — the monuments of a
civflization which has been dead for three thousand years.
But in another direction the scene changes. Beautiful
Cairo, mellowed and glorifled by the haze of distance, rises
in the east with its countless minarpts and beautifuUy
rounded domes, and aU about the city, which is laved by the
life-giving Nfle, is the deep-hued vegetation which makes a
city possible here in the midst of the desert. Wherever the
river goes, or a branch of the river, or a canal from that
branch, or an irrigating ditch from the canal, thither is
spread in fan-Hke lines the refreshing green that forms such
a blessed picture of life and health as contrasted with the
deadly sands upon which this little fan of green is laid.

436 A STRANGE AND CURIOUS SIGHT.
When we draw nearer to Father Nile we shall see many
strange and curious sights. Possibly we shaU get a gUmpse
of a crocodfle, and we may be so fortunate as to come upon
one of these ugly saurians who has devoured his last infant
Egyptian, and who, bound, stunned, and helpless, is at the
mercy of his captors. His hide wfll serve a more useful
purpose than ever before when it is turned into a scaly grip
sack for the use and behoof of some American drummer.

#i«$ijiiii««lJ|iPi(iiiitai'i«iiiiiiiiitiii««ii,ii.»|M^^^^

A SCENE ON THE NILE.

Of course such scenes are more common on the upper Nfle
than they are near Cairo.
Whfle we are sitting here on the pyramid-top, looking at
the view from one of the upper courses of stone, it wfll be a
good time for us to learn something of the construction of
the great monument we are ascending, and something of
its ancient history.
I was much interested in the account that Herodotus
gives of the building of Cheops, for no one can be more
accurate or reliable than the great historian in regard to
objects which he himself saAV. Here is his account of it:
" This pyramid Avas first buflt in the form of a flight of stens.

HOW THE PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT. 427
After the Avorkmen had completed the pyramid in this form,
they raised the other stones used for the incrustation by
means of machines made of short beams, from the ground to
the first tier of steps, and, after the stone Avas placed there,
it was raised to the second tier by another machine, for there
were as many machines as there were tiers of steps, or per
haps the same machine, if it Avere easfly moved, Avas raised
from one tier to the other, as it was required for lifting the
stones. The highest part of the pyramid was thus flnished
first, the parts adjoining it Avere taken next, and the loAvest
part, next to the earth, was completed last.
"It was recorded on the pyramid in Egyptian writing
[the stones AA'hich recorded these facts, I may say, have long
been removed, and there is now no writing visible] how
many radishes, onions, and roots of garlic had been dis
tributed among the workmen, and if I rightly remember
what the interpreter who read the Avriting told me," says
Herodotus, "the money they cost amounted to sixteen hun
dred talents of sflver [more than $1.70,000]. If this was
reafly the case, how much more must have been spent on the
iron Avith which they worked than the food and clothing of
the workmen."
This account of the ancient historian of the manner in
which the pyramid was constructed has been entirely con
firmed by modern researches.
It can very easfly be believed that these vast structures,
Avith their hidden recesses, early excited the cupidity of the
successors of the Pharaohs. It is said that the pyramids
were flrst opened and examined by the Persians about five
hundred years before Christ, and it is very certain that
Arabs made many attempts to get within the treasure
chamber. These vast receptacles of the bodies of the
kings of ancient Egypt were like the forbidden room in
26

438 WHAT WAS DISCOVERED IN THE PYRAMIDS.
Bluebeard's palace, or the box or closet which the anxious
mother tells the curious chfld must not be investigated.
The very fact that it was sealed excited the cupidity and
curiosity of these children of the desert, and they were for
ever trying to pry open the doors, and get at the fabulous
treasures which they believed were concealed Avithin. The
vastness and the strength of the pyramids is in no way
better indicated than by the fact that for so long they
resisted the prying curiosity of these Khalifs, who had noth
ing better to do than to pull doAvn what the Pharaohs had
buflt up.
But it is very certain that they discovered within the re
cesses of the pyramids, when, after hundreds of years, they
were able to force an entrance, very Httle to pay them for
their time and trouble. It was not untfl the year 1820,
fully twelve hundred years after the flrst attempt was made
that Khalfl Mamun got within the great pyramid, and it is
said that the gold found within was exactly enough to pay
for the cost of breaking and entering. Along with the
treasure, so runs the Arabian tradition, was found a marble
slab bearing an inscription which said that the money beside
it sufficed to pay for the work of the inquisitive king, but
that if he attempted to go further, he would have his labor
for his pains, for he would find nothing worth taking.
It is altogether probable, as historians have suggested,
that if this gold were found, it had been previously placed
there by the calif who made the investigation, in order that
his people might not be able to chide him with having
expended so much money for nothing.
Some of the vandals Avho succeeded Khaltf Mamun were
not content to search the supposed treasure chamber further,
but set out deliberately to destroy AAnth malice aforethought
the gigantic mementoes of the past. Sultan Othman, who

SEEKING TO DESTROY THE PYRAMIDS. 429
Hved at the close of the tAvelfth century, and Avhose name
ought to be forever execrated by all lovers of the magnifi
cent, set to Avork with the fell purpose of destroying the
third pyramid, AA'hich we can see from the top of Gizeh a
little to the west of us. He actually organized a party of
workmen to undertake this destruction, pitched a camp at
the base of the pyramid, and labored incessantly for eight
months; but the pyramid was stronger than the puny
Othman. His eight months of labor, and the enormous
sums which he spent in the work of destruction practically
effected nothing, except as one historian says, " the shameful
mutflation of the pyramid and the demonstration of the
weakness and incapacity of the explorers. When the stones
that were removed are regarded at the present day, one
would think that the structure had been entirely destroyed ;
but when one then looks at the pyramid itself, one sees that
it has suffered no material damage, and that a part of its
incrustation has been stripped off on one side only." This
fact, concerning the impotence of this iconoclast, teUs vol
umes of the strength and soUdity and might of the pyra
mids. A great force of men, working incessantly for eight
months, could only scar and mutilate its face on one side.
The Pharaohs could build what their successors could not
overthrow. Now we are sufficiently rested to pursue our journey to
the top ; f oUoAving the zigzag Hne, planting our toes in the
convenient crevices, jumping and springing as best we can,
alloAving our guides to puU and push us wherever it may be
necessary, we at last reach the summit, and the view which
was before partial and incomplete is now fuU-orbed and
most magniflcent. Nowhere is there such a contrast of life
and death; nowhere else can we look down upon such
mighty hieroglyphics of the ages.

430 VENDERS OF SPURIOUS CURIOSITIES.
As we stand below, "forty centuries look down upon us,"
as Napoleon reminded his troops, when they stood under the
shadow of the pyramids. As Ave gaze from the top, we look
down upon forty centuries. Every mighty pyramid is
eloquent with the tale of a past civilization, forever forgot
ten and blotted out. Even the silent Sphinx seems to have
a tongue to tell us of the glories of the past, over which she
looks with her solemn, unblinking eyes. Every grain of
sand, if it could teU its tale, would have a story more
marvelous than the flctions of Scheherezade.
We are aroused from these reveries concerning the great
ness of the past and the desolation of the present, by the in
evitable Bedouins and their exasperating cry for baksheesh.
We arise in our wrath, and teU the miserable horde that if
they say another word about backsheesh before we reach
the bottom of the pyramid, they wfll not get a single piaster
beyond the strictly legal limits of their pay. Though this
speech is delivered in queen's English, unadorned Avith a
single word of Arabic, they seem to understand its purport,
and subside to some extent.
But we are not reHeved from the pestiferous attention of
the curiosity vender or the dealer in spurious coins, who
haunts the pyramid. He claims, of course, that his coins
were found in the vaults of this very pyramid, though we
know very well that they were undoubtedly made in Bir
mingham or Sheffield. But what cares he for truth or
poetry ! What cares he for the story of the pyramid, or the
tale of the Sphmx ! All these thmgs are old fables to him,
and he is only concerned to work off upon us his spurious
relics, his "antikkers" as he calls them, in his Arabian
EngHsh. One of our guides insists that his name is Mark Twaui,
"Abdul Mark Twain," he solemnly informs us, and AA'hen

A WONDERFUL FEAT.

431

we accuse him of prevarication, and tell him that Ave left
Mark Twain at the foot of the pyramid, and did not engage
him for the ascent, he unblushingly informs us that there are
three Mark TAA'ains among the guides, but that he is Abdul
Mark Twain. We cannot shake his faith in his OAvn iden
tity, and then he solemnly informs us that he is the Mark
Twain, who, Avhen the humorist visited the pyramid, ran
down Cheops and up
the side of Cephron
and back again, all
within ten minutes.
He offers to do the
same feat for us for
the sum of four
francs, but we refuse
his blandishments.
When we reached
the bottom, we set
tled the bfll for the
ascent, not with our
importunate guide,
but with the grey-
bearded Sheik who
awaited us, paying
the regular fee and a
reasonable baksheesh to each of our guides.* Of course this is
not done without protestations and the bowlings of impotent
Avrath that they cannot extract from us ten times what is
their due. But we are oblivious to their threats, as
sume utter ignorance of their language, which is not difficult
to do, escape from their clutches, and make our way to the
Sphinx. Of course we must go thither in as romantic a way as

THE FLIGHT DOWN THE PYRAMID.

433 RIDING A CAMEL.
possible, and so we mount one of the ragged camels which
are waiting, to convey travelers to the silent stone woman,
and in this manner make the short journey.
In order to allow tourists to mount, the camel unHmbers
himself, doubles in his fore legs and shuts them up like a
jackknife, does the same thing with his hind legs, and is
then sufficiently low, so that with some difficulty we can
reach the saddle. When we are safely seated astride his
hump, he begins to undouble himself, first unjointing his
hind legs, then getting upon his knees, and finaUy upon his
great, splay-footed, spongy feet. Preserving our equflibrium
as weU as possible, and holding on with both hands, so as not
to be thrown over his head, we await his next movement.
This is even more trying than the first, for as he stretches
his front legs, we rock back and forth, as though we were
astride a miniature earthquake, but at last he is on his feet
again, and plods off solemnly Avith his nose high in the air,
towards the Sphinx of which he seems a fitting counterpart.
It is only a short journey, and is accomplished in a few
minutes, and we find ourselves face to face with this sflent
wonder of the ages. The Sphinx was doubtless far more
impressive before she had her nose battered off, her ear
amputated, and her eyes blackened, by the combined spite of
iconoclasts and relic hunters.
An old Mohammedan Sheik, who took the second com
mandment too literally, and vowed that the world shoifld
not have any graven images if he could help it, is responsible
for much of this mutilation. The Mamelukes accomplished
much more in this direction, having used the Sphinx as a
target for their cannon-balls, and relic hunters have added
their puny might by chipping away here and there bits of
stone to adorn their Avretched little museums. We can
scarcely get an adequate idea of this magnificent monument

THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE SPHINX.

433

of the ages when in its pristine glory, but Ave can ieasily be
lieve what an old Avriter teUs us Avho saw the statue Avhen in
perfect preservation ; that its face was very pleasing, and
was of a graceful and beautiful type. " One might almost
say," he adds, "that it smiles winningly." The Arabs have
a very significant name for the Sphinx, which may be trans
lated "The Watchful." This is the impression that she
stfll gives to every beholder. There is stfll a wakeful intel-
hgence in the mutflated face ; there is stfll a calm suggestion

THE SPHINX.

of limitless vision in the eyes. There is stfll a calm poise in
the outstretched Hons' feet and in the whole attitude of the
unfinished body, which leads one to ^ay, "This is the
watcher of the desert." From her fathomless eyes she has
looked out upon everything that has happened for four
thousand years, and she wfll still watch over the sands of
the desert, in spite of iconoclast and relic hunters, down to
"the last syllable of recorded time."
A few feet from the Sphinx is a great temple composed
of granite and alabaster, and in the vicinity are other

43-1

ADIEU TO THE EGYPTIAN DESERT.

wonders as well. But we are satisfied with our day's work.
This stupendous pyramid and the magnificent Sphinx satisfy
all our aspirations for sightseeing. We can absorb, to-day,
no more of the marvels and glories of the ancient world, and
we wfll return to our hotel in Cairo, and later to our home
in America, to think over and to dream of the Avonders of
the Egyptian desert.

CHAPTEE XXIII.
ALL ABOARD FOR JERUSALEM.
A Stormy Day in March — A Test for Brave Hearts and Strong Stom
achs — Throwing Up Jonah — Going Ashore at Jaffa — How We Got
Down the Ship's Side — Dumping Passengers in the Small Boat — Up
to the Ridge Pole and Down the Side of the Great Tent — A Terrible
Accident — A Highwayman's Demand — " Your Money or Your Life "
— A Near Approach — Unspeakable Filth — The House of Simon the
Tanner — Simon's Vat — View from the Housetop — Our Rural Friend
from New York State — "Them Jimkirridges" — Through the Holy
Land Behind a Steam Engine — The Sentimental Man — The Reward of
Indulging a Sentiment — Our Dragoman — How Abdallah Caught the
Doctors Napping — When the Sun and the Moon Stood Still — The
Dapper Conductor in His Red Fez — The Rose of Sharon.

E safled from Alexandria one
stormy day in March, and, after
a journey of some four and
twenty hours, reached ancient
Jaffa, the chief seaport of Jeru
salem. Joppa, or Jaffa as it is now
called, deserves its bad reputa
tion as the worst port in aU the
world. Brave travelers who
wfll not blanch at any other ter
rors which a journey around the
world has in store for them, confess to an unworthy fear of
this landing place, and strong stomachs which never rebel
under ordinary circumstances, however boisterous the seas,
turn themselves inside out when they go ashore at this port.
(435)

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436 ON SHIPBOARD WITH JONAH.
" Throwing up Jonah " becomes more than a flgurative
phrase in the roadstead of Jaffa, for it wiU be remembered
that it was from this very toAvn that the famous navigator of
old set sail, when, attempting to run away from God's com
mand, he took ship for Tarshish.
Modern navigators on the Syrian coast have not forgotten
the Bible story, for, whenever the sea is unusuaUy rough,
they say to this day, that Jonah has taken ship and the
waves will not subside until he is landed.
Evidently, Jonah was on board when we safled up to
Jaffa's gates, for the waves danced and leaped about our
steamer and grew every moment more boisterous, though
the rain had ceased and the sun was shining brightly over
head. When the good steamer of the Egyptian or Kiedival
line on which we were embarked came to anchor, the health
officer, after some delay, declared that we might land. Then
we could see half a score of stout boats, each armed by half
a dozen rowers, start out from behind the Hne of rocks which
flank the coast and form a poor apology for a breakwater.
There is great rivalry between the boats, for aU the pas
sengers are regarded as legitimate prey by the representa
tives of tourist 'companies, and the boat that first comes to
the steamer is first served with its quota of passengers.
As they near the steamer, the boatmen puU with re
doubled energy, and then ensues such a tumbling and scramb-
Hng and rushing and snatching of baggage as defies de
scription. Most of us, however, have purchased our landing tickets
in advance, from one of the aforesaid tourists' companies, at
an absurdly high price, it must be confessed. The boatmen
of one of these rival companies 'wear red shirts, the other
blue, and Ave have Httle difficulty in picking out our blue-coat

A PERILOUS DESCENT. 437
or our red-coat, as the case may be. We have to use vio
lence, however, to get our small packages out of the hands
of the wrong man and into the hands of the right man, Avho
finally dumps them into one of his OAvn boats, and then pro
ceeds to dump us in after the baggage. It is an exciting
operation, especiaUy for women and fat people.
The little boats are dancing about the big steamer like
pith baUs on an electric plate. Now they mount on the
crest of a wave almost to the bulwarks, and then they sink
down, down, down, far below the usual water line.
It requires no Httle dexterity and agiHty to get over the
steamer's side and into the Httle boat under these circum
stances. One must watch his chance, and Avhen the landing
boat rises on the wave to its highest point, he must rush
down the gangway and throw himself into the arms of the
boatman who is waiting to receive him beloAV.
AU this is done amid shouts of saflors and shrieks of
frightened tourists and dashing of waves and creaking of
Avindlasses and whistUng of wind in the rigging untfl it
seems that Pandemonium itself is let loose.
At length, however, the last passenger has been swung
over the ship's side, and the last trunk has been dropped into
the capacious boats, which, with the greatest difficulty, are
kept from grinding themselves into kindling wood on the
iron huU of the steamer. Our boatmen shove off, and then
begins a royal struggle with the waves.
Up, up, up, we go, to the very ridgepole of a great bfllow
which slopes away on either side like a vast tent. Then we
sHde down, down, down the billowy side of our watery tent,
untfl we reach the trough of the wave, only to mount the
side of the next wave that is rushing our way, as though it
would coUapse and overwhelm us in its capacious folds.
Thus we mount one bfllow after another, our sturdy boat-

438 A DISTRESSING ACCIDENT.
man always putting the prow of the boat into the wave, and
never allowing it to strike us broadside, untfl at last we
round the edge of the protecting rocks and hear that
" blessedest of sounds," the keel of our boat grating on the
pebbles of Jaffa's shore.
With all its seeming frightfulness, there is probably little
real danger in this landing, and comparatively foAv accidents
occur except by reason of gross carelessness.
A few weeks before we reached Jaffa, however, a very
distressing accident of this sort had occurred. A large party
of travelers, mostly Eussian pflgrims, had embarked on one
of these boats for the shore. The day was stormy and the
sea tempestuous ; very much such a day, we imagine, as that
on which we landed. The passengers had all agreed Avith
the boatmen to be taken to the shore for half a napoleon
(nearly two dollars), a sum which, for the distance carried, is
exorbitant. But no sooner was the boat in the middle of the
bofling, seething waters, half way between the ship and the
shore, when the avaricious boatmen demanded double fares
and threw up their oars, declaring that they Avould go no
farther until their demands were met.
This was no better than highway robbery, and naturaUy
the passengers refused to accede to it. In the dispute that
ensued, a tremendous wave struck the boat, and, in the
twinkling of an eye, overturned it, and after a few vain
struggles with the engulfing Avaves, it sank to the bottom.
Not one of the pflgrims was saved, though all the greedy,
rascally boatmen, being strong swimmers, succeeded in reach.
ing the rocks.
It is a satisfaction to knoAv that all these murderers were
apprehended and lodged in jail, Avhere Ave hope they wfll
remain for many a year before they are released to risk the
lives of other tourists by their grasping cupidity.

JAFFA AS IT IS. 439
Jaffa is an imposing looking city from the sea. Its white
washed stone houses swarm up the side of a steep hfll, and
spread themselves out over its crest untfl one fondly believes
that he is gazing upon a city of palaces.
But in this case, as in so many others, distance lends en
chantment to the view, and when Ave actually land and thread
the narroAV, tortuous streets, Ave find that it is about the filthi
est and most unkempt city on which the sun shines.
The streets are fuU of swaying camels and pushing little
donkeys and unwashed ragged Syrians of every degree of
poverty and Avretchedness.
It is almost inconceivable how some of the narroAV streets
can remain as filthy as they are. One woifld think that even
an occasional shower would wash some of the accumulated
dirt of the ages off them, and that a rainy season Avould sen
sibly sweeten these fUthy thoroughfares.
Apparently, however, nature has given up in despair.
The dirt of the days of Jonah stfll clings to one's feet in
greasy clods. The mud and fflth of the time of Dorcas is
comparatively modern. We have always supposed that Dor
cas was a model housekeeper as weU as a good lady of
most charitable purposes, and we have no doubt that she
kept the street in front of her own house clean and sweet.
But what is one woman against a whole city fuU of dirty
Arabs ? Yery likely Dorcas and all the good women who
have Hved there before and since her day have become dis
couraged, and have aUowed Jaffa to go on at the slovenly,
down-at-the-heel gait, which is now so characteristic of it.
Though we cannot find any very authentic memorials of
Dorcas, the traditional house of Simon the Tanner is pointed
out to us, and a pretty well authenticated tradition it is as
traditions go in this land.
In the first-place, we are conducted into a dark, thick-

440 THE HOUSE OF SIMON THE TANNER.
walled apartment, where we need a candle even to see the
outlines of the room, and are told that this was the very spot
where the ancient house existed, and that the stones we see
constituted its waUs eighteen hundred years ago.
Just outside this room is a courtyard, in one corner of
which is a well and a stone trough, Avhich tradition says is
the vat in which St. Peter's friend of old soaked his leather.
In the well hangs an old oaken bucket from which we
drank a full draught of the sparkling water, as perhaps
Simon and Peter had done many a time in the past.
From one corner of this courtyard a flight of stairs leads
to the housetop, the most famous part of this establishment,
for here it is said St. Peter slept when he had the wondrous
vision which was fraught with such momentous meaning to
all the world.
Here he saw the sheet let doAvn from heaven which con
tained all manner of four-footed beasts whfle at the same
time came the command, " Else, Peter, kfll and eat."
But Peter demurred, saying, " Not so. Lord, for I have
never eaten anything common or unclean."
Then came the signiflcant command which Avrought such
a wondrous change in the heart of the narrow, conventional
Jew, and which made him the broad-minded, generous apos
tle whom all ages delight to honor.
" What God hath cleansed that call not thou common."
Was ever a vision accompanied by greater results ?
Is any place fraught with deeper significance than that
humble housetop from which was proclaimed to Peter and
through Peter to the world the momentous lesson that the
Fatherhood of God invoh^es the Brotherhood of Man?
The vicAV from this housetop makes it weU worthy of a
visit apart from its historic significance.
Here one looks out upon the waves of the same port that

"STARVING ALL AROUND THE WORLD." 441
has been historic since Hiram, King of Tyre, by this route
sent cedar wood and all manner of precious gifts to Solomon.
Between these same encircling rocks the little vessel on
AA'hich Jonah had embarked must have steered her course ;
over these waves half the famous men of old made their way,
as they came and went through this ocean gate of Syria.
After viewing this really fine view from Simon's house
top, after visiting the site of Napoleon's hospital prison,
where, if historians are to believed, at his orders a horrible
butchery of sick French soldiers occurred ; after spending
a few sentimental moments in the vicinity of Dorcas's
reputed abode, we did not care to stay in this squalid city.
We did stay long enough, hoAvever, to meet a typical
character from New York state, a good old man, who,
though he had been around the world, and tasted the food
of every clime, had not shaken the hayseed out of his hair or
got used to his best "store clothes," which sat upon him
awkwardly and loosely.
As we looked across the table, at Jaffa's very indifferent
hotel, where a bowl of thin onion soup had been succeeded
by a dish of garlic-scented meat, our rural friend looked
across at us and said, with a pathetic wail in his voice, "I
have been starving aU around the world ; in Japan, China,
and India we have been half starved to death, for we are
Americans, you see, and ain't used to this sort of thing."
We sympathized with him with all our hearts, for, although
it had been our happy lot to spend most of our time among
friends where we felt almost as much at home as at our own
table, we realized what it must have been to this wandering
Jonathan who had left the hayfields to see the world, in his
old age, when he was too far advanced in years to adapt
himself to the circumstances with which he found himself
surrounded, and to eat the food that was set before him.

442 ALL ABOARD FOR JERUSALEM.
He went on to tell us about his experiences. "I did
kind o' like it in Japan," he confided to us. "They were
sort o' smart, and up and comin', and seemed a good deal
like the Yankees I was used to at home, and I did like them
jimkirridges that they ride in," he Avent on to say. " You
mean the jinrflrishaws," said his better half, who sat by his
side. "Yes," he replied, "jimkirridges or jinrikishaws or
whatever they call 'em, it's all one to me."
We soon bade good-bye to the rural New Yorker and
took the flrst train available for Jerusalem. At the first
blush it does seem sacrflegious to think of driving through
the Holy Land behind a snorting locomotive, to have an im
pertinent raflway ticket thrust into your hatband by a
jaunty conductor in a Turkish fez, and to steam across the
sacred vaUeys and over the sacred mountains, even though
we travel at the alarming speed of flfteen mfles an hour.
However, when the question actually comes as to
whether one wiU take two days to make the journey for the
sake of indulging a pious sentiment, or Avfll make it in three
hours, thus gaining more time in the Sacred City, the prac
tical man wfll doubtless decide to postpone his sentimental
aspirations for a short time, and take advantage of the new
French raflroad which has been constructed from the sea
shore almost to the very gate of the City of King David.
I have heard of one man who was bound not to yield to
the blandishments of rapid transit, but to nurse his poetic
sensibilities in solitude as he entered the HoIa' City, or at
least with the companionship of his faithful steed alone.
He would transport himself back to the twelfth century as
far as possible. He would enter the city like the Crusader
of old, riding upon his chosen charger. Though he might
patronize the railway for a short distance, he Avould abandon
it before it approached the sacred gates.

SENTIMENT VERSUS COMFORT. 443
So when Avithin tAvo stations of Jerusalem, about twelve
English miles distant, he left the train and the com
panions with whom he had journeyed, and hired a horse,
which proved to be a sorry nag indeed, for the rest of
the journey. But the skies were unpropitious— they evi
dently did not sympathize with his sentiments, for, before he
had gone a mfle, black clouds covered the face of the
heavens, the sun retired from view and the rain descended in
torrents. Though wet to the skin there was nothing to do
but to plod on over the steep and rocky roads. He could
not spur his jaded steed to any greater exertion, and he ar
rived, wet and bedraggled, with aU the sentiment soaked out
of his system, some three hours after his more unpoetic
companions, who stuck to the railway, had reached Jeru
salem. On the day that we took this famous raflway ride our
feUow-passengers consisted of some half-dozen Americans, as
many more EngHshmen, a few hflarious Turks, who had
been breaking their temperance pledge by indulging in
strong waters, and one or two fat and unctuous priests.
But most picturesque of our fellow-passengers Avas Ab-
daflah, the dragoman, who was taking some of our fellow-
passengers to their hotel. Alert, keen, quick-witted, he was
a typical Syrian in every feature and characteristic.
Around his head was a beautiful purple silk kaphfleh, while
over his shoulders was a loose floAving garment of flne text
ure, shot through and through with sflver threads, the envy
and despair of most of the ladies in the car.
A common saying in the East is, " A Greek wfll get the
better of ten Europeans, a Jew wfll beat ten Greeks, an
Armenian wfll equal ten Jews, and a Syrian is more than a
match for a Greek, Jcav, and Armenian together." We
could well understand this saying as we looked at this keen,
27

444

ABDALLAH, OUR DRAGOMAN.

self-reliant, ready dragoman, who had the history, geogra
phy, and archasology of Palestine at his tongue's end.
At least he had enough of it to answer his purpose and
to make himself quite indispensable to the party who placed
themselves under his guid
ance. What he did not know
about the land through which
we journeyed was evidently
not worth knowing, in his
opinion, and he managed to
impress the same idea upon all
of us who Hstened to him.
Pointing out of the win
dow, as the train drew a Httle
beyond the station at Jaffa,
he said, " There is the place
where Samson tied the foxes'
tails together and let them
loose in the standing corn.
And there, just over the hfll,
is the land of the PhiHstines,"
he informed us, with the ut
most confidence in his OAvn
geographical accuracy, what-
cA'er doubt explorers and
scholars might feel in their
own conclusions.
As he spoke he imparted
his confidence to all the party, and Ave could almost see a
muscular Goliath shoAving his shaggy head above the hill-top.
" Over yonder," he Avent on to say, " is the place where
the moon stood still in the Yalley of Aijalon." " Ah," said
Ave to ourselves, " noAv Ave have got you, Mr. Dragoman,"

ABDALLAH, OUR DRAGOMAN.

LILIES OF THE FIELD. 445
and half a dozen voices spoke out with the gleeful assurance
of boys Avho have caught their professor napping ; " Oh,
Abdallah, a'Ou have made a mistake this time, it was the sun
that stood stfll, and not the moon." But Abdallah was more
than a match for the professors and the ministers Avho sought
to correct him, for, whipping out a pocket Bible, he turned
at once to the passage and read from the twelfth verse of the
tenth chapter of Joshua : " Then spake Joshua to the Lord
in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before
the chfldren of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel,
Sun, stand thou stfll upon Gibeon, and thou. Moon, in the
YaUey of Aijalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon
stayed, untfl the nation had avenged themselves of their ene
mies." Evidently, Abdallah had the Book on his side and
there was nothing for the Eeverend Divines to do but to
subside and to look more dignified than they felt.
For the first few mfles out of Jerusalem the railway runs
over smiling, cultivated flelds, green when we saw them Avith
the rich verdure of springtime, and gay with the rose of
Sharon, for this is none other than the celebrated land of
Sharon of Bible times. Another brflliant flower which is
found in the utmost profusion, is the scarlet anemone,
caUed in Matthew, " the Hly of the field," of which Christ
said : " Behold the Hlies of the field, how they grow, for
they tofl not, neither do they spin, and yet I say unto you,
that Solomon in aU his glory was not arrayed like one of
these." At the infrequent stations where the train stopped, mak
ing up for their infrequence, however, by a long stop at every
station, the passengers would get out and pluck great hand-
f uls of these beautiful flowers. Then the dapper little con
ductor with his red fez, and the inevitable cigarette in his
mouth, would wave his hand and off would start the train

446 OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF PALESTINE.
across other historic scenes whose very thought filled our
hearts with emotions which cannot be recorded, as we remem
bered that we were in the land of David and Solomon and
Samuel and Joshua, and that we were approaching the city
whose rough pavements had been pressed by the feet of our
blessed Lord and Saviour.
A few miles from Jaffa the raflway begins to ascend a
steep and rugged mountain side, and for the rest of the
journey it climbs over the hflls and rumbles through rocky
chasms that would not discredit the heights of the Eockies
or the Sierra Nevadas themselves. Even where railways are
common, this rock-buflt roadway, twisting around the base
of perpendicular crags, and tofling by slow approaches over
the flanks of inhospitable mountains, would be considered no
ordinary feat of engineering ; there in this land of oppression
and hopelessness, any such enterprise is truly marvelous.
When we remember that thirty years ago there was no
wheeled vehicle of any kind in Palestine ; when we remember
not only the engineering difficulties, but the governmental
obstacles which were thrown in the way of this raflroad, and
the innumerable petty hindrances which it met, our only
marvel is, that its projectors persevered, and that now the
modern locomotive and raflway train rumble up to the very
walls of the City of David.
Not only France, but England, Germany, Sweden, and
Italy, as well as Syria and Turkey, Avere represented in
some part of the construction or equipment of this road;
Avhfle America is not left out, for engines from the Baldwin
Locomotive Works rumble up these steep grades, and shriek
with their shrill Avhistles at every dangerous crossing.
Thus, each one among the cosmopolitan list of passengers
who daily patronize this road, may feel that he has some
especial interest in its Avelfare.

CHAPTEE XXIY.
"JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM"— OUR SOJOURN IN THE LAND
OF SACRED STORY — INTERESTING SCENES AND TOUCH
ING MEMORIES.
The Brakeman's Announcement — Incongruous Modernism — Entering
Jerusalem — Thronging Emotions — " The Joy of the Whole Earth" —
A AValk within the Walls — The Modern City — A Pathetic Story —
Plunging into the Heart of the City — The Various Shops — Silverware
from Damascus — Shylock in Jerusalem — A Suggestion of White-Caps
— The Camel and His Sneering Underlip — The Dignified Syrian — The
Church of the Holy Sepulchre — A Checkered History — The Stone
of Unction — A Touching Bible Story — Measuring the Stone for Their
Winding Sheet — Our Lord's Tomb — The Great Unwashed — How
Adam Came to Life — The Cleft in the Rock — An Impressive Spec
tacle — A Disgraceful Easter Scene — An Awful Accident.

EEUSALEM, Jerusalem," cries out
the raflway guard, and amid the
noise and bustle that always sur
rounds a station, the cracking of
whips of the impatient cab-drivers,
the snorting of the locomotives
that run back and forth, making
up their empty train, the trundling
of trucks, and the tumbling about
of baggage, we have our first intro
duction to the Holy City.
Could anything be more incon
gruous? is our flrst thought, and we are inclined to wish
that we had followed the example of our friend of whom I
wrote in the last chapter, and had ridden into Jerusalem
more as the Master of old rode into the city, even though it
(447)

448 A FURROW ON THE LANDSCAPE.
might be under lowering skies and in drenching rain. How
ever, these are only the passing thoughts of the anxious trav
eler who is naturaUy solicitous for his trunk and his valise,
his bandbox and his bundle, and who knows not what sort of
lodging may await him at his journey's end.
After all, Jerusalem cannot be dwarfed or diminished by
any such scenes of modern bustle and commotion. There
stands the city proudly on its hflls as of yore. It has Avith-
stood the decay of centuries, the tramp of conquering armies,
the vandalism of the Saracen, and the destruction that comes
in the wake of war and pestflence and conquest. How can
it be affected then by this puny invention of the nineteenth
century ? The much boasted raflway makes but a scratch on
the side of the eternal hiUs. Yiewed from a little distance,
it seems to turn but a single furrow on the vast landscape,
which is as wide as the horizon on either side. The wearied
train that crawls slowly up the hflls looks like a mere speck
when viewed from the walls of Jerusalem — a fly upon the
nose of the Sphinx, a beetle on the face of the pyramids. It
does not affect the real life of Jerusalem.
The railway stops short, and it is weU that it should, a
good mfle from the city, and, getting into rickety carriages,
which have evidently done duty in some more civflized com
munity, we have come at last to our hotel at the gates of the
most famous city in the world. I do not envy the man
whose heart does not beat a little faster, and Avhose pulses do
not thrill as he approaches the Jaffa gate and sees the Tower
of David rearing its massive head above the time-stained
waUs of the city. As he remembers all that has occurred
within those walls ; as he calls to mind that here David sang
and Solomon held his court ; that here the Queen of Sheba
was obliged to declare, as she looked on aU the treasures that
had been gathered together, that the half had not been told

.JERUSALEM AND THE SURROITNDINO COUNTRY. (From a special ]>>iotograph.)

There BtandB the city proudly on ItB bills aa ot yore. It
that eomes in the walto of war anfl pestilence and conquest.
bem all that ban occurred within those tlme-stalned walls.

las withstood the decay of centuries, the tramp of conquering armies, and the destruction
He must be dull indeed who looks on Jerusalem for the first time unmoved, aa he reiuem.

"BEAUTIFUL FOR SITUATION." 451
her of the riches that Avere heaped Avithin those Avails ; as he
remembers the prophets who here spoke the Avarning Avords
of God, of Nehemiah Avho reared again the prostrate Avails,
of the people Avho Avorked willingly, SAVord in one hand and
trowel in the other, to bring back the ancient glory to the
deserted city ; above all, as one remembers the Divine trag
edy that was here enacted of the trial, the scourging, the
indignities and cross-bearing of the Son of God ; he must be
duU and insensate, indeed, Avho looks on Jerusalem for the
first time unmoved.
But even were there here no supreme historical associa
tions for the Christian, Jerusalem would even be an interest
ing citj". Even then Avould the sentiment of the Psalmist be
true, that she is beautiful for situation, even if not at present
the joy of the whole earth. Imagine a bare and rocky
plateau, thickly studded with stone houses, and surrounded
to the very edge, where it dips off into the steep valley, by a
high wall. On all sides imagine bleak, gray, granite hiUs,
overtopping the plateau. Imagine between these distant
hiUs and this Httle table-land on which we are standing,
black and cavernous valleys, the upper and loAver pools of
Gihon on one side, the valley of Jehoshaphat on another,
running into the valley of the Kedron to the east. Every
where imagine bare, precipitous hflls, scoAvling rocks denuded
of all sofl and vegetation, gray and forbidding but majestic
in their very barrenness, and you have a picture, draAvn very
imperfectly and rudely, to be sure, but giving some rough
idea of modern Jerusalem.
In ancient days there was doubtless much more here to
make the heart glad. The hflls were covered with smiling
vineyards, terraces rising tier above tier on the hillside
afforded standing ground for corn and grain and various
"vegetation; frequent vfllages dotted the hillsides and the

453 PROUD, EVEN IN DECAY.
valleys ; and, in every way, the country showed that it was
not unworthy of the eulogies pronounced upon it, the land of
milk and honey, of corn and wine, and of everything that
typifled prosperity.
But the feet of trampling armies have done their work,
the oppression of tyrannical governments and the gradual
decay of national spirit have reduced the land to a poverty-
stricken dependency of the Sublime Porte. The mighty are
fallen, indeed, but with all these changes, political, industrial,
and agricultural, Jerusalem stfll rears its proud head among
the surrounding valleys, and even in its decay and ruin teUs
every passing traveler what a lordly city it used to be.
From without nothing coifld be prouder or grander than
this city of the kings ; from Avithin nothing could weU be
meaner or more beggarly. Let us enter by the Jaffa gate.
Even when well within the AvaUs we are not transported
back to the early centuries by sudden leaps or bounds, for
the first sign that stares us in the face is that of the Prince
of Dragomans, Thomas Cook, whose name, it is safe to say,
is more familiar than that of any other man in the far East.
Then our eyes rest upon a modern hotel, which even in this
ancient city rejoices in the name of " The New Hotel." In
the stores beneath this hotel and on the streets adjoining are
various shops where all kinds of articles of oHve wood are
sold, — candlesticks and inkstands, penholders and book-
racks, and every possible thing that can be carved or whittled
out of the beautifully-grained olive tree. Here, too, Ave find
dealers in Bethlehem mother-of-pearl, and in Jerusalem
crosses of sflver, in phylacteries and ancient manuscripts,
and all kinds of bric-a-brac.
But these places have comparatively little signiflcance or
attraction for us. As soon as possible Ave will dive into the
heart of the citv and see Jerusalem as it is.

THE ANCIENT FORTRESS — THE MODERN CITY. 45;J
First, however, let us get a little idea of the history of
this most famous city of all the ages. It wfll be remembered
that the city is built on the ancient frontier line between
Judah and Benjamin, and for many years before it was made
the capital of Judea by the conquest of David, it was a
strong fortress of the ancient Canaanites. Some have sup
posed that it was a very large city even before David's time ;
but it is altogether probable that it was only one of the
many mountain fortresses that were found in different parts
of Palestine, and which were used as places of refuge in the
stormy times that prevafled.
But the conquest of the city by DaAdd and its magnificent
enlargement and embeUishment by Solomon made it "the
joy of the whole earth," and this, in a religious sense, it has
continued to be to mfllions of devout hearts, in spite of sieges,
wars, famines, and manifold disasters.
The modern city may be said to date from the time of
the Crusades, for the principal streets are the same now as
in the Twelfth Century. They are arched over in many
places, and the markets and parts of the Yia Dolorosa are
completely covered. There are now four quarters, of which
the Mohammedans occupy the northeast, the Jews the
southeast, the Armenians the southwest, and the Christians
the northwest ; the most disreputable, uncleanly of all being
the Jewish quarters. For many years the population
steadily decreased untfl, in 1838, but 11,000 people re-
mauied. Now, however, within the waUs and without,
there are some 47,000 people, of whom 27,000 are Jews.
Comparatively smaU as is the JcAvish population in this
spiritual capital of Judaism, it is far larger than in former
years, and at the present rate of increase it is only a matter
of time before the fcry, " Jerusalem for the Jews," wfll be
something more than an empty sentiment.

454 JERUSALEM AT THE EASTER FESTIVAL.
A pathetic story tells us that six hundred years ago there
were not Jews enough in Jerusalem to make up an audience
for a synagogue meeting, which, according to their law, re
quires ten persons, and when in despair the nine forlorn
strangers came together in the home-land of their fathers,
wafling and lamentation was heard because there were not
enough of them in the once proud city to conduct the service
according to their usual form. Just at this juncture, when
their depression and sorrow was at its height, the tradition
goes on to say that Elijah appeared, making the tenth per
son in the company, and at the same time making the meet
ing possible.
At certain periods of the year the population is very
largely increased by visiting pilgrims, several thousands of
whom come, especiaUy at Easter time, to worship in the
sacred city. On this occasion, as has been said by a traveler
who recently visited the city at the time of this great
festival : " The streets of Jerusalem present a strange spec
tacle from the numerous national costumes seen together.
The European tourists, the Turkish nizam, the hooded Ar
menian, the long-haired Greek monk, are mingled with the
native peasants in yellow turbans and striped mantles. AAdth
Armenian pflgrims wearing broad red sashes, Jews in
Oriental costume or with the fur cap and lovelocks of the
Pharisee, Eussians in knee boots and padded robes, and
native ladies in Avhite mantles and black vefls. The
architecture of the city. Oriental, Gothic, Byzantine, or
Italian, tells the same story — that Jerusalem has been for
eighteen centuries a holy city in the eyes of Jew, Christian,
and Moslem alike, and the religious center of half the
world." But let us plunge into the heart of the city, not at Easter
tide when it has on its holiday attire, but on an ordinary day

THE city's everyday ASPECT.

455

of the year, when Jerusalem, so to speak, is in its working
clothes, and very dirty working clothes they are. The
narrow streets are filled with rubbish and dirt which, after
a soaking rain, render them almost impassable. The narrow

BEGGING DERVISHES, JERUSALEM.
side streets are worse still, for garbage of every kind, cats,
dead and aUve, goats, cattle, and donkeys make locomotion
anything but a luxury.
If not a luxury, hoAvever, a walk through Jerusalem is at
least full of absorbing interest. Some of the streets, as has
been said, are completely roofed over, and the traveler feels

45G STREET SCENES IN THE HOLY CITY.
that he is walking through a continuous market-place, with
little stalls on either side for the sale of an almost unimagin
able variety of goods. Amber beads occupy one staU, and a
hundred strings hanging from the roof and dangUng from
the sides tempt to a purchase the lover of this beautiful sub
stance. Next, perhaps, is a shop fllled A\dth old shoes in aU
varieties of dflapidation, which were Avorn out ten years ago
and have never seen blacking-brush since the day they were
made. Next to this is the cavernous den of a baker, with
his glowing oven in the rear, from which he puUs out every
now and then, with a wooden shovel, a long cake of dirty-
looking bread, which he pfles up on the counter before him
like so much cordwood cut into three-feet lengths.
Next to the baker a dealer in incense has his shop, for the
incense merchant is an important personage in Jerusalem.
His wares come in cakes and sticks and broken nuggets, and
are of aU varieties of flavor and spiciness. Next we see a
dealer in crucifixes and religious emblems, and horrible
pictures of the Sacred Heart. StiU another shop is devoted
to rosaries ; and strings of beads of every variety and com
plexion and substance of Avhich beads can be made are
displayed for sale. Then comes a butcher's shop, possibly
with a grinning and bloody calf's head protruding over the
doorway, as a sign of the goods that are kept within.
Here, too, are the dealers in the beautiful Bethlehem
mother-of-pearl work, in silver ware of Damascus, and in
numerable shops where articles carved from oHve wood may
be purchased. At every street corner is the money-changer
Avith his little pile of gold and silver and copper before him,
ready to turn your napoleons or pounds into chereks and
mejidieh at a most ruinous discount, for Shylock has his own
home here in Jerusalem, and Avill alAvaj's take his pound of
flesh if he can get it.

THE PASSING CROWD. 457
As we walk along the streets the passers-by are quite as
interesting as the shops on either hand. Here comes a lordly
Kavass, gorgeous in his red and yellow kaflleh, Avho carries
off his startling costume with the utmost dignity.
There are f cav people in the Avorld who can stand so much
barbaric ornamentation as the Syrian Kavass without betray
ing self-consciousness. Behind the Kavass, perhaps, is a
vefled beauty robed in white from top to toe, Avith only her
black eyes peering out from under the rim of her head gear.
Sometimes she wears a black mask of some thin material
draAvn closely over her face, through which she can see, but
behind which she is utterly invisible to prying eyes that may
look upon her.
In any other city it would be startling to see these white-
robed, black-masked creatures suddenly turn a corner upon
the unsuspecting traveler. He almost imagines that he is in
the land of the " white caps," and that the masks mean mur
der and robbery and all kinds of personal violence. But the
maskers noiselessly glide aAvay Avithout offering to molest
the quietest of travelers. Behind them, perhaps, comes a
beggar with A tale of woe not only committed to heart, but
often Avritten on his dirty, repulsive features as well.
There are, of course, no wheeled vehicles within the walls,
for the narrow streets would not admit of such carriages.
AU the loads are carried by donkeys or camels, or on the
braAvny backs of men and women. Offen we meet a donkey
scarcely bigger than a Newfoundland dog, with a big Turk
or Jew sitting far back, almost on its very tail, while the
man's feet nearly drag on the ground at every step. These big
feet he keeps swaying back and forth, and at every move of
the poor Httle animal his cruel heels dig into the donkey's
side and urge him to further exertion.
The camels naturally have the right of way in these nar-

458

CAMELS AND WATER CARRIERS.

row roads. Their huge bulk preoccupies the whole street.
The donkeys have to make themselves smaU in side passage-
Avays, Avhile pedestrians flatten themselves against the waU
on either side as best they can and let the splay-footed ship
of the desert, with his sneering under lip and nose high in
air, shoAving contempt for every smaller creature, pass through
at his leisure.
Behind the beggars and the camels often come the water-
carriers, their goat-skins almost
bursting with a dirty liquid
supposed to be water, and that
drips upon the ground from
every tiny crevice. Add to
these objects, sheep and many
dogs, and children, lying pro
miscuously about the streets in
every dirty doorway, and crowd
ing every side alley from wall
to wall, and you have some idea
of Jerusalem in its everyday
apparel. After aU is said there is
something dignified and impres
sive about many of the people
whom we meet in the streets,
for the Syrian, though indolent
and deceitful, is polite and gen
tlemanly at the same time. "When he meets you and
desires a word, he wfll lay his right hand on his forehead,
lips, and head, for a moment, Avhich means, in the expressive
symboHsm in the country, " in thought, Avord, and deed, I
am your servant." If he wishes to show special respect, he
will stoop doAvn and then raise his right hand over his head.

A WATER CARRIER.

SACRED ASSOCIATIONS. 459
which means that he is casting dust and ashes over himself
as a mark of humility. But he does all this Avith such a
gracious and dignified air that, servfle as are its symbols, he
seems to be doing himself an honor quite as much as the one
to Avhom he speaks.
Now let us view the people of Jerusalem at their worship,
for in the churches we find the chief characteristics of the
Holy City underscored and accentuated.
The flrst church to which almost every traveler wends
his way, is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and here are
crowded together more traditions, relics, and sacred associa
tions than in any place of simflar size in the world. Not
that the traditions are for the most part trustworthy, not
that the sacred associations are really associated with sacred
facts ; not that the reUcs are free from suspicion as to their
genuineness, but despite all this doubt and uncertainty, the
very fact that devout souls of many nations, however mis
taken and superstitious, have here fed their faith and rever
ence for generations past, make it in some sense a holy
place to those who come after them in succeeding years.
"Whatever may be the absolute facts in the case, and they
are very difficult to determine, mfllions of devout hearts have
beheved that under the roof which covers the Church of the
Sepulchre is the spot where our Lord was crucifled, the
very stone on which he was laid for burial, the new tomb of
rock in which He was placed when He descended into hades,
the stone on which He sat when He was crowned with
thorns and scourged with thongs, and the stocks in which
His feet were thrust during the cruel night of trial.
Every other sacred tradition which could flnd lodgment
has been crowded into this one spot, even to the tomb of
Adam himself, which is located here.
To be sure, it is altogether probable that the place of

460 THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE.
cruciflxion was nearly half a mfle aAvay, outside the waUs of
the present city. The sacred places and reUcs within the
church rest upon a very shaky tradition, to the effect that
Helena, the mother of Constantine, had a dream that here
she should flnd the true cross. Causing her servants to dig
in the place the dream indicated, she found not one cross, but
three, one of which spoke to her, and by this token, she knew
that it was the true cross.
On this poor and meagre sofl, which bears upon its very
face the marks of its untrustworthiness, are the traditions of
the sacred place built, and yet they have been haUowed
by the faith, the prayers, and tears, and rapturous joy of
myriads of pilgrims.
It is very sure that near this place, if not upon this actual
site, our Lord suffered and bled and died. These monu
ments which are here erected give the eye of faith something
visible to behold, and the heart something tangible to cUng
to, and, if one can but prevent his reverence from degener
ating into superstitious awe, his soul wiU surely be blessed
by a Adsit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
One thing is certain, a sumptuously decorated church was
erected here in the early part of the fourth century, and even
then it was supposed to cover the Holy Sepulchre.
Many ups and downs, destructions, and rebufldings have
come to this famous church. In 614 it was destroyed by the
Persians. It was immediately rebuflt and was over and over
again destroyed or greatly damaged by the Moslems. In
1099, the Crusaders entered the church, and what a pictur
esque sight it must have been when, barefooted and ragged,
but bearing crowns of palms and uttering songs of praise, in
the last year of the eleventh century which had seen such
heroic struggles to regain the holy city, they marched in
under the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

VIGILANT TURKISH GUARDS. 461
As can be easily imagined, they were not content with
the meagre little church which they found guarding the
holy tomb, so they enlarged it and beautified it and buflt
many chapels around it.
A century later the Arabs nearly destroyed the bufldings
once more.
Again the warriors of the Third Crusade rebuilt it.
Fifty years later it was again destroyed, only to be
rebuflt during the next half century. Thus it met Avith
many fluctuations of fortune, good and bad, until, in 1808, it
was entirely burned down, the dome fell in and crushed the
chapel and almost nothing was saved except the east wing
of the buflding. But two years later the Greeks and Ar
menians erected a new church, which is substantially the one
which we are now to visit.
As we enter, the first persons whom we see are not the
pflgrims who have come from all parts of the Avorld to do
honor to their Lord, but the Turkish guards who have
charge of the place, and we are sadly reminded of the fact
that the Greek and Latin and Armenian Christians cannot
be trusted to Hve together in unity, even within sight of the
place of their Lord's supreme sufferings, but must be kept
from knocking each other's heads and cutting each other's
throats by a cordon of Mohammedan custodians, who are
never able to relax their vigilance lest the Christians come
to blows. The first sacred object that we see is the stone of unction
or anointment on which the body of Jesus is said to have
been laid when it was anointed by Nicodemus.
Let us recall the pathetic story. "After this" (after
our Lord's death) says the Sacred Narrative, "Joseph
of Arimathea being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear
of the Jews, besought Pflate that he might take away the
38

462 WHERE THE BODY OF JESUS WAS LAID.
body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him leave. He came, there
fore, and took the body of Jesus, and there came also Nico
demus, which at first came to Jesus by night, and brought a
mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pounds
weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and Avound it in
linen cloths with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to
bury." How often in imagination we have seen this pathetic
picture Avhen just at twilight beside the new rock tomb these
two secret disciples of Jesus came to do their last reverence
to Him whom in life they loved but never dared to own.
They were both noted men and members of the San-
hedrin. They both recognized in Jesus the spotless Lamb of
God. Their hearts had been touched by His holy Hfe and by
His gentle words, but not until He died for them and for aU
the Avorld were they wflUng to acknowledge their secret
faith. But then they came together, neither apparently
knoAving of the other's intention, to bury Him who had re
ceived such scant reverence in His life. And this was the
spot at which tradition and the belief of innumerable eccles
iastics said they met. And here on this stone over Avhich
are burning many gold and sflver lamps, they reverently
laid His body.
To be sure it detracts from our interest somewhat to be
told by our guide-book that this stone has often been
changed and has been in the possession of numerous re
ligious communities in succession. In the flfteenth century
it belonged to the Copts, in the sixteenth to the Gregorians,
from Avhom the Latins purchased permissions for 5,000
piastres to burn candles upon it. The present stone, this
same hard-hearted guide-book goes on to say, is of reddish
yelloAv marble, eight and a half feet long, four feet broad,
and Avas placed here in 1808.

THE angel's ROOM. 463
But what care we for its dimensions to an inch ? "Who
Avould care to knoAv of its geologic formation? Hoav im
pertinent are vulgar facts when Ave remember that upon
this stone have fallen the hot tears of hundreds of thousands
of pflgrims, that it has been passionately kissed by myriads
of devoted lips, and has received the consecration vows
of a multitude of devout hearts whose creeds indeed are
different, but whose love for the supreme Lord never wanes.
A pathetic touch of interest is added to this stone when
we remember that formerly pflgrims were in the habit of
measuring it with a vicAV to having their winding sheets
made of the same length.
A few steps to the left of the stone of unction we see a
smaU enclosure buflt around a stone, which is said to mark a
spot where the women stood and watched the anointing of
Christ's body.
As we go on toward the center of the church we come to
the supreme object of worship, none other than the spot which
is beheved to be the place where our Lord's body lay in its
rock cavern for three days. Over this spot is erected a
marble chapel Avhich in some respects is beautiful, but very
much marred for sober eyes by the amount of tinsel and the
number of gewgaws that are lavished upon it.
The first part of the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre is
caUed the Angel's Eoom. In the center is a stone set in
marble, which our guide solemnly avers is the one which
the angel roUed away from the mouth of the sepulchre and
on which he afterwards sat. In this chapel are burning fif
teen gold and sflver lamps, flve of which belong to the
Greeks, five to the Latins, four to the Armenians, and one to
the Copts, and the air is thick and heavy with burning in
cense and other odors which are more easy to imagine than
to describe.

464 INTERESTING BUT ABSURD TRADITIONS.
But even yet we have not come to the most holy place,
for, squeezing through a very low and narrow door which is
merely a hole in the wall, in fact, and through which one has
to back in a very undignified attitude, we come to the chapel
of the sepulchre itself.
This is only about six feet by six and when crowded with
half a dozen people, as it always is, it can be imagined that
even devotion and reverence does not aUow one to tarry
long, since the half dozen other pflgrims besides himself are
apt to be greasy Eussians, dirty Copts, filthy Poles, or un
washed Italians.
AU around this central and most sacred chapel are other
chapels of less significance and holiness, but yet each one of
which enshrines some interesting tradition. Here, for in
stance, is the chapel of Saint Longinus, the soldier who
pierced Christ's side with his spear. The tradition sa.js that
he had been blind of one eye, but that some of the water
and blood from the side of our Lord spurted into his blind
eye and he recovered sight, whereupon he repented and
became a Christian. Next is " The Chapel of the Parting of
the Eaiment," whose name indicates the tradition associated
Avith it.
Then " The Chapel of the CroAvning with Thorns," where
the very stone is shown on which Christ sat when the cruel
thorns were crowded upon His brow. Here, also, are such
chapels as Saint Mary, dedicated to the Yirgin, the chapel of
Adam, where tradition says the first man was buried, though
how his bones came to be transported to Palestine nobody
seems to knoAv. But no tradition is too wfld or absurd for the
credulous people who cluster here to believe, and they
solemnly assure us that when Christ was crucified His blood
flowed through a cleft in the rock on to the head of Adam,
and he Avas immediately restored to life.

THE TRADITIONAL GOLGOTHA. 465
But as if it was not enough to bury Adam here or to
invent all kinds of silly traditions about our great forefather,
they have placed the tomb of Melchizedek here also. "We
have not yet come to the most sacred spot, for the traditional
Golgotha yet remains to be visited.
CathoHc historians have placed not only the tomb and the
place of Christ's suffering, but Mount Calvary itseU within
the limits of this sanctuary. It may very naturally be asked
by the reader how this can be, since the Bible distinctly tells
us that Christ suffered " without the Avails."
The Papal historian, however, is ready with his answer,
for he teUs us that in the former times the site of this church
was outside of the second walls of Jerusalem, and that the
modern waUs do not conform to the ancient predecessors.
This statement, however, must be received with a very large
interrogation point, and it has been recently proved, all but
conclusively, by modern scholars, that the present waUs
foflow the ancient outlines very nearly, and that the site of
the church of the Holy Sepulchre could not by any possi-
bihty ever have been found without the walls of the city.
However, as we said before, this spot has been hallowed
by the faith of innumerable Christians Avhose belief was sup
ported, at least in ancient times, by very scholarly authority.
Hundreds of books have been written on the subject to prove
that this was the veritable spot where our Lord bled, suffered,
and died, and even the tradition-breaking Protestant need
not be too eager to disfllusionize the world when he comes
Avithin these sacred precincts.
Here in the Hving rock we see an opening faced with
sflver, where the cross on which our Lord died was said to
be inserted. Five feet distant on either side are the crosses
of the two thieves, the penitent thief on the right and the
impenitent thief on the left. "Whfle about the same distance.

466 THE RIVEN ROCK.
covered with a brass slide, is the cleft in the rock about
which Saint Matthew tells us in these solemn words : " Jesus,
when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
ghost ; and, behold the vefl of the temple Avas rent in twain
from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the
rocks rent, and the graves were opened, and many bodies of
the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after
His resurrection and went into the Holy City, and appeared
unto many."
This cleft is said by the superstitious to reach to the very
center of the earth, although the practical eye of the* scien
tific man says it is only about six inches deep.
As I have said, when we visited the Holy Sepulchre it
was not on a feast day, but on one of the ordinary Sundays
of the year, and yet it was a strange and striking scene
which we beheld even then. The whole floor of the church
seemed to be fllled with black-bearded priests in gorgeous
vestments and jeweled robes, from which the flashing Hght
of the innumerable lamps glanced and sparkled. "With
solemn intonations and measured tread they marched about
the Holy Sepulchre, slowly waving their golden lamps and
their jcAveled vases, from Avhich the smoking incense curled
up in dense clouds to heaven.
Back and forth and around they marched, solemnly
chanting their dirges, whfle the wondering crowd, gathered
from every quarter of the world, looked on in awe-struck
silence. Here were Koords in their sheep-skins, Eussians in their
pilgrim rags, Armenians in their picturesque meal-bag-hke
garments, Greeks in their curious hats and skirts, Europeans
of every degree of civilization, and Asiatics of every degree
of barbarism. And yet all were draAvn together by a com
mon sentiment.

QUARRELSOME PILGRIMS. 467
Though they sometimes fall out and fight among them
selves like cats and dogs, yet, after all, there is a common
purpose manifested to honor the common Lord, and to do
reverence to Him Avho died for all the world. "We can
almost forgive their wranglings and disputings as we see
the genuine devotion which seems to flU many of the hearts
that beat under the rough and ragged pilgrim's garb. There
must be something of good even in the most ignorant and
suspicious of them all, to bring them on this long and toil
some pflgrimage for the sake of doing reverence to Him to
whom their hearts are blindly reaching out.
If Ave have some regard, however, for the pilgrims them
selves, we have very little patience with the priests and rehg
ious leaders who work on their superstitions and trade on
their prejudices.
On Easter are often enacted many disorderly scenes,
which produce a painful impression when the Church
of the Sepulchre is crowded with pilgrims of every nation
ahty, and especiaUy when the so-called miracle of the " holy
fire " is produced. " On this occasion the church is always
crowded Avith spectators," we are told. " It is said that the
priests besmear the wire by which the lamp is suspended
over the sepulchre with resinous oil, and that this ofl is set
on iire from the roof. Large sums are paid to the priests by
those who are the flrst to be aUowed to light their tapers
from the sacred flame sent from heaven. The wfld and
noisy scene begins on Good Friday. The crowd passes the
night in the church in order to secure places, some of them
attaching themselves by cords to the sepulchre, while others
run round it in anything but a reverential manner.
" About two o'clock on Easter afternoon a procession of
the superior clergy moves around the sepulchre, all lamps
having been carefully extinguished in vicAV of the croAvd.

408 THE DESCENT OF THE SACRED FLAME.
The patriarch enters the chapel of the sepulchre, while the
priests pray and the people are in the utmost suspense.
" At length the flre which has come down from heaven
gleams from the sepulchre, the priests emerge with a bundle
of burning tapers and there now foUoAvs an indescribable
tumult, every one endeavoring to be the flrst to get his taper
lighted. Even from the gallery, tapers are let doAvn to be
lighted, and in a few seconds, the Avhole church is iUuminated.
This however, never happens Avithout flghting, and accidents
generally occur owing to the crush."
In 1834 an awful accident occurred. Six thousand peo
ple Avere in the church, when the Turkish guards, thinking
they Avere attacked, sprang upon the pflgrims, beat many of
them to death, and in the scuffle that followed, three hun
dred lives Avere lost.
Yet, with all these excrescences and unpleasant manifes
tations of religious zeal and fanaticism, it must be remem
bered that there is something intensely real to aU these pfl
grims in these traditional sights. People do not undergo
sufferings to see that which they do not beUeve with intense
devotion. They Avfll not fight for that which does not appeal
strongly to their faith and love, and even the disgraceful '
riots which have blotted the history of the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre more than once, shoAV the abiding strength
and dominating influence of the cross of Christ over the hves
of the world's millions.

CHAPTEE XXY.
A jMEMORABLE avalk.
The Via Dolorosa — Fourteen Stations on the Way to the Cross — St. Veron
ica and Her Handkerchief — Some Touching Inscriptions — Outside the
Gates — Our Golgotha — ' ' The Green Hill Far Away." Gethsemane —
The Stone of Treason — A Wonderful View — Our Lord's Broken-
Hearted Lament — -The Russian Tower — The Dead Sea — A Marvelous
Mirror — Absalom's Tomb — The Fate of an Unfilial Reprobate — The
cave of Adullam — Nebo and Its Lonely Grave — The Village of Mary and
Martha — The Greatest Miracle of the Ages — " Dis Way to de Tomb
of Lazaroos " — The Wretched Inhabitants of Modern Bethany — The
Tomb of Rachel — Where Our Lord was Born — The Marble Cradle —
An Impressive Sight — Wrangling Christians — Turkish Guards at Our
Lord's Cradle — A Sad Suggestion.

NE of the most impressive and
memorable walks that we took
within the Holy City led us along
the Yia Dolorosa, through St.
Stephen's gate, thence out to the
Mount of OHves and Bethany.
Before we leave the sacred city,
let us aU take such a walk to
gether. This traditional "Street of
Pain " seems worthy of its name,
for it is a dark and gloomy road
way, arched overhead through much of its course with
vaulted roofs, and reminding one at almost every footstep of
the suffering and indignities endured by the Son of Man.
To be sure, the ancient "Way of the Cross, even if it fol-
(469)

470

ALONG THE WAY OF THE CROSS.

lowed the general line of the modern street, Avhich is by no
means certain, must have been many feet below the surface
of the present roadAvay, for the accumulated rubbish of the
ages and the many sieges to which Jerusalem has been sub
ject have buried the old city from ten to forty feet beloAv the
modern city.
However, from very early centuries, the Avay which our
Lord took as He bore

the cross to his own
crucifixion, has been
supposed to foUow
the general direction
of this street.
Ecclesiastical au
thorities have estab
Hshed what they call
" stations," at points
which are supposed
to represent some
particular event in
the sad journey of
Jesus to the cross.
There are fourteen of
A STREET IN JERUSALEM. 'theSO StatloUS Ul aU.
One of them indicates the spot where Simon of Cyrene took
the cross from Christ. Another where St. Yeronica wiped
the sweat from our Saviour's broAv, the image of his face
being imprinted on her handkerchief forever afterwards.
The eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth stations,
are in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre itself, to which the
Yia Dolorosa leads, and show where our Lord was nailed to
the cross, where He Avas taken from the cross, and finally
where He was laid in the new rock tomb.

INSCRIPTIONS ON THE WALLS. 471
Though they do not add to the authenticity of the events
recorded, yet the Latin sentences with which many of these
stations are marked, add a certain dignity and appearance of
reaUty to the street. For instance, a tablet on the house
which is called the House of Pontius Pflate reads as foUows :
Ad Arcum Ecce Homo
Ubi Pontius Pilatus
Christum
Judcns Tradidit ut crucifigeretur
A little farther on, a marble slab let into the rough wall of
the street teUs us : Locus in quo
Apprehendit Pilatv^ Jesum
et Flagellant.
Whfle near the outer gate we flnd the inscription ;
Et Milites Plecentes Coronam
De Spinis imposuerunt.
AU this sonorous Latin simply teUs us the story which in
simple language we have read a thousand times in the Nine
teenth chapter of John, where the beloved disciple tells us
that " Pflate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him and the
soldiers platted a crown of thorns and put it upon His head.
And they put on Him a purple robe, and said, Hafl, King 'of
the Jews, and they smote Him with their hands. Pilate,
therefore, went forth again and said ilnto them. Behold I
bring Him forth to you that you may know that I find no
fault in Him. Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of
thorns, and the purple robe, and Pilate said unto them.
Behold the man."
Now we are not far from the wall of the city, and pass
ing out through St. Stephen's gate, which is surrounded by
cripples, lepers, and beggars in all stages of dilapidation and

473 THE HILL OF THE CRUCIFIXION.
disease, we find ourselves in an instant out of the reeking
streets of the filthy city in the sunlight and fresh air of
God's wide country.
Over there, a littlc/to the left, we see the site upon which
modern Protestant scholars are largely agreed is the site of
the crucifixion and burial of Christ. There, indeed, is the
" green hfll far away, without the city waU." There is the
gently rounding hflltop which might Avell be called by the
picturesque and imaginative Orientals " the place of the
skull." There, underneath this hillside, near to the reputed
grotto of Jeremiah, is a rock tomb, hewn out of the solid
stone, a tomb which has never been flnished, and which
answers in every particular to what we might expect of
Joseph's new tomb.
Here our imagination is fully satisfied. Here our feelings
of reverent devotion ask for nothing more. There is no
gaudy church with its tinsel and its second-rate paintings, its
mosaics and its incense-scented chapels to distract our minds
and Aveary our senses. No quarreHng bands of hostfle
Christians, no Moslem guards to keep the peace are here
required, no gorgeously bedecked priests to distract our
thoughts from the Man of Sorrows whom they ignorantly
worship, and whose life of suffering for mankind they, with
their elaborate ceremonials, obscure rather than fllumine.
Here is nothing over our heads but the blue arch of
heaven, a few fleecy clouds sailing across it. "Under our feet
is the green grass of springtime, the daisies and the anem
ones, the HHes of the valley, and aU the flowers of the field
with which our Lord so often illustrated His discourses.
To be sure, on this very hill are some Mohammedan
tombs Avhich at first seem to desecrate our Golgotha, but, as
Ave think of it, we remember that if it were not for these
tombs this hill would doubtless have been covered with

THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE. 473
buildings and the site entirely lost for many generations
before modern scholars could have identified it as the spot
where our Saviour suffered His last agony ; so from this point
of view we may consider these Moslem tombs a blessing in
disguise, for wherever a Mohammedan is buried his country
men regard it a sacred ground for all the future ages.
But sweet as are the associations of this haUoAved hill we
cannot ahvays Hnger here, but must go on down the road
which leads us across the YaUey of Kedron and then up the
slopes of the Mount of Olives.
On the further side of the valley we see a small grove of
dark and gloomy cypress trees, and, near by, a number of
gnarled and twisted oUve trees. Almost by intuition Ave say
to ourselves this must be the Garden of Gethsemane ; and
so it is.
This is one of the sacred places about Avhich there is com
paratively Httle dispute. To be sure, the claim of the monk
who shows us the garden, that these great olive trees with
trunks "burst from age and shored up with stones" date
from the time of Christ, may not be true, and it is possible
that the actual garden which saAv the bloody sweat of our
Lord, and witnessed his agony and arrest may not have been
upon this very spot ; but, undoubtedly, it Avas near to this
spot, and it requires no stretch of imagination to believe that
the checkered moonlight fell through the branches and
leaves of these very olive trees on the night when the
disciples could not keep open their sleepy eyes to watch with
our Lord " even one hour."
"We can readfly believe that at this very spot which is
pointed out to us, marked to-day by the fragment of a stone
column, the treacherous Judas kissed our Lord, and received
therefor his thirty pitiful pieces of silver.
A sharp climb of flfteen minutes brings us to the top of

474 A SCENE OF SURPASSING BEAUTY.
the Mount of Olives from the garden of Gethsemane. "When
about half way up the hill we turn around and the magnifi
cent view bursts upon our eyes. TJhere is the Holy City en
closed by its four-square Avails. There is Jerusalem, "the
joy of the whole earth." It is builded "as a city which is
compact together." Its squalidness and wretchedness are no
longer visible. The filth of its narrow streets is forgotten.
Its walls from this distance look indeed Hke the ramparts of
Zion. Its churches and mosques dominate it Avith a lordly
air, and even its stone houses, which look so mean and
squalid on near approach, have from this point almost the
look of palaces as the afternoon sun and the clear air of
Palestine lend their enchantment to them.
It is indeed a scene of surpassing beauty, and here, accord
ing to one of the best authenticated traditions, our Lord
stood Avhen he looked Avith love and pity upon the sacred
city, Avhile the hot tears fell upon his cheeks, as he cried out,
" If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day,
the things Avhich belong unto thy peace ! " Then his emotion
ov^ercame him. He could not continue the sentence, but, Avith
choking voice, he added, after a momentary pause, as he
thought of the aAvf ul destruction Avhich aAvaited the beautiful
city, " But noAV are they hid from thine eyes.
" For the day shall come upon thee, that thine enemies
shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and
keep thee in on every side.
"And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy
children within thee ; and they shall not leave in thee one
stone upon another ; because thou kneAvest not the time of
thy visitation."
But now we will turn our eyes upward and climb the
Mount of Olives once more. In a few moments Ave find our
selves upon its very summit.

UPON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. 475
The highest point of the hill is 2,723 feet above the sea
level, so that by ordinary geographical measurements it is
no slight elevation, but deserves the name of mountain.
"When compared with the neighboring city of Jerusalem,
hoAvever, it is not a lofty hfll, for it rises but 196 feet higher
than the temple plateau which we recently visited, and
Avhere now is found the mosque of Omar.
For many centuries the Mount of Olives has been con
sidered the spot from Avhich Christ ascended into Heaven,
but Luke seems to contradict this idea, for he tells us that
He led them out "as fa,r as Bethany and lifted up His hands
and blessed them. And it came to pass whfle He blessed
them that He was parted from them and carried up into
Heaven." Now Bethany is a good half mile on the other
side of the Mount of Olives. However, if this is not the
place of the ascension of Christ, the Mount of OHves has
sufficient historical and sacred attractions to satisfy the most
exacting, and the view from the top is one of the most
magnificent and attention-compelling which can be found in
any part of the world.
The Eussians have built a high tower on the very crest
of the hiU whose top is reached by a narrow, winding stair
case. It is a hard climb which takes us to the top of this
beU toAver, but it weU repays us for our trouble. Surely
from no spot in the world can be seen so much of lasting
and touching interest to all mankind.
Hour after hour can we spend on the top of this tower
and stfll flnd food for our imaginations, stimulus for our
highest rehgious aspirations, and memory photographs
which never fade, of sacred historical sights such as no other
view in the world can give. To the west is the view of the
Holy City which we have already seen at the pomt where
Christ our Lord wept over it, only it is more magniflcent

476 JORDAN AND THE DEAD SEA.
still from this high perch which we have attained. Beyond
stretches the land of Judah and the land of Benjamin, run
ning into the country of the Phflistines, which borders the
seacoast towards Jaffa.
To the east is an entirely different scene, but one scarcely
less striking. Deadness and sterility, a treeless and appar
ently uninhabited waste greets the eye. These are the hills
of Moab in the far distance, and there, just this side of these
mountains, a silver ribbon which glances and glitters in the
sunlight, shows us where the rippling waters of the Jordan
are making their way to the Dead Sea, which looks in the
afternoon sunlight like a huge mirror lying at the base of
the frowning mountains of Moab.
It is impossible to believe that we cannot reach this sea
of glass by a Avalk of an hour, or at the most of two hours,
across the hflls and valleys that lie between us and it, and
when we are told that it is a hard horseback ride of fufl
seven hours over barren and uninhabitable hflls, and that
that strip of looking-glass is almost four thousand feet below
our present altitude, we are stfll more surprised, but we
are obliged to take the word of geographers, surveyors, and
travelers who have actually made the distance, rather than
our own unauthenticated impressions. That Httle lake,
gleaming in the sunlight, is none other than the Dead Sea,
one of the most extraordinaiy bodies of water in all the
earth. It has no outlet, as is well knoAvn, but the lake is
kept at its present level by the evaporation of the sun,
which day after day sucks up thousands of tons of Avater
from this intensely hot hole in the surface of the earth.
The dimensions of the sea and its volume of Avater are
constantly groAving smaller and its density is groAA'ing
greater. No flsh can swim in its briny Avaves, but few birds
flit along its barren shores, and the traveler who takes a

"WHERE SHEPHERDS AVATCHED THEIR FLOCKS.

477

morning bath in its heavy waters flnds that he cannot sink,
and that Avhen he comes out he is covered by a saline in
crustation, Avhich makes hun think that he may possibly be a
relative of Lot's unfortunate wife.
Off to the north
we can catch a
gUmpse of Bethle
hem and the plains
where the shep
herds kept their
flocks by night, and
where they heard
out of the blue
heavens the gloria
i/n excelsis. Just at the foot
of the hfll, but out
of sight because it
is so near, is the
Httle town of Beth
any, which we re-
member as the
place that of aU
others Christ loved
the best.
On the other
side of the hfll
toward Jerusalem,
also hidden by its
very nearness, is the Olive Garden of Gethsemane which
we have just visited, and the reputed tomb of Absalom, at
which every devout Jew throws a stone as an indication of
his detestation of fllial impiety. It is said that this tomb is
29

ABSALOM S TOMB.

478 THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT.
the same one spoken of in Second Samuel: "Now Absalom
in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pfllar
which is in the king's dale, for he said, I have no son to keep
my name in remembrance, and he called the pfllar after his
OAvn name, and it is caUed unto this day Absalom's place."
If this is indeed the tomb which Absalom buflt it has
served its purpose better than he perhaps intended, for while
it has preserved his name it has at the same time preserved
it as the name of an ungrateful, heartless, reprobate son, the
scorn and derision of every one who passes by, and none can
express their contempt in any way more striking than by
flinging a derisive stone at the pfllar which its buflder fondly
thought would keep his name in grateful remembrance.
Here near by, also, is the tomb of Jehoshaphat and St.
James, and all the monuments and memories which crowd
so full the YaUey of Jehoshaphat. Not far away is the hfll
of Herod, as it is called, and, underneath, the cave of Adul
lam, where three thousand years ago DaA^d coUected "every
one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and
every one that Avas discontented, and became a captain over
them," and formed them into the nucleus of what was after
wards his conquering and irresistible armj'.
As we look far off toAvards the south we see the hiUtop
Mizpeh where Samuel judged the Children of Israel, and
where he Avon such a signal victory over the Phflistines, for
here we are told, " And as Samuel was offering up the burnt
offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel:
but the Lord thundered Avith a great thunder on that day
upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were
smitten before Israel.
" Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh
and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying.
Hitherto hath the Loi'd helped us.

SACRED MEMORIES. 479
"And Samuel judged Israel all the years of his life.
"And he Avent from year to year in circuit to Bethel,
and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in aU those
places." Thus our eyes are surfeited with wondrous sights and
our memories are wearied to recaU everything that has made
these places memorable.
But before we descend from the tower, our eyes sweep
around once more to the narrow Jordan and the glittering
Dead Sea, and rest upon the bleak mountains of Moab.
Among them is one hflltop of surpassing interest. There on
Mount Nebo, four thousand feet above the Dead Sea which
Hes at its base, the great lawgiver of Israel looked upon
the Promised Land which he was never to enter.
Going down the sacred hfll toward the east, crossing a
gentle spur, and foUowing a winding path across flowery
fields, we come at last to a vfllage which perhaps centers
within itself more touching sacred memories than any other
spot in aU the region, for in this vfllage was the home of
Mary and Martha, whose door was so often left ajar for
Christ to enter.
Here was the house of Simon the Leper where Mary
washed the blessed feet that continuaUy went about doing
good, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Here,
too, Lazarus lived, and in this little hamlet the greatest
miracle of the ages was wrought when Lazarus heard the
Divine voice saying to him in the tomb, "Come forth."
But alas, the passing centuries have taken all the poetry
and romance out of this little hamlet. The natural in
dolence of the inhabitants, their hopeless lives, for many
generations ground down under the heel of the Turks, and
their unenterprising, fanatical disposition, have all contrib
uted to make this at the present day as squalid, mean, and

480 AN OVER-SUPPLY OF GUIDES.
uninteresting a town as can be found in any one of the five
continents which Ave are visiting together.
As we neared the viUage we passed a group of ragged,
filthy, sore-eyed specimens of humanity, squatting on the
ground near an old, dflapidated tent, Avhere they had been
lazily basking in the sunshine. They were engaged in the
interesting task of simultaneously extending their dirty
hands into the one and only dish that contained their food.
They stretched out their gaunt, diseased hands to us, crying
" backsheesh," the only word, apparently, Avhich they knew
and which stood for the only thing they cared for.
What is Mary or Martha, Lazarus or Simon to them,
except so many pretexts for extorting more backsheesh from
the traveler who comes their way ? What is Christ himself,
except a personage whose wondrous attractiveness turns
the feet of many a pilgrim Bethanyward, and gives these
petty robbers a chance to practice their arts upon a fresh
set of travelers every day ?
However, they know the stock places of interest in their
viUage by heart, and, starting up from aU sides, they run on
before the pflgrims crying out, " Thees Avay, thees way to de
house of Mary and Marrta," rolling their r's with great
vigor, and vociferating and gesticulating as only Orientals
can, lest some one else should capture their travelers and
show them the Avay.
"Dis way to de tomb of Lazaroos, dis way to de tomb of
Lazaroos," cries a shrfll treble voice in our ear, as a Httle
damsel not more than eight or nine years old came skipping
over the rough stones, eagerly pressing upon us the fact that
she will be our guide to the tomb of Mary's brother.
AU that we have to do is to follow the croAvd, for aU
Bethany seems ready to act as our guide this morning, and
every one knoAvs as Avell as we Avhere Ave Avish to go.

A BEDOUIN DINNHK I'AUTV. (From nn instantaneous p7iotogra2>!i.)
ared the village we passed n group of ragged, filthy, sore-eyed specimens of humanity, squatting on the ground near an old dilap-
here they had been la/.ily haslcing in the sunshine. They were engaged in the interesting task of snnultaneously extendmg the.r

Ah we noared
Idnted tent where _ „ . ._
dirty hands into the one and only dlbh that contained their food.

THE HOUSE OF MARY AND MARTHA.

483

So foUoAving our many cicerones we soon come to a
dflapidated ruin into which we are admitted by a small
wooden gate. This, we are assured by a chorus of voices, is
none other than the house of Mary and Martha. We are
not prepared to dispute the fact, for it is as likely a place for
the residence of the famous sisters as any in the village. It
is perhaps a shade more clean and respectable than any
other ruin in the vicinity, but
we are very confident that in
the days of old, Martha left no
such pfles of rubbish and gar
bage at her front door as now
decorate it; that she kept the
dead cats and Hve donkeys off
her premises, and that the blear-
eyed chfldren who now clamber
afl over her dining-room and
parlor waUs would have been
obhged to wash their faces and
comb their hair before she ad
mitted them within her doors
in the days of old.
The tomb of Lazarus is
equaUy disappointing and per
haps no more authentic. The
narrow entrance shows us a long flight" of stairs which
leads us down into the very bowels of the earth, and, here,
by the aid of a smoky, flaring taper and a vigorous imagina
tion we are supposed to see the place where for four days the
body of Lazarus lay before the Eedeemer's voice put life and
vigor into the decaying Hmbs.
Bethany is decidedly disappointing from every point of
view, and does not invite us to linger long within its wretched

A BEDOUIN WOMAN.

484

A DISCOURAGED PROPHET.

streets. Since we stay here so short a time, we can on this
same day visit Bethlehem, which lies on the other side of
Jerusalem, about an hour and a half by carriage from the
gates of the city.
The road from Jerusalem lies over rocky hflls which are
spotted here and there with Httle patches of sofl, laboriously
enclosed by rocks, where some scanty crops are raised by
the primitive agricultural methods of the day. Half-way

KACHBL S TOMB.

out to Bethlehem, Ave see the place where it is supposed
Elijah lay down under the juniper tree and asked to die. He
must have lain down with considerable force, one would
think, for he has left a hole in the solid rock about the size
of a man's body, which is pointed out as the very spot where
he threw himself doAvn in his unrighteous despair.
A little further on we come to the tomb of Eachel, which
is better authenticated than most historic sites in the vicinity.
It is a place greatly reverenced, especially by the Jews.
Fortunately, the custodian of the tomb Avas there when we

BETHLEHEM OF SONG AND STORY. 485
went by, and Ave enjoyed the privilege Avhich many travelers
do not have, of entering the tomb and seeing the great rook
sepulchre in which it is not altogether improbable that the
beloved Avife of Jacob is still resting.
" And Eachel died," says the sacred narrative, " and was
buried in the way to Ephrath, Avhich is Bethlehem. And
Jacob set a pillar upon her grave; that is the pillar of
Eachel's grave unto this day."
Not many minutes beyond this historic tomb we see a
long, straggling Eastern village, and our pulses beat a little
quicker as we remember that this is none other than Bethle
hem, Bethlehem of prophecy and of history, Bethlehem of
song and story, Bethlehem Ephrata, of which it was said
seven hundred years before our Lord was born, " Though
thou be Httle among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee
shaU He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
The town now contains about flve thousand inhabitants,
most of them Christians, but among them only flfty Protes
tant Christians. Here, the Latins and Greeks and Armeni
ans all possess huge monasteries, and the inhabitants live by
raising cattle, by making images of saints and fancy articles
in oHve wood, mother-of-pearl, and coral. The one supremely
interesting spot in this little town is covered by the Church
of Saint Mary, which is erected over the traditional birth
place of Christ.
Our carriage rattles down through the principal street,
over the horribly rough pavements which sometimes give out
altogether, and are only replaced by holes and hummocks
which threaten to break every spring in the wagon. But
the driver paid no attention to such little obstacles. He
wants to show off to the best advantage, and cracking his
whip and urging on his horses, he flies through the narrow

486

THE PLACE OF THE NATIVITY.

streets, while the inhabitants flatten themselves against the
walls to escape his threatening wheels. Finally, he brings
up with a great flourish in front of the aforesaid Church of
Saint Mary, or, of " The Nativity," as it is usuaUy caUed.
Of course the exact sites which are here pointed out are,
in all probability, spurious. Some of them are manifest
absurdities, and yet, very near to this spot, and quite proba
bly within the space that is
covered by the roof of this
church, the Eedeemer of Man
kind was born. Here we can
afford to give our imagina
tions fuU play and need not
try to curb our reUgious emo
tions. After passing through a
church which is grandly sim-
' pie in its design, we come to
the Chapel of the Nativity
itself. The pavement is of
marble and the walls also are
Hned Avith marble, while under
the altar a silver star marks
the place of Jesus' birth. The
inscription teUs us : " Hie de
Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est."
For centuries and centuries, devout hearts have traveled
hither to worship at the cradle of our Lord, and from the
time of Constantine this spot has been richly decorated,
and golden lamps Avith their undying flame are constantly
swinging over the silver star.
Near by is the Chapel of the Manger, where the marble
cradle of Christ is pointed out to us. It does not meet our

A GIKL OP JUDEA.

GUARDING THE CRADLE OF OUR LORD. 487
ideas, however, of the rough stall from which the horses fed,
and which Protestant Christians always associate with the
birth of the Eedeemer.
While we were looking at these relics, twenty-one Fran
ciscan monks came into the chapel, carrying huge candles
and chanting the praises of the Yirgin Mary. Behind them
followed a priest arrayed in most gorgeous vestments, and
foUowed by two attendants. As the priest approached the
place of the Nativity, he took a golden censer in his hand,
and then from a sflver vase he took some powdered incense
and with a golden spoon sprinkled it on the living coals.
The fragrant smoke curled up to heaven, whfle the monks
chanted, and the priests with rhythmical motion swung the
golden censer, and the thirty-one lamps of gold and sflver
shed their subdued light upon the scene. But even while we
looked we could see the grim flgure of a Turkish soldier sta
tioned beside the marble cradle itself to keep the peace
between the warring Christian factions.
How much of the beauty and harmony of the scene was
dissipated by this soldier's suggestive attitude ! How much
it told of warfare and bitterness Avhere all should be peace
and harmony ! How much it suggested even of jealous and
envious sects who cannot even clasp hands across the cradle
of our Lord !
We were glad before long to leave the Church of the
Nativity, and, as we rode home, Ave founJ more joy and sat
isfaction in the sight of the peaceful plains where the shep
herds watched their flocks by night, where Boaz left the
" handf uls of purpose," and where David kept his flocks, de-
hvering them with the help of God out of the paw of the
Hon and out of the paw of the bear, than in the gaudy
and tinsel-decked church over which quarrelsome Christians
have spent so much blood and treasure.

CHAPTEE XXYI.
WITHIN AND AROUND "THE DOME OF THE ROCK."
The Mosque of Omar — A Rock of Wonderful Traditions — Abraham's
Sacrifice — Our Retinue — Mohammed's Broomstick Ride — The Wily
Jew and the Pilgrim — The Wise Judge — The Marvelous Iron Chain
of Justice — A Wily Jew — Our Slippers and How We Kept Them On
— Our "Humbug" Sheik — The Great Rock — The Stone of Nails —
How the Devil Drew Them Out — An Easy Way of Buying Heaven —
A Rock Which Rests on Nothing — How Gabriel Held It Down — The
Way to Paradise — What the Pilgrim Found in the Well — Hairs from
the Beard of Mohammed — The Stables of Solomon — The Place of
Final Judgment — Startling and Curious Traditions — The Wailing
Place — Real Grief — A Squalid Scene — The Old Pharisee and His
Lovelocks — A Sad Litany — A More Joyful Keynote — A Marvelous
Race.

EEHAPS the mosque of Omar
combines more of authentic his
toric interest than any other one
place in the Avorld. The Church
of the Holy Sepulchre, to be
sure, would be more interesting
to the Christian heart than the
site of the Temple of Solomon, if
we could put full and implicit
trust in the rather shady tra
ditions Avhich give it its fame.
But around the holy rock
over which the mosque of Omar is built few doubts linger.
We know something of the Avonderful temple which once
overshadowed it. We know what the rock itself was used
for, and though in these degenerate days the place has fallen
(488)

THE HOLY ROCK. 489
into impious Moslem hands, it is still of supreme and pathetic
interest to Jcav and Christian, Catholic and Protestant, Ar
menian and Mohammedan alike.
Even unsentimental Baedeker melts a little when he
comes to the Haram, as the Avhole place is called, and saysj
Avith a suspicion of sympathy in his professional guide
book phrase, "We now stand on one of the most profoundly
interesting spots in the world."
In Abraham's day the stone under this great dome was
an altar of sacriflce, and in that most touching of Biblical
stories we read that God said to Abraham, " Take now thy
son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee
into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains which I wfll tell thee of."
This was the mountain, so full since then of pathetic but
blessed memories to Jew and Christian alike, that God told
Abraham of.
This, too, was undoubtedly the threshing floor of
Araunah, the Jebusite, which David bought for flfty shekels
of sflver, and where he built an altar unto the Lord and
offered burnt offerings and peace offerings because of the
plague which was devastating Israel. Here, temple after
temple was erected ; here David collected the vast treasures
for the magnificent house of worship which he was not per
mitted on account of his blood-stained hands to build ; here,
Solomon, the most exalted monarch of his day, built the
grandest temple of the ages ; here Nehemiah and his faithful
compatriots on their return from exfle built a less splendid
house for God's worship ; and here Herod, just before the
birth of Christ, erected a stately ediflce whose stones Avere
being laid and whose beams were springing into their places
even while our Lord walked the streets of Jerusalem. He
must have watched the groAvth of the third temple.

490 AN IMPOSING PROCESSION.
For many centuries, as all know, Jerusalem has been in
the hands of Mohammedans, and the temple precincts have
been their especial treasure. Untfl Avithin a few years the
"infidel dogs," as they politely designate aU Christians,
were not allowed to set foot within the enclosure, but the
waning power of the Sultan coifld not resist the increasing
demands of Christian nations, and since the Crimean war,
travelers have been admitted to the Haram.
Even noAV there are some imposing formalities to be gone
through with before we can visit the sacred mosque. We
applied to our United States Consul for a permit, and for his
kavass, who on the payment of five francs from each mem
ber of the party accompanies us, to see that no harm befalls
us from infuriated Moslems who stfll have to be held in
check when their sacred places are invaded even by the
peaceful tourist. We also Avere obliged to take a soldier to
defend us in case of attack, who expects a fee of three or
four francs, a small boy to carry our slippers which must be
donned before we enter the sacred precincts, whfle in ad
dition to this array of followers, is our guide or dragoman,
who explains the significance of the sacred sights.
It was quite an imposing procession which set off one
bright March morning from the hotel just within the gates
of the city for the mosque of Omar. Leading the way was
the gorgeous kavass, arrayed in aU his Oriental finery, car
rying off his gaudy plumes with the utmost indifference and
dignity. Then came the soldier guard, scarcely less wonder
fully arrayed, whose Winchester rifle, long sword, short
dirk, and brace of bull-dog pistols, were supposed to strike
terror to the heart of every pugnacious Turk who might dis
pute our passage.
Following him was Abdallah, our dragoman. Then
came our modest seh^es, some half-dozen English and Ameri-

MEMORIES OF THE GREAT FALSE PROPHET.

491

cans. Our slipper boy followed after, and, as his only
function was to put on our shoes Avhen we removed the
slippers, and guard the shoes whfle Ave were in the mosque,
he was not obliged to appear in uniform.
Through the narrow, fllthy streets we walked, passing the
Armenian monastery overshadowed by lofty and gloomy
cypresses, past the Turkish guard who unceasingly stands at
the gate of the Haram to prevent any unaccredited infldel
foot from pressing the sacred sofl. At last Ave stood on the

THE MOSQUE OP OMAR.
very rocks made sacred by the feet of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob ; of David and Samuel ; of Judges, Prophets, Apostles,
and Martyrs, and of Jesus Christ, our Saviour, himself.
One soon gets the impression, however, that these pre
cincts, in the minds of present owners, are more sacred to
the memory of Mohammed than of any one else, for at every
step we are reminded of the great false prophet by some
absurd tradition.
For instance, as we enter the grounds a spot enclosed by
marble pfllars is shown us as the very spot from which
Mohammed started on his flying horse to visit Damascus

492 THE CHAIN OF JUDGMENT.
and Mecca, a journey of many hundred miles which occupied
him only five or six minutes. He had evidently anticipated
not only Darius Green and his flying machine, but aU the
aerial inventions and electrical contrivances of the nineteenth
century. If he had only left to his devoted foUowers the
secret of his airy journey, how many would have caUed him
blessed! The Atlantic would now have no terrors for
the timid landsman. The Mediterranean might wax never
so wrathy and yet it would not keep us at home. Even the
landing at Jaffa would have no fear for us, and traveling in
Palestine, which is now so wearisome, would be only a joyous
flitting from sacred spot to sacred spot.
But, alas ! Mohammed did not reveal the secret of his
flying horse, and we must stfll walk about on two feet, be
they never so weary.
Before the east entrance to the mosque of Omar is an
other covered, dome-shaped pavflion surrounded by marble
pfllars, and here we paused long enough for AbdaUah to teU
us the story of the place. With his snapping, black Syrian
eyes, his expressive gestures and mobfle face, he could make
the most untrustworthy and improbable traditions glow with
a living interest. Suspended from the roof of this pavflion,
says Abdallah, there used to be a chain of heavy iron links,
under which all accused persons must stand. If the chain
fell on them they were guflty ; if, however, the chain did not
fall, but remained suspended, they were innocent.
On one occasion there came to this place of judgment a
Mohammedan and a Jcav, the Jew being accused by the
Mohammedan of robbing him of the gold which he had com
mitted to the Jew on his departure for Mecca, whither he
had gone on a pilgrimage, for it is not permitted a pilgrim
to carry Avith him more money than is sufficient to meet the
necessities of life.

ABDALLAH' S STORY. 493
"When I came back from Mecca," said the Mussulman
at the trial, " this dog of a Jew Avould not give me back my
property, but sAvears that he never received it from me."
"Stand under the chain," said the just and inflexible
judge to the Jew, " and if you have your neighbor's money
its heaAry links wfll fall on you and crush you to the dust."
" Most AvflUngly," answered the Jew, " for I assure you I
have not a penny of my neighbor's money." Upon this he
handed the judge a heavy cane that he carried in his hand
and briskly stepped under the avenging chain.
Sure enough, the Jew appeared to be right, the chain
remained strong and firm, not even by a wriggle of one of
its links did it show its desire to crush the accused.
"Ha, ha," said the judge to the Mohammedan, "you
have borne false witness, you must stand under the chain
yourself and it wfll soon show which is the perjured man."
Upon this the Jew received his cane back again and the
Mohammedan stepped under the chain, and still it did not
faU, neither did the links show any motion, or desire to
avenge a Avrong.
" There must be some mistake about this," pondered the
judge, " the chain never made a mistake before. Either one
or the other of these men must be guflty."
Then a sudden Hght gleamed upon the mind of the
sapient dispenser of justice, and, taking the cane once more
out of the hand of the wily Jew, he broke it across his knee
and all the Mohammedan's gold rolled out from its hoUow
interior. Thus the secret stood revealed. The Jew did not have
a penny of the Moslem's money whfle he was under the
chain, for it was all in the judge's hands, and the chain could
not fall upon him, neither could it crush the Mohammedan,
for he was right in his accusation, and thus the wisdom of

494 SLIPPERS FOR INFIDEL FEET.
the great judge was re-established and the reputation of the
chain was preserved.
It was on this spot, too, according to AbdaUah, that
Solomon discovered the true rnother of the babe when he
took his sword and was about to cut the Httle one into two
pieces, and discovered by the heart-rending sobs and prayers
of one woman that the life of the chfld might be spared,
which the true mother of the infant was.
Here at this east door, near which the pavflion of the
chain is situated, we stopped to take off our shoes. A most
misceUaneous assortment of sHppers was brought for those
who had no slippers with them by one of the attendants of
the mosque. These slippers were in aU degrees and stages
of dilapidation. The only kind that we did not find among
the whole lot brought us to choose from, were those that
made any pretention to respectabflity. Great splay-footed
sides of leather, out at the toes and heels, were presented to
us; equally disreputable pieces of carpeting which were
once sHppers, but which now bear scarcely a resemblance to
soles and uppers were laid at our feet ; whfle, in other cases,
pieces of hocking with a string run through the hole at the
top, into which the feet are supposed to be thrust, did duty
as foot coverings, and prevented our infidel feet from defil
ing the sacred sanctuary of the Moslems.
The only thing about these slippers which is universal is
their conspicuous roominess. However, by careful manage
ment, never lifting our feet from the ground, and shuffling in
the most awkward way, we were able to keep them on our
feet and to follow our guide, our kavass, and our soldier, into
the mosque. The crowd of attendants was here increased by
the old sheik of the mosque himself, and by several of his
retainers who followed us about in order that they might
have an excuse for demanding baclisheesh.

COMPLIMENTING THE SHEIK. 495
Our new attendant, the sheik of the mosque, spoke only
Turkish. Our dragoman, Abdallah, is equally at home in
Turkish and English. Turning to us he said, with the ut
most solemnity, " This sheik is a very great man, I assure
you, and he greatly honors us with his presence." This
complimentary explanation he translated into Turkish, and
then turning to us once more said, in English alone, for our
OAvn private delectation, " And he is one great big humbug,
too, and no more use to us than two tafls to a cat."
The sheik evidently qonsidered this another compliment,
but fortunately, did not insist upon its being translated.
The mosque of Omar, or dome of the rock, as its Turkish
name may be translated into English, is an octagonal build
ing, each of whose sides is sixty-six feet in length. The
upper part is covered with porcelain tfles of a subdued blue.
The effect is considered by artists to be remarkably fine.
The lower part of the buflding is covered with marble,
and passages from the Koran, written in interwoven charac
ters, run around the buflding like a frieze.
Within, the buflding is not particularly remarkable, ex
cept for the great rock in the center, and the traditions
which cluster around this rock, which, by hundreds of mfl-
hons of people, is regarded as the central point of the world.
Just how large the claim on your reverence may be
which this rock should have, it is difficult to tell, but, in any
event, it wfll always hold its preeminence as one of the most
sacred spots to Jew and Mohammedan and Christian alike.
Authentic Jewish tradition tells us that on this very rock
Abraham offered sacrifice. Here Isaac lay, bound and ready
for the sacrificial knife which his father held in his hand
when the arresting voice of God Avas heard. Some scholars
say that on this spot the Holy of HoHes of the ancient temple
stood, whfle stfll others declare that the great sacrificial altar
30

496 A SATANIC LEGEND.
stood here, and have discovered on the rock what they be
lieve to be traces of a channel for carrying off the blood.
Many of the traditions which now cluster about this place
are undoubtedly of Mohammedan origin, and are of Httle
interest to Jew or Christian except as curious freaks of the
imagination. But we will follow our old sheik about, as, with impHcit
faith in his OAvn story, he teUs the tale to us. The great
rock which gives its name to the mosque is enclosed by a
screen which was put up in the days of the Crusaders, but
through the holes in the screen we can stick our fingers and
touch the sacred stone itself.
Just outside the screen, on the east side of the mosque, is
a stone in which are some nafl-holes, whfle two or three nafls
seem to be still driven into the stone and there remain
imbedded. Here, our ancient " humbug " of a sheik pauses
impressively and points with his fat f ore-flnger to these nafls,
" Do you see this stone ? " he says, whfle his Arabic is trans
lated into English by Abdallah. " There used to be thirteen
nafls in this stone, and the devfl knows very weU that when
all the nails are drawn out the end of the Avorld wfll come.
Of course, he is anxious for this so that he may escape from
torment himself. One day he came into the mosque Avith
his ugly forked tail and dreadful hoofs and began to pull out
the nafls. He had pulled out ten of them and another was
half out when Gabriel saw what he was about, and stopped
him in the midst of his occupation. You can see that what
I am telling you is true," added the old sheik, " for there
are only two and one-half nails left, and you can see that
the devil pulled out all the rest before he was stopped."
This avaricious old sinner went on to say, "If anyone
puts some backsheesh down on this stone he is sure of going
to heaven." After this solemn assurance, we threw down a

WHERE PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS PRAYED. 497
copper, and turning to the old Moslem, asked him if that
would assure us entrance into Paradise, but the sheflc was
too shrewd to commit himself. " You may possibly squeeze
in," he said, "but if you Avould only give tAvo francs, it
would make it sure." HoAvever, we declined to purchase
bliss at any such price as this.
This whole huge rock is supposed by Mohammedans to
rest on nothing, and when one goes down into a kind of
crypt or ceUar-way underneath the rock, and shows them the
substantial stone pfllars which support it, they claim that
underneath the crypt it is entirely hollow, and prove it by
pounding on the floor, which makes a hoUow rumbling sound
as though there were a cavern beneath our feet.
In this subterranean chamber our dragoman points out
the places where David, Solomon, Abraham, and EHjah Avere
in the habit of praying. Here Mohammed used to pray
also, and, being a taU man, when he rose from his knees he
would surely have bumped his head against the cefling, but
very considerately the stone rose out of his way, and there
is a hoUow over our heads of exactly the shape of Moham
med's turban.
In this rock is also a round hole through which, the
faithful assure us, that Mohammed ascended into heaven.
The stone could not bear to be deprived of his company, and
so it was foUowing after him when Gabriel put his hand on
it and stopped it from going any further. Upon this, the
obedient stone settled back into its place, and blessed the re
straining hand.
Our creduHty is somewhat strained by this legend, but
when we expressed any doubt, our old guide settled the mat
ter once for all by showing us a whitish quartz fragment in
the heart of the rock, which he declared to be the tongue of
the stone with which it blessed the hand of Gabriel.

498 THE WELL OF PAKADISE.
Moreover, he showed us a depression in the stone itself,
upon which Gabriel's hand rested when it prevented the rock
from flying heavenward. What more could be said in view
of such incontrovertible evidence ?
Going outside of the mosque again, we foUowed our
numerous guides to another buflding which is scarcely less
sacred than the dome of the rock. This is the mosque of
El Aksa, a long, rectangular buflding, much inferior to the
octagonal mosque that covers the sacred rock, but yet, hav
ing its own reUcs of supreme interest to the Mohammedan.
Here is the sacred weU of Paradise. As we look dovni
into its cavernous depths, we can see nothing but a great
black hole in the floor. We are assured, however, that this
is none other than the way to Paradise itself, for on one
occasion, a pflgrim who was here drawing water, lost his
bucket, and going doAvn to get it, he saw two angels at the
bottom of the weU, who told him that this was the way to
Paradise, and who at the same time, gave him two leaves
from the Tree of Life. These he stuck behind his ear, and
then came ftp to the surface once more, to prove by these
incontrovertible signs that what he said was true ; and from
that day to this, that precious romancer has been beHeved.
Evidently, it is not always certain that truth Hes at the bot
tom of the weU.
In another part of this same mosque are two pfllars
through, which a tolerably stout man can barely squeeze
himself. The story connected with these pfllars is that any
one who can crowd through between them is sure at last of
crowding into Heaven. Alas for the fat man ! There is no
more chance for him to enter Paradise through this gate
than for a camel to crawl though the eye of a needle.
HoAvever, neither the stout man nor the lean man nor
the middle-sized man could be deterred on any consideration

THE STABLES OF SOLOMON. 499
from trying to crowd his way between the pillars, until at
last, so scandalous became the croAvding and pushing of
those who tried to get into Paradise in this cheap and easy
way, that the Governor of Jerusalem was obliged to flll up
the space with an iron frame which stfll remains between
the pfllars, so that now neither fat nor lean can enter
Heaven by this door.
In this mosque there is a very beautiful carved pulpit,
some ancient copies of the Koran, which are weU worth ex
amining if the custodian can be persuaded to let us have a
glimpse of them, and there are also some hairs from Moham
med's beard, carefuUy preserved in green wooden boxes.
These, I understand, are never visible to infidel eyes, and we
must take it on trust that wrapped up in innumerable
cloths and reposing in a large wooden box, is an actual hair
from the very beard of the marvelous man who so deeply
impressed the world by his fanaticism and strange person
ahty. Underneath the mosque of El Aksa are the so-called
"stables of Solomon," huge subterranean caverns supported
by stone pfllars in which one would think a thousand horses
might easfly find accommodation, but whether one of Solo
mon's gafly caparisoned steeds ever munched his hay and
oats in these caverns is an open question. They were un
doubtedly, however, used by the Crusaders and Templars in
the middle ages, and the rings to which they tied their
horses are stfll found in the stone pfllars.
Now let us go out into the open air once more. It is re
freshing to breath God's sweet zephyrs, and to stand in His
sunlight once more, after the dismal, oppressing shadows of
the Mohammedan mosque. As we look around we flnd
that both of these mosques and the other bufldings of the
Haram stand on a broad plateau, much of which is given up

500 THE PLACE OP THE LAST JUDGMENT.
to coarse grass and coarser weeds, with here and there a
pretty wild flower peeping out of its green bed.
From the top of the wall we can get a magnificent view
of the valley of Jehoshaphat and the Mount of OHves be
yond. The whole hfllside, which slopes doAvn to the deep
ravine and then rises suddenly on the other side, is dotted
with tombs, — Moslem tombs on the side next to the city,
Jewish graves on the further side, for Jews and Moslems
alike agree that here at the resurrection day the nations wifl
assemble to be judged for the deeds done in the body.
To them this is the most solemnly sacred place in the
world, and the suggestion from the waU which surrounds
the temple area is surpassingly awful to their imagination.
Projecting over the waU and buflt in horizontaUy is a pros
trate column. The Mohammedans say that from this column
a thin wire rope, when Gabriel's trumpet blast proclaims the
last judgment, will be stretched to the Mount of OHves.
Christ wfll sit on the wall, they say, and Mohammed on the
opposite mountain as the judges of aU the nations of the earth
who will be gathered in the vaUey beneath. All men must
pass over the valley on this rope. The righteous wfll be
miraculously kept from falling, and wfll fly across the rope
like lightning, while the wicked wfll faU into the abyss
below and there wfll writhe in torment forever.
There are many more traditions, wonderful and startling
and curious, Avhich cluster around this temple area.
Not far from this mosque, which is so crowded vrith
Moslem traditions, is a place which is stiU more interesting
and far more pathetic in my eyes than the one where we
have spent the morning ; as much more pathetic as is real
grief than doubtful traditions and simulated sorrow. I refer
to the wailing place of the Jews. To this sorrowful spot
let us take our Avay through the dirty, crowded streets.

JEWS AT THE WAILING PLACE.

501

It is Friday afternoon that we visit this most doleful place,
and after Avinding in and out through narrow streets and
lanes we flnd our way barred by a high wall composed
in its lower courses of huge blocks of stone. This wall is 56
feet in height and 150 in length and consists of 24 layers of
stone, several of the stones being from 12 to 16 feet in
length. As we come into the narrow courtyard bounded by this

WAILING PLACE OF THE JEWS.

high waU we find it filled with Jews of all ages, and of all
conditions of life. Men, women, and chfldren ; weU-dressed
Jews and ragged Jews ; dirty Jews and clean Jews ; dudish
Jews dressed in the latest Paris style, and old patriarchs in
sheepskin jackets and baggy trousers; fresh young faces
whose beauty is not wholly spofled by the inevitable Eoman
beak which so often makes the Jew look like a bird of prey,
and old weather-beaten Pharisees with love-locks curling
about each ear, and dangling down under their round caps.

502 THE SOLEMN LITANY.
Sitting on the ground were several old rabbis, reading
from well-thumbed books of the law the appropriate pas
sages of lamentation and woe, whfle others responded in
grief -striken accents, " We sit in soUtude and mourn."
But the most pathetic sight to me was that of old
women whose grief could not be restrained and was evi
dently as genuine as it was uncontroUable. Spreading out
their withered hands on the rough stones of the waU, with
tears running down their cheeks, they would passionately
kiss the stones worn smooth by the Hps of countless pflgrims,
and cry out in very bitterness of spirit as they thought
of the glories which had forever departed and the shame
and contumely which had come to their once great nation.
Here is the litany that was chanted, and my readers can
imagine the weird and sorrowful scene as the leader, with
the great book of the law opened before him, wafls out his
agony, and the people, many of them Avith tears streaming
down their faces, utter the responses. Here is this strange
responsive service which every week for many generations
has been heard by the stern gray walls that overlook the
scene and seem forever to bar the progress and happiness of
the Jewish nation.
Leader. "For the palace that lies desolate,"
Bespome. " We sit in solitude and mourn."
Leader. " For the palace that is destroyed,"
Bespome. " We sit in solitude and mourn."
Leader. " For the walls that are overthrown,"
BespoTise. " We sit in solitude and mourn."
Leader. " For our great men who lie dead,"
Besponse. " We sit in solitude and mourn."
Leader. " For the priests who have stumbled,"
Response. " We sit in solitude and mourn."
Leader. " Por our kings who have despised him,"
ponse. " IIV sit in solitude and mourn."

A MORE JOYOUS STRAIN. 503
At this point the service rises from this minor key for a
moment. The tears of the wailing multitude are dried for a
httle Avhfle. They cease to beat the wall with their with
ered hands, as, for a moment, the joy of the coming kingdom
in which they stiU hope Israel may have a share, breaks
upon their vision; and, Avhfle their leader reads: "We pray
thee have mercy on Zion," the response comes back,
"Gather the chfldren of Jerusalem."
Leader. "Haste, haste. Redeemer of Zion."
Response. " Speak to the heart of Jerusalem."
Leader. " May beauty and majesty surround Zion."
Besponse. "Ah, turn thyself, merciful to Jerusalem."
Leader. "May the kingdom soon return to Zion."
Besponse. " Comfort those who mourn mer Jerusalem."
Leader. " May peace and joy abide with Zion."
" And the branch of Jesse spring up at Jerusalem."

As one Hstens to this sad wafl, even though relieved at
times by a more joyous strain, he cannot help beHeving that
the Jews are not cast off forever, that a people of so much
moral earnestness and intensity have a great future as weU
as a great history behind them, and that a nation that has
resisted the encroachments of every enemy that could be
marshaled against them and still retain in their integrity so
many of their national characteristics, have a strength and
tenacity of purpose which wfll be used by ProAddence in
working out in the future His great design.
Mean and squaHd as is the wailing place of the Jews, one
returns from a visit there not only impressed and saddened
by the concentrated grief of a great people, but also im
pressed Avith the possibilities of such a people when regen
erated and redeemed by the Saviour whom now they reject,
Avhen they shall take their place among the united, progress
ive Christian nations of the world.

CHAPTEE XXYII.

IN THE HOME OF SAINT PAUL — THE FAMOUS CEDARS OF
LEBANON — OUR EXPERIENCES IN THE LAND OF THE
SULTAN— AT THE MERCY OF INHOSPITABLE TURKS.
Embarking at Jafla — Americans in Syria — Their Splendid College — An
Interesting Room — The Beginning of Our Tribulations — A Turkish
Custom House — Forbidden Words — The Sapient Censor — A School
Boy's Composition and What Came of it — The Use of Ironclads
— An lU-Starred Rebellion —" No Mean City" — St. Paul's WeU —
Drawing Water from It — St. Paul's Tree — St. Paul's Institute —
Humble Streets — A Walk to the Vali's Palace — "Palace" or
"Sheds"? — In the Presence of His Excellency — "The Bouyou-
rouldou" — Official Handwriting — A Sunday in Adana — A Living
Screen — A Congregation of Fezzes — Squatting on the Floor — "Is
America on a Hill ? " — Preparing for our Overland Journey.
kUE way from the Holy City to the
land of the Sultan proper, led back
once more to Jaffa, where we
found the sea smfling and calm as
though it had never thought of
frightening poor pflgrims, or in
gulfing their frafl boats as it so
often seems to do. Our embarka
tion was as quiet and peaceful as
the landing was stormy, and the
next morning after leaving Jaffa,
we found ourselves anchored in
the roadstead of Beirut, the most enterprising and populous
seacoast city of Syria.
While Beirut has many points of interest to the passing
traveler, that which impressed us most strongly was the work
(504)

TRANSLATING THE BIBLE INTO ARABIC. 505
of the American Presbyterian Mission with its great printing
presses, its churches, its school, and above aU the magnificent
American coUege Avhich is the outgroAvth of missionary work
and influence, and which now boasts of bufldings and equip
ment and faculty of Avhich neither Yale nor Harvard nor
Dartmouth nor' Princeton need be ashamed.
The Hospital of the Knights of St. John is here under the
care of the medical faculty of the coUege, and is a most use
ful and worthy institution. This fine university only goes
to show that modern ideas of American Christian education
are just as good for the Orient as for the Occident, that the
same training and Christian nurture which develops weU-
rounded, symmetrical character in the American youth
accomplishes the same for the young men of Syria ; for
never have I seen a more manly or interesting body of stu
dents than assembled in the American CoUege of Beirut.
One of the most uiteresting historical sights to every Ameri
can Christian is that of a low and bare attic-room in one of
the mission bufldings where the translation of the Bible into
Arabic was begun and completed by two American scholars.
A marble tablet on the waU bears this inscription :
In this Boom,
The Translation of the Bible
Into the Arabic Language
Was Begun in 1848,
by Bev. Eli Smith, D.D.,
and prosecuted by him until his death in January, 1857.
It was then taken up in October, 1857, by Bev. C. V. A. Vandyck, D.D., and
com/pleted by him AuguM 23, I864.
Away to the north, over a rough and difficult road, are
the famous Cedars of Lebanon.
They are in a vaUey which is dominated by the high
peaks of the range, and stand on a little hill or knoll, so that
they are visible from a considerable distance.

506 THE FAMOUS CEDARS OF LEBANON.
Though there are other cedar groves in Syria, the one
here mentioned is the most important, for the reason that it
is supposed to have furnished the timber for Solomon's Tem
ple, as recorded in the Old Testament.
There is a great deal of romantic interest attached to these
trees. One has heard of them from chfldhood, and has pic
tured to one's self trees of more than ordinary beauty, and
of an exceptional fragrance. These ideas probably arise
from knowing that Solomon considered no other wood
worthy of being used in the adornment of the Temple, and
that Tiglath-Pfleser, having conquered Carchemish, came
hither for the express purpose of carrying away a goodly
number of these forest treasures to beautify his palaces.
It is probable, that at a very distant date the slopes of
Lebanon were clothed with forest ; but from time to time so
many trees have been cut down by the Syrians themselves,
as well as by their conquerors, that at the present day they
exist only in smaU isolated groves. The most extensive of
these, known to us as " The Cedars of Lebanon," is called by
the Syrians " The Grove of the Lord," and in it there are
three hundred and ninety-three trees ; of these, only twelve
are of any great size, and they have received the name of
" The Twelve Apostles," from a tradition that Christ once
visited this spot with His apostles, who planted their staves,
which grew into these goodly cedars. '
Kind friends made our two days in Beirut memorable,
and crowded them with pleasant memories. Then we again
took ship, and, after skirting the Mediterranean coast, touch
ing for a few hours at Tripoli, Latakia, and Alexandretta, we
came to anchor in the harbor of Mersin, and found ourselves,
beyond all peradventure, in the land of the Sultan of Sultans,
and within the very borders of the unspeakable Turk.
To be sure, Syria is nominally ruled by the Sultan and

B. —-¦ -

AT THE MERCY OF OFFICIOUS TURKS.

509

pays tribute to Turkey, and though this rule is severe enough
in all conscience, and his oppression and tyranny sufficiently
gaUing, yet no one knows the full extent to Avhich outrageous
tyranny can be carried, untfl he actually sets foot in Asia
Minor, and flnds himself in the Turk's own proper domain.
Our tribulations began
with the Custom House.
Though we had three or
four kind friends who ex
erted themselves to their
utmost to see us safely
through, their offices did
not altogether avafl. Our
trunks were rummaged,
our traveling bags were
turned inside out, and
everything in the nature
of a book, even innocent
Badaeker and Murray, was
confiscated by this pater
nal government which is
so careful in regard to the
reading matter of its sub
jects. And here, as flrst [
we land upon the inhos
pitable shores of Turkey,
may, perhaps, be as good
a time as any to tell my readers something of the tyranny
which is only typified by the Sultan's custom house.
It can be weU imagined that the work of the Christian
missionary comes in for the especial and particularly un
favorable notice of the Turkish government. An old treaty
with the Christian powers prevents the Ottomans from

DRUSE PROM MOUNT LEBANON.

510 OBSTACLES THROWN IN OUR WAY.
crushing out Christianity entirely from their land, as they
would be glad to do. This treaty guarantees liberty to
worship God as the people choose, but in every way in which
it can be made a dead letter it is annuUed. Churches which
are already established cannot be very weU destroyed, but if
a congregation wishes to build a new church or schoolhouse,
or to put up any mission building of any kind, the most
needless and exasperating obstacles are thrown in the way.
One of the laws requires that permission shaU be granted by
the government authorities for any such new buflding, and
some of our missionaries have been waiting for years and
years for the permission, which they can never get, to erect
their church or schoolhouse, even though the money is
raised and the material on hand for the structure.
The chief object in my journey across Asia Minor, as my
readers know, was to speak in various large centers where I
had been invited in behalf of the Society of Christian En
deavor, and to visit societies already estabHshed. But I
found at once that obstacles and restrictions in the way of
Christian work had so multiplied of late that it would be
very difficult to do what I had intended. I was told that I
must not use in public address the words "organization,"
"society," "fellowship," "brotherhood," or anything which
told of the union of young people for reUgious or other
purposes; that it was against the poUcy of the Turkish
government to allow the people to unite or combine for any
purpose whatsoever in any society or organization, and that
everything was being done that was possible to break up
aU religious organizations.
In every audience Avhich I addressed, and I had the
pleasure of speaking to many during my four weeks in
Turkey, I was told that a Turkish spy was in the congrega
tion, and that any ill-considered word might land myself and

TURKISH STUPIDITY AND IGNORANCE. 511
half my audience in a Turkish jail. Everything in the way
of printed matter Avhich comes into Turkey has to pass under
the close scrutiny of a stupid and ignorant censor of the
press. So absurd are his objections, and so rigid is his
inspection, that very little literature of any kind is allowed
in these days.
As illustrations of the stupidity which reigns in the
censor's office many amusing stories are told. For instance,
a Sunday-school lesson, which bore the Scriptural title
"Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners," was
amended by the censor so as to read, " Jesus Christ came
into the world to save Christian sinners," since he wanted it
plainly understood that the Eedeemer had nothing to do
with Turkish sinners. A dafly Bible reading, which was
headed " Trouble in the Palace," referring to the palace
which is spoken of in the Book of Esther, was forbidden
because trouble and a palace (the Sultan's palace, of course)
could not be spoken of in the same breath. Another Bible
reading which bore the inoffensive title, "The People En
couraged," was Hkewise absolutely forbidden, with the sug
gestive comment that the government did not wish the people
to be encouraged.
Doubtless the truth was spoken in this comment if in no
other, but this extreme rigor of the censor appHes not only
to reUgious books, but to school text-books as well, and here
even more absurd and amusing stories of the censor's stupid
caution are told. A book on chemistry, which of course
contained the famfliar formula, "HjO," was forbidden,
because it was supposed to have some occult reference to the
reigning sovereign, who is Hamid 2d, and it was interpreted
to mean "Hamid 2d is nothing." A geographical text-book
was forbidden because it referred to the junction or union of
rivers, and the author was told that his Majesty desired the

612 A DISCREET ARMENIAN.
youth of his country to know nothing about union or com
bination. A chapter on star fishes was stricken out of a
text-book of natural history, because some hidden reference
to the Sultan's " Star palace " was suspected.
But these emendations and objections of the censor might
easfly be dismissed with a laugh, as the vagaries of an
ignorant man having in his hands for a brief time the reins
of office, did they not show a studied and deUberate effort on
the part of the officials to prevent aU learning and advance
ment along the line of Christian civflization. The poHcy of
the government is evidently oppressive and reactionary, and
it means to do everything that it can to crush out the sparks
of Christian education.
When it comes to absolute torture, imprisonment, and
death, this oppression is no longer a laughing matter, and to
this point it has come to hundreds of the subjects of the
Sultan. An inteUigent and weU-educated native Armenian
Protestant pastor whom I visited had recently received a
letter from Prof. Henry Drummond of Glasgow, in which
the writer spoke of his desire to visit " Armenia^ The poor
man who received the letter did not dare to keep it in his
house with that compromising word on the title page, so he
had carefully cut out the word " Armenia," and Avritten over
the place where it had formerly appeared the word " Turkey."
Even the possession of that letter with that compromising
word might have meant for him years of imprisonment in a
Turkish dungeon.
Another man of whom I know was imprisoned for two
years simply because the Turkish police found among his
effects, when they Avere searching his house on one occasion,
a school-boy composition which spoke of freedom and liberty,
and expressed some natural sentiments for a larger and more
untrammeled life than he was then leading. This composi-

A COAVARDLY TYRANT. 513
tion, written fifteen years before his arrest, had been thrown
one side and entirely forgotten until it was resurrected by
the prying Turkish officials. But it Avas enough to compro
mise its author, and for two years he languished in a Turkish
jafl in consequence of that innocent boyish effusion. These
are only a few incidents from many that might be cited to
fllustrate the outrageous tyranny of the weak and timid ruler
Avho reigns on the banks of the Bosphorus. They are
enough, however, to show the terror under which many of
"the sick man's" subjects live, and they are enough to
arouse the indignation of every freedom-loving American
and EngHshman on the face of the earth.
Only by a combined protest of the Christian poAvers of
the world, backed up by the necessary ironclads, can this un
happy state of things be changed ; but such a protest Avould
be effective, and very quickly would the cringing tyrant, in
whose name these outrages are perpetrated, issue different
orders from those which now go forth from his palace, if he
saw that the Christian powers " meant business." The pre
text for these especially oppressive measures which have
disgraced the government during the past year, is found in
the so-caUed Armenian rebellion, an ill-timed, fruitless, and
abortive uprising which was fomented largely by a society
of Armenians whose motives were anything but patriotic.
They represented, however, only a very small proportion
of their countrymen, and the chief result of their fll-starred
rebeUion has been to make their fellow countrymen feel
more severely than ever before the crushing heel of the
tyrant of Constantinople.
But we have not yet got beyond the custom house at
Mersin, so long have we been in unburdening our souls of the
righteous indignation that has taken possession of them.
Mersin is an uninteresting seacoast town, where some flne

514 IN THE HOME OF SAINT PAUL.
missionary work is being accomplished by the Eeformed
Presbyterian Church of America among the Arabic-speaking
Syrians. As soon as we could collect the belongings which
the government allowed us to keep, we boarded the train on
the little railway which runs between Mersin and Adana.
What is the name of this place which we hear the brakeman
calling out Avith stentorian lungs ? " Tarsus, Tarsus." Can
it be that this is the famous city of Bible history, the birth
place of the greatest man Avho ever lived, the Apostle to the
Gentiles? It certainly is no other. This was the city of
the great tent-maker, who here Avrought with his OAvn hands,
and who, Avith a touch of pardonable pride in after years,
spoke of Tarsus, his birthplace, as " no mean city."
The flrst thought that is apt to occur to the traveler in
modern days is that whatever Tarsus may have been in the
days of Saint Paul it is certainly a very mean city in some
of its aspects to-day. Its streets are many of them narroAv
and exceedingly fllthy. Fcav of its houses present any
claim to architectural exceUence. The roads leading to it
are Avashed and almost impassable in many places, and yet
in all these particulars it is not only no worse, but probably
far better than the average Turkish city. Comparatively
speaking, it can still be said that Tarsus is no mean city.
Everything of chief interest in this ancient place clusters
about the name of the great apostle. To be sm'e, the re
puted tomb of Sardanapalus is here, but it attracts only a
momentary and languid interest compared with anything
that relates to Saint Paul. These relics are few and meagre
enough, and probably, in the whole collection, there is noth
ing that is absolutely and beyond question authentic.
Here, however, is the so-called house of Saint Paul,
Avhich of course avo visited. In the ample courtyard there is
an ancient well Avhich goes by the name of "Saint Paul's

THE HOUSE AND WELL OP SAINT PAUL. 515
Well," whose curbstone is worn deep in many places by the
ropes which for countless generations have drawn the water
from its liquid depths. We also drew a bucket of water
and quenched our thirst and looked down into the sflent
depths which reflected the eye of the sun as it doubtless
did when the boy Saul peered down into its depths, for these
ancient wells are among the most authentic as they are the
most indestructible evidences of antiquity.
The house of Saint Paul, which occupies one side of this
courtyard, is no doubt a comparatively modern structure, but
it is quite possible that it stands upon the site of Saint Paul's
OAvn domicfle. It was formerly the residence of the Ameri
can Yioe-Consul at Tarsus, and we were very hospitably
welcomed by his widow into their sitting-room, a comfort
able apartment surrounded on three sides by broad Turkish
divans, but containing no very noticeable features or me
mentoes. In another part of the city is a fine Armenian church
and school, near which stands a gnarled and rugged tree
which tradition for many generations has called "Saint
Paul's tree." For many years it has been withered and
utterly dead, and it is not altogether impossible that it may
have been growing eighteen hundred years ago, and that
the boy Saul played under its shady branches. At any rate,
its wood seems to be almost indestructible, for when, with
the permission of the authorities which oAvned it, I tried to
cut a sliver from its trunk as a memento, it almost turned
the blade of my penknife, so compact was the iron fibre of
the wood.
But of aU the institutions connected with the name of
Saint Paul the one most interesting to me was Saint Paul's
School, which was founded by the late Col. Elliott F. Shep
herd. On the very day of our arrival in Tarsus news of his

516 DIRT AND FILTH EVERYWHERE.
lamented death had been cabled across the sea, and teachers
and scholars alike were in profound sorrow in consequence.
However, their sorroAV was mitigated when it was learned
after a little that he had endowed the school with $100,000
by his last will and testament. A flne, manly, courageous
set of boys were these who were gathered together to the
number of nearly one hundred in this historic city, and
according to their ability and opportunity, many wfll go out
from this school in the future with the spirit of Saint Paul
to do for their land what he did for all the Avorld.
From Tarsus to Adana is twenty mfles further by rafl, and
in this latter city we spent two or three memorable days, for
they introduced us largely to missionary work in Turkey,
and acquainted us with several brave hearts who are here
quietly and unostentatiously working for the Master. Here,
too, we got our flrst extended view of genuine Turkish life.
Here Turkey is neither at its worst nor at its best. Pro
testant influence has leavened and elevated the tone of the
city to some extent, but the many minarets from which five
times a day at the hour of prayer the muezzin sounds his
caU shows that the predominating influence is stifl most
strongly Mohammedan. The horrible streets full of pitfaUs
and miry clay, the filthy alleys which serve as receptacles
for rubbish and swfll, garbage and dead animals of various
kinds, shoAV that insufferable dirt is one concomitant of
Turkish rule.
One of our errands whfle in Adana took us to the Yali or
governor of the province, for Ave desired of him passports
and a safe conduct across the country to Constantinople.
Let us take this walk and visit the YaU together this morn
ing. As we turn out of the mission house, where Ave are
making our home, we see at a glance that Ave are in the
very heart of Turkey. Every person Avhom we meet, even

THE UBIQUITOUS TURKISH FEZ.

517

the occasional foreigner, if he is of the male persuasion,
wears the ineAdtable red Turkish fez, and most of them are
clad in baggy trousers and long loose garments which reach
below the knee. In one of the narrow streets though which

OUR TURKISH PASSPORT.

we pass we see the weaver of goat's hair plying his trade
almost on the sidewalk.
This was the very same material, doubtless, of which
Paul made his tents, and perhaps he wove the cloth in the
same way as this man who runs back and forth from one
end to the other of his long loom, deftly twirling his bobbin

518 IN THE STREETS OF A TURKISH CITY.
and twisting the strands of goat's hair which afterwards Avill
be made up into a rough and serviceable cloth.
On the other side of the street from the goat's hair man
ufacturer is a mfll in which sesame ofl is being expressed.
The sesame seed is run into a great hopper after being
soaked for a sufficient time in the vats, and is then ground
very fine beneath the revolving stones which are turned by
a tread-mfll ox, whfle the ofl, thick and dirty, runs out into
the vats beneath from a crevice in the mfll-stone. This ofl is
very much prized by the natives, and is used largely in mak
ing a popular kind of sweetmeat, which one cannot fafl to
appreciate if he spends many days in Turkey, so toothsome
and nourishing is it.
And now in our walk, we come to the market-place of
the town, a long covered street lined with Httle booths on
either side, in which everything imaginable and many things
unimaginable are sold. Hardware and crockery, dry goods
and groceries, fish, flesh, and fowl, and good red herrings,
too, for aught I know, are all sold in this busy bazaar. Here
are money changers and shoemakers, fez manufacturers and
kettle makers, all jostUng one another side by side in their
narrow booths. It is a scene of infinite Hfe and variety, and
would long delay our footsteps, if we were not hurrying on
to see his Excellency, the YaH of Adana, to learn whether or
not we may be allowed to make the journey on Avhich we
have set our hearts.
Not far beyond the market place is the so-called " palace,"
but a sorry looking palace it is, indeed, for it strikes us that
it might more properly be called the " sheds," since it consists
of a long row of poor wooden structures around a large
quadrangle. However, it is more picturesque and impress
ive to speak of the Yali's " palace " rather than the Yali's
" sheds," so Ave Avill stick to the Turkish nomenclature.

OUR INTERA^EW WITH THE VALI. 519
Passing many Turkish guards and a large number of im
portant looking officials, who push aside for us numerous
stiff hangings of heavy quilted stuffs which take the place of
doors, we flnd ourselves soon in a large shabby room hung
with faded red tapestry, and in the presence of the Yali him
self. He is a grave looking man of flfty years, or therea
bouts, with a good face which indicates that he is wflling to
do what he can for our comfort and convenience. First, he
poHtely passed us a cigarette, Avhich Ave as politely declined,
and then, apologizing for not giving us coffee and other
refreshments because it was Eamidan, he talked very pleas
antly for a Httle whfle of various matters, whfle our mission
ary guide interpreted his Turkish into our English. Then
insisting that we should not go to Constantinople by way of
Marsovan, which just then was the center of the Armenian
disturbance, but that we should go by Avay of Angora which
was more peaceful, he very readily gave us the necessary
passports or tezkereis, and also a safe conduct, or " bouyou-
rouldou." This document was written in huge Turkish
characters, not straight across the page, but in a slanting,
irregular, reckless kind of a fashion in which all official
Turkish documents are written, for it is not at all aufait to
write such papers in ordinary epistolary style.
Such bold and vigorous penmanship is supposed to strike
terror to the hearts of all evfl doers who may be confronted
by it. It shows them that it is an official document, and, as
we proved more than once during the long journey before
us, there is nothing Hke a governor's bouyourouldou to insure
a safe and happy transit across the flelds of Turkey.
One of the two days which we spent in Adana was Sun
day, and I had the pleasure of preaching to a very large and
inteUigent congregation gathered in the American Mission
Church. The church itself is not an extremely large one.

520

PREACHING TO A TURKISH CONGREGATION.

but as seats are done away with, and as the congregation
squats on the floor as closely as men, women, and chfldren
can be wedged together, many hundreds of people can be
gathered into a comparatively small area. Of course it is not
proper for men and women to sit together promiscuously in
the same part of the church. In many churches women are

A SYRIAN WOMAN OF THE LOWER CLASS.
relegated to the gallery, or are confined behind the lattice
screen in the back part of the church through which they
can peep at the preacher, but through Avhich they cannot be
seen by preacher or congregation.
In Adana, hoAvever, the middle AvaU or partition between
the men and Avomen Avas made in a different wa}\ The
long roAV of benches ran through the center of the church

AN AUDIENCE OF SQUATTERS.

521

from the pulpit to the door. On these benches sat a close
line of men Avith their backs ungaUantly turned toward the
Avomen, who occupied the space on the right hand side of the
church, screened from the other men by the backs of the
husbands and fathers Avho thus afford an effectual barrier
betAveen the two sexes.
These high seats in the sanctuary are much coveted, I
understand, by the older
and more dignified men of
the congregation, and no
one is averse to doing duty
as a HAong screen. All the
men wore red fezzes while
the chief speaker was dis
tinguished by a jaunty em
broidered blue cap which
looked something like a
smoking cap. This he re
moved during the services
at which he officiated.
When I thought that every
possible inch of squatting
room was occupied on the ^ s^j^ ^oman of the better class.
women's side of the parti
tion, woman after woman would come in, stand on one foot
for some little time in the smallest possible space, until her
sisters before and behind and on either side pulled away their
skirts, drew their knees a little closer together, and so made
room for the late comer.
At last the church was absolutely full, the service began,
and a very helpful, reverent, and stimulating service it was
so far as I could judge ; though I could not understand the
hymns or the Scripture readings or the notices, and the ser-

522

THE COLLECTION BOX IN TURKEY.

raon, which I fear was the poorest part of the service, was
laboriously translated from EngHsh into Turkish. I did
understand the collection box, however, which is the same in
all languages. It is very certain that such a congregation as this repre
sents the very best elements in a Turkish toAvn. Not that

our life preserves.
(Facsimile of our "Bouyourouldou.")

the Armenians themselves are superior to the Turks as a
race, in fact, it would be strange, if, after these centuries of
oppression and tyranny their national characteristics should
be very manly or strong. Those Avho live in Turkey say
that the Turk, when found free from government influence
and not under government employ, is the most honest,
manly, and straightforward man in the empire. He makes

REMARKABLE IGNORANCE AND AMUSING QUESTIONS. 523
a. faithful servant and a true friend, but he belongs to the
present order of things. He is part of the machine which is
used to crush the life out of this poor land and the manliness
out of the subject races who inhabit it. The only hope
which I see for Turkey is found in these mission churches
and mission schools which are always connected with them.
When the upheaval comes, as surely it Avill come one of these
days, the educated Armenian Protestants will hold the key
of the situation in their hands. Then wfll be seen the value
of missionary influence and missionary work during these
long decades, and that which has been sown in tears will be
reaped in joy, and many a faithful missionary will sing the
" Harvest Home," bearing himself the largest sheaf Avhich
it is possible for mortal to reap.
The ignorance of the average Turk concerning places and
people beyond him is most extraordinary and amusing.
Many of them have very Httle idea that Turkey does not rule
all the rest of the world, including America, and many of
the Turks have only just begun to wonder if it is possible
that aU the people of the world are not Mohammedans. One
of these conceited and ignorant natives said to a friend of
mine a little whfle ago : " You are constantly talking
about America. Now is this America on a hfll or is it situ
ated in a vaUey?" Another, when walking outside of a
Turkish city, in a most flat, uninteresting suburb, which was
chiefly noticeable for its rubbish and its dead cats, where my
friend assured me he had to hold his nose in order to escape
the stifling stench. Was asked by a native friend by his side :
" Did you ever see anything as beautiful as this in America?"
It is difficult, indeed, to enlighten such dense ignorance.
Two days in Adana sufficed to make all our preparations
for the coming journey. In fact, the friend who had come
from the interior to meet us with his faithful Turkish servant.

524 PREPARING FOR OUR JOURNEY ACROSS TURKEY.
had already made most of these preparations before we had
come. The spring wagon, the pride of the touring mission
ary, had come aU the long journey across the mountains to
carry us back Avithin its capacious interior. Our passports
and our safe conduct were aU correctly vised. Our Turkish
guard, the soldier who was to protect us from aU the robbers
and dangers in the way, armed cap-a-pie, was to meet us at
Tarsus next day, whence we should set out for our long over
land trip, fraught as it was with unknown dangers and
difficulties.

CHAPTEE XXYIII.
A REMARKABLE JOURNEY ACROSS ASIA MINOR IN A SPRING
WAGON — THRILLING EXPERIENCES BY THE WAY— A
DANGEROUS RIDE.
An Imposing Cavalcade — Foolish "Franks" — An Arsenal of Archaic
AA'eapons — Ali, the Turk — -Anastas, the Errand Boy — "Meat" —
Entrancing Scenery — Snow-capped Lebanon — Eloquent Ruins — Our
Fellow Travelers — -Caravans of Camels — The Patient Donkey^
Pleasant Salutations — "May the Almighty Cling to your Hand" —
The Motto of the Spoons — The Story of the Dervish — The Holy Ass
— A Chip of the Old Block — Keeping OS the "Evil Eye" — "You
Dirty Brat" — A Fond Mother's Salutation — The Mother-in-Law in
Turkey — A Typical Turkish Khan — Sharing a Bed with the Camels
— Through the Cilician Gates — The "Bad Five Miles" — How We
Held the Wagon Crossing the Taurus Mountains — In the Guest Room
of Selim.

T was a bright spring morning
when Ave set out from Tarsus for
the long journey across the Tau
rus mountains and over the
plains of Asa Minor for the
beautiful city on the Golden
Horn. We formed quite an im
posing cavalcade for these roads
unaccustomed to wheeled ve
hicles. The camel drivers stared
at our wagon, the donkey boys
pricked up their ears as they saAv
us approaching, and gazed at us until we had disappeared in
the dim distance, wondering, Ave suppose, why those
" Franks " should be so foolish as to start across the country
in wagons when they could so much more easily go by sea.
(525)

526 A NATIVE TRAVELING OUTFIT.
In front of us pranced our Turkish soldier, or Zabtiyeh,
who had made himself a perfect arsenal of obsolete weapons.
Then came the two-horse wagon into which was packed not
only our three selves and our missionary guide and driver,
but four cot beds with appropriate bedding, pfllows, blank
ets, and coverlets for the cool nights, and a huge basketful
of provisions which our kind host had packed for us Avith
the utmost care, and which was supposed to be enough,
when supplemented by occasional draughts on native stores
by the way, to last us to Caesarea, six days distant.
FoUowing this wagon came a disreputable-looking spring-
less cart drawn by two specimens of Turkish horse flesh,
and carrying two trunks and various provisions in the way
of bedding and provender for men and beasts. The driver
and owner of this cart was a native who wished to get to
Caesarea and who was glad to earn a few chereks on the
way. With him was our faithful servant Ali, a character in his
way, shrewd, kindly, competent, and faithful to the last de
gree, a man who, I verfly believe, would lay doAvn his Hfe
for his master or for any one in the party if danger came in
the way. Nominal Turk though he was, his aUegiance to
the false prophet evidently sat very Hghtly upon him, for he
always appeared at prayers morning and night, and seemed
to be among the most devout worshipers at the Protestant
church services on the way. To avow himself a convert to
Christianity would doubtless have compeUed him either to
forfeit his life or his country. His courage as yet was not
quite equal to this supreme test, though I have no doubt that
in heart he Avas a sincere Christian.
Together with Ali and the driver AA^as an assistant, a sort
of general errand-boy, flre-builder, wood-carrier, and water-
drawer, named Anastas. He had run aAvay from home

"MEAT, MEAT." 537
some Aveeks previously, but was noAv heartily sick of his fool
ish adventure and Avas quite Avilling to work his passage
back to Caesarea once more. The little pilgrim seemed to
have a wonderful attraction for him. Anastas could
scarcely keep his eyes or his hands off him. He would fol
low him about aU day like a big, good-natured shepherd dog.
He would run races Avith him and chase hamsters and en
gage in stone-flinging matches, and every noAV and then he
would come up to him and taking his hand would say very
impressively, "Meat, meat." For a long time we could not
understand the signiflcance of this Avord, untfl it was at last
explained to us that he thought this Avas the little pflgrim's
name, as he had heard some one asking him to pass the meat
at the dinner table. Jumping at this conclusion from such
uncertain premises he Avas not able to get the idea out of his
head during aU the long journey, but in every way possible
showed his interest and affection in his little friend " Meat."
For a short distance from Tarsus we were escorted by
two of the faithful teachers of Saint Paul's institute to
which I have before alluded. Then they turned their horses,
bade us adieu, and gaUoped back to Tarsus, leaving us alone
Avith the long three-weeks journey before us. For a little
Avay out of Tarsus the road is tolerably good as Turkish
roads go, and in some places it is possible for horses which
are fresh and ready for the journey to trot for a little way.
But soon the hflls begin and the roads become unutterably
rough and rugged. The air, however, is clear and bracing,
our spirits are good, and the view becomes at every step
more entrancing. As we look back Ave see the fertfle plain
of Adana stretched before us, and beyond the snow-capped
mountains of Lebanon, whfle before us, rising peak on peak,
are the magnificent heights of the Taurus. There are few
more magnificent mountain ranges in the world and few are

528 A COUNTRY OF WONDERFUL INTEREST.
less frequently visited in these days than this mighty range
which forms the backbone of Asia Minor.
In ancient times, to be sure, it was different. The com
merce of a good part of the world poured through these
rocky defiles, and the Cilician Gate through which Ave shall
soon pass, was the highway for innumerable caravans of
costly goods, for armies, and for traA^elers of aU degrees and
conditions in life.
Across these mountains traveled the Apostle Paul more
than once. This same way came Cicero and other Eoman
statesmen scarcely less distinguished, whfle the armies of
emperors frequently deflled through these narrow gorges.
We are not only in a country of surpassing natural beauty
but one of Avonderful historic interest. These craggy peaks
and hflltops, if they could speak, would a tale unfold of wars
and rumors of Avars, of civflization advancing and retrograd
ing, of nations waxing and waning, of armies marching and
countermarching, which could not be told by any other
mountain peaks- in the world. In these sflent fields and be
neath these occasional ruins are, doubtless, buried historical
treasures of the rarest and most unique interest. But the
oppressive government regulations make it impossible for
any archaeologist to dig for hidden treasure, and, Avhfle the
present regime lasts, the Avorld will be none the wiser con
cerning these relics of the past.
The feUow travelers Avhom we meet or pass on the road
are all of one description ; no hacks or four-in-hand turn
outs do we see, no taUj'-ho coaches or gigs or buggies, no
bicycles or tricycles, no phaetons or landaus, not even a
baby carriage or anything else on wheels, do we meet, but
long processions of knock-kneed, ragged camels, carrying,
strapped to their patient backs, and dangling on either side,
a heavy load of some five or six hundred pounds in weight.

CARAA'ANS OF KNOCK-KNEED CAMELS.

529

Avhich, for many weary days, they must bear as they go
swaying and stumbling across the country from sea to sea.
These camels are very rarely met Avith singly, but usu
ally in caravans of from ten to one hundred, loosely tied
together by a string or small rope which can easfly be
broken, so that in case one of the camels wanders out of the

m

A SHIP OF THE DESERT.
line or falls over a precipice, the whole caravan may not go
with him.
UsuaUy preceding the camels and leading the whole train
by a chain attached to his bridle, is an absurdly diminutiv^e
donkey on whose back is often perched a very large Turk,
whose huge feet (they all seem to Avear number eighteen in '
this country) sway back and forth and dig viciously into the
sides of the Httle beast with every step he takes.
One is never tired of these strange processions of men and
33

530 TURKISH GREETINGS.
variously assorted beasts. It always seems to us as if the
huge camel would be ashamed of the long-eared little guide
which leads the way, and as though the look of supercflious
scorn which he always wears, was assumed to show his in
difference to the indignities that are heaped upon him.
Our fellow travelers, however, we flnd are by no means
destitute of poUteness or cordiality. In fact, they could give
many points to the boors of our crowded modern thorough
fares in the way of gentle courtesy on the road. .Almost
every camel driver and donkey boy whom we pass makes a
kindly bow to us, and cries out as we get within earshot,
" Oughourlar olsoun," which means when translated, " A
pleasant journey to you." If we are sufficiently up in our
Turkish to respond in a proper haanner, we shaU reply to
him, " Sagh olsoun," whereby we mean to say, " Long Hfe to
you my friend."
These greetings which one receives upon the way in
Turkey, and in every house which he enters, at every table
at which he sits, and on all possible occasions, are exceed
ingly pleasant and show an inbred courtesy which speaks
well for the fundamental character of the race which has
coined and adopted them as a part of its common verbal cur
rency. For instance, when we enter a Turkish house we are
often greeted by this kindly phrase, "Khouda el inden
yapusha," which, being interpreted, means, "May the
Almighty cling to your hand," a most beautiful way of ex
pressing greeting and good will and continued blessing.
The response very often is, " Akubetin Khair olsoun," which
means, " May your end be good," or, in other Avords, as
every Mohammedan interprets it in his own mind, " May
you become a good Moslem before you die." When one
1 ises from the table Avhere he has partaken of all the good
things Avhich his host can offer, if he is versed in Turkish

ORIENTAL POLITENESS.

531

politeness he will say, " Bereket versin," " Let it give a bless-

When we receive a present, however slight it may be, the
recipient saj's, "Elenize dagh luk" which is not our meagre,
conventional " Thank you," but is a poetic expression mean
ing, " Health to your hands, my dear sir."
For special and peculiar services there are special and pe
culiar expressions of appreciation and thanks, and not one

NATIVE KHURDS OP ASIA MINOR.

unvarying meaningless formula, as in Western languages.
For instance, when a Turk receives a drink from a friend of
anything but coffee, he remarks as he hands back the empty
cup, " Aflyet olsoun," by which he means to say, " May it be
for your health." Why he does not make this same response
when treated to coffee I have never yet been able to under
stand. Even the wooden spoons with which we dip into the com
mon bowl which always graces the center of the Turkish
dinner table, are decorated with a motto of hospitality and

532 A GOOD STORY.
good cheer, such as, " Eat, my friend, eat," or " Pardon our
poor fare and call it not entirely tasteless." Or, perhaps it
may be, " Consider not the poor food which is set before
you, but the spirit in which it is given."
As we journey along, we frequently see by the roadside
a scrubby tree, from every branch and twig of which flut
ters a rag. Some of the rags are bleached and weather-
beaten, and have evidently been tied to the tree for many a
long day, whfle others look as though they had been just
attached. These trees mark the sacred spot where the grave
of some holy man is supposed to be, and every pflgrim who
passes that way ties a new rag to the tree to propitiate the
saint buried beneath, and to insure for himself a speedier
entrance into heaven.
The old dervishes frequently make a very good Hving by
estabUshing themselves near one of these trees, and asking
alms of aU who pass by.
A good story is told of a poor old dervish who lost aU
his worldly goods, and set out on a ncAV pflgrimage with his
family and his faithful donkey. For a time they Hved in
great poverty, but in the course of a few years a new-made
grave under a spreading tree by Avhich the dervish had en
camped, obtained a great reputation for sanctity. Many
were the pilgrims who resorted hither. Many were the dis
eases that were healed, and the good fortunes that were told
beside that holy grave. The tree became decorated with all
sorts and sizes and colors of rags, for most of the pflgrims
who pass that way are clad in an abundant supply of tat
tered and fllthy garments. The old dervish became pros
perous and waxed fat, but after a Avhile his son became un
easy and dissatisfied Avith the Avay he Avas living, so he
started out for himself to make his OAAm fortune in the Avorld.
Thinking there Avas no easier Avay than that Avhich his father

EMBLEMS OF GOOD LUCK. 533
had pointed out, he established a holy place of his own not
far off, and seated himself by another grave under another
green tree.
So popular did this new resort become that the old
dervish's popularity began to wane, so he went to visit his
son, and, when he found him, he asked him the cause of his
sudden popularity. " Well," said the youth who had bettered
his father's instructions, " you tell me who is buried in your
holy grave and I wfll teU you who is buried in mine." " My
old donkey died," frankly confessed the father. " I mourned
over her and buried her under the green tree. People came
to worship at the new-made grave, and it was not my busi
ness to teU them who was buried there since they received
so much beneflt from their pflgrimage. And now teU me,
my son, who occupies the grave over which you keep watch?"
" Ah," answered the chip of the old block, " I followed your
example, and in my grave is buried the foal of your ass."
This story, which is told with great gusto in different
parts of Turkey just as the tales accredited to Abraham
Lincoln are heard in aU parts of America, fllustrates the
superstitious ignorance of the common people. In a hundred
other ways are these superstitions manifest. Every camel
and donkey that we meet has upon his neck a string of blue
glass beads, which are supposed to keep off the " evfl eye,"
and no camel driver would think for a moment of leaving
home Avithout decorating every animal in his caravan with
these emblems of good luck.
Yery often mothers are seen slapping their children in a
most vicious way, and calling them "ugly brutes," and
"dirty brats," and aU kinds of opprobrious names. We
soon find, however, that this shows no lack of maternal
affection, but is simply the mother's way of warding off evfl
and bUght from the chfld. She thinks that if the evfl spirits

634

INDIGNITIES BORNE BY TURKISH WOMEN.

hear her disparage her chfld and call him an " ugly brute,"
they wfll not think it worth whfle to trouble him, and so the
evfl eye wfll be averted.
But, at the best, women and chfldren in this land, as in
aU heathen and semi-heathen lands, have a hard time. The
women are looked upon as
beasts of burden. Doubt is of
ten expressed as to whether or
not they reaUy have souls, and
even by the most enUghtened
Turk their souls are not sup
posed to be of the same dimen
sions as those of their husbands
and brothers and sons. No ac
count is taken of the girls by
many men when they reckon
up their famflies, and the mise
ries of a bride in a Turkish
house are often unutterable.
Abused and despised, beaten
and forsaken, with no redress
and no opportunity to teU her
woes, she can only gain com
fort from the thought that some
time she wfll be a mother-in-
law herself, and can take it
out in abusing her daughter-
in-law to her heart's content, just as freshmen, when they are
harrowed and hazed, put under the pump, and initiated into
the horrors of the secret society, comfort themselves with the
thought that next year they wfll be sophomores, and there
wiU be another class of freshmen for them to haze.
It must not be thought that Ave make any remarkable

A SYRIAN POITLTRT SELLER.

IN A TURKISH GRAVE-YARD. 535
speed in this journey across the Taurus mountains. We are
not trying to solve the problem of rapid transit, and an
average of three mfles an hour, and of from thirty to thirty-
five mfles a day we consider very good traveling.
The first day out from Tarsus we stopped at a place
which rejoiced in the euphonious name of " Grave Yard
Spout," and, in spite of its name, it was one of the pleasantest
places where we made our camp in aU the journey.
Let me introduce you to this typical Turkish khan at
" Grave Yard Spout." We have not yet reached the old
Cflician Gates, but have been climbing the slopes of the
Taurus mountains aU day long, and by nightfall are well up
toward the line of everlasting snow. From these limitless
snow fields the brooks of sparkling water come dancing
down. Their narroAV channels down the steep mountain
sides have something the appearance of eaA'es-troughs on a
house, hence the " spout." On one side of the hfll Avhere we
are to spend the night are a number of Turkish graves with
rude, unhcAvn stones set up to mark the last resting place of
the Moslem, hence the " grave-yard." A low, stone building
on one side of the road, mostly buried out of sight on its
lower side by huge pfles of rubbish and manure, indicates
the spot where We are to spend the night. Into the open
doorway camels and donkeys, horses, drivers, and pilgrims
all enter, for the Turk believes that what is good enough for
his beast is good enough for him, ajid he never begrudges
his OAvn quarters to his patient camel or faithful ass.
However, there is one room divided by a slight board
partition from the rest of the khan, and into this the more
fastidious pflgrims are aUowed to go to spend the night. To
be sure, it is a filthy place almost beyond description, and
swarming with vermin. It has not been washed since the
day the khan was built, and, perhaps, has not been swept out

536 ROUGHING IT.
for a y ear. But it is the best place which the region affords,
and we Avill not grumble. Besides, have we not cot beds
which can be set up out of the Avay of the dirt and largely
out of the way of the fleas as well? Have we not clean
sheets and bedspreads, and a good supply of wholesome
provisions of our own ? Then what more can we ask, with
fresh and invigorating mountain air to breathe, sparkling
cold water in Avhich to bathe, and aU out-doors in which to
exercise ? Appetite lends a splendid sauce to every meal,
and this bread and cheese, these eggs which Ali boils in the
fireplace, and the pilaff which he concocts with rice and
other ingredients, though mysterious, are most toothsome
and nourishing. So we eat our evening meal, say our even
ing prayer of thanksgiving and petition for protection, and
lie doAvn to pleasanter dreams than any surfeited mflUonaire
ever enjoyed.
In the morning we are up betimes, sometimes long before
daylight, for the success of the day's journey depends upon
getting a good start. By the light of the gray dawn we
drink our morning coffee, tie up our beds and bedding, pack
the wagons, harness the horses, and are off just as the rising
sun illuminates the frosty mountain peaks, and turns the
descending rivulets into ropes of sparkling diamonds.
About noon we stop for a hasty midday meal, and then
press on again in order to reach the khan where we are to
spend the night before sundoAvn, where the same process of
unpacking and setting up the beds, getting supper and eat
ing it, going to bed and getting up in the morning, repack
ing and starting on our journey, is repeated day after day
until the journey ends.
The second day out Ave came to the Cflician Gates,
and here culminates the magniflcent scenery which has
been groAving grander and grander with every passing mfle.

THROUGH THE CILICIAN GATES. 537
Here is a narroAV gorge betAveen tAvo toAvering precipitous
cliffs which stretch up, up, up, for hundreds of feet above us
on either side. There is absolutely no other Avay of crossing
the mountain except at this point. Here, beyond a question,
we are on historic ground. Paul must have come through
this very gorge in the mountains. This old Eoman road
over which Ave are traveling was here in his time, probably a
far better road than it is to-day ; this soil and these stones
his feet must have pressed, and for the monarchs and am
bassadors, the conquered and conquering armies, the mer
chants and the diplomats of many centuries, this has been
the highway.
Just as we went through the Cflician Gates, where the
pathway is most narrow and precipitous, for a rushing tor
rent disputes the roadway for passage, we met a long train
of at least a hundred camels, floundering over the rugged
road and through the muddy slough. It seemed as though
our wagon could never make its way past these "ships of
the desert," but we had learned by this time to have un
bounded faith in our missionary guide, and, sure enough,
Avithout accident or serious delay Ave forded the stream,
waUowed through the mire, climbed the banks, brushed the
flanks of the startled camels, and at length were through the
historic mountain gorge, and had passed out of old Cilicia
into Cappadocia.
The third day out from Tarsus vvas the most exciting
and dangerous part of the journey. For a little ways after
we left the khan, where Ave spent the night, a good road en
abled us to get on at a brisk pace and cheered us with the
fllusive hope that our worst difficulties were over ; but alas !
this piece of good road was only the pleasant prelude to the
very worst piece of roadway to be found in any one of the
five continents which we are visiting. For five miles this

638 AN EXCITING AND DANGEROUS RIDE.
road is simply indescribable. No one who has made this
journey could possibly believe that a wagon could ever be
transported over it, or that horses or drivers could live to teU
the tale on the other side of " the bad place," as it is signifi
cantly called by all in this region.
In fact, there is no road at aU. The government has not
even pretended to make a road here as it has in some places.
It does not degenerate into a squirrel track and run up a
tree, simply because there is no tree for it to run up, for the
country is as bare as the desert of Sahara. This bad five
mfles takes us over the very peak of the Taurus mountains,
and the only animals which Avith any degree of safety can
make this journey are the sure-footed camels and donkeys
who monopolize the trade of this district. Even they some
times lose their footing and roU doAvn the steep mountain
side into the abyss below, where we saw the carcass of more
than one animal which had thus met its death.
In the course of the centuries the unceasing caravans of
camels have made a track along which, with careful steering
and with abundant providential care, a wagon can sometimes
make its way. We know this because we have seen a
wagon go over this trafl. On no account could we other
wise have believed it possible, but seeing is beHeving in the
Taurus mountains as weU as everywhere else.
When we went down the hfll on the other side of the
"bad flve mfles," afl the male members of the party hung on
to the tafl-board of the wagon to prevent it from tumbUng
end over end over the heads of the horses. Sometimes the
rickety wagon would sway perflously on the verge of a
rocky precipice. Often we would think that it was actuaUy
going over, and would catch our breath as we expected to
see wagon, horses, and driver tumble into the terrible abyss.
Then the driver would throw himself from side to side of the

AN EXCITING MOMENT -OUR EIDE ACROSS TURKEY IN A AVAGON.
Sometimes the rickety wagon would sway perilously on the verge of a rocky precipice.
Often we would think that it was actually going over, and would catch our breath as we
expected to see wagon, horses, and driver tumble into the terrible abyss. Then the driver
would throw himself from side to side of the wagon to keep it from toppling over, and the
rest of us would throw our weight on that side to prevent the threatened catastrophe.

ON THE VERGE OF DESTRUCTION. 541
wagon to keep it from toppling over, and the rest of us
would throw our Aveight on that side to prevent the threat
ened catastrophe. Thus Ave made our way down the perfl-
ous mountain side and dreAV a long breath when we found
we were in the vaUey and realized that the worst of our
journey was behind us.
To be sure, it was only comparatively speaking that we
could find any betterment in the road as we wenjt farther on,
for oftentimes, sometimes twenty times a day, we were
obUged to get out of the wagon when the careful driver
took it around some narrow, precipitous cavern, or drove
over a heap of stones and boulders which had sHd down
from the mountain side, or forded a shallow stream which
sometimes almost carried the horses off their feet. Forty
times a day we would throw our weight on the up-hfll side
to prevent the wagon from going over the bank, or stand on
the step for half a mfle at a time to counterbalance in some
degree the attractions of gravitation on the other side.
But after passing this last spur of the Taurus mountains
we never thought of complaining of any piece of road,
nor do we ever expect to complain again, whatever highways
fate may have in store for us. Toward dark of the fourth
day out from Tarsus, we came to the Httle vfllage Bafla,
and as the khan was fuU of other guests we sought for
shelter in the guest-room of Selim, the elder and priest of the
vfllage. Let not the idea of a "guest-room," my readers,
caU up any luxurious notions of downy beds and costly car
pets and furniture, for though this guest-room was the best
the viUage afforded, there is no New England ceUar or
Yankee coal bin which it was ever our fortune to inspect,
that we should not have preferred to occupy.
Fortunately the room is dark, and the narrow slits
which serve as windows are covered with newspapers which

542 A FILTHY AND HORRIBLE PLACE.
are pasted over them, so that we cannot see the filthiness of
the place in all its hideousness. We do not wish for more
light, and after getting supper and setting up our beds we
turn in, to sleep the sleep of the weary.
This typical Turkish vfllage where we have come to
spend the night is like hundreds and thousands of others
scattered all over the Empire. Perhaps there are two hun
dred people within its borders, crowded together in Httle
huts of stone, which are but little higher than a taU man.
The roofs are flat and covered Avith dirt, which does very
well as a roofing in dry weather, but becomes very filthy
and leaky when a wet season sets in.
There are no streets in the vfllage except such as are
made by the pathways between the houses, and these path
ways are often full of pitfaUs into which the unwary traveler
wfll stumble if he is not careful. In these pits are stored in
winter the hay on which the goats and cattle Hve during the
cold weather. In the springtime they are mostly empty, for
the store has been exhausted, and very frequently at the
bottom of them I saw dead goats and, sheep, which during
the early spring had probably starved to death and which
the unenterprising inhabitants had not even carried out of
the roadway, but had left to rot and poUute the air, and
breed pestflence and disease in their very streets.
Could anything be more depressing than life in these
wretched vfllages? Here are no books, no newspapers, no
meetings, no intellectual Hfe of any kind. Few of the
houses show any light through their paper windows after
darkness sets in. The inhabitants have nothing to do but
to herd their goats all day and go to bed when darkness
comes. No wonder that the people grow up ignorant and
debased and absolutely devoid of ambition. The only
wonder is that they are not more vicious than they are, and

AN IGNORANT AND DEBASED PEOPLE.

543

that after these centuries of intellectual torpidity and gov
ernmental oppression there is anything of manliness to
appeal to in their natures.
And yet, that there is a natural substratum of generosity
and nobflity in the Turkish character cannot be denied. It
can be accounted for very largely, I think, by the good

MUSSULMAN AT PRATER.

features of their religion, for, mixed with superstition and
imposture as the faith of Mohammed is, there is something
m it of strength and virility. It demands unquestioning
obedience and outspoken allegiance from aU who profess to
be governed by it. No Mohammedan is ashamed of his
faith. Our soldier guard, who always accompanies us, when
the hour of prayer comes will dismount from his horse and
prostrate himself towards Mecca, by the roadside, or will

644

DEVOUT MOHAMMEDANS.

even go to the top of the house to pray when we are resting
at noon, no matter how many pairs of curious eyes are upon
him. Many and many a time have I seen a camel driver,
poor, untutored man that he is, but confident of his faith in
God and in the great prophet, kneeling in the grass by the
wayside, whfle his tethered camels browse near by, offering
his prayer to the great God,
with no fear of ridicule to re
strain him from his oft-repeated
devotion. As we lie doAvn to rest in
the guest chamber of the elder
of Baila we hear the musical
voice of the muezzin floating
from the humble minaret near
by, calling out to aU the faith
ful, " God is great, God is great.
There is one God and Moham-
^femed is his prophet. Come to
''^ prayer, come to prayer."
As these sounds strike our
drowsy ears Ave learn the secret
of the vitaHty of the Turkish
nation and the Mohammedan religion. There is truth
enough in it to keep it sweet and from going to utter decay.
There is truth enough within it to maintain in the nation
the germs of a resolute, uncompromising manhood, and, as
we drop off into the land of Nod, a new hope springs up
in our hearts for Turkey and the Turks, as the cry of the
derAQsh mingles Avith our dreams, "God is great, God is
great. Come to prayer, come to prayer."

THE CALL OF THE MUEZZIN.

CHAPTEE XXIX.
ON TO THE GOLDEN HORN — CONTINUATION OF OUR JOUR
NEY IN A WAGON — WHIRLING AND HOWLING DER
VISHES—VEILED WOMEN OF TURKEY.
Watched by a Curious Crowd — A Broken-Hearted Wife — The Lamp-
Dealer's Suspicious Balls — A Genuine Turkish Bath — The Feast of
Ramidan — Waking Up to Eat — The Difference Between a Black
Thread and a White — Cross oiflcials — A Picked and Singed Turkey
— Carving Up Turkey — Angora Cats and Angora Goats — Tying Up
a Railway Train — Drawing Near to Constantinople — A Famous
College — St. Sophia, the Marvelous — In the Hands of the Vandals
— The Covered Pace — The Bloody Hand of the Conqueror — The
" Sweating Column " — The Whirling Dervishes — How They Whirl —
Treading on the Babies — A Strange Ceremony — How the Sultan Goes
to Mosque — Sanding the Road — A Mean-Paced Monarch — The Sultan's
Wives and Daughters — A Timid Tyrant — Rich Stores of Costly
Jewels — Beautiful Broussa — Tomb of Othman the Great.

kOE thirteen days our journey across
Asia Minor Avas, with certain vari
ations, a repetition of the days I
have aiready described. An early
start, a long ride of ten or twelve
hours, a hasty midday meal often
eaten in the wagon, and, about
night-fall, a new setting-up of out
movable housahold gods in stfll
another Turkish khan which
always seemed a shade dirtier and
a trifle more fuU of the concen
trated essence of unpleasant odors than the last one.
There were, however, some noticeable breaks in our
journey which must not be passed over in sflence. On the
fourth day, after passing over an immense plain, guarded on
(545)

546 WATCHED BY A CURIOUS CROWD.
all sides by snow-capped mountains, we came to the ancient
city of Tyana, Avhich, in former centuries, was a most nota
ble place. Here a fine old Eoman aqueduct brought deH-
cious, sparkling Avater from the hills far away. Many of its
arches are standing stfll, as fine in their ruined magnificence
as the aqueducts about Eome itself. Under the shadow of
these broken arches with their beautiful columns and carved
capitals we ate our lunch, surrounded by a curious, open-
eyed throng of modern Tyanites, who, to-day, very rarely
see a stranger from the outside world, famous and much-
visited as their city used to be in ancient days.
Three hours beyond Tyana we came to Nigde, a thriving
town of several thousand inhabitants. Here, many of the
houses are of two stories, and have glass in their windows,
and here it was our good fortune to rest during the Lord's
Day in the house of the Protestant pastor of the town.
Here, too, we had a new illustration of the awful tyranny
under which the subject races of Turkey Hve. No sooner
had Ave gone into the house than a poor broken-hearted
woman came to see the missionary who accompanied us, to
tell him that her husband, the pastor of a native Protestant
church, had suddenly disappeared whfle on his w&j to the
viUage Avhere his church was situated. No one knew any
thing about him from that sad day, though it Avas suspected
that he had been arrested and imprisoned, and perhaps
murdered for supposed complicity with the Armenian upris
ing. Of his innocence his poor wife was Avell assured, but
for three months she had been Avaiting and hoping against
hope, telling her little chfld that every footstep might be the
long-lost father. But now she had almost given up in de
spair, and Avith streaming eyes came to ask us if something
could not be done to end her dreadful uncertainty as t?
whether her husband Avas alive or dead.

SOME MYSTERIOUS LAMPS. 547
To offset this pathetic incident of Nigde, a rather amus
ing story Avas told us by one of the merchants of the place to
the effect that one of his felloAV shopkeepers had been a feAv
weeks before arrested and imprisoned on some mysterious
charge, whose nature neither he nor his neighbors could
exactly determine. After a few Aveeks, however, he Avas
released, and it was learned that his arrest was caused by
some very innocent lamps Avhich, in the line of business, he
had imported into Nigde. These lamps had been meant to
hang from the cefling, and, in order that they might be raised
and lowered, a metal baU about the size of a small cannon
baU came with them. These balls were considered suspicious
by the Turkish authorities. It Avas thought they might be
some terrible dynamite explosives destined to bloAv the Avhole
country into atoms ; so the poor lamp-dealer Avas arrested and
imprisoned without trial untfl the case should be investigated
and his suspicious baUs could be declared harmless.
In the midcUe of our long journey, came a most delight
ful break, for at the end of our seventh day from Tarsus-
after having traveled some tAvo hundred mfles, we came to
the large Cappadocian city of Caesarea, which is a great cen
ter not only of trade but of missionary operations, and where
the good friends who had sent one of their number for us,
with their famous spring wagon, had their abode. This, too.
was an important toAvn in Eoman days and Avas named for
Cassar Augustus. Ever since it has retained its pre-eminence
in aU the vicinity as a commercial center.
The country about, though bare of trees, is fertile and
capable of sustaining a large population. Our interest in
Caesarea was not dependent upon beautiful scenery or the fer
tility of the sofl, but centered in the charming American
homes which are here established so far from their native
land and from aU that most of us hold dear. Here, for more
33

548 A DEVOTED MISSIONARY.
than forty years, has one of the missionaries of the American
Board been laboring through good report and evil report.
Often at the risk of his life, and always amid perils and
hardships of Avhich the average American knows very Httle,
he has kent on his way, winning by force of a gentle, digni
fied, and devoted Christian life the hearts of hundreds of
people who are opposed to his creed, and who regard other
Christians as infldel dogs to be kicked out of their country
whenever opportunity affords.
This veteran missionary has been joined in later years by
his son-in-laAV and family, and by one or two other mission
ary families, among them a most devoted and skfllful doctor,
Avho Avould make his fame and fortune in any country where
he might choose to practice. GiAdng up the aUurements of
professional success and large income in his OAvn land, he
has come to this remote city where he can cure the bodies of
the Turks and heal their souls as he flnds his way to their
affections and confidence.
While we are here together we wfll look in upon a
¦genuine Turkish bath in the very center of Turkey. Many
of my readers have been in the elegant estabUshments which'
abound in all our large cities, with their tfles and marbles.
vaulted ceilings and fountains, plunges, hot rooms and cool
ing couches, but none of them, perhaps, have ever taken a
Turkish bath in the land of its nativity. We wfll go to
gether this evening to this bath in Talas, a suburb of
Caesarea. It has been buflt by one of the few enterprising
inhabitants, who. as a young man left his early home, be
came famous in government circles, made his fortune in
¦Constantinople, and instead of buflding a library in his
native town as he would have done in America, showed his
filial affection by establishing this Tm'kish bath.
Into a narroAV ante-room Ave go to leave our clothes, but

A GENUINE TURKISH BATH. 549
instead of locking up our valuables in a flre-proof safe, as
we are accustomed to do at home, we roll our watches,
pocket-books, and other articles of value in our clothes, and
leaA'e this bundle on the divan of the dressing-room. Surely
this speaks weU for the honesty of Turkish human nature.
Then we put on some high wooden clogs, in which we flnd it
very dilficult to shuffle about, and follow our attendant into
the hot room. It is not very hot, but by staying there long
enough we get into a gentle perspiration. In the middle of
the room is a round stone dais under which the fire is buflt.
Around aU sides of the room are faucets of hot and cold
water which we can turn on at our pleasure, and on one side
of the large central room is a smaller apartment into which
steam has been turned and where we can obtain a vapor
bath if so disposed.
For a little while I was alone with my friend in this
great, round, tomb-Hke buflding, with the vaulted dome
overhead which caught up and sent back and re-echoed our
words, as though it was peopled with a hundred mocking
spirits. But we were not long alone, for, one after another,
the natives came trooping in until under that resounding
roof there must have been at least flfty hot, sweating, vil
lainous-looking Turks. Moreover, they were in high spirits,
for it being the time of Eamidan their day of fasting was
over, and nightfall had brought the hour of feasting. They
had evidently come from a good supper and were full of
hflarity and glee. Laughing and talking and yeUing at one
another in their good spirits, whfle the echoing roof quad
rupled their noise, it seemed as though we were in pande
monium itself. However, it was a very good-natured pande
monium, and we very soon got used to the din. Then the
shampooer came in and rubbed us down and kneaded us
and punched us and thumped us like so much dough, work-

550 CURIOUS CUSTOMS.
ing every muscle, pulHng out every finger-joint, and then
sousing us with soap and hot Avater until all the cuticle
seemed in danger of coming off. Then the process was re-
ncAved, and after a little breathing speU Avas again repeated.
Then Ave were rubbed with coarse gloves, soaped and washed
and sprayed once more, and the process was declared to be
complete. On the whole, it was very enjoyable, though I would
prefer hereafter to take my Turkish baths in America rather
than m Turkey.
I havG said we were in Csesarea during the feast of Eam
idan. A very notable occasion is this, corresponding some
what to the lenten season of the Catholic church. It begins
with the new moon of March or April and lasts for forty
days. If it is cloudy the authorities, curiously enoughr
apply to the heretical missionaries, whose reUgion they hate,
but Avhose astronomical science alone tells them when the
new moon has come.
All day long for forty days the strict Moslem reHgiously
fasts. From early dawn until sunset not a mouthful passes
his lips, not a sup moistens his parched throat, not even a
Avhflf from the inevitable cigarette is allowed. But at simset
a great gun is fired, the muezzin proclaims from the minaret
that the sunset hour for prayer has come. But he does not
linger long about his call this time, for he is as hungry as
any of his devotees, and hastening doAvn from his Avatch-
tower, with all the other good Mohammedans, he hurries to
the dinner table to make up for his long day of fasting.
This is not the only feast of the night bj' any means. If
the religious Moslem fasts all day he makes up for it at
night, for at eleven o'clock, after a few hours of sleep has
been enjoyed, a great beating of pans and blaring of tin
horns is heard and all the faithful Avake up to eat once more.

FASTING AND FEASTING. 551
Then a little more sleep, and at three o'clock in the morning
another gun is fired to waken the foUowers of the prophet to
another feast.
But Avhen the first streak of morning gray appears, Avhen
the time comes that they can detect " the difference between
a black and white thread," as the law requires, then the
fast begins again and not another mouthful must they eat
untfl the sunset gun is fired. Those who can afford the
time and do not need to work, sleep aAvay as much of the
day of fasting as they can and only wake up in season for
the evening feast. We found, to our cost, that our whole
stay in Turkey coincided with the fast of Eamidan, for the
oflicials were either asleep when we called on them for any
favor, or so surly from their long fasting that it was with
difficulty we could get what we wanted. But our precious
" bouyourouldou " which the governor of Adana had given
us, usuaUy overcame even the crustiness of the half-starved
magnates, and we suffered but Httle detention or trouble in
our journey.
After leaving our good friends in Caesarea our route lay
along the northern edge of Cappadocia, then into Galatia,
where were the churches to which Paul wrote his eloquent
epistle, then into Bythinia, which borders on the Black sea
and the Bosphorus. Nowhere did we find a road so rough
as the " five bad mfles," but it was always suflBciently out of
repair to remind us that we were still ifl Turkey. Though
the government levies taxes of thousands of pounds every
year upon the oppressed peasantry for the repair and main
tenance of this road, yet year after year no piastre is ex
pended and no shovel is lifted to make the road better.
Much of the way over which we journeyed lay across an
elevated table land where the scenery was monotonous and
uninteresting, and the khans where we spent the night were

552 CARVING UP TURKEY.
very much like those with which we had previously become
acquainted in Cflicia and Cappadocia.
For days and days on this journey we saw no trees or
bushes, and scarcely a shrub as big as a lead pencfl. This
Turkey has evidently not only been picked and singed, but
even the pin feathers have been plucked out of the poor car
cass. It is evident that when the poor bird is roasted in the
next war, it will be in order for the European nations to
carve it among themselves. The only thing which prevents
them from doing this to-day is, that each fears the other
and that each wants the best cuts and largest sHces of white
meat and the tender second joints for itself. England wfll
not let Eussia have aU the breast and all the dressing, Eussia
is bound to keep England away from this platter which it
regards as altogether its oavu, whfle Germany and France
each think that they have something to say in the matter.
In the meantime, the old bird is not yet carved up among
the nations, and, as a consequence, the people of Turkey
remain in ignorance and superstition. Christians are perse
cuted, progress is delayed, inventiveness and enterprises are
checked, and everything is going backward in the land of the
Sultan, while aU the rest of the world is moving forward
with the lightning rapidity of the nineteenth century.
" The United States has citizens, England has subjects.
Turkey has abjects," is a true and Avitty saying which every
one fully appreciates after crossing Asia Minor.
Six days after leaving Caesarea we came to Angora, a
famous city both in ancient and modern times. Here we
saw many cartloads of political prisoners Avho had just been
released, going back to their homes again. Hundreds of
these men had been arrested merely on suspicion, had been
hurried away from their homes, manacled and chained, to
prisons many days distant from their oavu viUages ; and noAV,

ANGORA AND ITS FAMOUS CATS. 553
without trial or hearing, but apparently at the caprice of the
Sultan and the reigning powers they had been released,
probably because His Majesty fearing to kfll them lest he
should get into trouble Avith foreign nations, and not know
ing Avhat else to do with them, had sent them home again.
A few of their feUoAvs, however, had been retained in
prisons, and, at their subsequent trial which took place at
Angora, seventeen were sentenced to death ; but when the
Christian powers remonstrated and suggested that. an iron
clad might make the remonstrance effectual, the Sultan
yielded the point and pardoned most of his prisoners.
Angora is noted not only for its beautiful fluffy-hatred
cats, which are famous all the world over, but also as the
seat of the mohair trade. The handsome goats which furnish
the hair dot the plains on every side, tens of thousands of
them, with their long, crinkly wool hanging to the very
ground. Beautiful, gentle-faced little creatures they are, as
different from the ordinary vicious goat as a week-old lamb
is different from his ugly progenitor.
A new raflroad has just been conipleted from Angora to
Constantinople. It carries us at the rate of eight or ten
mfles an hour. Its trains do not run at night, but when
darkness comes on they tie up wherever they happen to be,
and start on again early the next morning. After two days.
of such journeying, during which we make but a little over
two hundred mfles, we reach at last beautiful Constantinople,
the city which has the most superb situation in the world.
As we draw near to this marvelous city, especially after
spending many days in the barren interior, and amid the
rugged mountains of Cappadocia ; as we see the smiling val
leys and well-clothed hiUtops that surround it ; as we catch
a gUmpse of the Golden Horn and the silver waves of the
sparkling Bosphorus, we acknowledge that Byron is quite

554 AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS IN CONSTANTINOPLE.
right when he describes Constantinople and its environs as,
" The lan^ of the cedar and vine,
Where the flowers ever bloom and the beams ever shine,
Where the light wings of zephyr oppressed with perfume,
Wax faint in the gardens of Gul in her bloom.
Where the citron and olive are, fairest of fruit.
And the voice of the nightingale never is mute.
Where the tints of the earth and the hue of the sky,
In color though varied, in beauty may vie.
And the purple of ocean is deepest in dye."
It would take many a chapter adequately to describe the
beauties and wonders of this imperial city, its magnificent
situation, its unsurpassed mosques. Among them the famous
Saint Sophia, Avith its curious and unending labyrinthine
bazaars filled Avith rugs and sflks, sflverware and bric-a-brac,
and everything that can tempt the cupidity and unloose the
purse strings of the average traveler.
Americans, too, may weU have a particular interest in
Constantinople, for here they have made their mark through
their missionaries. The most important educational institu
tions and almost all the Christian work of the city is in the
hands of American educators and missionaries. Here is sit
uated the famous Eobert CoUege Avhich gathers its students
from half a dozen nations, sets its seal of educated manhood
upon them, and sends them out to be leaders and pioneers of
civilization in their own lands. The most strategic position
of any educational institution in the world, is that which is
occupied by Eobert College.
Across the Bosphorus, on the Asiatic side in the suburb
of Scutari, is the American College for guis, a school Avhich
I believe in the future Avill do for the young Avomen of
Turkey, Bulgaria, Eoumelia, and Armenia Avhat Eobert Col
lege has done and is doing for their brothers.
Here in Constantinople, too, is the famous Bible House,

EDUCATING THE TURKS.

555

AAdth its immense printing establishment, from which go
forth every year so many printed leaves for the healing of
the nations. So careful and wise are the directors of this es
tablishment that even the critical censor of the government
cannot object to much of their work. To be sure they are
hampered and hindered. Every obstacle is throAvn in their
Avay, and many of the
publications AA'hich
they would be glad to
issue are altogether
prohibited ; but in spite
of these obstacles a
vast amount of Chris
tian literature gets into
the hands of the sub
ject nations of Turkey
from year to year
through this channel.
We must not fail
to visit the mosque of
St. Sophia, one of the
most impressive
churches in any land.
As my readers doubt
less know, it Avas a
Christian church in the time of Constantine and for many
centuries afterAvards. When Constantinople fell into the
hands of the Turks St. Sophia became a Turkish mosque;
all the images of the saints Avere broken, every piece of
carved stone Avork Avhich bore any likeness to any creature
in the air above or the earth beneath or the waters under
the earth was chipped aAvay ; the sign of the cross which ap
peared innumerable times in different parts of the cathedral

MOSQUE OF EL AZAR.

556

THE GREAT MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA.

was everywhere chiseled out, and all the magnificent win
dows and mosaics were either broken or covered up with
hideous yeUow paint or plaster. Yet in spite of all this
vandalism of fanatical image-haters, St. Sophia retains its
ancient glory and impressiveness to a large degree. Its
proportions are magnificently" symmetrical. The dome,
Avhich hangs like a
huge substantial bub
ble in the air, it is im
possible to describe
with any adjective
which the dictionary
furnishes. The floor is now
covered Avith prayer
rugs, aU of them point
ing toward Mecca, so
that the devout Mos
lem when he pros
trates himself on his
rug knows which way
to face, as he mumbles
his monotonous peti
tion. Not only for its
present magnflicence, however, is St. Sophia interesting,
but because of its historic associations. Over this famous
church, for many a century, has Moslem and Christian
quarreled, and it bears within itself many a mark of the
hands of its successive conquerors. High up on the waU,
at least ten feet higher than a man on horseback can
reach, the print of a bloody hand is pointed out, and Ave
are told by our guide that that is the mark which was made

SIDEAVALK MERCHANTS, CONSTANTINOPLE.

THE STAIN OF A BLOODY HAND.

557

by the conquering Sultan, who finaUy wrested Constanti
nople from the grasp of the Christians. As the last mark of
his triumph he rode into this magnificent Christian church
on horseback, after having slain hundreds of worshipers who
were there assembled, and so high were the bodies of the
victims pfled one upon another, that when he reached up
and struck his bloody palm against the wall it made the
mark which now we see far above our heads.

ST. SOPHIA, THE MARVELOUS.
On the other side is a stone column' which we are assured
was cleft at the same time by the sword of this conquering
monarch. Here the one who has faith enough may see the
curbstone of the well of Samaria on which Christ sat. Here
is a "sweating column," which is almost worn away by the
fingers of the credulous, who find in the moisture which
the stone exudes an ointment for all kinds of diseases.
Some poor sufferers are always fingering this stone.

658 THE FAMOUS WHIRLING DERVISHES.
But most impressive of all in this great church to the
Christian, is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in mosaic on
one of the walls, which has been smeared over and covered
up by Turkish paint, but which in the slow process of the
centuries is beginning to show through the vefl with which
the enemies of Christ sought to cover his face. The outHne
is now distinctly vdsible and growing more and more dis
tinct, we are told, as time wears away the paint and the
years roll on. No Christian heart can look upon it without
seeing in that picture a prophecy of the day when Hght from
the face of Christ shall shine through the ignorance and
superstition of the Moslem's faith, by which his perfect
countenance has been obscured for so many centuries.
Another famous sight Avhich Ave shaU be sure to see
before leaving Constantinople is the whirUng and the howl
ing dervishes. The whirlers whirl and the howlers howl
every week, though in different mosques, and it is a sight
which once seen is not easfly forgotten. On the day that
we went to see the Avhirlers we had to wait a long whfle
before the first of the dervishes appeared. The mosque in
which they perform their curious gyrations is a small bufld
ing with a circular space railed off in the center of the floor.
Outside of the fence which incloses this circle, and in the
gallery'- above which commands a fine Adew of it, there are
always crowds of spectators.
When we had been AAvaiting some half hour or more, two
dervishes in tall, cream-colored felt hats Hke sugar loaves
Avith the top cut off, entered the mosque solemnly and
slowly. They were covered Avith long, dark cloaks and
Avere very solemn and sedate, and, on the Avhole, good-look
ing men. Then a fcAv more dervishes entered the mosque,
and then more, until there were in all twenty -seven men in
dark cloaks and tall sugar-loaf hats. Then three high der-

BEFORE THE WHIRL.

559

vishes, one of Avhom wore a broad green veil around his
sugar-loaf fez, shoAving that he is a direct descendant of the
Prophet himself, entered the charmed circle. They seated
themselves on the floor Avhile all the others stood about the
sides like carved statues. Then the statues unlimbered
and began to march around, two by tAvo, each member of
each couple boAving Ioav
to the other as they
came in front of the
high dervishes. Then
they bowed once more
before the descendant
of the patriarch and his
companions, and march
again around the circle.
This process is re
peated three times, and
each time a very low
salaam is made by the
man in front to the der
vish immediately be
hind him, and by the
dervish behind to the
one who marches imme
diately in front of him.
Then to the discordant and creaky mtisic of some pipers in
the gaUery they begin to whirl, sloAvly at flrst, but as the
music increases in rapidity they whirl more swiftly and more
swiftly stfll, untfl in a perfect frenzy they swing around their
narrow circle.
Before beginning this operation they cast off their long
cloaks and appeared clad in skirts which reached consider
ably below their knees. As they whirled the skirts of the

A WHIRLING DERVISH.

560 A STRANGE CEREMONY.
most energetic stood out stiff from their bodies Hke encom
passing baUoons, just as I have seen the skirts of Httle girls
fly out when whirling about in the process famfliarly known
as "making a cheese." Some of the derAdshes whirl much
better than^ others, and it seems to be the height of their am
bition to revolve so rapidly and smoothly that not one of
them shaU touch the other, and that their skirts shaU stand
out from their bodies as though distended by a huge crino-
Hne. How they keep it up is a mystery, but keep it up
they do minute after minute for fuUy ten minutes at a time.
Then after resting a Httle they march round once more and
whirl again, and this strange reUgious ceremony is over.
At least this was all we saw the dervishes perform,
though frequently babies are brought in in the arms of their
infatuated parents and laid upon the floor of the mosque for
the holy men to walk over. They step lightly and gingerly
as though treading on eggs, and it is said that they rarely
hurt the Httle victims under their feet ; stfll, it cannot be en
tirely pleasant for the babies.
The "howlers" are very much of the same order, but
instead of whirling they sway their bodies violently back
ward and forward and from right to left as though they
would jerk their heads off their bodies, at the same time
chanting a weird cry, which degenerates at times into a
frightful yell. Their exertions are more Adolent than that of
the whirlers and their heaUng eflicacy in treading upon in
fants is said to be even greater than that of their brother
dervishes. One more scene which we shall witness before leaving
Constantinople is the weekly ceremony, Avhich when trans
lated into English means the going to mosque of the Sultan.
Every visitor who is in the city on Friday makes it a point
of getting a permit from his consulate which wfll enable him

HOW THE SULTAN GOES TO CHURCH. 561
to see this wonderful sight. The ceremony of going to
church is nowhere else attended by so much pomp and mag
nificence, or with so much fuss and feathers as that of the
ruler of the faithful here in Constantinople.
For hours beforehand the soldiers begin to assemble-
From aU parts of the city they come, infantry, cavalry, and
artfllery, bands of music, and flaunting horse tails, which in
former years Avere the ensigns which led the Turks to
victory. Every street and approach within half a mfle of
the mosque is Hned with soldiers four deep, and even on
ordinary occasions it is said that ten thousand men guard
the sacred person of His Majesty every Friday.
Half an hour before the Sultan's carriage appears upon
the scene a half score or more of carts filled Avith sand of
the finest quaUty sprinkle the roadway over which the royal
wheels wfll trundle. Every little pebble larger than a pea
is picked out by careful attendants. We only wish, as we
see aU this preparation, that the Sultan could have gone over
some of the horrible roads in the interior of his dominion,
and have his royal bones shaken up as ours were shaken on
his wretched highways. There would be some poetic justice
in this. Whfle we are Avaiting for the royal carriage all is bustle
and activity, scores and scores of elegant equipages drawn
by prancing l^orses draw up in front of the mosque, and out
of these carriages step most gorgeous -human butterflies in
beAvflderingly magnificent raiment. Generals and commo
dores and ambassadors of the highest rank are here blazing
with their decorations and jeweled insignia of office. Here
come three or four beautiful carriages in which are the
Sultan's wives and some of his daughters. They are not
allowed to step out of the carriages, and we can just see their
black eyes gleaming above their veils as they look out curi-

662

THE sultan's wives AND DAUGHTERS.

ously upon the scene, for this is one of the few outings
which they have in their lives. Then comes the Sultan's
nephews, the heir apparent to the throne, and his younger
brothers and cousins, the smaller ones attended by ugly
black eunuchs whose long arms seem to hang down nearly
to their knees.

, >'rift'*?s&£Ei*^^ -^ * '.*S^ *

A TURKISH BEAUTY.
Into the mosque are noAv taken the Sultan's library
chair, a box containing his clothes, a Avhite dinner service,
and numerous other things, until one thinks he is about to
move into the mosque to live; but, no, they Avill all be taken
out again in half an hour and carted home, but everything is
placed there in readiness so that if he expresses the slightest
wish it may at once be fulfllled.

A MEAN AND CRAFTY-LOOKING RULER. 503
And now look! The band strikes up a martial air of
Avelcome, a look of expectancy comes upon every face, and
ten thousand necks are craned to see the carriage which
comes slowly down the hill from the palace to the mosque.
On the front seat of this carriage is a noble-looking man in
splendid miUtary costume covered Avith decorations, Avho
appears every inch a king. But he is not the Sultan. The
other man who sits on the back seat of the carriage, — that
mean, crafty-looking feUow, with the red beard and hooked
nose, and the scared look in the deceitful eyes which he lifts
to the crowd of European spectators as he passes the em
bassy, — that is "The Sultan of glorious Sultans, Emperor of
powerful Emperors, distributer of the croAvns of infldel
rulers that are seated upon thrones, the shadow of God upon
earth. I, who am the Emperor, the Asylum of Justice and
the King of Kings, the centre of victory; I, who, by the
real Almighty, the Fount of happiness, am adorned with the
title of Emperor of both lands, and, by the crowning
grandeur of my caliphate, am graced by the title of Sov
ereign of both Seas."
He dismounts at the door of the mosque, enters the
sanctuary just as the old howjeh from the minaret overhead
caUs to noonday prayer, is absent for about half an hour,
presumably at his worship, and then returns, takes the reins
from his coachman and drives himself slowly up the hill to
his palace.
It is said that he regards this feat of driving himself
from the mosque to the palace up a somewhat steep hfll
vrith ten thousand soldiers to come to his rescue if necessary,
as a feat of surpassing courage. It is the only brave thing
that he attempts to do, and most of his time, it is said, is
passed in abject fear lest he lose his life, and his empire be
wrested from his unworthy hands.
34

564 THE sultan's fear OF ASSASSINATION.
How different this from the brave days of old when
Othman and Suleyman and their successors led their own
troops in the thickest of the fray from victory to victory !
We can have some respect for these old warriors, cruel and
fanatical and bloodthirsty as many of them were, — at least
they ruled with kingly dignity and in kingly splendor.
In the old time the Sultan had in his seraglio a flrst lord
of the stable under whom were nearly seven thousand
grooms to take care of the royal steeds. He had also a
"Chief Falconer" and "Chief Hawker," and even a "Chief
Sparrow Hawker." The "Chief of his Tent Pitchers" had
under him nearly eight hundred men whose duty it was to
pitch the Sultan's tents wherever he might wish to spend the
day. He also had a "Chief Taster," Avith flfty sub-tasters
under him who tried aU the Sultan's dishes.
His " Chief Baker " was the master of five hundred other
bakers, and the " Chief Confectioner " had five hundred who
Avere subject to him. Besides these, there was the " Master
Vesturer," who had charge of the Sultan's clothes, and whose
duty it was to follow him Avhen he went abroad and scatter
silver coins before him. The " Master of the Turbans " had
charge of the imperial head-dress, one of which he carried in
procession, inclining it to right or left as a salutation to the
people. There was even a " Master of the Napkins," a
" Master Ewer Keeper," who poured Avater on the Sultan's
hands, a " Chief Turban Winder," a " Chief Coffee Server,"
and a " Chief Barber," Avith many subordinates under each
of them. We even read of a " Chief Nightingale Keeper,"
and " Chief Parrot Keeper," whose duties may be guessed
from their very names.
A trustAvorthy author Avho visited the royal treasure
chambers as late as 18SG, teUs us that there he beheld " huge
emeralds as large as one's hand, garnets positively plated

RICH STORES OF COSTLY JEWELS.

665

with great table diamonds, maces, and daggers whose hilts
held gems as large as hens' eggs. JeAA'eled aigrets and robes
of state standing up stiff Avith gold and precious stones."
AU these are the relics of the more prosperous past. AU
indicate an era of splendid though barbaric magnificence.
All show a period of virflity and manly strength in rulers
and conquering people aUke. How, indeed, are the mighty
faflen, when, from this period of grandeur, we come down to

A TURKISH WOMAN.

the timid, mean-faced Sultan of the present day, who dares
not go to mosque Avithout ten 'thousand soldiers to insure his
safety, and who, Avith all his cruel tyranny, is ready to col
lapse Avith terror, when a foreign nation so much as whispers
the word " ironclad " in his ear 1
Before we leave Asia for the shores of Europe, we must
make a brief excursion to Broussa, one of the most remark
able as one of the most beautiful cities of the Ottoman
Empire. A lovely sail of half a day brings us to the port of

566

A BRAVE AND WISE SULTAN OF OLD.

this ancient capital of the Moslem. Here we find Moham
medanism at its best. The mosques are spacious and mag
nificent. Quite an attempt is made in the line of education,
and the magnificent scenery, the pure air, and grand old
Olympus (not the Olympus of classic fable, but a very re
spectable mountain, nevertheless) which forms a background
to the city, all seem to have left their impress upon the rul-

A SULTAN S TOMB.

ing race, and nowhere are Moslems more courteous and less
fanatical than in this their ancient capital.
Here, as long ago as the j^ear 1326, after a ten-j'ears
siege, Broussa capitulated to the troops of Othman, and here
the great Sultan was buried soon after, for it was his dying
wish that he should be interred at Broussa, the new capital
of his mighty empire. The sword of Othman is stfll sacredly
treasured at Constantinople, and each Sultan in his turn, as
he comes to the throne, has the sacred blade of the founder
of his empire buckled to his belt by way of coronation.

THE TOMB OF "BLACK OTHMAN.

567

Happy would it have been for his successors, and the em
pire which they govern, if his descendants had been as brave,
as far-seeing, and as simple in their habits as their great
ancestor. Simple in his dress, his figure was imposing.
Like Longimanus, his arms reached beloAV his knees, his
thighs were those of a horseman, and his prominent nose,
black hair and beard, and swarthy hue, procured him the
name of "Black Othman," for black is a color of honor in
the East and indicates strength of character as well as bodfly
vigor and energy. Black Othman transmitted his physical
characteristics to several generations of his successors, and,
for at least three hundred years, there sat no Sultan on the
Ottoman throne who was not distinguished for personal
courage. The beautiful tomb of the brave Othman is well worth a
Arisit even from Christians, who detest his creed and abomi
nate the ways of his descendants. Several of the other great
Sultans are also buried at Broussa, in flnely-preserved mauso
leums, in which the tombs are covered with heavy black
draperies, which give a singularly dignifled and sombre
aspect to these halls of death.

CHAPTEE XXX.
THROUGH CLASSIC LANDS — PROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO
THE COAST OP SPAIN — HOMEWARD BOUND.
Off for Athens — On the Tchickatchoff — The Occident and the Orient —
The Sharp Line of Demarcation — Tenedos and Its Wooden Horse —
What Makes Athens Great To-day? — A Charming Journey — The
Ruined City and its Thrilling Story — The Romantic Way of Climbing
Vesuvius — The Lake of Fire and Brimstone — An Awful Accident
— Where the Christians Fought with Wild Beasts — Pisa and its Bell
Tower — The Campo Santo and its Sacred Soil — Lazy Venice and its
Gondolas — Genoa the Superb — All that We Found of Columbus — On
the Borders of Spain — A Royal Swimmer — Ambitious Spanish Girls —
Too Envious to be Courteous — -A Memory of Lafayette — Washer
women Object to Modern Conveniences — The Best Part of the Trip.

E must be an audacious author in
deed, who thinks that he can
compel the attention of the world
to what he may say about much-
written Europe, when Hbrary
shelves groan with books con
cerning it, and thousands of vol
umes are added to their list every
year. My temerity is not of
such large proportions as to
undertake this task. So, in a
single chapter, we Avill take our
hasty journey from the Bosphorus to the coast of Spain.
We will embark, if you please, my reader, as it Avas our
good fortune actually to do, on the Eussian steamer Tchick-
(568)

ON BOARD ONE OF THE CZARS STEAMERS. 569
atclwff, Avhich sails from Constantinople to Athens. One of
the finest steamers on Avhich we have sailed since Ave left
home, is this same Eussian vessel with the unpronounceable
name. The staterooms are large and airy, the table is most
bountifully spread, the decks are clean and broad, and the
saloons fitted up in the most elegant style of naval architect
ure and decoration. We are almost ready to relent and to
shade doAvn our deep-seated antipathy to the tyrannical Czar
when we find that he charters so fine a steamer to carry us
from the Orient to the Occident, for this trip is nothing less
than such a journey. The line of demarcation is sharp and
distinct. The Orient sweeping eastward comes as far as
Constantinople and ends there, the Occident sweeping west
ward breaks with its waves of nineteenth century progress,
unavaflingly on the shores of Bosphorus. It makes but little
impression even upon Constantinople, and none at all upon
the country beyond.
Not only do we go from the Orient to the Occident, but
from the middle ages into modern times, from the twelfth
century into the nineteenth, from conservatism, stagnation,
retrogression, to progress, advancement, and the seething,
vigorous life of modern days, when we journey from Con
stantinople to Athens.
Past ancient Troy we sail, where, with the help of a
powerful spy-glass and a stfll more powerful imagination, we
almost make ourselves believe that we can see the excav^ations
of Dr. Schliemann ; past the barren island of Tenedos, where
in ancient times the Greeks made the wooden horse by
means of which they conquered Troy.
Tenedos, however, in ancient days must have been a dif
ferent island from what it is to-day, for there are not enough
trees upon it now or upon any of the islands in the vicinity
to make a hobby-horse for a baby, much less an animal with

570 IN FAMOUS ATHENS.
such a capacious interior as that in Avhich the Greeks made
their famous entrance into Troy. How the Greeks managed
to get this huge wooden monstrosity across the wide stretch
of turbulent sea which runs betAveen Tenedos and Troy is
another of the mysteries upon Avhich history is sflent. But
Ave are not iconoclasts, and Ave do not Avish to suggest harroAA'-
ing doubts concerning cherished fables to the future genera
tions of classical scholars.
We passed through the beautiful HeUespont early in the
morning and not a great whfle thereafter reached the Py-
reus, the harbor of Athens. To attempt to " do " Athens in
the space of a few pages is such a manifestly absurd task
that I will only say that we stood reverently upon the Par
thenon whfle our souls did reverence to the genius of ancient
days, embodied in the Propylaeum and the Erechtheum Avith
its stately caryatides ; that we visited the Tower of the Winds
and the arch of Hadrian and the Temple of Theseus ; that
we stood upon the Pnyx where Demosthenes deHvered his
world-famous speeches, and that especiaUy our souls did
homage to the place most fuU of great memories to us, when
we stood upon Mars HiU. Here, in imagination, as we
looked off upon the historic city lying at our feet, with its
temples and its altars and its croAvded thoroughfares, flUed
as they were in ancient times, Avith a volatUe, excitable, but
intellectual people, we heard St. Paul saying, as he stood
upon this very spot : " Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in
all things ye are too superstitious, for, as I passed by and be
held your devotions I found an altar with the inscription :
' To the unknown God.' Whom, therefore ye ignorantly
Avorship, Him declare I unto you."
That speech, Avith all that it revealed of the fatherhood
of God, and the brotherhood of men Avhom God made " of
one blood to dAvell upon all the face of the earth," did more

BY SWORD AND PEN. 571
for mankind and for the perpetuation of the memory of
Athens, than all the Avorks of Phidias and the conquests of
Hadrian and the orations of Demosthenes, Avhich also have
made the city memorable.
The thought is sure to come to every thoughtful man
who stands on the heights of the Parthenon, " What has
made this Httle city famous in all the ages of the world ? "
Its situation, whfle beautiful, is no more remarkable than
that of scores of other cities on the blue Mediterranean. Its
natural advantages are not so great as those of other cities
of ancient and modern times. The tributary country is
comparatively barren and poor, the population Avas never
large, as the great modern nations count populations.
What, then has made Athens so famous in aU the history
of the Avorld ? There is but one answer to the question.
She was the mother of heroes and the mother of historians.
Brave men won her battles and true patriots ornamented her
public squares and erected her famous bufldings, and, more
than that, poets were born to sing their virtues, and histo
rians to record their deeds of praise. The sword alone could
not have made little Greece memorable among all the nations
of the world, but the sword supplemented by the pen, the
great deed not only done but sung, has given her an imper
ishable name, and attracts to her to-day scholars and lovers
of everything that is noble and beautiful and true.
The raflway journey from Athens -to Patras is one of the
most charming which can be taken in any continent. All
the way the raflroad runs within sight of the sounding sea,
affording most picturesque glimpses of the famous mountains
of Greece, every one of Avhich has been glorified in song and
story. Mount Olympus and Mount Parnassus, PenteHcus, and
Hymettus, we see them all, and what classic memories they

572 NAPLES AND VESUVIUS.
evoke 1 Some of these memories are a little cloudy, like the
mists which hover about the tops of the mountains them
selves, but, nevertheless, the mountains are very real things
behind the mists, and so are the school-day memories which
cluster around them very real to us, though hid by the haze
of succeeding years.
Another delightful journey is the sail by steamer from
Patras to Brindisi over the Ionian Sea, a journey of some
thirty hours, with a stop by the AA^ay at Corfu, one of the
most lovely spots which the whole map of the world affords.
From Brindisi to Naples is an aU-day's ride over one of
the slow Italian railways, but a ride full of enjoyment, as we
see the fertfle flelds, the smfling vineyards, and the flower-
decked pastures of sunny Italy. At last, Yesuvius, with
a thin wreath of smoke curling from its peaks, breaks upon
our view. We rumble past the buried city of Pompefl,
rattle over the tomb of Herculaneum, and go puffing into
the great station of Naples just as the setting sun makes
doubly glorious the always beautiful blue bay.
Naples has few attractions in itself, but is noted for the
beauty and interest of its surroundings ; and whfle Pompefl
lies at its very door, with the paint of nineteen hundred
years ago stfll fresh upon its ruined walls, with the ruts
worn by the chariots of old stfll visible in its streets, with the
shops of its bakers and its ofl merchants and its wine seUers,
just as they left them when they sold their last loaf of bread
and flask of wine nineteen centuries ago, Naples wiU never
lose its attractiveness for the traveler and the antiquarian.
More full of unique and thriUing interest than almost
any spot on earth is this ruined city which Avas overwhelmed
by the wrath of God in a single night ; its polluted streets
and houses, which even now indicate depths of depravity
that have seldom been witnessed in the history of the world.

A LAKE OF MOLTEN FIRE. 573
ruined and utterly destroyed as habitations for the liAring.
Surely the moralist Avfll be excused for drawing his lesson
from the destruction of this comparatively modern Sodom
and Gomorrah.
There are tAvo ways of ascending Yesuvius. The old-
fashioned way takes us on horseback from the guides' house
near Pompeii through vineyards and vfllages, and across the
ashes and pumice and scoriae of a hundred eruptions, to the
base of the volcanic cone itself. Then we dismount from our
horses, leave them ia the hands of some villainous-looking
guides who are waiting to devour as much of the substance
of the average traveler as they can lay hands on without
getting into jafl, and then make the sharp, steep climb on
foot to the very summit. This is not a holiday task, by any
means, and I do not recommend it to those who do not have
stout muscles and strong lungs and a good degree of physical
endurance. It is, however, the more picturesque and ro
mantic method, for the other way takes us by raflway to
within a few rods of the very top. Then we pick our way
cautiously over the steaming vent holes and across the hot
sulphur and burning ashes until we stand on the ridge of
the crater, and hear below us the sullen, awful "swash" of
the lake of fire and brimstone.
One cannot always see the seething lake itself because it
is generaUy hidden by the almost continuous sulphurous
fumes which rise from its surface. But that which is not
visible to one sense is audible to another, and the beating of
that lake of molten fire upon the sides of the imprisoning
mountain seemed to me the most awful sound I ever heard.
More vivid than ever before was the dreadful Scripture
imagery which typifies of the final destruction of those who
hate all that is good and true.
A few days after a visit which I once paid to this crater,

574 WHERE CHRISTIANS FOUGHT WITH WILD BEASTS.
tAVO gentlemen Avere standing on the very edge, where a little
while before I had stood unconscious of any danger, when
the fumes from the pit being blown that way by a pecu
liarly strong gust of wind they Avere overcome by it.
Blinded and suffocated they fell headlong into the dreadful
lake which boiled and blistered beneath. The only circum
stance which mitigates the dreadful accident was that their
sufferings must have been absolutely momentary.
When we reach Eome, as we shall after three days in
Naples, how can we hope to even touch upon its grandeur
and beauty! We are fflled with the hopelessness of our
task at the very beginning, and the longer we stay roaming
through its miles of picture gaUeries, visiting its acres of
statuary, strolling into church after church, each one of
which is worth a week of study, roaming among the ruins of
the palaces of a score of Caesars, we are ready to aver that
one cannot hope to see Eome thoroughly unless he has
months at his disposal.
Among all the sights of ruined Eome the Colosseum
impresses me most deeply. Here the imagination has
full play. Here the poetic fancy can ask for nothing
more. Story on story rise the tiers of seats for the spec
tators who rejoiced in the bloody tragedies of those cruel
days. Eighty thousand people could here be accommodated,
and in the ampitheatre upon which aU these tiers of seats
look doAvn, how many dreadful tragedies were enacted !
Here came the Christians to flght with the wfld beasts.
Here came the gladiators to struggle in mortal combat, with
never a merciful thumb raised from the spectators who
enjoyed their agony. Here assembled the beauty and
chivalry, the aristocracy and royalty of Eome in her most
glorious days, but at the heart of this royalty and chivalry
and beauty was the corrupting Avorm of selfishness, cruelty.

THE LESSON OF A RUIN. 575
corruption, and tyranny. The Colosseum is a type of all
that is grandest and of all that was basest in ancient
Eome. It is the living exhibition in substantial stone and
mortar of her grandest days and her weakest days, of
her power and her poverty alike.
We are glad that it is noAv a ruin, for the Colosseum
Avas always dedicated to that which Avas mean and base.
We are glad that the ruin stfll stands, for it teaches the
whole world that material power and grandeur and Avealth,
beyond anything which the ages have known before or
since, are not sufficient of themselves to make a nation truly
great or permanently powerful.
Of course we wfll go into St. Peter's before we leave the
ancient city. It is the fashion for many travelers to say that
they are disappointed in St. Peter's, and no doubt such a
feeHng does come to one as he looks first at the uuAvorthy
and meaningless fagade which greets him as he walks up to
the entrance. But all sense of disappointment disappeared,
so far as I was concerned, when I entered its vast por
tals and found myself beneath its mighty domes. Every
thing that marble and gilding; frescoing and mosaic
work can do to make a building subHmely, grandly beautiful,
has here been done. The wealth and genius of the ages
have been lavished upon this Avonderful church, and we do
not wonder that it is the Mecca of every devout Catholic.
To the Protestant, however, aceustomed to the more
severe simplicity of his own modest sanctuaries, there is very
much that is wanting, even in this magnificent church,
to make it aU that he dreams concerning the constant
abiding place of God. Here the Pope seems to be glorified
more than the Master of the Pope. St. Peter is more
conspicuous than the one who said to him, " Henceforth
thou shalt be called Peter, for on this rock wiU I bufld

576 A STORY OF THE CRUSADERS.
my church," and the Yirgin Mary is vastly more honored
than her Divine Son. With an unsatisfled, hungering sense
of want, the Protestant Christian is likely to go out from
this gorgeous cathedral, feeling that amid aU the gflding and
painting, the statuary and the famous shrines, he has
not found God or drawn any nearer to the Saviour's side.
Where else shall I conduct my readers in this land of
Italy, crowded as it is with places of supreme historic
interest? Shall we go to Pisa and visit its cathedrals
and its baptistry, its Leaning Bell Tower and its Campo
Santo ? We should certainly enjoy the day there, for aU
its sights are crowded close together, and one has no
wearying walk to take in going from one to another.
The Campo Santo, or sacred place of burial, is to me the
most interesting spot in little Pisa. Here, seven centuries
ago, the Crusaders brought shipload after shipload of sacred
soil from Jerusalem, whither they had sailed from Pisa
when it was a great commercial port. Their ships went out
crowded with eager, adventurous youths, many of whom,
alas, were to lay their bones in the land of Palestine or on
the way thither, and the ships which safled forth bearing the
pride and bloom of Italian chivalry came back loaded only
with dust and ashes from the Sacred City. Fifty-three
shiploads of this sacred soil were deposited in this great
rectangular enclosure, and here many Crusaders and other
famous men were buried. From the walls around the
Campo Santo, on every side, look down pictures of Biblical
scenes painted by the most famous artists centuries ago,
pictures which are stfll bright and fresh and vivid as though
the colors Avere laid on but yesterdaJ^
Shall we go to Florence together and Adsit the mfles of
picture galleries, its beautiful park and its lovely drives
along the historic Arno ? Shall we feed our souls on the

IN COLUMBUS S BIRTHPLACE. 677
memories of the great deeds Avhich were done by the great
men of Florence in the days of her pride and strength?
When my readers do take this journey, not in this hasty
fashion, but in reality, they Avill agree Avith me, I am
sure, that no days are more pleasantly spent than those that
are devoted to charming Florence.
But we must hurry on, not even stopping to spend a few
lazy days in the gondolas of Yenice, feeding the pigeons in
St. Mark's Square, or watching the glass-blowers in the
factories which line the great canal, for we must tarry at
least a time in Genoa, the Superb. With our souls flred
Avith admiration for Columbus, Genoa presents a magnet
quite too strong to be resisted, and yet when we reach the
citA' of his birthplace, we find remarkably few memorials of
the great discoverer. The house in which he was born, or in
Avhich he is said by some people to have been born, is
situated several miles beyond the city limits, and an auto
graph letter in one of the museums is about the only
authentic memorial of him which we flnd.
But, after all, these material reHcs and memorials im
pressed me not nearly as much as the intangible things all
around which are connected Avith his memory. Under these
blue Italian skies the little Columbus played, and this lovely
A'iew of earth and sea and sky doubtless impressed his
imagination and nourished the poetic germs Avithin his soul,
Avhich made him the great discoverer of the ages.
As we mounted to the heights of the beautiful park and
looked off over the housetops at the blue Mediterranean
Avimpling and dimpling in the sunlight, we said to ourselves,
"Upon these very Avavelets looked Columbus. His boyish
eyes were strained to see the furthest limits bounded by
the whitecaps in the distance, and his eager imagination,
perhaps, as he stood upon this very height of land, asked.

678 ALONG THE RIVIERA.
' What is beyond the limits of the blue sea and the Avhite-
caps which bound my horizon '. ' " The answer to this ques
tion, which in some form or other every generous youth puts
to himself as he groAvs older, was, in the case of Columbus,
the discovery of America and the opening of a new world
to commerce and civilization, and the reUgion of Christ.
After leaving Genoa our journey took us along the
Eiviera, where charming views are marred somewhat by
innumerable tunnels through which the railroad passes.
Through Nice and Mentone, famous the world over as win
tering places for the aristocracy of Europe, through Monte
Carlo and Monaco, the plague spot of Europe, whose wonder
ful natural beauties are more than matched by the unnatural
depravity of its chief business ; through busy MarseiUes,
through Narbonne and Pau and Cette, until at last we come
to the very borders of Spain, and, crossing the boundary
Hne, we enter into the country of the haughty cavaUer.
At San Sebastian, one of the border towns, which is most
delightfuUy situated on the Bay of Biscay with green hflls
surrounding it on every side, is the new palace of the Queen
of Spain, and we were permitted to go over this abode of
royalty from garret to cellar. Though it is a fine buflding
and worthy of the gracious queen who wfll occupy it during
the summer months, yet it is no more imposing or magnifi
cent than the houses of a hundred mfllionaires which I have
seen in the United States.
Some of the rooms in the palace are designed for the
occupancy of generals in the army and the courtiers, and
are decidedly mean and narroAv. They are plainly furnished,
only a fcAV feet square, and frequently have but pne windoAv
in them. The room Avhich her Majesty herself is to occupy,
and the adjoining room of the Baby King whose face appears
on all Spanish postage stamps, are flne apartments, and so

A LITTLE king's PASTIME. 679
are the state parlors and banqueting rooms. But there is
nothing extravagant or lavish, or even particularly sump
tuous, about the whole place.
The most notable thing about the palace is the view from
the front entrance. It looks out upon the beautiful Bay of
San Sebastian, with a broad, sandy beach stretching in the
foreground, Avhfle off in the distance is the entrailce to the
harbor Avith bold, precipitous bluffs on either side, crowned
by picturesque forts and Hghthouses. The queen is a fa
mous athlete in her way, and especially enjoys bathing in
the surf. So strong a swimmer is she, that she is said fre
quently to swim out to the beautiful island in the bay, a
good mile from the shore. The little king meanwhfle plays
upon the sand with his painted tin pail and Httle shovel, at
least as happy, Ave hope, as any little Spanish ragamuffin
whose privfleges in sand and water and fresh air and de
Ughtful scenery are just as great as those of the small royal
personage himself.
The object of supreme interest to us in San Sebastian,
however, was not the palace or any of the trappings of
royalty, or even the most beautiful bay with its encircling
mountains, but the Institute for Spanish girls Avhich has here
been planted by American missionaries. Here are gathered
several scores of black-eyed, bright, intelligent Spanish
maidens, who AviU lead the way in the education of the
women of this country, which I believe is about to aAvaken to
a new period of youth and vigor.
Such an institution is particularly needed in this land, for
Avomen here, as in every Catholic country, have been system
aticaUy kept in ignorance and bound by superstitious
fears. For the first time in all the history of Spain, a fcAv
months ago, some of the girls from this institution dared to
present themselves for examination at the Government uni-
35

580 "advanced young women" in SPAIN.
versify, competing for the same honors which their brothers
had formerly monopolized altogether. It was a great day
for the American Institute for Girls and a prophetic day for
Spain, for several of the girls passed the examinations and
came off with flying colors. They were not alloAved to for
get, however, that they belonged to an inferior sex, for as
they went up to receive their diplomas they were hissed by
the unchivalrous young men. This ungracious act, however,
reacted on the heads of the young boors Avho perpetrated it.
The professors of the university compelled them to offer a
suitable and humble apology for their treatment of the girls,
and the precedent Avas established that hereafter, in some
parts of Spain at least, a young lady of inteUigence and
attainments Avill be recognized by the educational authorities
of the land of Ferdinand and IsabeUa.
Hoav better could America repay the debt which she
OAves to Spain than by liberaUy endowing this school,
and by aiding to establish others for the education of the
long-neglected women of Castfle?
A very few miles from San Sebastian is the old Spanish
seaport of Passages, a port which was once famous in its
way, and from which Lafayette sHpped away when, in
opposition to the wishes of the government and his friends,
he espoused the cause of American liberty and decided to
stand side by side Avith Washington and FrankUn and Jeffer
son. For many years the entrance to the harbor has been
almost impassable, so filled up has it become with the sflt
washed doAvn from the mountain sides Avhich hem in the
narroAV passage on every hand. Of late years, however, new
attention has been paid to the harbor, dredging machines
have made an entrance for steamers of considerable size, and
the old place is rencAving its youth.
It retains its ancient characteristics, however, and its one

A CONSERVATIVE OLD TOWN. 581
street Avhich crawls along at the base of the hillside against
Avhich the town is built is so narrow as to be impassable to
Avheeled vehicles and to afford scarcely room for two passing
donkeys. Here old Spanish customs and prejudices flourish
with all the force of ancient times, just as though the thriv
ing, bustling, modern city of San Sebastian was not within
hafling distance. Here the people live, move, and have their
being, bake their bread and eat their garlic and wash their
clothes, just as they did five hundred years ago.
The latter operation is performed by women who stand
in the water up to their knees, and cold, icy spring water it
is, too, whfle they pound and rub and beat the very life out
of their garments on flat stones in the bed of the stream. A
few years since, the town provided a better place for them,
but this thoughtful provision almost provoked a riot. They
declared that what had been good enough for their grand-
dams Avas good enough for them, that they would have none
of the new-fangled, modern wash tubs even though they
were provided at public expense, and that they would stiU
stand up to their knees in water if they chose to do so.
The authorities had to give way, and the new and beautiful
stone wash tubs feU into innocuous desuetude.
We wfll follow Lafayette's example, and, leaving well-
known Paris and the old mother country to those who have
seen and described them so often, we wfll embark for
America in imagination from this very- Spanish port, echoing
the sentiment which has been ringing through our hearts a
hundred thousand times during this long journey, that no
country is for us so precious as the land over which the
Stars and Stripes Avave, and that nothing about going
abroad is so altogether delightful and satisfactory as the
getting home again.

CHAPTEE XXXI.
OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF OUR JOURNEY — THE FAVORING
HAND OF PROVIDENCE — LOOKING BACKWARD — HAPPY
MEMORIES.
The Great Object of our Journey — Australian Conventions — Unbounded
Enthusiasm — The Y. P. S. C. E. Pennant — Happy Memories — In
Marvelous Japan — A " United Society " for China — Among the Hin
dus—Obstacles in Turkey — Forbidden Words — Arresting St. Paul
— Black-Eyed Spanish Endeavorers — Encouragement in Paris — Good
News from the Mother Land — Steady Growth of Endeavor Societies —
Impressions of Missionaries and Their Work — Cruel Misrepresentations
— Globe Trotters' Slanders — A Diversity of Gifts — AVhat are the
Hardships of a Missionary to-day? — The Most Hopeful Feature of Mod
ern Civilization — The Anglo-Saxon Missionary and His Noble Work —
Saving the World through Jesus Christ.

HE great object of the journey
which has been described in the
previous chapters, was the ad
vancement of the Christian En
deavor movement in foreign
countries, and the visiting of
missionary stations in heathen
and Mohammedan lands, for the
purpose of acquainting members
of these societies in America
more thoroughly with the needs
and priAdleges of missionary
Avork all the Avorld over.
In every particular, the journey has been more blessed of
Providence and prospered by God's favoring hand than I
dared to believe Avould be possible Avhen we undertook it.
(582)

ENTHUSIASTIC AUSTRALIANS. 583
No accident or serious detention or illness delayed us during
our year of travel. No appointment was missed, no address
failed to be delivered among the tAvo hundred and flfty
which made the j^ear such a busy one. Everywhere the
Christian Endeavor idea was received with surprising favor.
To be sure, we Avent only where Ave were asked to go, and
addressed meetings that had been previously arranged by
kind friends. And yet with all these favoring circumstances,-
I did not dare to hope for such enthusiastic conventions, such
eager throngs of earnest young men and women, and such
large favor as Avas accorded to this youngest child of the
church. The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor.
In Australia the conventions Avere, beyond all precedent,
large, enthusiastic, and inspiring. The greatest audience
rooms that could be obtained in such places as Melbourne,
Ballarat, Adelaide, and Brisbane, were crowded to their
utmost, and the spirituality and intense earnestness and devo
tion of the conventions were quite as noticeable as the large
throngs which attended them. The conventions usually be
gan, practicaUy if not formally, at the raflway stations, Avhich
were usually crowded Avith singing Endeavorers when we
arrived, and who carried their good cheer and gladness and
contagious enthusiasm with them wherever they went.
Even the railway officials and the city authorities of the
town often seemed to catch the spirit of enthusiastic youth,
and accorded us courtesies and kindly consideration which
were far beyond the merits of the humble individuals who
came to advocate the claims of Christian Endeavor ; and yet
we reaUzed from the beginning of our journey to the end,
that not the individuals who brought the message, but the
society which they represented, was honored, and every
greeting and welcome and hearty hand-grasp told chiefly of
the love which the young people and their pastors and their

684 A SIGNIFICANT WELCOME.
fathers and mothers had for this new agency which God has
raised up " For Christ and the Church."
One of the most signiflcant of these welcomes, and one
whose kindly thoughtfulness we shall never forget, greeted
us when first we reached the bluff headlands of Sydney
harbor, where we saw a steam launch approaching our
steamer, flying two pennants, from one masthead the Stars
and Stripes, and from another a flag bearing the letters
" Y. P. S. C. E." From that moment to the day when, six
weeks later, we sailed from the harbor of Brisbane for the
port of Hong Kong, when the last sound that we heard Avas
the sweet music of Brisbane Endeavorers, singing, " God be
with you till we meet again," every hour was crowded Avith
pleasant experiences, and lives as a happy memory of the
great Island Continent.
During the months which have elapsed between that visit
and the date of the publication of this book. Christian
Endeavor Societies have multiplied at a most gratifying rate
throughout all the colonies, untfl noAv there are probably at
least seven hundred societies in this group of sister nations
which lie under the Southern Cross, whfle their numbers
are increasing quite as rapidly in the land whose people look
up at the familiar constellations of Orion and the Great Bear.
In the mighty land of Asia Avith its uncounted millions,
in Japan, China, and India, Ave found a large and most en
couraging fleld also for the growth of Christian Endeavor
societies. In Japan, that marvelous new land which is
springing forward by leaps and bounds into the famfly of
great nations, there are already some forty Endeavor soci
eties established in connection with the missions of the
various Protestant denominations. Several little booklets
have been translated into Japanese and Avidely circulated,
and much hope is expressed by missionaries and native

OUR AVORK IN INDIA AND CHINA. 585
pastors of the future efficiency of this ncAv agency of Chris
tian nurture.
In China a United Society of Christian Endeavor has
been established with its headquarters at Shanghai. The
constitution and other literature has been translated into
several dialects, and two or three largely circulated Chinese
papers give constant attention, by means of special depart
ments, to the Avork of the society and its possibilities in the
Flowery Kingdom.
In India much satisfactory Avork is being planned and
executed. The constitution of the society has been trans
lated into Tamfl and Telugu and BengaU and Hindustani
and Marathi. Many vigorous societies already exist in con
nection with various missions, and it is hoped that a multi
tude of struggling communities of Christians and out-
stations where only a few can be gathered together, and
Avhere there are not a sufficient number of Christians to form
a regular church, an organization of this sort Avith its pledge
and its obligations of voluntary religious service may do
much in the way of establishing flrm and steadfast the
much-tried faith of the new converts.
In Turkey aU reUgious work meets with greater obstacles
than in any other land at the present time, and the Christian
Endeavor Society comes in for its full share of persecution
and opposition. Many societies have been broken up, and
many others which would have been formed have been
delayed because of the threatening attitude of the govern
ment toward every possible plan for the union of young
people in religious work.
A humorous story is told to the effect that a copy of the
Epistle of Paul to the Galatians was submitted to the
Turkish censor for his inspection. He was at once greatly
alarmed and incensed thereby, for he interpreted it as being

586 A HUMOROUS STORY.
a letter to the inhabitants of Galata, which is one of the
divisions into Avhich the modern city of Constantinople is
divided. In his hot wrath he at once sent a constable to the
mission to apprehend this agitator Paul who was writing in
cendiary letters to the people of Galata. When told that
the said Paul had been dead for fully 1800 years, and that
he could not answer to the summons of the Turkish govern
ment, and that all the people to whom he wrote had
also been in their graves for almost two mflleniums, his
wrath cooled somewhat, and he concluded to dismiss his
posse of constables without arresting the apostle.
This story simply shows, as do other instances which
were related in previous chapters, the absurd prejudices and
stupid ignorance with which religious work of aU kinds has
to contend in the Ottoman Empire, and the end of many of
these stories is more tragic than humorous.
Stfll, in spite of these obstacles. Christian Endeavor work
and all other kinds of Christian enterprise are holding on their
way, waiting and hoping for better times in the Dominion of
the Turk.
In Spain, we found among the Spanish girls and their
teachers enthusiastic Endeavorers, and these girls wfll carry
the plans and methods of the society, as they flnish their
education and return to their home, into all parts of the
ancient kingdom of Castile.
In France, too, Ave found very much to encourage us. A
large mass meeting drawn from the seA^en Christian En
deavor societies of Paris, AA'hose numbers have since been
multiplied, greeted us in the hall of the Y. M. C. A., and
hundreds of French Protestant pastors and religious Avorkers
came together in one of the halls of the ]\IcCall mission to
talk over the adaptabflities of Christian Endeavor to then?
Avork and Avorkers.

JIEAIORABLE MEETINGS. 687
My visit to England on this occasion, Avhich is not re
corded in the chapters of this book, since it is so difficult to
find "fresh fields and pastures ncAv" in the well-traveled soil
of the mother country, was the third which I have made
Avithin the last foAv years in the interests of the Christian
EndeaA'or movement, and Avas by far the most encouraging
of aU. I had the pleasure of speaking to large and enthusiastic
audiences in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Ipswich,
GlasgoAV, Belfast, Chester, and Liverpool, and of attending
the third annual Christian Endeavor convention of the
British societies — an admirable and memorable meeting.
Everywhere I found the same spirit, devotion, and loyal zeal
Avhich I am accustomed to flnd in America, and everywhere
pastors gave me their assurance, that though the growth of
the society was less rapid at first than in its home-land, it
was destined to do no less good and to become quite as im
portant a factor in church life in England as in America.
Within a year of the time of this last vdsit, the societies
have multiplied from less than three hundred to nearly seven
hundred ; strong Christian Endeavor Unions have been estab
Hshed in most of the leading centers of population, and the
outlook for the future Avas never so bright as to-day.
I must add, in a few words, my general impression in re
gard to missionary work the world over ; for to rectify and
clarify and intensify these impressions in my own mind and
the minds of others who might read or hear of this journey,
Avas one great object for Avhich it Avas undertaken. I rejoice
to say, that with every mile of the journey my belief in mis
sions and missionary Avork has been strengthened, my love
for the missionaries increased, and my confldence in the flnal
triumph of the religion of Christ throughout all the Avorld
has been more surely established.

688 MISREPRESENTATIONS OF SHALLOW CRITICS.
Many and cruel misrepresentations of missionaries and
missionary Avork find voice in the press, and in the comments
of returned travelers Avho often return to their own land
hostile and abusive of missionary work. I have paid my re
spects to these globe-trotters more than once in the course of
these chapters, and no language is too strong Avith Avhich to
score their superficial and utterly false estimates of mission
ary service.
These unsympathetic travelers' Avho live in luxury and
comfort at home, aa'Ho go abroad simply for their own con
venience and pleasure, who have never sacrificed a dollar for
the advancement of the cause of Christ, presume to criticize
with vulgar sneers these brave soldiers of the Cross who have
given up home and native land and dear friends, and many
of them brilliant prospects in life, for the love which they
bear the Master and the men for whom He died. Patience
ceases to be a virtue Avhen one considers these shaUow critics
of men Avhose shoe latchets they are not worthy to unloose.
To be sure, missionaries differ as good men differ everywhere
else in intellectual capacities, in natural gifts, in education,
and in devotion. Some are far more efficient than others.
Some are more AvhoUy given to their work than their feUow
missionaries, and some are more successful and have larger
results to show for the time and money and force which thcA'
expend in foreign lands.
But this is only saying Avhat is equally true of ministers
and Christian people at home. There is a diversity of gifts,
but it is also true that a genuine spirit of loyalty to Christ
and of love to men, and a desire to lift them up, in evervAvay
pervades the ranks of missionaries of the cross in all lands,
and is their one controlling motive. During the past year I
have visited these faithful men and Avomen in China and
Japan, in Northern India and in Southern India, in the Sand-

MISSIONARIES AND THEIR WORK. 589
wich Islands and Samoa, in Egypt and Syria, in Turkey,
Greece, France, and Spain, and Avithout hesitation I can say
no nobler, more devoted, self-sacriflcing, and inteUigent body
of men and women has it ever been my privilege to meet in
any land. In wit and worth, in intellectual capacity and
administrative abflity, in intelligence and in a large, states
manlike grasp of the situation, their numbers cannot be
dupHcated, I believe, in any Avalk of life.
They are, for the most part, weU-equipped before they
leave home ; they have been broadened by travel, polished by
contact with many men of many minds, sweetened by love
and devotion to Christ, ennobled by supreme and lofty life
purposes, and are men and women who are fit to stand
before kings, for they have felt the ennobling touch of ser
vice for the King of Kings.
Much of the misapprehension of missionary work arises
from the fact that the difficulties and hardships are not in
these days as they were at first, largely physical and mate
rial. Few missionaries now suffer for lack of sufficient food
or good clothes or convenient shelter. Some of them live
almost as comfortably as they would live at home, and their
abodes, clothing, and table fare are above the average of the
debased tribes among whom many of them Avork. This dif
ference of social condition has given rise to many of the
cruel jibes of unsympathetic and slanderous travelers, who
accuse the missionaries of living in stately style in palaces,
whfle their converts grovel in miserable hovels.
But the object of the missionary, as I understand it, is to
lift his convert out of the hovel, and not to degrade himself
to the level of the heathen. While it is true that the average
missionary lives for the most part in comparative comfort, it
is not true that he lives extravagantly or lavishly. He is
always wflling to go down among people for whom he works;

590

LAST WORDS.

he is willing to wear their clothes, eat their coarse fare, and
live in their filthy huts, if necessary, and he often does all
these and more ; at the same time he is constantly trying to
raise the people unto whom he has been sent to a higher
level of respectability and Christian manhood.
I am glad to have my last words in this book testify to
the fact that missionary work of aU the various Protestant
denominations in all parts of the world is, in my eyes, the
most promising and hopeful feature of modern civflization.
For the enlargement of commerce, for the spread of civiliza
tion, for the uplifting of humanity, for the redemption of the
world, there is no such force as that which is exerted by the
Anglo-Saxon missionaries of the Cross, the ministers of the
Lord Jesus Christ.

^ ^i^

•-«*'

A

c/U^cl^tCu ^\ ft,L;<^

/./- .

-. r. APH E.\T RE;5 S LV f .IK THIS WORK .
Jt'USHERb h.af-.tf.:rd,oonn.

Jis ^een ©hrougli a Roman's (ggss.
INTRODUCTORY. |HEN a man and a Avoman are
journeying " Around the World "
together they are likely to see
all things through different
glasses. The man may, per
haps, haA'e a clearer vision and a
wider outlook; but the woman,
with more leisure, and with
more opportunities in some di
rections because she is a woman,
will notice little things which
have escaped the larger Adsion,
and yet are none the less interesting.
It is with the hope that some of the experiences and
observations of an American woman in strange lands may
be interesting to her sisters in the home-land, that she has
ventured to present these glimpses of life and scenes among
the women and chfldren of other countries than ours, as
they appeared to her.

(593)

dbo/yvvz^ ^- ^/tayni^

as Seen ttbrougb a TOloman's Eges.
CHAPTEE I.
A AVOMAN'S LIFE AT SEA — HOUSEKEEPING IN A FLOATING
PRISON — LIFE UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS.
At Sea — Housekeeping on a Small Scale — Daily Life in a Floating
Prison — A Consoling Stewardess — Tea and Toast in a Stateroom —
A Bed that Never Kept Still — ^ Lucid Intervals — Moving into a New
Home — Arranging our Belongings — Going to Housekeeping Eighteen
Times in One Year — The Back Yard of an Ocean Steamer — Sighing for
a Pine Stump — A Chinese Steward, A Malay Quartermaster, and an
English Captain — Life on the Chingtu — Under the Southern Cross —
A Velvet-footed Steward — Doleful versus Pleasant Memories.

kOW many pleasant memories of
our life on ocean steamers come
back to me as I write! After
traveling for weeks on land, liv
ing in trunks meanwhile, stop
ping two days in this place and
one in the next, a homelike feel
ing always came over me when
we moved our worldly posses
sions into the little stateroom of
a steamer and settled down to
housekeeping for a few days.
To be sure, it was housekeeping on a smaU scale, but only
think of the delight of having one room that you can caU
your very own for eight or ten or twelve days, and on one
occasion even for twenty-four days. Just think of it, O ye
(696)

596 RESTFUL DAYS.
housekeepers, who can spread your possessions over a whole
house and keep them there all the time, with never a
thought of change save that of pleasing your own fancy.
Life and travel on land was usually a rush, a hurry, and
bustle; conventions and tea meetings, sight-seeing, recep
tions and visiting, wrestling with trunks, Avaiting at railroad
stations, changing cars, whirling through city streets in
jinrikishas, or jolting in jutkahs, led us a busy life on shore.
How welcome the change to an ocean steamer and the
prospect of a sea voyage, long or short, after four or flve of
such busy weeks ! Hoav quiet it seemed, as we pushed the
steamer trunk under the berth, after taking out the favorite
articles that would be wanted flrst and disposing of them in
different places ! To be sure, my wrapper was usuaUy the
first thing needed, and my berth the first place I sought,
but what of that ! After the bustle and confusion on land,
was it not restful to spend a few days in perfect quiet on
the berth or the lounge ? As for food, what could be more
soothing than the cup of tea and the slice of cold toast
served by the hands of the stewardess three times a daA'.
What could be more comforting than her assurance that
"the sea is growing smoother and probably it will be quite
calm by to-morrow." True there are no visible indications
that the sea is growing calmer, and you think it is quite
probable that she only says it is from a desire to make herself
agreeable; still, it is a comfort to have her say so, even if
you do not believe it. AU this may suggest rather a doubt
ful kind of rest, but it was rest nevertheless, and I always
looked forward longingly to my floating prison.
Besides, I frequently had lucid intervals Avhen I could go
on deck and enjoy life Avith the rest of the party that made
up our little Avorid. There Avere days Avhen the sea was
calm and peaceful and I could promenade up and doAvn the

THANKFUL FOR SMALL FAVORS. 597
deck, and sing in my heart that old tune our fathers and
mothers sung years ago,
" Fly like a youthful ha-a-;irt or roe,
Over the hi-i-i-ils where sp-i-i-i-ces grow."
There were rough and starmy days, it is true, Avhen the
ship tossed and pitched, and I lay on my back in my berth
Avith closed eyes, and sighed, " Oh, for a lodge in some vast
Avflderness," or, " Oh, that I had wings like a dove." But
even this Avas an episode, and if the voyage Avas long a few
days of seasickness noAv and then served to break the monot
ony. Think of this, ye AA'eary housekeepers, Avho can take
your rest every night, and every day if you will, in a bed
and keep stfll, and in a room which boasts at least one good-
sized AvindoAv !
If I have learned nothing else in this long journey I have
learned to be thankful for small mercies.
There was ahvays a pleasant excitement in going on
board a steamer and starting on a new voyage. Where Avas
our stateroom situated ? Was it an outside room ? Was it
on the pleasant side of the ship, Avhere Ave could have the
port open ? Hoav far was it from the dining-room and hoAv
far from my seat at table? Hoav many seconds would it
take to go from the table to my berth if I should suddenly
decide that I did not want any breakfast ?
Then came the pleasure of unpacking our goods and
settling down to housekeeping again.- It Avas like moving
into a new house. We looked about to see how large the
stateroom Avas, what conveniences it possessed, and con
sidered hoAV to make the most of them. This berth shall be
my room ; this net Avhich holds so many little things shall
be my bureau ; this hook shall be my Avardrobe, or " almira,"
as they call it in India. Perhaps I can even have two hooks.
This trunk Avill make a good divan Avhen it is pulled out
36

698 HOUSEKEEPING AT SEA.
?
from under the berth, and it can be pushed under again
when it is not Avanted. This lounge shaU be the spare- room,
for the use of the family, or for an occasional guest. This
little shelf under the glass shall be the dressing-table, and
this camp stool the easy chair. This narrow space between
the berths and the lounge wiU hardly do for the parlor, but
perhaps we'll call it the hall, and, when the divan is puUed
out, it will do for the family sitting-room. " Now we are all
settled," as a certain small boy, the little pflgrim of the
party, always said when he had everything arranged to his
satisfaction, and Ave were ready to safl.
It is not everyone who has the privflege of going to
housekeeping eighteen times in the course of one year, and
each time in a different land, or, rather, on a different sea.
The spirit moves me to write a Avhole chapter on the Yellow
¦Sea, and a doleful chapter it would be, I am afraid. I would
like to write a chapter on " Housekeeping at the Equator,"
or " Life on the Tchichatchofi^," or " At Home on the Arafura
Sea," or " Days in the Doldrums," but a compassionate spirit
comes over me and I forbear.
A certain traveler, who has recorded his experiences,
speaks in praise of the one steamer on which he traveled, and
his delight in coming back always to the same steamer and
the same traveling companions ; but his experience was not
ours, and to us a change of steamers seemed much pleasanter.
Perhaps, however, this may not decide the question, but maA^
only serve to show a commendable desire, both on his part
and on ours, to be content in whatever state (or steamer) one
is compelled to take, and to accept the gifts the gods provide
and be thankful. Suppose your stateroom is smaU, and on
the wrong side of the ship so that the ports must often be
closed. Never mind, you will have better fortune next
time, and " it's an ill wind that bloAVs nobody good." Sup-

THE BACK YARD OF A SHIP. 699
pose your fellow passengers are not the most agreeable people
in the worhH Never mind, they are only going on this
voyage, and you will leave them at the next port. Suppose,
on the other hand, that they are all very agreeable people,
and you are sorry to leave them. Never mind, you wfll
make other delightful acquaintances on the next steamer,
and we shaU be sure to meet them again, sometime, some
where ; and oh, how many delightful friends we shall have
before the year is over ! Suppose you do not flnd the table
or the service quite satisfactory. Never mind, they are sure
to be better next time.
Think, too, of the delights of keeping house in a different
place each day. Oh, tired housekeeper in the dear home
land, did you ever weary of looking out upon the same
sights day after day ? Did you ever get tired of the tree in
front of your kitchen AvindoAV and Avish it were a post or a
rock, a flower-bed or a fountain ? Did you ever weary of
looking into your neighbor's back yard? Then you will
understand how delightful it is to find your house in a new
place every rnorning. If you do not like your front yard
to-day, you can console yourself with the thought that it
wfll be your back yard to-morrow. If you are not pleased
with the Banda Sea this week, you knoAv you will have the
Sulu Sea next week. If Thursday Island does not suit you,
wait a day or two and you can have Friday Island, or
Saturday Island.
It is true that all water looks very much alike, whether
it is the Yellow Sea or the Bosphorus, but then you can
always assure yourself that it is not the same, and that you
are looking out upon a different place from yesterday.
I must confess to an occasional wild desire to tie our
house to a tree somewhere, and keep it still for a little while,
and to certain unappeased longings for an old stump that I

600 A MOTLEY CREW.
have often looked upon as a disflguring blot upon the land
scape. There were days when I should have considered that
stump " a thing of beauty and a joy forever," if I could have
been set down suddenly beside it. However, this only goes
to show what discontented creatures we mortals are. When
we have a stump we sigh for something else, and when Ave
have something else we pine for a stump. Such is Hfe !
I remember three or four different steamers which
seemed to me particularly delightful. I shaU never forget
the day I climbed up from the Tarshaw — a Httle steam-tug
that had brought us out from Brisbane — over a high rafling
and down on to the deck of the Chingtu, thence into our
stateroom, which Avas to be our home for three weeks. We
were all tired after a long series of meetings for nearly six
weeks, and the prospect of rest was comforting. As we
arranged our household effects in the little stateroom, what
a delightful feeling of peace and quietness came over us!
No more meetings, no more hurrying to catch a train, no
more packing and unpacking, nothing to do but to rest and
keep house for three weeks Avith everything new and
interesting, for the steward of the Chingtu was a Chinaman,
the quartermaster was a Malay, the captain was an English
man, with a general disregard of his h's, and the passengers
were mostly Chinese.
Nothing can be more delightful than early morning in
the tropics. After the hot night in the little stateroom
below it was refreshing to go up on the cool deck, and,
recHning lazily in a steamer chair, look off upon the land and
sea, for we were inside the Great Barrier reef and Avere
almost ahvays in sight of land. Often a soft footfall on
deck announced John Chinaman, our table steAvard, bringing
a cup of delicious tea and some dainty Httle pieces of toast,
hot, crisp, nicely buttered, and tempting to the appetite.

DAILY LIFE AT SEA. 601 %
At half-past eight came breakfast in the cool dining-saloon,
Avith punkahs moving briskly to make a breeze, and Chinese
steAvards, in their Avhite jackets, flitting about the room
attending to the wants of the passengers.
The forenoons always passed quickly with reading and
writing and sewing, for this was an easy, lazy kind of house
keeping with no household cares to attend to. Before it
seemed possible that it could be so late would come the call
to tiffin, and we were always ready to respond, for there is
nothing like a sea breeze to give one an appetite. Then an
afternoon nap, a game or two of quoits on deck, a little writ
ing, and, almost before we know it, it is " eight bells," and
John Chinaman again appears with more tea and toast.
Strange as it may seem, we are ready for it again, and the
tea is so good and the toast so hot and so daintfly served
that it would tempt the poorest appetite.
Ding, dong, — twobeUs. Can it be five o'clock ? Almost
dinner time, and we have only time enough for a little
promenade. How deUghtful the cool, evening breeze, and Avhat a
gorgeous sunset ! If morning in the tropics is always
beautiful, the long, moonlight evenings on the steamer's
deck are no less so, with the Southern Cross looking doAvn
upon us ! It was hard to realize on those warm summer
evenings that our friends at home were shivering in the chill
November blast, while we sat lazily .in our steamer chairs
enjoying the cool soft air and dreading the descent into our
stuffy little stateroom.
Then there was the Empress of China with its large,
convenient staterooms, which seemed to us like palatial
apartments, with its broad, shady decks, and little English
children running about under the care of their Chinese
Ammahs. There was the Japanese steamer, the Yokohama

602

MEMORIES OF OUR LIFE AT SEA.

Ma/ru, on which we spent such a dismal Christmas on the
Yellow Sea, and the Peru, which carried us safely through
a Typhoon on Thanksgiving eve, and the Eussian steamer
TchickatchofiF, one of the very pleasantest steamers of them
all, and the Victoria, and many others which might be
mentioned. All of these floating homes of ours have pleas
ant memories connected with them, besides not a few gloomy
ones. What a fortunate thing it is that the doleful memories
fade away and only the bright ones Hnger.

CHAPTEE II.
AMONG THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN OP JAPAN — A JAPAN
ESE PRAYER MEETING — NATIVE POLITENESS AND ETI
QUETTE—MY EXPERIENCE WITH CHOPSTICKS.
Compensations — The Brown Babies of India — The Yellow Babies of
Japan — Queensland Lucy — A Forlorn Little Black Girl — The Hottest
Place on Earth — Home Life in Japan — Going to Prayer Meeting in a
Jinrikisha — A Shuffling, Awkward Gait — Where We Left Our Shoes
— Japanese Etiquette — A Cordial Welcome — Bowing to the Floor
— " Rock of Ages " in Japanese — An Interesting Meeting — Struggling-
with a Foreign Language — "Sayonara "to our Friends — Japanese
Refreshments — Eating Bean Soup with Chopsticks — A Difficult
Operation — Drinking Soup from a Bowl — Delusive Beans — New Uses
for a Sleeve — A Japanese Pillow — The Professor of Flowers.

OME of the compensations that
come to a woman who for the
sake of taking a journey around
the world has given up her own
home, are the delightful glimpses
she gets of other homes, and the
pleasant acquaintances made with
other women and children. If
she cannot cuddle her OAvn babies.
she can cuddle the little brown
ones in India or Ceylon, or the
yellow ones in China and Japan,
and in talking with theu- mothers she cannot help but feel a
sympathy Avith home life in other lands such as never could
have been awakened by books or travelers' tales.
One of my flrst native acquaintances was little " Queens-
(603)

C04 LITTLE " QUEENSLAND LUCY."
land Luc3' " (as Ave called her), on the Mariposa, the steamer
Avhich carried us from San Francisco to Sydney. Her sad
little face Avas the blackest one I ever saw, and she was so
thin and poor that I Avondered if she ever had enough to
eat. As I became better acquainted with her, I found that
the sober face could Hght up with a smile, and that in spite
of her forlorn appearance she had a comfortable home. She
was an aboriginal Australian girl from North Queensland,
who had been adopted by Avhite people, who cared for her as
if she had been their oavu. She was a most forlorn Httle
miss to look at, however, and seemed to have very little idea
of life as happy, rolicking chfldren in America know it.
During all those twenty-four days on the Mariposa, I never
saAv her run about and play like other chfldren. She would
sit alone most of the time with her patchwork in her lap,
sometimes scAving a little, sometimes reading, and often with
her hands folded, doing nothing. She seemed to be happy,
however, in her own quiet Avay, and an occasional walk on
deck seemed to be recreation enough to satisfv" her. After
Avards we saAV more of these aboriginal inhabitants of
Australia at Port DarAvin. They are repulsive looking
people, most of them as thin as skeletons, aU of them with
very black faces, but seeming happy and contented Avith
their lot in life.
It seemed to me that Port Darwin Avas the hottest place
on the face of the earth, but a few European people manage
to live there, and the natives seemed to like the terrific heat.
Groups of mothers and children sat on the ground basking
in the sun. The mothers seemed to be very fond of their
black babies, and some of them Avere bright looking: little
tots, though none Avere pretty. In every other country I
invariably found bright, pretty, attractive children, no
matter Avhat their color or their costume might be, but

HOME LIFE IN JAPAN.

605

among all these little black babies in North AustraHa I did
not see one that looked kissable or even as though it could
be made so.
So far as I could learn, but little is being done to civilize
or Christianize these people, though I believe there are a few
missionaries among them. My heart Avent out to those poor,
dirty, black babies, and I wished Avith all my heart that I
could do something for them.
We had delightful glimpses
of home life in Japan. On one
occasion I was invited by a mis
sionary lady to attend a wo
men's praj^er meeting in Yoko
hama, an invitation I was glad
to accept. She caUed tAvo jin
rikishas, which soon appeared
at the door, and after the jinrik
isha men had wrapped their
red blankets about us we started
off. This is a comfortable Avay
of traveling ; indeed, it is almost
the only way in Japan, though
there are now a few horses in
Yokohama, and also in Tokio.
Hoav I Avish the friends at
home could have seen the people we met that afternoon!
The demure Japanese maidens with their pretty costumes
and obis, shuffling along on their Avooden shoes ; the little
boys and girls Avith babies tied on their backs, — the babies'
heads bobbing about in every direction as the chfldren ran
and played ; the old Avomen Avith their wrinkled faces and
their black teeth ; the jinrikisha men waiting at every cor
ner, standing by their little carriages or sitting between the

A JAPANESE MOTHBIi.

606

AN ANIMATED HAYSTACK.

shafts with their gay blankets Avrapped about them ; and
occasionaUy a stylish Japanese lady out for a ride, or an
Englishman out for a walk.
It began to rain a little while we were upon this our first
journey in a jinrikisha, and while Ave AA^ere quite well pro
tected by the covering overhead, our carriers protected
themselves by putting on their rain-coats — not mackin
toshes, dear reader, or rubber
monstrosities such as we wear
at home, but a cheap and con
venient affair made of rice-
straw, which sheds the water
like the feathers of a duck.
Thus thatched, our jinrikisha
man looked like an animated
haystack. His rain cloak cov
ered him almost from head to
heels. In the crowded street
he was continuaUy shouting,
at the top of his voice, "Hi-
hi," which may be translated
into English, I suppose, as
"Look out there," "Get out
of the Avay," in order to clear
a passage for our little procession.
Some of the Japanese maidens Avho passed us in the
street were very pretty, though I wished they might learn
to walk more gracefully instead of shuffiing along in an
awkward manner in their clumsy wooden shoes.
After a half-hour's ride, we arrived at last at the private
house where the class-meeting was to be held. Before
entering we sat on the doorstep, took off our boots, and put
on some soft felt slippers which Ave had brought with us.

A JAPANESE MAIDEN.

fAi;ni.\OE KIDIXd IN JAPAN-A JINKIKISIIA MAN IN HIS RAIN CLOAK. (From an iiLitantaneous photograph.)
ThiiH thatchctl, unr jiiiril<ishii man looked almost like an animated haystack. Ilis rain cloak covered him almost from head to heels. In
ilie crowded streets he was contintially shouting at the top of his voice, " Ili-hi I " which may be translated into English, I suppose, as " Look
out there," *' GJet out of the way," in order to clear a passage for our little procession.

AT A JAPANESE PRAYER MEETING. 609
As soon as we were inside the house, I understood why cus
tom required us to take off our boots, for the floor, which
was covered with dainty, soft straw matting, was immacu
lately neat and clean.
Japanese women wear wooden shoes, which are held on
by a strap across the top of the foot and are easfly slipped
oft' at the door ; they wear only stockings on their feet while
they are in the house.
A little company of Avomen sat on the floor waiting for
us. They politely pointed to some cushions which had been
placed ready in anticipation of our coming, whereupon we,
too, sat doAvn on the floor. It was a cordial Japanese wel
come, our hostesses bowing clown until their foreheads
touched the floor. "We returned the salutation as Avell as we
could, though it was not easy to do it gracefuUy.
The meeting opened by singing the hymn, "Eock of
Ages." My hymn book contained a translation of the hymn
in Japanese, and I joined with the others in singing:
" Chiyo heshi iwa yo,
Ware wo kakushi ne,
Sakareshi waki no,
Mizu to chishio ni,
Waga tsumi toga wo,
Aral Kiyomeyo."
I realized as never before that we were aU children of
the same Heavenly Father and that Christian men and
women owe something to their brothers and sisters in other
lands, whether we recognize the obligation or not.
Christ's last command, "Go ye into all the world and
preach the Gospel to every creature," simply means, find out
your brothers and sisters everywhere, help just as many of
them as you can, tell them of their Heavenly Father and of
His love for them. I wish that those people Avho think mis-

610 MY FIRST LESSON IN JAPANESE.
sionaries are not accomplishing anything could have been
present at this little meeting !
One after another Japanese woman took part. They
spoke earnestly and freely of their religious experiences. I
could not understand their words, but I could see the rever
ent spirit they shoAved and could unite with them in prayer.
When I was asked to speak a few words to them I re
alized the difficulty missionaries experience in struggHng
with a foreign tongue. It is never easy to speak through an
interpreter. As this was my first day in Japan I had not
learned even one word of their language. The meeting
closed with another hymn, and after many salutations and
much bowing we departed.
Sitting on the doorsteps once more, we put on our boots,
and my missionary friend turned and said to our hosts,
" Sayonara" (good-bye). I thought I could manage as much
as that, so I, too, said "Sayonara," and the good sisters
laughed and boAved and seemed much interested.
Afterwards I visited other Japanese homes, and aU were
attractive places. Clean, Avhite, soft matting on the floors,
the ever-present vase of floAvers, the pretty screens, even the
absence of furniture Avas pleasant to one who had been
accustomed to see so many over-furnished and over-decorated
American homes.
I cannot say that I enjoyed Japanese refreshments. I
took several lessons in the use of chopsticks, but never be
came proficient in managing them. It must require years
of practice to use them skillfully and gracefully.
I remember especially one experience soon after we
reached Japan. I had been at a Avoman's prayer meeting
and at the close refreshments were brought in. We sat on
the floor in true Japanese style, not a very comfortable
fashion for one Avho is not accustomed to it. Our hostess

AN EMBARRASSED GUEST.

611

served refreshments on little square trays of lacquer work,
setting one tray on the floor in front of each guest. On
each tray Avas a little bowl of bean soup, a pair of chop
sticks, a cup of tea, some little cakes, tAvo oranges, and four
persimmons. I looked at mine in despair, for I Avas not
hungry and did not knoAV just how much native etiquette
required me to eat.
Evidently the bean soup was the thing to begin Avith. I
watched the others and then began on mine as they did on

JAPANESE BBPRESHMENTS.
theirs, eating the beans and the rice cakes with the chop
sticks and drinking the soup from the bowl. The rice cake
was too big to eat whole and it was CQrtainly rather hard to
manage with the chopsticks. Moreover the soup was sweet
ened, and as I prefer salt and pepper in soup, I did not en
joy it very much.
However, I struggled with my chopsticks and flshed out
as many beans as I could, and drank the soup. But those
beans were a delusion and a snare. After wrestling with
the chopsticks and at last catching a bean I Avould raise it to

612

CHOPSTICK GYMNASTICS.

my lips, my mouth would open to receive it— and down
Avould go the bean into the soup. Then I would drink a
little soup and try again. I succeeded in capturing several
beans, but it was the work of time and patience, and at last
I gave it up ; for I found that the others had aU finished
theirs and had leisure to observe my frantic efforts.
The tea was very strong, Avithout milk or sugar, but it
was served in such dainty china cups that one could hardly

WASHING DAA' IN JAPAN.

refrain from drinking it. The little cakes, too, were good,
and the oranges and persimmons delicious, but must I eat
them all?
As I watched the other guests, I saw that they ate what
they pleased and put the rest in their sleeves. My sleeves
were not large enough to be very useful in that way, but
my missionary friend produced a handkerchief which she
had thoughtfully provided for the occasion, and the left-over
dainties were carried home.
After we had partaken of refreshments came the leave-

A CEREMONIOUS LEAVE-TAKING.

613

taking, Avhich could not be hurried. One at a time the
ladies rose and boAved to the floor, flrst before the hostess
and then before each of the other guests. As there were
tAventy-five or thirty ladies present it was soine time before
the proper amount of boAving was done ; but at length the
last farewell was spoken and stepping into our jinrikishas
we were trundled through the narroAV streets and back to
our home.
I have never experi
enced sleeping in a Jap- ^^-j^;
anese bed, but I saw a
good many of them and
they looked inviting.
Thick comfortables were
laid on soft, Avhite straAV
matting, but the hard,
round pfllow did not seem
conducive to rest. The
Japanese wooden pilloAv
never had any attractions
for me, though unless one
tries to copy the fearful
and wonderful style of
hair-dressing adopted by many Japanese Avomen there is no
need of using it.
A missionary school in any foreign land is ahvays an in
teresting place. I remember going into one of them in
Japan just at the time when the floral professor (if that is
his title) was giving lessons in the arrangement of flowers.
It was a pretty sight to watch a demure Japanese maiden as
she took up a Httle floAver stalk, or a dry tAvig broken from
a leafless tree, and tried it flrst in one position and then in
another, turning her head prettily to one side and then to

STREET CHILDREN OF .TAPAN.

614 THE ART OF ARRANGING FLOWERS.
the other, all the time looking anxiously at the flower to
study the effect, Avhile the professor looked gravely on or
offered an occasional suggestion.
From one pupil to another the professor Avent just as I
have seen a teacher of drawing go around among his pupfls,
giving a word of praise here, offering a suggestion there, or
a criticism somewhere else. Hoav earnestly the girls Avorked
at their task, and how pleased they Avere with a word of
commendation !
At first, one is inclined to question whether their time
might not be more profitably employed ; but as I saw the
results of their skfllful and artistic work in the graceful ar
rangements of floAvers, and thought of some of the useless
fancy Avork I had seen girls do in American homes, it
seemed to me that this part of a Japanese maiden's educa
tion is Avorthy of all praise and could Avell be foUoAved by
girls of other lands. Such a tasteful arrangement of flowers
was new to my American eyes. "Who would have thought
that four or flve dry tAvigs broken from a leafless tree would
make such an artistic bouquet, or that a A'ase Avith only
three sprays of chrysanthemums could be so beautiful (
After looking at these dainty vases, each one holding but
three or four sprays and only one kind of flower, each spray
arranged Avith careful reference to the others and all droop
ing in the most graceful manner, — how coarse and aAvkward
our great round American bouquets seemed, Avith all kinds
of floAvers, arranged often Avithout the slightest regard to
color or harmony. I shall never look at another bouquet
Avithout thinking of the beautiful flowers, always artistically
arranged, that can be seen in so many homes in Japan.
Twice a Aveek, in some of the schools, the girls spend an
hour Avith the floral professor in stutlying this science ; for it
is a real science as they take it v\\ and there are definite

NOT FAR BEHIND THEIR SISTERS.

615

rules governing not only the arrangement of each flower
spray, but its relation to all the other sprays and to the vase
that is to hold them.
Let it not be thought, however, that this is the only or
most important study taken up by the Japanese girls.
Many of these mission schools would rank well Avith our
own high schools and seminaries at home, and the girls at
Kobe College or the Doshisha would compare very favor
ably with the girls at WeUesley or Smith or Yassar,

CHAPTEE IIL

AMONG THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF INDIA — NATIVE
DRESS AND ORNAMENTS — LIFE INSIDE A RICH HEATH
EN HOME — HEATHEN DOLLS, BRIDES, AND WIDOWS.
Children in Ceylon — Persistent Little Beggars — Curly -Headed Karo —
"My so Poor" — Pretty Brown Babies — Little Hands Stretched out
for Alms — Ceylon Dandies — Picturesque Waiters — A Race of Beg
gars — Tipping an Army of Attendants — Starting on a Journey at
Three o'clock in the Morning — A Wagon Ride of Seven MUes in the
Moonlight — Through the Streets of Vellore — Arrival at a Mission
Bungalow — A Native Girl's Boarding School — A Bridal Trousseau in
Red and Yellow — Life Inside a Heathen Home — Our Reception by the
"Bo" — A Peep into the "Baboo's" Apartments — A Display of
Jewelry — An American Doll in India — A Heathen Doll — Mrs. Gnmdy
in a Zenana — Ten- Year-Old Brides — Child Widows.
NE does not always realize, when
looking at the little spot on the
map marked "Ceylon," what a
big island it is. In Colombo I
Avas much interested in the little
brown-faced, black-eyed chfldren,
many of them beggars, and the
most persistent, irresistible beg
gars I ever met. Whenever any
of them intercepted me in my
walks I Avas AvhoUy at their
mercy, for it Avas almost impos
sible to say " no " to such winsome, tiny pleaders.
I remember especially one small maiden who told me her
name Avas Karo. Her tangled curly hair fell to her
shoulders, her black eyes sparkled, and her merry brown
(616)

A MERRY LITTLE BEGGAR.

617

face made a most interesting picture. She Avore a bright red
cloth, gracefully draped, and her brown arms and hands
Avere covered Avith bracelets, bangles, and rings.
She Avas among the flrst to greet us when we left the
steamer, and persistently foUowed us to our hotel, which
was only a few steps aAvay, begging all the time. " Mama,
give my a penny, my so poor.
Please, mama, just one penny.
I make you salaam, you just
give one penny, my very hun
gry, my so poor, you got plen
ty money, my so hungry."
Then she Avould draw down
the corners of her mouth and
put on a pensive look, and in
spite of herself would break
into a merry smfle. She did
not appear to be suffering
from hunger, neither was she
very poor as one reckons pov
erty in Ceylon, yet it was
almost impossible to resist her
importunities. She was quick
to see my helplessness and was
always lying in wait for me.
The Httle brown babies in Ceylon were attractive, too.
Almost every woman carried a baby sitting astride her hip,
whfle she threw one arm around it to keep it from falling,
and the little creatures looked around with as much interest
and wonder as any American baby Avould show.
It was simply impossible to pass them by without speak
ing to them, and at least patting their chubby hands.
GeneraUy the little hand opened for a penny, for they learn

COLOMBO CHILDREN.

618

MEN IN GIRLISH ATTIRE.

to beg before they learn to walk. It is comparatively easy
to resist a larger beggar, but when a little hand is stretched
out for alms the temptation to give is very strong.
The people in Colombo are all interesting, because so
many different nationalities are represented — Hindus, Por
tuguese, Malays, Singhalese, and many others, each one
seemingly more picturesque than the others. Many of the
men wore their hair long and
done up in a pug behind, whfle
others wore round combs on
the top of their heads, such as
Httle girls at home often wear
to keep their hair out of their
eyes. Imagine a tall, fuU-
bearded, imposing looking
man, brown faced and bare
footed, dressed in a white jsick-
et, with a plaid skirt reaching
down to his knees, a round
comb on the top of his head,
and a generous pug behind.
This is a picture of all the
waiters at the hotel, and they
make the dining-room so pic
turesque that there seems to
be no need of using other decorations.
Then there are men Avith long, black, curly hair parted
in the middle, and falling in ringlets on their shoulders, and
young men of eighteen or nineteen, who look so much Hke
girls that it is hard to tell whether they are men or women.
All wear ear-rings, and many of them wear bracelets, too.
One man was adorned with half a dozen sflver bangles hang
ing from each ear, just such bangles as young ladies in

A HAPPY MOTHER.

FIVE MILES IN A LITTLE BOAT.

619

America Avould wear for bracelets. The babies wear little
or no clothing, just a string of beads around the neck, and
sometimes a string around the Avaist, but plentifully decorated
with bangles and bracelets.
The A'oyage from Colombo to Tuticorin is short, and it
hardly seemed worth while to unpack our good's and set up
housekeeping again just for a single night. Everyone had
promised us a rough passage, but we were wonderfuUy

PITIFUX. LITTLE CREATURES.

favored and succeeded in getting across without seasickness
or tribulations of any kind.
It was a trial to me to have to anchor flve miles from
land and go ashore in a small boat. The water was rough,
but Ave aU survived a thorough shaking up and rejoiced to
find ourselves safe on terra fi/rma again.
What a difference all at once in the people and their cos
tumes ! The pretty babies, merry chfldren, and curly-headed
men had vanished, and in their places were men, women, and

620 FEEING A REGIMENT.
children, with brown faces, to be sure, but neither good look
ing nor picturesque. The men Avere dressed in white cloth,
instead of bright red skirts, and the babies were most pitiful
little creatures. The women and girls were adorned with
cheap brass finery, ear-rings, finger-rings, toe-rings, anklets,
bracelets, necklaces, and nose jcAvels, all in such abundance
that they reminded us of the old nursery rhyme,
" Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes.
And she shall have music wherever she goes."
There were no EngHsh-speaking people to be found, and
we were not well versed in Tamfl ; but by means of gestures
and the use of vigorous English, we succeeded in engaging
some of the natives to carry our luggage to the custom house,
and then to the station, and after a hasty tiffin and a ride
through the hot, dusty Httle town, we were glad to flnd our
selves seated in the train for Madura.
Then what a retinue of men gathered around us begging
for remuneration for some real or fancied service which they
had rendered us 1 There were the four men who had brought
our luggage to the station ; the man who gave us our tflfin ;
the man who waited upon us at table ; the man who cooked
the food ; the men who stood by and watched us eat it ; the
punkah- waUah, who pulled the punkah for us ; the man who
stood by our luggage Avhile we were gone to tiffin ; the man
who drove us around the town ; the men who Hfted our lug
gage from the platform into the car ; the man who picked
up a key which had been dropped ; the man who stood and
looked on Avhile he did it ; to say nothing of aU the men who
wanted to do something for us, and Avho also Avished to be
remembered. Fortunately none of them expected a large sum, and they
were paid off and dismissed just as the train started on the
long, sloAV journey to Madura.

A TRIP TO A^ELLORE. 621
A visit to the girls' boarding school at YeUore afforded a
glimpse of girl life in India at once interesting and instruct
ive. We started from Madanapali at three o'clock in the
morning. The boys of the mission school were up, even at
that early hour, to see us off, and, escorting us to the gate,
they sung us a farewell song as we started off in the moon-
Hght for the scA^en-mfle drive to the railroad station, Avhere
we arrived just after sunrise.
The cars of the South Indian railway are not the most
comfortable in the Avorld, and after a long, hot, dusty ride,
we arrived at YeUore at three o'clock in the afternoon. To
one who only looks at the map, the tAvo little dots which
stand for Madanapali and YeUore look very near together,
but the journey takes nearly twelve hours.
After lingering around the station, wondering how we
were going to flnd our missionary friends, we were accosted
by a native, dressed in a white cloth and a white turban,
who held a piece of paper in his hand. He could not speak
a word of English, nor we of Tamfl, but as the paper bore a
famiUar name we took it for granted that he had been sent,
and foUowed him to a carriage which stood near by with
seats for three.
He indicated to us by gestures that we were to get in and
drive, and although we had no idea which way to go we
seated ourselves in the carriage and drove off, the native
running on behind or on one side, occasionally going on in
front to clear the way. After a delightful drive through
the cool, shady streets of YeUore, we drew up at last in
front of the mission bungalow, where a cordial Avelcome
awaited us.
The Girls' Boarding School numbers about one hundred
and fifty girls from fourteen to twenty years old. If the
mission schools of India had done nothing else they would

633 BOARDING SCHOOL GIRLS.
be deserving of liberal support for having saved so many
girls from the evils of child marriage. But that is very
little compared with what the missionaries have done and
are doing for the girls and women of India.
Some of the older girls were getting ready to be married,
and were making their wedding skirts of bright yeUow cloth
with large red flgures. Others were busy with their books
or their scAving.
A run over the building, and a peep into the sleeping
rooms, dining-room, kitchen, and school-room foUowed.
All the girls sleep in one large room. Each bed consists
of a long, wide board over which is laid a piece of straw
matting. The board is laid on the floor, the matting is
thrown over it and the bed is made. Each girl has also
a sheet and a blanket that she can use if the weather is cool.
A large brass dish, about the size and shape of a wash basin,
and a brass drinking cup, comprise aU the dishes furnished
to each girl. Kice, curry, and plantains constitute the usual
food. They are neat in their habits, and although they eat
with their flngers, they do so in the prettiest and daintiest
manner. As for clothing, all they really need is a cloth of
any bright color, which they know how to drape very grace
fully. Many of them, however, do wear a skirt as weU as a
cloth. Toe rings and anklets seem to answer aU the purpose of
shoes and stockings.
These girls receive a fair education, learn to sew and to
care for their homes and famiUes, and best of all, most of
them return to their homes as Christian girls.
Going one day with a missionary friend in Calcutta to
visit some of her Zenana friends, I had a rare opportunity to
see life in a rich heathen home. The house was a large
three-story one with an open court in the center into Avhich

THE "BO" and her TREASURES. 633
rooms opened from all sides of the building. A servant
answered our knock at the door, and in reply to our
inquiries told us that the " bo " would be glad to see us up
stairs. I wondered Avhy the "bo" did not come to meet us,
but soon discovered for myself that it would not have been
proper for anyone in her scant attire to come doAvnstairs.
She met us at the top of the stairs and invited us into her
private apartments on the third floor. She was proud of
her parlor, which was furnished with three chairs, a mirror,
and a book-case with glass doors, in which she kept her
special treasures and bric-a-brac, consisting of little pewter
and china tea sets, toy match-safes, cheap vases and images ;
and on the top shelf, far out of reach of little fingers, was
an American doU which had been given as a prize for regu
lar attendance and good behavior at the mission school.
The little oAvner of the doll looked at it wistfuUy, but she
was never aUowed to touch it. " Do you ever play with
it ? " I asked, through the interpreter who accompanied us.
" No, she only looked at it." When I asked if she had a
doll that she did play with, she brought me such a poor con
sumptive image of green and red clay that my heart was
moved with pity, not only for her but for the little brown
maidens all over India, who know so little of the delights of
childhood. " Would I Hke to see her jewelry ? " the mother asked me.
Of course I would. Whereupon, she brought forth her jewel
box, and spread before us such an array of gold and sflver
and precious stones and strings of pearls rarely seen outside
of a jewelry store. There were rings, bracelets, anklets,
nose jewels, earrings, flnger rings, and chains, most of them
of solid gold or sflver. The heavy bracelets were of solid
gold, and so were the costly anklets and earrings which
looked as though they would be burdensome to wear.

634 "MRS. GRUNDY" IN INDIA.
" Would I let her look at my jewelry ? " she asked. Cer
tainly I would. I shoAved her my Avatch and plain gold
ring, remarking, that Avhfle her ornaments were very pretty,
I should think they would be troublesome to carry, adding^
that mine were all I cared to Avear.
" Yes," she said reflectively, " Your way is the best and
my bracelets and anklets hurt me, and I do not like to wear
them very often, but must sometimes or people would not
know I had them." So I found that even in the Zenana
Mrs. Grundy holds sway.
Before we left the " bo " invited us into the " baboos "
apartments, which were on the second floor and were much
more elegant than his wife's. She also showed us her son's
room, and a poorer, smaller one where her Httle daughters
slept. Then escorting us to the top of the stairs, she bade us
good-bye, and we were left to flnd our way out alone.
So we left this poor " bo " to live her secluded life, the
monotony of which was broken only by combing her hair,
doing a little embroidery, gossipping with neighbors who
chanced to call, and looking at her jewelry.
We were in India in February, the popular month for
weddings, and almost every day we heard the sound of music
announcing a wedding procession, and often saw the youth
ful bridegroom and his tiny bride. My heart was moved
with pity for these Httle brides. The little Avidows, too,
aroused my deepest sympathy. Just think of it, mothers at
home ! Think of a ten-year-old Avidow, doomed to a life of
misery and Avoe, because it is supposed to be her fault if her
husband dies. When I think how Ave cherish and guard our
own daughters at home, doing our best to keep sorrow and
trouble away from them, and then remember these poor
little children, my heart cries aloud for help to rescue the be
nighted Avomen and innocent children of India.

CHAPTER lY.
A WOMAN'S JOURNEY ACROSS TURKEY IN A WAGON — A
jMEMORABLE NIGHT IN A TURKISH KHAN — TURKISH
VILLAGE LIFE — INTERESTING PERSONAL EXPERIENCES.
Learning by Experience — My Traveling Companions — "Coming out
Strong " — Mark Tapley's Opinion of the Sea — Our First Experiences in
a Turkish Custom House — Searching for Concealed Books and Papers
— A Novel Cavalcade — In a Turkish Khan — A Memorable Night —
Rooming with Donkeys, Camels, and Horses — Our Wash Basin —
Over the Taurus Mountains — An American Spring Wagon in Asia
Minor — A Dismal Prospect — Filth and Dirt Everywhere — Sickening
Sights in VUlage Streets — Hobson's Choice — In a Native House —
Putting an Armenian Baby to Bed — A Cheerful Infant — A Peep into
Paradise — Dirty Turks — Eating out of the Same Dish with Them —
A Plague of Fleas — Some Pointed Questions.

T is hardly possible for women in
America, accustomed to journey
ing in express trains and luxuri
ous drawing-room cars, to under
stand just what a journey of sev
eral hundred miles across Turkey
in a wagon was to the one " lone,
lorn woman" who accomplished
it, and whose companions were
seven men ! Hoav she counted up
the comforts and blessings of life
in the homeland, and how often
she resolved, that if she ever lived to see her native land
again she would never complain of any hardships or tribula
tions which come to an ordinary housekeeper in America t
How many lessons she learned of thankfulness for smaU
•^ ( 635 )

626 "jolly" EXPERIENCES.
mercies ! How soon she learned, too, that it was possible to
live without a good many things that most people count
among the necessities of life.
The whole trip across Turkey from the landing at Mersin
to our departure from Constantinople, was what Mark Tap-
ley would have called " jolly." " I'm always a thinking,"
said that cheerful philosopher, " that with my good health
and spirits it would be more creditable in me to be joUy
Avhere there's things a going on to make one dismal. It may
be a mistake of mine, you see,' but nothing short of trying
how it acts, wfll set it right. I don't beHeve there ever was
a man as could come out so strong under circumstances that
would make other men miserable as I could, if I could only
get a chance."
Some of our experiences on the Mediterranean Sea were
very like Mark Tapley's description of Hfe at sea. ^
" The sea," he continues, " is as nonsensical a thing as
anything going. It never knows what to do Avith itself. It
hasn't got no employment for its mind, and is always in a
state of vacancy. Like them polar bears in the wfld beast
shows, as is constantly nodding their heads from side to side,
it never can be quiet, which is entirely OAAdng to its uncom
mon stupidity,"
" Is that you, Mark ? " asked a faint voice from another
berth. " Its as much of me as is left, sir, after a fortnight of
this work," Mr. Tapley replied. " What with leading the
life of a fly ever since I've been aboard (for I've been perpet
ually holding on to something or other, in an upside doAvn
position), Avhat with that, sir, and putting a very little into
myself, and taking a good deal out in various ways, there
ain't too much of me to SAvear by. It is creditable to keep
up one's spirits here. Yirtue's its OAAmreAvard. So's jollity."

RUDE CUSTOM HOUSE OFFICIALS. 637
To at least one of the three pflgrims, the Mediterranean
Sea has left some jolly memories. The landing at Mersin
Avas " joUy " ; trying to walk doAvn the steps from the steamer
into the little boat Avhich takes passengers ashore, was not the
easiest thmg in the world ; the tossing about on the rough
waves, and the landing at the steps, and the rough greeting
from the Turkish Custom House officials, aU these things
were sufficiently " joUy ".
No one Avho has not tried it can quite realize how trying
to a woman's soul was the treatment given to those trunks
in that Turkish Custom House. Unfortunately for the pil
grims, one of the flrst discoveries made by the inspectors was
a book. Then, alas for the travelers, and alas for the trunks !
Such rummaging, such unrolling of bundles and opening of
boxes and packages, such searching for concealed books or
papers, untfl at last every book had been seized, and our
crumpled clothing and crushed bundles and packages were
tossed back into the trunks in one confused mass ! From the
flrst moment those rude inspectors opened our trunks until
our dismantled and disheveled belongings were throAvn into
them again, one woman lost all the respect she ever had for
the Turkish government. And that experience in the Cus
tom House was only a sample of all the courtesy and kind
ness, or the lack of it, that was shown to the travelers by
Turkish officials in all that memorable journey across the
country. I think we all breathed a great sigh of relief when at last
we shook the dust of Constantinople from our feet, and
sailed away through the Dardanelles to Italy and the Ionian
shores. The journey began at Tarsus, that ancient city where
Paul was born. The wagon, which was a palatial affair for
Turkey, was very much Hke an emigrant's wagon, a large.

€38 THE "EMIGRANT TRAIN."
heavy, baggage wagon with a white canvas top. The pro
cession started off in great style, flrst the Turkish " Zabtieh "
" saddled, bridled, and fit for the fight," as the nursery
rhyme has it, then the white-covered wagon which carried
the three pflgrims and their missionary friend who was also
guide, conductor, and driver, with bedding and food enough
to last the four for a week; and last, the clumsy native
Avagon which carried the trunks, two Turks for drivers, and
Ali, our Turkish servant and trusty helper.
The jouncing and jolting and the thousand and one dis
comforts, big and little, soon began to make themselves felt,
and Ave reaUzed that we had a chance " to come out strong."
Twenty or twenty-flve mfles a day would not seem to
the American mind to be much of a journey, but it made up
in quality what it lacked in quantity. When at noon the
wagon drew up before a Turkish khan, it was a great sur
prise, to one of the wayfarers at least, to be invited to alight
and go inside to eat dinner.
What ! go into such a place as that, eat dinner there, rest
there ! l^ever, so long as she had the spirit of a woman
Avould she so demean herself ! " Come one, come aU, this
rock shaU fly from its firm base as soon as I," was the feel
ing in her heart as she meekly answered, " Would it not be
pleasanter to sit right here in the wagon and eat our lunch
in the open air ? "
Her suggestion was accepted and the flrst dinner was a
pleasant picnic lunch. But Avhen twflight came and the
wagon drew up before another khan even more unattractive
in its appearance than the first, and a dismount was
inevitable, the one forlorn Avoman in the partj^ felt like a
veritable " Mrs. Gummidge " Avhen she found it was reaUy
expected, not only that she Avould go into such a place, but
that she would eat her supper and sleep there.

A NIGHT IN A TURKISH KHAN. 639
HoAvever, there Avas no help for it, and she meekly
accepted the situation, and gathering her skirts about her,
she tiptoed her way through the dirty stable-yard into a
little loAv, dark room opening out of it, and tried to be
-jolly". Who shaU describe that first night in a Turkish khan !
It is impossible for any American woman to appreciate the
situation. Imagine a Httle, Ioav stone buflding mostly under ground,
with a square courtyard in the middle, out of which three
rooms open. One of these rooms was assigned to the pfl
grims, one to the Turkish drivers and a few other Turks, and
the third to the donkeys and camels and horses.
Can you imagine what the best room in the khan is
like ( The carpet is of a dark brown color and is what is
commonly known as dirt. If our visit had happened to be
in rainy weather it Avould have been mud.
There was one smaU mercy to be thankful for, it did not
rain. Along each side of the room, about two feet from the
floor, were wooden platforms about four feet wide with just
room enough to walk between them. On one of these plat
forms we set up a narrow cot bed, and arranged our
trunks, boxes, and food; for all our valuables must be
kept in the same room with us or they would probably
be stolen. On the other platform were two other tipsy
cot beds which also served for sofas- and tables.
The waUs of the room were of rough stone and mortar,
frescoed with smoke. The cefling was of rough rafters also
frescoed with smoke. The chandelier was a talloAV candle.
This room was to be not only sleeping-room, but sitting-room
and dining-room and parlor for all of us ! The other occu
pants of the room were fleas and other objectionable room
mates. This room was a fair sample of the quarters in

630 THE WEARIEST WOMAN IN TURKEY.
which we ate, and slept every night during the whole
journey across Asia Minor. There was abundant oppor
tunity " to come out strong ".
In the morning there was sometimes a mountain stream
to wash in, and that was a great luxury. Oftener there was
a tin or brass vessel, something like a teapot, from which a
little water could be poured on our hands and an unsatis
factory apology for a bath could be obtained.
Nevertheless, the journey over the Taurus mountains
was delightful and interesting, and the scenery was grand
enough to make up for aU the weariness, discomfort, and
annoyance. All that any wagon could do, that wagon did ;
but there are limits to the possibilities of even an American
spring wagon in Asia Minor, and when the road was
absolutely impassable, as was frequently the case, we were
obhged to walk. Anyone who could have looked across the
lands and seas at the close of the last day of that wagon
journey would have seen one of the most forlorn-looking
women in Turkey.
After traveling for days across a barren, treeless plain,
we at last saw indications of approaching civilization, and it
was evident that we were drawing near to the land of
raflways. The vfllages became more frequent and Hfe more
interesting. We had been riding all day from six o'clock in
the morning tfll six o'clock at night, stopping at noon at a
little Koordish vfllage for lunch, which we had eaten in the
wagon. Our lunch consisted of bread — which was rather
dry, after having been carried in the wagon for sis davs —
some native butter, which, at its best Avas never inviting,
boiled eggs, cold meat, and doughnuts, all of which were
stale enough after their long journey. It Avas cold in the
wagon, but it was so much cleaner than any other place
in the neighborhood that it seemed desirable to stay there.

AN UNATTRACTIVE OUTLOOK. 631
AH, our trusty servant, succeeded in finding a fire some
where, sufficient to brcAV some tea, which made the repast a
trifle more cheerful, for the tea at least was hot. The
village Avas one of the poorest and dirtiest on the route.
From my seat in the Avagon were to be seen, by actual
count, thirteen dead sheep, a dead camel, a dead dog, and a
dead donkey, aU lying in the viUage streets, left there for
nature to take care of. Some of them had evidently been
dead a good many days. Not a pleasant outlook, to be sure,
nor one that contributed to the enjoyment of our frugal
meal. It hardly seems possible that people could really live
amid such surroundings. And yet the little, dirty, ragged
chfldren trotted about the streets, picking theu- Avay past
dead animals and live dogs with equal indifference, and
apparently as happy as any other children anyAA^here, and
looking hale and hearty, too, in spite of the filth and dirt.
We often found compensation for all the jolting over
rough roads in the great beauty of the scenery, after leaving
the barren plain and getting into the hflly region again.
With a north wind blowing in our faces all day Ave found
ourselves so cold, as the night drew near, that we were glad
enough when at last we reached the little village where we
were to spend the night, knowing fuU well what kind of
quarters we should probably find.
Did it ever happen to you, my sister, to take a long, cold,
wearisome journey, and then to find when you reached home
at night, a warm, pleasant room, with a bright, cheery open
fire, and a good hot supper waiting for you ? Did you not
forget all the weariness of the journey in the pleasant home
coming ? Yisions of that sort entranced us occasionally as
we journeyed, but alas, they were only visions. What we
usually found at the end of the day's journey was the same
38

632 A NIGHT IN A STABLE.
little dirty Turkish vfllage of low stone bufldings, occupied
by surly Turks. I remember one night, especiaUy, when the
owners of the miserable house were so cross that they either
could not or would not flnd the key to the only guest
chamber in the vfllage. They were tired and hungry, for it
was the month of " Kamazan ", — they had been keeping fast
all day — and they did not feel amiable enough to do any
thing for those "Giaours".
At last, however, after patient waiting, the key was found
and the door unlocked. Passing through the stable, which
was worse than any American stable could possibly be, then
up a flight of dirty stone steps, we were ushered into a Httle
room directly over the stable. Leaving me to my OAvn
meditations, the men hurried out to unpack the wagon. I
looked around for the cleanest place in the room, but there
wasn't any. There was no place to sit down, so I stood up,
glad that it was so dark that I couldn't see how dirty it was.
How I longed for my own ceUar at home, or my neighbor's
barn chamber ! I even felt a sympathy for the prodigal son
when he envied his father's servants. Fortunately there was
not much time for the dolefuls, for soon the tramping of feet
on the stairs proclaimed the arrival of the bed and trunks
and provisions. It seemed to be absolutely necessary either
to laugh or cry, and Avith a " Herculaneum effort," as Mrs.
Partington would have said, I decided to laugh. The cot
beds were soon set up, and one of them served for a table
and the other for a lounge. The one small candle gave a
feeble light, reminding one of those lines of Mflton's,
"No light but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover scenes of woe."
The canvas-covered, rickety cot bed made a table that
was never to be depended upon, and neither was it so
attractive as some ; but Avhen it was covered Avith a table-

IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WORSE. 633
cloth it answered the purpose very well, and harmonized
Avith the surroundings. Ali succeeded in getting some hot
water, and made something which he averred was cocoa, and
though we had neither milk nor sugar to go Avith it, we
supped and ate our dry bread and stale butter, and tried to
be thankful that things were no worse.
When the door of the room was shut it kept out some of
the odors of the stable. There were three tiny little win
dows in the room, each about eight or nine inches square
and completely covered with paper tightly pasted on.
After bearing it as long as Ave could, we broke some of these
paper panes for the sake of fresh air, though the outside air
was not much better than that on the inside.
Perhaps my readers may wonder why we were willing
to sleep in such a place, but such wondering is easily an-
wered. In the first place it must be said that we did not
sleep much, we only stayed there, and in the second place it
was only "Hobson's choice" — it was that or nothing.
That was the best room in the village, and the next village
was twenty mfles away.
We were thankful when the night was over and were
perfectly wflling to rise early in the morning and go on our
way. The experience of each day and night was very
much aHke. We enjoyed the interesting gUmpses of home
life to be seen nowhere else than on such a journey as this,
and one or two days spent with native Armenian families
added variety to the experiences. We were cordially wel
comed in these native Christian homes and Avere treated
Avith great hospitaHty, and although Armenian Avays are not
American ways, and some of their customs Avere not easy to
adopt, yet we retain only pleasant memories of those visits
with our Armenian friends.
It was an interesting sight to see a tiny Armenian baby

634 IN ARMENIAN HOMES.
put to bed in one of these homes. A little blanket was first
laid in the cradle, then a small sheet, then some Avarm, dry
sand, and last the baby. The sheet, blanket, and two or
three little quilts Avere then drawn around him, and the
baby Avas securely tied doAvn, blankets and quflts and aU,
and there he must lie tfll morning, Avith no poAver to move
anything except his head. The little one usually accepted
the situation cheerfully and submitted Avith good grace.
The Avomen in these Christian famflies were treated
kindly by their husbands, but their position was an inferior
one. They waited upon their husbands and their guests
at the table, and then took their own meals by themselves
afterwards. They appeared happy and contented, but to an
American woman their lives seemed hard and narrow.
But what a joyful company Ave were when the flrst part
of the journey was over, and we arrived at the homes of
missionary friends in Csesarea and Talas. It was like a peep
into paradise to come into a clean Christian home.
How we appreciated the common, every-day mercies that
we had so often forgotten before. Did you ever count up
your mercies, good housekeepers at home i Do you know
how good it is to live in a house and sleep in a bed ; Are
you sufficiently thankful for clean dishes, or for the privi
lege of making them clean? Are you grateful for cold
Avater and a clean glass to drink it out of? Did you ever
think how pleasant it is to have a plate all to yourself to eat
breakfast from, instead of having one dish set in the center
of the table for all the family to dip their spoons into ; Are
you thankful enough for the good bread that you eat every
day? Do you ever thank the Lord that you have not a
house full of fleas? Are you thanlcful that your neighbor
has clean hands so that you can shake them Avithout a
shiver ?

DISCOMFORTS OF THE MISSIONARIES.

635

If my experiences on this overland journey through
Turkey serve to make any one more thankful for the bless
ings of home, or to make any of us feel more sympathy for
our missionary friends who have to endure many more dis
comforts than have been hinted at here, and who endure
them cheerfuUy and gladly for the sake of the work, then
the purpose for which this brief record has been written will
have been accomplished.

CHAPTEE Y.
GOOD-BYE.
•GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN."
The Departure from San Francisco — The Crowded Wharf — " All Ashore
that's Going Ashore" — The Song of Farewell — The Captain's Encour
agement — Good Cheer for All — A Never-to-be-forgotten Song — In
Moreton Bay — On Board the Chingtu — Our Friends on the Launch —
Chattering Chinese — A Voice from the Tarshaw — An Unappreciative
Listener — Another Precious Memory — At a Railway Station in Oka-
yama — Japanese Courtesy — The Train Waits for the Song — In a
Chinese Schoolroom — The Lively Little Junior — The Dear Old Hymn
in Chinese — In a Little Hill Town of India — Departure in the Early
Morning — Surrounded by Ghosts — "God Be With You" in Hindu
Dialect — A Brown -faced Boy Choir — Sweet, Lingering Echoes — A
Blessed Memory of Friends in Distant Lands.

^HE good steamship Mariposa is
just ready to safl from San Fran
cisco for Sydney. The last
warning has been given — " All
ashore that's going ashore" —
and the wharf is crowded with
people who are waiting to wave
a last good-bye to friends on
board. The last whistle sounds
and the steamer is off. But as
she starts, some earnest Christ
ian Endeavorers on the shore lift
up their voices, and the sweet strains of " God be with you
till we meet again," float on the air.
The passengers are walking up and down the deck talking
busily together, but they pause a minute as they hear the
(636 )

BEGINNING THE LONG JOURNEY. 637
sweet sounds. The captain is full of serious thoughts of the
long voyage before him, and of the great responsibility that
rests upon him, and there is a lump in his throat, so he tells
us afterwards, as he stops to listen to the words :
" When life's perils thick confound you,
Put His loving arms around you."
and the " God be with you " wiU linger in his mind for many
a day as he safls over the lonely seas.
The saflors who are hoisting the Stars and Stripes, pause
a minute as they catch the sound of
" Keep love's banner floating o'er you,"
and the timid passenger who feared the dangers of the long
voyage was cheered as she heard the reassuring words.
Fainter and fainter grow the sounds, but three pilgrims
stfll Hnger, looking longingly towards the shore to catch the
very last strains. They are starting on a long, long journey,
and their hearts are sore at the thought of all they are leav
ing behind them, and of the long year that must intervene
before their return. As the last faint
" God be with you till we meet again "
dies away upon the air, their hearts are cheered and com
forted, as they go on their way.
Perhaps those Christian Endeavorers wfll never know
just how many were helped and strengthened by their song
that hot August day, but those who were helped will not
soon forget the song or the singers. -
IN AUSTRALIA.
Once more the scene is on shipboard, but this time the
crew and many of the passengers are Chinese. The steamer
Chingtu, which has been anchored for a few hours in More-
ton Bay, is just starting on a three- weeks voyage from Aus
traHa to China. Near by is a little steam launch which has

638 THE PARTING SONG.
come from Brisbane, to bring some passengers ; and a com
pany of our friends, Avho have come so far with us, are wait
ing for a last good-bye.
The captain stands on the deck talking with one of the
passengers. The crew are busy in their several places, and
the Chinese passengers on the forAvard deck are jabbering
fast and loud. Three pilgrims on the upper deck are leaning
over the rafl for a last look at kind friends Avhom they are
leaving, and, just as the steamer starts, a voice from the Tar
shaw strikes up the tune " God be Avith you tfll we meet
again." A gentleman who is standing near, turns to the captain
and remarks : " You never had such a send-off as this before,
did you ? " " No," says the captain, gruffly, " and I don't
want to again," and they both turn away and walk to the
other side of the deck, but, as he turns, the captain cannot
help hearing the sAveet " God be with you," and it may be
that the words stiU linger in his memory to help him in some
future hour, though he cares not for them now.
The few flrst-class passengers seem indifferent, and the
Chinamen on the loAver deck cannot understand the song;
but to the three pilgrims, Avho are still looking lovingly
across the water as the Tarshaw safls away, the words have
another precious memory associated with them, and they lis
ten eagerly till the very last note dies aAvay in the distance.
IN JAPAN.
This time the scene is in a raflAvay station in Okayama.
We have taken our seats in the train, and while we rejoice to
be facing homeAvards, yet our joy is tinged with sadness as
we say a last good-bye to dear missionary friends and Jap
anese friends alike.
We Avonder when or where aa^o shall meet again these

THE SONG IN JAPAN AND CHINA. 639
friends who are so dear to us, when suddenly, the sweet
notes of " God be with you till Ave meet again," ring out on
the air. Japanese voices and American voices take up the
strain, and the Japanese railway guards stop to listen. It is
past the hour for the train to start, but Japanese politeness
wfll not interrupt the sAveet good-bye, and even the " Impe
rial Japanese Eaflway" waits for that song.
As the last " God be AAdth you " dies aAvay, the train starts
on its journey, whfle the three pilgrims go on their way
with a song in their hearts. IN CHINA.
Imagine a large schoolroom not very unlike an old-
fashioned New England schoolroom. The desks are not of
the latest style, and the room is not very elegant, but it has
been prettily decorated. On the AvaUs hang bright-colored
scroUs, Avith Chinese characters inscribed on them, express
ing cordial greetings. In the back of the room are pretty
floral decorations, also in Chinese characters, giving a Chinese
welcome. The rows of benches are filled with bright-eyed
boys and young men, dressed in Chinese costume, and with
their long queues hanging doAvn their backs.
In the back of the room are a few Chinese women, and
one Httle Chinese baby, who has come to this Christian En
deavor meeting, probably to represent Junior Endeavor.
The meeting is a very interesting one though it is all in
Chinese, and the little junior adds to the interest by creeping
down the aisle and expressing his applause by patting on the
platform with his baby hands.
Just before the close of the meeting, some slips of red
paper on which are inscribed some Chinese characters, are
passed around among the audience. A twelve-year-old
Chinaman takes his place at the cabinet organ, and the audi
ence all rise and begin to sing. The complicated Chinese

640 OUR GOD-SPEED FROM INDIA.
characters on the red paper are unreadable, and the unpro
nounceable words have no meaning to American ears, but
there was no mistaking the tune. Once more the three pfl
grims listened to the beautiful " God be with you," and
though they could not join in singing the Chinese words, yet
they understood the tune and in the spirit could join in the
song. Then in Chinese and English, the prayer arose,
" By His counsel's guide, uphold you.
With His sheep securely fold you.
God be with you till we meet again."
May that prayer be answered, and may aU who sung it
that day in that great heathen city be ready always to fol
low the teachings of the " Good Shepherd," and be led by
Him in the paths of righteousness 1
IN INDIA.
It was early morning in the little hfll town of Madana
pali, so early that even the flrst rays of the sun could not
yet be seen, and the moon was stfll shining brightly in the
heavens. It is three o'clock in the morning, and the three
pilgrims are just starting on their homeward journey. The
large old-fashioned missionary wagon, drawn by diminutive
white oxen, stands at the door, for they are seven mfles from
the nearest raflway station.
As they climb up into the high Avagon, and start on their
long drive, they take one last look around them. How quiet
and peaceful it all looks ! There is the mission bungalow
and the long, low school buflding, and the little church on
the other side of the compound. Suddenly, some ghostly
flgures rise before them in the moonlight and surround the
wagon. Before they have time to be alarmed, they recog
nize the ghosts, for these are the boys from the mission
school. Draped in their Avhite clothes, some with Avhite tur-

¦GOD BE AVITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN."

641

bans and some with brown caps on their heads, they have
come out at this early hour for a last good-bye.
As the little white oxen start, the boys run along by the
side of the wagon, singing their farewell :
" God be with you till we meet again.
When life's perils thick confound you.
Put His loving arms around you,
God be with you till we meet again.''
This time the song is sung in the Telugu tongue, but it
sounds sweetly in the ears of the pflgrims as they ride away
over the hflls, and they wfll not soon forget the bright,
brown-faced Indian boys who sung it.
Many more memory pictures might be given if time
and space aUowed. To these three pflgrims the song, " God
be with you tfll we meet again," will always bring up many
deUghtful memories of their journeyings in other lands.

Hawaiian Islands,]
Australia,
Jndia,China,Japan AND

Chicago or St. Louis
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The Santa Fe I^oute
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TAKE THE SANTA FE ROUTE

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The Santa Fe Route to California and the Pacific Coast is conceded by experienced travelers to be the
most comfortable and the best equipped route between Chicago and the State of California. In -ninter this line is
preferred because of its freedom from delays by snow, which naturally occur more frequently on the lines crossing
the more northerly passes of the Rocky Mountains. In summer it is cooler than any other line, by reixsou of the
high altitude of its course through New Mexico and Arizona, which lies between 5,000 and 7.000 feet above sea level.
Such an altitude, level with the crests of eastern mountain ranges, fully offsets southerly latitude, while the absence
of humidity from the air peculiar to the region has the further effect of ameliorating heat in summer and cold in
winter. This is no paradox to experienced travelers in the West. The statement needs only to be tested to be con
firmed. It ia true the desert must be crossed, but that cannot be avoided by the traveler to California, whatever
line he may choose, for the desert belt stretches across the country from nortli to south, and intercepts alike every
transcontinental railway. The passenger train schedule of the Santa Fe Route is so arranged as to cross the desert
in the night, thus absolutely avoiding the heat and monotony that attend its transit by day.
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3 9002 03097