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diff --git a/27233.txt b/27233.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a96571c --- /dev/null +++ b/27233.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6587 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Critic in the Orient, by George Hamlin Fitch + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Critic in the Orient + +Author: George Hamlin Fitch + +Release Date: November 11, 2008 [EBook #27233] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRITIC IN THE ORIENT *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + + THE CRITIC + IN THE ORIENT + + + + +[Illustration: + + The Taj Mahal at + Agra. This Tomb, + Built by Shah Jahan + to Immortalize His + Favorite Wife, Is + Conceded to be the + Most Beautiful Building + in the World + "Matchless, perfect in + form, a miracle + Of grace and tenderness + and symmetry, + Pearl-pure against the + sapphire of the + sky"] + + + + + THE CRITIC + IN THE ORIENT + + + GEORGE HAMLIN FITCH + + AUTHOR OF + "COMFORT FOUND IN GOOD OLD BOOKS" + "MODERN ENGLISH BOOKS OF POWER" + "THE CRITIC IN THE OCCIDENT" + + + East is East and West is West and + never the twain shall meet, + Till Earth and Sky stand presently + at God's great Judgment Seat. + --Kipling + + + ILLUSTRATED + FROM + PHOTOGRAPHS + + + PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY + PUBLISHERS . SAN FRANCISCO + + + + + _Copyright, 1913_ + by PAUL ELDER AND COMPANY + + The chapters of this + book appeared originally in the + Sunday supplement of the San Francisco _Chronicle_. + The privilege of reproducing them + here is due to the courtesy of + M. H. de Young, Esq. + + The author is greatly + indebted to Isaac O. Upham, Esq., + for the fine photographs which illustrate the + section on Japan and for several + photographs of Indian + scenes + + + + + TO MY FELLOW TOURISTS + ON THE MINNESOTA, WHOSE + COMPANIONSHIP MADE MANY + TEDIOUS JOURNEYS BY LAND + AND SEA ENJOYABLE + + + + + CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + Introduction IX + + + The Best Results of Travel in the Orient XIII + + + Japan, The Picture Country of the Orient 1 + + First Impressions of Japan and the Life of the Japanese-- + The Japanese Capital and its Parks and Temples--The + Most Famous City of Temples in all Japan--In Kyoto, + The Ancient Capital of Japan--Kobe, Osaka, The Inland + Sea and Nagasaki--Development of the Japanese Sense of + Beauty--Conclusions on Japanese Life and Character-- + Will the Japanese Retain Their Good Traits? + + + Manila, Transformed by the Americans 49 + + First Impressions of Manila and Its Picturesque People-- + American Work in the Philippine Islands--Scenes in the + City of Manila and Suburbs. + + + Hongkong, Canton, Singapore and Rangoon 63 + + Hongkong, the Greatest British Port in the Orient--A + Visit to Canton in Days of Wild Panic--Singapore, the + Meeting Place of Many Races--strange Night Scenes in + the City of Singapore--Characteristic Sights in Burma's + Largest City. + + + India, The Land of Temples, Palaces and Monuments 93 + + Calcutta, the Most Beautiful of Oriental Cities--Bathing, + and Burning the Dead at Benares--Lucknow and Cawnpore, + Cities of the Mutiny--The Taj Mahal, the World's + Loveliest Building--Delhi and Its Ancient Mohammedan + Ruins--Scenes in Bombay When the King Arrived--Religion + and Customs of the Bombay Parsees. + + + Egypt, The Home of Hieroglyphs, Tombs and Mummies 135 + + Picturesque Oriental Life as Seen in Cairo--Among the + Ruins of Luxor and Karnak--Tombs of The Kings at + Ancient Thebes--Sailing Down the Nile on a Small + Steamer--Before the Pyramids and the Sphinx. + + + Hints for Travelers 167 + + Some Suggestions That May Save the Tourist Time and + Money. + + + Bibliography 171 + + Books Which Help One to Understand the Orient and + Its People. + + + Index 175 + + + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + PAGE + + The Taj Mahal at Agra _Frontispiece_ + + The Yomei-mori Gate, Ieyasu Temple, Nikko _Facing_ 14 + + The Daibutsu or Great Bronze Buddha at Hyogo 30 + + Imperial Gate, Fort Santiago, Manila 56 + + The City of Boats at Canton 74 + + Hindoos Bathing in the Ganges at Benares 100 + + Front View of the Taj Mahal, Agra 114 + + One of the Main Avenues of Bombay 126 + + The Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak 146 + + + PLATES + + PLATE + + Japan _Following page_ 48 + + Street Scene, Asakusa Park, Tokyo I + + Entrance Hall of Modern Home of a Tokyo Millionaire II + + Bronze Lanterns and Sacred Fountain, Shiba Temple, Tokyo III + + Sacred Red Bridge at Nikko IV + + Avenue of Cryptomeria to Futaaru Temple, Nikko V + + Avenue of Cryptomeria Trees, near Nikko VI + + Great Bronze Torii, Nikko VII + + Stone Lanterns, Kasuga Temple Park, Nara VIII + + Religious Procession, Kyoto IX + + Scene on Canal, Kyoto X + + Street Scene in Kobe XI + + A Group of Japanese Schoolboys XII + + Japanese Peasant Group by the Roadside XIII + + Scene in Large Private Garden, Kyoto XIV + + Iris Bed at Horikiri, near Tokyo XV + + Private Garden, Kamakura XVI + + + Manila _Following page_ 62 + + A Glimpse of the Escolta, Manila XVII + + Old Church and Bridge at Pasig XVIII + + The Binondo Canal at Manila XIX + + On the Malecon Drive, Manila XX + + View on a Manila Canal XXI + + A Filipino Peasant Girl on the Way to Market XXII + + The Carabao Cart in the Philippines XXIII + + The Nipa Hut of the Filipino XXIV + + + Hongkong, Canton, Singapore, Rangoon _Following page_ 91 + + Queen's Road in Hongkong. XXV + + Flower Market in a Hongkong Street XXVI + + Coolies Carrying Burdens at Hongkong XXVII + + The Spacious Foreign Bund at Hongkong XXVIII + + Chinese Junks in Hongkong Harbor XXIX + + View of the Water-front at Canton XXX + + The New Chinese Bund at Canton XXXI + + A Confucian Festival at Singapore XXXII + + A Main Street in the Native Quarter of Singapore XXXIII + + The Y. M. C. A. Building at Singapore XXXIV + + The Great Shwe Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon XXXV + + Entrance to the Shwe Dagon Pagoda XXXVI + + Burmese Worshipping in the Pagoda at Rangoon XXXVII + + Riverside Scene at Rangoon XXXVIII + + Trained Elephant Piling Teak at Rangoon XXXIX + + Palm Avenue, Royal Lakes, Rangoon XL + + + India _Following page_ 134 + + One of the Main Gates to Government House, Calcutta XLI + + A Street Scene in Calcutta XLII + + The Great Burning Ghat at Benares XLIII + + View of the Bathing Ghats at Benares XLIV + + A Holy Man of Benares Under His Umbrella XLV + + The Residency at Lucknow XLVI + + Tomb of Itmad-ul-Daulet at Agra XLVII + + The Mutiny Memorial at Cawnpore XLVIII + + Detail of Carving in the Jasmine Tower, Agra XLIX + + The Jasmine Tower in Agra Fort L + + Snap-shot of a Jain Family at Agra LI + + The Fort at Agra Which Encloses Many Palaces LII + + Kutab Minar, the Arch and the Iron Pillar, near Delhi LIII + + Shah Jehan's Heaven on Earth, Delhi LIV + + Street View in Delhi LV + + A Parsee Tower of Silence at Bombay LVI + + + Egypt _Following page_ 164 + + A Typical Street in Old Cairo LVII + + An Arab Cafe in One of Cairo's Streets LVIII + + Women Water Carriers in Turkish Costume LIX + + The Rameseon at Karnak LX + + The Avenue of Sphinxes at Karnak LXI + + An Arab Village on the Nile LXII + + The Colossi of Memnon, near Thebes LXIII + + The Great Sphinx, Showing the Temple Underneath LXIV + + + + +Introduction + + +This book of impressions of the Far East is called "The Critic in the +Orient," because the writer for over thirty years has been a +professional critic of new books--one trained to get at the best in all +literary works and reveal it to the reader. This critical work--a +combination of rapid reading and equally rapid written estimate of new +publications--would have been deadly, save for a love of books, so deep +and enduring that it has turned drudgery into pastime and an enthusiasm +for discovering good things in every new book which no amount of +literary trash was ever able to smother. + +After years of such strenuous critical work, the mind becomes molded in +a certain cast. It is as impossible for me to put aside the habit of the +literary critic as it would be for a hunter who had spent his whole life +in the woods to be content in a great city. So when I started out on +this trip around the world the critical apparatus which I had used in +getting at the heart of books was applied to the people and the places +along this great girdle about the globe. + +Much of the benefit of foreign travel depends upon the reading that one +has done. For years my eager curiosity about places had led me to read +everything printed about the Orient and the South Seas. Add to this the +stories which were brought into a newspaper office by globe trotters and +adventurers, and you have an equipment which made me at times seem to be +merely revising impressions made on an earlier journey. When you talk +with a man who has spent ten or twenty years in Japan or China or the +Straits Settlements, you cannot fail to get something of the color of +life in those strange lands, especially if you have the newspaper +training which impels you to ask questions and to drag out of your +informant everything of human interest that the reader will care to +know. + +This newspaper instinct, which is developed by training but which one +must possess in large measure before he can be successful in journalism, +seizes upon everything and transmutes it into "copy" for the printer. To +have taken this journey without setting down every day my impressions of +places and people would have been a tiresome experience. What seemed +labor to others who had not had my special training was as the breath in +my nostrils. Even in the debilitating heat of the tropics it was always +a pastime, never a task, to put into words my ideas of the historic +places which I knew so well from years of reading and which I had just +seen. And the richer the background of history, the greater was my +enjoyment in painting with words full of color a picture of my +impressions, for the benefit of those who were not able to share my +pleasure in the actual sight of these famous places of the Far East. + +From the mass of newspaper letters written while every impression was +sharp and clear, I have selected what seemed to me most significant and +illustrative. It is only when the traveler looks back over a journey +that he gets the true perspective. Then only is he able to see what is +of general and permanent interest. Most of the vexations of travel I +have eliminated, as these lose their force once they have gone over into +yesterday. What remains is the beauty of scenery, the grandeur of +architecture, the spiritual quality of famous paintings and statues, the +appealing traits of various peoples. + + + + + The Best + Results of Travel in + the Orient + + +The Best Results of Travel in the Orient + +This volume includes impressions of the first half of a trip around the +world. The remainder of the journey will fill a companion volume, which +will comprise two chapters devoted to New York and the effect it +produced on me after seeing the great cities of the world. As I have +said in the preface, these are necessarily first impressions, jotted +down when fresh and clear; but it is doubtful whether a month spent in +any of these places would have forced a revision of these first +glimpses, set in the mordant of curiosity and enthusiasm. When the mind +is saturated with the literature of a place, it is quick to seize on +what appeals to the imagination, and this appeal is the one which must +be considered in every case where there is an historical or legendary +background to give salient relief to palace or temple, statue or +painting. Without this background the noblest work seems dull and +lifeless. With it the palace stamps itself upon the imagination, the +temple stirs the emotions, the statue speaks, the painting has a direct +spiritual message. + +Certain parts of the Orient are not rich in this imaginative material +which appeals to one fond of history or art; but this defect is +compensated for by an extraordinary picturesqueness of life and a +wonderful luxuriance of nature. The Oriental trip also makes less demand +on one's reading than even a hasty journey through Europe. There are few +pictures, few statues. Only India and Egypt appeal to the sense of the +historical, Japan stands alone, alien to all our ways of life and +thought, but so intensely artistic, so saturated with the intellectual +spirit that it seems to belong to another world than this material, +commercial existence that stamps all European and American life. The new +China furnishes an attractive field of study, but unfortunately when I +visited the country it was in the throes of revolution and travel was +dangerous anywhere outside the great treaty ports. + +One of the best results of foreign travel is that it makes one revise +his estimate of alien races. When I started out it was with a strong +prejudice against the Japanese, probably due to my observation of some +rather unlovely specimens whom I had encountered in San Francisco. A +short stay in Japan served to give me a new point of view in regard to +both the people and the country of the Mikado. It was impossible to +escape from the fact that here is a race which places loyalty to country +and personal honor higher than life, and this sentiment was not confined +to the educated and wealthy classes but was general throughout the +nation. Here also is a people so devoted to the culture of beauty that +they travel hundreds of miles to see the annual chrysanthemum and other +flower festivals. And here is a people so devoted to art for art's sake +that even the poor and uneducated have little gardens in their back +yards and houses which reveal a refined taste in architecture and +decoration. The poorest artisans are genuine artists and their work +shows a beauty and a finish only to be found in the work of the highest +designers in our country. + +In one chapter of the section on Japan, I have dwelt on the ingenious +theory that it is their devotion to the garden that has kept the +Japanese from being spoiled by the great strides they have made in the +last twenty years in commerce and conquest. To take foremost place +among the powers of the world without any preliminary struggle is an +achievement which well might turn the heads of any people; yet this +exploit has simply confirmed the Japanese in the opinion that their +national training has resulted in this success that other nations have +won only by the expenditure of years of labor and study. When you see +the reverence which every one in Japan shows at the tombs of the +Forty-seven Ronins, you feel that here is a spiritual force which is +lacking in every European country; here is something, whether you call +it loyalty or patriotism or fanaticism, which makes even the women and +children of Japan eager to sacrifice all that they hold most dear on the +altar of their country. No less striking than their loyalty is the +courtesy of the Japanese which makes travel in their country a pleasure. +Even the poor and ignorant country people show in their mutual relations +a politeness that would do credit to the most civilized race, while all +exhibit toward foreigners a courtesy and consideration that is often +repaid by boorishness and insult on the part of tourists and foreign +residents of Japan. Another feature of Japanese life that cannot fail to +impress the stranger is the small weight that is given to wealth. In +their relations with foreigners the governing class and the wealthy +people are sticklers for all the conventional forms; but among +themselves the simplicity of their social life is very attractive. +Elaborate functions are unknown and changes of costume, which make +women's dress so large an item of family expense in any European +country, are unnecessary. Some of the rich Japanese are now lavishing +money on their homes, which are partly modeled on European plans; but in +the main the residences, even of rich people, are very simple and +unpretentious. These homes are filled with priceless porcelains, jades, +paintings and prints, but there is no display merely for the sake of +exhibiting art treasures. + +In Manila the American tourist has a good opportunity to contrast what +has been done by his countrymen with what the British have accomplished +in ports like Hongkong and Singapore. Doubtless the English plan will +show the larger financial returns, but it is carried out with a selfish +disregard of the interests of the natives which stirs the gorge of an +American. The Englishman believes in keeping a wide gulf between the +dominant and the humble classes. He does not believe in educating the +native to think that he can rise from the class in which he is born. The +American scheme in the Philippines has been to encourage the development +of character and efficiency, wherever found; and the result is that many +public positions are open to men who were head-hunting savages ten years +ago. Above all other things in the Philippines we have proved, as we +have shown at Panama, that a tropical climate need not be an unhealthful +one. We have banished from Manila cholera, yellow fever and bubonic +plague--three pests that once made it dreaded in the Orient. This, with +an ample water supply, is an achievement worthy of pride, when one +contrasts it with the unsanitary sewerage system of Hongkong and +Singapore. + +The small part of the great Chinese Empire which I was able to see gave +me a vivid impression of the activity and enthusiasm of the people in +spreading the new Republican doctrines. The way old things have been put +aside and the new customs adopted seems almost like a miracle. Fancy a +whole people discarding their time-honored methods of examination for +the civil service, along with their queues, their caps and their shoes. +All the authorities have predicted that China would be centuries in +showing the same changes which the Japanese have made in a single +generation; but recent events go far to prove that Japan will be +outstripped in the race for progress by its slow-going neighbor. What +profoundly impresses any visitor to China is the stamina and the +working capacity of the common people. Tireless laborers these Chinese +are, whether they work for themselves or the European. What they will be +able to accomplish with labor-saving machinery no one can predict. +Certainly should they accept modern methods of work, with the same +enthusiasm that they have adopted new methods of government, the markets +of the world will be upset by the product of these four hundred million. +China is to-day in transformation--fluctuant, far-reaching, limited only +by the capacity of a singularly excitable people to absorb new ideas. + +In India great is the contrast to China and Japan. Here is an old +civilization, founded on caste: here are many peoples but all joined to +the worship of a system that says the son must follow in the footsteps +of the father; that one cannot break bread with a stranger of another +caste lest he and his tribe be defiled. Nothing more hideous was ever +conceived than this Indian caste system, yet it has held its own against +the force of foreign learning and probably will continue to fetter the +development of the natives of India for centuries to come. Some simple +reforms the English have secured, like the abolition of suttee and the +improved condition of the child widows; but their influence on the great +mass of the people has been pitiably small. India bears the same +relation to the Orient that Italy does to Europe. It is the home of +temples, palaces and monuments; it is the land of beautiful art work in +many materials. Most of its cities have a splendid historical past that +is seen in richly ornamented temples and shrines, in the tombs of its +illustrious dead and in palaces that surpass in beauty of decoration +anything which Europe can boast. + +In considering India it must always be borne in mind that here was the +original seat of the Aryan civilization and that, though the Hindoo is +as dark as many of the American negroes, he is of Aryan stock like +ourselves. In comparison with the men who carried Aryan civilization +throughout the world, the Hindoo of to-day is as far removed as is the +modern Greek from the Greek of the time of Pericles and Phidias. Yet he +shows all the signs of race in clear-cut features and in small hands and +feet. + +The journey throughout India is one which calls for some philosophy, as +the train arrangements are never good and, unless one has the luck to +secure a competent guide, he will be annoyed by the excessive greed of +every one with whom he comes in contact. But aside from such troubles +the trip is one which richly repays the traveler. If one has time it is +admirable to go off the beaten track to some of the minor places which +have fine historical remains; but a good idea of India may be obtained +by taking the regular route from Calcutta to Bombay, by way of Delhi. + +In Benares the tourist first meets the swarms of beggars that make life +a burden. Aged men, with loathsome sores, stand whining at corners +beseeching the favor of a two-anna piece; blind men, led by small, +skinny children, set up a mournful wail and then curse you fluently when +you pass them by, and scores of children rise up out of hovels at the +roadside and pursue your carriage with shrill screams. All are filthy, +clamorous, greedy, inexpressibly offensive. If you are soft hearted and +give to one, then your day is made hideous by a swarm of mendicants, +tireless in pursuit and only kept from actual invasion of the carriage +by fear of the driver's whip. + +The feature which makes travel on Indian railways a weariness of the +flesh is the roughness of the cars. Each truck on the passenger cars is +provided with two large wheels, exactly like those on freight cars, and +these wheels have wooden felloes and spokes. With poor springs the +result is that though the road-bed is perfect the cars are as rough as +our freight cars. When the speed is over twenty-five miles an hour or +the road is crooked, the motion of the cars is well nigh intolerable. +Ordinarily the motion is so great that reading is difficult and writing +out of the question. At night the jar of the car is so severe that one +must be very tired or very phlegmatic to get any refreshing sleep. When +one travels all day and all night at a stretch--as in the journey from +Jeypore to Bombay--the fatigue is out of all proportion to the distance +covered. In fact Americans have been spoiled by the comforts of Pullman +sleeping-cars, in which foreign critics find so many flaws. Probably the +chief annoyance to our party of Americans, aside from the jar of the +cars, was the dust and soot which poured in day and night. The engines +burn soft coal and the dust on the road-beds is excessive. A system of +double windows and well-fitting screens would remove this nuisance, but +apparently the British in India think dust and grime necessary features +of railway travel, for no effort is made to eliminate them. + +No Oriental trip would be complete without a visit to Egypt, and +especially a ride on the Nile. It is more difficult to make anyone +realize the charm of Egypt than of any other country of the Orient. The +people are dirty, ignorant, brutish: their faces contain no appeal +because they are the faces of Millet's "The Man With the Hoe." Centuries +of subjection have killed the pride which still lingers in the face and +bearing of the poorest Arab; the Egyptian peasant does not wear the +collar of Gurth, but he is a slave of the soil whose day of freedom is +afar off. Yet these degenerate people are seen against a background of +the most imposing ruins in the world. Luxor and Karnak and the tombs of +the kings near old Thebes contain enough remains of the splendor of +ancient Egyptian life to permit study for years. The mind is appalled by +this mass of temples, monuments, obelisks and colossal statues. It is +difficult to realize that the same people who are seen toiling in the +fields to-day raised these huge monuments to perpetuate the names of +their rulers. A climate as dry as that of the Colorado desert has +preserved these remains, so that in the rock tombs one may gaze upon +brightly painted hieroglyphs of the time of Moses that look as though +they were carved yesterday. + +In this Oriental tour the stamp of strange religions is over all the +lands. The temple is the keynote of each race. And religion with the +Oriental is not a matter of one day's worship in seven: it is a vital, +daily function into which he puts all the dreamy mysticism of his race. +The first sight of several Mohammedans bowed in the dust by the +roadside, with their faces set toward Mecca, gives one a strange thrill, +but this spectacle soon loses its novelty. Everywhere in the Far East +religion is a matter of form and ceremony: it includes regular visits to +the temple and regular prayers and offerings to the deities enshrined in +these houses of worship. But it also includes a daily ritual that must +be observed at certain fixed hours, even though the believer may be in +the midst of the crowded market place. The spiritual isolation of an +Oriental at his prayers in any big city of the Far East is the most +significant feature of this life--so alien to all the mental, moral, and +religious training of the Occident. Vain is it for one of Anglo-Saxon +strain to attempt to bridge this abyss that lies between his mind and +that of the Burman or the Parsee. Each lives in a spiritual world of his +own and each would be homesick for heaven were he transferred to the +ideal paradise of the other. So the traveler in the Orient should give +heed to the temples, for in them is voiced the spiritual aspirations of +the people, who have little of comfort or hope to cheer them in this +world. + + + + + JAPAN, THE + PICTURE COUNTRY OF + THE ORIENT + + +FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF JAPAN AND THE LIFE OF THE JAPANESE + +Yokohama looks very beautiful to the traveler who has spent over two +weeks on the long sea voyage from Seattle; but it has little to commend +it to the tourist, for most of its native traits have been Europeanized. +It is noteworthy, however, as the best place except Hongkong for the +traveler to purchase an oriental outfit and it is probably the cheapest +place in the world for trunks and bags and all leather goods. Its bund, +or water-front, is spacious and its leading hotels are very comfortable. + +Of Japan and the Japanese, all that can be given are a few general +impressions of the result of two weeks of constant travel over the +empire and of talks with many people. + +Of the country itself, the prevailing impression of the tourist, who +crosses it on the railroad or who takes rides through the paddy fields +in a rickshaw, is of a perennial greenness. Instead of the tawny yellow +of California in October, one sees here miles on miles of rice fields, +some of vivid green, others of green turning to gold. The foothills of +the mountains remind one of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, as they +all bear evidences of the rounding and smoothing of glacial action. + +At a distance the rice fields look like grain fields, but seen near at +hand they are found to be great swamps of water, with row on row of +rice, the dead furrows either serving as ditches or as raised paths +across the fields. Every bit of hillside is terraced and planted to rice +or vegetables or fruit. + +Often these little, terraced fields, which look like the natural mesa of +southern California, will not be over fifty feet long by ten or fifteen +feet wide. Between the rows of fruit trees are vegetables or corn or +sorghum. The farmers live in little villages and apparently go home +every night after tilling their fields. There are none of the scattered +farmhouses, with trees around them, which are so characteristic a +feature of any American rural scene. + +The towns as well as the cities show a uniformity of architecture, as +most of the shops are one story or a story and one-half, while the +residences seem to be built on a uniform plan, with great variety in +gateways and decoration of grounds. Most of the roofs are made of a +black clay, corrugated so that it looks like the Spanish-American tile, +and many of the walls that surround residences and temples are of adobe, +with a tiled covering, precisely as one sees to-day the remains of adobe +walls in old Spanish-Californian towns. + +The general impression of any Japanese city when seen from a height is +that of a great expanse of low buildings with a liberal sprinkling of +trees and a few pagodas or roofs of Buddhist temples. + +The strongest impression that the unprejudiced observer receives in +Japan is of the small value set upon labor as well as upon time by the +great mass of the people. In Yokohama and in Kobe, which show the most +signs of foreign influence, the same traits prevail. + +It is one of the astonishing spectacles of the world, this +accomplishment of the business of a great nation by man power alone. +Only in one city, Osaka, the Chicago of Japan, is there any general +evidence of the adoption of up-to-date methods in manufacturing. +Everywhere one sees all the small industries of the country carried on +in the same way that they were conducted in Palestine in the time of +Christ. + +Everywhere men, harnessed to heavy push carts, are seen straining to +haul loads that are enough for a horse. The few horses in the cities are +used for heavy trucks, in common with bulls, for the Japanese bull is a +beast of burden and not one of the lords of creation as in our own +country. + +The bull is harnessed with a short neckyoke and a saddle on his back, +which bears a close resemblance to the riding saddle of the Cossack. +Some rope traces are hitched to crude, home-made whiffletrees. The bull, +as well as the horse, is guided by a rope line. The carts are remarkably +heavy, with wheels of great weight, yet many of these carts are pulled +by two men. + +In the big cities may be seen a few victorias, or other carriages, and +an occasional motor car, but both these means of conveyance can be used +with safety only on the broadest avenues. In the narrow streets of the +native quarter, which seldom exceed ten feet in width and which have no +sidewalks, the jinrikisha is the only carriage. This is a light, +two-wheeled gig, drawn by one man and frequently on the steep grades +pushed from the back by a second man. The rickshaw man has a bell gong +on one shaft, which he rings when approaching a sharp turn in the street +or when he sees several trucks or other rickshaws approaching. The bell +also serves to warn old people or children who may be careless, for the +rickshaw has the right of way and the pedestrian must turn to either +side to give it the road. Americans, who are far more considerate of the +feelings of the Japanese than other foreigners, frequently may be seen +walking up the steep grades in such hilly cities as Nikko, Nara and +Kobe, but long residence in Japan is said to make everyone callous of +the straining and the sweating of the rickshaw man. + +Purposely my itinerary included a number of little towns, which +practically have been uninfluenced by foreign customs. In these places +may be seen the primitive Japanese life, unchanged for hundreds of +years. Yet everywhere one cannot fail to be impressed by the tireless +industry of the people, and by their general good nature and courtesy. + +In any other country in the world, a party of Americans with their +foreign dress would have provoked some insulting remarks, some gestures +that could not be mistaken; but here in rural Japan was seen the same +perfect courtesy shown in the Europeanized sections of the big cities. +The people, to be sure, made no change in their way of life. Mothers +suckled their infants in front of their little shops, and children stood +naked and unashamed, lost in wonder over the strange spectacle of the +party of foreign people that dashed by in rickshaws. + +Naked men, with only a G-string to distinguish them from the costume of +Adam before the expulsion from Eden, labored at many tasks, and +frequently our little cavalcade swept by the great Government schools +where hundreds of little Japanese are being educated to help out the +manifest destiny of the empire. + +This courtesy and good nature among the poorest class of the Japanese +people is not confined to their treatment of foreigners; it extends to +all their daily relations with one another. A nearly naked coolie +pulling a heavy cart begs a light for his cigarette with a bow that +would do honor to a Chesterfield. + +A street blockade that in New York or San Francisco would not be +untangled without much profanity and some police interference is cleared +here in a moment because everyone is willing to yield and to recognize +that the most heavily burdened has the right of way. + +In all my wanderings by day or night in the large Japanese cities I +never except once saw a policeman lift his, hand to exercise his +authority. This exception was in Tokio, where a band of mischievous +schoolboys was following a party of gayly dressed ladies in rickshaws +and laughing and chattering. The guardian of the peace admonished them +with a few short, crisp words, and they scuttled into the nearest +alleys. + +The industry of the people, whether in city or country, is as amazing as +their courtesy. The Japanese work seven days in the week, and the year +is broken only by a few festivals that are generally observed by the +complete cessation of labor. In the large cities work goes on in most of +the shops until ten or eleven o'clock at night, and it is resumed at six +o'clock the next morning. + +The most impressive spectacle during several night rides through miles +of Tokio streets was the number of young lads from twelve to sixteen +years of age who had fallen asleep at their tasks. With head pillowed on +arm they slumbered on the hard benches, where they had been working +since early morning, while the older men labored alongside at their +tasks. + +From the train one saw the rice farmer and his wife and children working +in the paddy fields as long as they could see. These people do not work +with the fierce energy of the American mechanic, but their workday is +from twelve to fourteen hours and, considering these long hours, they +show great industry and conscientiousness. + +In some places women were employed at the hardest work, such as coaling +ships by hand and digging and carrying earth from canals and ditches. + +Scarcely less impressive than the tireless industry of the people is the +enormous number of children that may be seen both in city and country. +It was impossible to get statistics of births, but any American +traveling through Japan must be struck with the fact that this is a land +not threatened by race suicide. + +Women who looked far beyond the time of motherhood were suckling +infants, while all the young women seemed well provided with children. +Girls of five or six were playing games with sleeping infants strapped +to their backs, and even boys were impressed into this nursery work. The +younger children are clothed only in kimonos, so that the passer-by +witnesses many strange sights of naked Japanese cherubs. + +In all quarters of Tokio the children were as numerous as in tenement +streets of American cities on a Sunday afternoon, and in small country +towns the number of children seemed even greater than in the big cities. + +Another feature of Japanese life that made a profound impression on me +was the pilgrimage of school children to the various sacred shrines +throughout the empire. At Nikko and at Nara, two of the great seats of +Buddhist and Shinto shrines, these child pilgrims were conspicuous. They +were seen in bands of fifty or seventy-five, attended by tutors. The +boys were dressed in blue or black jackets, white or blue trousers and +white leggings. Each carried his few belongings in a small box or a +handkerchief and each had an umbrella to protect him from the frequent +showers. + +The girls had dark red merino skirts, with kimono waists of some dark +stuff. Many were without stockings, but all wore straw sandals or those +with wooden sole and heavy wooden clogs. School children are admitted to +temples and shrines at half rates and in every place the guides pay +special attention to these young visitors. + +Pilgrimages of soldiers and others are also very common. Whenever a +party of one hundred is formed it receives the benefit of the half-rate +admission. No observant tourist can fail to see that in the pilgrimages +of these school children and these soldiers the authorities of new Japan +find the best means of stimulating patriotism. Church and State are so +closely welded that the Mikado is regarded as a god. Passionate devotion +to country is the great ruling power which separates Japan from all +other modern nations. + +The number of young men who leave their country to escape the three +years' conscription is very small. The schoolboy in his most +impressionable years is brought to these sacred shrines; he listens to +the story of the Forty-seven Ronins and other tales of Japanese +chivalry; his soul is fired to imitate their self-sacrificing +patriotism. The bloody slopes of Port Arthur witnessed the effect of +such training as this. + + +THE JAPANESE CAPITAL AND ITS PARKS AND TEMPLES + +Tokio, the capital of Japan, is a picturesque city of enormous extent +and the tourist who sees it in two or three days must expect to do +strenuous work. The city, which actually covers one hundred square +miles, is built on the low shore of Tokio bay and is intersected by the +Sumi river and a network of narrow canals. The river and these canals +are crossed by frequent bridges. At night the tourist may mark his +approach to one of these canals by the evil odors that poison the air. +Even in October the air is sultry in Tokio during the day and far into +the night, but toward morning a penetrating damp wind arises. + +Although Tokio's main streets have been widened to imposing avenues that +run through a series of great parks, the native life may be studied on +every hand--for a block from the big streets, with their clanging +electric cars, one comes upon narrow alleys lined with shops and teeming +with life. Here, for the first time, the tourist sees Japanese city +life, only slightly influenced by foreign customs. The streets are not +more than twelve or fifteen feet wide, curbed on each side by flat +blocks of granite, seldom more than a foot or eighteen inches wide. +These furnish the only substitute for a sidewalk in rainy weather, as +most of the streets are macadamized. A slight rainfall wets the surface +and makes walking for the foreigner very disagreeable. The Japanese use +in rainy weather the wooden sandal with two transverse clogs about two +inches high, which lifts him out of the mud. All Japanese dignitaries +and nearly all foreigners use the jinrikisha, which has the right of way +in the narrow streets. The most common sound in the streets is the bell +of the rickshaw man or his warning shout of "Hi! Hi!" + +My first day's excursion included a ride through Shiba and Hibiya parks +to Uyeno Park, the resting place of many of the shoguns. This makes a +trip which will consume the entire day. Shiba Park is noteworthy for its +temples (which contain some of the most remarkable specimens of Japanese +art) and for the tombs of seven of the fifteen shoguns or native rulers +who preceded the Mikado in the government of Japan. The first and third +shoguns are buried at Nikko, while the fourth, fifth, eighth, ninth, +eleventh and thirteenth lie in Uyeno Park, Tokio. These mortuary chapels +in Shiba Park are all similar in general design, the only differences +being in the lavishness of the decoration. Out of regard for the foreign +visitor it is not necessary to remove one's shoes in entering these +temples, as cloth covers are provided. Each temple is divided into three +parts--the outer oratory, a corridor and the inner sanctum, where the +shogun alone was privileged to worship. The daimyos or nobles were lined +up in the corridor, while the smaller nobles and chiefs filled the +oratory. It would be tedious to describe these temples, but one will +serve as a specimen of all. This is the temple of the second shogun, +which is noteworthy for the beauty of the decoration of the sanctum and +the tomb. + +Two enormous gilded pillars support the vaulted roof of the sanctum, +which is formed of beams in a very curious pattern. A frieze of +medallions of birds, gilded and painted, runs around the top of the +wall. The shrine dates back for two and one-half centuries and is of +rich gold lacquer. The bronze incense burner, in the form of a lion, +bears the date of 1635. The great war drum of Ieyasu, the first of the +Tokugawa shoguns, lies upon a richly decorated stand. Back of the temple +is the octagonal hall, which houses the tomb of the second shogun. This +tomb is the largest example of gold lacquer in the world, and parts of +it are inlaid with enamel and crystal. Scenes from Liao-Ling, China, and +Lake Biwa, Japan, adorn the upper half, while the lower half bears +elaborate decoration of the lion and the peony. The base of the tomb is +a solid block of stone in the shape of the lotus. The hall is supported +by eight pillars covered with gilded copper, and the walls are covered +with gilded lacquer. The enormous amount of money expended on these +shrines will amaze any foreign visitor, as well as the profound +reverence shown by the Japanese for these resting places of the shoguns. + +Passing along a wide avenue traversed by electric cars one soon reaches +Hibiya Park, one of the show places of Tokio. To the European tourist or +the visitor from our Eastern States the beauty of the vegetation is a +source of marvel, but San Francisco's Golden Gate Park can equal +everything that grows here in the way of ornamental shrubs, trees and +flowers. On the south side of the park are the Parliament buildings, and +near by the fine, new brick buildings of the Naval and Judicial +Departments and the courts. Near by are grouped many of the foreign +legations, the palaces of princes and the mansions of the Japanese +officials and foreign embassadors. Here also is the Museum of Arms, +which is very interesting because of the many specimens of ancient +Japanese weapons and the trophies of the wars with China and Russia. In +this museum one may see the profound interest which the Japanese +pilgrims from all parts of the empire take in these memorials of +conquest. To them they rank with the sacred shrines as objects of +veneration. + +Not far away is the moat which surrounds the massive walls of the +imperial palace, open only to those who have the honor of an imperial +audience. These walls are of granite laid up without mortar, the corner +stones being of unusual size. The visitor may see the handsome roofs of +the imperial palaces. Those who have been admitted declare that the +decorations and the furniture are in the highest style of Japanese art, +although the simplicity and the neutral colors that mark the Shinto +temples prevail in the private chambers of the Emperor. In the throne +chamber and the banquet hall, on the other hand, gold and brilliant hues +make a blaze of color. Near the palace grounds are the Government +printing office and a number of schools. + +Turning down into Yoken street, one of the great avenues of traffic, you +soon reach Uyeno Park--the most popular pleasure ground of the capital, +and famous in the spring for its long lines of cherry trees in full +blossom. In the autumn it impressed me, as did all the other Japanese +parks, as rather damp and unwholesome. The ground was saturated from +recent rain; all the stonework was covered with moss and lichen; the +trees dripped moisture, and the little lakes scattered here and there +were like those gloomy tarns that Poe loved to paint in his poems. Near +the entrance to this park is a shallow lake covered with lotus plants, +and a short distance beyond from a little hill one may get a good view +of the buildings of the imperial university. Here is a good foreign +restaurant where one may enjoy a palatable lunch. Near by on a slight +eminence stands a huge bronze image of Buddha, twenty-one and one-half +feet high, called the Daibutsu. It is one of several such figures +scattered over the empire. Passing through a massive granite torii, or +gate, one reaches an avenue of stately cryptomeria, or cedar trees that +leads to a row of stone lanterns presented in 1651 by daimyos as a +memorial to the first shogun. The temple beyond is famous for its +beautiful lacquer. + +Near at hand are the temples and tombs of the six shoguns of the +Tokugawa family, buried in Uyeno Park. These temples are regarded as +among the finest remains of old Japanese art. The mortuary temples bear +a close resemblance to those in Shiba Park. The second temple is the +finer and is celebrated for the gilding of the interior walls, the +gorgeous decoration of the shrines and the memorial tablets in gold +lacquer. Here, also, are eight tablets erected to the memory of eight +mothers of shoguns, all of whom were concubines. + +[Illustration: + + The Yomei-mori Gate, Ieyasu Temple, Nikko. + One of the Most Beautiful Gates in all Japan. The Columns + Are Painted White, with Capitals of Unicorn's Heads. + The Roof is Supported by Gilt Dragon's Heads.] + +A short distance from Uyeno Park is the great Buddhist temple known as +Asakusa Kwannon, dedicated to Kwannon, the goddess of mercy. The +approaches to this temple on any pleasant day look like a country fair. +The crowd is so dense that jinrikishas can not approach within one +hundred yards. The shrine dates back to the sixth century and the temple +is the most popular resort of its kind in Tokio. On each side of the +entrance lane are shops, where all kinds of curios, toys, cakes, et +cetera, are sold. The temple itself is crowded with votaries who offer +coins to the various idols, while below (near the stairs that give +entrance to the temple) are various side booths that are patronized by +worshipers. Some of these gods promise long life; others give +happiness, and several insure big families to women who offer money and +say prayers. + +One of the remarkable jinrikisha rides in Japan is that from Uyeno to +Shimbashi station through the heart of Tokio by night. This takes about +a half hour and it gives a series of pictures of the great Japanese city +that can be gained in no other way. Here may be seen miles of little +shops lining alleys not over ten or twelve feet wide, in most of which +work is going on busily as late as eleven o'clock. In places the sleepy +proprietors are putting up their shutters, preparatory to going to bed, +but in others the work of artisan or baker or weaver goes on as though +the day had only fairly begun. Most of these shops are lighted by +electricity, but this light is the only modern thing about them. The +weaver sits at the loom precisely as he sat two thousand years ago, and +the baker kneads his dough and bakes his cakes precisely as he did +before the days of the first shogun. This ride gives a panorama of +oriental life which can be equaled in few cities in the world. +Occasionally the jinrikisha dashes up a little bank and across a bridge +that spans a canal and one catches a glimpse of long lines of house +boats, with dim lights, nestling under overhanging balconies. Overall is +that penetrating odor of the Far East, mingled with the smell of bilge +water and the reek of thousands of sweating human beings. These smells +are of the earth earthy and they led one to dream that night of weird +and terrible creatures such as De Quincey paints in his _Confessions of +an English Opium Eater_. + + +THE MOST FAMOUS CITY OF TEMPLES IN ALL JAPAN + +The most magnificent temples in Japan are at Nikko, in the mountains, +five hours' ride by train from Tokio. What makes this trip the more +enjoyable to the American tourist is that the country reminds him of the +Catskills, and that he gets some glimpses of primitive Japanese life. +The Japanese have a proverb: "Do not use the word 'magnificent' until +you have seen Nikko." And anyone who goes through the three splendid +temples that serve as memorials of the early shoguns will agree that the +proverb is true. + +The railroad ride to Nikko is tedious, although it furnishes greater +variety than most of the other trips by rail through the Mikado's +empire. But as soon as one is landed at the little station he recognizes +that here is a place unlike any that he has seen. The road runs up a +steep hill to the Kanaya Hotel, which is perched on a high bank +overlooking the Daiyagawa river. Tall cedar trees clothe the banks, and +across the river rise mountains, with the roofs of temples showing +through the foliage at their base. This hotel is gratefully remembered +by all tourists because of the artistic decoration of the rooms in +Japanese style and the beneficent care of the proprietor, which includes +a pretty kimono to wear to the morning bath, with straw sandals for the +feet, and charming waitresses in picturesque costumes. + +The first Buddhist temple at Nikko dates back to the eighth century, but +it was not until the seventeenth century that the place was made a +national shrine by building here the mausoleum of the first shogun, +Ieyasu, and of his grandson, Iemitsu. Hardly less noteworthy than these +shrines and temples is the great avenue of giant cryptomeria trees, +which stretches across the country for twenty miles, from Nikko to +Utsunomiya. + +One of the chief objects of interest in Nikko is the Sacred Red Bridge +which spans a swift stream about forty feet wide. This is a new bridge, +as the old one was carried away by a great flood nine years ago. +Originally built in 1638, it served to commemorate the legendary and +miraculous bridging of the stream by Shodo Shonin, a saint. He arrived +at the river one day while on a pilgrimage and called aloud for aid to +cross. On the opposite bank appeared a being of gigantic size, who +promised to help him, and at once flung across the stream two green and +blue dragons which formed a bridge. When the saint was safely over the +bridge, it vanished with the mysterious being. Shodo at once built a hut +on the banks of the stream. For fourteen years he dwelt there and +gathered many disciples. Then he established a monastery and a shrine at +Lake Chuzinji, about nine miles from Nikko. Nine hundred years later the +second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty sent two officials to Nikko to +select a site for the mausoleum of his father. They chose a site near +Nikko, on a hill called Hotoke-iwa, and in the spring of 1617 the tomb +was completed and the coffin was deposited under it with appropriate +Buddhist ceremonies. + +The road to the mausoleum winds around the river. The first object on +the way is a pillar erected in 1643 to ward off evil influences. It is +a cylindrical copper column forty-two feet high, supported by short +horizontal bars of the same material, resting on four short columns. +Small bells hung from lotus-shaped cups crown the summit of the column. +Just beyond this column is a massive granite torii, twenty-seven and +one-half feet high, the gift of the Daimiyo of Chikuzen. To the left is +a five-story pagoda, one hundred and four feet in height, which is +especially graceful. Inside a red wooden wall are arranged a series of +lacquered storehouses, a holy water cistern cut out of a solid block of +granite, a finely decorated building in which rest a collection of +Buddhist writings. A second court is reached by a flight of stairs. Here +are gifts presented by the kings of Luchu, Holland and Korea, these +three countries being regarded as vassal states of Japan. On the left is +the Temple of Yahushi, beautifully decorated in red and gold lacquer, +and just beyond is a fine gate, called Yomei-mon, decorated with +medallions of birds. Passing through this gate, one reaches a court +bordered by several small buildings, one of which contains the +palanquins that are carried in the annual procession on June 1st, when +the deified spirits of the first shogun, Hideyoshi (the great +conqueror), and Yoritomo occupy them. Seventy-five men carry each of +these palanquins. + +The main shrines are reached through the Chinese gate. The three +chambers are magnificent specimens of the finest work in lacquer, gold +and metal. The tomb of Ieyasu, the first shogun, is reached by ascending +two hundred stone steps. The tomb is in the form of a small pagoda of +bronze of an unusually light color caused by the mixture of gold. The +body of the shogun is buried twenty feet deep in a bed of charcoal. +Beyond is the mausoleum of Iemitsu, the third shogun. The oratory and +chapel are richly decorated, but they do not compare with those of the +first shogun's tomb. Back of these tombs, among the huge cedar trees +that clothe the sides of the mountain, is a small red shrine where women +offer little pieces of wood that they may pass safely through the +dangers of childbirth. Near by is the tomb of Shodo, the saint, and +three of his disciples. + +These mortuary temples and tombs are genuinely impressive. They bear +many signs of age and it is evident that they are held in great +veneration by the Japanese, who make pilgrimages at all seasons to offer +up prayers at these sacred shrines. More impressive than the tombs +themselves are the pilgrims. On the day that I visited this sacred +shrine several large bands of pilgrims were entertained. One party was +composed of over a hundred boys from one of the big government military +schools. These lads were in uniform and each carried an umbrella and a +lunch tied up in a handkerchief. The priests paid special attention to +these young pilgrims and described for their benefit the marvels of +carving and lacquer work. Services were held before the shrines and the +glorious conquest of the shoguns and of Hideyoshi (popularly known as +the Napoleon of Japan) were described in glowing words. The Russian +cannon captured at Port Arthur, which stands near the entrance to the +tombs, was not forgotten by these priests, who never fail to do their +part in stimulating the patriotism of the young pilgrims. + +These boys were followed by an equal number of public school girls, all +dressed in dark red merino skirts and kimonos of various colors. Some +were without stockings and none wore any head covering, although each +girl carried her lunch and the inevitable umbrella. + +After these children came several parties of mature pilgrims, some +finely dressed and bearing every evidence of wealth and position, while +others were clothed in poor garments and showed great deference to the +priests and guides. All revealed genuine veneration for the sacred +relics and all contributed according to their means to the various +shrines. Some idea of the revenue drawn by the priests from tourists and +pilgrims may be gained when it is said that admission is seventy sen (or +thirty-five cents in American money) for each person, with half-rates to +priests, teachers and school children, and to members of parties +numbering one hundred. + +The shops at Nikko will be found well worth a visit, as this city is the +market for many kinds of furs that are scarce in America. Many fine +specimens of wood carving may also be seen in the shops. The main street +of the town runs from the Kanaya Hotel to the railroad depot, a distance +of a mile and one-half, and it is lined for nearly the whole distance +with small shops. + +On his return to the railroad the tourist would do well to take a +jinrikisha ride of five miles down through the great avenue of old +cryptomeria trees to the little station of Imaichi. This is one of the +most beautiful rides in the world. The road is bordered on each side by +huge cedar trees which are from one hundred and fifty to two hundred +feet in height. In many cases the roots of these old trees have formed a +natural embankment and the road is thus forced below the level of the +surrounding rice fields. These trees were planted nearly three hundred +years ago and they are certainly in a remarkable state of preservation. +A few gaps there are, due to the vandalism of the country people, but +mile after mile is passed with only an occasional break in these +stately columns, crowned by the deep green masses of foliage. Another +cryptomeria avenue intersects this and runs for twenty-five miles across +the country. The two avenues were planted in order that they might be +used by the shogun's messengers when they bore important letters to him +during his summer residence in Nara. + + +IN KYOTO, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF JAPAN + +Next to Nikko, one of the most interesting cities in Japan is Kyoto, the +old capital under the shoguns, the seat of several fine palaces and many +beautiful temples, and the center of large manufacturing works of +satsuma and cloissone ware, damascene work and art work on silk and +velvet. Kyoto may be reached by a short ride from Kobe, but from Tokio +it is an all-day trip of twelve hours by express train. This ride, which +would be comfortable in well appointed cars, is made tedious by the +Japanese preference for cars with seats arranged along the side, like +the new American pay-as-you-enter street cars. For a short ride the side +seat may be endured, but for hours of travel (especially when one is a +tourist and wishes to see the scenery on both sides of the road) the +cars are extremely tiresome. + +By selecting the express train and buying first-class tickets it was +hoped to avoid any crowd but, unfortunately, the day chosen saw many +other tourists on their way across Japan. The result was that the +first-class car was packed and many who had paid first-class fares were +forced to ride in the second-class cars. In my car one side was occupied +almost wholly by Japanese. Two were in American dress, one was an army +officer in uniform, another a clerk with many packages, and the +remaining two were an old couple, richly dressed. The Japanese, in +traveling first-class, generally brings a rug or fur, which he spreads +over the seat. On this he sits with his feet drawn up under him in the +national style. Smoking is not prohibited even in the first-class cars, +so that the American ladies in the cars had to endure the smell of +various kinds of Japanese tobacco, in addition to the heat, which was +rendered more disagreeable by the frequent closing of the windows as the +train dashed through many tunnels. The old couple carried lunch in +several hampers and they indulged in a very elaborate luncheon, helped +out by tea purchased in little pots from a dealer at a station. The army +officer bought one of the small wooden lunch boxes sold along all +Japanese railways, which contain boiled rice, fried fish and some boiled +sweet potatoes. This, with a pot of tea, made a good lunch. The Japanese +in European costume patronized the dining-car, where an excellent lunch +was served for one yen, or fifty cents in American money. + +The scenery along the line of the railway varied. The road skirts the +coast for many miles, then cuts across several mountain ranges to +Nagoya, then along the shores of Owari bay (an arm of the ocean), thence +across the country to the lower end of Lake Biwa, near which Kyoto is +situated. In the old days this journey consumed twelve days, and the +road twice every year furnished a picturesque procession of the retinues +of great nobles or daimiyos traveling from Kyoto to Tokio to present +their respects to the shogun. The road was skirted by great cryptomeria, +and avenues of these fine trees may still be seen near Nikko. + +Kyoto was a great city in medieval days, when it was the residence of +the Mikado. From 793 until 1868, when the court removed to Tokio, Kyoto +remained the capital. Its importance, however, began to decline with +the founding of Yedo, or Tokio, in 1590, and to-day many miles of its +former streets are devoted to the growing of rice. In this way several +of the finest temples, which were once in the heart of the old city, are +now relegated to the suburbs. Besides the Mikado's palace and Nijo +castle, which may be visited only by special permit, Kyoto boasts of an +unusual number of richly decorated temples, among which the most +noteworthy are the Shinto temple of Inari; the temple of the one +thousand images of Kwannon, the Deity of Mercy; the great Buddhist +temple of Nishi-Honguanji, celebrated for its art work in paintings and +decorated woods; the great bronze Buddha, fifty-eight feet high; the big +bell near by, nearly fourteen feet high, and the other in the Cheon-in +temple here--these being two of the four largest bells in all Japan. To +describe the treasures in art and decoration, in gold and lacquer, in +these palaces, would be tiresome. Unless one is a student of Japanese +art the visiting of temples soon becomes a great bore, for one temple or +one palace is a repetition of others already seen, with merely minor +differences in architecture and decoration, which appeal only to the +specialist. + +Kyoto, however, is of great interest for its many art shops--since +applied art, as seen in satsuma and cloissone ware and in damascene, +have almost reached the level of pure art. A visit to one of the satsuma +factories is an interesting experience, as it shows how little the art +of Japan has been influenced by the foreigner. Here one sees the potter +at his wheel, precisely as in the days of the Bible. He does not avail +himself of electric power but whirls his wheel by hand and foot, exactly +as in the time of Christ. Passing from the pottery to the art rooms, one +finds a number of Japanese men and girls painting elaborate designs on +bowls and vases and other articles. These artists grind and mix their +own oil colors, which they proceed to lay on slowly upon the article +they are decorating. The patience of these artists is indescribable. +Infinite pains is taken with a single flower or tree or figure of man or +bird. One vase exhibited here is covered with butterflies which range +from natural size down to figures so small that they can be discerned +only under a magnifying glass. Yet, this vase, which represents such an +enormous outlay of labor and time, is sold at thirty dollars in American +money. + +At the damascene works both men and women are also employed, although +the finest work is done by the men. The art consists in beating into +bronze small particles of gold leaf until they have become an actual +part of the baser metal. This gold is arranged in a great variety of +design and, after being beaten in, the article is subjected to powerful +heat, which oxidizes the metal and thus prevents any change due to the +weather. At this Kyoto factory were turned out the most artistic +jewelry, boxes, cigarette cases and a great variety of small articles, +many of which sold at absurdly low prices, considering the amount of +labor and time expended on them. + +Kyoto will be found one of the best cities in Japan for the purchase of +the art work just described, as well as embroidery, silks and other +stuffs. In many of these shops the work is done on the premises and +hence the prices are cheaper than in any other city except Yokohama. It +is worth while to visit the shops that exhibit bronze work, silks, +velvets and carvings in ivory and wood, as well as curios of many kinds. +Most of these shopkeepers demand more than they expect to receive, but +in a few shops the goods are plainly marked and no reduction in price +can be secured. At Kyoto the tourist will find many traces of primitive +Japanese life, especially in the unfrequented streets and in the +suburbs. Here in the bed of the river, a portion of which was being +walled up for a canal, were employed a dozen women digging up gravel and +carrying it in baskets to carts near by. They had their skirts tied up +and they were working in mud and water which reached to their knees. It +was not a pleasant spectacle, but it excited no comment in this country, +where women labor in the rice fields by the side of men. + +A short ride from Kyoto brings the visitor to Nara, the seat of the +oldest temples in Japan, and famous for the tame deer in the park. A +long avenue of stone lanterns leads to the principal temples, in an +ancient cedar grove. The main temple gives an impression of great age by +its heavy thatched roof. + +Next looms up the gigantic wooden structure, which houses Daibutsa, the +great bronze image of Buddha. This statue, which dates back to the +eighth century, is fifty-three and one-quarter feet high; the face is +sixteen feet long and nine and one-quarter feet wide. The god is in a +sitting position, with the legs crossed. The head, which is darker than +the remainder of the image, replaced in the sixteenth century the +original head destroyed by fire. The expression of this Buddha is not +benignant, and the image is impressive only because of its size. It has +two images eighteen feet in height on either hand, but these seemed +dwarfed by the huge central figure. + +The park at Nara is very interesting, because of the tame deer which +have no fear of the stranger in European dress, but will eat cakes from +his hand. One of the sources of revenue is to sell these cakes to the +tourist. + +A visit was paid to an old temple at Horyuji, about eight miles from +Nara, which is famous as the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan. It +contains a valuable collection of ancient Japanese works of art. The +rickshaw ride to this place is of great interest, as the road passes +through a rich farming country and two small towns which seem to have +been little affected by European influence. In the fertile valley below +Nara rice is grown on an extensive scale, these paddy fields being +veritable swamps which can be crossed only by high paths running through +them, at distances of thirty or forty feet. Here also may be seen the +curious method of trellising orchards of pear trees with bamboo poles. +The trellis supports the upper branches and this prevents them from +breaking down under the weight of fruit, while it also makes easy the +picking of fruit. Agriculture at its best is seen in this fertile +Japanese valley. One peculiarity of this country, as of other parts of +rural Japan, is that one sees none of the scattered farmhouses which dot +every American farming section. Instead of building on his own land the +farmer lives in a village to which he returns at night after his day's +work. + + +KOBE, OSAKA, THE INLAND SEA AND NAGASAKI + +Kobe is regarded as a base for the tourist who wishes to make short +excursions to Kyoto, Osaka and other cities. It was established as a +foreign settlement in 1868, and has grown so remarkably during the last +ten years that now it exceeds in imports and exports any other city in +Japan. Kobe is one of the most attractive cities in the empire, being +built on a pretty harbor, with the land rising like an amphitheater. +Scores of handsome residences are scattered over the foothills near the +sea. Those on the lower side of the streets that run parallel to the +harbor have gardens walled up on the rear, while the houses on the upper +side of the streets have massive retaining walls. These give opportunity +for many ornamental gateways. + +Kobe has many large government schools, but the institutions which I +found of greatest interest were Kobe College for Women, conducted by +Miss Searle, and the Glory Kindergarten, under the management of Miss +Howe. Kobe College, which was founded over thirty years ago, is +maintained by the Women's Board of Missions of Chicago. It has two +hundred and twenty-five pupils, of whom all except about fifty are +lodged and boarded on the premises. I heard several of the classes +reciting in English. The primary class in English read simple sentences +from a blackboard and answered questions put by the teacher. A few +spoke good English, but the great majority failed to open their mouths, +and the result was the indistinct enunciation that is so trying to +understand. Another class was reading _Hamlet_, but the pupils made sad +work of Shakespeare's verse. The Japanese reading of English is always +monotonous, because their own language admits of no emphasis; so their +use of English is no more strange than our attempts at Japanese, in +which we employ emphasis that excites the ridicule of the Mikado's +subjects. + +Not far from this college is the kintergarten, which Miss Howe has +carried on for twenty-four years. She takes little tots of three or four +years of age and trains them in Froebel's methods. So successful has she +been in her work among these children of the best Japanese families of +Kobe that she has a large waiting list. She has also trained many +Japanese girls in kintergarten work. All the children at this school +looked unusually bright, as they are drawn from the educated classes. It +sounded very strange to hear American and English lullabies being +chanted by these tots in the unfamiliar Japanese words. + +Osaka, the chief manufacturing city of Japan, is only about +three-quarters of an hour's ride from Kobe. It spreads over nine miles +square and lies on both sides of the Yodogawa river. The most +interesting thing in Osaka is the castle built by Hideyoshi, the +Napoleon of Japan, in 1583. The strong wall was once surrounded by a +deep moat and an outer wall, which made it practically impregnable. What +will surprise anyone is the massive character of the inner walls which +remain. Here are blocks of solid granite, many of them measuring forty +feet in length by ten feet in height. It must have required a small army +of men to place these stones in position, but so well was this work +done (without the aid of any mortar) that the stones have remained in +place during all these years. From the summit of the upper wall a superb +view may be gained of the surrounding country. + +From Kobe the tourist makes the trip through the Inland Sea by steamer. +Its length is about two hundred and forty miles and its greatest width +is forty miles. The trip through this sea, which in some places narrows +to a few hundred feet, is deeply interesting. The hills remind a +Californian strongly of the Marin hills opposite San Francisco, but here +they are terraced nearly to their summits and are green with rice and +other crops. Many of the hills are covered with a growth of small cedar +trees, and these trees lend rare beauty to the various points of land +that project into the sea. At two places in the sea the steamer seems as +though she would surely go on the rocks in the narrow channel, but the +pilot swings her almost within her own length and she turns again into a +wider arm of the sea. In these narrow channels the tide runs like a mill +race, and without a pilot (who knows every current) any vessel would be +in extreme danger. The steamer leaves Kobe about ten o'clock at night +and reaches Nagasaki, the most western of Japanese cities, about seven +o'clock the following morning. + +Nagasaki in some ways reminds one of Kobe, but the hills are steeper and +the most striking feature of the town is the massive stone walls that +support the streets winding around the hills, and the elaborate paving +of many of these side-hill streets with great blocks of granite. The +rainfall is heavy at Nagasaki, so we find here a good system of gutters +to carry off the water. The harbor is pretty and on the opposite shore +are large engine works, three large docks and a big ship-building +plant, all belonging to the Mitsu Bishi Company. Here some five thousand +workmen are constantly employed. + +[Illustration: + + The Daibutsu or Great Bronze Buddha + at Hyogo, Near Kobe. The Impressive Figure is Forty-eight + Feet High and Eighty-five Feet Round the Waist. It is + Not so Fine as the Daibutsu at Kamakura But + Surpasses That at Nara] + +One of the great industries of Nagasaki is the coaling of Japanese and +foreign steamships. A very fair kind of steam coal is sold here at three +dollars a ton, which is less by one dollar and one-half than a poorer +grade of coal can be bought for in Seattle; hence the steamer Minnesota +coaled here. The coaling of this huge ship proved to be one of the most +picturesque sights of her voyage. Early on the morning of her arrival +lighters containing about a railway carload of coal began to arrive. +These were arranged in regular rows on both sides of the ship. Then came +out in big sampans an army of Japanese numbering two thousand in all. +The leaders arranged ladders against the sides of the ship, and up these +swarmed this army of workers, three-quarters of whom were young girls +between fourteen and eighteen years old. They were dressed in all +colors, but most of them wore a native bonnet tied about the ears. They +formed in line on the stairs and then the coal was passed along from +hand to hand until it reached the bunkers. These baskets held a little +over a peck of coal, and the rapidity with which they moved along this +living line was startling. + +Every few minutes the line was given a breathing space, but the work +went on with a deadly regularity that made the observer tired to watch +it. Occasionally one of the young girls would flag in her work and, +after she dropped a few basketfuls, she would be relieved and put at the +lighter work of throwing the empty baskets back into the lighters. Most +of these girls, however, remained ten hours at this laborious work, and +a few worked through from seven o'clock in the morning until nearly +midnight, when the last basket of coal was put on board. At work like +this no such force of Europeans would have shown the same self-control +and constant courtesy which these Japanese exhibited. Wranglings would +have been inevitable, and the strong workers would have shown little +regard for their weaker companions. + +Another feature of this Japanese work was the elimination of any strain +or overexertion. If a girl failed to catch a basket as it whirled along +the line she dropped it instantly. Never did I see anyone reach over or +strain to do her work. + +The rest for lunch occupied only about fifteen minutes, the begrimed +workers sitting down on the steps of the ladders and eating their simple +food with keen relish. At night when strong electric lights cast their +glare over these constantly moving lines of figures the effect was +almost grotesque, reminding one of Gustave Dore's terrible pictures of +the lost souls in torment, or of the scramble to escape when the deluge +came. The skill that comes of long practice marked the movements of all +these workers, and it was rare that any basket was dropped by an awkward +or tired coal-passer. + +In seventeen hours four thousand five hundred tons of coal were loaded +on the steamer. About fifteen hundred people were working on the various +ladders, while another five hundred were employed in trimming the coal +in the hold and in managing the various boats. The result was an exhibit +of what can be done by primitive methods when perfect co-operation is +secured. + +Nagasaki itself has little that will interest the tourist but a ride or +walk to Mogi, on an arm of the ocean, five miles away, may be taken with +profit. The road passes over a high divide and, as it runs through a +farming country, one is able to see here (more perfectly than in any +other part of Japan) how carefully every acre of tillable land is +cultivated. On both sides of this road from Nagasaki to the fishing +village of Mogi were fields enclosed by permanent walls of stone, such +as would be built in America only to sustain a house. In many cases the +ground protected by this wall was not over half an acre in extent, and +in some cases the fields were of smaller size. Tier after tier of these +walls extended up the sides of the steep hills. The effect at a little +distance was startling, as the whole landscape seemed artificial. The +result of this series of walls was to make a succession of little mesas +or benches such as may be seen in southern California. + + +DEVELOPMENT OF THE JAPANESE SENSE OF BEAUTY + +After a trip through Japan the question that confronts the observant +tourist is: What has preserved the fine artistic sense of the Japanese +people of all classes, in the face of the materialist influences that +have come into their life with the introduction of Western methods of +thought and of business? The most careless traveler has it thrust upon +him that here is a people artistic to the tips of their fingers, and +with childlike power of idealization, although they have been forced to +engage in the fierce warfare of modern business competition. What is it +that has kept them unspotted from the world of business? What secret +source of spiritual force have they been able to draw upon to keep fresh +and dewy this eager, artistic sense that must be developed with so much +labor among any Western people? + +The answer to these questions is found, by several shrewd observers, in +the Japanese devotion to their gardens. Every Japanese, no matter how +small and poor his house, has a garden to which he may retire and +"invite his soul." These Japanese gardens are unique and are found in no +other land. China has the nearest approach to them, but the poor Chinese +never dreams of spending time and money in the development of a garden, +such as the Japanese in similar circumstances regards as a necessity. +And these Japanese gardens are always made to conform to the house and +its architecture. The two never fail to fit and harmonize. A poor man +may have only a square of ground no larger than a few feet, but he will +so arrange it as to give it an appearance of spaciousness, while the +more elaborate gardens are laid out so as to give the impression of +unlimited extent. The end of the garden appears to melt into the +horizon, and the owner has a background that extends for miles into the +country. By the artistic use of stones and dwarf plants, a few square +feet of ground are made to give the effect of liberal space and, with +bridges, moss-covered stones, ponds, gold fish and other features, a +perfect illusion of the country may be produced. + +Into this garden the master of the house retires after the work of the +day. There he takes none of his business or professional cares. He gives +himself wholly to the contemplation of Nature. He becomes for the time +as a little child, and his soul is pleased with childish things. For him +this garden, with its pretty outlook on a larger world, serves as the +boundary of the universe. Here he may dream of the legends of the +Samurai, before Japan fell under the evil influence of the new God of +Gain. Here he may indulge in the day-dreams that have always been a part +of the national consciousness. Here, in fine, he may get closer to the +real heart of Nature than any Occidental can ever hope to reach. + +It is this capacity to get close to Nature that the Japanese possess +beyond any other Oriental people--and this capacity is not limited to +those of means or leisure or education. The poor man, who has a daily +struggle to get enough rice to satisfy his moderate wants, is as open to +these influences as the rich man who is not worried by any material +wants. There is no distinction of classes in this universal worship of +beauty--this passion for all that is lovely in nature. It was not my +good fortune to be in Japan at the time of the cherry-blossom +festival--but these fetes merely serve to bring out this national +passion for beauty and color, which finds expression not only in the +gardens throughout the empire but in painting, drawing and in working on +silks and other fabrics. The same instinctive art sense is seen in the +work of the cabinet-maker and even in the designs of gateways and the +doors of houses. The eye and the hand of the common worker in wood and +metal is as sure as the hand of the great artist. Such is the influence +of this constant study of beauty in nature and art. + +When you watch a busy Japanese artisan you get a good idea of the spirit +that animates his work. He regards himself as an artist, and he shows +the same sureness of hand and the same sense of form and color as the +designer in colors or the painter of portraits or landscapes. All the +beautiful gateways or torii, as they are called, are works of art. They +have one stereotyped form, but the artists embellish these in many ways +and the result is that every entrance to a large estate or a public +ground is pleasing to the eye. As these gateways are generally lacquered +in black or red or gold, they add much to the beauty and color of each +scene. The ornamental lattice over nearly every door also adds +enormously to the effectiveness of even a simple interior. + +Watch a worker on cloissone enamel and you will be amazed at the +rapidity and the accuracy with which he paints designs on this beautiful +ware. Without any pattern he proceeds to sketch with his brush an +intricate design of flowers, birds or insects, and he develops this with +an unerring touch that is little short of marvelous, when one considers +that he has never had any regular training in drawing but has grown up +in the shop and has gained all his skill from watching and imitating the +work of his master on the bench at his side. One day in Kyoto I watched +a mere boy gradually develop a beautiful design of several hundred +butterflies gradually becoming smaller and smaller until they vanished +at the top of the vase. What he proposed to make of this was shown in a +finished design that was exquisite in the gradation of form and color. +The same skill of hand and eye was seen in the shops of Kyoto where +damascene ware is made. Gold and silver is hammered into steel and other +metals, so that the intricate designs actually seem to become a part of +the metal. In carving in wood the Japanese excel, and in such places as +Nikko and Nara the tourist may pick up the most elaborate carvings at +absurdly low prices. + + +CONCLUSIONS ON JAPANESE LIFE AND CHARACTER + +In summing up one's observations of Japanese life and character, after a +brief trip across the empire, it is necessary to exercise much care and +not to take the accidental for the ordinary incidents of life. +Generalizations from such observations on a hurried journey are +especially deadly. To guard against such error I talked with many +people, and the conclusions given here are drawn from the radically +different views of missionaries, merchants, steamship agents, bankers +and others. Generous allowance must be made for the prejudices of each +class, but even then the forming of any conclusions is difficult. This +is due largely to the fact that the Japanese a half-century ago were +mediaeval in life and thought, and that the remarkable advances which +they have made in material and intellectual affairs have been crowded +into a little more than the life of two generations. + +The most common charge made against the Japanese as a race is that their +standard of commercial morality is low as compared with that of the +Chinese. The favorite instance, which is generally cited by those who do +not like the Japanese, is that all the big banks in Japan employ Chinese +shroffs or cashiers, who handle all the money, as Japanese cashiers +cannot be trusted. This ancient fiction should have died a natural +death, but it seems as though it bears a charmed life, although its +untruth has been repeatedly exposed by the best authorities on Japan. + +The big foreign banks in all the large Japanese cities do employ Chinese +shroffs, because these men are most expert in handling foreign money and +because they usually have a large acquaintance all along the Chinese +coast among the clients of the banks. The large Japanese banks, on the +other hand, employ Japanese in all positions of trust and authority, as +do all the smaller banks throughout the empire. Many of the cashiers of +these smaller banks understand English, particularly those that have +dealings with foreigners. At a native bank in Kobe, which was Cook's +correspondent in that city, I cashed several money orders, and the work +was done as speedily as it would have been done in any American bank. +The fittings of the bank were very cheap; the office force was small, +but the cashier spoke excellent English and he transacted business +accurately and speedily. + +In making any generalizations on the lack of rigid commercial honesty +among Japanese merchants it may be well for me to quote the opinion of +an eminent American educator who has spent over forty years in Japan. He +said, in discussing this subject: "We must always consider the training +of the Japanese before their country was thrown open to foreign trade. +For years the nation had been ruled by men of the Samurai or military +class, with a rigid code of honor, but with a great contempt for trade +and tradesmen. Naturally business fell into the hands of the lower +classes who did not share the keen sense of honor so general among their +rulers. Hence, there grew up lax ideas of commercial morality, which +were fostered by the carelessness in money matters among the nobility +and aristocracy. Much of the prevalent Japanese inability to refrain +from overcharging, or delivering an inferior article to that shown to +the customer, dates back to these days of feudal life. The years of +contact with the foreigners have been too few to change the habits of +centuries. Another thing which must always be considered is the relation +of master and vassal under feudal life. That relation led to peculiar +customs. Thus, if an artisan engaged to build a house for his overlord +he would give a general estimate, but if the cost exceeded the sum he +named, he expected his master to make up the deficit. This custom has +been carried over into the new regime, so that the Japanese merchant or +mechanic of to-day, although he may make a formal contract, does not +expect to be bound by it, or to lose money should the price of raw +material advance, or should he find that any building operations have +cost more than his original estimate. In such case the man who orders +manufactured goods or signs a contract for any building operations seems +to recognize that equity requires him to pay more than was stipulated in +the bond. When Japanese deal with Japanese this custom is generally +observed. It is only the foreigner who expects the Japanese to fulfill +his contract to the letter, and it is the attempt to enforce such +contracts which gives the foreign merchant his poor opinion of Japanese +commercial honesty. In time, when the Japanese have learned that they +must abide by written contracts, these complaints will be heard no +longer. The present slipshod methods are due to faulty business customs, +the outgrowth of the old Samurai contempt for trade in any form." + +In dealing with small Japanese merchants in various cities, it was my +experience that they are as honest as similar dealers in other +countries. Usually they demanded about one-half more than they expected +to receive. Then they made reductions and finally a basis of value was +agreed upon. This chaffering seems to be a part of their system; but the +merchants and manufacturers who are brought most often into contact with +Europeans are coming to have a fixed price for all their goods, on which +they will give from ten to twenty per cent. reduction, according to the +amount of purchases. One manufacturer in Kyoto who sold his own goods +would make no reduction, except in the case of some samples that he was +eager to sell. His goods were all plainly marked and he calmly allowed +tourists to leave his store rather than make any cut in his prices. The +pains and care which the Japanese dealer will take to please his +customer is something which might be imitated with profit by foreign +dealers. + +A question that is very frequently put is, "What has been the influence +of Christianity upon Japanese life and thought?" This is extremely +difficult to answer, because even those who are engaged in missionary +work are not always in accord in their views. One missionary of thirty +years' experience said: "The most noteworthy feature of religious work +in Japan is the number of prominent Japanese who have become converts to +Christianity. The new Premier, who is very familiar with life in the +United States, may be cited as one of these converts. Such a man in his +position of power will be able to do much to help the missionaries. The +usual charge that Japanese embrace Christianity in order to learn +English without expense falls to the ground before actual personal +experience. The converts always seemed to me to be as sincere as +converts in China or Corea, but it must be admitted that the strong +materialist bent of modern Japanese education and thought is making it +more difficult to appeal to the present generation." + +An educator who has had much experience with Japanese said: "It looks to +me as though Japan would soon reach a grave crisis in national life. +Hitherto Buddhism and Shintoism have been the two forces that have +preserved the religious faith of the people and kept their patriotism at +white heat. Now the influences in the public schools are all +antagonistic to any religious belief. The young men and women are +growing up (both in the public schools and the government colleges) to +have a contempt for all the old religious beliefs. They cannot accept +the Shinto creed that the Emperor is the son of God and should be +worshiped as a deity by all loyal Japanese. They cannot accept the +doctrines of Buddha, as they see the New Japan giving the lie to these +doctrines every day in its home and international dealings. Nothing is +left but atheism, and the experience of the world proves that there is +nothing more dangerous to a nation than the loss of its religious faith. +The women of Japan are slower to accept these new materialist views than +the men, but the general breaking down of the old faith is something +which no foreign resident of Japan can fail to see. On the other side +patriotism is kept alive by the pilgrimages of school children to the +national shrines, but one is confronted with the questions? Will the +boys and girls of a few years hence regard these shrines with any +devotion when they know that Buddhism and Shintoism are founded on a +faith that science declares has no foundation? Will they offer up money +and homage to wooden images which their cultivated reason tells them are +no more worthy of worship than the telegraph poles along the lines of +the railway?'" + +The Japanese way of doing things is the exact reverse of the American +way generally, but if one studies the methods of this Oriental race it +will be found that their way is frequently most effective. Thus, in +addressing letters they always put the city first, then the street +address and finally the number, while they never fail to put the +writer's name and address on the reverse of the envelope, which saves +the postoffice employes much trouble and practically eliminates the +dead-letter office. + +The Japanese sampan, as well as other boats, is never painted, but it is +always scrubbed clean. The sampan has a sharp bow and a wide, square +stern, and navigators say it will live in a sea which would swamp the +ordinary Whitehall boat of our water-front. The Japanese oar is long and +looks unwieldy, being spliced together in the middle. It is balanced on +a short wooden peg on the gunwale and the oarsman works it like a sweep, +standing up and bending over it at each stroke. The result is a sculling +motion, which carries the boat forward very rapidly. In no Japanese +harbor do the big steamships come up to the wharf. They drop anchor in +the harbor, and they are always surrounded by small sampans, the owners +of which are eager to take passengers ashore for about twenty-five cents +each. All cargo is taken aboard by lighters or unloaded in the same way. +These lighters hold as much as a railroad freight car. + +The fishing boats of Japan add much to the picturesqueness of all the +harbors, as they have sails arranged in narrow strips laced to bamboo +poles, and they may be drawn up and lowered like the curtains in an +American shop window. Whether square or triangular, these sails have a +graceful appearance and they are handled far more easily than ours. + +The Japanese carpenter, who draws his plane as well as his saw toward +himself, appears to work in an awkward and ungainly way, but he does as +fine work as the American cabinet-maker. The beauty of the interior +woodwork of even the houses of the poorer classes is a constant marvel +to the tourist. Nothing is ever painted about the Japanese house, so the +fineness of the grain of the wood is revealed as well as the exquisite +polish. A specialty of the Japanese carpenter is lattice-work for the +windows and grill-work for doors. These add very much to the beauty of +unpretentious houses. + +In conclusion it may be said that Japan offers the lover of the +beautiful an unlimited opportunity to gratify his aesthetic senses. In +city or country he cannot fail to find on every hand artistic things +that appeal powerfully to his sense of beauty. Whether in an ancient +temple or a new home for a poor village artisan, he will see the results +of the same instinctive sense of the beautiful and the harmonious. The +lines are always lines of grace, and the colors are always those which +blend and gratify the eye. + + +WILL THE JAPANESE RETAIN THEIR GOOD TRAITS? + +Any thoughtful visitor to Japan must be impressed with the problems that +confront Japan to-day, owing to the influence of foreign thought and +customs. This influence is the more to be dreaded because the Japanese +are so impressionable and so prone to accept anything which they are +convinced is superior to their own. They have very little of the Chinese +passion for what has been made sacred by long usage. They have high +regard for their ancestors, but very little reverence for their customs +and opinions. This lack of veneration is shown in striking fashion by +those Japanese students who come to this country to gain an education. +These young men are as eager as the ancient Athenians for any new thing, +and when they return to their old homes each is a center of Occidental +influence. This is frequently not for the best interests of their +countrymen, who have not had their own opportunities of observation and +comparison. + +The qualities in which the Japanese excel are the very qualities in +which so many Americans are deficient. Personal courage and loyalty are +the traits which Professor Scherer, a distinguished expert, regards as +the fundamental traits of the Japanese character. That these qualities +have not been weakened materially was shown in the recent war with +Russia. In that tremendous struggle was demonstrated the power of a +small nation, in which everyone--men, women and children--were united +in a passionate devotion to their country. No similar spectacle was +ever shown in modern history. The men who went cheerfully to certain +death before Port Arthur revealed no higher loyalty than the wives at +home who committed suicide that their husbands might not be called upon +to choose between personal devotion to their family and absolute +loyalty to the nation. The foreign correspondents, who were on +two-hundred-and-three-metre hill before Port Arthur, have told of the +Japanese soldiers in the ranks who tied ropes to their feet in order +that their comrades might pull their bodies back into the trenches. All +those who were drafted to make the assaults on the Russian works in +that awful series of encounters (which make the charge of the Light +Brigade at Balaklava seem cheap and theatrical) knew they were going to +certain death. Yet these foreign observers have left on record that the +only sentiment among those who remained in the trenches was envy that +they had not been so fortunate as to be selected to show this supreme +loyalty to their country. General Nogi, who recently committed suicide +with his wife on the day of the funeral of the late Emperor, had two +sons dash to this certain death on the bloodstained hill before Port +Arthur. As commander, he could have assigned them to less dangerous +positions, but it probably never entered his head to shield his own +flesh and blood. And the same loyalty that is shown to country is also +proved in the relation of servant to master. The story of the +Forty-seven Ronins is too well known to need repetition, but the +loyalty of these retainers (who slew the man that caused their lord's +death, although they knew that this deed called for their immediate end +by their own hands) impresses one with new force when he stands before +the tombs of these men in the Japanese capital and sees the profound +reverence in which they are still held by the people of Japan. + +What puzzles the foreign observer is: Will this passionate loyalty of +servant to master survive the spectacle of the ingratitude and +self-interest which the Japanese see in the relation of master and +servant in most Christian countries? The whole tendency of life in other +countries than his own is against this loyalty, which has been bred in +his very marrow. How long, without the mainstay of religion, will the +Japanese cling to this outworn but beautiful relic of his old life? And +it must be confessed that religion is rapidly losing its hold on the men +of Japan. Those who have been abroad are apt to return home +freethinkers, because the spectacle of the practical working of +Christianity is not conducive to faith among so shrewd a people as the +Japanese. Even the example of the foreigners in Japan is an influence +that the missionaries regard as prejudicial to Christianity. + +Another trait of the Japanese which will not be improved by contact with +foreigners, and especially with Americans, is thoroughness. This trait +is seen on every hand in Japan. Nothing is built in a slovenly way, +whether for private use or for the government. The artisan never scamps +his work. He seems to have retained the old mechanic's pride in doing +everything well which he sets his hand to do. This is seen in the +carving of many works of art, as well as in the building of the +ornamental gateways throughout the empire, that stand as monuments to +the aesthetic sense of the people. Yet the whole influence of foreign +teaching and example is against this thoroughness that is ingrained in +the Japanese character. The young people cannot fail to see that it +does not pay their elders to expend so much time and effort to gain +perfection, when their foreign rivals secure apparently equal if not +superior results by quick and careless work. It is upon these Japanese +children that the future of the empire depends. They are sure to be +infected by these object lessons in the gospel of selfish and careless +work, which the labor union leaders in our country have preached until +it has been accepted by the great mass of mechanics. + +Another racial quality of the Japanese, which is likely to suffer from +contact with foreigners, is his politeness. This is innate and not +acquired; it does not owe any of its force to selfish considerations. +The traveler in Japan is amazed to see this politeness among all +classes, just as he sees the artistic impulse flowering among the +children of rough toilers in the fields. And again the question arises: +Will the Japanese retain this attractive trait when they come into more +intimate contact with the foreigner, who believes in courtesy mainly as +a business asset rather than as a social virtue? + +So, in summing up one's impressions of Japan, there comes this +inevitable doubt of the permanence of the fine qualities which make the +Japanese nation to-day so distinct from any other. The Japanese may +differ from all other races in their power of resisting the corrupting +influences of foreign association, but it is to be feared that the +visitor to the Mikado's land fifty years from now may not only find no +Mikado, but none of the peculiarly gracious qualities in the Japanese +people which to-day set them apart from all other nations. + +[Illustration: PLATE I + + Street Scene, Asakusa + Park, Tokyo. This Picture + Gives a Good Idea + of Japanese Street + Dress of Men and + Women. The Park + Contains a + Twelve-Story + Tower, Two + Hundred and Twenty + Feet in Height] + +[Illustration: PLATE II + + Entrance Hall and Stairway + of Modern Home + of a Tokyo Millionaire. + Note the Priceless + Screens With + Cherry-Blossom Decoration, + the Bronze Stair Railings + and the Inlaid Floor] + +[Illustration: PLATE III + + Bronze Lanterns and + Sacred Fountain, Shiba + Temple, Tokyo. These + Temples in Shiba Park + Are Among the Marvels + of Japanese + Art] + +[Illustration: PLATE IV + + Sacred Red Bridge at + Nikko. Legend Says It + Was Built for the Saint + Shodo Shonin. No + One Crossed It Except + the Shoguns and in + Modern Times the + Mikado. General + Grant Was Given a + Permit to Cross This + Bridge, but Sensibly + Refused to Use It] + +[Illustration: PLATE V + + Avenue of Cryptomeria to Futaaru Temple, Nikko. + This Picture Gives a Good Idea of the Effectiveness of the + Tori or Gate, of Black or Red Lacquer or Natural + Wood, Which Stands at the Entrance + to Most Parks and Temples] + +[Illustration: PLATE VI + + Avenue of Cryptomeria Trees, near Nikko. + This Splendid Avenue, Lined with Huge Cedar Trees + from One Hundred and Fifty to Two Hundred + Feet in Height, Extends for Five Miles + from Nikko to Imaichi] + +[Illustration: PLATE VII + + Great Bronze Torii, Nikko. + These Torii or Gates Form the Most + Characteristic Feature of Japanese Landscapes. They + Are Always of the Same Pattern But + Infinite in Variety of Decoration] + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII + + Stone Lanterns, Kasuga Temple Park, Nara. + A Remarkable Collection of Lanterns Which Line + the Avenue Leading to the Temple. In This + Park Many Tame Deer Wander, Their + Horns Being Cut Once a Year + in October] + +[Illustration: PLATE IX + + Religious Procession, Kyoto. + This Gives a Good Idea of a Familiar Sight in + all Japanese Cities. Many of the Standards Carried in + These Processions are Very Beautiful, + With Silk Streamers of + Many Colors] + +[Illustration: PLATE X + + Scene on Canal, Kyoto. + None of the Houses + That Line This Canal + Are Elaborate, But All + Have Balconies Adorned + With Dwarf Trees and + Plants in Pots of + Many Colors. This Is + One of the Most + Picturesque Scenes in + All Japan] + +[Illustration: PLATE XI + + Street Scene in Kobe. + This View Shows the + Low Two-Story Houses, + With Overhanging + Balconies, the Enormous + Gilded Signs and + the Absence of All + Horses in the Street. + This Street Scene Is + Typical of All Japanese + Cities] + +[Illustration: PLATE XII + + A Group of Japanese + Schoolboys. These + Faces, Full of Life and + Mischief, Are Typical + of Young Japan. About + the Only Faces in Japan + Free From Lines of + Care Are Those of + School Children. When + Over Sixteen the Face + of the Japanese Becomes + a Mask Which Conceals + All Emotions] + +[Illustration: PLATE XIII + + Japanese Peasant Group by the Roadside. + These Country People Show Keen Curiosity in + Regard to the Foreign Tourist but They + Are Always Courteous] + +[Illustration: PLATE XIV + + Scene in Large Private + Garden, Kyoto. This + Old Capital of Japan Is + Noted for Its Many + Beautiful Gardens, With + Ponds Well Stocked + With Goldfish and + Crossed by Miniature + Bridges] + +[Illustration: PLATE XV + + Iris Bed at Horikiri, + near Tokyo. This + Flower Resort is the + Scene of Many Pilgrimages + in June When the + Irises Are in Full + Bloom] + +[Illustration: PLATE XVI + + Private Garden, Kamakura. + This Gives a Good Idea of the Arrangement + of a Japanese Garden. To the Influence of the + Garden is Ascribed the Japanese Love of + the Beautiful in Nature and Art] + + + + + MANILA, + TRANSFORMED BY THE + AMERICANS + + +FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF MANILA AND ITS PICTURESQUE PEOPLE + +The bay of Manila is so extensive that the steamer appears to be +entering a great inland sea. The shores are low-lying and it takes about +an hour before the steamer nears the city, so that one can make out the +landmarks. To the right, as one approaches the city, is Cavite, which +Dewey took on that historic May day in 1898. The spires of many churches +are the most conspicuous landmarks in Manila, but as the distance +lessens a huge mass of concrete, the new Manila hotel, looms up near the +docks. The bay is full of ships and alongside the docks are a number of +passenger and freight steamers. + +Just as we are able to make out these things, our ears catch the strains +of a fine band of music and we see two launches rapidly nearing the +ship. In one is a portion of the splendid Constabulary Band, the finest +in the Orient. In the other launch was the special committee of the +Manila Merchants' Association. The band played several stirring airs, +everybody cheered and waved handkerchiefs and for a few minutes it +looked as though an impromptu Fourth of July celebration had begun. It +is difficult to describe an American's emotions when he sees the Stars +and Stripes for the first time in five weeks. The most phlegmatic man on +the ship danced a war dance, women wept, and when the reception +committee boarded the ship and met the passengers in the dining saloon +there was great enthusiasm. Plans were arranged for crowding into the +two days' stay all the sightseeing and entertainment possible and these +plans were carried out, giving a fine proof of Manila hospitality. + +Manila differs from most of the Oriental cities in the fact that +American enterprise has constructed great docks and dredged out the +harbor so that the largest steamers may anchor alongside the docks. In +Yokohama, Kobe, Hongkong and other ports ships anchor in the bay and +passengers and freight must be transferred to the shore by launches and +lighters. Reinforced concrete is now the favorite building material of +the new Manila. Not only are the piles and docks made of this material, +but all the new warehouses and business buildings as well as most of the +American and foreign residences are of concrete. It is substantial, +clean, cool and enduring, meeting every requirement of this tropical +climate. The white ant, which is so destructive to the ordinary wooden +pile, does not attack it. + +The Pasig river divides Manila into two sections. On the south side of +the old walled city are the large districts of Malate, Ermito and Paco. +On the north side is the principal retail business street, the Escolta +and the other business thoroughfares lined with small shops, and six +large native districts. The Escolta is only four blocks long, very +narrow, with sidewalks barely three feet wide; yet here is done most of +the foreign retail trade. In a short time a new Escolta will be built in +the filled district, as it would cost too much to widen the old street. +As a car line runs through the Escolta, there is a bad congestion of +traffic at all times except in the early morning hours. The Bridge of +Spain is one of the impressive sights of Manila. With its massive +arches of gray stone, it looks as though it would be able to endure for +many more centuries. One of the oldest structures in the city, it was +built originally on pontoons, and it was provided with the present +arches in 1630. Only one earthquake, that of 1863, damaged it. Then two +of the middle arches gave way, and these were not restored for twelve +years. The roadway is wide, but it is crowded all day with as +picturesque a procession as may be seen in any part of the world. The +carromata, a light, two-wheeled cart, with hooded cover, pulled by a +native pony, is the favorite conveyance of the foreigners and the better +class of the Filipinos. The driver sits in front, while two may ride +very comfortably on the back seat. It is a great improvement on the +Japanese jinrikisha because one may compare impressions with a +companion. The country cart is built something like the carromata and +will accommodate four people. Hundreds of these carts come into Manila +every day with small stocks of vegetables and fruit for sale at the +markets. A few victorias may be seen on the bridge, but what causes most +of the congestion is the carabao cart, hauling the heavy freight. The +carabao (pronounced carabough, with the accent on the last syllable), is +the water buffalo of the Philippines, a slow, ungainly beast of burden +that proves patient and tractable so long as he can enjoy a daily swim. +If cut off from water the beast becomes irritable, soon gets "loco" and +is then dangerous, as it will attack men or animals and gore them with +its sharp horns. The carabao has little hair and its nose bears a strong +resemblance to that of the hippopotamus. Its harness consists of a +neckyoke of wood fastened to the thills of the two-wheeled cart. On this +cart is frequently piled two tons, which the carabao pulls easily. + +Another bridge which has historic interest for the American is the San +Juan bridge. It is reached by the Santa Mesa car line. Here at either +end were encamped the American and Filipino armed forces, and the +insurrection was started by a shot at night from the native trenches. +The bridge was the scene of fierce fighting, which proved disastrous to +the Filipinos. + +Aside from the bridges and the life along the Pasig river, the most +interesting part of Manila lies within the old walled city. This section +is known locally as "IntraMuros." It is still surrounded by the massive +stone wall, which was begun in 1591 but not actually completed until +1872. The wall was built to protect the city from free-booters, as +Manila, like old Panama, offered a tempting prize to pirates. Into the +wall was built old Fort Santiago, which still stands. The wall varies in +thickness from three to forty feet, and in it were built many chambers +used as places of confinement and torture. Until six years ago a wide +moat surrounded the wall, but the stagnant water bred disease and the +moat was filled with the silt dredged up from the bay. Fort Santiago +forms the northwest corner of the wall. Its predecessor was a palisade +of bags, built in 1571, behind which the Spaniards defended themselves +against the warlike native chiefs. In 1590 the stone fort was begun. +Within it was the court of the military government. Seven gates were +used as entrances to the walled city in old Spanish days, the most +picturesque being the Real gate, bearing the date of 1780, and the Santa +Lucia gate, with the inscription of 1781. These gates were closed every +night, and some of the massive machinery used for this purpose may be +seen lying near by--a reminder of those good old days when the belated +traveler camped outside. + +In the old walled city are some of the famous churches of Manila. The +oldest is San Augustin, first dedicated in 1571. The present structure +was built two years later, the first having been completely destroyed by +fire. The enormously thick walls were laid so well that they have +withstood the severe earthquakes which proved so destructive to many +other churches. In this church are buried Legaspi and Salcedo, the +explorers, who spread Spanish dominion over the Philippines. + +The Church of St. Ignatius is famous for the beautifully carved woodwork +of the pulpit and the interior decorations; that of Santo Domingo is +celebrated for its finely carved doors. The greatest shrine in the +Phillippines is the Cathedral, which fronts on Plaza McKinley. This is +the fifth building erected on the same site, fire having destroyed the +other four. The architecture is Byzantine, and the interior gives a +wonderful impression of grace and spaciousness. Some of the old doors +and iron grill-work of the ancient cathedrals have been retained. + + +AMERICAN WORK IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS + +It will surprise any American visitor to the Philippine Islands to find +how much has been accomplished since 1898 to make life better worth +living for the Filipino as well as for the European or the American. +Civil government through the Philippine Commission has been in active +operation for ten years. During this decade what Americans have achieved +in solving difficult problems of colonial government is matter for +national pride. The American method in the Philippines looks to giving +the native the largest measure of self-government of which he is +capable. It has not satisfied the Filipino, because he imagines that he +is all ready for self-government, but it has done much to lift him out +of the dead level of peonage in which the Spaniard kept him and to open +the doors of opportunity to young Filipinos with ability and energy. I +talked with many men in various professions and in many kinds of +business and all agreed that the American system worked wonders in +advancing the natives of real ability. + +Rev. Dr. George W. Wright of Manila, who has charge of a large +Presbyterian seminary for training young Filipinos for the ministry, and +who has had much experience in teaching, said: "In the old days only the +sons of the illustrados, or prominent men of the noble class, had any +chance to secure an education and this education was given in the +Catholic private schools. With the advent of the Americans any boy +possessing the faculty of learning quickly may get a good education, +provided he will work for it. I know of one case of a boy who did not +even know who his parents were. He gained a living by blacking shoes and +selling papers. He came to me for aid in entering a night school. He +learned more rapidly than anyone I ever knew. Soon he came to me and +wanted a job that would occupy him half a day so that he could go to +school the other half of the day. I got him the job and in a few months +he was not only perfecting himself in English, but reading law. Nothing +can keep this boy down; in a few years he will be a leader among his +people. Under the old Spanish system he never would have been permitted +to rise from the low caste in which fortune first placed him." + +[Illustration: + + Imperial Gate, Fort Santiago, Manila. + This is the Main Entrance to the Old Fort, + Built Into the Massive Wall. This Wall + Was for Spanish Defense Against + Warlike Native Chiefs] + +More than a thousand American teachers are scattered over the Philippine +Islands, and for ten years these men and women have been training the +young of both sexes. Some have proved incompetent, a few have set a very +bad example, but the great majority have done work of which any nation +might be proud. They have not only been teachers of the young, but they +have been counselors and friends of the parents of their pupils. + +The work done in a material way in the Philippines is even more +remarkable. Of the first importance is the offer of a homestead to every +citizen from the public lands. So much was paid for the friar lands that +these are far beyond the reach of anyone of ordinary means, but the +government has large reserves of public land, which only need +cultivation to make them valuable. Sanitary conditions have been +enormously improved both in Manila and throughout the islands. In the +old days Manila was notorious for many deaths from cholera, bubonic +plague and smallpox. No sanitary regulations were enforced and the +absence of any provisions for sewage led to fearful pestilences. Now not +only has Manila an admirable sewerage system, but the people have been +taught to observe sanitary regulations, with the result that in the +suburbs of such a city as Manila the homes of common people reveal much +better conditions than the homes of similar classes in Japan. The sewage +of Manila is pumped three times into large sumps before it is finally +dumped into the bay a mile from the city. + +The island military police, known as the Constabulary Guard, has done +more to improve conditions throughout the islands than any other agency. +The higher officers are drawn from the United States regular army, but +the captains and lieutenants are from civil life, and they are mainly +made up of young college graduates. These men get their positions +through the civil service and, though some fail to make good, the great +majority succeed. Their positions demand unusual ability, for they not +only have charge of companies of native police that resemble the Mexican +rurales or the Canadian mounted police, but they serve as counselor and +friend to all the Filipinos in their district. In this way their +influence is frequently greater than that of the school teachers. + +All this work and much more has been accomplished by the insular +government without calling upon the United States for any material help. +It does not seem to be generally known that the Philippine Islands are +now self-supporting, and that the only expense entailed on the general +government is a slight increase for maintaining regiments assigned to +the island service and the cost of Corregidor fortifications and other +harbor defenses. This has been accomplished without excessive taxation. +Personal property is exempt, while the rate on real estate in Manila is +only one and one-half per cent. on the assessed valuation, and only +seven-eights of one per cent. in the provinces. The fiscal system has +been put on a gold basis, thus removing the old fluctuating silver +currency which was a great hardship to trade. + + +SCENES IN THE CITY OF MANILA AND SUBURBS + +Every visitor to Manila in the old days exhausted his vocabulary in +praise of the Luneta, the old Spanish city's pleasure ground, which +overlooked the bay and Corregidor Island. It was an oval drive, with a +bandstand at each end, inclosing a pretty grass plot. Here, as evening +came on, all Manila congregated to hear the band play and to meet +friends. The Manilan does not walk, so the broad drive was filled with +several rows of carriages passing slowly around the oval. To-day the +Luneta remains as it was in the old Spanish days, but its chief charm, +the seaward view, is gone. This is due to the filling in of the harbor +front, which has left the Luneta a quarter of a mile from the +water-front. However, a new Luneta has been made below the old one, and +the broad avenues opened up near by give far more space for carriages +than before. Every evening except Monday the Constabulary Band plays on +the Luneta, and the scene is almost as brilliant as in the old days, as +the American Government officials make it a point to turn out in +uniform. Nothing can be imagined more perfect than the evenings in +Manila after the heat of the day. The air is deliciously soft and a +gentle breeze from the ocean tempers the heat. + +The best way to see the native life of Manila is to take a street-car +ride through the Tondo and Caloocan districts, or a launch ride up the +Pasig river. On the cars one passes through the heart of the business +district, the great Tondo market, filled with supplies from the +surrounding country as well as many small articles of native or foreign +manufacture. This car line also passes the Maypajo, the largest cockpit +in the world, where at regular intervals the best fighting cocks are +pitted against each other and the betting is as spirited as on American +race tracks in the old days. On the return trip by these cars one passes +by the San Juan bridge, which marked the opening of the insurrection; +the old Malacanan Palace, now the residence of Governor-General Forbes, +and the Paco Cemetery, where several thousand bodies are buried in the +great circular wall which surrounds the church. These niches in the wall +are rented for a certain yearly sum, and in the old Spanish days, when +this rental was not promptly paid by relatives, the corpse was removed +and thrown with others into a great pit. Recently this ghastly practice +has been frowned on by the authorities. + +The average Manila resident does not pay more than fifty dollars in our +money for his nipa house. The framework is of bamboo, bound together by +rattan; the roof timbers are of bamboo, while the sides of the house and +the thatch are made from the nipa tree. The sides look like mats. The +windows are of translucent shell, while the door is of nipa or wood. +These houses are usually about fifteen feet square, with one large room, +and are raised about six feet from the ground. Under the house is kept +the live stock. When the family has a horse or cow or carabao the house +is ten feet from the ground, and these animals are stabled underneath. +In nearly every house or yard may be found a game cock tied by the leg +to prevent him from roaming and fighting. + +In most of the houses that the cars passed in the big native quarter of +Tondo, furniture was scanty. Usually the family has a large dresser, +which is ornamented with cheap pictures, and the walls are frequently +covered with prints in colors. There is no furniture, as the Filipino's +favorite position is to squat on his haunches. In many of the poorest +houses, however, were gramophones, which are paid for in monthly +installments of a dollar or two. The Filipinos are very fond of music, +and the cheap gramophones appeal to them strongly. Nearly every Filipino +plays some instrument by ear, and many boys from the country are expert +players on the guitar or mandolin. On large plantations the hands are +fond of forming bands and orchestras, and often their playing would do +credit to professional musicians. The Constabulary Band, recognized as +the finest in the Orient, has been drilled by an American negro named +Loring. + +In the Santa Mesa district are the houses of wealthy Filipinos. These +are usually of two stories, with the upper story projecting far over the +lower, and with many ornamental dormer windows, with casement sashes of +small pieces of translucent shell. In Manila the window is provided to +keep out the midday heat and glare of the sun. At other times the +windows are slid into the walls, and thus nearly the whole side of the +house is open to the cool night air. Many of these houses are finished +in the finest hardwoods, and not a few have polished mahogany floors. +Bamboo and rattan furniture may be seen in some of these houses, while +in others are dressers and wardrobes in the rich native woods. These +houses are embowered in trees, among which the magnolia, acacia and palm +are the favorites, with banana and pomelo trees heavy with fruit. + +[Illustration: PLATE XVII + + A Glimpse of the Escolta, + Manila. The Escolta, + Only Four Blocks + In Length, Is the Business + Street in Manila. + Clarke's, the Restaurant + and Tea-House in the + Foreground, Is the + Favorite American + Headquarters in + Manila] + +[Illustration: PLATE XVIII + + Old Church and Bridge + at Pasig. Built of + Massive Stone and + Overgrown With Moss, + This Bridge and + Church Seems Older + Than the Ancient Wall + of Manila] + +[Illustration: PLATE XIX + + The Binondo Canal, Which Intersects a + Crowded District of Manila. The Picture Gives + a Good Idea of the Cascoes or Native + Cargo Boats] + +[Illustration: PLATE XX + + On the Malecon Drive, Manila. + One of the Picturesque Roads, Lined + With Feathery Palms, That + Lead to the Luneta] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXI + + View on a Manila Canal. + This Gives a Good Idea of the Native Nipa + Huts Along the Banks of the Canal, + and a Bamboo Foot-bridge] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXII + + A Filipino Peasant Girl on the + Way to Market. She Wears the Native Costume + With the Enormous Bamboo Hat. + The Water Jar is Like the + Spanish-American Olla] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXIII + + The Carabao Cart in the Philippines. + The Carabao or Water Buffalo is the Filipinos' Chief + Beast of Burden. The Cart is Crude and Heavy, + With a Home-made Yoke. The Buffalo + is also Used for Ploughing and + Other Farm Work] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXIV + + The Nipa Hut of the + Filipino. This Style of + House, With Bamboo + Frame and Thatched + Sides and Roof of Nipa + Grass, Costs About + Fifty Mex. or Twenty-Five + Dollars in United + States Gold Coin. It + Is Usually About + Six Feet From the + Ground] + + + + + HONGKONG, + CANTON, SINGAPORE + AND RANGOON + + +HONGKONG, THE GREATEST BRITISH PORT IN THE ORIENT + +The entrance to the harbor of Hongkong is one of the most impressive in +the world. The steamer runs along by the mainland for several miles. +Then a great island is descried, covered with smelting works, huge +dockyards, great warehouses and other evidences of commercial activity. +This is the lower end of the island of Victoria, on which the city of +Hongkong has been built. The island was ceded by China to Great Britain +in 1842, after the conclusion of the opium war. It is separated from the +mainland of China by an arm of the sea, varying from one mile to five +miles in width. This forms the harbor of Hongkong, one of the most +spacious and picturesque in the world. It is crowded with steamers, +ferryboats, Chinese junks with queer-shaped sails of yellow matting, +sampans, trim steam launches and various other craft. As the vessel +passes beyond the smelting works and the dry docks it rounds a point and +the beauty of Hongkong is revealed. + +The city is built at the foot of a steep hill nearly two thousand feet +in height. Along the crescent harbor front are ranged massive business +buildings with colonaded fronts and rows of windows. Behind the business +section the hills rise so abruptly that many of the streets are seen to +be merely rows of granite stairs. Still farther back are the homes of +Hongkong residents, beautiful stone or brick structures, which look out +upon the busy harbor. With a glass one can make out the cable railroad +which climbs straight up the mountainside for over one thousand feet and +then turns sharply to the right until the station is reached, about +thirteen hundred feet above sea level. + +Hongkong differs radically from Yokohama, Tokio, Kobe, Nagasaki or +Manila, because of the blocks of solid, granite-faced buildings that +line its water front, each with its rows of Venetian windows, recessed +in balconies. This is the prevailing architecture for hotels, business +buildings and residences, while dignity is lent to every structure by +the enormous height between stories, the average being from fifteen to +eighteen feet. This impression of loftiness is increased by the use of +the French window, which extends from the floor almost to the ceiling, +all the windows being provided with large transoms. + +The feature of Hongkong which impresses the stranger the most vividly is +the great mixture of races in the streets. Here for the first time one +finds the sedan chair, with two or four bearers. It is used largely in +Hongkong for climbing the steep streets which are impossible for the +jinrikisha. The bearers are low-class coolies from the country, whose +rough gait makes riding in a chair the nearest approach to horseback +exercise. The jinrikisha is also largely in evidence, but the bearers +are a great contrast in their rapacious manners to the courteous and +smiling Japanese in all the cities of the Mikado's land. + +Queen's road, the main business street of Hongkong, furnishes an +extraordinary spectacle at any hour of the day. The roadway is lined +with shops, while the sidewalks, covered by the verandas of the second +stories of the buildings, form a virtual arcade, protected from the +fierce rays of the sun. These shops are mainly designed to catch the eye +of the foreigner, and they are filled with a remarkable collection of +silks, linens, ivories, carvings and other articles that appeal to the +American because of the skilled labor that has been expended upon them. +Carvings and embroidery that represent the work of months are sold at +such low prices as to make one marvel how anyone can afford to produce +them even in this land of cheap living. + +The crowd that streams past these shops is even more curious than the +goods offered for sale. Here East and West meet in daily association. +The Englishman is easily recognized by his air of proprietorship, +although his usual high color is somewhat reduced by the climate. He has +stamped his personality on Hongkong and he has builded here for +generations to come. The German is liberally represented, and old +Hongkong residents bewail the fact that every year sees a larger number +of Emperor William's subjects intent on wresting trade from the British. +Frenchmen and other Europeans pass along this Queen's road, and the +American tourist is in evidence, intent on seeing all the sights as well +as securing the best bargains from the shopkeepers. All these foreigners +have modified their garb to suit the climate. They wear suits of white +linen or pongee with soft shirts, and the solar topi, or pith helmet, +which is a necessity in summer and a great comfort at other seasons. The +helmet keeps the head cool and shelters the nape of the neck, which +cannot be exposed safely to the sun's rays. Instead of giving health as +the California sun does, this Hongkong sunshine brings heat apoplexy and +fever. All the Orient is represented by interesting types. Here are rich +Chinese merchants going by in private chairs, with bearers in handsome +silk livery; Parsees from Bombay, with skins almost as black as those of +the American negro; natives of other parts of India in their +characteristic dress and their varying turbans; Sikh policemen, tall, +powerful men, who have a lordly walk and who beat and kick the Chinese +chair coolies and rickshaw men when they prove too insistent or +rapacious; Chinese of all classes, from the prosperous merchant to the +wretched coolie whose prominent ribs show how near he lives to actual +starvation in this overcrowded land; workmen of all kinds, many bearing +their tools, and swarms of peddlers and vendors of food, crying their +wares, with scores of children, many of whom lead blind beggars. +Everywhere is the noise of many people shouting lustily, the cries of +chair coolies warning the passersby to clear the way for their +illustrious patrons. + +The Chinese seem unable to do anything without an enormous expenditure +of talk and noise. Ordinary bargaining looks like the beginning of a +fierce fight. Any trifling accident attracts a great crowd, which +becomes excited at the slightest provocation. It is easy to see from an +ordinary walk in this Hongkong street how panic or rage may convert the +stolid Chinese into a deadly maniac, who will stop at no outburst of +violence, no atrocity, that will serve to wreak his hatred of the +foreigner. + +Although Hongkong has been Europeanized in its main streets, there are +quarters of the city only a few blocks away from the big hotels and +banks which give one glimpses of genuine native life. Some of these +streets are reached by scores of granite steps that climb the steep +mountainside. These streets are not over twelve or fifteen feet wide, +and the shops are mere holes in the wall, with a frontage of eight or +ten feet. Yet many of these dingy shops contain thousands of dollars' +worth of decorated silks and linens, artistic carvings, laces, curios +and many other articles of Chinese manufacture. Unlike the Japanese, who +will follow the tourist to the sidewalk and urge him to buy, these +Chinese storekeepers show no eagerness to make sales. They must be urged +to display their fine goods, and they cannot be hurried. The best time +to see these native streets is at night. Take a chair if the climate +overpowers you, but walk if you can. Then a night stroll through this +teeming quarter will always remain in the memory. Every one is working +hard, as in Japan, for the Chinese workday seems endless. All kinds of +manufacture are being carried on here in these narrow little shops; the +workers are generally stripped to the waist, wearing only loose short +trousers of cheap blue or brown cotton, the lamplight gleaming on their +sweating bodies. Here are goldsmiths beating out the jewelry for which +Hongkong is famous; next are scores of shops in all of which shoes are +being made; then follow workers in willow-ware and rattan, makers of +hats, furniture and hundreds of other articles. In every block is an +eating-house, with rows of natives squatted on benches, and with large +kettles full of evil-smelling messes. The crowds in the streets vie with +the crowds in the stores in the noise that they make; the air reeks with +the odors of sweating men, the smell of unsavory food, the stench of +open gutters. This panorama of naked bodies, of wild-eyed yellow faces +drawn with fatigue and heat passes before ones' eyes for an hour. Then +the senses begin to reel and it is time to leave this scene of Oriental +life that is far lower and more repulsive than the most crowded streets +in the terrible East Side tenement quarter of New York on a midsummer +night. + +Hongkong, both in the European and native quarters, is built to endure +for centuries. Most of the houses are of granite or plastered brick. The +streets are paved with granite slabs. Even the private residences have +massive walls and heavy roofs of red or black tile; the gardens are +screened from the street by high walls, with broken glass worked into +the mortar that forms the coping and with tall iron entrance gates. +These residences dot the side hill above the town. They are built upon +terraces, which include the family tennis court. The roads wind around +the mountainside, many of them quarried out of solid rock. All the +building material of these houses had to be carried up the steep +mountainside by coolies and, until the cable railway was finished, the +dwellers were borne to their homes at night by chair coolies. + +This cable railway carries one nearly to the top of the peak back of +Hongkong, and from the station a short walk brings one to the summit, +where a wireless station is used to flash arrivals of vessels to the +city below. The view from this summit, and from the splendid winding +road which leads to the Peak Hospital, not far away, is one of the +finest in the world. The harbor, dotted with many ships and small boats, +the indented coast for a score of miles, the bare and forbidding Chinese +territory across the bay, the big city at the foot of the hill; all +these are spread out below like a great panorama. + +The British are firmly entrenched at Hongkong. Not only have they actual +ownership of Victoria Island, on which Hongkong is built, but they have +a perpetual lease of a strip of the mainland across from the island, +extending back for over one hundred miles. The native city across the +bay is Kowloon, and is reached by a short ride on the new railroad +which will eventually connect Hankow with Paris. On the barren shore, +about a mile from Hongkong, has been founded the European settlement of +Kowloon City. It comprises a row of large warehouses, or godowns, a big +naval victualling station and coaling depot, large barracks for two +regiments of Indian infantry and several companies of Indian artillery, +with many fine quarters for European officers. The city in recent years +has become a favorite residence place for Hongkong business men, as it +is reached in a few minutes by a good ferry. Near by are the great naval +docks at Hunghom, extensive cement works and the deepest railway cut in +the world, the material being used to fill in the bay of Hunghom. + + +A VISIT TO CANTON IN DAYS OF WILD PANIC + +Every traveler who has seen the Orient will tell you not to miss Canton, +the greatest business center of China, the most remarkable city of the +empire, and among the most interesting cities of the world. It is only a +little over eighty miles from Hongkong, and if one wishes to save time +it may be reached by a night boat. + +While in Manila I heard very disturbing reports of rioting in Canton and +possible bloodshed in the contest between the Manchus in control of the +army and the revolutionists. This rioting followed the assassination of +the Tartar general, who was blown up, with a score of his bodyguard, as +he was formally entering the city by the main south gate. When Hongkong +was reached these rumors of trouble became more persistent, and they +were given point by the arrival every day by boat and train of thousands +of refugees from Canton. Every day the bulletin boards in the Chinese +quarter contained dispatches from Canton, around which a swarm of +excited coolies gathered and discussed the news. One night came the news +that the Viceroy had acknowledged the revolutionists and had agreed to +surrender on the following day. This report was received with great +enthusiasm, and hundreds of dollars' worth of firecrackers were burned +to celebrate the success of the new national movement. + +That night I left Hongkong on the Quong Si, one of the Chinese boats +that ply between Hongkong and Canton, under the British flag. A +half-dozen American tourists were also on the boat, including several +ladies. + +The trip up the estuary of the Pearl river that leads to Canton was made +without incident, and the boat anchored in the river opposite the +Shameen or foreign concession early in the morning, but the passengers +remained on board until about eight-thirty o'clock. The reports that +came from the shore were not reassuring. Guides who came out in sampans +said that there was only a forlorn hope of getting into the walled city, +as nearly all the gates had been closed for two days. They also brought +the alarming news that the Viceroy had reconsidered his decision of the +previous night and had sent word that he proposed to resist by force any +effort of the revolutionists to capture the city. The flag of the +revolution had also been hauled down and the old familiar yellow +dragon-flag hoisted in its place. + +While waiting for the guide to arrange for chairs to take the party +through the city, we had a good opportunity to study the river life +which makes Canton unique among Chinese cities. Out of the total +population of over two millions, at least a quarter of a million live in +boats from birth to death and know no other home. Many of these boats +are large cargo junks which ply up and down the river and bring produce +to the great city market, but the majority are small sampans that house +one Chinese family and that find constant service in transferring +passengers and freight from one side of the river to the other, as well +as to and from the hundreds of steamers that call at the port. They have +a covered cabin into which the family retires at night. + +These sampans are mainly rowed by women, who handle the boats with great +skill. A young girl usually plies the short oar on the bow, while her +mother, assisted by the younger children, works the large oar or sweep +in the stern. The middle of the sampan is covered by a bamboo house, and +in the forward part of this house the family has its kitchen fire and +all its arrangements for food. The passenger sits on the after seat near +the stern of the boat. These boats are scrubbed so that the woodwork +shines, and the backs of the seats are covered with fresh matting. + +Looking out from the steamer one saw at least two miles of these small +sampans and larger craft massed along both shores of the river, which is +here about a half-mile wide. The foreign concession or Shameen is free +from these boats. It is really a sand spit, surrounded by water, which +was made over to the foreigners after the opium war. + +North of the Shameen is the new western suburb of Canton, which has +recently been completed on European lines. It has a handsome bund, +finely paved, with substantial buildings facing the river. Close up +against this bund, and extending down the river bank for at least two +miles are ranged row on row of houseboats. Every few minutes a boat +darts out from the mass and is pulled to one of the ships in the stream. + +Across the river and massed against the shore of Honam, the suburb +opposite Canton, is another tangle of sampans, with thousands of active +river folk, all shouting and screaming. These yellow thousands toiling +from break of day to late at night do not seem human; yet each boat has +its family life. The younger children are tied so that they cannot fall +overboard, and the older ones wear ingenious floats which will buoy +them up should they tumble into the water. Boys and girls four or five +years old assist in the working of the boat, while girls of twelve or +fourteen are experts in handling the oar and in using the long bamboo +boat hook that serves to carry the small craft out of the tangle of +river activity. + +[Illustration: + + The City of Boats at + Canton. This Floating + City in the Pearl + River Opposite Canton + Contains 250,000 + People, Many of Whom + Never Venture + On Land] + +A type of river steamer which will amaze the American is an old +stern-wheeler run by man power. It is provided with a treadmill just +forward of the big stern wheel. Two or three tiers of naked, perspiring +coolies are working this treadmill, all moving with the accuracy and +precision of machinery. The irreverent foreigner calls these the +"hotfoot" boats, and in the land where a coolie may be hired all day for +forty cents Mexican or twenty cents in our coin this human power is far +cheaper than soft coal at five dollars a ton. These boats carry freight +and passengers and they move along at a lively pace. + +After an hour spent in study of this strange river life I was fortunate +enough to go ashore with an American missionary whose husband was +connected with a large college across the river from Canton. She came +aboard in a sampan to take ashore two ladies from Los Angeles. She +invited me to accompany the party, and as she spoke Chinese fluently I +was glad to accept her offer. We went ashore in a sampan and at once +proceeded to visit the western suburb. This part of Canton has been +built in recent years and is somewhat cleaner than the old town. It is +separated from the Shameen by bridges which may be drawn up like an +ancient portcullis. Here we at once plunged into the thick of native +life. The streets, not over ten feet wide, were crowded with people. + +We passed through streets devoted wholly to markets and restaurants, and +the spectacle was enough to keep one from ever indulging hereafter in +chop-suey. Here were tables spread with the intestines of various +animals, pork in every form, chickens and ducks, roasted and covered +with some preparation that made them look as though just varnished. Here +were many strange vegetables and fruits, and here, hung against the +wall, were row on row of dried rats. At a neighboring stall were several +small, flat tubs, in which live fish swam about, waiting for a customer +to order them knocked on the head. Then we passed into a street of curio +shops, but the grill work in front was closed and behind could be seen +the timid proprietors, who evidently did not mean to take any chances of +having their stores looted by robbers. For three or four days the most +valuable goods in all the Canton stores had been removed as rapidly as +possible. Thousands of bales of silk and tons of rare curios were +already safe in the foreign warehouses at the Shameen or had been +carried down the river to Hongkong. Often we had to flatten ourselves +against the sides of the street to give passage to chairs containing +high-class Chinese and their families, followed by coolies bearing the +most valuable of their possessions packed in cedar chests. + +At an American hospital we were met by several young Englishmen +connected with medical and Young Men's Christian Association work. They +proposed a trip through the old walled city, but they refused to take +the two ladies, as they said it would be dangerous in the excited +condition of the people. So we set out, five in number. After a short +walk we reached one of the gates of the walled city, only to find it +closed and locked. A short walk brought us to a second gate, which was +opened readily by the Chinese guards, armed with a new type of German +army rifle. The walls of the old city were fully ten feet thick where +we entered, and about twenty feet high, made of large slabs of granite. + +Once inside the city walls a great surprise awaited us. Instead of +crowded streets and the hum of trade were deserted streets, closed shops +and absolute desolation. For blocks the only persons seen were soldiers +and refugees making their way to the gates. In one fine residence +quarter an occasional woman peered through the front gates; in other +sections all the houses were closed and barred. Soon we reached the +Buddhist temple, known as the Temple of Horrors. Around the central +courtyard are grouped a series of booths, in each of which are wooden +figures representing the torture of those who commit deadly sins. In one +booth a victim is being sawed in two; in others poor wretches are being +garroted, boiled in oil, broken on the wheel and subjected to many other +ingenious tortures. At one end is an elaborate joss-house, with a great +bronze bell near by. In normal conditions this temple is crowded, and +true believers buy slips of prayers, which they throw into the booths to +ward off ill luck. + +The rush of refugees grew greater as we penetrated toward the heart of +the city. On the main curio street the huge gilded signs hung as if in +mockery above shops which had been stripped of all their treasures. +Occasionally a restaurant remained open and these were crowded with +chair coolies, who were waiting to be engaged by some merchant eager to +escape from the city. Gone was all the life and bustle that my +companions said made this the most remarkable street in Canton. It was +like walking through a city of the dead, and it bore a striking +resemblance to San Francisco's business district on the day of the great +fire. At intervals we passed the yamens of magistrates, but the guards +and attaches were enjoying a vacation, as no court proceedings were +held. Progress became more and more difficult as the rush of refugees +increased and returning chair coolies clamored for passageway. The +latter had taken parties to the river boats and were coming back for +more passengers. As it became evident that we could not see the normal +life of the city, my companions finally urged that we return, as they +feared the gates might be closed against us, so we retraced our way, +this time taking the main street which led to the great south gate. + +Not far from the gate we came on the scene of the blowing up of the +Tartar general. Seven shops on both sides of the street were wrecked by +the explosion. The heavy fronts were partly intact, but the interiors +were a mass of brick and charred timbers, for fire followed the +explosion. The general had waited several months to allow the political +excitement that followed his appointment to subside. He felt safe in +entering the city with a strong bodyguard, but not over one hundred +yards from the gate a bomb was thrown which killed the general +instantly, mangled a score of his retainers and killed over a dozen +Chinese bystanders. The revolutionists tried to clear the street so that +none of their own people should suffer, but they failed because of the +curiosity of the crowd. + +Near by this place is the old Buddhist water clock, which for five +hundred years has marked the time by the drip of water from a hidden +spring. The masonry of this water-clock building looks very ancient, and +the clock is reached by several long flights of granite stairs. + +After viewing the clock we reached the wall and passed through the big +south gates, which are fully six inches thick, of massive iron, studded +with large nails. Outside on the bund were drawn up several rapid-fire +guns belonging to Admiral Li, the efficient head of the Chinese navy at +Canton, who also had a score of trim little gunboats patrolling the +river. These boats had rapid-fire guns at bow and stern. + +So we came back to the Canton hospital, where we had luncheon. After +this I made my way back to the steamer, to find her crowded with over +one thousand refugees from the old city, with their belongings. The +decks and even the dining saloon were choked with these people, and +during the two hours before the boat sailed at least three hundred more +passengers were taken on board. We sailed in the late afternoon and were +followed by four other river steamers, carrying in all over six thousand +refugees. + + +SINGAPORE THE MEETING PLACE OF MANY RACES + +Of all the places in the Orient, the most cosmopolitan is Singapore, the +gateway to the Far East; the one city which everyone encircling the +globe is forced to visit, at least for a day. Hongkong streets may have +seemed to present an unparalleled mixture of races; Canton's narrow +alleys may have appeared strange and exotic; but Singapore surpasses +Honkong in the number and picturesqueness of the races represented in +its streets, as it easily surpasses Canton in strange sights and in +swarming toilers from many lands that fill the boats on its canals and +the narrow, crooked streets that at night glow with light and resound +with the clamor of alien tongues. + +Singapore is built on an island which adjoins the extreme end of the +Malay Peninsula. It is about sixty miles from the equator, and it has a +climate that varies only a few degrees from seventy during the entire +year. This heat would not be debilitating were it not for the extreme +humidity of the atmosphere. To a stranger, especially if he comes from +the Pacific Coast, the place seems like a Turkish bath. The slightest +physical exertion makes the perspiration stand out in beads on the face. + +Singapore has a population of over three hundred thousand people; it has +a great commercial business, which is growing every year; it already has +the largest dry dock in the world. Its bund is not so imposing as that +of Hongkong, but it has more public squares and its government buildings +are far more handsome. As Hongkong owes much of its splendid +architecture and its air of stability to Sir Paul Chator, so Singapore +owes its spacious avenues, its fine buildings, its many parks, its +interesting museum and its famous botanical gardens to Sir Stamford +Raffles, one of the British empire-builders who have left indelibly +impressed on the Orient their genius for founding cities and +constructing great public enterprises. Yet, Singapore, with far more +business than Manila, is destitute of a proper sewer system, and the +streets in its native quarters reek with foul odors. + +The feature of Singapore that first impresses the stranger is the +variety of races seen in any of the streets, and this continues to +impress him so long as he remains in the city. My stay in Singapore was +four days, due to the fact that it was necessary to wait here for the +departure of the British West India Company's steamer for Rangoon and +Calcutta. In jinrikishas and pony carts I saw all quarters of the town, +and my wonder grew every day at the remarkable show of costumes +presented by the different races. One day, late in the afternoon, I sat +down on a coping of the wall that surrounds a pretty park on Orchard +road, and in the space of a half hour watched the moving show that +passed by. At this hour all Singapore takes its outing to the Botanical +Gardens, and one may study the people who have leisure and money. + +The favorite rig is still the victoria drawn by high-stepping horses, +with coachman and postilion, but the automobile is evidently making +rapid strides in popular favor, despite the fact that the heavy, humid +air makes the odor of gasoline cling to the roadway. A high-class Arab, +with his keen, intellectual face, rides by with a bright Malay driving +the machine. Then comes a fat and prosperous-looking Parsee in his +carriage, followed by a rich Chinese merchant arrayed in spotless white, +seated in a motor car, his family about him, and some relative or +servant at the wheel. Along moves a rickshaw with an East Indian woman, +the sun flashing on the heavy gold rings in her ears, while a carriage +follows with a pretty blonde girl with golden hair, seated beside her +Chinese ayah, or nurse. A score of young Britons come next in rickshaws, +some carrying tennis racquets, and others reading books or the afternoon +paper. The rickshaws here, unlike those of Japan or China, carry two +people. They are pulled by husky Chinese coolies, who have as remarkable +development of the leg muscles as their Japanese brothers, with far +better chests. In fact, the average Chinese rickshaw coolie of Singapore +is a fine physical type, and he will draw for hours with little show of +suffering a rickshaw containing two people. The pony cart of Singapore +is another unique institution. It is a four-wheeled cart, seating four +people, drawn by a pony no larger than the average Shetland. The driver +sits on a little box in front, and at the end of the wagon is a basket +in which rests the pony's allowance of green grass for the day. The pony +cart is popular with parties of three or four and, as most of +Singapore's streets are level, the burden on the animal is not severe. + +This moving procession of the races goes on until eleven-thirty o'clock, +the popular dinner hour all along the Chinese coast. It is varied by the +occasional appearance of a bullock cart, which has probably changed very +little in hundreds of years. The bullocks have a pronounced hump at the +shoulders, and are of the color and size of a Jersey cow. The neckyoke +is a mere bar of wood fastened to the pole, and the cart is heavy and +ungainly. Nowhere in Singapore does one find coolies straining at huge +loads as in China and Japan, as this labor is given over to bullocks. +Here, however, both men and women carry heavy burdens on their heads, +while the Chinese use the pole and baskets, so familiar to all +Californians. + +The Malays and East Indians furnish the most picturesque feature of all +street crowds. The Malays, dark of skin, with keen faces, wear the +sarong, a skirt of bright-colored silk or cotton wrapped about the loins +and falling almost to the shoe. The sarong is scant and reminds one +strongly of the hobble-skirt, as no Malay is able to take a full stride +in it. The skirt and jacket of the Malay may vary, but the sarong is +always of the same style, and the brighter the color the more it seems +to please the wearer. The East Indians are of many kinds. The Sikhs, who +are the police of Hongkong, here share such duty with Tamils from +southern India and some Chinese. + +No Malay is ever seen in any low, menial employment. The Malay is well +represented on the electric cars, where he serves usually as conductor +and sometimes as motorman. He is also an expert boatman and fisherman. +He is very proud and is said to be extremely loyal to foreigners who +treat him with justice and consideration. The Malay, however, can not be +depended on for labor on the rubber or cocoanut plantations, as he will +not work unless he can make considerable money. Ordinary wages do not +appeal to a man in a country where eight cents is the cost of +maintenance on rice and fish, with plenty of tea. The Malay is a +gentleman, even when in reduced circumstances, and he must be treated +with consideration that would be lost or wasted on the ordinary Chinese. + +The Chinese occupy a peculiar position in Singapore. It is the only +British crown colony in which the Chinese is accorded any equality with +white men. Here in the early days the Chinese were welcomed not only for +their ability to do rough pioneer work, but because of their commercial +ability. From the outset they have controlled the trade with their +countrymen in the Malayan States, while at the same time they have +handled all the produce raised by Chinese. They have never done much in +the export trade, nor have they proved successful in carrying on the +steamship business, because they can not be taught the value of keeping +vessels in fine condition and of catering to the tastes of the foreign +traveling public. On the other hand, the great Chinese merchants of +Singapore have amassed large fortunes and have built homes which surpass +those of rich Europeans. On Orchard road, which leads to the Botanical +Gardens, are several Chinese residences which excite the traveler's +wonder, because of the beauty of the buildings and grounds and the +lavishness of ornament and decorations. These merchants, whose names are +known throughout the Malay States and as far as Hongkong and Manila, +represent the Chinese at his best, freed from all restrictions and +permitted to give his commercial genius full play. + + +STRANGE NIGHT SCENES IN THE CITY OF SINGAPORE + +The Chinese element in Singapore is so overwhelming that it arrests the +attention of the most careless tourist, but no one appreciates the +enormous number of the Mongolians in Singapore until he visits the +Chinese and Malay districts at night. With a friend I started out one +night about eight o'clock. It was the first night in Singapore that one +could walk with any comfort. We went down North Bridge road, one of the +main avenues on which an electric car line runs. After walking a +half-mile we struck off to the right where the lights were bright. Just +as soon as we left the main avenue we began to see life as it is in +Singapore after dark. The first native street was devoted to small +hawkers, who lined both sides of the narrow thoroughfare. Each had about +six feet of space, and each had his name and his number as a licensed +vender. The goods were of every description and of the cheapest quality. +They had been brought in small boxes, and on these sat the Chinese +merchant and frequently his wife and children. A flare or two from cheap +nut oil illuminated the scene. + +Passing in front of these stands was a constantly moving crowd of +Chinese, Malays and East Indians of many races, all chaffering and +talking at the top of their voices. At frequent intervals were street +tea counters, where food was sold, evidently at very low prices. Ranged +along on benches were men eating rice and various stews that were taken +piping hot from kettles resting on charcoal stoves. One old Chinese +woman had a very condensed cooking apparatus. Over two small braziers +she had two copper pots, each divided into four compartments and in each +of these different food was cooking. + +Back of the street peddlers were the regular stores, all of which were +open and apparently doing a good business. As in Hongkong, the Chinese +workmen labor until ten or eleven o'clock at night, even carpenters and +basket-makers working a full force by the light of gas or electricity. +The recent events in China had their reflex here. All the makers of +shirts and clothing were feverishly busy cutting up and sewing the new +flag of the revolution. Long lines of red and blue bunting ran up and +down these rooms, and each workman was driving his machine like mad, +turning out a flag every few minutes. The fronts of most of these stores +were decorated with flags of the revolution. + +The most conspicuous places of business on these streets were the large +restaurants, where hundreds of Chinese were eating their chow at small +tables. The din was terrific, and the lights flashing on the naked +yellow skins, wet with perspiration, made a strange spectacle. Next to +these eating houses in number were handsomely decorated places in which +Chinese women plied the most ancient trade known to history. Some of +these women were very comely, but few were finely dressed, as in this +quarter cheapness seemed to be the rule in everything. Around some of +these places crowds of Chinese gathered and exchanged comment apparently +on attractive new arrivals in these resorts of vice. Many of the inmates +were young girls, fourteen or sixteen years old. + +Less numerous than these houses were the opium dens, scattered +throughout all these streets. These haunts of the drug that enslaves +were long and narrow rooms, with a central passage and a long, low +platform on each side. This platform was made of fine hardwood, and by +constant use shone like old mahogany. Ranged along on these platforms +wide enough for two men, facing each other and using a common lamp, were +scores of opium smokers. As many as fifty men could be accommodated in +each of these large establishments. The opium was served as a sticky +mass, and each man rolled some of it on a metal pin and cooked it over +the lamp. When cooked, the ball of opium was thrust into a small hole in +the bamboo opium pipe. Then the smoker, lying on his side, drew the +flame of the lamp against this opium and the smoke came up through the +bamboo tube of the pipe and was inhaled. One cooking of opium makes +never more than three whiffs of the pipe, sometimes only two. The effect +on the novice is very exhilarating, but the seasoned smoker is forced to +consume more and more of the drug to secure the desired effect. In one +of these dens we watched a large Chinese prepare his opium. He took only +two whiffs, but the second one was so deep that the smoke made the tears +run out of his eyes. His companion was so far under the influence of the +drug that his eyes were glazed and he was staring at some vision called +up by the powerful narcotic. One old Chinese, seeing our interest in the +spectacle, shook his head and said: "Opium very bad for Chinaman; make +him poor; make him weak." Further along in this quarter we came upon +several huge Chinese restaurants, ablaze with light and noisy with +music. We were told that dinners were being given in honor of +revolutionist victories. + +In all our night ramble through the Chinese and Malay quarters of +Singapore we saw not a single European, yet we met only courteous +treatment everywhere, and our curiosity was taken as a compliment. +Singapore is well policed by various races, among which the Sikhs and +Bengali predominate. An occasional Malay is met acting as a police +officer, but it is evident that such work does not appeal to the native +of the Straits Settlements. + +On our return to the hotel we crossed a large estuary which is spanned +by several bridges. Here were hundreds of small boats moored to the +shore, the homes of thousands of river people. This business of +transportation on the water is in the hands of the Malays, who are most +expert boatmen. It is a pleasure to watch one of these men handle a huge +cargo boat. With his large oar he will scull rapidly, while his +assistant uses a long pole. + +One of the sights of Singapore is the Botanical Gardens, about three and +one-half miles from town. The route is along Orchard road and Tanglin +road, two beautiful avenues that are lined with comfortable bungalows of +Europeans, and magnificent mansions of Chinese millionaires. The gardens +occupy a commanding position overlooking the surrounding country, and +they have been laid out with much skill. The drives are bordered with +ornamental trees from all lands. The most beautiful of all the palms is +the Traveler's tree from Madagascar. It is a palm the fronds of which +grow up like a regular fan. At a little distance it looks like a +peacock's tail spread to the full extent. It is so light, graceful and +feathery that it satisfies the eye as no other palm does. Of other palms +there are legion, from the Mountain Cabbage palm of the West Indies to +endless varieties from Malay, Madagascar and western Africa. + + +CHARACTERISTIC SIGHTS IN BURMA'S LARGEST CITY + +One of the characteristic sights of Rangoon is that of the big Siamese +elephants piling teak in the lumber yards along Rangoon river. It is the +same sight that Kipling pictured in the lines in his perfect ballad, +_Mandalay_, which an Englishman who knows his Burma well says is "the +finest ballad in the world, with all the local color wrong." + +These lumber yards are strung along the river, but are easily reached by +an electric car. Several are conducted by Chinese, but the finest yard +is in charge of the government. At the first Chinese yard was the +largest elephant in the city, a huge animal fifty-five years old, with +great tusks admirably fitted for lifting large logs. A dozen tourists +were grouped about the yard in the early morning, for these elephants +are only worked in the morning and evening hours, when it is cool. An +East Indian coolie was mounted on his back, or rather just back of his +ears, with his legs dangling loose. With his naked feet he indicated +whether the elephant was to go to the right or left, and when he wished +to emphasize an order he hit the beast a blow upon the head with a heavy +steel rod. + +Much of the work which this elephant did was spectacular, as it showed +the enormous strength of the animal as well as his great intelligence. +He took up on his tusks a log of teak, the native wood of this country, +as hard as hickory and much heavier, and, with the aid of his trunk, +stood with it at attention until every camera fiend had taken his +picture. Then his driver made the huge beast move a large log of teak +from a muddy hole by sheer force of the head and neck. The animal +dropped almost to his knees, and then putting forth all his strength he +actually pushed the log, which weighed about a ton and one-half, through +the mud up to the gangplank of the saw. Then he piled several huge logs +one upon the other, to show his skill in this work. + +Leaving this yard the party walked about a half-mile through trails, +with marshy land on each side, to the big government timber yard. Here +were thousands of logs which had been cut far up in the teak forests of +the interior, dragged through the swamps of the Irrawaddy by elephants, +then floated down the great river to Rangoon. All the logs in this yard +were marked with a red cross to signify that they belonged to the +government. Down by the river shore, where the ground was so soft that +their feet sank deep into the slimy mud, were five elephants engaged in +hauling logs up from the river to the dry ground near the shore. + +The chief object of interest in Rangoon is the great Shwe Dagon pagoda, +which dominates the whole city. Its golden summit may be seen for many +miles gleaming above dull green masses of foliage. This pagoda is the +center of the Buddhist faith, as it is said to contain veritable relics +of Gautama as well as of the three Buddhas who came before him. +Thousands of pilgrims from all parts of Burmah, Siam, Cochin-China, +Korea, Ceylon and other Oriental countries visit the pagoda every year +and their offerings at the various shrines amount to millions of +dollars. The pagoda differs absolutely from the temples of Japan and +China in form, material and the arrangement of lesser shrines; but its +impressiveness is greatly injured by the presence of hundreds of +hucksters, who sell not only curios and souvenirs of the pagoda, but +food and drink. + +The pagoda, which is about two miles from the business center of +Rangoon, is built upon a mound. The circumference is thirteen hundred +and fifty-five feet and the total height from the base is three hundred +and seventy feet. It is constructed in circular style, its concentric +rings gradually lessening in size until the top is reached. This is +surmounted by a gilt iron work or "ti" on which little bells are hung. +This "ti" was a gift from the late king of Burmah, who spent a quarter +of a million dollars on its decoration with gold and precious stones. +The mound on which the pagoda stands is divided into two rectangular +terraces. The upper terrace, nine hundred feet by six hundred and +eighty-five, is one hundred and sixty-six feet above the level of the +ground. The ascent is by three flights of brick stairs, the fourth +flight at the back being closed to permit of the building of +fortifications by which the English may defend the pagoda in any +emergency. The southern or main entrance is made conspicuous by two +enormous leogryphs, which are of plastered brick. + +Up these steep stairs the visitor climbs, pestered by loathsome beggars +and importuned on every hand to buy relics, flowers and articles of gold +and silver. One would fancy he was in a great bazar rather than in the +entrance hall of the finest monument in the world erected in honor of +Buddha. The four chapels ranged around the rectangular terrace are +ornamented by figures of the sitting Buddha. Then one visits a score of +magnificently decorated shrines, in which are Buddhas in every variety +of position. In one is the reclining Gautama in alabaster, in whose +honor the pagoda was built. In others are Gautamas of brass, ivory, +glass, clay and wood. Before many of these shrines candles are burning +and devotees are seated or are praying with their faces bowed to the +stone pavement. On one side of the platform is a row of miniature +pagodas, all encrusted with decoration of gold and precious stones, the +gifts of thousands of pious devotees. Among these shrines are many small +bells which are rung by worshippers when they deposit their offerings, +and one great bell (the third largest in the world, weighing forty-two +and one-fourth tons), given by King Tharrawaddy. + +The eyes of the visitor are wearied with the splendid decoration of the +chapels, the gilding, the carving, the inlaid glass work. It seems as +though there was no end to the rows on rows of Buddhas in every +conceivable position. Interspersed among them are tall poles from which +float long streamers of bamboo bearing painted historical pictures, +including those of the capture of the pagoda by the British. Thousands +crowd these platforms. Some offer gifts to various shrines, others say +prayer after prayer, still others strike bells to give warning to evil +spirits that they have offered up their petitions to Buddha, others hang +eagerly on the words of fortune tellers. All buy food and drink and the +whole place suggests in its good cheer a country picnic rather than a +pilgrimage to the greatest Buddhist shrine in the world. + +When one has left the pagoda he bears the memory of magnificent +decorations, of vast crowds, but of little real reverence. The great +golden pagoda itself is the dominating feature in every view of Rangoon, +just as the Washington monument dominates all other structures in +Washington. + +[Illustration: PLATE XXV + + Queen's Road in + Hongkong. This is One + of the Most Picturesque + Streets in the Orient, + With Large Stores and + Splendid Gilded Signs on + Each Side. The Buildings + Are so Constructed + That the Sidewalk + Becomes a Shaded + Arcade] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXVI + + Flower Market in a + Hongkong Street--One + of the Prettiest + Sights in Hongkong, as + Orchids, Irises, Lilies + and Other Blossoms Are + Always on Sale] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXVII + + Coolies Carrying + Burdens at Hongkong. + Chinese Coolies Using + the Bamboo Pole Are + a Common Sight in + Hongkong. They Carry + Several Hundred + Pounds, Moving at + a Dog Trot] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXVIII + + The Spacious Foreign + Bund at Hongkong, + With the Row of Lofty + Business Buildings. + The Ferry Takes One + to Kowloon, the + Native City, Opposite + Hongkong] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXIX + + Chinese Junks in + Hongkong Harbor, These + Junks, With Their + Curious Sails of Matting + and Bamboo Spars, + Form One of the + Features of Every + Chinese Harbour or + Sea View] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXX + + View of the Water-front + at Canton. This General + View of the Pearl + River and the Canton + Bund, or Water-front, + Shows the Enormous + Floating Population + on the River] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXXI + + The New Chinese Bund + at Canton. The Chinese + Recently Completed + This Bund. + It Contrasts Strongly + With the Ancient + Walled City, a Stone's + Throw in the Rear] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXXII + + A Confucian Festival at + Singapore. This Shows + the Elaborate Street + Decorations to + Commemorate the + Festival of + Confucius in the + Chinese Quarter] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXXIII + + A Main Street in the + Native Quarter of + Singapore. The Shops + Are Small and the + Shopkeepers Live in + the Rooms Above. The + Flags Displayed Are + Those of the New + Chinese Republic] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXXIV + + The Y. M. C. A. + Building at Singapore. + This Fine Structure Has + Many Counterparts in + the Chief Oriental + Cities, Where the + Association is Doing a + Great Work] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXXV + + The Great Shwe Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon. + The Finest Buddhist Temple in all Indo-China, Containing + Alleged Relics of Gautama. It is Gilded from Base + to Summit and May be Seen Forty Miles at Sea] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXXVI + + Entrance to the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. + On Each Side is an Enormous Leogryph, Built of + Brick and Covered With Plaster. The + Porch Has a Superbly Carved + Roof] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXXVII + + Burmese + Worshipping Before + Shrine in the Pagoda at + Rangoon. These Figures, + Mainly Women and + Children, Show the + National Dress. Note + the Richness of + Decoration of the + Shrines.] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXXVIII + + Riverside Scene at + Rangoon. Here Are the + Native Cargo Boats + Which Bring Rice and + Other Products Down + the Irrawaddy. + Rangoon Has a Trade + Second Only to That + of Calcutta and + Bombay] + +[Illustration: PLATE XXXIX + + Trained Elephant Piling + Teak at Rangoon. + This Is One of the + Great Sights of the + Orient. The Elephants + Work in the Lumber + Yards Along the + Water-front and Lift + Logs That Weigh + One and One-Half + Tons] + +[Illustration: PLATE XL + + Palm Avenue, Royal Lakes, Rangoon. + This Characteristic View is From a Pretty Park in + Rangoon. It Shows the Summit of the Pagoda + in the Distance] + + + + + INDIA, THE LAND + OF TEMPLES, PALACES + AND MONUMENTS + + +CALCUTTA, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF ORIENTAL CITIES + +Calcutta, the great commercial port of northern India and the former +capital of the Empire, is the most beautiful Oriental city, not even +excepting Hongkong. Its main claim to this distinction is the possession +of the famous Maidan or Esplanade, which runs along the Hoogly river for +nearly two miles and which far surpasses the Luneta of Manila in +picturesqueness. The Maidan is three-quarters of a mile wide at its +beginning and it broadens out to one and one-quarter miles in width at +its lower end. Government House, the residence of the Viceroy, is +opposite the northern end of the Maidan, while at the southern end is +Belvedere, the headquarters of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. With +historic Fort William on one side and most of the large hotels, the big +clubs and the Imperial Museum on the other, the Maidan is really the +center of all civic life. At the southeast end is the race course; not +far away is the fine cathedral. Near by are the beautiful Eden Gardens +(the gift of the sisters of the great Lord Auckland), which are +noteworthy for the Burmese pagoda, transported from Prome and set up +here on the water's edge. It is seldom that a city is laid out on such +magnificent lines as is Calcutta. It reminds one of Washington in its +picturesque boulevards and avenues, all finely shaded with noble mango +trees. And it also has the distinction of green turf even in the heat +of summer, owing to the heavy dews that refresh the grass like showers. + +Calcutta is associated in the minds of most readers with the infamous +Black Hole into which one hundred and forty-six wretched white people +were crowded on a hot night of June in 1750 and out of which only +twenty-three emerged alive on the following morning. The Black Hole was +the regimental jail of old Fort William and its site is now marked by a +pavement of black marble and a tablet adjoining the fine postoffice +building, while across the street is an imposing monument to the memory +of the victims, whose names are all enumerated. The hole was twenty-two +by fourteen feet, while it was only eighteen feet in height. These +prisoners who were flung into this little jail were residents of +Calcutta who fell into the hands of the Nawab of Murshedabad. Calcutta +is also famous as the birthplace of Thackeray, a bust of whom ornaments +the art gallery of the Imperial Museum. Scattered about the Maidan are +statues of a dozen men whose deeds have shed luster on English arms or +diplomacy. + +Calcutta, as the first city of India that I had seen, impressed me very +strongly, although the native life has been colored somewhat by contact +with British and other Europeans. Here, for the first time, one sees +ninety-nine out of one hundred people in the streets wearing turbans. +Here also the women mingle freely in the streets, wearing long robes +which they wind dexterously about their bodies, leaving the lower legs +and the right arm bare. A few cover the face, but the great majority +leave it exposed. Many are hideously disfigured by large nose rings, +while others have small rings or jewels set in one nostril. Nearly every +woman wears bracelets on arms and wrists, heavy anklets and, in many +cases, massive gold or silver rings on the big toes. In some cases what +look like heavy necklaces are wound several times around the ankles. It +is the custom of the lower and middle classes not to put their savings +in a bank, but to melt down the coin and make it into bracelets or other +ornaments, which are worn by their women. Here in Calcutta also one sees +for the first time hundreds of men and women wearing the marks of their +caste on their foreheads, either painted in red or marked in white with +the ash of cow dung. + +Although the main streets of Calcutta are distinctly European, a walk of +a few blocks in any direction from the main business section will bring +you into the native or the Chinese quarter, where the streets are +narrow, the houses low between stories and the shops mere holes in the +wall, with only a door for ventilation. In one quarter every store is +kept by a Chinese and here a large amount of manufacturing is done. In +other quarters natives are carrying on all kinds of manufacture, in the +same primitive way that they worked two thousand years ago. The +carpenter uses tools that are very much like those in an American boy's +box of toy tools; the shoemaker does all the work of turning out a +finished shoe from the hide of leather on his wall. Outside these stores +in the street the most common beast of burden is a small bullock of the +size and color of a Jersey cow; These little animals pull enormous +loads, and they are so clever that when they see an electric car +approaching they will start on the run and clear the track. + +Many of the houses in the native quarter of Calcutta are built of adobe, +with earthen tiles, which make them bear a strong resemblance to the +adobe dwellings of the Spanish-Californians before the American +occupation. In many cases very little straw is used in this adobe, for +the walls have frequently crumbled away under the heavy rains of winter. +Other houses are built of brick, faced with plaster, which is either +painted or whitewashed. + +What impresses any visitor is the squalor and the wretchedness of these +homes of India's poor. The clothing of a whole family is not worth one +American dollar, while about ten cents in our money will feed a family +of four. The houses have no furniture, except a bed of the most +primitive pattern, made of latticed reeds; the smoke from the cooking +fire goes up through the roof or else finds its way out the open door; +seldom are there any windows, all the air coming in at the open door; +the floor of the house is of dirt and on this squat father and mother +and the children, with the family goat. In the small shops work is +carried on seven days in the week until nine or ten o'clock at night, +with an hour for lunch and siesta at midday. The hopelessness of the lot +of the Hindoo (who is bound by rigid caste rules to follow in the +footsteps of his father) can never be appreciated until one has seen him +here in his native land. + +For two hours I watched scores of natives taking a wash at the large, +free bathing ghat near the pontoon bridge. On the river front is a +restaurant, and back of this steps lead down to a spacious platform on +the level of the river. A score of men and boys and one woman were +taking a bath in the dirty water, which was thick with mud washed up by +passing steamers. A few of these bathers had rented towels from an +office on the stairs, but the great majority simply rubbed themselves +with their hands and then dried in the sun. All washed their faces in +the dirty water and rinsed their mouths with it. The men took off their +loin clothes and washed these out, then wrapped them about their bodies +and came out dripping water. The lone woman was very fat. She waded into +the water and when she came out her thin robe clung to her massive form +revealing all its curves. She calmly took a seat on the stairs and +proceeded to massage her head. + +The most interesting place near Calcutta is the Royal Botanical Gardens, +situated on the opposite side of the river and about six miles from +town. These gardens were laid out in 1786 and they vie with the botanic +gardens at Singapore in the variety of trees and shrubs from all parts +of the tropics. Here is the great banyan tree which covers one thousand +square feet and is one hundred and forty-two years old. At a height of +five and one-half feet from the ground the circumference of the main +trunk is fifty-one feet; the height is eighty-five feet, while it has +five hundred and seventy aerial roots, which have actually taken root in +the ground. The tree at a little distance looks like a small grove. + +The Imperial Museum at Calcutta is well worth a couple of hours, for it +contains one of the finest collections of antiquities in the Orient. The +museum is housed in an enormous building facing the Maidan, which has a +frontage of three hundred feet and a depth of two hundred and seventy +feet. In the ethnological gallery are arranged figures of all the native +races of India with their costumes; agricultural implements, fishing and +hunting appliances, models of Indian village life, specimens of ancient +and modern weapons and many other exhibits. Another room that will repay +study is a gallery containing old steel and wood engravings of the great +characters in the mutiny, with busts of Clive, Havelock, Outram and +Nicholson, and with a life-size bust of Thackeray. + + +BATHING AND BURNING THE DEAD AT BENARES + +It is estimated that one million pilgrims visit the sacred city of +Benares every year, and it is these pilgrims that furnish the largest +income which the city receives from any source. Here are the most holy +shrines of Buddhism; here Vishnu and Siva have their strongholds, and +here must come Hindoos from all parts of India to bathe in the sacred +waters of the Ganges and to offer up prayers at the many holy shrines in +the city's temples. + +Benares is sacred because here Buddha first made his residence. The +place that he selected was ancient Sarnath, six miles from Benares, +which is now a heap of ruins, in which British government experts are +delving for remains of the great city that was founded six centuries +before the Christian era. At Sarnath Buddha built a great temple and +founded a school from which his disciples spread to all parts of India. +But after 750 A.D. Buddhism disappeared gradually from India, and +Hindooism took its place. The fine temples that now line the Ganges for +three miles were built by Maratha princes in the seventeenth century. +They also built the scores of bathing ghats that now furnish one of the +most picturesque spectacles that the world affords. A ghat in Hindustani +is a stone stairway that leads down to the water, and Benares has a +succession of these magnificent stairways leading down to the Ganges, +overlooked by palaces of many Maharajas and temples built by rulers and +priests. No sight more splendid could be conceived than that of these +domes and minarets flashing in the rays of the early morning sun while +thousands of devout believers crowd the bathing ghats and offer prayers +to Vishnu, after they have bathed in the waters of the Ganges; and +mourning relatives burn the bodies of their dead after these have had +the sacred water poured over their faces. + +[Illustration: + + Hindoos Bathing in the Ganges at Benares. + This is a View of the Dasaswamedh Ghat, the Most + Popular Bathing Place in the Sacred City. Note + the Holy Men Under the Umbrellas, Who + Take Tribute of All Bathers] + +The visitor who wishes to see the pious Hindoos bathe in the Ganges goes +to the river in the early morning soon after the sun has risen. He +descends one of the large ghats and takes a boat, in which he may be +rowed down the river past the bathing ghats and the one ghat where the +dead are burned. The scene is one that will never be forgotten. Against +the clear sky is outlined a succession of domes and spires that mark the +position of a score of sacred shrines, with two slender minarets that +rise from the mosque built by the great Moslem Emperor, Aurunzeb. The +sunlight flashes on these domes and spires and it lights up thousands of +bathing floats and stands that line the muddy banks of the river. The +floats are dotted with hundreds of bathers and the number of these +increases every few minutes. They come by hundreds down the great stone +stairways to their favorite bathing places, where, after a thorough +bath, they may be shaved or massaged or may listen to the expounding of +the Hindoo sacred books by a learned Brahmin sitting in the shade of a +huge umbrella. A characteristic feature of this hillside is the number +of these large umbrellas, each of which marks the place of a priest or a +holy man who has done some marvels of penance that give him a strong +hold on the superstitious natives and induce them to pay him well for +prayers or a sacred talisman. + +With my boat moored near the bank and directly opposite the Manikarnika +ghat, the favorite place on the river, I watched the stream of bathers +for nearly an hour. The fanatical devotion that will induce a reasonable +human being to bathe in the waters of the Ganges seems incredible to +anyone from the Western World. The water of the sacred river is here of +the consistency of pea soup. The city's sewer pipes empty into the +Ganges just above the bathing ghats, and the current carries this filth +directly to the place which the Hindoos have selected for their rites. +The water is not only muddy and unclean, but it offends the nose. Yet +Hindoos of good family bathe here side by side with the poverty +stricken. They use the mud of the Ganges in lieu of soap; they scrub +their bodies thoroughly, and then they actually take this foul-smelling +water in their mouths and clean their teeth with it. This creed of +Buddha is a pure democracy, for there is no distinction of class in +bathing. Women bathe by the side of men, although they remain covered +with the gauze-like garments that are a sop to modesty. + +The Manikarnika ghat is the most picturesque of all these bathing places +along the Ganges, as the long flight of stone steps is in good +preservation and the background of temples and palaces satisfies the +eye. The river front for thirty feet is densely crowded with bathers who +stand on small floats or go into the shallow water. With a Western crowd +so dense as this there would be infringments of individual rights that +would lead to quarrels and fights, but the Hindoo is slow to anger, and, +like the Japanese, he has great courtesy for his fellows. Hundreds +bathed at the ghat while I watched them and no trouble ensued. Nothing +could be more striking, nothing more Oriental than the picture of scores +of bathers, in bright-hued garments, moving up and down these long +flights of massive steps. In the background were a half-dozen temples, +the most noteworthy of which is the red-domed temple of the Rajah of +Amethi, whose beautiful palace overlooks this scene. Near the water is a +curious leaning temple, whose foundations were evidently unsettled by +the severe earthquake which destroyed several temples farther down the +river. + +The busiest men on these bathing ghats are the Hindoo priests, who reap +a harvest from the hundreds of pilgrims who visit the ghats during the +day. These priests cannot be escaped by the poorest Hindoo. They levy +toll from every one who descends these long flights of stairs. One +fellow I watched as he sat under his great umbrella. He had his sacred +books spread before him, but he was given no leisure for reading them, +as a constant stream of clients passed before him. Some of these were +regular daily visitors from Benares, who pay a certain rate every week +or every month, according to their financial standing. Others were +pilgrims who, in their enthusiasm over the sacred Ganges (which they had +traveled hundreds of miles to bathe in), were not careful in regard to +their fees. Others were mourning relatives who applied for prayers for +the corpse which they had brought to the waterside, and still others +demanded hurried prayers for the dying, whose last breath would be drawn +by the bank of the sacred river. Incidentally the priests sold charms +and amulets guaranteed to bring good fortune. Most of the payments were +in copper pice, four of which make one of our cents, but many of these +priests had great heaps of this coin in front of them, showing that +though India may be suffering from a bad harvest the faker may always +feed on the fat of the land. + +The spectacle, however, which stamps Benares upon the memory is the +burning of the dead at a ghat by the Ganges. This ghat is reserved +exclusively for the cremation of Hindoo dead. No Mussulman can use it. +It was about eight o'clock in the morning when my boat reached this +burning ghat. Already one body had been placed on a funeral pyre of +wood. The guide said this body was that of a poor man who had no +relatives or friends, as the place where the relatives sit until the +cremation is complete was empty. Soon, however, two men came rushing +down the stone steps with a corpse strapped to a bamboo stretcher. The +body was that of a woman, dressed in red garments, which signified that +she was a married woman. Unmarried women are arrayed in yellow and other +colors, while men must be content with white. The stretcher-bearers +placed their burden with its feet in the Ganges and then went in search +of wood which is purchased from a dealer. Soon they had a supply, which +they piled up in the form of a bier, and on this they placed the woman's +corpse. Then one of the men, who, the guide said, was the dead woman's +husband, with tears streaming from his eyes, bore some of the water of +the Ganges to the bier, exposed the face of the dead and poured the +sacred water upon her mouth and her eyes. Then while his companion piled +wood above the body the husband sought the low-caste Hindoos who sell +fire for burning the body. He soon returned with several large bundles +of coarse straw, one of which was smoking. Seven times the husband +passed around the bier with the smoking straw before he applied the +flame to the wood. The fire licked greedily at the wood, and soon the +flames had reached the body. Then the husband and his friend repaired to +a stand near by, from which they watched the cremation. + +Meanwhile two other bodies had been rushed down to the water's edge. One +was evidently that of a wealthy woman, dressed in yellow silk and borne +by two richly garbed attendants. The other was that of an old man, +attended by his son. The latter was very speedy in securing wood and in +building a funeral pyre. Soon the old man's corpse was stretched on the +bier and the son was applying the torch. He was a good-looking young +fellow, dressed in the clean, white garments of mourning and freshly +shaved for the funeral ceremonies. While he was burning the body of his +father another corpse of a man was rushed down to the river's edge and +placed upon a bier. This body was fearfully emaciated, and when the two +attendants raised it in its white shroud, one arm that hung down limp +was not larger than that of a healthy five-year-old boy, while the legs +were mere skin and bones. It was an ugly sight to see the Ganges water +poured over the face of this corpse, which was set in a ghastly grin +with wide-open eyes. The man had evidently died while he was being +hurried to the burning ghat, as the Hindoos believe that it is evil for +one to die in the house. Hence most of the corpses have staring eyes, as +they breathed their last on the way to the river. + +No solemnity marks this cremation by the river's edge. The relatives who +bring down the body haggle over the price of the wood and try to cheapen +the sum demanded by the low-caste man for fire for the burning. The +greed of the priest who performs the last rite and who prepares the +relatives for the cremation is an unlovely sight. All about the burning +ghat where the poor dead are being reduced to ashes hundreds are bathing +or washing their clothes. The spectacle that so profoundly impresses a +stranger is to them so common as to excite no interest. + + +LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE, CITIES OF THE MUTINY + +Lucknow and Cawnpore are the two cities of India that are most closely +associated in the minds of most readers with the great mutiny. The one +recalls the most heroic defense in the history of any country; the other +recalls the most piteous tragedy in the long record of suffering and +death scored against the Sepoys. The British government in both of these +cities has raised memorials to the men who gave their lives in defending +them and, though the art is inferior in both, the story is so full of +genuine courage, loyalty, devotion and self-sacrifice that it will +always find eager readers. So the pilgrims to these shrines of the +mutiny cannot fail to be touched by the relics of the men and women who +showed heroism of the highest order. When one goes through the rooms in +the ruined Residency at Lucknow he feels again the thrill with which he +first read of the splendid defense made by Sir Henry Lawrence and of the +Scotch girl who declared she heard the pipes of the Campbells a day +before they actually broke on the ears of the beleaguered garrison. And +when one stands in front of the site of the old well at Cawnpore, into +which the bleeding bodies of the butchered women and children of the +garrison were thrown, the tears come to his eyes over the terrible fate +of these poor victims of the cruelty of Nana Sahib. The sight of these +Indian cities also makes one appreciate more fully the tremendous odds +against which this mere handful of English men and women contended. + +Lucknow is the fifth city in size in the Indian Empire. It is reached by +a six hours' ride from Benares which is interesting, as the railroad +runs through a good farming country, in which many of the original trees +have been left. Lucknow at the outbreak of the mutiny was fortunate in +the possession of one of the ablest army commanders in the Indian +service. Sir Henry Lawrence, when he saw that mutiny was imminent, +gathered a large supply of stores and ammunition in the Residency at +Lucknow. When the siege began Lawrence found himself in a well-fortified +place, with large supplies. About one thousand refugees were in the +Residency and the safety of these people was due largely to the massive +walls of the building and to the skill and courage with which the +defense was handled. In reading the story of this siege of five months, +from June to November, it seems incredible that a small garrison could +withstand so constant a bombardment of heavy guns and so harassing a +fire of small arms; but when you go through the Residency the reason is +obvious. Here are the ruins of a building erected by an old Arab chief +during the Mohammedan rule in Lucknow. The walls are from three to five +feet in thickness, of a kind of flat, red brick like the modern tile. +When laid up well in good mortar such walls are as solid as though built +of stone. What added to the safety of the building was the great +underground apartments, built originally for summer quarters for the old +Moslem's harem, but used during the siege as a retreat for the women and +children. So well protected were these rooms that only one shell ever +penetrated them and this shot did no damage. The building reveals +traces of the heavy fire to which it was subjected, but in no case were +the walls broken down. + +The story of the siege of Lucknow has been told by poets and prose +writers for over a half century, but the theme is still full of +interest. Tennyson dealt with it in a ballad that is full of fire, each +verse ending with the spirited refrain: + + And ever upon the topmost roof the banner of England blew. + +All that it is necessary to do here is to refresh the reader's memory +with the salient events. The besieged were admirably handled by +competent officers and they beat off repeated attacks by the mutineers +(who outnumbered them more than one hundred to one). Lawrence was +fatally wounded on July the second and died two days later. In September +General Havelock, after desperate fighting, made his way into Lucknow, +but his force was so small that only fifteen hundred men were added to +the garrison. It was not until November the seventeenth that the +garrison was finally relieved by the union of forces under Havelock and +Outram and Sir Colin Campbell. Never in the history of warfare has a +garrison had to endure greater hardships than that of Lucknow. Incessant +attacks by night and day kept the small force worn out by constant guard +duty and, to add to their miseries, intense heat was made more merciless +by swarms of flies. When one bears in mind that the Indian summer brings +heat of from one hundred and ten to one hundred and forty degrees it may +be seen how great was the courage of the garrison that could fight +bravely and cheerfully under such heavy odds. The memorial tablets at +Lucknow, Delhi, Cawnpore and other places bear witness to this heroism +of the British soldier during the mutiny, but you do not fully +appreciate this splendid courage until you see the country and feel the +power of its sun. + +Cawnpore, which is only three hours' ride from Lucknow, is another city +of India that recalls the saddest tragedy of the mutiny. Here it was +that bad judgment of the general in charge led to great suffering and +the final butchery of all except a few of the residents. Sir Hugh +Wheeler, a veteran officer, wisely doubted the fidelity of the Sepoys +and decided to establish a place where he could store supplies and +assure a safe asylum for the women and children; but, instead of +selecting the magazine, which was on the river and had strong walls, he +actually went down two miles in a level plain and threw up earth +entrenchments. This he did because he said he feared to excite the +suspicion of the Sepoys and thus incite them to revolt. The result was +disastrous, for the earth walls that he raised furnished poor protection +and the place was raked by the native artillery and small arms from +every point of the compass. A worse place to defend could not have been +chosen, but the twenty officers and two hundred men held it against a +horde of mutinous natives for twenty days of blazing heat. The only +water for the little garrison was obtained under severe fire of the +enemy from a well sixty feet deep. + +Finally, when the supply of provisions was nearly exhausted, General +Wheeler agreed to surrender to the Nana Sahib, provided the men were +allowed to carry arms and ammunition and boats were furnished for safe +conduct down the river. Of course, the Nana accepted these terms, but it +seems incredible that a veteran army officer should have trusted the +lives of women and children to Sepoys who were as cruel as our own +Apaches. The little garrison, with the wounded, the women and the +children, was escorted down to the river and placed on barges. But when +the order was given to push off, the treacherous Sepoys grounded the +boats in the mud and the gunners of Nana Sahib opened fire on the +barges. The grape shot set fire to the matting of the barges and many of +the wounded were smothered. One boat escaped down the river, but the +survivors were captured after several days of hardship, the men murdered +and the women and children brought back to Cawnpore. The men in the +other boats who survived were shot, but one hundred and twenty-five +women and children were returned to Cawnpore as prisoners. They spent +seven anxious days and then when Nana Sahib saw he could not hold +Cawnpore any longer he ordered the Sepoys to shoot the English women and +children. To the credit of these mutineers they refused to obey orders +and fired into the ceiling of the wretched rooms where the prisoners +were lodged. Then Nana Sahib sent for five butchers and these men, with +their long knives, murdered the helpless victims of this monster of +cruelty. On the following morning the bodies of dead and dying were cast +into the well at Cawnpore. On the site of this well has been raised a +costly memorial surmounted by a marble angel of the resurrection. The +design is not impressive, but no one can see it without pity for the +unfortunates who were delivered into the hands of the most atrocious +character of modern times. The Memorial Church at Cawnpore, which cost +one hundred thousand dollars, contains a series of tablets to those who +fell in the mutiny. + + +THE TAJ MAHAL, THE WORLD'S LOVELIEST BUILDING + +Agra is chiefly noteworthy for the Taj Mahal, which is acknowledged to +be the most beautiful building in the world; though the city would be +worthy of a visit because of the many splendid mosques and palaces built +by the great Mogul emperors and others. In fact, Agra was the capital of +the Mohammedan empire in north India until Aurungzeb moved it +permanently to Delhi; hence the city is rich in specimens of the best +Moslem work in forts, palaces, mosques and tombs. + +Agra has about two hundred thousand population. It is on the Jumna river +and is almost equally distant from Calcutta and Bombay, eight hundred +and forty-two miles from the former and eight hundred and forty-nine +miles from the latter. It will impress any traveler by its cleanliness +when compared with Calcutta, Benares or Lucknow. The land seems to be +more fertile than that around any of these three cities and the standard +of living higher. The shops are clean and bright and a specialty is made +of gold and silver embroidery and imitation of the old Mohammedan inlay +work in marble. Most of the fine Moslem architecture is found inside the +ancient fort, which, with its massive wall, is in a good state of +preservation. + +The Taj Mahal may be seen many times without losing any of its charm. It +is reached by a short drive from the city and its beautiful dome and +minarets may be seen from many parts of Agra and its suburbs. This tomb, +built of white marble, was erected by Shah Jehan, the chief builder +among the Mogul Emperors of India, in memory of his favorite wife, +Arjmand Banu. She married Shah Jehan in 1615 and died fourteen years +after, as she was giving birth to her eighth child. Shah Jehan, who had +already built many fine palaces and mosques, determined to perpetuate +her memory for all time by erecting the finest tomb in the world. So he +planned the Taj, which required twenty-two years and twenty million +dollars to build; but so well was the work done that nearly three +hundred years have left little trace on its walls or its splendid +decorations. + +This Mogul despot, who knew many women, spent an imperial fortune in +fashioning this noblest memorial to love ever built by the hand of man. +Incidentally he probably sacrificed twenty thousand coolies, for he +built the Taj by forced labor, the same kind that reared the pyramids +and carved the sphinx. All the material was brought from great +distances. The white marble came from Jeypore and was hauled in bullock +carts or carried by elephants; the jasper came from the Punjab, the jade +from China and the precious stones from many parts of Central Asia, from +Thibet to Arabia. + +The Emperor summoned the best architects and workers in precious stones +of his time and asked them for designs. It is evident that many hands +united in the plans of the building, but history gives the credit for +the main design to a Persian. An Italian architect lent aid in the +ornamentation and three inlaid flowers are shown to-day as specimens of +his work. The building itself is only a shadow of its former +magnificence--for the many alien conquerors of India have despoiled in +it in succession, taking away the solid silver gates, the diamonds, +rubies, sapphires and other precious stones from the flower decorations, +and even the gold and silver from the mosaic work. All the precious +stones looted by vandal hands have been restored by imitations, which +closely resemble the priceless originals. Restorations have also been +made where the marble has been defaced or broken. + +The Taj stands in the midst of a great garden, laid out with so much +skill that from any part of its many beautiful walks fine views may be +had of the dome and the minarets. This garden is planted to many +tropical trees and flowering shrubs whose foliage brings out in high +relief the beauty of the flawless marble tomb. The main gateway of the +garden, built of red sandstone, would be regarded as a splendid work of +art were it not for the superior beauty of the tomb itself. The gate is +inlaid in white marble with inscriptions from the Koran, and it is +surmounted by twenty little marble cupolas. + +Once inside the gate the beauty and the majesty of the Taj strike one +like a physical blow. Simple as is the design, so perfectly has it been +wrought out that the building gives the impression of the last word in +delicate and unique ornamentation. The white marble base on which the +building rests is three hundred and thirteen feet square and rises +eighteen feet from the ground. The tomb itself is one hundred and +eighty-six feet square, with a dome that rises two hundred and twenty +feet above the base. At each corner of the base is a graceful minaret of +white marble one hundred and thirty-seven feet high. Although no color +is used on the exterior, the decoration is so rich as to prevent all +monotony. + +[Illustration: + + Front View of the Taj + Mahal, Agra. This + Unusual View + Was Taken by Mr. + Isaac O. Upham From + the Level of the Main + Approach. It Throws + Into Strong Relief + the Two Lines of + Cypresses and Gives + a Perfect Reproduction + of the Taj in the + Winter] + +In every detail the Taj satisfies the eye, with the single exception of +the work on the minarets. The squares of marble that cover these +minarets are laid in dark-colored mortar which brings out strongly each +stone. It would have lent more softness to these minarets had the +individual stones not been revealed, an effect that could have been +secured by using white mortar. When the shades of evening fall these +minarets are far more beautiful than by day, as they are softened by the +wiping out of the lines about the stones. Under the strong light of the +noonday sun the marble that covers the dome shows various shades ranging +from light gray to pearly white, but by the soft evening light all these +colors are merged and the dome looks like a huge soap bubble resting +light as foam on the body of the tomb. + +A front photograph of the Taj gives a good idea of its effect. Standing +at the portal of the main entrance one gets the superb effect of the +marble pathway that borders the two canals in which the building is +mirrored. Midway across this pathway is a broad, raised marble platform, +with a central fountain, from which the best view of the building may be +secured. The path on each side from this platform to the main stairway +is bordered by a row of cypress and back of these are great mango trees +at least twenty feet high. These should be removed and smaller trees +substituted, as they interfere seriously with a perfect view of the +tomb. + +From this platform the eye rests on the Taj with a sense of perfect +satisfaction that is given by no other building I have ever seen. The +very simplicity of the design aids in this effect. It seems well nigh +impossible that a mere tomb of white marble should convey so vivid an +impression of completeness and majesty, yet at the same time that every +detail should suggest lightness and delicacy. The little cupolas below +the dome as well as the pinnacles of the minarets add to this effect of +airy grace. + +When one ascends the steps to the main door he begins to perceive the +secret of this effect on the senses. Everything is planned for harmony +and proportion. The pointed arch, of which all Moslem architects were +enamored, is shown in the main doorway and in the principal windows of +the front. This doorway rises almost to the full height of the tomb and +on each side are recessed windows, with beautifully pointed tops. + +All the angles and spandrels of the building are inlaid with precious +stones as well as with texts from the Koran. In the center of the +building is an octagonal chamber, twenty-four feet on each side, with +various rooms around it devoted to the imperial tombs. A dome, +fifty-eight feet in diameter, rises to a height of eighty feet, beneath +which, inclosed by a trellis-work screen of white marble, are the tombs +of the Favorite of the Palace and of the great Emperor. The Emperor, +with a touch of the Oriental despot, has made his tomb a little larger +than that of the woman whom he honored in this unique fashion. The +delicate tracery in marble, so characteristic of Mogul work of the +sixteenth century, is seen here at its best, as well as the inlays of +the lotus and other flowers in sapphire, turquoise and other stones. The +effect is highly decorative and at the same time chaste and subdued. A +feature which impresses every visitor is the remarkable trellis work in +marble. A solid slab of marble, about six feet by four and about two +inches in thickness, is used as a panel. This is cut out into many +designs that remind one of fine old lace. These panels abound in every +important room of the Taj. + +The Taj has suffered little serious damage from the conquerors who +successively despoiled it of its wealth of precious stones. The places +of these jewels have been supplied with imitations which are almost as +effective as the originals. In a few instances the marble has been +chipped or broken, but, through the generosity of Lord Curzon, these +blemishes have been removed, and the whole structure exists to-day +almost as it did three hundred years ago when Akbar's grandson completed +it and found it good. + +The Taj should be seen by day and again at nightfall. In the full glare +of the brilliant Indian sun the dome and the minarets stand out with +extraordinary clearness, yet the lightness and buoyancy of the dome is +not injured by the fierce light. Seen at sundown the Taj is at its best. +All the lines are softened; the minarets and the perfect dome give an +appearance of lightness and grace not of this world; they suggest the +cloud-capped towers and gorgeous palaces of the poet's vision. As the +afterglow fades, the Taj takes on an air of mystery and aloofness; the +perfect lines melt into one another and the whole structure is blurred +as though it were seen in a dream. Then one bids adieu to the world's +perfect building, thankful that he has been given the opportunity to +enjoy the greatest marvel of architecture, which leaves on the mind the +same impression left by splendid music or the notes of a great singer. +Words are poor to describe things like the Taj, which become our +cherished possessions and may be recalled to cheer hours of despondency +or grief. + + +DELHI AND ITS ANCIENT MOHAMMEDAN RUINS + +Delhi, the ancient Mogul capital of India, is an interesting city, not +only because of its present-day life but because it contains so many +memorials of the Mohammedan conquest of the country. The ancient Moslem +emperors were men who did things. Above all else they were builders, who +constructed tombs, palaces and mosques that have survived for nearly +four hundred years. They builded for all time, rearing massive walls of +masonry that the most powerful British guns during the mutiny were +unable to batter down. They built their own tombs in such enduring +fashion that we may look upon them to-day as they were when these +despots completed them. Akbar, Shah Jehan, Humayan and Aurungzeb each +erected scores of buildings that have survived the ravages of time and +the more destructive work of greedy mercenaries in time of war. In and +around Delhi are scores of these tombs in various stages of decay. Those +which have been cared for are splendid specimens of the best +architecture of the sixteenth century. + +Indian brick is the cheapest building material in the world. The Indian +brick of to-day looks very much like the cheapest brick used in American +cities to fill in the inside of walls; but the brick made in the time of +Shah Jehan and Humayan and used by them was a flat tile brick, hard as +stone, set in mortar that has resisted the elements for over three +hundred years. When the roofs of these Moslem tombs and palaces fell in, +then the work of disintegration followed rapidly. The plaster scaled off +the front and sides, and the rows on rows of brick were exposed; but it +is astonishing that these massive walls have not crumbled to dust in all +these years. In most cases the imposing arched doorways of red sandstone +have survived. These doorways, beautifully arched, may be seen on both +sides of the road leading out of Delhi to the old city, eleven miles +distant, which was the capital of the Mogul emperors until Aurungzeb +moved it to Delhi. In a radius of fifteen miles from Delhi tombs and +palaces that cost hundreds of millions of rupees were built by these +Moslem despots and their viceroys. Most of them are now in ruins, but +from the top of the Kutab Minar one may count a score of tombs with +their domes and cupolas still intact. Into these tombs was poured much +of the treasure wrung from the poverty-stricken Hindoo tillers of the +soil. + +Few sights in this world are more impressive than this birdseye view of +the remains of the Mogul emperors who ruled northern India for over +three centuries. In one of the poorest and the most densely populated +countries of the world these despots reared marvels of architecture +which have amazed modern experts. They accomplished these wonders in +stone mainly because, with power of life and death, they were able to +impress thousands of coolies and force them to rear the walls of their +palaces and tombs. Building materials were very cheap, so that most of +the treasure expended by these rulers went into the elaborate +ornamentation of walls and ceilings with precious stones and carved +ivory and marble. No description that I have ever read gives any +adequate idea of the number and the massiveness of these remains of +bygone imperial splendor, and this magnificence is made more impressive +by contrast with the squalid poverty of the common people--the tillers of +the soil, the drawers of water, who live in wretched huts, with earthen +floors, no windows and no comforts. These dwellings are crowded together +in small villages; the family cow or goat occupies a part of the +dwelling, a small fire gives warmth only to one standing directly over +it, and the smoke pours out the open door or filters through holes in +the thatched roof. + +As the native lived three hundred years ago so does he live to-day. He +uses kerosene instead of the old nut or fish oil, but that is almost the +only change. In the cultivation of the soil and in all kinds of +manufacture the same methods are in use now as when Akbar wrested North +India from its Hindoo rulers. The same crude bullock carts carry produce +to Delhi, with wheels that have felloes a foot thick and only four +spokes. Many of these wheels have no tires. In some cases camels supply +the place of bullocks as beasts of burden, especially in the dry country +north of Delhi. The coolie draws water from the wells for irrigation +just as his ancestors did three centuries ago. He uses bullocks on an +arastra that turns over a big wheel with a chain of buckets. On small +farms this work is done by men. All the processes of irrigation are +ancient and cumbersome and would not be tolerated for a day in any land +where labor is valuable. + +Delhi is very rich in memorials of the Mogul conquerors. Near the Lahore +gate is the palace, one of the noblest remains of the Mohammedan period. +A vaulted arcade leads to the outer court, at one end of which is a +splendid band gallery, with a dado of red sandstone, finely carved. On +the farther side is the Dwan-i-'Am or Hall of Public Audience, with +noble arches and columns, at the back of which, in a raised recess, the +emperor sat on his peacock throne, formed of two peacocks, with bodies +and wings of solid gold inlaid with rubies, diamonds and emeralds. Over +it was a canopy of gold supported by twelve pillars, all richly +ornamented. This magnificent work was taken away by Nadir Pasha. The +palace contains many other beautiful rooms, among which may be mentioned +the royal apartments, with a marble channel in the floor, through which +rosewater flowed to the queen's dressing-room and bath. + +The most notable mosque in Delhi is the Jama Mashid, built of red +sandstone and white marble. It has a noble entrance and a great +quadrangle, three hundred and twenty-five feet square, with a fountain +in the center. In a pavilion in one corner are relics of Mohammed, shown +with great apparent reverence to the skeptical tourist. Near by is the +Kalar Masjid or Black Mosque, built in the style of the early Arabian +architecture. + +Eleven miles from Delhi are many tombs of the Mogul emperors, including +the Kutab Minar or great column of red sandstone, with a fine mosque +near at hand. Kutab was a viceroy when he began this splendid column, +two hundred and thirty-eight feet high, with a base diameter of +forty-seven feet three inches. The first three stories are of red +sandstone and the two upper stories are faced with white marble. The +summit, which is reached by three hundred and seventy-nine steps, gives +a superb view of the surrounding country, with its many fine Moslem +tombs. + +On the way to the Kutab Minar a number of fine Mohammedan tombs are +passed, chief of which is the tomb of Emperor Humayan, one of the +greatest of the Moslem builders. Of all the buildings that I saw in +India this approaches most closely in beauty the incomparable Taj Mahal. +Of red sandstone, with white marble in relief, its windows are recessed +and the lower doors filled in with stone and marble lattice work of +great beauty. The tomb is an octagon and in the central chamber is the +great emperor's cenotaph of plain white marble. Not far away are the +shrines and tombs of many Mohammedan emperors and saints. + +Delhi saw some of the fiercest fighting during the mutiny. The +rebellious natives drove the Europeans out of the city, slaughtering +those who were unable to escape. Thousands of mutineers also flocked to +Delhi from Lucknow, Cawnpore and other places. General Bernard, in +command of the English troops that came from Simla, attacked the +mutineers on June sixth and gained an important victory, as it gave the +British possession of "The Ridge," a lofty outcropping of ancient rock, +which was admirably designed for defense and for operations against the +city. Troops were posted all along the Ridge and in Hindoo Rao's house, +a massive building belonging to a loyal native. This building was the +center of many fierce engagements, but it was not until September that +enough troops were collected to make it safe to assault Delhi. +Brigadier-General John Nicholson had arrived from the Punjab and urged +immediate attack on the city. Nicholson was the greatest man the mutiny +produced. Tall, magnetic, dominating, he enforced his will upon every +one. Even Lord Roberts, who was then a young subaltern and not easily +impressed by rank or achievement, records that he never spoke to +Nicholson without feeling the man's enormous will power and energy. +Finally, on September thirteenth, the British guns having made breaches +in the city walls, two forces (one under Nicholson, the other under +Colonel Herbert) stormed the place. The Kabul gate was soon taken, but +the defense of the Lahore gate proved more stubborn. The soldiers +wavered under the deadly fire, when Nicholson rushed forward to lead +them. His great height made him a target and he fell, shot through the +body. A whole week of severe fighting followed before every portion of +Delhi was captured. Nicholson died three days after the British secured +complete control of the city. His death was mourned as greatly as the +death of Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow. + +The Kashmir, Kabul and Lahore gates at Delhi are interesting because +they were the scenes of many acts of heroism during the mutiny. On the +Ridge a massive but ugly stone memorial has been erected to those who +fell in the mutiny. The position is fine but the monument, like all the +other memorials of the mutiny, is not impressive because of its poor +design. Other interesting objects which recall incidents in this great +struggle against the Sepoys are suitably inscribed. + + +SCENES IN BOMBAY WHEN THE KING ARRIVED + +The ancient city of Bombay, the gateway of India and the largest +commercial metropolis of the empire, was in festival garb because of the +visit of the King and Queen of England. Fully four hundred thousand +people came in from the surrounding country to see their rulers from +over the sea and to enjoy the novel spectacle of illuminated buildings, +decorative arches, military processions and fireworks. Hence Bombay was +seen at its best in its strange mixture of races and costumes. In this +respect it is more Oriental and more picturesque than Singapore. + +The first thing that impresses a stranger is the number, size and beauty +of the public buildings. The Town Hall looks not unlike many American +city structures--as it is classic, with Doric pillars and an imposing +flight of steps; but nearly all the other buildings are of Indian +architecture, with cupolas and domes, recessed windows and massive, +pointed gateways. They are built of a dark stone, and the walls (three +and four feet in thickness) seem destined to last forever. The rooms are +from sixteen to twenty feet in height; above the tall doors and windows +are transoms; the floors are of mosaic or stone; everything about the +buildings appears designed to endure. The streets are very wide and the +sidewalks are arranged under colonnades in front of the buildings, so +that one may walk an entire block without coming out into the fierce +Indian sunshine. + +All the main streets converge into the Apollo Bunder, a splendid +driveway like the Maidan in Calcutta. It sweeps around the sea wall and +if any breeze is stirring in Bombay one may get it here at nightfall. +From six o'clock to eight thirty or nine o'clock all Bombay turns out +for a drive on the Apollo Bunder. The line of fine carriages and motor +cars is continuous for miles, going out the Esplanade to Queen's road, +which runs for five miles to Malabar head, the favorite residence place +of the wealthy foreign colony. What will astonish any one accustomed to +Calcutta and other East Indian cities is the large representation of +Parsee families in this evening dress parade. Two-thirds of the finest +equipages belong to the Parsees, who are very richly dressed in silks +and adorned with fortunes in diamonds, rubies and other precious stones. +Here and there may be distinguished rich Hindoos or Mohammedans out for +an airing. The women of the latter sect are concealed behind the +carriage covers, but the Hindoo and Parsee women show their faces, their +jewelry and their beautiful costumes with evident pleasure. Nearly all +these women wear fortunes in diamonds in their ears or in bracelets on +their arms. In no dress parade in any other city have I noted so many +large diamonds, rubies and emeralds as in this procession of carriages +in Bombay. + +[Illustration: + + One of the Main + Avenues of Bombay. + This Broad Street + Leads to the City + Market. The View + Shows the Florid + Architecture of Public + Buildings and the + Variety of Native + Costumes] + +Another thing that impresses the stranger in Bombay is the sympathy and +the good feeling that seems to exist between the leading Europeans of +the city and the prominent natives. This is in great contrast to the +exclusiveness that marks the Briton in other East Indian cities. Here +the President and a majority of the members of the Municipal Council +are Parsees; while a number of Hindoos and Mohammedans are represented. +When the King and Queen of England were received, the address of welcome +was read by the Parsee President of the Council, while a bouquet was +presented to the Queen by the President's wife, dressed in her graceful +sari or robe of ecru silk, edged with a black border, heavy with +ornamental gold work. This mingling of the races in civic life is due to +the domination of the Parsee element, which came over to Bombay from +Persia three hundred years ago, when driven from their old homes by +Moslem intolerance. Here these people, who strongly resemble the Jews in +their fondness for trade and their skill in finance, have amassed +imperial fortunes. The richest of these Parsee bankers and merchants, +Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, left much of his great fortune to charity. He +founded a university, schools and hospitals and his name figures on a +dozen fine buildings. Other prominent Parsee families are the Sassoons +and Jehangirs. Yet, despite their wealth and their association with +Europeans, the Parsees have kept themselves unspotted from the world. +They do not recognize any mingling of their blood with the foreigner. A +Parsee who marries a European woman must accept virtual expatriation, +while the wife (although she may bear him children) is never allowed any +of the privileges of a native woman in this life and when she dies her +body cannot be consigned to the Parsee burial place. She is always an +alien and nothing that she can do is able to break down this racial wall +that separates her from her husband's people. The marriage of Parsee +women to foreigners is practically unknown. The Parsee wears a +distinctive costume. The men dress in white linen or pongee trousers, +with coat of dark woolen or alpaca; they like foreign shirts and +collars, but their headgear is the same as that used by the refugees +from Persia over three hundred years ago. One cap is of lacquered +papier-mache in the form of a cow's hoof inverted. Another is a round +cap of gray cloth, finely made, worn over a skull cap of velvet or +embroidered cloth, which is worn indoors. The women wear the sari or +robe, which consists of one piece of silk or brocade, with an +embroidered band. This garment is draped around the body and brought up +over the head, covering the right ear. They all wear shoes and +stockings. + +The Parsees are all well educated and most of them possess unusual +refinement. So strong is the pride of race among them that they do not +tolerate any mendicancy among their own people. Their charitable +associations care for the few Parsees who are unable to make a living, +so that their paupers never make any claim upon the municipal government +for aid. They also boast that none of their women may be found among the +denizens of the red-light district. Most of the educated Parsees speak +English, French and German, besides Gugerati (the native dialect) and +most of them read and write English, Gugerati and Urdu, which is the +written form of Hindustani. Yet the Parsees are genuine Orientals. They +sit on chairs, but most of their houses are scantily furnished. They are +remarkably fond of sweets, fruits and nuts. They seem insensible to the +surroundings of their homes, many living in crowded streets and up many +flights of stairs. In their homes all their treasures are kept in the +family safe. If you are fortunate enough to be received in one of these +Parsee homes you will be amazed at the wealth in jewelry and personal +ornaments which are possessed even by families of modest fortune. A +Parsee woman of this class will have invested five thousand dollars in +jewelry, much of which she will wear on festive occasions. + +Many of the big shipping and cotton merchants of Bombay are Parsees and +they also control much of the banking of the city. It was due largely to +the liberality of the Parsees that the city of Bombay was able to +present to the King a memorial in gold and silver that cost seventeen +thousand rupees, or over five thousand five hundred dollars in American +money. This reception to the King and Queen when they landed at Bombay +on their way to Delhi Durbar was very typical of the life of the city. +Remarkable preparations had been made; a series of arches spanned the +principal streets, all designed in native style. At the end of the +Apollo Bunder was erected a pretty, white pavilion that looked like a +miniature Taj, while a splendid avenue, lined with pillars, led up to +the great amphitheater, in front of which, under an ornate pavilion, +were the golden thrones of the King and Queen. This amphitheater was +reserved for all the European and native notables, as well as the +Maharajahs and chiefs from the neighboring States. + +After the reception to the royal party came a parade through the +principal streets and when this was concluded all restrictions were +relaxed and the populace and the visitors from surrounding towns gave +themselves up to an evening of enjoyment. The buildings were +illuminated, some with white and others with red electric lights, while +many large structures were lighted by little oil lamps, in a cup or +glass. The main streets were filled with long lines of carriages, +crowded with richly dressed natives and Europeans, although the natives +outnumbered the foreigners by one hundred to one. Never in my life have +I seen so many valuable jewels as on this night, when I roamed about +the streets for two hours, enjoying this Oriental holiday. At times I +would stop and sit on one of the stands and watch the crowd flow by in a +steady stream. Walking by the side of a Parsee millionaire and his +richly dressed family would pass a Hindoo woman of low caste, one of the +street sweepers, in dirty rags, but loaded down on ankles and arms by +heavy silver bangles and painted in the center of the forehead with her +caste mark. She was followed by a poverty-stricken Mohammedan leading a +little boy, stark naked, while a girl with brilliant cap held the boy's +hand. A naked Tamil, with only a dirty loin cloth, brushed elbows with +three Parsee girls, beautifully dressed. And so this purely democratic +human tide flowed on for hours, rich and poor showing a childlike +pleasure in the street decorations and the variegated crowd. And in the +midst of all this turmoil native parties from out of town squatted on +the deserted tiers of seats, ate their suppers with relish and then +calmly composed themselves to sleep, wrapped in their robes, as though +they were in the privacy of their own homes. It was a spectacle such as +could be seen only in an Oriental city with a people who live in public +with the placid unconsciousness of animals. + + +RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE BOMBAY PARSEES + +The Parsees of Bombay--a mere handful of exiles among millions of +aliens--have so exerted their power as to change the life of a great +city. Proscribed and persecuted, they have developed so powerfully their +aptitude for commercial life that they represent the wealth of Bombay. +Living up to the tenets of their creed, they have given far more +liberally to charity and education than any other race. Some idea of the +respect in which the Parsee is held may be gained from the fact that +customs officers never search the baggage of one of these people; they +take the Parsee's word that he has no dutiable goods. The commercial +success and the high level of private life among the Parsees is due +directly to their religion, which was founded by Zoroaster in ancient +Persia three thousand years ago. As Max-Muller has well said, if Darius +had overthrown Alexander of Greece, the modern world would probably have +inherited the faith of Zoroaster, which does not differ in most of its +essentials from the creed of Christ. + +The popular idea of a Parsee is that he worships the sun. This is a +misconception, due probably to the fact that the Parsee when saying his +prayers always faces the sun or, in default of this, prays before a +sacred fire in his temples; but he does not worship the sun, nor any +gods or idols. His temples are bare, only the sacred fire of sandalwood +burning in one corner. The Parsee recognizes an overruling god, +Ahura-Mazda, the creator of the universe; he believes that Nature with +its remarkable laws could not have come into being without a great first +cause. But he believes that the universe created by Ahura-Mazda was +invaded by a spirit of evil, Angra-Mainyush, which invites men to wicked +deeds, falsehood and ignorance. Over against this evil spirit is the +good spirit, Spenta-Mainyush, which represents God and stands for truth, +goodness and knowledge. The incarnation of the evil spirit is known as +Aherman, who corresponds to the Christian devil. + +The whole Parsee creed is summed up in three words, which correspond to +good thoughts, good words and good deeds. If one carries out in his life +this creed, then his good thoughts, good words and good deeds will be +his intercessors on the great bridge that leads the spirit from death to +the gates of paradise. If his evil deeds and thoughts and words +overbalance the good, then he goes straight down to the place of +darkness and torment. If his good and evil deeds and thoughts exactly +balance, then he passes into a kind of purgatory. + +Fire, water and earth are all sacred to the Parsee; but fire represents +the principle of creation and hence is most sacred. To him fire is the +most perfect symbol of deity because of its purity, brightness and +incorruptibility. The sacred fire that burns constantly in the Parsee +temples is fed with chips of sandalwood. Prayer with the Parsee is +obligatory, but it need not be said in the fire temple; the Parsee may +pray to the sun or moon, the mountains or the sea. His prayer is first +repentance for any evil thoughts or deeds and then for strength to lead +a life of righteousness, charity and good deeds. + +The most remarkable result of the Parsee religion is seen in the +education of children. This is made a religious duty, and neglect of it +entails terrible penalties--for the parents are responsible for the +offenses of the badly-educated child, just as they share in the merit +for good deeds performed by their children. It is the duty of a good +Parsee not only to educate his own children but to do all in his power +to help in general education. Hence the large benefactions that rich +Parsees have made to found institutions for the education of the poor. +Disobedience of children is one of the worst sins. The Parsees are also +taught to observe sanitary laws, to bathe frequently, to take all +measures to prevent the spread of contagion. Cleanliness is one of the +chief virtues. To keep the earth pure the Parsee is enjoined to +cultivate it. He is also admonished to drink sparingly of wine and not +to sell it to any one who uses liquor to excess. + +The Parsee creed urges the believer to help the community in which he +lives and to give freely to charity. Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, the +richest Parsee Bombay has known, set aside a fund of four million seven +hundred and forty-three thousand rupees for charity and benevolence +among all the people of his city, regardless of race or creed. The +Parsee gives liberally to charity on the occasion of weddings or of +deaths. The charity includes relieving the poor, helping a man to marry +and aiding poor children to secure an education. The influence of the +Parsee religion upon the literature and life of the people is very +marked. There is no room for atheism, agnosticism or materialism. Faith +in the existence of God and in the immortality of the soul is the +corner-stone of the creed, but the Parsee spends no money and no effort +in proselyting others. + +Marriage is encouraged by the Parsee religion, because it encourages a +virtuous and religious life. The marriage ceremony is peculiar. It is +always performed in a large pavilion, whatever the wealth of the couple. +In the case of the rich many invitations are issued and a fine wedding +feast is spread. On the day set for the wedding, the bride and groom and +the invited guests assemble in the pavilion. The bride as well as the +groom is dressed in white. When the time comes for the ceremony the +couple sit in chairs facing each other and a sheet is held up between +them by friends, so that they cannot see each other. Then two priests +begin intoning the marriage service. After several prayers a cord is +wound around the two chairs seven times and the chairs are also bound +together with a strip of cloth. More prayers and exhortations follow, +both priests showering rice upon the couple. Finally the sheet is +withdrawn, they and their chairs are placed side by side, each is given +a cocoanut to hold that is bound to the other by a string, emblematic of +the plenty that may bless the new home, and they are declared man and +wife. Then they sign a document certifying that they have been united +according to the Parsee ritual and witnesses sign their names. + +Far stranger than the wedding customs of the Parsees are their burial +rites. They believe that neither fire, earth nor water must be polluted +by contact with a dead body, so neither burial nor cremation is +permitted. Instead, they expose their dead to vultures which strip the +flesh from the bones within an hour. This occurs in conical places, +called towers of silence, which are shut off from human gaze. The Bombay +towers of silence are on Malabar head, a beautiful residence district +overlooking the city. Here, in a fine garden planted to many varieties +of trees and shrubs, are five circular towers, each about twenty feet +high, made of brick, covered with plaster. + +While you are admiring the flowers and trees a funeral enters the gates. +The body is carried by four professional bearers and is followed by two +priests and the relatives and friends. All the mourners are clothed in +white. They walk two by two, no matter how distant may be the house of +death, each couple holding a handkerchief as a symbol of their union in +sorrow. When the procession reaches the top of the hill the mourners +diverge and take seats in the house of prayer, where the sacred fire is +burning, or they seat themselves in the beautiful garden for meditation +and prayer. The priests deliver the body to the two corpse bearers, who +throw open the great iron door and enter with the body. The floor of the +tower is of iron grating, arranged in three circles--the outer for men, +the next for women and the inner for children. As the bearers lay the +body down, they strip off the shroud. Then the iron door closes with a +clang. This is the signal for a score of vultures to swoop down upon the +body. No human eye can see this spectacle, but the imagination of the +visitor pictures it in all its horror. Within a few minutes the gorged +vultures begin flapping their way to the top of the tower, where they +roost on the outer rim. + +The bones of the corpse are allowed to remain for several days exposed +to the fierce sun. Then they are thrown into a great central well, where +the climate soon converts them into dust. This is washed by the rains +into underground wells. Charcoal in these wells serves to filter the +rain water before it enters the ground. Thus do the Parsees preserve +even the earth from contamination by the ashes of the dead. No expense +is spared by the Parsees in the construction of these towers of +silence, which are always placed on the tops of hills. According to the +testimony of some of the ablest medical men of England and America, who +have examined these burial grounds, the Parsee method of disposing of +the dead is the most sanitary that has ever been devised. It avoids even +the fumes that are given off in cremation of the dead. It is also cheap +and absolutely democratic, as the bones of the rich and poor mingle at +last in the well of the tower of silence. + +There is nothing offensive to European taste in the towers of silence +except the vultures. These disgusting birds, like the Indian crow, are +protected because they are admirable scavengers. The Parsees see nothing +offensive in exposing their dead to these birds nor apparently does it +shock them that alien hands should bare the bodies of their beloved +dead; but to a foreigner both these aspects of Parsee burial are +repellant and no argument has any weight to counteract this sentiment. + +Many sensational accounts of these Parsee burial rites have been +printed. Nearly every writer lays stress on the fact that pieces of the +dead bodies are dropped by the vultures within the grounds or in the +streets outside. This is an absurdity, as the vulture never rises on the +wing with any carrion--he eats it on the spot and he will not leave +until he is gorged to repletion. An effort was made several years ago to +remove these towers of silence on Malabar hill because of complaints +that fragments of corpses were found in the neighborhood. When two +competent medical experts investigated the matter they reported that +there was no foundation for the complaints. So the towers have remained +and thousands of Parsees have been borne to them for the last rites of +their creed. + +[Illustration: PLATE XLI + + One of the Main Gates to Government + House, Calcutta. This Gate is of Beautiful Proportions + and Has a Fine Lion. Government House is + Situated in a Fine Park of Six Acres] + +[Illustration: PLATE XLII + + A Street Scene in + Calcutta. The New + Building at the Right + Has a Staging of Bamboo. + On the Left is + the Burka Bazaar, One + of the Sights of India, + Each Dealer Having + a Small Shop of His + Own. The Goods Are + Classified As in An + American Department + Store] + +[Illustration: PLATE XLIII + + The Great Burning Ghat at Benares. + Here Are Four Funeral Pyres Arranged for Burning, the + Heads of the Corpses May Be Detected Among the + Wood. The Pyre in the Middle Foreground is + Partly Burned. Relatives Watch the Cremation + From the Temple Above] + +[Illustration: PLATE XLIV + + View of the Bathing + Ghats at Benares. Here + May Be Seen Natives + Bathing in Mother + Ganges, While Above + Are the Line of + Splendid Palaces and + Temples Built by the + Maharaja Princes] + +[Illustration: PLATE XLV + + A Holy Man of + Benares Under His + Umbrella. Each of + the Fakers at Benares + Has His Own Clientage, + But No One + Bathes Without + Yielding Tribute to + Some Holy Man] + +[Illustration: PLATE XLVI + + The Residency at + Lucknow. This, the + Most Impressive + Relic of the British + Mutiny In India, + Is Now Only a + Beautiful Ruin, But it + Recalls the Heroic + Defense Made By a + Handful of English + Against Hundreds + Of Natives. In Front + Is a Memorial Erected + by Lord Northbrook + to Loyal Native + Soldiers] + +[Illustration: PLATE XLVII + + Tomb of + Itmad-ul-Daulet + at Agra. This + Tomb Was Erected + in Honor of the + Prime Minister of the + Emperor Jahangir. It + Is of Carved and + Inlaid Marble and + Overlooks the Jumna + River] + +[Illustration: PLATE XLVIII + + The Mutiny Memorial + at Cawnpore. This + Memorial Was Erected + Over the Well Into + Which Were Thrown + the Bodies of One + Hundred and Twenty-Five + English Women and + Children, Butchered + By Order of the + Nana Sahib] + +[Illustration: PLATE XLIX + + Detail of Carving in the Jasmine Tower, Agra. + This View Gives a Good Idea of the Wonderful Work + in Marble Carving and the Inlaying of Precious + Stones, Which Makes This Little Pavilion + a Rival of the Taj] + +[Illustration: PLATE L + + The Jasmine Tower In + Agra Fort. This Is + a Marble Pavilion, the + Home of the Chief + Sultana, Overlooking + the Jumna River. The + Lattice Work Decoration + In Marble Is Remarkably + Beautiful] + +[Illustration: PLATE LI + + Snap-shot of a Jain + Family at Agra. Mr. + Upham's Camera + Caught This Woman + as She Peeked From + Behind the Curtain + of the Ekka, or + Native Cart] + +[Illustration: PLATE LII + + The Fort at Agra + Which Encloses Many + Palaces. This Fort + Has a Circuit of Over + a Mile, With Two + Octagonal Towers + of Red Sandstone. + Enclosed are Mosques + and Palaces Which + Rival the Taj In + Beauty of Design and + Richness of + Ornamentation] + +[Illustration: PLATE LIII + + Kutab Minar, the Arch and the Iron Pillar, near Delhi. + The Arch Formed Part of a Mosque built by Kutab, a Viceroy, + in 1193 A. D. The Pillar Stood in the Mosque and is of + Wrought Iron, Twenty-three Feet High. The Monument + is Two Hundred and Thirty-eight Feet High + With Three Hundred and Seventy-nine Steps] + +[Illustration: PLATE LIV + + Shah Jehan's Heaven + on Earth, Delhi. + The Diwan-i-Khas, or + Hall of Private + Audience, Is One of + the Most Richly + Decorated Buildings In + India. The Ceiling + Was Originally Silver. + Over the Two Outer + Arches Is the Persian + Inscription: + "If Heaven can be on + the face of the earth, + It is this, oh! it is this, + oh! it is this"] + +[Illustration: PLATE LV + + Street View In Delhi, + With the Juma + Mashid. This Shows + the Variety of Life + In Delhi Streets. The + Juma Mashid Is One of + the Finest of the + Mohammedan + Mosques] + +[Illustration: PLATE LVI + + A Parsee Tower of + Silence at Bombay. This + Shows One of the + Unique Burial Places + at Malabar Head, + Where Dead Bodies + Are Exposed. Vultures + Strip the Flesh From + the Bones In a + Few Minutes] + + + + + EGYPT, THE HOME + OF HIEROGLYPHS, TOMBS + AND MUMMIES + + +PICTURESQUE ORIENTAL LIFE AS SEEN IN CAIRO + +The first impression of Cairo is bewildering. None of the Oriental +cities east of Port Said is at all like it in appearance or in street +life. The color, the life, the picturesqueness, the noises, all these +are distinctive. Kyoto, Manila, Hongkong, Singapore, Rangoon, Calcutta, +Bombay and Colombo--each has marked traits that differentiate it from +all other cities, but several have marked likenesses. Cairo differs from +all these in having no traits in common with any of them. It stands +alone as the most kaleidoscopic of cities, the most bizarre in its +mingling of the Orient and the Occident. + +Ismail Pasha, who loved to ape the customs of the foreigner, made a +deliberate attempt to convert Cairo into a second Paris, by cutting +great avenues through the narrow, squalid streets of the old city, but +Ismail simply transformed a certain quarter of the place and spoiled its +native character. What he could not do, fortunately, was to rob the +Egyptian of his picturesqueness or make the chief city of Egypt other +than a great collection of Oriental bazars and outdoor coffee shops, as +full of the spirit of the East as the camel or the Bedouin of the +desert. + +The ride from Port Said to Cairo on the train, which consumes four +hours, is interesting mainly as a revelation of what the Nile means to +these people, who without its life-giving water would be unable to grow +enough to live on. With abundant irrigation this Nile delta is one of +the garden spots of the earth. + +The villages that we pass remind one somewhat of old Indian villages on +the fringe of the desert in California and Arizona--the same walls of +sun-baked adobe; the roofs of any refuse from tree pruning; the goats +and chickens on terms of intimacy with the single living-room. But the +people are not of the Western world. Dressed in voluminous black or blue +cotton robes, which are pulled up over their heads to protect them from +the keen wind of winter, they belong to the land as absolutely as the +tawny, dust-colored camel. The dress of the women appears to differ very +little from that of the men, but always the women gather a loose fold of +their dress and bring it over the head, thus partially concealing the +face. Men, women and children, all in bare feet, squat in the sand or +sit hunched up against the sunny side of their houses. Beyond any other +Orientals I have seen, these Egyptians have the capacity for unlimited +loafing under circumstances that would drive an American insane in a few +hours. Flies swarm over them; passing donkeys or camels powder them with +dust; the fierce sun beats down on their heads; but all these things +they accept philosophically as an inevitable part of life, as something +decreed by fate which it would be useless and senseless to change. + +The first walk down the Street of the Camel in Cairo is one not soon +forgotten. Before you are clear of the hotel steps an Arab in a sweater +and loose skirt, something like the Malay sarong, rushes up and shouts: +"The latest New York Herald; just came this morning!" Although you tell +him "no" and shake your head, he follows you for half a block. Meanwhile +you are badgered by dealers in scarabs, beads, stamps, postal cards, +silver shawls and various curios, who dog your heels, and, when you +finally lose your temper, retaliate by shouting: "Yankee!" through their +noses. These street peddlers are wonderfully keen judges of nationality +and they manage to make life a burden to the American tourist by their +unwearied and smiling persistence. This is due in great part to the +foolish liberality of American travelers, who are inclined to accept the +first price offered, although with an Egyptian or an Arab this is +usually twice or three times what he finally agrees to take. + +Custom and habit probably blunt one's sensibilities in time, but this +constant annoyance by peddlers detracts much from the pleasure of any +stroll through Cairo streets. To the new arrival everything is novel and +attractive. The main avenues are wide, well paved and lined with +spacious sidewalks, but here the European touch ends. After passing some +fine shops, their windows filled with costly goods from all parts of +Egypt and the Soudan, one comes upon one of the great cafes that form a +distinctive feature of Cairo street life. Here the sidewalk is half +filled with small tables, about which are grouped Egyptians and +foreigners drinking the sweet Turkish coffee that is served here at all +hours of the day. + +Many of these Egyptians are in European dress, their swarthy faces and +the red fez alone showing their nationality. The young men are +remarkably handsome, with fine, regular features, large, brilliant black +eyes and straight, heavy eyebrows that frequently meet over the nose. +Their faces beam with good nature and they evidently regard the frequent +enjoyment of coffee and cigarettes as among the real pleasures of life. +But the older men all show traces of this life of ease and +self-indulgence. It is seldom that one sees a man beyond fifty with a +strong face. The Egyptian over forty loses his fine figure, he lays on +abundant flesh, his jowl is heavy and his whole face suggests satiety +and the loss of that pleasure in mere existence that makes the youth so +attractive. + +Walking down this main artery of Cairo life one sees on the left a large +park surrounded by a high iron fence. This is the Esbekiyeh Gardens, +which cover twenty acres, and are planted to many choice trees and +shrubs. They contain cafes, a restaurant and a theater, and on several +evenings in the week military and Egyptian bands alternate in playing +foreign music. Beyond the gardens is an imposing opera house, with a +small square in front, ornamented with an impressive equestrian statue +of old Ibrahim Pasha, one of the few good fighters that Egypt has +produced. From the opera house radiate many streets, some leading to the +new Europeanized quarters, with noble residences and great apartment +houses; others taking one directly to the bazars and narrow streets that +give a good idea of Cairo as it existed before the foreigner came to +change its life. + +Although the modern tram car clangs its way through these native +streets, it is about the only foreign touch that can be seen. Everything +else is distinctively Oriental. It is difficult to give any adequate +idea of the narrowness of these streets or of the amount of life that is +crowded into them. As in many cities of India, all the work of the shops +goes on in plain view from the street. The shops themselves are mere +cubicles, from eight to ten feet wide and seldom more than from six to +eight feet deep. In certain streets the makers of shoes and slippers are +massed in solid rows; then come the workers in brass and metals; then +the jewelers, and following these may be dealers in shawls and in curios +of various kinds. The native shopkeeper sits cross-legged amid his +stock and, although he shows great keenness in getting you to examine +his wares, he never reveals any haste in closing a bargain. + +Shopping in this native quarter and in the great Muski bazar that +adjoins it is a constant source of amusement to the foreign woman who +has a fondness for bargaining. These Arabs and Egyptians never expect +one to give more than half what is demanded, except in the case of a few +large shops in which the price is marked. If one of the silver shawls +made at Assiut attracts a lady's attention and the polite shopkeeper +demands five pounds sterling, she may safely offer him two pounds, and +then, after haggling for a half hour, she will probably become the +possessor of the shawl for two pounds ten shillings. Of one thing the +traveler may be sure: he will never get any article from an Egyptian on +which the shopkeeper cannot make a small profit. + +The Muski bazar is about a mile long and, although many European shops +line it, the street still retains its Oriental attractiveness. Branching +off from it are many narrow streets crowded with shops on both sides. +Here may be seen the real life of Old Cairo, unhampered by any foreign +innovations. The street is not more than twelve feet wide and above the +first floor of the houses projecting latticed windows and open balconies +reduce this width to three or four feet. Looking up one sees only a +narrow slit of blue sky, against which are outlined several tiers of +latticed windows. From these the harem women look down upon the street +life in which they can have no real part. Peeping over the balconies may +be seen black eyes that gleam above the yashmak or Oriental veil worn by +the poorer classes. This veil covers the face almost to the eyes and it +is held in place by a curious bit of bamboo that comes down over the +forehead to the nose. The women of the better class do not wear this +ugly yashmak, but content themselves with a white silk veil that is +stretched across the lower part of the face, leaving the eyes and a part +of the nose uncovered. + +No visit to Cairo is complete without a sight of Old Cairo, with its +bazars. This is a quarter of the city that remains as it was in the days +of the Caliphs. It is inhabited mainly by Copts and among the mean +houses, built of sun-dried bricks, may be traced part of the old Roman +wall that encircled this suburb, then known as Babylon. The houses are +mainly of two or three stories, but the streets are so narrow that two +people on opposite sides may easily join hands by leaning out of their +windows. Many or the antique doors of oak, studded with great +wrought-iron nails, still remain. Here is the old church of St. Sergius, +which is said to antedate the Moslem conquest. In the ancient crypt the +Virgin Mary and the Child are said to have sought shelter after their +flight into Egypt. + +Near by is the island of Roda, which is noteworthy for the legend that +here the infant Moses was found by Pharaoh's daughter. The visitor +crosses a narrow arm of the Nile by a crude ferry and then walks through +a quaint old garden to a wall that overlooks the Nile and the Pyramids. +This wall marks the spot, according to local tradition, where Moses was +taken from the bulrushes. The bulrushes are no more because they have +been dredged out, but the place has the look of extreme age and the +garden contains many curious trees. + + +AMONG THE RUINS OF LUXOR AND KARNAK + +Luxor, the ancient city of Upper Egypt, which may be reached by a night +train ride from Cairo, is the center of the most interesting ruins on +the Nile. The city itself has been built around the splendid temple of +Luxor, founded by Amenophis III, but altered and extensively rebuilt by +Rameses II. From the Nile the colonnade of this temple is a beautiful +spectacle, as the huge columns are in perfect preservation. Big tourist +hotels make up most of the other buildings. The town boasts a good water +front, which is generally lined in the winter season with tourist +steamers. The view across the Nile is fine, as it includes the lofty +Libyan range of mountains, in whose flanks were cut the tombs of the +Pharaohs. Here, in two or three days, one may study the ruins of Luxor, +Karnak and Thebes--names that the historian still conjures with. + +All the Egyptian temples were built on one general plan, like the +mosques of North India, and Luxor does not differ from the others, +except that it surpasses them all in the beauty of its colonnaded +pillars. Seven double columns, about fifty-two feet high, with lotus +capitals, support a massive architrave, while beyond them are double +columns on three sides of a great court. This temple of Luxor was +originally built by Amenophis III of the eighteenth dynasty in honor of +Ammon, the greatest of Egyptian gods, his wife and their son, the +moon-god Khons. The successor of this monarch erased the name of Ammon +and made other changes, but Seti I restored Ammon's name, and then came +Rameses II, the builder who never wearied in rearing huge temples and in +carving colossal figures of himself. + +Rameses added a colonnaded court in front of the temple, built an +enormous pylon, with obelisks and colossal statues that celebrate his +own greatness, and erased the cartouches of the original builder, +substituting his own and thus claiming credit for the erection of the +whole temple. Were the spirit of the great Rameses allowed to return to +earth and reanimate the mummy that now forms the most interesting +exhibit in the Cairo Museum, how great would be his humiliation to know +that his ingenious devices to appropriate the credit of other men's work +have been exposed? In nearly all the remains of Upper Egypt, Rameses +figures as the sole builder, but the cunning of modern archaeologists +has stripped him of this credit and has revealed him as the greatest of +royal charlatans. + +The general plan of the Luxor temple is repeated at Karnak and all other +places in Egypt. The pylon, two towers of massive masonry, formed the +entrance to the temple, the door being in the middle. The towers of the +pylon resemble truncated pyramids and, as they were formed of large +stones, they frequently survived when all other parts of the temple fell +into ruins. The surfaces of the pylon afforded space for reliefs and +inscriptions, telling of the glories of the king who reared the temple. +In most cases obelisks and colossal statues of the royal builder were +placed in front of the pylon. From the pylon one enters the great open +court, with covered colonnades at right and left. This court was the +gathering place of the people on all big festivals, and in the center +stood the great altar. Back of this court, on a terrace a few feet +higher, was the vestibule of the temple upheld by columns, the front row +of which was balustraded. Behind this was the great hypostyle hall, +extending the whole width of the building, with five aisles, the two +outer ones being lower than the others. The roof of the central aisle is +upheld by papyrus columns with calyx capitals, while that of the other +aisles is supported by papyrus columns with bud capitals. Behind this +hall is the inner sanctuary, containing the image of the god in a sacred +boat. Around the sanctuary were grouped various chambers for the storage +of the priests' vestments and for the use of watchmen and other +attendants. + +In the Luxor temple the surface of the pylon is devoted to a record of +the achievements in war of Rameses II, the monarch who finally revised +the temple and put his seal on it. Behind the pylon is the great court +of Rameses, entirely surrounded by two rows of seventy-four columns, +with papyrus bud capitals and smooth shafts. Then comes a colonnade of +seven double columns, fifty-two feet high, with calyx capitals; a second +court, that of Amenophis III, with double rows of columns on three +sides; the vestibule of the temple, two chapels, the birth-room of +Amenophis and several other chambers. + +[Illustration: + + The Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. + This Hall is in the Temple of Ammon, and is One + of the Most Impressive in All Egypt. Originally + There Were One Hundred and Thirty-four + Columns, Arranged in Sixteen Rows] + +Each monarch who reared a temple to his chosen deity devoted much space +to statues of himself, with grandiloquent accounts in hieroglyphs of his +exploits in war and peace and of the many peoples who paid him tribute. +Rameses appears to have had most of the evil traits of the arbitrary +despot. With unlimited men and material he was engaged during the +greater part of his long reign in erecting colossal structures which +were designed to perpetuate in enduring stone the record of his +achievements. But Time has dealt Rameses some staggering blows. His tomb +at Thebes, which was planned to preserve his mummy throughout the ages, +fell in and is the only one of the tombs of the kings that cannot be +shown. The mummy of this ablest and proudest of the Pharaohs is now on +exhibition at the Cairo Museum with a score of others and excites the +ribald comment of the Cook's tourist, who drops his "h's" and knows +nothing of Egyptology. Yet the mummy of Rameses is by far the most +interesting of those shown at the museum because the head and face are +so essentially modern. The other rulers of Egypt were plainly Orientals, +but this man, with the high-bridged, sensitive nose, the long upper lip, +the strong chin and the powerful forehead, might have stepped out of the +political life of any of the great European nations during the last +century. + +The impressiveness of the temple of Luxor depends mainly upon the rows +of columns, nearly sixty feet in height, which give one a vivid idea of +the majesty of Egyptian architecture in its best estate. These columns +show few traces of the destroying hand of time, although they were +carved from soft limestone. Probably the escape of this temple from the +ruin that befell Karnak and Thebes was due mainly to its sheltered +position and also to the fact that a Coptic church and the houses of +peasants were built among the columns. The refuse that aided to preserve +these remains of Ancient Egyptian architecture was fully twenty feet +deep when the work of excavation was begun. Hence Luxor satisfies the +eye in the perfect arrangement of the columns and in the massiveness of +the work. Here also on the pylon and the walls of the court may be seen +some beautiful reliefs and inscriptions which depict scenes in the +campaigns of Rameses II against the Hittites, sacrificial processions +and hymns to the gods. + +From ancient Luxor to Karnak, a distance of a mile and one-half, the way +was marked in the time of the Pharaohs by a double row of small +sphinxes, many of which still remain in a half-ruined condition. This +avenue leads to the small temple of Khons, the moon-god, made noteworthy +by a beautiful pylon. This pylon is one hundred and four feet long, +thirty-three feet wide and sixty feet high and is covered with +inscriptions and reliefs. This small temple serves as an introduction to +the great temple of Ammon, the chief glory of Karnak, to which most of +the Pharaohs contributed. This temple is difficult to describe, as it +covers several acres and is a mass of gigantic masonry, full of majesty +even in its ruin. What it was in the days of its builders, with its vast +courts lined with beautiful designs in brilliant colors, the imagination +fails to conceive. Its greatest features are the main pylon (three +hundred and seventy feet wide and one hundred and forty-two and one-half +feet high), the great hypostyle hall of Seti I and Rameses II, the +festival temple of Thotmes III and the obelisk of Queen Hatasu. From the +pylon a superb view may be gained of the ruins of Karnak. + +The hypostyle hall is justly ranked among the wonders of the world, as +it is no less than three hundred and thirty-eight feet in breadth by one +hundred and seventy feet in depth and it is estimated that the great +church of Notre Dame in Paris could be set down in this hall. Sixteen +rows of columns--one hundred and thirty-four in all--support the roof. +Looking down the two central rows of columns toward the sanctuary, one +gets some idea of the effect of this colossal architecture when the +pillars were all perfect and the fierce sunshine of ancient Egypt +brought out their barbaric wealth of gold and brilliant colors. + +The walls of this immense hall are covered with pictures in relief +depicting the victories of Seti and Rameses over the Libyans and the +people of Palestine. These designs represent the two monarchs as +performing prodigies of valor on the field of battle and then bringing +the trophies of war as an offering to the gods. The festal hall of +Thotmes III is made noteworthy by twenty unique columns arranged in two +rows. The Temple of Karnak was made beautiful by two fine obelisks of +pink granite from Assuan, erected by Queen Hatasu. One is in fragments, +but the other rises one hundred and one-half feet from amid a ruined +colonnade. It is the loftiest obelisk known with the single exception of +that in front of the Lateran in Rome, which is taller by only three and +one-half feet. The inscription records that it was made in seven months. + +The impression left by the ruins of Karnak is bewildering. The modern +mind has great difficulty in conceiving how any monarch, no matter how +great his resources, could spend years in erecting these huge structures +in honor of his gods. Here are scores of colossal statues of Rameses, +Seti and Amenophis, each of which required six months to carve from a +single slab of red or black granite. Here are hundreds of columns of +from forty to sixty feet high, covered from capital to base with richly +carved hieroglyphs. Here are splendid halls, larger than anything known +in our day, which were picture galleries in stone, blazing with gold, +red, purple and other colors. And here are obelisks that have preserved +through all these centuries the story of their dedication. + +The mind is staggered by so great a mass of work, representing untold +misery of thousands of wretched slaves brought from all parts of the +then known world. These slaves were made to work under the terrible +Egyptian sun; if they were overcome by the heat and stopped for a +moment's rest their bare backs felt the cruel lash of the overseer; if +they fell under the heat and the burden they were dragged out and their +bodies thrown to the vultures and the jackals. So, while we stand in +amazement before these relics of the enormous activity of a people who +have passed away, we cannot fail to note that these huge stones were +cemented with the blood and tears of the bond slave, and that if they +could find a voice they would tell of unthinkable atrocities which they +witnessed in those old days, before brotherly love came into the world. + + +TOMBS OF THE KINGS AT ANCIENT THEBES + +The Greeks and Romans who went up the Nile as far as the "hundred-gated" +city of Thebes declared that the Tombs of the Kings, cut in the +limestone sides of the Libyan range of mountains, were among the wonders +of the world. The tourist of to-day will confirm this early impression, +for in Egypt nothing gives one a more vivid idea of the enormous pains +taken by the Pharaohs to preserve their dead from desecration than do +these tombs. Here for several miles in the flanks of these +mountains--sterile, desolate beyond any region that I have ever +seen--are scattered the rock-hewn tombs of the monarchs who carried the +arms of Egypt to all parts of the known world of their day. Like their +temples, the Egyptians built their tombs after a uniform plan--the only +variation was in the arrangement of the minor chambers and in the +inscriptions which told of the history of the king whose mummy reposed +in the vault. + +Seven miles across the river the Pharaohs chose the site of their tombs. +Imagination could not conceive a greater abomination of desolation than +the rocky mountainside in which these tombs are carved; but fortunes +were lavished on the construction of these resting places of the dead. +Historians and travelers have told of the great city which grew up about +the tombs of the Egyptian kings--the temples, the homes of priests and +the huge settlements of thousands of workmen who spent years in the +laborious carving and decoration of these burial places. But to-day +nothing remains of these cities, and of the temples only a few columns, +pillars and broken statues bear witness to their former grandeur. Yet +the tombs have resisted the destroying hand of the centuries, and the +walls of several of them actually retain the brilliant colors laid on by +the painters over four thousand years ago. When you go down the +roughly-hewn steps into the mortuary chambers, carved out of the solid +rock, it is borne in upon you that here time has stood still; that +during all the ages that have seen the rise of Christianity and the +growth of empires greater than Thebes ever dreamed of, the mummies of +these Pharaohs reposed here undisturbed. Now by the aid of skilfully +arranged electric lights you may descend into most of these tombs, +marvel at the beauty of the decorative inscriptions on the walls, gaze +upon the massive granite sarcophagi in which the mummies were placed, +and get a genuine taste of the antiquity that you have read about but +never fully realized before. This is the service of the tombs of the +kings--the actual turning back of the centuries so that one feels the +touch of the ancient days as vividly as he feels the hot, dust-laden, +oppressive air of the mausoleum. + +The excursion from Luxor to the tombs of the kings and the Colossi of +Memnon, not far away, is a hard day's trip. The tourist crosses the Nile +in a small boat and takes a donkey or a carriage. The road leads along a +large canal, passing the remains of the great temple of Seti I at Kurna, +and thence winds around through two desert valleys into a gorge lined on +both sides with naked, sun-baked rocks that give back the heat like the +open doors of a furnace. Bare of any scrap of verdure, desolate beyond +expression, these rocky walls that shut in this gorge form a fitting +introduction to the tombs of the kings. The road finally turns to the +left and enters a small valley, encircled by huge rocks, cut by ravines. +Here one may see in the sides of the mountain wall the first of the +rock-hewn tombs, which happens to be that of Rameses IV. One enters the +large gateway and passes down an ancient staircase cut in the solid +rock, at an angle of forty-five degrees. Three corridors and an +ante-room, all carved out of rock, lead to the main chamber, which +contains the mammoth granite sarcophagus of the king (ten feet long, +eight feet high and seven feet wide), beautifully decorated with +inscriptions. Four other rooms follow, the walls of each being covered +with inscriptions. Recesses are found in the main hall for the storage +of the furniture of the dead and in several of the other rooms. + +The theory of the Egyptians in the arrangement of these tombs was that +the dead king, guided by the great sun-god, voyaged through the +underworld every night in a boat. Hence he must have careful guidance in +regard to his route. This was furnished by elaborate extracts from two +sacred books of the Egyptians. One was entitled _The Book of Him Who Is +in the Underworld_ and the other was the _Book of the Portals_. + +The walls of these tombs reveal extracts from the sacred books in great +variety, but all designed to serve as a guide to the dead kings. The +best tombs are those of Amenophis II, Rameses III, Seti I and Thotmes +III. They are all of similar design but the tomb of Seti I (discovered +by the Italian savant, Belzoni) is finer than any of the others. It +includes fourteen rooms, most of which are richly adorned with +inscriptions and designs from the sacred books. The sculptures on the +walls are executed with great skill and the decorations of the ceilings +show much artistic taste. In the tenth room are many curious +decorations, the ceiling, which is finely vaulted, being covered with +astronomical figures and lists of stars and constellations. From this +room an incline leads to the mummy shaft. The mummy of Seti I is in the +Cairo Museum, while the fine alabaster sarcophagus is in the Soane +Museum in London. The tomb of Amenophis II is noteworthy as the only one +which contains the royal mummy. In a crypt with blue ceiling, spangled +with yellow stars and with yellow walls to represent papyrus, is the +great sandstone sarcophagus of the king. Under a strong electric light +is shown the mummy-shaped coffin with the body of the king, its arms +crossed and the funeral garlands still resting in the case. The +effectiveness of this mummy makes one regret that the others have been +removed to the Cairo Museum, instead of being restored to their original +places in these tombs. Most of these royal mummies were removed to a +shaft at Deir-el-Bahri to save them from desecration by the invading +Persians, but when the mummies were found it would have been wise to +replace them in these tombs rather than to group them, as was done, in +the Cairo Museum. One or two mummies in that museum would have been as +effective as two dozen. + +Not far from these tombs is the fine temple of Queen Hatasu at +Deir-el-Bahri. This queen was the sister and wife of King Thotmes III, +and for a part of his reign was co-regent. The temple, which was left +unfinished, was completed by Rameses II. A short ride from this temple +brings one to the Ramessium, the large temple (which is badly preserved) +erected by Rameses II and dedicated to the god Ammon. The pylon is +ruined, but one can still decipher some of the inscriptions that tell of +Rameses' campaign against the Hittites. The first court is a mass of +ruined masonry, but it contains fragments of a colossal statue of +Rameses, the largest ever found in Egypt. It probably measured +fifty-seven and one-third feet in height, as the various parts show that +it was twenty-two and one-half feet from shoulder to shoulder. The +colossal head of another statue of Rameses was found near by. The great +hall had many fine columns, of which eighteen are still standing. These +columns are very impressive and give one some idea of the majesty of the +temple when it was complete. Not far away are the tombs of the queens, +including the fine mausoleum of the consort of Rameses II, part of whose +name was Mi-an-Mut. + +A half mile from the Ramessium brings one to the Colossi of Memnon, the +two huge seated figures of stone, which were long included among the +seven wonders of the world. These figures were statues of King Amenophis +III and were placed in front of a great temple that he built at this +place; but time has dealt hardly with the temple, as scarcely a trace of +it remains. The figures with the pedestals are about sixty-five feet +high and, as they are on the level plain near the banks of the Nile, +they can be seen from a great distance. Though carved from hard +sandstone these figures have suffered severely from the elements, so +that the faces bear little trace of human features; still they are +impressive from their mere size and from the fact that they have come +down to us across the centuries with so little change. + +The southern statue is in the best preservation, but the northern one is +of greatest interest because for ages it was believed to give forth +musical notes when the first rays of the rising sun fell on its lips. +The Greeks called it the Statue of Memnon, and invented the fable that +Memnon, who was slain at Troy by Achilles, appeared on the Nile as a +stone image and every morning greeted his mother (Eos) with a song. So +many good observers vouched for these musical notes at sunrise that the +phenomenon must be accepted as an historical fact. The Romans invented +the legend that when these sounds occurred the god was angry. Hence the +emperor, Septimius Severus, apparently to propitiate the god, made some +restorations in the upper portion of the statue, whereupon the +mysterious musical sounds ceased. Some modern experts in physics have +deduced the theory that this statue, carved from hard, resonant stone, +really gave forth sounds when warmed up by the early sun after the heavy +dews of night. Similar sounds have been observed elsewhere, due to the +splitting off of very small particles of stone by sudden expansion. +Whatever the cause of these mysterious sounds, the speaking statue has +served as an inspiration to many poets. + + +SAILING DOWN THE NILE ON A SMALL STEAMER + +Few pleasure trips are more enjoyable than a steamer ride down the Nile +from Luxor to Cairo. My plans did not permit an extensive Nile trip, so +I went up the Nile by rail and came down by the Amenartas, one of Cook's +small boats. For one who has the leisure the best scheme is to take one +of Cook's express boats and make the round trip to Assouan from Cairo. +The Egypt and the Arabia are two luxurious steamers specially arranged +for the comfort of tourists. + +The Nile at Luxor is about a half-mile wide at extreme low water in +December, although the marks on the bank show that it spreads over +several miles of flat land when the heavy rains come in June and July. +It is as muddy as the Missouri or the San Joaquin, but the natives drink +this water, refusing to have it filtered. They claim, and probably with +reason, that this Nile water is very nutritious. The Egyptian fellah or +peasant seldom enjoys a hot meal. He chews parched Indian corn and sugar +cane, and eats a curious bread made of coarse flour and water. Despite +this monotonous diet the native is a model of physical vigor, with teeth +which are as white and perfect as those of a Pueblo Indian. + +All around Luxor are evidences of the tremendous force of the Nile +waters when in flood. At various headlands near the city the banks of +the Nile have been stoned up with solid walls, so that these may +receive the full sweep of the flood waters. The great dam at Assouan, +perhaps the finest bit of engineering work in the world, holds up the +main current of the Nile and prevents the destructive floods which in +the old days frequently swept away all the soil of the fellah's little +farm. This dam has now been increased twelve feet in height, so that no +water pours over the top. + +The farmers in Egypt irrigate in the same way as the ryots of India. +They lay off a field into small rectangular patches, with a ridge around +each to keep the irrigation water in it. These rectangles make the +fields look like huge checker-boards. Plowing is done exactly as in the +time of Cleopatra. A forked stick, often not shod with iron, serves as a +plow, to which are frequently harnessed a camel and a bullock by a +heavy, unwieldy yoke. When these two unequally yoked animals move across +the field, agriculture in the Orient is seen at its best. Unlike the +Japanese, the Egyptian women do not work in the fields. Their labors +seem to be limited to carrying water in large jars on their heads and to +washing clothes in the dirty Nile water. The most common sight along the +river is that of two women, with their single cotton garment gathered up +above their knees, filling the water jars or rinsing out clothes in +water that is thick and yellow with dirt. + +The steamer Amenartas started down the river at two in the afternoon. +The current was strong and the little steamer easily made fifteen miles +an hour. Now began a series of exquisite views of river life, which +changed every minute and saved the voyage from monotony. The first thing +that impresses the stranger who is new to Egypt is the number and +variety of the shadoufs for bringing the Nile water to the fields. +These consist of three platforms, each equipped with two upright posts +of date palm trunks, with a crossbar. From this crossbar depends a well +sweep, with a heavy weight at one end and a tin or wooden bucket at the +other. One man at the level of the river scoops up a bucket of water and +lifts it to the height or his head, pouring it into a small basin of +earth. The second man fills his bucket from this basin and in turn +delivers it to the third man, who is about six feet above him. The third +man raises the water to the height of his head and pours it into a ditch +which carries it upon the land. The heavy weights on the shadouf help to +raise the water, but the labor of lifting this water all day is +strenuous. The shadouf men work with only small loin cloths, and +occasionally one of these fellows in a sheltered hole toils stark naked. + +Despite the fact that their work is as heavy as any done in Egypt, they +receive the wretched pittance of two piasters or ten cents a day, out of +which they must spend two and one-half cents a day for food. The shadouf +is as old as history, and the methods in use for raising this Nile water +are the same to-day that they were in the earliest dawn of recorded +history. + +As in India, there is a great dearth of farmhouses in these rich lands. +The peasants are herded in squalid villages, the mud huts jammed close +together, and the whole place overrun with goats, donkeys, pigs, +chickens and pigeons. The houses are the crudest huts, with no window +and no roof. + +Life in these villages along the Nile is as primitive as it is among the +Pueblo Indians of Arizona and New Mexico. Although their religion +admonishes them to wash before prayers, these peasants appear to pay +little heed to such rites. Men, women and children are extremely dirty, +and it is unusual to find anyone with good eyes. Inflammation of the +eyelids is the most common complaint and this disease is aggravated by +the fact that the natives make no effort to drive away the flies that +fasten upon the sore eyes of their little children. This is due to the +common superstition that it brings ill luck to brush off flies. At every +small station where the steamer stopped to land native passengers and +freight a score of villagers would be lined up, each afflicted with some +eye complaint, and all swarming with small black flies. + +At only a few towns along the Nile from Luxor to Cairo were there any +houses which looked like comfortable homes. The great majority of the +houses were of sun-dried brick, and these were often in a ruinous +condition. Yet with their framework of graceful date palms, these +squalid villages would delight the eye of an artist. For nearly the +whole distance the west side of the Nile is marked off from the desert +by the high Libyan mountains, gleaming white and yellow in the brilliant +sunshine. These limestone cliffs were chosen for the tombs of the kings +at Thebes, and all along the river one could make out with a glass +frequent tombs carved in the steep sides of these hills. The other side +of the river was flat, with low ranges of hills. At sunrise and at +sunset the most exquisite colors transformed the country into a +veritable fairyland. The sun sank behind bands of purple and amethyst, +and his last rays brought out in sharp silhouette the statuesque forms +of women water-carriers and long lines of laden camels moving in ghostly +silence along the river bank. Very beautiful also were the pictures made +by the dahabiehs and other native boats, with their big lateen sails and +with the motley gathering of natives in the stern. All these boats have +enormous rudders which rise high out of the water and add greatly to the +effectiveness of the picture as seen against the sunset glow. + +The atmosphere along the Nile is wonderfully clear, the sky is as blue +and lustrous as fine silk, and the wind blows up clouds in fantastic +shapes, which add greatly to the beauty of the scenery. All day the +little steamer passes half-ruined villages, embowered in feathery palms, +with camels in the background and an occasional bullock straining at the +wheel which lifts the Nile water on the shadouf. All day natives passed +along the sky line, some on donkeys, others on camels, still others +driving in front laden animals, whose forms could scarcely be +distinguished amid the thick clouds of dust raised by their heavy feet. +The creak of the shadoufs could be heard before we came abreast of the +tireless workers. + +Seen from the steamer the glamour of the Orient was over all this +poverty-stricken land, but seen near at hand were revealed all the ugly +features of dirt, disease, hopeless poverty, unending work that yields +only the coarsest and scantiest food. We passed miles on miles of waving +fields of sugar cane, with great factories where this cane was worked up +into sugar. We passed broad fields of cotton, with factories near at +hand for converting the product into cloth. Principalities of +wheat--great seas of emerald green that stood out against a background of +sandy desert--lined the banks at frequent intervals. But all these +evidences of the new wealth that scientific irrigation has brought to +this ancient valley of the Nile means nothing to the Egyptian peasant. +These great industries are in the hands of native or foreign +millionaires, who see to it that the wages of the native workers are +kept down to the lowest level. + + +BEFORE THE PYRAMIDS AND THE SPHINX + +Wintry winds in Cairo, which raised clouds of dust and sand, prevented +me from seeing the pyramids until after my return from Luxor. Then one +still, warm day it was my good fortune to see at their best these oldest +monuments of man's work on this earth. Yet impressive as are these great +masses of stone rising from barren wastes of sand, they did not affect +me so powerfully as the ruins of Karnak and the tombs of the Kings of +Thebes. Three pyramids were constructed at Gizeh and four other groups +at Sakkara, the site of the ancient city of Memphis. That these pyramids +were built for the tombs of kings has now been demonstrated beyond +question, so that the many elaborate theories of the religious +significance of these monuments may be dismissed. The ancient city of +Memphis was for centuries the seat of the government of Egypt, and the +tombs that may be seen to-day at Sakkara preceded the rock-hewn tombs at +Thebes in Upper Egypt. The great antiquity of the tombs at Sakkara makes +these of importance, although much of the work is inferior to that at +Thebes. + +The pictures of the pyramids are misleading. They give the impression +that these great masses of stone rise near palm groves and that the +Sphinx is almost as huge as the pyramid of Cheops which overshadows it. +In reality, the pyramids are set on a sandy plateau, about fifteen feet +high, while the Sphinx is practically buried in a hollow to the west of +the great pyramid and can only be seen from one direction. When you +stand in front of the big pyramid you can form no idea of its size, but +you know from the guide book that it is seven hundred and fifty feet +long and four hundred and fifty-one feet high. The height of each side +is five hundred and sixty-eight feet, while the angle of the sides is +fifty-one degrees fifty minutes. These statistics do not make much +impression on the mind but, when it is said that this huge pyramid +actually covers thirteen acres, the mind begins to grasp the stupendous +size of this great mass of masonry. This pyramid to-day is of dirty +brown color, but when finished it was covered with blocks of white +limestone. + +These were removed by various builders and have served to erect mosques +and temples. Had this covering remained intact it would be impossible to +climb the pyramid of Cheops. From Cairo and the Nile, as well as from +the desert, the pyramids are an impressive sight. Unique in shape and +massive as the Libyan hills beyond them, they can never be forgotten, +for they represent more perfectly than any other remains in Egypt the +control by the early kings of unlimited labor and materials. + +It used to be the fashion to sneer at the stories told by Herodotus, but +the excavations in Egypt during the last thirty years have demonstrated +that this old Greek traveler was an accurate observer and that what he +saw may be accepted as fact. He was the first to give any detailed +description of the pyramids and of the enormous work of building them. +Herodotus visited Egypt about 450 B. C., and he related that one hundred +thousand men were employed for three months at one time in building the +great pyramid of Cheops. The stone was quarried near the site of the +citadel in Cairo, and ten years were consumed in constructing a great +road across the desert to Gizeh by which the stone was transported. The +remains of this road, formed of massive stone blocks, may now be seen +near the Sphinx. The construction of the big pyramid alone required +twenty years. The story of Herodotus that one hundred thousand men were +once employed on this pyramid is plausible, according to +Flinders-Petrie, as these months came during the inundation of the Nile, +when there was no field work to occupy their time. + +The ascent of the pyramid is an easy task for any one in good physical +condition and accustomed to gymnastic work. Two Bedouins assist you from +the front while an ancient Sheik is supposed to help push you from the +rear. In my case the Bedouins had a very easy job, while the Sheik +enjoyed a sinecure. The stones are about a yard high, and the only +difficulty of the ascent lies in the straddle which must be made to +cover these stones. The ascent is made on the northeast corner of the +pyramid, and much help is gained by inequalities in the great slabs of +limestone which enable one to get a foothold. Two rests were made on the +upward climb, but we came down without any rest, covering the whole trip +in about fifteen minutes. + +The view from the summit is superb. On two sides, the south and west, +sketches the sandy desert, broken only by the groups of pyramids at +Abusir, Sakkara and Dashhur, which mark the bounds of the ancient city +of Memphis. + +The average tourist has more curiosity about the Sphinx than about the +pyramids, and here the reality is not disappointing. An impressive +figure is this of a recumbent stone lion one hundred and eighty-seven +feet long and sixty-six feet high, with a man's head that is full of +power and pride. The nose is gone and the face is badly scarred, but +here is the typical Egyptian face, with the fine setting of the eyes and +the graceful head. + +The journey to the rock tombs of Sakkara and the site of ancient Memphis +is tedious, as it includes a ride across the sandy desert of eighty +miles. A stop is made at the old house of Mariette, the famous French +Egyptologist, who uncovered many of the finest remains in Memphis. Near +by is the Step pyramid, the tomb of a king of the fifth dynasty and one +of the oldest monuments in Egypt. + +Near by are several pyramids and tombs that will repay a visit, as each +gives some new idea of the extraordinary care taken by the ancient +Egyptians to preserve their dead and to assure them proper guidance in +the land beyond the tomb. + +In one chapel are exquisitely carved mural reliefs, many of which still +retain their original colors. In these chambers the hot, dry air is like +that of the desert. A hundred years seem like a day in this atmosphere, +where nothing changes with the changing seasons. Under one's feet is the +soft, dry dust stirred up by the feet of many tourists, but rain and +sunshine never penetrate this home of the dead, and a century passes +without leaving a mark on these inscriptions which were chiseled long +before the children of Israel made their escape from bondage in Egypt. +It seems incredible that so many momentous things should have occurred +while in these still, warm tombs day followed day without change. + +[Illustration: PLATE LVII + + A Typical Street in Old Cairo. + These Buildings Show the Architecture of Cairo, + With a Mosque on the Left With Dome + and Minaret] + +[Illustration: PLATE LVIII + + An Arab Cafe In One + of Cairo's Streets. + The Open Air Cafes, + Facing the Sidewalk, + Abound In Cairo. + The Smokers and + Coffee-Drinkers Pay + No Attention to + Passers-by] + +[Illustration: PLATE LIX + + Women Water Carriers in Turkish Costume. + One of These Women is Uncovered, While the + Other Wears the Yashmak or Face Mask. + They Carry Large Water Jars on + Their Heads] + +[Illustration: PLATE LX + + The Rameseon at Karnak. + Six Colossal Statues of Rameses II of Which Three + Are in Fair Preservation] + +[Illustration: PLATE LXI + + The Avenue of + Sphinxes at Karnak. + The Road From Luxor + to Karnak Was Lined + With Recumbent Rams, + Called Krio-Sphinxes, + Many of Which Still + Remain] + +[Illustration: PLATE LXII + + An Arab Village on the + Nile. This Is a + Typical Village, the + Houses of Sun-dried Brick, + like the California + Adobe, and the + Whole Shaded + By Palms] + +[Illustration: PLATE LXIII + + The Colossi of Memnon, near Thebes. + These Gigantic Figures on the West Bank of the + Nile May Be Seen for Many Miles. They are + Sixty-five Feet High, and Stood Originally + in Front of a Temple] + +[Illustration: PLATE LXIV + + The Great Sphinx, Showing the Temple + Underneath. This is the Best View of the Face, + Which Has a Certain Majesty. The Lion's Figure + is Sixty-six Feet High and One Hundred + and Eighty-seven Feet Long] + + + + +APPENDIX + + + + +HINTS FOR TRAVELERS + +SOME SUGGESTIONS THAT MAY SAVE THE TOURIST TIME AND MONEY + + +For a round-the-world trip the best plan is to buy a Cook's ticket for +six hundred and thirty-nine dollars and ten cents. This provides +transportation from any place in the United States around the world to +the starting point. The advantage of a Cook's ticket over the tickets of +other companies is that this firm has the best organized force, with +large offices in the big cities and with banks as agencies in hundreds +of places where you may cash its money orders. This is a great +convenience as it saves the risk of carrying considerable sums of money +in lands where thievery is a fine art. Cook's agents may be found on +arrival by boat or train in all the principal cities of a world-tour. +These men invariably speak English well, and thus they are a god-send +when the tourist knows nothing of the language or the customs of a +strange country. At the offices of Cook and Son in all the large +Oriental cities one may get accurate information about boats and trains +and may purchase tickets for side excursions. Some of the Oriental +offices I found careless in the handling of mail because of the +employment of native clerks, but this was not general. Cook will furnish +guides for the leading Oriental tours and in India and Egypt these are +absolutely necessary, as without them life is made a burden by the +demands of carriage drivers, hotel servants and beggars. Cook will +furnish good guides for Japan, but it is unsafe to select natives unless +you have a guarantee that they know the places usually visited and that +they speak intelligible English. The pronunciation of Japanese differs +so vitally from that of English that many Japanese who understand and +write English well make a hopeless jumble of words when they attempt to +speak it. Their failure to open their mouths or to give emphasis to +words renders it extremely difficult to understand them. Good foreign +hotels may be found in all the Japanese cities and even those managed by +Japanese are conducted in European style. It is a pity that the hotels +are not modeled on the Japanese style, like the Kanaya Hotel at Nikko, +where the furniture and the decorations of the rooms are essentially +Japanese and very artistic. The average charge for room and board in +Japanese hotels of the first class is four dollars, but some of the more +pretentious places demand from five to six dollars a day. + +The cost of travel in India is not heavy because of the moderate scale +of prices. Hotels usually charge ten rupees a day for board and lodging +or about three dollars a day. Carriage hire is cheap, especially if you +have a party of four to fill one carriage. A Victoria, holding four +people, may be had morning and afternoon for twenty rupees, or an +average of about one dollar and seventy-five cents a day each. Railway +travel is absurdly cheap. Our party traveled second-class from Calcutta +to Delhi, thence to Bombay, Madras and Tuticorin, a distance of about +thirty-five hundred miles--farther than from New York to San +Francisco--for one hundred and forty rupees or about forty-five dollars +in American money. The first-class fare was nearly twice this amount, +but no additional comfort would have been secured. We made the trip at +low cost because a bargain was always made with hotelkeepers and +carriage drivers. Always make a definite bargain or you will be +overcharged. A native guide is necessary not only to show you the places +of interest but to arrange for carriages and to pay tips to servants. +Secure a Mohammedan guide and you may rest content that you will not be +cheated. His antipathy to the Hindoo will prevent any collusion with +servants. A good guide may be had for two rupees a day or about +sixty-five cents, and he will board himself. + +Murray's Guide books for Japan, China, the Straits Settlements and India +are the most useful. These give the best routes and describe all the +principal objects of interest. Without such a guide-book, one is +helpless, as the professional guides frequently omit important things +which should be seen. It is needless to look for conscientiousness or +honesty in the Orient. You will not find them. + +To avoid trouble when hiring carriage or jinrikisha, make a definite +bargain by the hour or by the trip. This you may do through the hotel +porter. Then, on your return, if the driver or the rickshaw-man demands +more, refer the matter to the porter, and refuse to pay more than your +bargain. If you do not take these precautions you will be involved in +constant trouble and will be persistently charged twice what you should +pay. Even with these precautions, you cannot escape trouble in +Singapore, which is cursed with the greediest carriage drivers in the +world. + +Many travelers purchase Cook's hotel coupons which provide for lodging +and meals at certain hotels in every large city of the Orient. My +experience is that it is a mistake to buy these coupons, as all the +hotel managers speak English or have hall porters who understand the +language. You gain little by the arrangement, and you lose the choice of +good rooms, as hotel managers are not partial to tourists who carry +coupons, since the profit on these is small. + +In Egypt, Cook's tours, which are arranged to suit all tastes, are the +most convenient. The best plan is to go up the Nile by train and to come +down by boat. Do not neglect the ride down the river. It consumes more +time but it is the only way in which you can get an idea of the charm of +the scenery, the primitive life of the people, and the beauty of sunrise +and sunset over the desert. + +Above all things, arrange your itinerary carefully before you start. +Here is where Cook's agent can help you materially, but you must not +rely upon his advice in regard to steamship lines. He will recommend the +P. & O. boats, as they are British, but practically every tourist who +has made the trip will say that the North German Lloyd steamers give the +best service. Engage your state-room several months in advance and pay a +deposit, so as to get a receipt for the best berth in a certain room. +Unless you do this, you will have trouble and will probably be forced to +sleep in an inside room on hot tropical nights. Get a room on star-board +or port-side, according to the prevailing wind. To be on the windward +side means comfort and coolness at night. As soon as possible after +boarding a vessel see the bath steward and select an hour for your +morning bath. Should you neglect this, you will be forced to rise very +early or to bathe at night. If you wish certain table companions see the +head steward promptly. If you travel on a P. & O. boat, engage an +electric fan at the Company's office, as there is a rule that you can't +hire a fan after you are on board. The North German Lloyd furnishes +fans, which are a necessity in the tropics. + +There is a regular tariff for tips on most of the Oriental steamship +lines, graded according to the length of the voyage. You can always +ascertain what to give to your waiter, room steward, bath steward, boot +black and deck steward. These tips are always given on the last day of +the voyage. American tourists are criminally lavish in giving tips, with +the result that one who adheres to the rules of old travelers, is apt to +be regarded as niggardly. It is to be noted that the richest travelers +always conform to the regular schedule of tips. + +In all parts of the Orient it is unsafe to drink the water of the +country. If you do not relish bottled waters, demand tea; at any rate +make sure that the water you drink has been boiled. I found hot tea an +excellent drink even in the tropics and I was never troubled with the +complaints that follow drinking unboiled water. It is well to make +liberal use of the curries and rice which are excellent everywhere. +These, with fish, eggs and fruit, formed the staple of my diet. Never +eat melons nor salads made of green vegetables; the native methods of +fertilizing the soil are fatal to the wholesomeness of such things. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +BOOKS WHICH HELP ONE TO UNDERSTAND THE ORIENT AND ITS PEOPLE + + +In this bibliography no attempt has been made to cover the field of +books about the leading countries of the Orient. The aim has been to +mention the books which the tourist will find most helpful. Guide books +are indispensable, but they give the imagination no stimulus. It is a +positive help to read one or two good descriptive accounts of any +country before visiting it; in this way one gets an idea of comparative +values. In these notes I have mentioned only the books that are familiar +to me and which I have found suggestive. + + +JAPAN + +Of all foreigners who have written about Japan, Lafcadio Hearn gives one +the best idea of the Japanese character and of the literature that is +its expression. Hearn married a Japanese lady, became Professor of +English Literature at the Imperial University of Tokio, renounced his +American citizenship, and professed belief in Buddhism. He never +mastered the Japanese language but he surpassed every other foreign +student in his ability to make real the singular faith of the Japanese +in the presence of good and evil spirits and the national worship of +beauty in nature and art. Hearn's father was Greek and his mother Irish. +In mind he was a strange mixture of a Florentine of the Renaissance and +a pagan of the age of Pericles. In _The West Indies_ he has given the +best estimate of the influence of the tropics on the white man, and in +_Japan: An Interpretation_, _In Ghostly Japan_, _Exotics and +Retrospections_, and others, he has recorded in exquisite literary style +his conception of Japanese character, myths and folk-legends. His work +in this department is so fine that no one else ranks with him. He seems +to have been able to put himself in the place of the cultivated Japanese +and to interpret the curious national beliefs in good and evil spirits +and ghosts. He has also made more real than any other foreign writer the +peculiar position of the Japanese wife. Hearn was a conservative, +despite his lawless life, and he looked with regret upon the +transformation of old Japan, wrought by the new desire to Europeanize +the country. He paints with great art the idyllic life of the old +Samauri and the loyalty of the retainers to their chief. + +Sir Edwin Arnold, who in his old age married a Japanese lady, has given +excellent pictures of life in Japan in _Seas and Lands_ and _Japonica_. +_Religions of Japan_ by W. E. Griffis gives a good idea of the various +creeds. Mr. Griffis in _The Mikado's Empire_ also furnishes a good +description of Japan and the Japanese. + +In _Fifty Tears of New Japan_, Count Okuma has compiled a work that +gives a complete survey of Japanese progress during the last half +century. Among the contributors are many of the leading statesmen and +publicists of Japan. + +Of fiction, the scene of which is laid in Japan, one of the most famous +stories is _Madame Chrysantheme_ by Pierre Loti, a cynical sketch of the +Japanese geisha, or professional entertainer. Another good story which +lays bare the ugly fate that often befalls the geisha, is _The Lady and +Sada San_ by Frances Little, the author of that popular book, _The Lady +of the Decoration_. + +Other books that will be found valuable are Norman, _The New Japan_; +Chamberlain, _Things Japanese_; Treves, _The Other Side of the Lantern_; +Murray, _Handbook of Japan_; Clement, _Handbook of Modern Japan_; +D'Autremer, _The Japanese Empire_; Hartshorne, _Japan and Her People_; +Fraser, _A Diplomatist's Wife In Japan_; Lloyd, _Everyday Japan_; +Scidmore, _Jinrikisha Days In Japan_; Knox, _Japanese Life In Town and +Country_; Singleton, _Japan, As Described By Great Writers_; Inouye, +_Home Life In Tokio_. + + +MANILA + +The acqusition of the Philippine Islands by the United States has led to +a great increase of the literature on the islands, especially in regard +to educational and industrial progress. Among the old books that have +good sketches of Manila are _A Visit to the Philippine Islands_ by Sir +John Browning. + +For sketches of the city since the American occupation see Worcester, +_The Philippine Islands and Their People_; Landor, _The Gems of the +East_; Dennis, _An Observer in the Philippines_; Potter, _The East +To-day and Tomorrow_; Moses, _Unofficial Letters of An Official's Wife_; +Hamm, _Manila and the Philippines_; Younghusband, _The Philippines and +Round About_; Stevens, _Yesterdays in the Philippines_; Arnold, The +Philippines, _the Land of Palm and Pine_; and LeRoy, _Philippine Life in +Town and Country_. + + +HONGKONG + +Good descriptive sketches of Hongkong may be found in Norman, _The +Peoples and Politics of the Far East_; Des Veux, _A Handbook of +Hongkong_; Colquhoun, _China in Transformation_; Penfield, _East of +Suez_; Treves, _The Other Side of the Lantern_; Ball, _Things Chinese_; +Thomson, _The Changing Chinese_; Singleton, _China As Described by Great +Writers_; and Liddell, China, _Its Marvel and Mystery_. + + +SINGAPORE + +Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, was one of the +British Empire builders who was very shabbily treated by the English +government. Unaided, he prevented the Dutch from obtaining exclusive +control over all the waters about Singapore and he was also +instrumental in retaining Malacca, after the East India Company had +decided to abandon it. He was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of +Java after the English wrested the island from the Dutch in 1810. +His ambition was to make Java "the center of an Eastern Insular +Empire," but this project was thwarted by the restoration of Java +to Holland. The Raffles Museum in Singapore, one of the most +interesting in the Orient, was his gift. + +Sketches of Singapore may be found in Sir Frank Swettenham's +_British Malaya_, _Malay Sketches_ and _The Real Malay_; Wright and +Reed, _The Malay Peninsula_; Belfield, _Handbook of the Federated +Malay States_; Harrison, _Illustrated Guide to the Federated Malay +States_; Ireland, _The Far Eastern Tropics_; Boulger, _Life of Sir +Stamford Raffles_; Buckley, _Records of Singapore_. + + +RANGOON + +There is a large literature on Burma, which seems to have appealed to +British travelers. Among the books that have chapters devoted to Rangoon +are Cuming, _In the Shadow of the Pagoda_; Bird, _Wanderings in Burma_; +Hart, _Picturesque Burma_; Kelly, _The Silken East_; MacMahon, _Far +Cathay and Farther India_; Vincent, _The Land of the White Elephant_; +Nisbet, _Burma Under British Rule and Before_; Hall, _The Soul of a +People_ and _A People at School_. + + +INDIA + +The literature about India is very extensive, so that only a few of the +best books may be mentioned here. To the tourist the one indispensable +book is Murray's _Handbook for Travelers in India, Ceylon and Burma_, +which is well provided with maps and plans of cities. For general +description, among the best works are Malcolm, _Indian Pictures and +Problems_; Scidmore, _Winter India_; Forrest, _Cities of India_; +Kipling, _From Sea to Sea_; Stevens, _In India_; Arnold, _India +Revisited_; Low, _A Vision of India_ (describing the journey of the +Prince of Wales in 1905-6); Caine, _Picturesque India_; _Things Seen in +India_. + +For the history of India, some of the best books are Lane-Poole, +_Mediaeval India_ and _The Mogul Emperors_; Fanshawe, _Delhi, Past and +Present_; McCrindle, _Ancient India_; Rhys-Davids, _British India_; +Roberts, _Forty-one Tears in India_; Holmes, _History of the Indian +Mutiny_; Innes, _The Sepoy Revolt_; Curzon, _Russia in Central Asia_; +Colquhoun, _Russia Against India_. + +On the religions of India: Rhys-Davids, _Buddhism_; Warren, _Buddhism in +Translations_; Clarke, _Ten Great Religions_; Hopkins, _Religions of +India_; Arnold, _The Light of Asia_. + + +EGYPT + +Egypt has changed so much during the last twenty years that books +written before that time are practically obsolete. The dahabiyeh is no +longer used for Nile travel, except by tourists of means and large +leisure, since the tourist steamers make the trip up and down the Nile +in one quarter the time consumed by the old sailing vessels. Cairo has +been transformed into a European city and even Luxor is modernized, with +its immense hotels and its big foreign winter colony. + +Baedeker's Egypt is the best guide book, but be sure that you get the +latest edition, as the work is revised every two or three years. The +introductory essays in this volume on Egyptian history, religion, art +and Egyptology are well worth careful reading. The descriptions of the +ruins and the significance of many of the hieroglyphs are helpful. Of +general descriptive works on Egypt, some of the best are Penfield, +_Present Day Egypt_ (1899); Jeremiah Lynch, _Egyptian Sketches_, a book +by a San Franciscan which gives a series of readable pictures of Cairo +and the voyage up the Nile; Holland, _Things Seen in Egypt_. + +Of Egypt, before it was transformed by the British, standard +works are Lane, _Cairo Fifty Tears Ago_; Lady Duff-Gordon, _Letters +From Egypt_ (covering the period from 1862 to 1869). Good +historical works are Lane-Poole, _Egypt, and the Story of Cairo_; +Ebers, _Egypt, Descriptive, Historical, and Picturesque_. + +Of the administration of England in Egypt, the best book is +Lord Cromer's _Modern Egypt_. Other works are Milner, _England +in Egypt_; Colvin, _The Making of Modern Egypt_. The story of +Gordon's death at Khartoum is well told in Stevens, _With Kitchener +to Khartoum_ and Churchill, _The River War_. + +Several valuable works on Egyptian archeology have been written by +Maspero and Flinders-Petrie. Maspero's _Art in Egypt_, which is lavishly +illustrated, will be valuable as a guide book. Flinders-Petrie's +_Egyptian Decorative Art_ is worth reading. + + + + +Index + + +Agra, East Indian city of interesting features, 111; + the Taj Mahal, 112-116 + +Arjmand, favorite wife of Shah Jehan, for whom the Taj was built, 112 + + +Benares, sacred city of the Hindoos, 100-105; + bathing ghats along the Ganges, 100-102; + toll levied by priests on all bathers, 103; + burning the dead by the river banks, 104-105; + funeral ceremonies, 105 + +Bombay, gateway of India, 123-134; + beauty of public buildings, 123-124; + the Apollo Bunder, 124; + importance of the Parsees in city life, 124-1126; + reception to King George V, 127; + holiday street scenes, 128; + religion and customs of the Parsees, 129-130; + wedding ceremonies, 132; + "Towers of Silence" where dead are exposed to vultures, 133-134 + +Buddhism, temples at Nikko, 17; + greatest temple, the Shwe Dagon Pagoda at Rangoon, 90; + first residence of Buddha at Sarnath, near Benares, 100 + + +Cairo, the capital of Egypt, 137-142; + much Europeanized since Ismail's time, 138-139; + the Street of the Camel, 138-140; + Esbekiyeh Gardens, 140; + shopping in the great Muski bazar, 141; + Island of Roda, where Moses was found, 142; + scenes in the old native city, 142 + +Calcutta, greatest commercial port of India, 95-99; + former capital, 95; + the Maidan or Esplanade, 95-96; + Eden Gardens, 95; + scene of the Black Hole, 96; + caste marks, 97; + scenes in bathing ghats on the Hoogly, 98; + native quarter, 98-99; + botanical gardens with great banyan tree, 99; + Imperial Museum, 99 + +Canton, the great business center of China, 72-79; + exodus of people during revolution, 73; + boat city on the Pearl river, 73-74; + "hot-foot" boats, 75; + inside the ancient walls, 76-77; + deserted stores on main street, 76; + Buddhist Temple of Horrors, 77; + great rush of refugees, 77-78; + scene of the assassination of Tartar general, 78; + old Buddhist water clock, 78 + +Cawnpore, scene of the worst massacre in the Sepoy mutiny, 109-110; + fatal mistake of General Wheeler, 109; + treachery of Nana Sahib, 110; + butchery of women and children, 110 + +Chator, Sir Paul, who made Hongkong a great city, 81 + + +Delhi, ancient Mogul capital of India, 117-122; + tombs of Moslem emperors, 117-118; + squalor of common people, 119; + Mogul palaces and mosques, 119-120; + the Kutab Minar, 120-121; + memorials of the mutiny, 121-122; + fighting at Kabul gate, 122 + + +Egypt, the land of tombs, pyramids and mummies, 137-164; + railroad ride from Port Said, 138; + features of the country, 138-139; + Cairo and its picturesque life, 138-142; + Luxor and Karnak ruins of finest temples of ancient Egypt, 143-149; + Thebes, tomb city of the Egyptian Kings, 150-155; + sailing down the Nile, 156-160; + Pyramids and the Sphinx, 161-164 + + +Havelock, English General who fought his way into Lucknow and + helped defend the city against hordes of mutineers, 108 + +Hideyoshi, Napoleon of Japan, his memory revered, 19; + his castle, 29 + +Hongkong, greatest British port in the Orient, 65-71; + its fine public buildings and spacious water-front, 66; + splendid shops on Queen's road, 67; + picturesque street crowds, 68; + mixture of races, 68; + night scenes in native quarter, 69; + cable railway to the peak, 70; + costly residences on mountain side, 70; + Kowloon City, 71 + + +India, the most interesting country of the Orient, 95-104; + Calcutta, most beautiful of Indian cities, 95-99; + Benares, the sacred city of the Hindoos, 100-105; + Lucknow and Cawnpore, cities of the mutiny, 106-110; + Agra and the Taj Mahal, 111-116; + Delhi, the ancient Mogul capital and now the British + capital, 117-122; + Bombay, the European gateway of India, 123-134; + the Parsees and their curious customs, 129-134 + + +Japan, Yokohama, 3; + aspect of rural life, 4; + bull, the beast of burden 5; + the jinrikisha, 5; + great courtesy of all classes, 6; + women as field hands, 8; + Tokio, the picturesque capital, 10-15; + Nikko, city of temples, 16-21; + Kyoto, the ancient capital, famous for gardens and art work, 22-27; + railway travel, 22-23; + Kobe,28-33; + Osaka, chief manufacturing city, 29; + Inland Sea, 30; + Nagasaki, 30-32; + development of sense of beauty, 34-37; + influence of the garden on artistic sense, 34-35; + are the Japanese honest? 28-39; + influence of Christianity, 41-42; + the sampan, 43; + influence of military training, 45-46; + loyalty to country, 46-47 + + +Karnak, the greatest temple of ancient Egypt, 147-149; + its enormous size, 147; + its hypostile hall, one of the wonders of the world, 147-148; + hieroglyphs of Seti and Rameses, 148; + obelisks erected by Queen Hatasu, 148; + colossal statues and columns, 148; + cost in human life, 149 + +Kobe, greatest commercial seaport of Japan, 28-29; + its many foreign schools, colleges and missions, 28 + +Kyoto, ancient Japanese capital, 22-27; + richly decorated temples, 24; + satsuma, cloissone and damascene work, 24-25; + attractive shops, 26; + great bronze Daibutsa, 26; + oldest Buddhist temple in Japan, 27 + + +Lawrence, Sir Henry, to whose wise precautions the British in Lucknow + owed their lives during the mutiny; he was killed in the early + days of the siege, 107. + +Lucknow, scene of the most famous siege in the Indian mutiny, 106-109; + ruins of the Residency, 106; + story of the siege, 107-108; + memorial tablets to British heroes, 108 + +Luxor, with ruins of the finest temple in Egypt, 143-146; + built by Amenophis III; restored and enlarged by + Rameses II, 143-144; + plan of the temple, 144-145; + Rameses exposed by Egyptologists, 146; + temple of Karnak, 147-149 + + +Manila, capital of Philippines and American naval base in + Far East, 51-62; + hospitality of Americans, 52; + reenforced concrete favorite building material, 52; + its splendid docks, 52; + the Escolta, 52; + the Bridge of Spain, 53; + the carabao or water buffalo, 53; + old walled city, 54; + historical gates, 54; + famous churches, 55; + doors open to the ambitious Filipino youths, 56; + influence of American schools, 56-57; + Dr. George W. Wright on religious work in Philippines, 56-57; + sanitary reforms which have made Manila healthy port, 57; + work of the Constabulary Guard, 58; + scenes on the Luneta, 60; + nipa huts of natives, 61-62; + fondness of people for music, 62; + American gramophones in native huts, 62 + + +Nana Sahib, the evil genius of the Indian mutiny, who broke faith + with prisoners at Cawnpore, shot the men, and ordered + 125 women and children butchered and cast into a well, 109 + +Nara, seat of oldest temples in Japan, 26-27; + tame deer in park, 26 + +Nicholson, John, Brigadier-General, the ablest man the Indian mutiny + produced, 121; + he led the British march on Delhi and fell at the storming of + the Lahore gate, 122 + +Nagasaki, great Japanese seaport, 30-33; + girls coaling steamers, 31-32; + trip to Mogi, 33 + +Nikko, the Japanese city of temples, 16-21; + eighth century Buddhist temple, 17; + Sacred Red Bridge, 17; + imperial tombs, 17-19; + school pilgrimages, 19; + famous cryptomeria avenue to Imaichi, 20-21 + +Nile, sailing down the, 156-160; + importance of river to Egypt, 156; + ancient method of irrigation by shadouf, 157-158; + poor pay for hard work, 158; + prevalence of eye diseases, 159; + squalid homes of the natives, 160; + beauty of views along the Nile, 160 + + +Osaka, Japan's chief manufacturing city, 29; + Hideyoshi's castle, 29 + + +Parsees, importance in municipal life of Bombay, 129; + religion that of Zoroaster, 129-130; + gifts by rich Parsee merchants, 131; + quaint marriage customs, 132; + towers of silence where dead are exposed, 133-135 + +Pyramids, among the oldest human work on earth, 161-163; + size and cost of construction, 162-163; + ascent of Gizeh, 163; + features of the Sphinx, 164; + rock tombs of Sakkara, 164 + + +Raffles, Sir Stamford, the maker of Singapore and founder of great + Malayan museum, 81 + +Rangoon, Burma's largest city, 89-92; + elephants piling teak, 89-90; + Shwe Dagon Pagoda, center of the Buddhist faith in Orient, 90-91; + splendid decoration of shrines, 91-92 + + +Shah Jehan, the greatest builder among the Mogul Emperors of India, + who immortalized his name by erecting the Taj Mahal, 112 + +Singapore, gateway to the Far East, 80-88; + humidity of atmosphere, 80; + world's largest dry dock, 81; + Sir Stamford Raffles, 81; + great mixture of races, 81-82; + traits of the Malay, 83; + importance of Chinese, 84-85; + night scenes in Malay and Chinese quarters, 85-87; + large opium dens, 87; + fine botanical gardens, 88 + + +Taj Mahal, the world's most beautiful building at Agra, India, 111-116; + built by Shah Jehan as memorial to favorite wife, 112; + cost in money and human life, 112; + its perfect architecture, 114; + lavish decoration, 115; + restoration by Lord Curzon, 116 + +Thebes, tomb city of the ancient Egyptian kings, 150-155; + desolate site across the Nile from Luxor, 150-151; + electric-lighted tombs, 151; + rock-hewn tomb of Rameses IV, 152; + tombs of other monarchs, 152-153; + only one contains royal mummy, 154; + fine temple of Queen Hatasu, 153; + the Ramessium, with largest statue found in Egypt, 154; + Colossi of Memnon, 154; + why one of the statues was musical, 155 + +Tokio, the Japanese capital, 10-15; + its splendid parks, 11-13-14; + imperial palace, 13; + tombs of six shoguns, 14; + night work in shops, 15 + + +Wheeler, General, whose confidence in his native troops, + cost the lives of all the garrison of Cawnpore, 109 + + +Yokohama, much Europeanized Japanese city, 3; + good tourist outfitting point, 4 + + + + + AND SO ENDS THE CRITIC IN THE ORIENT, CONTAINING + THE IMPRESSIONS OF GEORGE HAMLIN FITCH ON THE + FIRST HALF OF HIS TRIP AROUND THE WORLD. PUBLISHED + IN BOOK FORM BY PAUL ELDER & COMPANY + AND SEEN THROUGH THEIR TOMOYE PRESS BY JOHN + SWART DURING THE MONTH OF APRIL, MCMXIII, IN + THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +Inconsistencies in the hyphenation of words retained. (hotfoot, +hot-foot) + +In the original text, captions of plates and illustrations did not have +terminating punctuation except for the caption of Plate XXXVII. This +caption had a terminating period which has been retained. + +In the original text, italic typeface was used for the entire text and +headings of the chapters "Introduction" and "The Best Results of Travel +in the Orient". In the plaintext version of this ebook, the usual +underscore markup has not been used to indicate italic type in these +chapters. Elsewhere in the text, occasional words in italic typeface +have been marked up with underscores. + +Pg. 12, unusual spelling of "embassadors" retained. + +Pg. 12, duplicated word "of" removed. (mansions of the Japanese") + +Pg. 112, duplicated word "on" removed. (little trace on its walls) + +Pg. 161, "hugh" changed to "huge". (as huge as the pyramid) + +Index. In the original text, the last sub-item of an index entry did not +end with any terminating punctuation except for the index entry +"Lawrence, Sir Henry". This entry had a terminating period which +has been retained. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Critic in the Orient, by George Hamlin Fitch + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRITIC IN THE ORIENT *** + +***** This file should be named 27233.txt or 27233.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/2/3/27233/ + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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