Around the world through Japan

Preface

These notes and impressions are pnblislied in the hope that they will recall pleasant days to those who have been around the world and through Japan, that they will prepare those who are about to make a similar tour for some of its inevitable disappointments as well as enjoyments, and that they will prove not altogether uninteresting to those who neither have been nor intend to be globe-trotters.

WALTER DEL MAR.

October, 1902.

Chapter I Page

Life on Board Ship. Gibraltar. Marseilles. Etna. Pastimes and Pools. Port Said. Suez Canal. The Red Sea. The Southern Cross. Aden. The Arabian Sea.

CHAPTEE II

Colombo Harbour. The Colpetty Road and Mount Lavinia. The Fort. The Natives. Galle Face Hotel. "The Scoundrel." Kelaniya. The Coast Railway. Galle. Peradeniya Gardens and Kandy. Tea.

Chapter III

Matale and the Coach to Anuradhapura. Bicycling in Ceylon. The Northern Road. The Ruined Cities. The Bo-tree. The Dagabas and Other Monuments. The Fever Season. The Brazen Palace. The Rock Temple. One of the World's Wonders.

Chapter IV

Dambulla. The Railway to Bandarawella. The Tea-planters. Sport. Go-as-you-please Spelling. Nuwara Eliya. The Ascent of Pedro. Hakgalla Gardens. From Ceylon to Java. Penang. Water-spouts. Singapore. A Curious Illusion. Krakatoa.

vii viii CONTENTS

CHAPTEE V

PAGE

JAVA 43

Tandjong Priok and Batavia. The Natives. Dutch Customs. The Rijst-tafel. Buitenzorg. Fruits. Mosquitoes.

Chapter VI Java 49

Sindanglaija. The Javanese and their Country. How the Dutch govern Java. Chinese Contractors. Social Equality of Half-castes. Tobacco. Regulation of Coolies. Java Tea. Dutch Jealoiisy. "India." By Road and Rail to Garoet. Lake Bagendit. Crater of Papandajan. Ferns and Orchids. Back to Batavia.

Chapter VII

Sir Thomas Raffles. The Chinese Paradise. The Straits Settlements. The Malay Language. First Impressions. Club Temperance. Fruit. Johor. Sampans. Tin Hill. Fast Coaling. Money. Justice. Servants. Malay Street. " The Liberator of the Philippines." The Effect of Climate on Morals. The Charm of the East.

Chapter XII Shanghai 109

" The Model Settlement." The Bund. Trade and Finances of China. British and Japanese Firms. Merchants and Compradores. A Wheelbarrow Ride. Chinese Soldiers. Chinese Bravery. A Fire at Sea. Money. Chinese Characteristics. The Manchus. The Mandarins. The Merchants. The Missionaries. British and Japanese Influence in China. The Empress.

Chapter XVI

Nara. Horyuji. The Oldest Temple in Japan. The Tomb of the First Mikado. Hasedera. Tonomine. Rats and Cats. Famous Cherry-trees. Koya-san, the Japanese Grande Chartreuse. Sake. A Temple Dinner. A Crowded Inn. Wakayama. The Noises of the Night. Sakai. Osaka. A Funeral. Osaka Castle. Kobe and Hyogo.

Chapter XVII

Tokushima. A Clever Landlady. A Japanese Inn. Footwear. Architecture. Tsunomine. A Temple Festival. A Cheap Entertainment. The Naruto Channel. Kompira. A Wedding. Onomichi. Miyajima. Hiroshima. Dogo. A Public Bath. Japanese Women. Matsuyama. Horses.

Chapter XVIII

The Japanese Army. The Hot Baths of Beppu. A Basha. Horses. Oita. Nobeoka. The Nunobiki Cascades. The Coast Road. Miyazaki. Jujutsu, the Art of Self-defence.

Chapter XIX

Kagoshima. Old Satsuma and New. Faience. The Road to the North. The Rapids of the Kuma-gawa. Yatsushiro-

CONTENTS xi

PAGE ware. Arita Porcelain. Old Swords. The Japanese Bruce. A Silk-factory. Coal. The Korean Question. The Anglo- Japanese Alliance.

CHAPTEE XX

THE MAIN ISLAND FROM TOKUYAMA TO NAGOYA . 224

Kobe. Across Country. " The Ladder of Heaven." A Rough Passage. Lake Biwa. A Curious Tree. Beggars. Awata. The Temples of Ise. The Ise Ondo. The Kagura. Fine Scenery. A Portland Cement Factory.

CHAPTEE XXI

Cloisonne and Porcelain. The Castle. The Hongwanji Temples. Maiko and Geisha. The Game of " Go." The "Fox" Game. Chon Kina. Shidzuoka. The Waterfalls of Kami-ide. Mount Fuji. The Maiden's Pass. Miyanoshita. Hakone. Atami. Camphor. A Fishing-fleet steered from the Shore. Over the Mountains.

CHAPTEE XXII

By Sea to Hakodate. The Japanese Navy. Hakodate. The Island of Hokkaido. The Hairy Ainos. " Good Wine needs no Bush." Aomori. The Northern Railway. Matsushima. Bandai-san. The Eruption of 1888. Flowers and Birds. From Inawashiro to Nikko.

CHAPTEE XXIII

Nikko. Art Treasures. The Gate of the Two Kings. The Main Temple. The Mausolea. Temples and Cascades. The Road to Chuzenji and Yumoto. The Valley of the Watarasegawa. An Exhilarating Walk. Silkworms and Silk. Ikao. The Railway to Karuizawa. The Volcano of Asama.

CONTENTS

CHAPTEE XXIV

_ PAGB

The Great Buddha of Kamakura. Enoshima. To Kamakura by Jinrikisha. Earthquakes. An Excursion to Kanozan. The Caves of Taya. Holidays and Fireworks. Narita. Fine Carvings. Tokyo. Ueno Park. Shiba. Flowers and Gardens.

CHAPTEE XXV

A Wrestling Match. Heavy-weights. Theatres. Danjuro. The Forty-seven Eonin. The Maple Leaf Club. A Club Dinner. Japanese Dancing. Music.

CHAPTEE XXVI

Physical Characteristics. Food. Children. Blindness. Comparisons. The Classes and the Masses. The Franchise. Politics and Parties. " Japan for the Japanese." Commercial Dishonesty. " Evasions of Veracity."

CHAPTEE XXVII

" The Social Evil." Modern Japan and Ancient Greece. The Laws evaded. Women as Chattels. Divorces. Family Life. The Only Hope. Ideals. Marriages and Births. Suicides. Crime. Police.

CHAPTEE XXVIII

Patriotism. Pride of Race. National Vanity. Cleanliness. Native and European Dress. Dirty Houses. Politeness. The Japanese Smile. The Peasantry.

CONTENTS xiii

CHAPTER XXIX

PAGE

Japan's Debt to China. How the Debt will be repaid. China's Awakening. Japanese Competition. Rise in Prices and in Wages. Chinese Labour preferred. " The Frenchmen of the East." Art. Decline of Taste. Carving. Lacquer. Literature.

CHAPTER XXX

The Circulating Medium. Banks. Industrial Companies. The Crisis of 1901. Foreign Capital required. Foreign Trade. Exports and Imports. The International Balance Sheet. The Budget. Taxes. Expenditures.

CHAPTER XXXI

Scenery. A Sterile Country. Comparisons. Characteristic Scenery. "The Three Views." Other Scenes. Roads. Climate. The Time to visit Japan. " The Smell of the East." Polluted Streams. Farming. Insects. Disappointed Globe-trotters.

CHAPTER XXXII

HAWAn AND THE PACIFIC . . . . . . .368

Yokohama to Honolulu. Honolulu. Sea-bathing. The Punch Bowl. Music and Flowers. The Pali. Poi. Sugar. Missionaries. Mosquitoes. Panama Hats. Mauna Loa in Eruption. " The Palace of the Sun." Maui. Hawaii. Hilo. The Road to the Volcano House. Mauna Loa. Kilauea. Fruit. Captain Cook. Kauai. The Hula-Hula. Annexation. A Luau. The Voyage to San Francisco. English Sociability.

CHAPTER XXXIII

The Golden Gate. San Francisco. Old Landmarks. The Social Side. "A Bottle of Wine." The Yosemite. Glacier

CONTENTS

Point. The Big Trees. The Eoad Down. California Divorces. Stud Poker. Los Angeles. "Bunkoed." "Man Overboard." The Return of the Volunteers.

CHAPTER XXXIV

ACROSS THE AMERICAN CONTINENT . . . .409 Lake Tahoe. The Central Pacific. The Rio Grande Western. Colorado Springs. Manitou. The C. B. & Q. Chicago. " The Pennsylvania Limited." New York. New York to London.

CHAPTEE XXXV

When to start. Around the World in Nine Months. What it costs. Luggage. Clothing. Cigars and Tobacco. Sundries. For Japan.

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Daibutsu of Kamakura, Japan. Photographed by Farsari,

Yokohama Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

Beach at Mount Lavinia, Ceylon. Photographed by Plate, Colombo 12 Ilest House and Coach, Anuradhapura, Ceylon

Stone Canopy, Anuradhapura, Ceylon

Thiiparama Dagaba, Anuradhapura, Ceylon. Photographed by

Plate, Colombo 30

Rock Temple Entrance, Dambool, Ceylon. Photographed by Plate,

Colombo .32

Hakgalla Rock, Ceylon. Photographed by Plate, Colombo . . 36

View from Hotel Belle Vue, Buitenzorg, Java .... 44

Buitenzorg Gardens, Java 46

Lake Bagendit, Java 54

Crater of Papandajan, Java 56

Hong Kong Harbour 80

Chinese Temple, Hong Kong 84

Shameen Creek, Canton 86

Catholic Cathedral from River, Canton 88

Execution Ground, Canton 90

Examination Hall, Canton . 92

A Tower in the Walls of Canton, " The Five-storey Pagoda " . 94

Street in Canton 96

Flower Boats and Pawnshop, Canton 98

Macao with the Guia Lighthouse 100

Jesuit Church of San Paulo, Macao ..«.,.. 102

Chinese Woman's Foot unbandaged 116

XV xvi ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

Approach to Asakusa Temple, Tokyo. Photographed by Farsari, /

An Old Kyoto Pine-tree, " The Junk." Photographed by Farsari,

Miyajima, Japan. Photographed by Farsari, Yokohama . . 194

Ama-no-Hashidate, Japan 226

The Temples of Ise, Japan. Photographed by Farsari, Yokohama 232 ^ Dogashima Cascade, Miyanoshita, Japan. Photographed by Farsari, Yokohama 244

Fuji's Eeflection in Lake Hakone, Japan. Photographed by Farsari, Yokohama . . . 246

Temple at Matsushima, Japan. Photographed by Farsari, Yoko- /

hama 256

The Images on the Daiya-gawa, Nikko, Japan. Photographed by

Farsari, Yokohama 260

leyasu's Tomb, Nikko, Japan. Photographed by Farsari, Yokohama 262 The Zigzag Rocks near Haruna Temple, Ikao, Japan . . , 272 Back of Kamakura Daibutsu, Japan. Photographed by Farsari,

Cherry-blossoms in Ueno Park, Tokyo. Photographed by Farsari,

Graves of Forty-seven Ronin, Tokyo. Photographed by Farsari,

Temple Sports, Japan "^

.1

Islands at Matsushima, Japan

Harvesting in Japan. Photographed by Farsari, Yokohama . . 364

Honolulu from the Punch Bowl. Photographed by Davey,

Honolulu 368

The Judiciary Building, Honolulu. Photographed by Davey,

Honolulu 370 '

Nuuanu Pali, Honolulu. Photographed by Davey, Honolulu . . 374 Hula Girls, Hawaii. Photographed by Davey, Honolulu . . 388 Ladies dressed for Mountaineering in California. Photographed

by Fiske, Yosemite 392

Yosemite Valley. The Three Brothers (4000 Feet) . Photographed

by Fiske, Yosemite 396

ILLUSTRATIONS xvii

FACING PAGE

Yosemite Valley. The Vernal Falls (350 Feet). Photographed

by Fiske, Yosemite 398

Yosemite Valley. The Cathedral Spires (2200 Feet). Photographed by Fiske, Yosemite 400

Yosemite VaUey. Half Dome (5000 Feet) and Glacier Point (3200

Feet). Photographed by Fiske, Yosemite .... 402

Manitou Springs, Colorado. Photographed by Hiestand, Manitou . 412

The Cog-wheel Railway up Pike's Peak, Colorado. Photographed

by Hiestand, Manitou 414

ABOUND THE WORLD THROUGH JAPAN

Chapter I

Life on Board Ship. Gibraltar. Marseilles. Etna. Pastimes and Pools. Port Said. Suez Canal. The Eed Sea. The Southern Cross. Aden. The Arabian Sea.

In planning a tour around tlie world it is essential, on the grounds of both, comfort and pleasure, to consider the climatic conditions of the countries you intend to visit. If you desire to devote to India and Japan three or four months each during the same twelvemonth, it will be necessary to leave London in October in order to take advantage of the cooler winter months in India, and to reach Japan by the 1st of April, in time for the cherry-blossom season. The three months ending with June are the most favourable for Japan, although there is a shorter and perhaps more pleasant period when the chrysanthemums bloom in November. If India is left out of the tour and Java included in it, you should start not later than the 1st of January from London, and if you also intend to visit Peking you should sail early in December.

We delayed our departure until the 12th of January, and had in consequence to curtail our stay in Java and forego an excursion to Peking. We sent to the ship, a couple of days in advance, our steamer-chairs and our heavy luggage, most of the latter marked " Wanted on voyage," so that it would be placed in the baggage-room where we could get at it daily if necessary, and with small hand luggage took train at Liverpool Street for Tilbury on the day of sailing. Even if one joins the ship at Marseilles, it is advisable to put all heavy luggage on board at London and travel througli France with hand luggage only, as registered luggage is sometimes delayed in the hands of the French railway companies, and a voyage to the East without one's luggage is not to be recommended on a pleasure trip.

In a gale of wind and a downpour of rain we were taken out in a small, overcrowded tender to the P. & O. steamship Oceana^ and had just time to say good-by to the kind friends who had come down to see us off before the goingashore bell rang. After securing our places for meals, and arranging our time for the morning bath with the topas, or bath steward, we posted ourselves in sheltered positions on deck to watch the steamer get under way, and from half-past three to dinner time waited in vain. The storm was too violent to allow of our getting safely away, and we remained in the river till nearly midnight, watching the lights of Gravesend and wishing ourselves ashore ; and it was only by leaving an anchor in the river that we finally did begin our voyage. We dropped the pilot at noon next day off the "Nab" lightship and then began to take note of our surroundings and our fellow-passengers.

To those who are going to the East for the first time there is on board ship a foretaste of novelty in the Lascar crew, the Seedeboy stokers, the use of Indian names, and the following out of customs originating in tropical countries. At least two Lascars are required to do the work of one European sailor, and there is not much gain on the score of economy in employing a crew of Lascars ; but in the tropics they remain efficient. And as they do not use alcoholic drinks, being nearly all Mohammedans, they are more reliable, and give less trouble when the ship is in port. A crew is more easily got together and does not desert or mutiny. The Lascars are under the immediate orders of a serang (boatswain) and tindal (boatswain's mate or coxswain).

The morning begins with chota liadjiree (tea and toast) in your cabin at 7.30 ; then you wait until the topas informs you that your tub is ready. Breakfast is at 9, and by the time you have had a constitutional and settled down to a book, you find it is 1 o'clock and tiffin is ready. Tea follows at 4, and at 7.30 the bell rings to dress for 8 o'clock dinner. When you require a drink at dinner, you discover that you do not give an order, but ask for and sign a chit, — the universal Eastern synonym for an order, cheque, receipt, credit, or reference, and the means by which most business and social engagements in the East are regulated.

The bad weather in which we started had its redeeming feature in bringing together in the smoking-saloon at the beginning of the voyage a small party of hardened travellers who were good enough sailors to stand the pitching and tossing we were subjected to and who rapidly became acquainted. As the weather improved, our party was increased by those who had had " important engagements," or letters to write, or unpacking, or other duties keeping them to their cabins, and finally our number was completed by a couple of weak passengers who confessed to having been seasick. The cheery yachtsman, who afterward acted as auctioneer in selling the numbers in the pool on the ship's run, declared that he had never known the sensation of seasickness, but defied any man to truthfully declare that on a steamer he preferred a rough sea to a smooth one. It was agreed that the company might make a good thing out of small lockers in the smoking-room of the ships making long voyages, as most passengers would be glad to pay a small rental for a convenient place to keep book, pipe, and tobacco, and so avoid being obliged to go below for them.

By the time the men became well acquainted with each other the ladies began to appear, and projects to gain their good graces and to amuse them were brought forward. Whist had been started in the smoking-room the first evening, piquet soon followed, and as the weather got warmer the card players found their way on deck. A curious score was made in a game of piquet with one of the ladies. Her total at the end of the fourth hand was 38 and her opponent stood at 96, having made 24 each hand. In the fifth hand she made a pique and capot, scoring 121 to 0, and in the sixth hand, being the minor, she made a repique, taking all but the last trick, counting 111 to 3, totalling 270, and rubiconing her opponent at 99, with, a win of 469 points.

Before we had been three days out, complaints began to be made of patent-leather boots being damaged by cockroaches and rats, the latter nibbling the kid tops and the former eating off the polished surface, — misfortunes we had provided against by placing them in our soiled-linen bags, and so keeping ours out of the reach of such vermin. On the fourth day out, after breakfasting on country captain (grilled chicken with fried onions), and Scotch parkins (oatmeal biscuits flavoured with ginger), we sighted the Castle of Cintra and the mouth of the Tagus, and came into bright sunshine and smooth water. The next morning we anchored in Gibraltar Bay. Here we remained only an hour and a half, — barely time to go ashore in a small boat, and as far as the market-place, where we bought some photographs and tobacco. The first view of Gibraltar, as of most famous places, is disappointing and does not convey the idea of a great fortress. The only gun to be seen from the bay is a small brass cannon at the Signal Station, and it is therefore difficult to realise the strength of the fortifications or the number and size of the guns in position. In order to provide material for the new Harbour Works the Rock has been pierced by a tunnel from west to east. Gibraltar has a population of about 20,000 civilians and a garrison of about 7,000 men.

In the afternoon we saw the snow-clad Sierra Nevadas of Granada, the following day the Sierra de Almenar from off Barcelona, and the next morning made fast to the Quai at Marseilles, where the competition of the French lines has compelled the P. & O. steamers to call. We were all glad of a day ashore and began with a drive by the Corniche Road, with its charming views of harbour and islands, to the Chateau Borely and back by the Prado, — a splendid boulevard two miles long, — then up by the lift to Notre Dame de la Garde for the sake of the view, and to see the curious votive offerings of tablets, pictures, and models left by grateful pilgrims and sailors. After a luncheon which included the celebrated bouillabaisse, we visited the Chateau d'Eau at the

Palais de Longcliamps (a graceful piece of architecture due to Esperaudieu), and afterward the Cathedral. Before rejoining the ship we had a stroll along the Quai and remarked the long, narrow drays, and the horses with large leather horns above the collars, as many as fourteen harnessed tandem to a single cart.

The morning after leaving Marseilles we were in the Straits of Bonifacio between Corsica and Sardinia, and the following morning passed the Lipari or JEolian Islands. At 7.30 we were off the constantly smoking cone of Stromboli, and three hours later we were in the narrow passage of the Straits of Messina opposite the octagonal tower of Rocca Guelfonia, six hundred miles from Marseilles. Etna remained in sight all day, its lower slopes covered with vineyards and orchards, while the upper half stood out desert and bare. We looked in vain for smoke from the summit and for the observatory on the side of the central crater, and had to content ourselves with the statement that the last important eruption was in 1886, and that the loftiest peak attains an elevation of 10,874 feet.

It was only after leaving Marseilles that the question of amusements was taken seriously in hand, and the first selling pool on the ship's run was made up. The original scheme was to sell one ticket to each passenger subscribing, say, a shilling, to ask the captain's advice as to the probable run, to take consecutive numbers with the probable run in the middle, and to draw the passengers' names from one hat and the numbers from another. Then the numbers were sold at auction, half the selling price going to the owner and half to the pool. The holder of the ticket with the number corresponding to the number of knots posted as the ship's run to noon wins the pool, less five per cent given to the ship's charities. The holder of the lowest number wins on any run below it, and the holder of the highest number on any run above. Another plan was to sell as many numbered tickets as each passenger wished to buy. Draw the numbered tickets from one hat and in the other place an equal number of slips, only a portion of which, say fifty, are numbered consecutively, one marked " under," another " over," and the rest blanks. The tickets drawing the consecutive numbers are auctioned, then the "under" and "over" tickets, and after half the selling price is added and five per cent of the total deducted for charity, the pool is divided, half to the holder of the winning number, quarter to the tenth number above the winning one, and quarter to the tenth number below. The tickets " under " and " over " have double chances not only of taking half of the pool if the winning number is respectively below or above the consecutive numbers drawn, but of taking quarter of the pool if the winning ticket is within the first or last nine of these numbers. A more gambling plan, designed to shut out those who only subscribe for the purpose of making a profit on the sale of their tickets to other passengers, is to sell only a limited number, say twenty or thirty, high-priced tickets and draw a number to each ticket, the lowest number taking all below and the highest all above. When the tickets are auctioned, only those who have bought in one or more tickets are entitled to receive the half of the selling price of the numbers originally owned by them, the pool in the case of those who buy no ticket getting all but the entrance money, which is refunded. In all cases nonowners of tickets are permitted to buy at the auction, and a clear statement of the conditions under which the pool is made up should be posted in the smoking-room and the companion-way. Whenever possible, we had the auction on deck.

The posted conditions of a pool on the last plan were as follows : " Five shilling sweepstake selling pool on the ship's run to Sunday noon. Limited to 30 subscribers. Owners to receive half price of ticket ; but if this half is above five shillings the excess goes to the pool, unless the owner buys his own or some other ticket. Lowest ticket takes all below, highest all above. Five per cent of pool goes to charity. Numbers will be drawn this, Saturday, evening about 8.30 in the smoking-room and then and there sold to highest bidder." These thirty numbers sold at prices ranging from 22 to 110 shillings, and aggregating £92 13s. OcZ., of which

,£38 2s. Od. went to the ticket owners and £51 16s. Od. to the pool, making, with the £1 10s. Od. original subscription, a total of £59 6s. Ot^. Seven original subscribers failed to buy a ticket, and one ticket was bought by a non-subscriber.

Decimal pools with entrance from one to ten shillings give another chance of speculating on the ship's run. The digits and cipher are drawn or allotted to the subscribers, and the pool is won by the number corresponding to the last unit in the ship's run. If the run is given in fractions of a knot, the pool is divided between the holder of the corresponding unit and the one above. It is usual to sell only one ticket in a decimal pool to each subscriber, but in case there are not enough subscribers there is no objection to subscribers having a plurality of tickets, as the pool must be completed by sale of ten tickets or the subscriptions returned.

By permission of the captain a concert was arranged for one evening, and a dance on deck for another. A gymkhana was organised, and prizes were provided for the winners of each sex in the various events. We had potato races ; tugs-of-war ; and races where the ladies ran with cotton to be threaded by partners who held needles at the other end of the deck, the first back with a threaded needle being the winner; races where the competitors ran down the deck to a table and there drew a pig on a piece of paper, signed it, and ran back. Points were given for swiftness and for artistic excellence. A pillow fight for the younger male passengers, who sat astride a boom under which a mattress had been placed and belaboured each other with pillows until one fell off, was a great success ; but the most amusement was afforded by the necktie race, where the ladies raced with neckties to their partners, tied them in a bow, and raced back to the goal, where a committee of ladies gave a judgment as to which one had made the best bow in the least time. Then there was the feeding race, where the ladies each fed, with a spoon from a wine-glass of water, their partners, who then ran back to the winning post. Points for rapidity of water consumption, lack of spilling, and swiftness of foot. In another competition identical problems in addition, subtraction, and division were set for the ladies, whose partners ran with the answers, the first correct paper handed in winning a prize.

On Sunday Mass was celebrated in the saloon before breakfast, and Service was held after breakfast. Leaving Marseilles Thursday afternoon, we arrived at Port Said Tuesday morning; and between these two places the meal hours were from 8.30 to 9.30 a.m. for breakfast, 12.30 to 2 p.m. for tiffin., and at both 6 and 7.30 o'clock for dinner, as we had too many passengers for one table.

Port Said is said to be peopled with the " outpourings of Hades, and the off-scourings of European brothels," and it endeavours to live all the way down to its evil reputation. It is an emporium of the indecencies of literature, art, and nature unredeemed by the saving grace of either cleanliness or beauty.

The train to Cairo left in the forenoon, and as the ship had to wait till the following morning for the mails to arrive via Brindisi, some of the party made a flying trip to Cairo, and rejoined us at Suez, where they arrived at 5 p.m. the next day, and had an uncomfortable wait for the ship until 3 o'clock the following morning. Those of us remaining witnessed the defeat of our friends in a cricket match with members of the Port Said Cricket Club, lunched at the Eastern Exchange Hotel, went to a concert at the Eldorado after dinner, and investigated the cosmopolitan mysteries of the Arab quarter before returning to the ship.

We took nineteen hours to go through the Canal, stopping about an hour and three-quarters at Ismailia, where a canal from the Nile at Cairo brings down the fresh water which is conveyed by pipes to Port Said. As the limit for steamers is ten kilometres an hour, we did the ninety-nine miles very little under the limit.

We had cool breezes until we entered the Gulf of Suez, to the east of which is the peninsula of Sinai, on which was pointed out to us peaks said to be Mt. Horeb and Mt. Sinai ; but after passing the Strait of Jubal and going into the Red Sea, double awnings were placed over the deck, curtains suspended at the sides, and at dinner the punkahs were up and moving. The pundits write it pankha^ which means a fan, and say the word is derived from the Sanscrit paksha^ meaning wing. The thermometer seldom got above 82° F. on deck, but it remained around that throughout the day, and never got below 76° at night, although it rained the night after we left Suez, and there was a shower the following afternoon. Stories of death on board ship by sunstroke or heat apoplexy were related by our seafaring friends, who believed that corpulent people were more liable to a stroke, and that it usually came after a sleep following a meal. The symptoms are stertorous breathing succeeded by collapse ; and the treatment is to strip the sufferer, lay him flat on his back with the head slightly raised, fan him, and endeavour to restore circulation by rubbing and slapping until consciousness returns. It frequently requires six hours' continuous work before this result is reached, and in one case in the experience of one of the passengers it took eleven hours to restore the patient.

The third night out from Suez was the hottest as well as the most interesting in the Red Sea. At midnight we passed the volcanic island called Jebel Teer, and we saw the constellation of the Southern Cross on the horizon. The latter disappointed those who had never seen it before, but it was a welcome sign of coming into the tropics, and it recalled the last time I had seen it in the Gulf of Panama, and watched it recede into the ocean as I steamed up the Central American coast. There was a brilliant display of phosphorescence that kept the younger couples leaning over the rails long after the Southern Cross had lost its interest.

At noon the next day we passed through the smaller channel of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, east of Perim, and arrived about eight o'clock at Aden. It was a lovely moonlight night, and after watching the " have-a-dive " boys go in fearlessly after sixpences, in spite of the presence of sharks, we went ashore and drove up to the wonderful fresh-water tanks five miles away, from which the town gets its supply of rain- water. The tanks, which were begun thirteen hundred years ago, will now, since they have been restored, hold a three years' supply, or about eight million gallons, of drinking water. It sometimes happens that there is no rain for two or three years at Aden ; but when it does rain there, it is likely to pour, and the tanks are often filled in a few hours. There is a large plant for distilling sea-water from which the ships are usually supplied, and camels carry this water for sale up to the old town, situated in the crater of an extinct volcano, on the road to the tanks. After visiting the tanks we strolled into a cafe, and amused ourselves listening to a Bedouin chanting a verse of the Koran, which was repeated in chorus by most of the others present; and watching the Arabs, Somalis, and other tribesmen from the interior and the East African coast, many of whom had come over for the fast of Ramadan. We had engaged, at sixpence a head, a guide whose chief accomplishment was that he could avoid telling the truth in seven languages and whose principal duty was to chase away beggars. He told us that, including the one and only European child in Aden, there are about forty thousand inhabitants; that there is good bicycling on the Arabian Road for about ten miles, and many bicycles may be seen late in the afternoon ; that one should rise about daybreak, take an hour's exercise and a cold bath before breakfast, in order to keep in good health here, and although the English prefer a hot bath, cold sea- water is better ; and that all religions are tolerated except the siesta-disturbing Salvation Armj^, but that amongst Europeans the most popular religion is the Masonic Church ! We shocked the poor little man in many ways, but most of all when referring to the future we said " We will do so-and-so. " Then he insisted upon our adding " D. V." or changing our expression to "We hope to do so-and-so." We found our way to the edge of the wharf, over boxes of cotton goods, bags of coffee and grain, and packages of skins, and got a small boat in the early hours of the morning to put us on board ship.