Around the world; a narrative of a tour of the earth, setting fourth the experiences of one who recently made the trip alone, with historical and descriptive data

Front matter

AROUND THE WORL

Glass GcHi££L

Book . (-f %

Introduction

The experiences related in these chapters, with few exceptions, were reduced to paper the day they occurred. Historical matter presented herein was gathered from all available sources, credit being given by reference to volume and page for most excerpts. The author is under special obligation to the following for assistance rendered : Guides of F. C. Clark, Macmillan, Henry Gaze & Son, and Thos. Cook & Son ; also to Dr. Andrew Gray for copies of some electrotypes used in illustrating his "Pilgrimage to Bible Lands." The consecrated missionaries of Japan, China, the Philippines, Maylasia, India, Egypt, and Turkey will be held in lasting remembrance for their many untold kindnesses extended, punctuating an otherwise weary pilgrimage with oases of interest.

Being under exclusive contract with the Alliance Herald as its "Around the World" represenative, numerous courtesies were extended by the press, by our consuls, and by the officials of transportation lines throughout the thirty- thousand-mile journey, space forbidding individual mention. K. C. H.

Contents

Chapter Page

I. Crossing the Continent, - - - n

II. San Francisco to Vancouver, - - 28

I. Crossing The Continent

the; journey begun. — via denver; royae gorge. — canyon OF THE GRAND. — SAI/f EAKE TO SAN FRANCISCO.

From the copper-toed days of my boyhood, tales of travel have been the very soul of fascination to my venturesome spirit. Having read all the books on travel available within a considerable radius from my Ohio home, I sought interviews with every man I could reach who had crossed any State line, or could relate thrilling stories of adventure on the part of others. My curiosity to know more of the world was augmented by the recital of weird stories by an old Mexican soldier who visited us about the time of my graduation from the First to the Second Reader. His renditions produced in me a longing similar to that possessed by the poet who wrote:

"O for an old gray traveler

By our winter fire to be, To tell us of each, foreign shore, Of sunny seas, and mountains hoar,

Which we can never see !

And O, that such old man were here,

With his wise and traveled look, With thought like deep exhaustless springs, And memory full of wondrous things,

Ivike a glorious picture-book !" ii

As nothing short of a tour of the earth offered me any degree of satisfaction, I decided to attempt the task regardless of the expense and other difficulties which towered before me.

Consequently the successful carrying forward of my plans made it possible for me to bid farewell to Alliance at 3.40 Thursday morning, October 16th, while Victor was sleeping soundly unconscious of the fact that his papa was kissing him good-bye and beginning the largest undertaking in the realm of travel possible to man without embarking upon that better journey leading to a country whence no traveler returns.

The young wife evinced bravery by withstanding the avalanche of tears due to be observed on such an occasion. She was cognizant of the danger confronting me; but her noble Christian life and devotion to the God she serves, long ago taught her that my trust was in the God of the psalmist — a God which doeth all things well, though at times our shortsightedness fails to penetrate beyond the overhanging clouds of gloom which often encompass our horizon.

" If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ; Even there shall Thy hand lead me, And Thy right hand shall hold me."

The ride into Colorado was without incident, with the following exceptions : The train was two hours behind time, and contained a bridal party which was forced to endure much additional pandemonium at the hands of the Alliance youths on account of the lateness of the train. Approaching Denver, the sUn, rising toward its meridian height, darted its rays athwart the snow-capped Rockies and kissed them into glistening splendor. The passengers crowd to the right side of the car to behold the majestic snowdrifts piercing the very heavens with their snow-crested summits. There is Pike's Peak, eighty miles to the southward, rising as a giant guardian of the white flock, basking in perpetual rest, with its topmost rock 14,147 feet above sea-level. Yet it is not the highest of the Rocky family, there being twenty-five other peaks that rival it in height. Divorced from its grand mountain scenery, Denver takes high rank as a city. I shall not attempt to describe its numerous institutions of note, its smelters, wholesale houses, factories, colleges, churches, and sanitariums. One person has named Denver the "City of Consumptives," because of the multitude of consumptives who come here for relief.

Those whose time is limited can cover this city of one hundred and fifty thousand souls reasonably well in a few hours' ride on the special car called "Seeing Denver," which leaves the union depot on Seventeenth Street daily at two o'clock for the grand tour of the city. The circuit covers twenty-five miles, and the charge is twenty-five cents. A lecturer accompanies the car and points out objects of interest, giving, in addition thereto, a very good description of that which is most noteworthy.

Leaving Denver via the Rio Grande Railroad, the route leads southward along the Rocky Mountain foothills, in plain view, however, of many towering peaks. This line is very properly called "the scenic line of the world."

Passing Palmer Lake, Colorado Springs is reached, where nature grows wild, as evinced in the Garden of the Gods. Here strange freaks of nature's handicraft present to the tourist much that is quaint as well as grotesque, causing speculation as to how the formations were produced.

Not less than fourteen hundred feet up the side of Pike's Peak is the Cave of the Winds, a wonder which is i4

Around the World.

the pride of Colorado, but a curiosity that becomes a dwarf when compared with Wind Cave of South Dakota. I told the guide he would be ready to change his adjectives used in his description as soon as his eyes beheld the most noteworthy cave in America, the northern wonder. From Pike's Peak the view is never to be forgotten. The Rockies seem to roll away like the waves of an angry ocean, with whitecaps stationary and whitecaps rolling in the form of clouds, as if hurrying to some distant place of rest.

The next point en route westward is Pueblo, the Pittsburg of the West, so called on account of its numerous smelters, iron and steel works stretching along the Arkansas River. Having run over one hundred miles southward from Denver, in order to break through the mountains, the track now turns to the westward, follows the canyon of the Arkansas, thence over the Great Divide into the Canyon of the Grand, and on over the Wasatch Mountains into the Utah Valley.

For a considerable distance the road threads its crooked way along the Arkansas, where the walls tower on either side more than three thousand feet. This is called the Royal Gorge, and here it is that the genius of the builder scores its highest triumph. Here the wordpainter excuses himself, and says, "Let nature alone in her vastness." But what if a bowlder should become loosened and come crashing down from yonder craggy height of more than half a mile? A bowlder falling from such a dizzy height would crush a locomotive to worse than a scrap-heap. One is thrilled and chilled as he contemplates the vasteness of this deep, rock-riven, river-encompassed gorge. But why not let the river have full possession, and not disturb its plaintive murmur by introducing the loud-screeching, panting, and puffing locomotive?

Such would have been well, but not the best. And now not only the Denver and Rio Grande follows this natural thoroughfare, but the Colorado Southern also uses a part of this vale as an outlet toward the land of the setting sun. The day I made the journey the trains of both roads were very late and by some unknown cause two splendid passenger trains were making their way side by side. Now the opportunity was given for a race. Each road had boasted of its ability to make the best time. Here was a chance. The engineers saw the opportunity. The firemen worked like Titans, heaving coal that the engines might do their utmost. The iron horses puffed, straining every nerve and muscle; the passengers filled the windows of the respective trains ; handkerchiefs waved in the air to encourage the enginemen, who glanced back now and then to see if their trains were coming ; mail clerks noticed the situation, and each wished for the success of his own train. It was a race. The trains flew ahead. Sharp curves were rounded ; tunnels were threaded ; steep grades were ascended ; now one train was away below, only a few feet from the angrily-roaring river ; the next few minutes witnessed the same train crawling its serpentine way far up the mountain-side, half hidden from view by the rolling smoke of the two iron steeds, which poured forth black clouds that now and then coming quite close to each other, seemed to join into one mass and darken the race-course. Brave hearts, which had exulted until now, swooned when, at an unexpected moment, the Colorado Southern train seemed to leap the track and plunge squarely at our train. But recovery was complete when it was noticed that the other track led directly over our track, and, instead of plunging into our train, the engine crossed directly over the car in which I was sitting, and sped on, having tied our train for the honors. Thereupon our conductor manifested regret because our engineer did not win the race, saying: "If we should have had any other engineer on the road at our engine, we would have taken the lead, as our huge compound engine can outrun anything on the other road, even if we have the heavier train by three sleepers and a diner." I was glad we had that very engineer, for a mountain pass, with a river below and towering mountains above, is not an ideal place for speeding a vestibuled train of human freight.

The poet Ferguson pays the following poetic tribute to the Royal Gorge :

" In the Royal Gorge I stand,

With its mountain forms around me, With infinity behind me and infinity before ;

Cliff and chasm on every hand,

Peaks and pinnacles surround me ; At my feet the river rushes with its never-ceasing roar.

O, the Power that piled these wonders,

As the mountains took their station, As the great red belt rose upward in a glittering zone of fire.

O, the crash of blended thunders

Shaking earth to its foundation, As each struggling cliff rose upward, climbing higher, ever higher.

O, the crashing and the groaning, And the deep an awful shudder As that great red belt was parted and the mountains crashed in twain ; And the Arkansas came roaring, Raging with its dreadful thunder, Sweeping through the mighty chasm dashing madly towards the main.

O, this myriad-crested canyon,

With its walls of massive marble, With the granite and red sandstone piled in peaks that pierce the sky;

Where no bird dare dip its pinion

In the narrow veil of azure, Where the solemn shadows linger o'er the river rolling by.

Mortal ! ere you enter here,

Pause and bare thy brow before Him, — You are entering a temple which the Mighty One did rear.

Put thy shoes from off thy feet,

And with sacred awe adore him, — Throned in awful might and majesty, the Great One dwelleth here.'

As we approached the summit of the Rockies the air became more rare, and, with many, breathing became difficult. One portly man afflicted with asthma was almost overcome. In fact, at one time he was pronounced beyond hope of recovery, and it was even announced by the physician that he was dead; but behold him recover as the descent was being made, and a real man remains as a subject snatched almost from the hands of the undertaker.

Much there is on a mountain journey to interest, much to call forth expressions of surprise and appreciation.

The geologist may here revel in glee as he observes unmistakable evidences of the earth's formation and age. As the train enters the Canyon of the Grand River, one can do little else than remain quiet and drink in as much beauty as his little cup will hold, and then close his eyes because of his inability to comprehend the scene.

Mr. Warman paid the following poetic tribute to the Canyon of the Grand :

" When I rhyme about the river, — the laughing, limpid stream, Whose ripples seem to shiver as they glide and glow and gleam ; Of the waves that beat the bowlders that are strewn upon the

strand. — You will recognize the river in the Canyon of the Grand.

When I write about the mountains with their heads so high and

hoar, Of cliffs and craggy canyons where the waters rush and roar ; When I speak about the the hills that rise so high on either hand, You recognize the rock-work in the Canyon of the Grand, 2

God was good to make the mountains, the valleys, and the hills, Put the rose upon the cactus and the ripple on the rills ; But if I had all the words of all the world at my command, I could n't paint a picture of the Canyon of the Grand."

Passing many points of interest, let us pass over the less elevated Wasatch range and enter Salt Lake City, the City of the Saints. This city is known the world over on account of its being the Zion of Mormonism. Converts to the faith from nearly every nation flock here to spend their last days at this Mecca. On Sunday afternoon I joined the throng that hurried to the great turtle-shaped tabernacle erected by Brigham Young, and heard two sermons, supposed to set forth the excellencies of Mormonism, but which, in my opinion, were very weak utterances of the most trivial trash. The first speaker said he had been a Mormon for fifty years ; but the number of wives he had domiciled during that time and still lived, he neglected to state. He was baldheaded as a broomhandle ; his mustache was as gray as the frosts of Greenland's icy shores ; yet he was very presentable, and no doubt had been the center of affection of many a blooming maiden who was willing to show her unselfishness by sharing the queenly position of wifehood with as many other heroines as his fancy and purse might attract within his threshold. ' He tried to persuade his auditors, numbering about eight thousand, that Mormonism is a Divine institution, because when their crops fifty years ago were about to be destroyed by crickets, the Father send gulls to destroy the pesky crickets, and the crop was saved. His reasoning was lame. Those identical gulls also ate the crickets that molested the grazing grounds of the Indians who were after Mormon scalps ; hence, according to the speaker's own logic, the savagery of the Indians must have been Divinely appointed and maintained because of the mission of the gulls.

Crossing the Continent. io

The second speaker's story was as faulty as that of the first speaker. The story of either held water about like a fish-net. The main point set forth by the latter and younger Cicero of the platform was, that the Mormon revelation was up-to-date, having come to earth a little more than fifty years ago through Joseph Smith, et al. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were pictured as angels shorn of their wings. He did not refer to Brigham Young's multitudinous wives as angelesses, because the least imaginative mind has no difficulty in observing the Bee-hive in a turmoil as the pillow fights between favorite wives filled the air with the downy white of birds slaughtered to feed the preacher-apostle, who, no doubt, went v into hiding at the outset of each fracas to avoid sitting as a board of arbitration to decide upon the merits of the case.

Whatever is said in criticism of Mormonism, and a bookful can be marshalled against it, it nevertheless remains true that some things may be said in its favor. It has been the chief agent in transforming a desert wild into a beautiful city of sixty-five thousand souls.

Salt Lake City, the child of Mormonism, has one hundred miles of streets, each one hundred and thirty-two feet wide, and the blocks are six hundred and sixty feet square. In the heart of the city stands the temple, built at a cost of $5,000,000. Its towers and minarets rise two hundred and fifteen feet above the ground, and can be seen for miles. None but the elect are permitted to enter the temple, and it is thought that some are curious enough to accept the faith in order to get a glimpse of the interior of that stately temple. The turtle-shaped tabernacle, accommodating ten thousand people, is only a few rods distant, and is pronounced one of the most unique structures in America. In company with a friend, I visited the tabernacle before the hour for service, and though it is two hundred and fifty feet long, a pin dropped by the side of the great organ could be heard distinctly in the rear of the room. Its acoustic properties are said to be unequaled anywhere. The pipe organ contains five thousand five hundred pipes and cost $115,000, being the second structure in value in the world. A chorus of five hundred voices sings at each service, offering a drawing card to the lost to come and hear the truth according to Joseph Smith.

About sixteen miles from Salt Lake City is the Great Salt Lake, one hundred miles long and sixty wide, and four thousand two hundred and eighteen feet above sea-level. "Salt Air," a mammoth bathing pavilion, has been constructed about two thousand feet from shore at a cost of $350,000, including the electric-light plant. This structure has the reputation of being unsurpassed in the wide world.

Bathing here is a luxury. One may float to his heart's content, for it is impossible to sink. The water is heavily charged with salt, and when once tasted will never be forgotten. The lake is ten feet lower than it has been known for years. Old settlers are authority for the statement that it rises and recedes once in seventeen years. It is now at low tide, a condition which forces bathers to walk about half a mile to deep water, whereas formerly one could leap from the grand pavilion into seven feet of water.

Having become acquainted with Salt Lake City, we again turn westward, eager to reach the Golden Gate. Crossing Nevada is as uninteresting as the lack of vegetation is complete. Sand dunes greet the eye at every turn, compared with which the sand hills of Nebraska, covered with verdant pasturage, are a paradise. Hundreds of miles may be traveled in this dreary, forsaken waste without sighting a living creature, other than the section crew and operators, who are here as hermits, making it possible for a railroad to tie the Atlantic and Pacific together in bonds of steel. But this barrenness is not to last always. With the eye of faith, I can see the East densely populated, and the young men and women covenanting to begin life together for better or for worse. With brave hearts, and a strong desire to have a home of their own, they press on beyond Pike's Peak and the Rockies to this land where one may become monarch of all he surveys. The pioneer is a hero upon whom the blessing of the Most High rests ; for Omnipotence is proud of the brave, and a splendid carpet will be prepared by Him and spread over the land, upon which the united hearts may find a domicile, and the cattle, horses, and sheep find that which their hunger craves.

After weary hours of sameness in landscape, a treat is offered as the train enters the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The transformation is like unto leaving a penitentiary for an art gallery. The Sierras, covered with a dense growth of pines, shrubbery, etc., are more beautiful than the Rockies, though less awe-inspiring. If the Rockies are more colossal, the Sierras are more symmetrical.

The Rockies stand as Titans, giant guardians of the heavens, while the Sierras are thankful for the opportunity of looking down upon the peaceful Pacific, and of hiding behind a veil of mist wherever the ocean madly beats the shore, lashing the rocks with white caps which have no breakers to check their course.

No one need be told that California is reached. It can not keep the secret, and tells that it is king of the West by using a language decidedly its own.

Ordinary adjectives are useless in preparing a distant reader to properly comprehend California. To state that this State has the largest apple orchard in the world is not sufficient to convey an exact idea of its vastness. But the wonders of the State being so unlike those found elsewhere, one is handicapped in his every attempt to make comparisons. Maine is not a small State. But for the sake of comparison let us use it :

Add to Maine the States of New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and New York, and thoses States combined could be covered by California, and there would be enough of California unused to make a playground for all the children of Utah.

With a climate that approximates the ideal, California, with its splendid soil, has little to be desired. Only one genuine snowstorm is on record, the date being December 31, 1882; the snow piled up to the enormous height of three inches and lasted scarcely one day. Where oranges and lemons are harvested in February and March, it is evident that even a freeze would be disastrous.

This large State is noted for doing things on a large scale. For instance : a squash has been on exhibition weighing two hundred and eighty-three pounds, having a diameter of four feet. A sweet-potato weighing over forty-four pounds is the pride of Fresno. An Irish-potato measured forty-six inches in length and weighed thirteen pounds.

Los Angeles Countv produced a corn stalk measuring thirty-six feet in height.

Orange County has a watermelon weighing one hundred and fifty pounds, and is three feet, six inches long, and four feet, nine inches in circumference.

A nugget of gold, the largest ever found in the United States, came from Calaveras County, and weighed one hundred and ninety-five pounds, valued at $43,534.

To state that the people live well here is to state the case mildly. My diagnosis causes me to assert that the poorest live in luxury. The average annual income of the farmers in one county is $3,000. With such an income, nothing is too distant to be secured, and money will buy almost anything except happiness. From this port vessels sail for the four corners of the earth, and bring back whatever the industrious merchantmen think the Californian may relish.

Yesterday I visited the Coptic, a passenger vessel bound for Yokohama and Hong-Kong. It is more than four hundred feet long, and second only in size to the vessel upon which I am to sail from Vancouver, British Columbia, for Yokohama.

It was sad to see mothers weeping as good-byes to children and friends were said prior to the moment of departure. Many a person was covered with flowers brought to the wharf by loving hands. It caused me to think of my own case, as I will be boarding the steel twin-screw palace, the Empress of Japan, and have no one to whom a parting good-bye can be spoken, and receive back friendly tokens of sympathy and kindness, as the plunge into the mists of a fourteen-day voyage is made.

I took two snap-shots at the Coptic, one while on board, and one facing the prow. She sailed out of the Golden Gate with a bone in her teeth; that is, she faced a heavy sea. A storm, in fact, greeted her appearance in deep water, and, as I now write, I can imagine her out battling with the waves which dash across her decks, making her passengers wonder whether it will be theirs to sink or swim. Doubtless some of the Coptic's passengers are reminded of the words of Samuel Taylor Coleridge :

"And now the storm-blast came, and he Was tyrannous and strong; He struck with his o'ertaking wings, And chased us south along.

With sloping masts and dipping prow, The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, And southward aye we fled."

Scarcely had the Coptic gone to sea, when the America Maru arrived, bearing many marks of a rough voyage. After leaving Yokohama she was caught in the grasp of one of the worst typhoons with which a ship of this line ever contended, and weathered. Her decks were partly demolished, her hospital having been almost carried away by the hard-pounding waves. One person was killed, and others were bruised until restoration by the use of arnica was not to be considered. In such a storm, only the most seasoned sailors escape seasickness.

The Southern Pacific Railroad lands all its Eastern and Northern passengers at Oakland Pier, where a ferryboat is taken to cross San Francisco Bay, and passengers are landed at the foot of Market, Street, San Francisco. The ride across the bay was a sufficient journey to make a few very much indisposed.

Among the many points of interests to tourists is Chinatown. Orientalism here reaches its zenith in America. The Chinese quarters embrace about twelve blocks in the heart of the city, and are visited by every sightseer desiring to acquaint himself with Chinese life.

I was particularly fortunate in having visited the Cliff

House on what mariners say was the roughest day of the year on the sea. The waves, driven by a roaring, driving sea, dashed against seal-rocks, and, leaping high in the air, fell in foam and spray upon the topmost rocks, which were covered with bellowing, howling seals, maddened by the wild breakers. No picture can do justice to the scene, as canvas can not catch up the characteristic swish of the ocean, and add to it the noise poured forth by the enraged seals. On that day two schooners were wrecked by the high seas. I saw one of them. It was driven upon the rocks. Looking far out at sea, I could discern large sailing craft tugging at their anchors, unwilling to make the Golden Gate in the jaw of such a gale. Well might they fear, having sails only, but steam craft find the Gate easy to enter, regardless of what the ocean is doing. I might add here that the seals on Seal Island are protected by law, as their bellowing serves as a warning to seamen during high seas, at which time the bellowing of a pack of fox-hounds is tame compared with their uncultured clamor. The Maker of all had a purpose in His every creation. No one can commune with the ocean, and try to unlock its secrets, without becoming better acquainted with the Ocean-Maker, the God of the Bible.

"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in waters :

"These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.

"For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

"They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths ; their soul is melted because of trouble.

"They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end." (Psalm cvii, 23-27.)

Observe Longfellow's impressions as he gazed upon the sea:

"Ah! what pleasant visions haunt me

As I gaze upon the sea!

All the old romantic legends,

All my dreams, come back to me, —

Till my soul is full of longing

For the secret of the sea, And the heart of the great ocean

Sends a thrilling pulse through me."

In the Golden Gate Park is a section of the remarkable California tree, the Sequoia gigantea, which measured three hundred and eight feet in height, ninety-six feet in circumference at the base, its bark two feet thick, and its age estimated at three thousand three hundred and seventy years.

If the age estimated be correct,, that monster of the vegetable family was an infant when Joshua marched around Jericho.

The largest mint in the world is located in this city. Through the hands of its chief weigher has gone all the money coined during the past twenty-five years, an amount aggregating over nine hundred million dollars, and not a solitary piece of money has gone astray. He now handles over $60,000 daily, or rather $120,000, for he delivers bullion to the cashier in the morning, and receives it back coined during the day. Counting is done by weighing, but the little coins are both counted and weighed. A device is in operation by which ten thousand separate coins can be counted in three minutes, thus making it possible to count the vast output. There are now in the vaults of the mint over fifty million silver dollars in canvas sacks, each sack containing $1,000. This vast fortune is guarded by seventeen men, twelve serving at night and five in the day-time. A system of electric alarms has been installed, so that all may be called instantly to one point should some desperado attempt to feather his nest with Uncle Sam's glittering coin, which is laid aside for a rainy day.