Round the World in 124 days. ... With map and illustrations

Preface

. In raising the following account of a rapid run round the world to the dignity of a printed narrative, I feel that a few words of explanation — I might almost say of apology — are due to those who may honour me by a perusal of its contents. Amateur writing is fraught with many defects, and the professional Author and Critic may find innumerable vulnerable points of attack should they choose to hurl the dart of criticism at the work of those who have rushed into print with no previous experience. No one can be more conscious than myself of the demerits of the account contained in the following pages. Its inaccuracies are many, I fear; its descrip tions tame ; and in not a few instances I tremble to think that the better informed will sneer at what they may consider my presumptuous statements.

Under these circumstances it may be asked, Why have you ventured to embody an account of your tour in the form of a book ? VI PEEFACE. I will answer ; — primarily, for my own amusement during the winter evenings of 1878-79, and as a means of keeping on record a most delightful holiday extend ing over the first few months of 1878. In the second place, I have thought that a sketch of the route, which I took, might be of some slight service to any one purposing to undertake a similar excursion, as showing the time necessarily occupied between certain places, and the means of locomotion, together with a few words upon some of the chief points of interest in various localities. "With regard to the contents of Chapter Five, I would speak with all humility, confessing that I have read but little about the interesting islands referred to, and that what I have therein written is founded almost entirely upon hearsay, as my own observation was limited to a visit of scarcely three weeks' duration, and must therefore be necessarily imperfect.

Hearsay evidence, although given by my informants in all kindliness of heart, and with the best intentions, may, however, be scarcely considered so accurate as the material from which any one writing upon such an interesting and comparatively unknown country as Japan should be possessed of. Passing by the faults of composition, I venture to call my readers' attention to the few illustrations con- PEEFACE. VII tained in the book. They are reproductions of nine large photographs by the process of the London Auto type Company, and, in my opinion, reflect great credit on the artists engaged. I need scarcely say that as ■original photographs, they are true to the life. I had intended to trace my journey in a map on Mercator's projection, but as the tracks of some distinguished travellers of late have been set forth in this style, I have for variety adopted a map representing a bird's eye view, so to speak, of the North Pole, with an equatorial horizon.

The most southerly point touched on my route being Singapore, which is only about seventy-five miles north of the Line, admits of this delineation, and perhaps it may help to illustrate the subject treated upon in pages 226, 227, viz. losing or gaining a day in making the circuit of our globe. With these few remarks I launch my httle volume on the waters of public opinion. If there be anything in it interesting enough to while away an hour's leisure, or which may prove of some slight assistance to any one going over the same ground, I shall indeed be pleased to think that it has not been written altogether in vain. E. W. L. Exchange Buildings, Liverpool, April 1880. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. The Overland Route from London to Bombay . 1 II. Sixteen Days in India 26 III. Bombay to Shanghai, via Galle, Penang, Singapore, Hong-Kong, and Canton . . .73 IV.

Shanghai to Nagasaki, Kobi, Kioto, Yokohama, Yeddo, and Neighbourhood . . .134 V. A few Words upon Japan . . . .200 VI. Yokohama to San Francisco . . . .223 VII. A Visit to the Yosemite Valley and Big Trees of California 240 VIII. Across the North American Continent, and Home 282 Appendix ILLUSTRATIONS. Daibutz (see page 192) . . . . Frontispiece The Linga Chapel. — Caves of Elephanta . To face paye. 30 The Taj. — Agra 42 The Jumma Musjid. — Delhi 48 The Burning Ghat. — Benares 62 A Jinricksha 140 A Japanese Temple 152 Hakone Lake 184 Mirror Lake, Yosemite Valley

Chapter I. The Overland Route From London To Bombay

MONSIEUR Jules Verne, in his amusing history of the adventures of Mr. Philias Fogg, has familiarised every one with the idea of a journey "round the world in eighty days;" and although the rapidity of such travelling may appear almost impossible, yet the circuit of the globe can be made in this period of time. It is, however, only to be accomplished by a careful preparation of plans before leaving England, in order to make the advertised times of the arrival and departure of trains and steamboats correspond. If this be done, the journey might be made with comparative ease, provided no accident occurred on land or sea to upset one's arrangements. With the intention of taking a moderately long holiday, it occurred to me, at the beginning of 1878, that a run round the world might be accomplished in one hundred days or thereabouts, affording a peep at India, Japan, and North America — superficial certainly, but sufficient at any rate to gain a few general ideas as to the geography, climates, peoples, customs, etc., of B DAYS. those respective countries ; more especially, if, instead of following Mr. Fogg's example of confining himself strictly to cabins and carriages, I took every opportunity of noting foreign ports, where the steamers stayed ; and journeyed inland, when means of doing so offered.

With this intention, I left London on the morning of February lst, by the 7.40 a.m. train for Dover and Paris, etc., en route for Bombay, taking with me only two small portmanteaus in the way of luggage. The weather was cold, and the morning dark and cheerless as I drove along the London streets to Victoria Station, making the anticipation of bright blue skies and a warm sun extremely pleasing. We soon ran down to the White Cliffs, passing through country in many parts covered with snow. After the usual few minutes' delay at the Admiralty Pier, we glided out into the Channel, where a stiff north-east breeze had raised a rough sea, which speedily laid most of our passengers on their beam ends. Capital time was kept, however. Calais was duly reached, and the unhappy-looking individuals, who had suffered considerably during the passage of about one hour and forty minutes, gathered themselves together with a sense of relief, and hastened to secure places in the usual midday (12.35 p.m.) train for Paris.

After a hurried luncheon at the buffet (which by the way is nearly always crowded, noisy, and expensive at Calais, and must yield an enormous revenue to the proprietor, if an outsider may judge from the prices charged), the shouting of the veteran conductor, or whatever else his office may be, summoned us to our seats, and we steamed out of Calais by the Chemin de fer du Nord. Who does not know the face of the old Frenchman above mentioned ? — who so smilingly and courteously asks you for your London paper of the day, " as he likes to see the English news." Well do I remember the first time I crossed the Channel. The old gentleman then accosted me in broken Enghsh, begging for my news paper, which, in the delight of hearing my mother tongue, however imperfectly pronounced, I gladly surrendered.

With interest I watched him addressing other travellers, and by degrees the truth dawned upon me, that the old man was something of a humbug, and insatiable in his pursuit of literature. The number of newspapers that disappeared in the capacious pockets of his uniform was sufficient, even as waste paper, to produce a moderately fair annual income. Punctually to the minute we rolled into the station " du Nord " in Paris, and, after the usual examination of baggage, I proceeded at once to the Lyons and Marseilles Railway Station to catch the night mail train for Turin, which leaves Paris at 8.40 p.m. I had plenty of time for dinner at the station buffet. At the appointed time we were rushing southwards, as fast as the iron horse could take us. Sleeping was difficult, some of the French carriages being so ingeniously con structed with a movable arm in the centre of each seat, that even if one were fortunate enough to secure the whole side of a voiture in the hope of enjoying a DAYS. horizontal position, the turned-up arm is found to fit into the hollow of the back, and conveys in a most un pleasant manner every vibration of the train.

Should you attempt to turn over, but httle relief is obtained, and the minimised portion of space endangers a roll off on to the floor of the carriage. My vis-d-vis, or dos-drdos, as the exigencies of the arm required, was an English lady travelling alone to Florence. We became very good friends, having a common ground of com plaints — that the French do not provide proper accommodation for travelling by night on their railways. Their speed is good, their carriages travel easily, and the regulations for working the traffic are carried out with a much greater regard to the safety of passengers than in some other countries that could be mentioned ; but why do they not introduce the Pullman car ? February 2, at early morning, we came to Amberieux, and then on to Culoz, where a wash and hasty breakfast served to improve the tempers of passengers generally.

Passing, by a gradual ascent, through the beautiful Savoy country, we came to Modane shortly after midday. This is the frontier town, or rather a frontier village, on the French side, only made important from the fact of the railway to Italy via Mont Cenis tunnel passing through it. The luggage of passengers going south is searched here ; so we all had to alight from our carriages and run the gauntlet of the Custom-House officers. Honesty is said to be the best policy, but I am convinced an excess of zeal in that direction is sometimes a mistake; at any rate I thought so on the present occasion. An officer who looked at my portmanteau was exceedingly pohte, and seemed so inclined to pass it without examination on the mere statement that I had only a few cigars and no spirits, that I felt compelled to let him assure himself on the point, and opening the portmanteau disclosed a cigar box.

He seemed staggered at the sight, and quite sorry for me ; but as it was a box, although there were only about forty or fifty cigars in it, the matter had to be investigated. I was accordingly conducted into another room where about twenty Italian functionaries of one sort or another were seated in con clave. My case being stated, they deliberated for some time, and finally weighed the cigars in scales. Some half-dozen of the rascals then concocted a bill of six francs, which I was requested to pay, or abandon the tobacco. As they all looked greedily at the weeds, I preferred to pay the money, and so deprive the members of the tribunal of an opportunity of possibly defrauding the Government of the goods thus confiscated. The cold here was very great. Large masses of snow lay piled on the northern slope of the Alps, and portions frequently became detached and formed small avalanches.

We stayed half an hour for lunch, and then re-entering the train proceeded by a very steep circuitous ascent to the mouth of the tunnel, which is just over Modane on the mountain-side. The tunnel is about eight miles long, and trains usually take from eighteen to twenty minutes in passing DAYS. through, though on a previous occasion I was up wards of half an hour on the journey. The height above sea-level is 4370 feet. My aneroid showed 4320 feet, but I bowed to the superior decision and knowledge of the guide-books, and accepted the former figures. From the tunnel mouth on the Itahan side the descent to Piedmont is very steep. The scenery around Susa is pretty, and in the light of the setting sun the mountains to the north looked beautiful, their sides constantly changing colours. At 6.40 p.m. we arrived at Turin.

I went to. the Hotel Trombetta, feeling rather tired, as I had been travelling without cessation since the early morning of the previous day. Sunday, February 3. — Early this morning, I left Turin by the mail train for Bologna and Brindisi. The journey across the Plain of Lombardy was rather cold and uninteresting. My companions consisted of four Americans, who, I found, were both uncouth and un courteous. We roiled into Bologna station shortly before midday ; whence, after redistributing ourselves in various carriages, and picking up a few more Indian passengers, we proceeded at 12.20 p.m. A lady, nurse and child, three Indian officers, and myself, occupied the small box called by courtesy a first-class carriage. We felt like the young American lady after dinner, " pretty well crowded," and only occasionally had an opportunity of getting out to stretch our legs.

It is a long tiresome railway journey of 473 miles from Bologna to Brindisi, and to travel by the ordinary train is something never to be forgotten. I did it some years ago, and was twenty-one hours on the journey ! The stations are poor, and the accommodation and provision for travellers very bad. Almost the whole way down, the line runs by the side of the Adriatic, either on a low sandy beach just at the edge of the sea, or on an embankment slightly raised above the water, with an occasional cutting through rock. It forcibly reminded me of our own home railway hne between Llandudno and the mouth of the Dee, some of the httle embankments and short tunnels presenting almost the same features. Dinner at Ancona, — coffee at Foggia — and at 3.15 a.m. on the morning of February 4, we were roused from the uneasy doze that most of the occupants of the carriage had fallen into, by the shouting of porters announcing our arrival at Brindisi station (1164 miles from Paris).

After a few minutes' delay the train slowly proceeded to the quay, where the Peninsular and Oriental steamers he to receive passengers and mads. To-night, however, the train came to a standstill fully a quarter of a mile from the steamer. All was dark, dreary, cold, and wet ; nobody to receive us, except a few poor Itahan loungers, all ready to pounce upon baggage and unwary passengers. Feeling unwilling to trust any property to such keeping, I seized my impedimenta, and, knowing the geography of the place, made for the steamer. Following the side of the quay, going ankle-deep in mud through the drenching rain, in a few minutes I saw the loom of a vessel, dark and large, which proved to be the steamer " Ceylon." A DAYS. gangway, with a sohtary oil lamp attached, was the only extension of welcome accorded by the Peninsular and Oriental Company to its tired passengers.

Passing up on deck by this means, and, finding neither light nor guide of any kind, I stumbled along in the darkness, and presently found myself running up against the galley and engine-house. Groping my way in a con trary direction, I met two or three other fellow-passengers just arriving on the summit of the gangway, and hopelessly looking for some landmark or beacon to guide them. We united our forces, and presently found a way into the saloon, where a sleepy steward was making desperate efforts to hght a few lamps. He gazed upon us with bewildered looks, as if human beings were the last type of life he could have expected to see in his domains ; but the arrival of other passengers, and the angry remonstrances of the first comers, produced a live lier state of things : more sleepy stewards appeared on the scene — amongst them their chief, who actually gave orders that tea should be prepared.

Such extravagance naturally provoked the resentment of his inferiors, and a lively dispute on the subject ensued, during which I took the opportunity of going ashore again to the Pen insular and Oriental Company's agency office, for the purpose of inquiring whether any telegrams were wait ing for me with the last home news before leaving Europe. The office is in a large hotel in front of the quay overlooking the wharf, where the " Ceylon " lay moored. Not a light was to be seen in the building, but standing under the portico was a crowd of enraged passengers hammering at the huge front door, and in dignant at such treatment at the hands of the Com pany. Eventually we got in, secured baggage, letters, telegrams, etc., and returned to the steamer, which now began to show some signs of life, as the mads were being brought on board, and the engineers were getting up steam for a start.

I turned into my berth, and had several hours' sleep, during which the steamer sailed, and when I came on deck again, the land was almost out of sight. Travellers to and from India by the Overland route have seldom an opportunity of seeing even what little the Brindisi of to-day (the Brundusium of the Romans) has to show. Some years ago, when journey ing to Corfu, I was detained a whole day in the place, waiting for the Austrian Lloyd steamer from Venice, and consequently had an opportunity of looking round. It is a poor little town, with narrow irregular streets, and a scanty population. The well-known column, supposed to mark the termination of the Ap pian Way, is conspicuous, and on the outskirts of the town, almost surrounding it, are some fortifications and old walls, showing signs of antiquity, and may have been erected on those marked out in the palmy days of Roman power; but it appears difficrdt to determine this question.

Here many of the Grecian colonists landed on Italian soil before Rome was known to fame. From this port the Roman armies saded on BOUND THE WORLD IN 124 DAYS. their voyages of conquest to Greece and the Eastern countries beyond. In later years the Crusaders made it a point of departure to do battle in Palestine ; and in these modern days it is on the direct high-road to our possessions in India. February 5. — We saw the Ionian Islands, and Cerigo in the distance ; but were too far off to distinguish anything except the bare outline of coast. In the afternoon we passed the steamer " Pera," with homeward bound Indian mads. Our passengers were not very sociable. They consisted chiefly of army men and doctors, returning to India after leave of absence, and, I suppose, were suffering to a certain extent from the effects of home-sickness, to say nothing of sea sickness, for the weather, although not exactly boisterous, was sufficiently windy to raise a httle sea, which occa sionally caused the " Ceylon " to become somewhat lively ; however, we experienced a fine passage on the whole.

Thursday, February 7. — At 9 o'clock this morning we came to moorings in Alexandria harbour, having accomplished the passage from Brindisi in about seventy -four hours. As the train by which wTe were to proceed to Suez did not leave untd evening, passengers had the whole day before them to see the town, and accordingly, after breakfast, several detach ments of our party set off in small boats for the shore. The landing-place is at a flight of stone steps leading up into a large, dirty budding, where passports are sometimes asked for, and luggage searched. Not having any of the latter with us, we were soon allowed to emerge from the filthy edifice into the town itself. A first view of Alexandria from this point is certainly not pleasing. The streets are muddy in the extreme during wet weather, and during the dry season the dust and insects are insufferable.

To-day, as there had been a heavy rainfall lately, we were uncertain where to tread, so dangerously deep did the mud look all around. We had not much opportunity for deliberation. The moment we were seen, a rush of donkey boys, donkeys, and beggars was made at us, with an outside line of skirmishers in the shape of one and two-horsed carriages. Fighting our way through the inner circle, we took seats in an open four-wheeler, directing the driver to proceed to the Square, where the chief hotels are situated. To any one visiting a Turkish town such as Alexandria for the first time, the scene must be very interesting. The narrow streets, rough, and without side-walks, along which carriages are driven at a pace utterly regardless of pedestrians; the curious varieties of costume, complexion, and nationality of the passers-by; the semi-veded women, both white and black, many of them looking like torpid, upright bolsters ; the numerous beggars shouting the everlasting "backshish;" donkeys and camels, water-skin carriers and "hamals," all grouped together in every variety of dirty colour, form a scene which, when the charm of novelty has worn off, the traveller is very glad to escape from.

In a short time DAYS. we were at the Square, and after a few minutes spent in the newsroom of the hotel, I constituted myself guide to the one or two companions with whom I had left the steamer, and wTe went for a short tour of inspection of the town. We finished our walk at the spot where the Cleopatra Needle, now erected on the Thames Embank ment, lay for so many centuries. The obelisk which remains upright occupied our attention untd a heavy rain shower, and the accumulation of horrible smells, with which tins neighbourhood abounds, fairly drove us away, and we returned to the steamer. At 5 p.m. a steam hghter came alongside the " Ceylon" and took us off to a railway depot by the water-side for Peninsular and Oriental passengers, where a special train was wait ing. The carriages were p>oor, and the engine a crazy looking machine, which occupied half an hour in drag ging the train up a moderate incline of about a mile to the new station, whence all trains start for Cairo, Suez, Ismadia, etc.

The distance from Alexandria to Suez is 224 mdes via Benha and Zagazitr, and takes ten hours to accom plish, including seventeen stoppages. The first part of the journey is through the Delta of the Nile, a flat fertde country. The latter portion crosses a sandy desert. Here, in the night, the temperature became very cold, and called into requisition all our coats and rugs. The following Table shows the running time and stoppages for the Indian passengers' train from Alexan dria to Suez : — TABLE OF RUNNING TIME AND STOPPAGES FOR INDIAN PASSENGERS' TRAINS ALEXANDRIA to SUEZ. The above Time Table is for the Special Trains conveying P. & 0. Passengers 1st & 2d Class between Alexandria & Suez, in force by order of the Director General of the Railways of the Egyptian Govem These special trains, as a general rule, travel throughout the night to avoid the fatigue and heat of the day.

P and 0. S. IT. Cot. J- C. CHAPMAN, Alexandria. rarop- REMARKS. DlST. STES. STATIONS. IING IMF.. .GES. Miles. 17 Chs. 26 H. M. H. M. 1 Kafr-Dawar 35 Alexand. to Benha 30 miles per hour. J 11 24 Abou-Hoummous 22 1 10 3 Damanhoor 21 10 16 7 Teh-el-Barood .. 32 1 10 60 Kafr-Zayat 22 15 11 .> Tantah 22 1 11 30 Birket-el-Sab ... 24 1 13 70 Benha 28 10 12 I J Minet-el-Gamh.. 29 1 12 40 Zagazig Abu-Hamed 29 30 10 25 1 Benha to Suez 6 59 Tel-el-Kebir 16 1 13 70 Maksama 33 5 y 25 miles 13 73 Nefishe 33 15 per hour. 8 22 Serapeum Faid 20 1 10 10 24 1 12 27 Geneffe 30 5 11 21 Challouf 27 1 11 42 Suez 28 24 20 41 Total, 10 H. 1 M. DAYS. Friday, February 8. — Before daylight we had arrived in the terminal station at Suez town, whence trains are shunted to the Peninsular and Oriental Co.'s wharf about two miles farther on.

Whde this was being done, we came into violent collision with an engine, of which the Arab driver had been practising experiments : so it was subsequently explained. We sustained a very severe shock, and were thrown about in our respective carriages in a most alarming manner. Fortunately not one of the passengers was hurt; but of the vans at the end of the train two were partly shattered, and another was knocked off the line, while one poor employe' on the radway had his foot nearly severed from the leg. This occasioned great excitement and a delay of two hours, during which the sun rose and showed the great flat desert of sand stretching west, north, and east of us, and the Gulf of Suez lying to the south. Proceeding along a new embankment, budt out from the httle town in a southerly direction, our train came to a standstdl at the extreme end, where several docks or basins, enclosing deep water, have been con structed almost at the point where the gulf narrows into the canal.

Here lay the steamer " Travancore" which was to convey us to Bombay. The train drew up almost alongside the steamer, and as it was day light and fine weather, our unpleasant experience of embarkation at Brindisi was not repeated. I was fortunate enough to secure a cabin to myself, which, in anticipation of the hot weather generally experienced in the Red Sea, was a piece of good luck that I scarcely had expected. Standing on the deck of the steamer, I was able to trace the course of the canal some way to the north ; and beyond, at several miles' distance, apparently coming over the great sandy desert, were the masts, yards, and fun nels of two large steamers slowly moving towards us, but their hulls were not visible. The more distant one of the two was pronounced to be the " Poonah," winch left Southampton, January 24, or eight days previous to my departure from London.

We had to await the arrival of this ship, as she was to transfer her Bombay passengers and heavy mails to the " Travancore" and receive those of our present fellow-travellers who were bound for Ceylon, Calcutta, and China. We watched the approach of the two with interest, when suddenly the leading vessel, which afterwards proved to be the " Queen Margarets was seen to stop, swing round with the stream, and lie over. She had gone aground, and completely blocked up the passage of the canal, thereby stopping the course of the " Poonah." This was very unfortunate, as we were all impatiently looking forward to the " Poonah' s" arrival, to proceed on our voyage. However, there was now nothing for it but to wait untd the " Queen " made a move. It is not at all an un common occurrence for steamers to ground in the canal, and when they do so, they usually block the whole passage, and stop all navigation.

Not long since a vessel caused a stoppage of three days' duration. As DAYS. there was no chance of our getting off for some hours, I walked back along the embankment to the little town of Suez, to see what it was hke. On the way I met the ex-President of the United States, and Mrs. Grant, who were being escorted by an Egyptian official, and „oin_r the round of the harbour and docks. It was now about 11 o'clock A.M., and the heat of the sun was excessive, being in great contrast to the temperature of London, winch place I had left seven days previously ; but the change was very pleasant. Suez is a miserable place. Its streets are narrow, irregular, and uneven, without parapets or pavement ; one side frequently being several feet higher than the other. The houses are budt of stone, brick, and wood, put together anyhow.

Dogs, dirt, donkeys, children, dust, half-naked Arabs, veded negresses, etc. etc., abounded on all sides, and the compound of vile smells superadded soon caused me to beat a retreat. There is little to be seen in Suez, so, returning to the ship, I was much pleased to find that the two steamers, which had been stationary in the canal, were under weigh again. Shortly afterwards the " Poonah " came to her mooring berth ahead of the " Travancore',' when a scene of great activity immediately ensued. The crews of both steamers, and the agent's staff, busily occupied them selves in making the necessary arrangements and trans fers of passengers, mads, and specie, for their respective voyages, as quickly as possible. At 8 p.m. our vessel was ready for sea, and we steamed slowly out of port, followed by the cheers, songs, and banter of those left on the " Poonah," who certainly appeared to form a very lively party.

Though 1200 miles long, the Red Sea has only a comparatively narrow width, which varies from 80 to 120 mdes, and as its eastern and western boundaries — the respective shores of Arabia and Africa — are hot arid deserts, the south wind sweeping over them carries with it the intense heat so trying to European travellers. The Gulf of Suez extends 120 miles southward, having high land on both sides, more especiaUy on that of Arabia Petræa, where the Israelites are said to have wandered for so many years. It is almost impossible to identify the famous mountain Sinai, so numerous are the peaks of the mountain chain. The Suez Gulf terminates at Ras Mohammed, which it passes on the left, and then becomes the Red Sea proper. On the right are some low islands, on one of which the steamer " Carnatic " was wrecked in September 1869.